Chapter Text
“W-What do you mean there’s nothing?!” Virgil exclaimed, sitting up straight in his chair. The woman sitting at the desk in front of him, Ms. Warrian, looked at him sadly.
“I’m sorry Mr. Sanders, but there aren’t any homes around that are within your price range.” Virgil’s shoulders scrunched up and he looked down at the papers scattered on the desk. He scanned a few of them, before picking one up and turning it around to show her.
“What about this one? I could-” He was cut off when Ms. Warrian shook her head.
“I’ve already spoken with them and they didn’t…approve of you.” She gently took the paper from him and gathered the rest in a clean stack. Virgil swallowed thickly, watching as the many papers were cleaned up.
“So, what you really meant was, the ones that I actually could afford didn’t like the thought of a homeless 22 year old with an abused past living with them.” Ms. Warrian winced and looked to see Virgil was trying very hard not to let his tears escape. She sighed as he felt her heart go out to him.
She had known him for a few months now, when the shelter Virgil had been staying at helped connect them to each other. She was primarily a real estate agent, but also helped the homeless find places they could actually afford. It was part of a semi-new program. All of the options were roommate options, seeing as how that was the only way rent could be so cheap.
But people were still cruel, like the ones who denied Virgil just because of his dark past and appearance.
She bit her lip and opened the top right drawer on her desk, hesitantly taking out another paper. There was always this option, but-
“What’s that?” Virgil asked, noticing the new piece of paper in her hand. Ms. Warrian took a deep breath.
“This…is another option. It’s well within your price range and while I haven’t spoken to the homeowners yet, I’m almost positive they would accept you but-” She was cut off.
“I’ll take it!” Virgil yelled, standing up and slamming his hands on her desk. After realizing what he had done, however, he flushed and apologized. But he didn’t sit back down.
“Virgil, before you accept I must tell you-” She was cut off again.
“Please, I don’t,” He took in a shaky breath. “I don’t really care anymore. Just please, if they’ll take me in I’ll go, I don’t need to know anything else.” He couldn’t afford anything to scare him away from the chance at actually having a home again. Ms. Warrian stared at him, looking like she was going to tell him anyway, but sighed.
“Alright. I’ll respect your wishes. I’ll give them a call later today and call you tomorrow with the news.” Virgil nodded.
“Thank you Ms. Warrian. Talk to you later.” And with that, he left. Ms Warrian sighed and took another look at the paper.
“Don’t thank me so soon.”
Ms. Warrian called him the next day, with the news that he had been accepted. Virgil had been ecstatic. Practically bouncing up and down, a rare sight for him indeed.
“I’ll have an uber come pick you up tomorrow to take you to your new home. He’ll have already been paid, so there is no need for you to give him money. Make sure you have all your things together.” She had told him and so here Virgil was. The next day, in an uber with his small backpack that contained everything he owned. He kissed the shelter goodbye. Even though it was good to him, he wasn’t sad to leave it.
He rested his head against the window, music blasting through his headphones. He watched as the city flew by and quietly wondered how far his new home actually was.
He also found himself wondering about his new roommates, but he forced those thoughts away as best he could. Now was not the time to become anxious over the strangers he would be living with. He was not about to let his anxiety beat him out of his only chance at actually having a home.
He closed his eyes and allowed his mind to be filled with nothing but music. His phone and headphones had been the only thing he allowed himself to splurge on after the shelter helped him get his job. It was one of the only things that could block his anxiety out, so Virgil considered it well worth the price.
He got so lost in said music, that he almost had a heart attack when the car ran over a bump. His eyes opened wide and he calmed himself down after realizing what it was. He sighed and looked out the window, only to tense when he noticed where they were.
The human city was disappearing behind them, the next five miles was barren, but coming up was the Giant city.
Virgil looked towards the driver, but all he did was stare ahead and drive. What was happening? Why was the driver taking him to the Giant’s city? Was he being kidnapped? Had he gotten into the wrong car? Oh gosh…
As his anxiety took over, the car stopped. The driver turned to him. “We’re here.” Virgil paused for a moment, before looking out the window.
