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Bumbling. Bumbling. Bumbling.
That’s all she ever heard. It’s how the entire hive thought of her. The fact never bothered her. It was fine to be bumbling, fine to be different. Even when they said the hive was at risk because of her. That a human would realize they weren’t normal bees. She didn’t agree. Especially when the only human for miles acted worse than her. She watched him stare at one of those screen things for hours most days!
That was why she took the human’s kindness. He put out nice flowers she could take plenty of nectar from. Sweet water was always nearby and she loved the taste. It was better than honey. It was a fun little spot to visit. Until the day others from her hive followed her.
They pushed her into the sweet water. She tried to climb out. To call for help. All that met her were mocking voices; “Stay with the human if it’s so nice!”. It didn’t take long for her limbs to grow tired. Her wet wings started to drag her into the depths.
As she sank the surface above her rippled. Fear and hope wrestled to take hold of her heart. The ripples grew fierce and the water sloshed. She actually thought she might get splashed out, then she could run and… do something. She couldn’t go home… That felt worse to realize as the shadowed face of the human appeared over her.
“Poor thing,” his deep voice felt different in the water. More threatening. Her limbs were frozen. Her wings too heavy to even twitch. It made the moment his fingers entered the water worse. “Let’s get ya out of there.”
The fingers displaced the water as they moved deeper. For a second she thought she’d be pushed out, but the heat from the skin told her she was very wrong. She was pulled out with some water kept in the dip of his fingers. It was hard to be scared when the massive digits were so warm and soft. Almost like the flowers he always left out.
The surface tilted and she rolled down into a palm with an ‘oomph’. The human either missed it or ignored her. She never wondered before if humans could actually hear when she spoke. Most of the time they acted like the members of the hive were making noise. It never mattered until now.
Shadows covered her as a roof of skin settled overhead. Behind her tips of fingers caged her in. The fear from earlier stabbed into her heart. Her little world stayed the same size as it started to move. Each horribly heavy step rumbled through her fragile body. The hope that had nearly won fizzled.
Gravity shifted. She was thrown up against the roof of fingers. This time it caused a loud yelp, but again she was ignored. Panic started to fill in where hope had lived. Light blinded her. Then she was moving. The hand tilted and she rolled off. With a hard landing, she met something humans called cardboard. Stars coated her vision.
As it cleared she tried to scream, all that came out was a wheeze. Above her were butterflies on display. Stuck in some box thing she’d never seen before. Some were only a little bigger than her. There were words on them too. Allowing panic to guide her, she looked for an escape. All around her were walls that would make up one of the box things.
“Let’s take a look then,” he said. She winced, it was so loud now. Too loud. A bright light shone on her, felt brighter than the sun. Whatever happened next, she hoped it was quick. “Still alive?”
She couldn’t bring herself to talk. Could barely breathe. This massive creature displayed things like her dead. The hive was right. She never should have trusted the human or their gifts.
“Little bee, are ya alive?” the voice said. It made her wince again. She was growing terrified to answer. Of what that would make him do. The sigh that was enough to push her didn’t help. “Guess I found ya too late…”
The light started to move. A new set of fears bloomed in her heart. She didn’t know what he’d do if he thought she was dead. It spurred her to move. Climbing to her feet, she tried to stand tall. The hum of the massive human froze her again. With all her courage she managed to look up at him and really see him.
Sun kissed skin covered someone she could only describe as a mountain. From her position it felt like he went on forever. A round face and plump lips. His eyes were the problem though. Dark with a terrifying glint. It made her body shake.
“That was a close one, sweetpea,” he said. Those eyes made the words ominous. A pudgy finger came close to her. “Don’t think I could give ya mouth to mouth.”
“What…?” she said. The finger nudged her and she nearly fell over.
“Been thinkin’ that ya weren’t any old bee.” He leaned closer. The table creaked from the weight he placed on it. The light disappeared behind him. She found herself wondering if all of him was as soft as his hands. There was so much to him, more than even the queen. “Now do ya just look like that or are ya a little person, sweetpea?”
“P-person?”
“Ya keep on buzzin’, that your way of talkin’, sweetpea?”
“Buzzing?”
He sighed again. It knocked her off her feet this time. All of him was such a force against her. “Guess it doesn’t really matter anyways. Should get started…”
She scrambled away as he sat up. The light hit her again making her see stars. She jumped when his other hand slammed near her prison. She watched in fear as he leaned to the side, clearly looking for something.
“Where did I …” he mumbled. Even that rocked through her bones. “Did I move them? Don’t think I-Ah there ya are.”
She tensed as he started to move again. He sat up straight and raised his other hand beside him. This time a full scream managed to leave her. It kept up as she tried to back away. He held metal things that would be able to pull her wings off. He shook his head as he leaned closer to her.
“Gonna need ya to sit still, sweetpea,” he said. Another scream as he moved something over her. It made him bigger . “Color me surprised, you do look like a little person sweetpea. Cute as a button too.”
The kind words did nothing to calm her down. She screamed again when the metal things started to approach her. Tried desperately to find some escape. Her heavy wings wouldn’t even move. His sigh knocked her back into the edge of the box thing. Tears fell down her face as the metal thing grabbed her wing.
“Sorry if my breath smells, sweetpea. Wasn't expectin’ any company,” he said. Then he blew on her… She looked at the metal thing. It held her wing up and out where it looked like his breath was drying it.
“What are you doing?” she asked. The only response was the man sucking in another breath before blowing it out over her again. It smelled kind of like the sweet water he left for her all the time.
