Chapter Text
It was a beautiful afternoon in Breckenridge, Colorado. The sun shone down bright and clear on mountain peaks still tipped with snow despite the early summer warmth. A large bus rumbled into town, keeping to the side streets until it pulled into the nearly vacant parking lot of a motel- the Knight’s Inn.
The bus shuddered to a stop and sank slightly, like a great beast settling itself against the pavement. The doors opened and people flooded out- there were groans as they stretched stiff legs, talk of the long trip they were in the middle of, and relief to be stopping at such a gorgeous halfway point. Gradually they all filtered into the motel office to grab room keys and information about the town.
Once they had all disappeared, the last couple of passengers – unseen and unknown by all the rest – disembarked.
Underneath the metal step at the back of the bus, in a small alcove near the now-silent engine, a fishing line was cast down. A small man barely more than six inches tall slipped down it and landed on the cracked pavement beneath the bus. Sawyer stumbled a bit but soon reached over to steady the line as Charlie slid down it after him. Sawyer – a young man nearly an entire inch taller than Charlie, with short dark hair and a quick smile – grinned at his friend even as he gave the fishing line an expert flick to release the hook from the top.
Charlie simply sighed in relief. “I thought I would lose my hearing there for a while,” he admitted, his own quiet voice still sounding fuzzy in his ears after hours of listening to the roar of the bus engine so close.
“It’ll get better,” Sawyer promised, reaching over to ruffle Charlie’s yellow-blond hair. “You’ll feel good to be back in the walls of somewhere too.”
That garnered an emphatic nod from Charlie even as he followed Sawyer to the edge of the bus’ shadow. “Absolutely,” he agreed. Their conversation paused for a moment as they both looked out, double-checking that there were no humans about before darting into the long grass near the edge of the motel. Once they were sufficiently hidden again Charlie added, “I can’t believe you convinced me to get on a bus again.”
“How else were we going to move to a different state?” Sawyer turned to give Charlie a grin, knowing the statement alone represented a rather daring enterprise for people as small as they were- but they were making it happen. “Believe me, by the time we get there tomorrow, it’ll be over and you won’t have to do it again for a long time. Maybe ever!”
“One can hope,” Charlie dryly muttered. He hovered behind Sawyer and adjusted the pack on his back as Sawyer tried to find a good pipe outlet that could let them into the walls. Another worry was on his mind and he soon voiced it. “Are you sure it’s safe for us to be staying in the walls of the motel tonight? I mean, I don’t particularly want to spend the night on the cold metal of the bus step, but I don’t want us to miss the bus tomorrow morning and be stuck here either.”
Sawyer waved a hand over his shoulder, not even looking back to dismiss Charlie’s concerns. “It’ll be fine,” he assured his friend. “I heard the bus driver, they’re not leaving until ten tomorrow morning, and we’re always up before then. We’ll be able to get on the bus at least an hour before the humans do.” Charlie nodded, recognizing the logic in that.
With a muffled noise of triumph, Sawyer found a way into one of the pipes and beckoned Charlie over. The two of them slipped into the walls of the Knight’s Inn, disappearing from sight.
Several rooms away, tucked inside the motel's sturdy walls, the sudden influx of guests disturbed what was supposed to be a routine day. Loud, muffled voices filtered into the space between the rooms and echoed into the vents as the guests settled in. Talks of nearby restaurants and shops mingled among the excited tourists that suddenly filled the motel.
Walking among the dust and dark in those walls, a small figure huffed and rubbed at his eyes. Barely two inches tall and wearing soft cloth wrapped around his feet, he went completely unnoticed on his way.
His whole life depended on no one hearing him there. He'd taken that fact to heart early on in his young life.
Oscar's bag bumped against his side in a gentle rhythm as he went. He'd woken up late that morning, later than usual, and missed the cleanup in several rooms. That wouldn't do; his pantry was sparse coming out of the springtime lull at the motel, and he needed to keep ahead. There could have been good food waiting in those rooms now lost forever in the trash or the terrifying inner workings of a vacuum.
He'd thought his luck might be turning around before the sudden arrival of several guests all at once. During his second supply run, he'd found a piece of cheese and a raisin, as well as a tiny screw from some eyeglasses.
Not a total loss. He wouldn't pull ahead of his supply, but he wouldn't have to pare down his food for the night either. Some days, that was all he could ask.
