Work Text:
Patton raced across the tile flooring of his house, socks allowing him to slide like a skater. He quickly grabbed a plastic cup with cartoonish lizards drawn all over it and a piece of light blue construction paper resting on a nearby windowsill. Then, in a hurry he threw open the door to his lanai, or patio as his mom usually called it. He took a moment to scan the screened area. There were white metal beams supporting a screen that encased the concrete slab. He had a rectangular pool towards the back of the screen cage that was covered in pollen and bugs. He winced when he caught sight of it, thinking about how long it has been since he cleaned it. Then, his eyes quickly snapped back to the screen door on the side of the pool cage, silently berating himself for getting distracted. Patton caught sight of his brother’s cat, intently watching something in the corner near the screen.
“Nova!” Patton shouted the cat’s name, causing her to scurry away at being caught. Patton ran over to the corner that Nova had been sitting in and mentally prepared himself for a nasty sight, but he was extremely relieved when he looked down to see a completely alive and breathing lizard sitting near the bottom of the screen.
“Hey little guy,” Patton said to the creature, relief evident in his voice. He took note of the lizard’s missing tail, a sign that the cat had given him a good chase. “Don’t worry buddy,” Patton continued, “I’m just going to snake you back home, okay?” Patton giggled at his own pun while herding the lizard into his cup and exiting the lanai.
The young boy looked around his yard for a safe place to put his lizard friend before deciding on a palmetto bush a few feet away. He remembered seeing a lot of lizards over there and hoped that if he let this guy go there he could make some friends. Patton set the cup on the ground and shook it a few times until the lizard scurried into the brush. After making sure that the small reptile was fine, Patton went back inside and put his cup back on the window sill where it belongs until needed again.
Patton had been doing this same routine for a long time. He’d find a lizard trapped in his lanai, catch it before the cat could, and release it outside where it could live a normal lizard life. He didn’t always succeed at catching the lizards, though. Sometimes, Nova would catch the lizard first, or it would climb too high for Patton’s short frame to reach. But regardless of potential failure, Patton always tried.
Patton liked to apply that way of thinking to a lot of different things in his life too. When he started middle school earlier that year he tried to make friends, when he really didn’t understand his math homework he tried to get a grasp of the subject (even if he did need his brother’s help), and he always tried to do the right thing. Even in middle school, when children were starting to adopt a more rebellious mindset, Patton was still a wonderful kid.
The next morning, Patton woke up at around 10:00 AM. It was halfway through the first week of Summer vacation and he was already in the habit of sleeping in. Like a bear waking from its hibernation, Patton slowly got out of bed. The young boy glanced at his Hello Kitty alarm clock and frowned slightly. This late in the day, Patton was sure that his older brother, Logan, had eaten all the Crofters already. He would just have to check if they had any toaster waffles for him to eat instead.
As Patton finished his waffles he considered what he should do with his day. He could ask Logan to do something with him, but the older boy was probably busy. Patton’s brother was going to start college next year and he insisted he needed to research the subjects he would be learning in preparation. Patton wondered how long it would last until Logan’s research veered into a topic completely unrelated from his major.
Patton moved to go wash his plate as he continued to ponder. He could always call his friends from school. He had been meaning to log onto Sophia’s Minecraft server but he always got distracted. Or maybe the kids next door would want to play tag, what were their names again?
Patton’s thoughts came to a halt after he saw movement through the window. He saw as Nova pounced and chased an unseen creature across the lanai. Patton groaned and grabbed his lizard catching cup. It had only been a day since he caught the last one! There must be some hole in the screen. Knowing his parents’ tendencies to put off repairs, Patton thought that he would probably be dealing with this issue the whole Summer.
These thoughts passed through his head as he ran towards the door. Patton threw the thing open and shouted at his cat. “Nova!” he yelled with a tired voice, “Get inside you naughty cat!” The cat in question scurried inside at his raised voice, leaving whatever poor creature she’d been tormenting behind.
An important bit of information is that Patton had lived in Florida his whole life. His parents and brother had moved there from North Carolina before he was even born. Needless to say, he was very familiar with reptiles. He had learned many cautionary facts about all sorts of lizards, snakes, and turtles. And as a Floridian he disregarded the fear completely, but he still kept some of the knowledge, mostly because of his intellectual brother. So Patton knew a lot about reptiles.
Another important detail is that Patton is still a child. At the young age of 11, he mostly knew that magic and mythical creatures didn’t exist, but the hope that one day he would find a faerie or a mermaid wasn’t quite gone yet. So if he were to encounter something extraordinary like that, he might not be quite as shocked as an older and more grounded person.
