Chapter Text
“Here you go.” There was a thud as Logan set the cage down on the desk, a blanket overtop it to hide its contents. Dee stood up, looming over it eagerly.
“Excellent.” Dr. Dee smirked, ripping the blanket off. He peered inside, ready to see the tiny people. The fairy creatures that had avoided him for so long… But instead, he found himself frowning down at an empty cage.
“What is this?” The professor snarled, turning to glare at Logan. The student looked unfazed. “I specifically asked for its contents as well.”
“I am aware.” Logan said coolly.
“Mr. Sanders, now is not the time for your attitude.” Dee spat. “As head of this department, it is my duty to oversee all experimentation regarding live subjects.”
“I am aware.” Logan repeated.
“So where are your subjects?” Dee questioned him.
“I assure you sir, they are right there.” Logan pointed to the empty cage.
“Mr. Sanders-”
“There were never any specimens in that cage.” Logan kept a straight face through his lie. “When you asked for the contents, all you requested was an empty cage.” He gave the professor a stiff smile. “I am sorry if I have disappointed you in some way.”
The two stared at each other for a few minutes, Logan trying to keep his unaffected demeanor going despite the fact the dean seemed determined to burn a hole into his skull with his death glare.
“Get out of my office.” Dee growled. That was all it took. With a quick nod, Logan practically bolted out of there.
Logan gave a sigh of relief, walking down the hall. Now more than ever he was grateful he hadn’t turned in Virgil to that man. What a horrifying ordeal that would have been. Logan shuddered, remembering when he himself had been small enough to fit in that cage. Even though he knew Dr. Dee personally, Logan could only imagine that should he have found himself in Dee’s clutches Logan would have earned a similar terrifying fate.
Regardless, none of that mattered now. The borrowers were not in the professor’s clutches, and instead were waiting safely at home.
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Virgil was currently alone. Logan was off returning the cage and Roman and Patton were off in their own places. So Virgil had decided it would be a good opportunity to stock up on some things for his home. His home that still needed to be fixed, but Roman said he would swing by later to see what he could do.
It had been a week since the four had woken up in their beds at their normal sizes. It had been a little…awkward, at least on Virgil’s end at first, and a bit scary. But both borrowers had kept their promise to stay. Virgil had even hung out with Roman, right alongside Patton. It had been…nice.
Virgil and Logan’s relationship on the other hand was…tense. They were acting civil towards each other though and at the very least, Logan didn’t seem mad at Virgil for what he had done. At least, he didn’t express it.
So, things were going…well…at least Virgil wasn’t dead.
Right now, Virgil found himself on the kitchen counter, stuffing a few crackers that Logan had left out into his bag.
Logan knocked softly on the front door, waiting a moment just in case the borrower was on the other side. Slowly he creaked it open, looking around.
“Virgil?” Logan called out, closing the door behind him.
Virgil stopped and tensed, before forcing himself to relax. He wasn’t used to this, having Logan knowing about him. He felt so exposed,out here in the open. Oh geez and what would Logan say about Virgil borrowing from him? Should he even answer the human? Maybe Virgil could just slip away…
Before the borrower could do so, Logan stepped into the kitchen. His eyes landed on his smaller roommate. The two shared a brief moment of silence.
“…oh.” Logan noted the crackers in front of Virgil. “I was going to make some dinner.”
“I’m not hungry.” Virgil said, wincing as he didn’t even believe his own lie. He was taking crackers for heaven’s sake. He just wanted to leave, still not completely comfortable with Logan. He didn’t know if he would ever be.
“…That’s fine.” Logan looked away, not wanting Virgil to feel put on the spot. Instead he busied himself with pulling out ingredients. “I’m glad you found the crackers.”
Virgil looked away. “Yeah…” This was starting to get awkward for Virgil, so he coughed to clear his throat. “I’m, uh, gonna get going now…” Virgil turned to leave.
Please don’t go. Logan paused, mentally thinking of all the things he wished to say to Virgil. I’m sorry I’ve treated you so horribly. I don’t want you to live in fear anymore. This is your house as much as mine. Stay for dinner and you can have whatever you want.