His heart stopped.
A giant house, on what seemed to be the edge of the Giant city, loomed before him. And when Virgil said giant, he meant it. The house was massive. Being several hundred feet both tall and wide. The house could fit the whole shelter and a heck of a whole lot more. He barely took notice of how nice the house looked, how kept it was. His fear towards the sheer size outweighed anything else.
Virgil couldn’t even imagine how big the people were who lived inside.
“Are-are you sure that this is the right place?” Virgil asked, stuttering. The driver only nodded, looking annoyed that he hadn’t gotten out yet.
“This was the address I was given, now kindly step out.” He said, in a not so kindly way. Virgil, despite his fear, did not want to anger the man and stepped out. As soon as he did, the driver was off, back the way they came. Back to the human city. Back to safety.
Maybe this was a mistake. Ms. Warrian probably gave him the wrong address. Yeah that had to be it. He pulled up her number on his phone and called it after a few minutes of hesitation. He started pacing up and down at the base of the giant driveway as the phone rang.
“Hello?” Virgil took a breath.
“Hi, Ms. Warrian? It’s Virgil.” He answered. The line was quiet for a moment.
“Oh! Virgil, how are you? Aren’t you on your way to your new home?” She asked. Virgil shifted, keeping a wary eye on the giant house. A shadow walked past the covered window and Virgil’s grip on the phone tightened.
“Uh, yeah, yeah. But I think the driver somehow got the wrong address and dropped me off near the edge of the Giant city. Crazy right? So, if you could maybe call another uber and tell them to pick me up to take me to the right one, that would be really great.” This time, the line was quiet for a long time, causing Virgil to panic, even as Ms. Warrian answered him.
“Virgil…You’re at the right address.” Virgil froze.
“What?” He heard her sigh on the other end.
“The three giants who lived there wanted to try and be part of the program. After very careful interviews and backgrounds checks, we decided to allow them to. However, as you could probably guess, no one went for it.” Virgil was not at all surprised at that, but he was currently hung up on the fact that she said there were three giants living here.
“I tried to tell you Virgil, but you were insistent on not being told.” Virgil cursed himself for that. Oh how he wished he could take that back.
“But-” She cut him off.
“Virgil, they are very nice people. Please, give them a chance. We both know how much you need this.” Virgil shut his eyes, knowing she was right, but still so overcome with fear at the thought of meeting and interacting with giants.
Besides, what if they had ulterior motives for signing up for the program? It wasn’t impossible to fake a background check and be nice over interviews. Especially since he was sure those interviews happened over the phone. Instead of a roommate, they could want a pet instead.
His thoughts were interrupted when Ms. Warrian spoke again. “Please Virgil, just give it a try?”
Despite wanting to say no, he found himself answering, “Okay.” His eyes widened at his own words as Ms. Warrian sighed with relief.
“Thank you Virgil. It will be great, I promise. Now I have to get going okay?” Virgil swallowed thickly.
“O-Okay.” They both said their goodbyes before they hung up and Virgil looked down at his phone with a helpless expression. He slowly looked up at the house in the near distance and gulped. Gripping his backpack tighter he hesitantly moved forward.
It took him awhile to get to the door of the house, mostly because he was still extremely hesitant. The only reason he wasn’t walking back to the human city on his own, was because he really needed this. He was done with living on the streets, done living in the shelter. So if that meant rooming with…giants, then he supposed he would have to live with it.
Oh gosh, what was he getting himself into.
He sized up the door, cowering as he realized he couldn’t even see where it ended. How the heck was he supposed to get the giant’s attention? They wouldn’t hear his knock and the doorbell was too far up for Virgil to…reach…
Virgil furrowed his eyebrows at the sight of a string hanging to the side with a small sign that read ‘HUMAN PULL HERE’. Frowning, Virgil followed the string up to see that it was connected to the doorbell.
