Chapter Text
Clara blinked awake, the familiar feeling of soft fabric bundled around her small form. For a brief moment, she almost forgot where she was—if she was in her actual bed, in her old life, before all of this.
Then, the distant creaking of the house, the muffled voices of Borrowers somewhere outside, and the lingering scent of dust and wood grounded her back to reality.
“Right… back to this.” She groaned, rubbing her eyes before kicking off the oversized scrap of cloth she used as a blanket. Sitting up, she stretched, her stiff joints popping as she surveyed her tiny room—her own little carved-out section in Lyra’s territory.
It had all become so normal. The matchbox bed, the repurposed thread spool she used as a chair, the bottle cap of water sitting on the small, makeshift shelf made from a chunk of broken plastic. Her ‘dresser’ was just a small tin box, filled with fabric scraps and bits of stolen cloth. She moved through her usual morning routine—which, at this size, was a whole ordeal.
First she entered their makeshift bath, dipping a piece of borrowed sponge into the water cap, wiping herself down like a cat trying to bathe with a leaf. Then she grabbed a tiny, broken-off bristle from a human toothbrush, running it through her messy, unkempt hair in an attempt to smooth it out.
When she caught a glance of herself in a reflective scrap of metal, she sighed. “Still look like a damn Borrower…”
Finally, she reached into her tin box, throwing on her usual clothes—stitched together from various fabric scraps. She pulled on a jacket with uneven sleeves, tucked her pants into her boot-like fabric wrappings, and tied her belt tight. A new day. Same chaos.
Clara stretched once more before clambering out of her room, bracing herself for whatever absurdity awaited her this time.
Sure enough, one single step into the den, and she was greeted with a loud “HAPPY BORROW-VERSARY!” Using a barrage of chopped up leaves, Lyra shot them through the air like confetti, shouting in excitement, as Ruby simultaneously buzzed through the air, waving a long ribbon wrapped around her.
Clara groaned loudly, rubbing her face as Lyra grinned at her. “Anniversaries are supposed to be for good things,” Clara grumbled, slumping against the back of the couch fashioned out of a folded washcloth and some sponge padding.
Lyra only smirked, watching as Clara tried to hide the small, genuine smile creeping onto her face. “Oh, c’mon, you’re telling me you don’t wanna celebrate? Not even a little?” Lyra teased, nudging her with an elbow.
Clara rolled her eyes, leaning deeper into the couch. “Fine. Whatever. What ridiculous Borrower nonsense do you have planned?”
Lyra perked up instantly, wrapping an arm around Clara and pulling her in close. Clara sighed but didn’t pull away—she was too used to Lyra’s over-affectionate nature by now.
“Oh, I’ve got so many ideas, shortstack.” Lyra grinned, counting them off on her fingers. “We could do a classic Borrower raid—sneak into some new human place, see what we can grab. You need better furniture, anyway.”
“Pass.” Clara replied flatly.
“Alright, how about some obstacle course training? You’re still moving like a clumsy human—time to get those Borrower reflexes sharp.”
“Double pass.”
“Pffft, fine. Then how about a sparring match? I’ll even go easy on you.”
“You never go easy on anything. Absolutely not.”
Lyra pouted, flicking Clara’s forehead. “Ugh, you’re so boring today.”
“You act like that’s new information.” Clara muttered, rubbing her forehead.
Lyra chuckled before stretching out, pulling Clara in even closer against her side. “Well, whether you like it or not, you survived, like, a whole month of being fun-sized, so that’s worth something.”
Clara sighed dramatically but let herself relax, secretly enjoying the warmth. “Yeah, yeah. Here’s to surviving absolute chaos, etc. etc.”
Lyra raised an invisible glass. “Cheers to that.”
---
The day moved along in its usual chaotic way, filled with the odd routines Clara had somehow come to accept as normal.
She sat on the kitchen counter, dangling her legs over the edge as she crumbled a tiny piece of fruit for Ruby, who enthusiastically nibbled away at it.
“You probably eat better than I do, you know that?” Clara muttered, watching the ladybug munch.
Ruby gave a happy little flutter of her wings, seemingly oblivious to Clara’s sarcasm.
“I swear, if I didn’t know better, I’d say Lyra trained you to be extra spoiled just to annoy me.”
Ruby simply continued eating, completely unbothered.
---
In Ivy’s makeshift workshop—her secluded closet filled with random human trinkets and tinkering tools—Clara stood back cautiously, watching Ivy work on… something.