So when Patton looked over towards the lizard Nova had terrorized -praying that it wouldn’t be grievously injured- he was extremely shocked to find that it wasn’t a lizard at all. But more than that, he was filled with a wonder that only finding the impossible can bring, as he looked down at the tiny person with a snake tail laying on the cold concrete of his patio.
Patton was swiftly pulled from his awestruck feeling of water when the tiny person collapsed in front of him. His eyes grew impossibly wider as reality hit the boy like an icy bucket of water. Guilt and panic began to swell in the young boy’s chest as he got to his knees trying to inspect the poor person. He wasn’t dead or anything, the rise and fall of his chest was enough to show Patton that. He surely wasn’t doing well though, otherwise he obviously would not have fainted. The little guy had just narrowly escaped the sharp claws of his own cat only to be found by what must seem to be a giant to him! He must have been so terrified that he fainted from fright! Or worse, perhaps he fainted from injuries. And all Patton did was stand there to watch.
The young boy contemplated what he should do with the little fellow. He had read enough storybooks to know that usually people weren’t happy with being taken to a giant’s lair, but he couldn’t just leave him here! Especially when he might be hurt or lost. With this thought in mind, Patton gently lifted the tiny form into his hands and made his way to his room.
Once Patton had arrived at the baby blue colored space, he set the limp body onto his desk as gently as possible. The young boy scoured his room for some small blankets and other bedding for his unexpected guest. He managed to find some old blankets used for stuffed animals and baby dolls and set up a bed like area near the window. Hopefully the sun’s rays heating the surface of his desk and the blankets would be enough for the odd creature.
As soon as the snake person seemed to have a decent set-up, Patton began to look closer at the strange enigma. He appeared to be around Logan’s age -roughly eighteen-, but who could tell with other species? Perhaps he was immortal like fairies. Though earlier, Patton had thought his torso was completely human -like a centaur-, upon closer examination, his upper body did have some reptilian features. He had greyish-yellow scales trailing up the left side of his face, and a few on his right, though much sparser. It looked like he had red scales around his left eye and in a line from his mouth to the center of his ear, but it seemed they were scars. Patton felt his stomach lurch at the sight. It was so sad! The poor thing had been hurt before.
Patton ripped his eyes from the injuries. Not much could be done about those now. He let his gaze fall to the long tail where the person’s legs should be. His tail was that same greyish yellow color with four brown stripes trailing from the tip to underneath his shirt. As his eyes lingered farther up, Patton noticed how strange the garment was. It was clearly dirty, which was understandable given the fact that he was just chased across a filthy floor. The surprising part was the material. It seemed so expensive looking. Either silk or satin, but the difference was hard to tell. Perhaps he was some mini snake celebrity? Or maybe he just came from a formal event? Those were both assuming there were others like him, which he wasn’t sure of. He hoped there were, it would be awfully lonely to be completely on your own like that.
The kind child tried to dispel the sad thoughts from his mind. It wouldn’t do to dwell on hypotheticals. Instead, he tried to think of ways he could help him. Patton considered the possibility of telling Logan about the little man, but ultimately decided against it. He had read plenty of stories to know that a lot of magical people liked to keep their identity secret. If it were an emergency, he would definitely let Logan know, but the lack of blood and steady breaths let Patton know that the little person was alright. He would have to ask the snake if he wanted to meet Logan once he woke up.
On the topic of waking up, the small man seemed to be about ready to do so. Patton stepped back a few steps and put on a welcoming smile, waiting for his guest to come to awareness.
---
Janus woke to the feeling of sunbeams pleasantly heating his face, and a soft cushion beneath his body. He furrowed his brow in confusion, his bed wasn’t this fuzzy. Virgil made nice fabrics for him out of his silk, but they were never this fluffy. Despite the strange situation, he was almost tempted to go back to sleep. The bed was odd, but it was still very comfortable. Though the thought seemed appealing, Janus didn’t get a chance to seriously consider dozing off when his thoughts were interrupted by a faint rustling.
He opened his eyes to see what was there, and almost wanted to close them once more.This was because directly in front of him was the most terrifying thing he had ever seen. A human. He tried to rack his brain for ideas on what to do, but he wasn’t prepared for this! It wasn’t like he was a borrower or anything. He’d never dreamed of slithering inside a human nest. how would he know what to do when he was captured? He needed to think! What would Virgil do?
Escape.
Virgil would look for some sort of escape. Janus remembered the warm sunlight on his back and glanced that way, careful to keep the looming creature in his peripherals. He cursed internally when he saw that the window was covered in glass. Of course the human wouldn’t leave his exit open.