Pushing past his nerves, which honestly took several more minutes, he gripped the string tight and pulled. Virgil heard the loud dinging coming from inside and soon he heard the footsteps that indicated someone walking toward the door. Virgil gripped his bag tighter and he wanted to do nothing more than run away as the door opened, revealing an actual, honest to goodness giant.
However, Virgil found himself frozen as he strained his head to look up-and up and up and up-at the giant.
“Hello?” The giant bellowed, voice shaking Virgil to the core. The voice wasn’t unbearable, but it was much louder than any human could make their voice.
But that was nothing compared to when the giant looked down and their eyes met.
Virgil felt the breath leave him as a pair of giant blue orbs met his minuscule brown ones. He wanted to turn away, but he was fixated on those eyes. It was almost like he could swim in them…
The giant’s eyes went from confusion to excitement in only a second.
“Oh my goodness! You’re here! You’re here!” The giant giggled out excitedly and Virgil could just tell he was trying hard not to bounce around. The giant stepped aside and motioned into the house.
“Come on in kiddo! We’re all so excited to meet you!” Kiddo? Virgil mentally questioned. We? Right, there were three giants living here, not just one.
Three giants.
Three giants.
Virgil could barely comprehend one when said giant was right in front of him.
Virgil realized he had just been standing there for a minute. He looked up nervously, but the giant still had a smile on his face, waiting patiently for him to move on inside. Virgil averted his gaze and gripped his bag until his knuckles were white. He had to do this.
He took a step and then another and soon he found the concrete below his feet was replaced by wooden flooring. He continued to walk, the giant closing the door behind him after he was well away from the door, and though he had been expecting it, it had still managed to make him jump.
“Do you want me to take your coat for…uhh…” The giant must have seen Virgil back up at not only the question but at the hands that had started to reach towards him, because he stopped what he was saying and pulled his hands away with a slight blush.
“Uh, never mind.” He coughed, before grinning once again.
“Come on kiddo, the others are waiting in the living room.” The giant spoke, walking past him and into the next room. Virgil froze as this happened, seeing a giant walk right past you was something else, that was for sure.
Terrifying.
He picked back up his walking and continued to go where he saw the giant disappear. He was actually surprised he was walking. He had expected the giants to pick him right up and move him as they pleased. He supposed this was so far so good?
Hopefully it wasn’t downhill from here.
He turned the corner, finally revealing the living room to him…and the three giants who occupied it.
The one who had answered the door was still standing on the opposite end of the room, the two new giants were both sitting on the couch. All of their gazes were on him as soon as he entered and he stiffened in tense fear.
Oh this had been a bad idea, why hadn’t he run when he had the chance?
“Welcome to your new home, kiddo!” The one who had opened the door suddenly exclaimed, causing Virgil to jump and focus on that particular giant. “My name is Patton. It’s nice to meet ya!” The giant-Patton, said, grinning wide. Virgil swallowed thickly as Patton continued.
“This is Roman.” The giant closest to him, wearing red, gave him a seated bow. “And this is Logan!” Patton said, pointing to the giant next to Roman. Logan gave Virgil a nod.
“Salutations.” Virgil managed to nod back. Though he soon noticed they were all looking expectantly at him and Virgil realized they were waiting for him to introduce himself, just as they had done.
“Oh, uh, I-I’m…Virgil.” Virgil stammered out, speaking softly and looking down. It was silent and for a moment Virgil thought they hadn’t heard him, but then a loud clap from above snapped his head up in that direction. Patton, apparently, had been the source of the noise and for a brief moment, he saw something akin to…panic? On Patton’s face. But it quickly left and Patton was now grinning down at him with his hands together.
Virgil must have imagined it.
“Well, it’s so nice to meet you Virgil!” Virgil hummed and stuck his hands into his pockets, looking away. He couldn’t quite say for sure if the feeling was mutual, so he simply decided to stay quiet.
Apparently the others decided on doing the same thing because the room was once again met with silence. An awkward silence. But so much worse than with other humans. At least, that was Virgil’s current thought.
