Chapter Text
Most of the furniture already sat where it should in the apartment, but boxes still stacked up and cluttered the space. Adrian set the last box on the couch with a huff, his pale blue eyes scanning the main room. Where to start? Moving was exciting, but unpacking... not so much. So far the only indication that the place was his was the fresh college diploma on the wall.
Adrian's gaze stopped on the shopping bag on the counter, a small box visible through the plastic. With a sigh, he took the box from the bag and glanced over the packaging. At least his mother had bought humane mouse traps... Adrian couldn't really stomach dead things, even dead rodents. But she had insisted he check for mice. He decided to set one in the cabinet under the kitchen sink for now, and went to his bedroom to put his clothes away.
It had not been a good day for Charlie.
It hadn't even been a good week. Not only had the human tenants of his house decided to move to Alaska, of all places, but another tenant hadn't rented the place until a week later. Charlie hated the idea of getting used to a new human resident, but after a week without a steady source of food it had almost been a relief to see the new one move in. From the few glimpses he had seen so far the new human seemed to be alright, though it was so hard to tell. At the very least he would have food with him. Charlie had been subsiding off of what little he had saved, which wasn't much. Unfortunately the human didn't seem to be in any hurry to unpack, though if Charlie were honest with himself it would be safest to do his scavenging at night anyways.
At the moment he still needed water though, and the container in his own rooms being empty he headed for the drip under the sink. (The last humans had kept trying to fix it, but he kept boring a new hole in it. It was just too convenient to not have.) His thoughts were busy with ideas about the new human and if he would notice, so Charlie didn't realize what was wrong until too late.
He tripped on the edge of something that wasn't usually there, falling forward onto a hard, metallic surface. Before he could get up, or even figure out where he was, something large and heavy came down with a rush of air. It crashed onto his leg, pinning it to the floor and making him scream in pain. The sound was loud, too loud, but the only thing in his mind was the searing agony in his leg.
Adrian had about half of his clothes tucked neatly in the drawer. He had insisted nobody help him pack or unpack his things- by all accounts, Adrian was extremely meticulous and it tended to show in how he arranged his appearance (and the appearance of his home). So he always liked to keep track of where everything was. He just closed the top drawer when he heard the faint noise of something toppling over. He immediately had to go check.
Once he was back in the front room and could hear better, Adrian noticed the faint sound of agonized screams coming from under the sink. His already-fair skin paled and his eyes widened. Oh God... it's a mouse and it's dying oh my God , his panicked mind worried over and over. He opened the cabinet and quickly looked to the trap. It looked like something had indeed gotten trapped, but not all the way. The lid over the spring-loaded device was clamped down on... well, something. Adrian couldn't tell in the dim lighting under the sink. But whatever the creature was, it was clearly in agony.
Adrian, scared though he was to touch whatever it was that lived under his sink, couldn't bear to hear that noise much longer. So, with a grimace, he delicately reached out to press the release on the side of the device, meant to be used to set captive mice free outside. When the lid sprang back, so did Adrian, bumping his head in the process. He rubbed both hands over the newly forming lump on the back of his head, staring in shock at what the trap revealed to him. Did concussions work that quickly? No, he'd seen it before hitting his head... Adrian stared dumbly at what looked like a living doll lying under his sink.
The weight on his leg was released and Charlie drew it in with a whimper, curling into himself with tears leaking out of his eyes. The pain was not so sharp now, but still left room for nothing else, not even thought about what had happened. It wasn't until there was a loud thump above him that he opened his eyes, only to have them widen in horror. A human was crouched over him, rubbing its head and looking at him with shock.
He had been seen. He had been seen .
Without concern for anything else, Charlie scrambled up in terror, his only coherent thought to escape back into the wall before the human caught him. But he wasn't even able to take a step before his leg gave out on him completely, toppling him to the ground yet again. He crawled desperately towards the wall, his useless leg dragging behind him.
Adrian sucked in a breath when the little person-creature tried to stand up. He knew well enough by looking that the leg was broken. So it was no surprise to him when it fell over immediately. Poor little guy... this was exactly why Adrian didn't want a kill trap. Not that this was turning out much better for anyone. He watched it try to crawl away slowly, and noticed the hole in the back of the cabinet.
With a start, Adrian removed his hands from his bruise and placed them like a barricade in front of the small creature. Leaning so far into the cabinet at this point, he certainly felt like he was blotting out all of the light. His hands tense with nerves, Adrian wondered what he would do next, and he wondered whether he'd be able to handle the little creature carefully enough if it came to it. All he knew for certain was that if it disappeared into the wall with that kind of injury, it would surely die.