Before he could think of any other way to get out, the human started to approach. Janus tensed and hissed at the creature, more out of instinct than any thought that it would help. To his surprise, the human faltered. “I’m not going to hurt you,” the large creature said, voice sounding genuine despite how outlandish the words were. Janus eyed the being suspiciously. He seemed young, 13 years at most. Perhaps he was naive enough to not purposefully inflict any harm, but with how great his size was, it was likely Janus would get hurt anyway. Regardless, Janus was not foolish enough to trust a human.
The creature seemed to sense his hesitance and spoke again. “I’m really not going to do anything bad, promise! I want to help you! Are you hurt?” the young boy asked. Janus had the urge to say not yet but resisted it. He may not be a borrower, but he agreed with their vow not to let humans in on their true intelligence. The less enemies knew the better.
After a few beats of silence, the young giant seemed to realize he wasn’t going to respond. “Well at least you don’t look hurt,” he observed aloud. He seemed to falter for a moment, as if unsure what to do. Like he hadn’t planned this far. Good. Janus thought. If he didn’t have a plan, it would be easier to outsmart him and escape.
The human appeared to have steeled himself and took a step forward. Before Janus could be properly alarmed at the movement, he opened his mouth to speak once more. “I’m just going to open the window. I’m not going to hurt you. Stay calm,” the terrifying creature said, as if soothing a startled cat. This baffled Janus. Why would he open the window? If he did that, Janus could escape!
Regardless of any sort of sense, the child still opened the window, leaning over Janus in a way that did not terrify him to do so. As soon as the window was open enough for Janus to flee, he did just that. He raced out the window, falling onto a flower bed bellow. He vaguely registered the surprised exclamations from his former captor but paid the sounds no mind as he slithered as far from the house as he could. When he was finally far enough away from the human nest and completely out of breath, he let himself stop in the brush.
That… happened. As Janus stopped wheezing, he let out a slightly manic giggle at the insanity of what had just occurred. The past day had an unimaginable amount of wrong things happening. He had narrowly escaped each event with his life. This had started when early that morning a local burrowing owl had decided on his poor soul to pursue. The wretched bird had nearly caught him before he escaped into the human settlement through a hole in their screen. He decided to wait the owl out and hide near a potted plant. He foolishly thought that since it was just the outdoor segment of the human nest he wouldn’t get caught by anything.Obviously, he had been wrong.
And then he ended up here. Shocked to be in one piece, and so relieved that he was. He didn’t expect a human to be stupid enough to let him go like that, but he had seemed rather young. Perhaps he thought that his new toy wouldn’t want to leave the comfortable space. Whatever had been going through the beings mind, he was grateful for it. With the last of his adrenaline rush fading, he made his way back to his home to get some rest. He really deserved a break.
After some time, Janus realized that unfortunately for him, that break was short lived. He had been having trouble catching prey lately. Apparently, the fall from the human’s window had hurt him more than he realized. When dusk arrived after sleeping the rest of the day away, he awoke to pain in his ribs. He hoped they were just bruised and not anything worse, but either way he had to let them heal. This meant that he couldn’t go hunting.
Virgil tried to help with getting him food, but their diets were pretty different. The half spider was able to get him some insects from his web, but he wasn’t able to hunt anything nutritious for Janus. So after stalling as long as he could and consuming a disgusting number of bugs, Janus was forced to attempt to hunt for himself. Predictably, this didn’t go very well in his weakened state, which led him to some rather embarrassing moments.
“No! UGH! GET-Get back here- you stupid mouse!” He shouted after another failed hunting attempt. Janus was a constrictor. He hunted food by wrapping his tail and body around his prey. That was extremely difficult to do when twisting his body felt like he set his chest on fire. He cursed the mouse a few times before dramatically laying in the grass. It was becoming dark, and while Janus could stay out longer, he seemed to have gotten far from his home in pursuit of an easy meal.
He looked at his surroundings, trying to gauge where exactly he had ended up, and paled when he recognized his surroundings. He had ended up in a human’s yard, specifically, the human who had captured him. Worse yet, he was right outside the window he had fled through a week prior. He noticed a plate of food near the flowers, and his mouth watered at the sight, but he knew better than to take it. Instead, he raced as fast as he could back to his home in time for the night to grow dark.
These events repeated themselves often. Janus would be chasing some small prey, lose it, and return home hungry. He had only ended up near that particular human nest a few times, but enough to realize that the food was always out there. Everytime he caught sight of the dish, temptation begged him to try it. But he was smarter than that. He wasn’t a simple animal. He would not be fooled by a human, let alone a human child.