“Should we…offer food now, or…?” He heard Logan mutter, most likely to the others, along with a flutter of paper. Than a booming voice shook Virgil’s core.
“Oh! Can we show him his room now? We absolutely have to show him his room!” Virgil looked up to realize the loud voice had been Roman, who had gotten up and out of his chair in excitement. The question was though, why was Roman so excited to show him his new room? For some reason, the thought put him on edge and his mind started going down the paths of what ifs.
“Of course, as long as Virgil is ready.” Patton said, looking down at him. Virgil’s mind and body froze for several seconds before he managed to nod.
“Y-Yeah, that’s fine.” Virgil saw Roman grin.
“Perfect!” Roman stepped closer and before anyone, much less Virgil, could react, Roman reached down and scooped him up into the palm of his hand.
It took Virgil a second to gain his bearings and realize exactly where he was, but when he did he stopped breathing. He was on a hand. He was on a hand.
“Roman!” Patton suddenly shouted and Roman stopped to turn toward the other giant. Patton was looking at Virgil with a concerned look and Logan, who had stood, was glaring at Roman. Roman looked down at Virgil before a blush settled on his cheeks.
“Oh shoot, oh shoot, I’m so sorry, uh, ah-” He heard the giant stammer out and soon Virgil found himself placed on the coffee table. Roman backpedaled several steps when he set Virgil down and the human found himself very confused at what had just happened. Because…what had just happened?
“I am so sorry, I got too excited, I didn’t mean to pick you up like that!” Roman apologized, which Virgil could only blink at in response.
“And we had just spoken about this exact thing too…” Virgil heard Logan mutter behind him and he turned to face the other two giants. Logan was pinching the bridge of his nose and Patton was looking at him with concern. He kneeled down, but kept his distance, though that didn’t stop Virgil from backing up a few steps anyway.
“Are you alright kiddo?” Patton asked him. Virgil searched the giant’s face, but saw nothing but concern. Tentatively, he nodded.
“I-I’m alright.” Virgil spoke, fidgeting with his sleeves. Logan was the next to kneel down, to the right of Patton.
“Please don’t take anything that Roman says or does as bad, he is just an idiot.” Logan spoke, causing Roman to glare at the back of his head.
“Hey!” Roman kneeled down next, now looking at Virgil. “I’m so sorry Virgil, I wasn’t thinking.” Logan rolled his eyes.
“Of course you weren’t, that’s why I called you an idiot.” Roman let out a series of offended noises.
“Why you-!”
“Guys! Please…” Patton cut Roman off, looking between the both of them with a pointed look. Roman huffed but didn’t pick up his last sentence. Logan merely adjusted his glasses and turned away from Roman. Patton shook his head, though Virgil could indicate some sort of fondness in it.
Patton’s eyes once again met Virgil’s.
“I’m-We’re sorry about all this. We’ve never met a human in person before and we were trying to make a good first impression. I guess we’re all just a little…nervous.” Virgil blinked. They were nervous. About meeting him. But they were the giants here. He was just a small, pathetic human. What reason would they have to be nervous. Patton continued to speak.
“And we, we entered the program close to a year ago now and yet no one wanted to come live with us…” Patton trailed off, a sad look in his eyes.
“Of course, we don’t blame anyone.” Logan spoke, sighing as he fixed his glasses. “It is well known that a lot humans fear giants. And it is indeed an acceptable fear to have, considering things like human trafficking is still going on and-” Virgil was thankful when Roman cut him off.
“But when we heard that a human had chosen us, we were so excited! We immediately started setting everything up, making everything look perfect.”
“We talked to each other about how we were going to act when you got here, I even made a list.” Logan said, holding up a notebook seemingly from out of nowhere, giving Virgil a chance to look it over.
- Patton will answer the door
- Patton will then lead the human to the living room
- We introduce ourselves
- Wait for human to introduce self
After that, it was a mesh of ideas on what to do after he had introduced himself. He couldn’t tell what the order was for the rest or if there even was an order. Probably not, based on Logan’s earlier muttered question. He also noticed that the handwriting changed throughout the page.