“Are you sure this thing isn’t going to explode?” Clara asked, arms crossed.
“N-Nope!” Ivy replied cheerfully, tightening a few screws on what looked like a mechanical grappling hook built out of paperclips, string, and a repurposed button.
Clara sighed deeply. “Cool. Great. Can’t wait for the house to catch fire.”
“It’s totally safe!... I think.” Ivy tried to reassure her, though the moment she tried to test the device, it immediately sprang to life, launching itself straight into a pile of metal scraps, knocking them over with a loud crash.
Clara slowly turned to Ivy, unimpressed. “…Totally safe, huh?”
Ivy sheepishly scratched her head. “Maybe a few tweaks are needed…”
---
Clara was midway across the den, minding her own business, when suddenly, she heard a familiar clicking sound—the sharp, tiny footsteps of Celine skittering towards her at an alarmingly fast pace. “Oh no.”
Clara barely had time to turn around before Ari’s wicked laughter rang out. “There you are, doll!~”
Clara bolted. “NOPE, NOT TODAY!”
Celine charged after her, the spider’s many legs easily outpacing Clara’s desperate sprint across the floor. “Celine, be gentle with her!” Ari called out.
“WHY DOES IT SOUND LIKE YOU’RE LYING?!” Clara shrieked.
The spider woman continued to cackle as she lay back against a wooden indent in the wall, observing her partner pursuing the tiny human, who kept slipping and tumbling over her own two feet. Ari could tell Celine was keeping her distance ‘just enough’ to make the chase more interesting, which just made her all the more proud.
---
After the exhausting events of the day, Clara finally found a moment of peace, sitting near a window ledge, watching Sally outside.
The tiny Borrower moved carefully through the grass, scouting out new hiding spots and practicing her agility, occasionally leaping from leaf to leaf with impressive ease. Clara leaned against the window frame, exhaling.
“Hate to admit it, but she’s got the best potential of us,” Lyra remarked beside her.
Clara smirked slightly, still catching her breath from earlier. “Yeah. If she doesn’t scare a bird and get herself eaten first.”
Lyra chuckled. “Survival of the fittest, shortstack.”
“I hate when you say that.”
“That’s why I say it.”
Clara groaned, letting her head thump against the wood. Even after a month, the grind never stopped.
---
Later that day, Mia (plus Alexa tangled within her hair) returned to the house. The giant woman was carrying several plastic bags of groceries that Clara had requested, dumping it on the kitchen table.
Clara, who was directing her on the table like an air traffic controller, felt the rumbling of the massive bags once they were dropped, causing her to land flat on her butt. “Careful, girl.” She squeaked out.
“Sorry. I’m not used to doing errands for bugs.” Mia responded half-joking, plucking Clara off the table with her fingers.
As Clara dangled in the air with Mia casually holding her up between two fingers, suddenly she was taken off guard watching the other Borrowers immediately descend upon the bags of groceries like a pack of hungry animals.
Ivy had already climbed onto a carton of eggs, prying it open with the enthusiasm of a treasure hunter. Sally was tearing into a bag of chips, her tiny hands barely making a dent as they tried to yank pieces free. Ari broke pieces of chocolate apart, crunching them with her feet, sucking down on the inside fillings. And Lyra was enthusiastically rifling through different large boxes, her metaphorical tail wagging in anticipation.
“You guys act like you’ve never seen food before,” Mia said, raising a brow.
“Not like this usually,” Lyra retorted, biting into a cracker the size of her head.
“We don’t get to just pick and choose,” Sally added between mouthfuls of cereal dust, sitting directly in the spilled crumbs. “We take what we can find, and hope it’s not stale or poisoned.”
“Or covered in ants,” Ivy added, still poking curiously at the eggs.
Clara just sighed, resting her chin in her hand as she hung limply in Mia’s grasp. Mia couldn’t help but giggle, spinning Clara slightly between her fingers like a fidget toy. “This is still… so… weird… I don’t think I’m ever gonna get used to this.”
“Just remember I’m not a stress ball.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
Clara groaned while Alexa perched on Mia’s shoulder, watching the chaos with an amused smirk.
“This is interesting,” Alexa remarked, observing her fellow Borrowers gorge themselves. “I’ve always just taken whatever I felt like and moved on. Never thought about hoarding like this.”
Carrying a single frozen grape over her head, Ivy spoke up. “We’re… strategically stockpiling!”