Despite how sound his logic seemed to be, over time his resolve started to crumble. Hunting was not becoming easier. He was healing at an extremely slow pace. And any healing his ribs did was overshadowed by his increasing hunger and fatigue. So the next time one of his failed hunting trips led him to the human’s trap, he finally gave in.
Hiding in the shadows of the approaching night, he began to formulate a plan. First, he would throw a twig at the dish, to see if it closed or anything. Janus had heard of human traps that sprang shut when someone touched it, crushing whoever dared to approach. Once it was determined that the twig didn’t trigger a trap, Janus cautiously approached the food. He quickly grabbed some dry meat and left the bread and cheese. He knew that those didn’t bode well with his stomach. Plus, he had limited armspace. As soon as the food was gathered, he swiftly slithered back to his home.
Once he had arrived at his destination, Janus let himself relax. He resisted the urge to down the food, and instead only took a small nibble of the meat he brought back. He was careful to only eat a small amount in case the meat was poisoned. By dawn he should probably be feeling side effects if the food wasn’t safe. If he felt fine, he would finish the rest of his meal and finally have a full stomach. He went to sleep that night feeling fear at what might happen since he took the human’s food and excitement at the prospect of getting a full meal.
When dawn finally came, Janus was relieved to find that he felt fine. Well, he actually felt awful due to his injured ribs and aching hunger, but there were no signs of poisoning. That meant the food was fine. With a whoop of joy, Janus devoured the rest of his meal. This resulted in quite the stomach ache from going from barely eating to quickly eating an entire meal, but after finally gaining some sustenance, Janus couldn’t find it in himself to regret it.
The next few days were mostly spent resting. Janus didn’t have to eat as often as humans or borrowers would, so he didn’t need to worry about eating for a couple days. Plus, he still needed to heal. His ribs were still killing him, probably because he hadn’t really been able to take it easy. After this reprieve, he would have to go back to struggling for dinner. He shuddered at the thought. Hunting was horrible, even more so now that he couldn’t even manage to catch anything. Unfortunately for him, the only other option was continuing to take from the human, which he could not do.
Well it wasn’t poisoned the first time…
No. He shook his head as if that would rid him of the thought. Which he needed to do. Things had worked out this time, but he was not willing to take his chances on whether it would work again. The success was probably just a ploy to lower his guard. The human just wanted to give him an incentive to come back so it could recapture him, his inner Virgil told him. It was best to just keep trying to hunt. Maybe he’d get luckier after some rest.
As time passed, Janus realized that perhaps he had been a tad too optimistic when he thought that. Hunting did not seem to get much easier. He tried so hard, but it seemed nearly impossible. He was getting hungry again, and weaker too. He just couldn’t do it. Everytime he ended up near that same window, with food he knew wasn’t poisoned, it only made him less sure of his decision. The dish sat there mockingly after Janus lost another prey. The human child wasn’t even that smart, if their last encounter was anything to go by. Even if he got caught, he could probably escape again. With this in mind, Janus took the food for a second time. It would not be the last.
Collecting food from the dish by the window became a routine. He started taking a satchel Virgil had made with him on his escapades. This made the process much more efficient and convenient. He tended to pack the bag to the brim with meat to limit how often he needed to visit the window. Stocking up on food he could eat was made easier because it was now the only thing found in the dish. The human seemed to take note of what Janus took and put more of that out. It was unnerving to have his behaviours so blatantly taken note of by a human.
Despite this, he began to grow lax while approaching the human’s home. After doing this for over a month without anything going wrong, he couldn’t help but to forget how dangerous it really was. Janus was filling his satchel with his spoils one evening when the material got caught on a branch. He tugged on the bag, but apparently he put too much stress on it. The bag tore, spilling his food all over the ground. Janus let out a curse much louder than he intended, and immediately slapped his hand over his mouth in terror. He prayed to any deities that the sound hadn’t been heard by the human.
Apparently he wasn’t that lucky.
Janus felt glued to the spot as the window in front of him was pulled open. A large face peered out, suspiciously scanning the area for whoever made the sound. After what was both an eternity and not long at all, the human’s gaze landed on him. He felt his breath quicken, unable to flee out of panic when the human child’s face split into a grin. After a moment of staring at him, the other seemed to notice something and his face dropped in an instant.