“We just wanted this to go perfectly.” Patton’s voice drew him out of the notebook in order to look at the other giant. He was fidgeting with the hoodie wrapped around his shoulders. “We…really do want to give you a good home here.”
Virgil was honestly speechless. He couldn’t comprehend everything the giants had spoken. Were they…really trying so hard for…him?
He noticed the giant’s exchange sad and worried looks when he didn’t speak, Patton bit his lip. “Can we still show you your room? Before you…uh…” Virgil wasn’t quite sure what Patton was going to say, though he had an inkling. He didn’t speak, but he nodded.
“Awesome! Alright, uh…” Patton looked between Logan and Roman, before Roman swooped in and offered a hand, palm up in front of Virgil. Virgil backed away from it, but froze when he realized it wasn’t chasing after him.
“I am sorry about earlier. But, I was wondering…May I give you a ride?” Virgil blinked, but he supposed it was the best option. He was still very afraid of being near these giants, but so far they hadn’t been bad. In fact, they had been…great so far. Surprisingly. This was not at all how Virgil had expected this to go.
He took a deep breath and carefully climbed onto the hand. He could feel the giants gazes on him for a brief moment, before they seemed to shake out of it and they all stood.
Virgil planted his hands on the palm to hold himself in place as Roman stood up and moved. They all walked in silence, coming into a rather large hallway and walking until they were at the end of it.
They stopped and it took Virgil a minute to understand what he was looking at. But when he did, his eyes widened.
The wall had been cut into, creating a staircase that went into the wall and zigzagged back and forth with windows following it up. It led to a room, that slightly protruded out of the wall and had a balcony attached to it. It was at about the height of the giant’s chest and though he could barely see the inside. The outside alone was enough to make him stare in awe.
“Do you like it?” Roman asked him, his voice flowing into Virgil. “I created the room a few months back and when we got your file I tried my best to decorate it with your style. I hope it uh, I mean, I hope you like it?”
Virgil couldn’t help it. They had done all this for him. Had planned this for him. Wanted him to stay, even after having seen his profile, even after meeting him. They were trying to make him feel at home and it was the most anyone had ever done for him.
He started to cry.
“V-Virgil?!”
“Oh no…”
“Kiddo! Are alright, is something wrong? Does Roman need to put you down?” All three of them were worried and Roman even went to kneel down, but Virgil turned back and smiled at them. Shocking the three giants.
“T-Thank you. I just-Thanks.” Virgil managed to get out. The other calmed down and soft smiles even settled on all their faces.
“Does…that mean you like it?” Roman asked nervously. And Virgil nodded.
“I love it.” Roman beamed at his words and he seemed to be standing up a little straighter now.
“Does this mean…you want to stay?” Patton asked, even more nervous than Roman had been. The others now matched his nervousness with their looks and Virgil fidgeted.
“Only…If you’ll have me.” Patton blinked, before grinning. He slowly and gently offered a hand to Virgil, who hesitated, but took it. Climbing out of Roman’s hand and into Patton’s.
Man, being in two giant hands in one day. He never thought that would happen.
“Of course kiddo, of course.” Patton smiled down at him. “You were the one to give us a chance after all.” Virgil blinked before smiling himself, tears filling his eyes again.
“Well, you were the only ones to give me a chance, so…thanks, again.” Virgil said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. Silence fell over them once again, but this time it wasn’t awkward. It was comfortable, nice.
“How about we have some dinner? The lasagna Patton put in the oven should be just about done by now.” Logan suggested and everyone nodded. They headed into the kitchen, Patton placing Virgil on the table as he got out the food.
As Virgil sat and ate with his new roommates for the first time, he knew it was going to be hard. A human living with three giants was gonna take more than a little getting used to. Not to mention he was still terrified of them, though he found he was more scared of their size than he actually was of them. Still, it would be a long while until he felt comfortable around them.
But they gave him a chance.
So he would give them one as well.