Mia snorted. “Sure. And I ‘strategically stockpile’ ice cream before bingeing it at 3 a.m.”
“Exactly!” Sally chirped, not realizing she was proving Mia’s point.
Clara rolled her eyes but couldn’t help smirking slightly. No matter how much things changed, this chaos would always stay the same.
While Alexa leapt off to join the other Borrowers in their carnage, Mia put the last bit of food in the fridge. “You’re lucky you didn’t forget any milk in here. I was not gonna clean that for you.”
“Oh, don’t worry, you missed the worst of all that,” Clara groaned. “Even watching those monsters chew that month old sludge made me vomit.” She shuddered, recalling an incident from the recent past involving the Borrowers obtaining her old milk in a raid.
“…To only imagine the things you haven’t told me about…” Mia shuddered alongside her tiny friend.
She then made her way over to sit at the side counter with Clara next to her. She proceeded to drop a thick stack of envelopes onto the table next to Clara with a heavy thud, the sheer weight of accumulated mail sending up a small puff of dust.
“Figured you might wanna see these,” Mia said, stretching her arms over her head before plopping down into a chair and waking up her laptop.
Clara stared at the pile, recognizing overdue notices, bank statements, and various letters that had been left to rot in her absence. She was vaguely horrified at how much had built up, but before she could dwell on it, Mia spoke up.
“Also, I dunno if you care, but groceries are insanely expensive.” Mia began clicking through her tabs, her face illuminated by the screen. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to so easily keep funding this army of yours. And then there’s your bills? You’re lucky I even remembered to—”
Before Mia could finish, Clara motioned to let Mia put her on the floor. The tiny girl then turned on her heel and marched toward the wall, disappearing behind a loose floorboard.
Mia blinked. “Uh. Okay?”
A bit of time later, Clara reappeared, dragging a crisp, neatly folded hundred-dollar bill behind her. She heaved it right toward Mia’s socked foot, patting it proudly like a cat presenting a dead mouse.
Mia stared down at the bill, then at Clara, then back at the bill. “Is… is that real?" Mia asked, hesitantly picking it up. She held it to the light, half-expecting it to be Monopoly money or some weird Borrower counterfeit trick.
Mia was still processing this when Clara vanished again. Before Mia could even comment, another bill was dragged out. Then another. And another.
By the time Clara was done, a sizable pile of hundred-dollar bills sat on the table. Mia’s face twisted into pure, stunned disbelief as she stared at the mini fortune.
“Where the hell were you keeping all of this?!” Mia finally blurted.
“Does it matter?” Clara huffed, dusting her hands off like she just finished some hard labour.
Mia rubbed her temples, glancing between Clara and the ridiculous amount of money now in her possession. “I— I don’t even—how do you even have this much on hand right now? I know you haven’t gone to the bank in a while!”
“Well,” Clara said, folding her arms, “you can thank a certain someone.” She gestured towards the table, pointing at Lyra, currently in the midst of bouncing on a piece of cheese.
Mia gawked at her before finally slumping back into her chair, grabbing one of the bills, and slowly pressing it to her forehead in disbelief.
“So you’re telling me... this money isn’t even yours?” she mumbled, voice muffled behind the cash.
Clara shrugged, casually leaning against a sugar packet. “Nope. Lyra gave it to me.”
Mia slowly lowered the bill, her expression darkening with suspicion. “And… where exactly did she get it?”
Clara immediately held up a hand. “Neither of us want to know.”
Mia paused, eyes narrowing. “Clara.”
“Mia.”
They stared at each other. Silence hung between them.
Mia’s eye twitched. “Did she rob someone…”
“Mia,” Clara said again, leaning forward with absolute seriousness, “We. Do. Not. Want. To. Know.”
Mia exhaled sharply, dragging her hands down her face. “Okay, fine,” she muttered, dropping the bill onto the table. “But if the FBI busts down my door because I’ve been unknowingly laundering tiny criminal money, I’m blaming you.”
Clara rolled her eyes, stretching out on the table. “Whatever. Point is, that’ll cover my rent, water, and electricity. I’ll just use my digital savings for my phone bill.”
Mia blinked, taking a sip of her drink. “I’m surprised you still have a bank account.”
“Yeah?” Clara said, sitting up. “Just ‘cause I got shrunk doesn’t mean my money disappeared. I can still log in and everything.”