"I-I'm sorry, for uh, the trap. I thought it was supposed to be pain free, really," he finally managed to speak, in a quavery, timid voice. For some reason Adrian really wanted it to be known that he didn't actively seek to cause trouble, even for small things living in his walls.
The hands crashed down in front of Charlie, effectively stopping him from going any further. He slumped to the hard floor, exhausted from pain and terror. Then the human spoke, the words filtering slowly into his pain addled mind. Trap... of course, it had been a mousetrap. There hadn't been mice in the building for years, Charlie had seen to that, but of course the new human wouldn't know. Speaking of whom, he seemed nervous. What for Charlie could hardly imagine, him being a behemoth with a perfectly good leg and therefore quite the opposite of Charlie. Still, for some reason Charlie took a bit of comfort in the words- at least the human had apologized, something he certainly hadn't expected.
Adrian took several more seconds to let the sharp pain in his head subside to a dull ache. Conveniently, the time also helped him to convince himself that he was not hallucinating. There was in fact a tiny, human-shaped creature trapped by his hands. His heart jumped when it lay down, giving up. Is it dead? Did I kill it? Oh God, it's dead... He glanced around the sparse cabinet, wondering what to do. He couldn't tell if it was still breathing or not. He noticed, in the corner, a small dustpan, the kind used for hand brooms.
Adrian snatched up the dustpan. He had to get the little person out of the cabinet to get a better look. Curiosity was starting to override his nerves. Plus, this way he wouldn't have to worry about mishandling it and causing more damage. He set the pan next to the little thing and, as gently as he could, nudged it onto the pan. As if he was handling glass, Adrian drew the pan out of the dark cabinet. He sighed with relief to see that it was still breathing. He was struck with another wave of awe to realize that he was staring at a person that fit on a dustpan.
Charlie offered no resistance as the human nudged him onto something flat and smooth; he was in too much pain to do anything but whimper slightly as the movement jarred his leg. Inside though his heart was racing, his mind going a mile a minute as he fully realized his predicament. Not only had he been seen, he had been caught, and couldn't do anything about it thanks to his leg. It was like one of his worst nightmares come to life.
The surface beneath him rose suddenly, sending his heart leaping to his throat. He closed his eyes tightly, as if everything would go away if he just couldn't see it. He didn't want to be here, not up so high, not captured by a human, not with what was surely a broken leg. All he wanted was to go home to his cozy rooms in the walls and have everything be alright again. Tears started flowing again at these thoughts, and he didn't bother to wipe them away. What was the point any more? His life as he knew it was over.
Adrian could do nothing but stare for a few more seconds. A tiny person, living and breathing, had been living in the walls of his new apartment, and who knew how long? He marveled at the faint movement of its chest as it breathed. Then, Adrian squinted and noticed the eyes shut tight, leaking tears. So the poor little guy was awake. Suddenly he felt sheepish for staring, even though he knew his curiosity was natural. He stood and placed the pan on the counter, as softly as he could. Adrian looked at the injured leg and winced to notice its shape.
It's broken. I broke his leg. What do I do?! his mind screamed in panic. Adrian tried to remember what should be done about a broken leg. He was no doctor. He imagined taking the little guy to a doctor... And shuddered to imagine the reaction. They would probably take the little person away. No, he would have to help on his own.
"You need... um... a splint. Yeah." And some aspirin probably, he realized. With one last long glance at the tiny person lying on his counter, Adrian went to find his box with the first aid kit, which should have been stacked somewhere in the living room.
The surface Charlie was on was set down again, the jolt carrying up through his leg and making him wince. He stayed still as the human said something about a splint. Charlie didn't understand; was the man honestly going to try and help him? From what he had always been told humans weren't to be trusted, especially when the well being of those smaller than them was concerned. On the other hand, it wasn't as if Charlie could stop the human from doing anything at all, so it was rather a moot point.
The human left the room and Charlie dared to open his eyes. He couldn't see very much lying down as he was, but it was enough to realize that he was up on the kitchen counter. Biting into his lip to keep from screaming at the pain he struggled into a seated position, his leg bent awkwardly in front of him. It looked all... wrong , and he quickly averted his gaze. Trying to think clearly he took a look around. The first thing he noticed was that he seemed to be sitting in a dustpan, of all things. More importantly, he could see one of his usual escape routes just a foot away. If he could just make it there...