“Okay.” Logan spoke aloud, returning to his task almost mechanically. “I won’t force you to stay.”
Virgil nodded and left without another word. He sighed in relief when he was back inside the walls. How were they ever gonna make this work?
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Patton bit his lip nervously as he sat at the edge of the counter, kicking his legs back and forth, half watching Roman making dinner. Thomas was coming over to eat with them and Patton was…nervous to say the least. Thomas had been with his family for a week now and Patton had yet to see him since turning back to normal. And yeah, he had had a great time with Thomas when he was human sized, but he had no idea what to expect now that he was a borrower again. “What time did Thomas say he was coming?” He asked Roman, turning to him fully.
“As soon as his class finished up he was heading over.” Roman glanced at the clock while he continued to stir the spaghetti sauce. “So in about 10 minutes, I’d say.”
“O-Oh, cool.” Patton knew from experience that ten minutes wasn’t that long. Thomas would be here in no time. But it would be fine. Thomas was a good human and Roman was there too. He had nothing to worry about.
Roman paused his stirring briefly, looking down at the borrower. “Patton, are you alright?”
“Huh?” Patton met Roman’s eyes before turning away. “Um, yeah, I’m good. Everything’s fine.”
“Patton, it’s okay if you’re nervous.” Roman gave him an encouraging smile. He remembered what it was like to feel surrounded by humans when he was small.
Patton smiled back at him. “Okay, yeah, I’m…a little nervous. It’s just, this is the first time I’ll see Thomas as…me.” Patton said, looking down at his true borrower form.
“I get it.” Roman nodded. “But if it helps, Thomas was always very understanding when I was a borrower. Not to mention the fact that he’s over the moon to meet you for realsies, he’s been texting me all day.”
That both helped calm Patton down and made him more nervous. Somehow. An excited human could be a dangerous one, but he would take Roman’s word on how understanding Thomas was. After all, he had seen it himself when he was human sized. “Thanks, Ro.”
“Besides, I’ll keep an eye out for ya, Pat.” Roman gently nudged the borrower’s shoulder with his knuckle. “And if for some reason it becomes too much, I’ll just ask Thomas to leave.”
Patton flinched slightly at the contact, but otherwise didn’t react to it. He smiled up at Roman. “Okay.”
There was a few quick knocks at the door, before Thomas’ voice could be heard on the other side. “Anybody home?”
Roman set his stirring utensil to the side, wiping his hands on a towel before going to answer the door. “Thomas! come on in. Dinner’s nearly ready.”
“Ooh, what’s cooking?” Thomas took a deep breath in to catch the pleasant aroma.
“Spaghetti.” Roman smiled, leading the way into the kitchen.
Patton took in a deep breath when he heard Thomas and stood up. When Thomas entered the kitchen, he waved. “H-Hey Thomas.”
Thomas’ eyes widened, landing on the borrowers form. “…Hey, Patton.” Thomas gave almost a shy wave, looking almost giddy.
Roman chuckled. It was almost hard to tell who was more nervous. He began gathering up the food, putting it onto plates.
“How was class?” Patton asked Thomas, remembering that’s where Thomas had just come from.
“Oh, it was fine.” Thomas had hardly paid any attention, so focused on this very dinner that his mind kept wandering.
“Dinner is served.” Roman called out, balancing the plates as he brought them over to the table.
Thomas looked briefly back and forth between the table and Patton, not sure if it was his place to say, but… “Patton, would you like a hand?”
“O-Oh!” Patton blinked at the offer, thinking for a moment. He could trust Thomas, it was fine. “Yeah, that would be great.”
As Thomas put his hand down next to Patton, Roman came over to hover and watch in case something went wrong.
After a few moments of hesitation, Patton climbed onto Thomas’ palm. He settled down in the middle before giving Thomas a thumbs up.
Thomas turned around, only to find Roman standing right in front of him.
Roman’s intense gaze quickly morphed into a smile. “Be our guest!” Roman quoted Disney as he led both his friends to the table.