Someone burst out laughing in one of the rooms he walked between, and Oscar flinched. Oscar stared at the wall as he walked as if he might see through it to the giants beyond. Layers of wallpaper, plaster, wood slats, and dust formed a protective barrier between him and the humans out there. The noise only offered a reminder of why he had to hide.
Humans were big. Big, powerful, and dangerous. To them, he was a pest in his own home. He'd been born in the Knight's Inn, but he was less welcome there than the people staying only a night or two at a time.
He moved on with another huff of a sigh. It didn't matter what the giants out there thought of him, if they never knew he was there. He'd learned well from his mom, and her lessons stayed at the fore of his mind whenever he ventured out of his home.
With his well-earned dinner already tucked away in his bag and with humans making noise on all sides, Oscar decided to call it a day. He had some sewing waiting for him back at his house that could keep him busy until it was time to eat.
With a plan made, he set his course on a pathway through the walls that he worked hard to keep clear of too much dust. Home, and safety, awaited.
Charlie and Sawyer walked through the walls as well, more curious than nervous. “You know,” Sawyer began, his voice quiet enough that no human in any of the motel rooms they passed could hear him, “I think there might be other viri living here.” Viri like themselves – similar to humans in everything but their size – were known to eke out a living just about anywhere.
Charlie turned to him with an expression of surprise. “You really think so? In a place like this?” It was hard for him to imagine living in a motel, after a lifetime of living in human houses and apartments. There, you could get used to the schedule of the humans, and have a steady source of food. Here everything seemed so… transient. Dangerously so.
“Yeah,” Sawyer maintained. “Look, the dust has been cleared away and stuff. That has to be viri work.” It was too neat to be mice or other creatures. A hopeful smile crossed Sawyer’s face. “Maybe we’ll meet somebody.”
They were both still musing upon the idea when they turned a corner and did just that. The two of them froze as they saw a small figure at the other end of the dark wall space, not six inches away.
“Oh!” Charlie softly exclaimed. The stranger was small, just a young child, and Charlie put on a polite smile as he rested his hands on his knees and leaned down slightly to address him. “Hello there.”
Oscar stood frozen, his feet planted close together and his hand clutched in front of his chest, as if he might appear even smaller than he already was. His brown eyes were wide in the dark, but not from lack of vision. His head tilted back to take in the appearance of the strangers, and his heart fluttered at the details he found.
For one, they were much larger than any adults he'd known. Oscar had a personal goal to reach three and a half inches tall by adulthood, but even the smaller of this pair outmatched that. At heights like theirs, Oscar didn't even have a guess for how big they were.
His mom's advice was silent for this situation. All he knew was that the giants were supposed to stay outside of the walls.
"Ohh," he muttered, barely more than a squeak of dismay.
When he didn't know what to do, Oscar had a fallback plan that hadn't failed him yet. The only tricky obstacle was that the two small-but-giant strangers stood between him and his goal. With that in mind, he didn't make any indication of his plan until he'd already bolted, darting right past the one stooping down and swerving around the taller one. Another tiny noise escaped him as he all but scurried away. His bag bounced more heavily against his side as he ran, as if urging him on.
“Wha- wait!” Charlie exclaimed, whirling around as the child sprinted past them. He watched in surprise as the little runner slipped around the corner. Sawyer close on his heels, Charlie rushed to where the child had gone, turning the corner in time to see him sprinting down the hall. “Goodness,” murmured Charlie, worry in his voice. He hadn’t meant to scare the poor dear.
Sawyer started off down the corridor, his strides hasty and long, and Charlie stepped quickly to keep up with him as they followed the child- they both assumed he was probably headed home, and at the very least they needed to greet his parents. It was only polite.
With that in mind, Sawyer muttered to Charlie, “Didn’t anybody ever teach him to say hello?” It was unusual for viri to be met with anything but welcome from other viri. They all had a common enemy outside the walls; being exclusive or aggressive would only put both parties in danger.
“Sawyer, he’s just a young child,” Charlie immediately chastised, his voice little more than a whisper. “He probably hasn’t seen visitors before and is going home to tell his parents.” Charlie doubted a child that small was allowed to wander too far into the walls by himself, so his home must be quite close. They would find out soon enough.
Oscar's breath came quick and short as he ran, and his heart pounded in his little chest. He had no idea if he could expect the strangers to be friendly or not, and he almost felt bad for not trying to find out, but one glance behind galvanized him onward. They didn't even have to run at more than a light jog to keep up with him, even with his speedy head start. He was just too small. The fear in his core wasn't the same as when he had to venture into the rooms; it was a fear of not knowing what might happen next.