“Oh, right. Sorry, forgot.” The giant said as he turned away from Janus. For a sickening moment, Janus thought he was turning around to call others, but the human stayed silent. He just stood there, facing away from Janus and hardly moving. Janus remained motionless, heart beating rapidly. He should do something. Flee, hide, anything. Instead he stayed there, frozen in indecision and shock. This was a nightmare scenario. The only reason he had starved himself refusing to take the offerings outside this window was out of fear that this might happen. He braced himself, preparing to be captured yet again because of his own foolishness...
…But that didn’t happen.
The human child remained still as possible, back turned to Janus. It wasn’t like he didn’t realize now was the time to strike. Humans were smart creatures, however naive this one seemed to be during their previous meeting. Surely the human had learned from his mistake. He couldn’t think Janus would trust him after that fiasco, could he? Well, he could, but that still didn’t make sense. There wasn’t any possible way for Janus to put any more trust in him, aside from trying to get through the window, but Janus couldn’t do that even if he wanted to. It didn’t make sense. What was the human playing at? He had to want something from Janus, it wasn’t like he’d let a strange and interesting species like Janus go.
Except he could.
Janus already knew the human child was naive. Perhaps all he thought of when he saw an interesting new species like himself was a new friend? It was completely idiodic. There were so many things the human could gain from capturing someone like him. He had learned of the horrible things giants did when they found people like him from the few times Virgil had opened up. Humans saw people like them and thought only of opportunity. They thought of lab rats, exposure, pets, not friends.
As Janus tried to convince himself his theory was wrong, he looked up to see the human again. He was still in the same position as he was before, having not moved an inch. He didn’t even know for sure if Janus was still there. He could have been long gone by now. Yet he stayed there, perfectly still and respectful. Janus wondered how long he was willing to stay still for someone who might not even be there.
Apparently, not much longer. Janus tensed as the large being’s shoulders began to shake. He nearly fled out of fear of the movement, but he stilled when he realized what it was. If the poorly muffled sounds were anything to go by, the child seemed to be crying. Janus felt an overwhelming urge to comfort him, but couldn’t imagine how he would. If he spoke up, he might get himself captured. Though in light of recent events, that seemed to be a fairly unlikely occurrence. Before Janus could convince himself otherwise, he called out to the other.
“A-Are you okay?” he asked nervously, speaking with as much volume as he could muster in his frightened state. Addressing a giant was no easy feat. The other shrieked at the sound, making Janus shrink back. It seems he hadn’t anticipated being spoken to. “You’re st-still here? But you were so scared! Why didn’t you leave?” he asked in lieu of an answer while wiping his eyes.
“You answer first.”
“Answer first?” he mumbled to himself. “Oh! You asked if I was okay?”
A beat of silence passed where he seemed to want some confirmation, Janus gave him none.
“I’m fine,” he said awkwardly. Without even thinking about it, Janus blurted out, “Liar,” and nearly smacked himself for it. What on Earth could have possessed him to call out a human? Even if he was kind previously, he probably wouldn’t be after that. Instead of any anger though, the human just shrank back in guilt. “Sorry,” he said, “I was just sad that I made you scared.”
Janus felt his face heat as the attention went back to himself. “I wasn’t scared,” he said indignantly. The human smiled. “Liar,” he parroted. Janus let out a quiet chuckle at that, and the human beamed. “But uh, why are you still here Mr. Snake? I would figure you would turn tail and run when I had my back turned,” he asked again. Janus smiled at the pun, but was more focused on the rest of the question. Why didn’t he leave? “I suppose…” Janus thought for a moment, “I was confused. I didn’t -don’t- understand your motives. I was trying to figure it out.”
His expression dimmed. “Motives? I don’t have any motives other than helping you out, kiddo!” Janus raised an eyebrow. “Kiddo? I don’t know much about human ages, but I am clearly older than you,” he paused as the rest of the statement was processed, “Wait, what do you mean you don’t have any ulterior motives? Surely you must want something?” Janus instantly regretted saying that. Why did he point out the flaws in someone’s logic when that logic is the only thing keeping him alive?
“That’s a pretty big word there, but I think I know what you mean,” he responded, unaware of Janus’ dilemma, “As far as other things I want, there is actually one thing…” Janus felt anticipation pool in his gut. “..it's to be your friend?” the human finished with a sheepish smile. Janus only held onto his suspicion for a moment longer. It was a surprising request, and he still doubted its legitimacy, but looking at the child’s face made it hard to stay suspicious. After all, he had guessed that this might be what was actually going on inside his head.
Just as the kid began to look a little disheartened, Janus spoke up. “Sure,” he said, “I’ll be your friend.” In response he grinned so wide it seemed like it would hurt, and Janus had a hard time remembering why meeting the human had seemed like a bad thing.