Thomas returned the smile, sitting down at one of the chairs with spaghetti in front of it. He set Patton down on the table next to a smaller plate that had been prepped for the borrower.
Patton nodded in thanks to Thomas, the ride not having been that bad. He then turned his attention to the spaghetti. “Oh, wow! This looks really good Roman!” He exclaimed, turning to said human.
“This tastes really good, Roman!” Thomas said through a mouthful, having already dug in.
“Why thank you.” Roman looked pleased with himself, starting in on his own pasta. Of course, he still glanced at Patton, worried the borrower wouldn’t like it.
Patton took a piece of the noodle, ignoring how the sauce got all over him, and blew on it before taking a bite. His eyes lit up. “This is so good!” He took another bite, sauce getting all over his face…and clothes.
Roman snorted into his own pasta, trying to hide it with a napkin.
“Uh, glad you like it Patton!” Thomas was hiding a grin of his own, already prepping a napkin for Patton.
Patton took another noodle and another bite. Oblivious to what Thomas and Roman found so funny. And oblivious to how much sauce he was getting on himself, too focused on eating the delicious food.
“Patton, you’ve got a little something on, uh…” Roman gestured pretty much everywhere. Of course, this only caused Thomas to let out an audible chuckle disguised as a cough.
Patton blinked at Roman, before looking down at himself. He blushed in slight embarrassment when he realized how messy he had gotten. “Whoops.” He put down his half-eaten noodle and started to try and shake the sauce off.
“Here.” Thomas said gently, holding out the napkin.
Patton took the napkin, looking sheepish. “Thank you.” He did his best to use the corner of the napkin to get most of the sauce off. His clothes would need a good washing though when he got back home.
“No problem.” Thomas smiled down at the borrower, before pushing his own empty plate forwards. “So, what now?”
“Well, we could watch a movie?” Roman suggested, looking to Patton for his approval. “Your pick of course, Patton.”
“Oh! Really? Well, uh…” Patton thought for a minutes, trying to remember what that movie he had been watching before was called. “I think it was called Tinkerbell? The movie I was watching before, when ah…you know.” Patton said, wincing a little at the memory. Everything was fine now, of course, but the past were still hard to think about.
“Tinkerbell it is.” Roman nodded, trying to remember which one Patton had been on when he…Roman cringed, remembering when he first caught Patton.
“I love Tinkerbell!” Thomas was oblivious to their discomfort, standing up and putting his hand next to Patton. “Which one?”
“Secret of the Wings.” Roman answered, the film finally coming to mind.
“I’m excited to finally finish it!” Patton said, trying to push the memories away. He climbed onto the offered hand with little to no hesitation this time. It was getting easier, which Patton was happy about.
Thomas walked over, taking Patton to the living room. He set Patton down on the coffee table, then began setting up the movie.
Roman, meanwhile, was working on scrubbing dishes. He washed them all, being careful with patton’s saucer. Though it was still large for the borrower, it was the smallest Roman had, and he didn’t want to break it.
Finally satisfied, Roman dried off his hands and joined the others in the living room, seeing the movie had already started.
Patton sat criss-cross on the coffee table, transfixed on the movie already. He was glad he didn’t have to worry about human’s coming up and grabbing him anymore. He looked behind him and gave the two humans a smile before turning back to the movie. He was perfectly safe.
“Does anyone want popcorn?” Roman asked. Thomas gave a nod, so Roman retreated back into the kitchen.
Patton glanced behind him to see Roman go, before turning back to the screen.
Soon the human returned, a big bowl of popcorn in hand. He set it down on the couch, between himself and Thomas. Roman was going to offer Patton a seat, but Thomas beat him to it.
“Hey Patton, want to come up here?” Thomas asked, putting his hand down next to the borrower.
Patton turned around, noticing the offered hand. “Sure!” He climbed on.
Roman watched as Patton was placed up onto Thomas’ shoulder, trying not to feel jealous as Thomas gave him a few popcorn pieces to munch on adorably.
It’s just a movie, calm down. Roman scolded himself, grabbing some popcorn for himself and turning his attention back to the screen.