He took one more corner, rueing that there wasn't a crossroads he could use to try to shake them off his trail. He couldn't run forever anyway, and by the time he came upon his house he was panting.
The home, cobbled together with broken pieces of drywall, plastic, and insulation fluff all wedged between some support boards, was a welcoming sight. Oscar all but smacked into the block of wood that formed his door, all in his haste to leap into the arms of safety. His hands shook as he shoved the block out of the way to slip onto his house; at least the opening was probably too small for the miniature giants to bother with. Even so, his heart did a flip when he glanced down the murky corridor and heard their footsteps still approaching. He didn't even shove the block all the way into place before flinching away from the door. He had to hide.
He didn't set aside his bag like he usually would on his way to the side room. A pile of blankets awaited, and Oscar dove into it, burrowing under like he'd seen many mice do. With one final whimper, he curled up into a ball under the weight of his blankets and hoped the strangers would overlook his home.
Outside of his little house, it was mere moments before Charlie and Sawyer came across it. “Is this… does he live here?” Sawyer wondered aloud, though his voice was little more than a mumble. He didn’t want to offend anybody inside if he was correct; but all the same, the construction was strange.
It looked like a house, cobbled-together drywall and everything, but it was really small. The whole thing was only as tall as Charlie. A family couldn’t possibly live in that thing comfortably.
“It would seem so,” Charlie quietly agreed, just as confused and concerned. This entire situation was beginning to feel quite out of the ordinary. Stepping forward to the wooden block mostly covering the equally tiny entrance, he knocked on it. “Hello?” he called into the little house. “I’m sorry, we appear to have startled your son on accident. We just stopped by to say hello.” He did hope the parents were home- it would be nice to reassure the child that they were friendly.
Within his warm, muffled bundle of blankets, Oscar flinched and tried to curl up into an even smaller ball. "I'm not here," he muttered to himself, knowing he couldn't shout at them to go away now. They'd found his house, but he could still hope he was safe. His house was always safe.
No sound reached out the doorway for Charlie or Sawyer to hear. The house was quiet, as if it was holding its breath to see what happened next.
Charlie and Sawyer shared a worried look. “Charlie, I’m getting a really bad feeling about this,” Sawyer quietly admitted. “We should, um, we should check on the kid, right? Make sure he’s okay.”
Nodding, Charlie agreed, “Yes, I think we should.” He had the same uneasy feeling in his chest. There was something very wrong indeed about this entire thing, and they needed to find out what. Kneeling down, he pushed aside the block covering the small entrance and peered inside the little house.
His eyes widened as, even in the dim light, he saw the interior. It was a relatively limited space, really just one room and a smaller room half tucked away off of it. There was the standard makeshift furniture, but it was all the size a child would use, nothing bigger. Mostly empty shelves added a sense of bareness to the otherwise cozy space. What was most concerning, however, was that there were no signs of others living there- no extra shoes or clothes that would fit anybody older than the small child they had seen, no more than one of anything necessary lying around.
“Oh my god,” Charlie whispered, a horrible realization dawning on him. He turned to look back up at Sawyer, his green eyes wet with sudden emotion. “Sawyer… I think he’s alone.”
Sawyer’s own expression became hollow with shock as he put a hand up to his mouth. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered.
Resolve overcame Charlie. “I’m going to go talk to the poor dear and find out what’s going on,” he determined. They needed answers. On his hands and knees, Charlie carefully made his way into the little house, being careful not to bump into anything. Frowning, he looked around and noticed the blankets in the side room, a sad sort of softness awash in his expression.
Children always hid under the bed when they were scared. He would bet anything that’s where the young child was.
The hushed words didn't reach Oscar, only their tone. They seemed upset, but he couldn't parse why through his own worry. He shuddered, knowing they'd opened up his sturdy little door. There wasn't supposed to be something in the walls that could do that besides Oscar, and maybe the others on the far side of the motel. They didn't come by often, and they always made Oscar nervous for reasons he couldn't explain.
Hadn't he done everything right? He did his chores every day, and he always went out looking for food and supplies and followed all the rules. He tried, every day, and didn’t have an answer to the questions flooding him now.
Tentatively, when the voices outside tapered off, Oscar shifted one hand out of his fearful curl to shift the edge of one blanket up. Not enough to come out, but to sneak a peek.
An instant of startled eye contact later with one of the strangers now in his house, Oscar squeaked and hurriedly burrowed himself further into the bed of blankets.