It was quiet while he blew on her. She stayed still when he moved the metal thing to her other wing. She kept her eyes on him as best she could. Those eyes still held something, but it didn’t feel as cruel anymore. He was kind to her this whole time. Although a little careless in how he handled her more than anything. When he finally sat back she found herself sad it was over.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it sweetpea?” he asked. It was followed by a chuckle that made her smile. The feeling in her chest from his deep voice felt kind of nice. “Not what I'd usually do, but ya aren't what I usually find. Did it help ya dry off at all?”
Prompted by his question, she tried her wings. It would take a while longer before she could travel long distances, but they were good enough. She looked up at him again. Big in every way, but so gentle. The smallest hint of a blush reached her cheeks when she thought about him calling her cute. In the hive she was one of many. A problem sure, but still a face in a sea of faces.
With the little confidence that gave her she climbed to her feet. A deep breath before she started to flutter her wings. After a few hops she managed to start gaining height. He laughed. It made her wings falter, but she didn’t give up. She tried to ignore how intimidating he was as she approached his ear. It did help that he froze almost like he was afraid of her.
“Am I still buzzing?” she yelled. He jumped out of his seat. She slammed into his shoulder, which was soft like she’d wondered at least.
“Call me a monkey’s uncle, sweetpea was that you I just heard?” he said. Against him he was so much louder. It made her ears ring. She worried it would shatter her bones. After some time she managed to recover enough to fly near his ear again.
“Y-You’re very loud!”
“Oh, I’m so sorry sweetpea. This any better?”
“A-a lot. Thank you for helping me!”
“Least I could do after ya fell in the water I left out.”
“Th-thank you for that too!”
“Well, you're mighty welcome sweetpea. Ya feelin’ right as rain already? Should we be saying goodbye?”
“...I can’t go home.” Her voice came out softer. It wasn’t easy to yell everything and this one was harder.
“That’s not good that ya can’t get home.” She bit her lip. He misheard her. “Guess we oughta set ya up here somewhere safe. Gonna have to find a better way for us to talk too. Don’t think it’s right to have ya shoutin’ in my ear all the time.”
“No I can get home it’s that I can’t-”
One of the big soft hands surrounded her. She was pulled forward until he had her in front of his eyes. Dark, still a glimmer of something she couldn’t understand. Kindness beneath it though. That made her relax against his skin.
“I heard ya, sweetpea. Tried to make it easier on ya. Let ya think I thought ya had somewhere to go.”
“W-Why?” A chuckle. His hand moved with his small laugh. She liked it better this time.
“All I heard was buzzin again. Gonna have to look into that then. I’m guessing ya said why.” She tried to make a big nodding motion. It got another laugh. “Well, I can’t imagine it’s easy for someone so small to tell a guy like me ya got no where to go. So I was ready to let ya think I misheard ya. Seems you’re more honest than me, sweetpea.”
A sigh before he brought her a little closer. That something grew in his eyes. It felt like he was inspecting everything about her. Even without the thing that made him bigger. She hugged herself.
“I’ll be honest sweetpea. Had a feeling the bees out here weren’t what we usually saw. Moved out here and left the water hopin’ one of ya might get stuck. I usually watched it from a screen in another room. I… didn’t exactly expect ya to get pushed in by your own.”
“Oh…” she whispered.
“Now I don’t plan on doing anythin’ to ya. Never did. Came out here to satisfy my own curiosity. Well, it’s been satisfied enough with ya almost dyin’ cause of me.”
“I don’t believe you.” He laughed again.
“Judging by the way your wings are goin’ I think ya don’t believe me. Well, sweetpea why don’t ya take some time for your wings to finish dryin’ before ya decide if ya can trust me. I’ll give ya somethin’ real sweet to try until then.”
She pursed her lips. This human wasn’t bumbling at all. He was put together! It… made her feel stupid. At the same time it made her smile. He had been trying to meet her. Even came to save her. Saw what the others did and was willing to let her stay. It… was probably her best option.
“Sweetpea, whether ya stay or not. I got a question for ya.” he said. The head before her moved along with his hand. She was held near his ear again. “Now, I’m sorry I’ll need ya to yell, but what’s your name?”
“Name?” she said. She didn’t have one of those. No one in the hive needed one. It seemed weird that humans didn't use their role or job. She didn’t have a job to do anymore though…
“Yeah, sweetpea. What can I call ya?”
“What’s sweetpea?” If it was a good word she could use that as her name.
“Just a little nickname I took to calling ya after I first saw ya. It looked like ya loved the sweet water and you're so small. Sweet pea.”
“Th-then that’s my name!”
“Hiding your real one Sweetpea. Alright, tell me when ya want to. Until then we’ll use Sweetpea.”
He started to pull away, she tried to call out before he’d moved too much. “I don’t have one!”
He froze then moved to where she could be heard again. “Sweetpea, did I catch that right? Ya don’t have a name?”
“We didn’t need them! I-I like Sweetpea though!”
He laughed again. Then moved so she was in front of those dark, intimidating eyes. A smile made them look brighter. Shot forward the kindness he’d shown so far. It eclipsed everything else.
“Well, I’m honored ya like my little nickname for ya so much, but I think it works best as just that; a nickname. Why don’t ya pick one of the flowers ya loved to visit? Maybe Sunflower. I’ll keep calling ya sweetpea if ya don’t mind though.”
She thought about it. He moved her near his ear while she did. Sweetpea sounded kind of special. And he was so nice to her. The flowers were all pretty and he called her cute. Then… she’d pick a name for herself. Not the nickname or the flower he said. One of them she liked a lot. Humans usually called it…
“Aster.”
“That’s the name ya wanna use?”
“Y-Yeah, but um… you can keep using the other one.”
“Well then. It’s an honor to meet ya Aster, sweetpea. I’m Isaac.” The hand was lowered until he had it near his chest. Aster latched on to the skin as Isaac started to move. “Gotta say, you’ve made me curious all over again. Guess I’ll have to keep that in check so I don’t bother ya too much.”