Chapter Text
At first glance, the thing looked like a toddler but the eyes were giving it away as something not entirely human. It was dazed, blinking sluggishly and cooing nonsense, and—when you tried to hold it close after digging it out of the trash—it tried to bite you with unnaturally sharp canines. It missed you entirely but it tried again with squinted, unfocused eyes. You decided to tuck it under your arm like a football until you were safely back inside your apartment. Currently, you were watching it from a safe distance and flipping rapidly through your family grimoire. Its bright yellow eyes watched you, an eyebrow quirked up and mouth pressed into an expression you could only describe as superiority.
“Listen,” you muttered, closing the large tome with a swift flick of your wrist, “I don’t know what the fuck you are but—”
It scoffed.
“—But you are not going to eat me.”
Another eyebrow raised. It rolled its eyes, a babbling vocal wobble suggesting it was trying to laugh at you. You glared at it. It glared back. “You’re also not eating my magic,” you continued bitterly. It looked like a magic-eater in the vaguest sense, you thought, but the shape was wrong and this creature actually had a face. And hair. It lost the glare and—for a brief moment—you see a flicker of uncertainty cross its eyes, its chubby hand curled into a weak fist. Then the moment is over and its lips quirk up into a cattish grin.
You stood there for a while, your eyes falling over it. It had pale brown hair, yellow eyes, and wore an oversized thing with a bold A on the front. It was only because you were watching the creature so closely that you finally noticed the quiver. Starting from the corner of its lips, to the shoulders, to the arms, and ending with its fingers currently gripping the couch you plopped it on. Against your best judgment, your eyes softened and you kneeled in front of it. It watched you just as closely as you were watching it. “It’s…” you hesitate for a moment, “it’s alright to be scared. You don’t know where you are, right? And I guess I might look like a giant to you, but I promise I’m not going to—”
Its small hand flew at your face and bounced harmlessly off your forehead. Its eyebrows furrowed before it kicked out with an equally weak (and short) leg at your chest. “Hey! It’s alright.” You held out your hands, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. It froze, panting and wild-eyed, shaking like a leaf in the wind. You couldn’t tell if it was because of fear or if it was from the effort of trying to hurt you. Could be both, you thought. There was a slight hint of guilt bubbling inside of your chest. You sure as hell wasn’t being very gentle with it, after all. “Hey,” you tried again while the creature caught its breath, “I’m seriously not going to hurt you. There’s nothing to be afraid about.” You reached out to it slowly, your fingers brushing against its hair in an awkward attempt to comfort it. It flinched, its eyes suddenly gaining a calculating light. Before you could pull away, it abruptly opened its mouth and latched onto your palm, a stuttering growl emanating from it.
“Fuck!” You shook your hand instinctively and it became a blur of muddied colors, its jaw tightly clenched like some sort of weird human-shark-dog. Its teeth were embedded inside of you and—fuck!—it stung. What did your aunt do when she was attacked by that dog? Something, something, jaw leverage. Your free hand squished its cheeks, managing a small amount of relief when the pressure forced its mouth open. “Let go,” your voice came out a lot calmer than you currently felt. It glared, bit down as hard as it could with your fingers digging into its cheeks, and shook its head. A fucking rabid animal. You picked up a fucking rabid animal. Your sharp, weepy groan inspired it to shake again. Tears forming in your eyes—and blood now seeping between your fingers—you shook your arm one more time and flung it back and forth as quickly as you were able to. Just to disorient it long enough.
“When you wake up, you better be calm.” It looked up at you with a furrowed brow. You snapped the fingers of your free hand, multi-colored sparkles coated it in a cloud of fine dust. It sunk deep into its skin. Yellow eyes widened, flickering back and forth between your face and your free hand, before they wavered and finally—finally—slipped closed. Its jaw took longer to release you. Trembling as though, even in sleep, the thing wanted to attack you. Sleep finally claimed it.
It fell face-first forward against your chest. Your face twisted into a grimace. “Of course, you drool, you fucking weird gremlin creature.” You patted its back and you quickly discovered it also growls in its sleep.