Mia stared at her, brain stalling again. “You’ve been tiny for a month, living in the walls like a weird goblin, and your financial situation is probably better than mine…”
Clara grinned. “Yeah, pretty much.”
Mia groaned loudly, slumping over the table. “This is the most depressing thing I’ve ever heard.”
As she rubbed her temples, still processing the ridiculousness of the situation, Lyra strolled over, casually flipping through a hundred-dollar bill like it was a napkin.
“I still don’t really get why you humans care so much about these little green papers,” she remarked, tossing it onto the pile. “They don’t even taste good.”
“Yeah,” Sally chimed in, munching on a stolen cheese puff. “We don’t need money for anything.”
Ivy looked on genuinely curious. “Clara said it was some, weird human status thing?”
Mia’s eye twitched violently. “No, it’s because without it, we can’t buy food. Food that apparently YOU ALL just keep taking.”
The room fell silent as the Borrowers stared at her.
Ari, still lounging on the table, slowly raised a hand. “To be fair, that sounds like a you problem.”
Mia threw up her hands. “IT IS A ME PROBLEM!”
Lyra shrugged. “So… just get more money?”
Mia let out a strangled noise. “IT'S NOT THAT EASY!”
Alexa, perching back on Mia’s shoulder, tilted her head. “Huh. Humans are more dramatic than I thought. And I’ve seen my fair share of dramatic humans.”
Mia resisted the urge to scream into her hands. She then stared at Clara, her frustration slowly melting away as she caught the tiniest flicker of amusement on her tiny friend’s face. The corner of Clara’s mouth barely twitched, but it was enough.
Mia’s voice softened. “Are you really gonna be okay like this?”
Clara paused, the laughter fading into something more thoughtful. She looked around—she thought about the cluttered den, the tiny makeshift furniture, the massive current furniture, the spider lazily hanging in the corner, the other Borrowers now bickering over a bag of chips like rowdy siblings.
Then, she looked back up at Mia and smirked. “I mean… what’s ‘okay’ even mean anymore?”
Mia huffed a quiet laugh, rubbing the back of her neck. “Yeah. Fair point.”
Clara leaned back on the table, stretching her arms. “I won’t lie. It’s insane. And annoying. And terrifying. But…” She glanced at Lyra, who was currently yanking a stolen granola bar away from Sally. “...I think I'm where I need to be right now. Maybe. I’ve never been good with this existential type pondering.”
Mia sighed, crossing her arms. “Well… just know that if you ever need anything, I’m still here. But you’re paying.” She said as she grabbed several of the bills, playfully smacking her tiny friend with it.
Clara snickered, nudging Mia’s massive hand. She then kicked back on the table, lazily twirling a stray thread from her makeshift outfit. “You know, you could just move in. Would make things easier. Less sneaking around, less running back and forth, and, hey, more free stolen cash.”
Mia snorted, crossing her arms. “Yeah, no thanks. I already am now forced to deal with one Borrower nonsense now. I don’t need multiple every single day.”
Lyra piped up from across the room, lounging with a smug grin. “I dunno, Mia. You’re already halfway there. Might as well just commit.”
Mia rolled her eyes. “Nah, my place is closer to work anyway, and I don’t know what’d I say to my roommates if I tried to. Plus, if I lived here, you guys would never let me have a moment of peace.”
Sally grinned, kicking her feet. “I’d make her my personal taxi service.”
Mia exhaled sharply, shaking her head. “Yeah, see? No way.”
Clara chuckled, stretching. “Alright, alright, just a thought. Guess this is my payback for never accepting your roomie invitations.”
“Damn right,” Mia remarked. “All because of your precious work ethic.”
“C’mon, you know if I was living with y’all I’d never get anything done. It would just be endless distractions. I needed my privacy.”
“Pfft, and look how much good that does ya now. And besides, you know how much of a headache it’s gonna be convincing Rachel and them that you’re doing okay without ‘proof’?”
In the middle of their conversation, Lyra popped in to interject, “I gotta say, she has one of the sexiest thinking faces I’ve ever seen. Just the agonizing look of staring at that screen for an hour without doing anything. Aah, so cute!”
Clara just let out a loud groan, sitting atop Mia’s palm, a blush emitting from her cheeks. As Mia stared at her slightly flustered friend, she turning towards the group of gorging Borrowers, her face blank, but her eyes full of suspicion. Even with her glasses, she couldn’t get clear looks exactly of each of them, but she could tell they were all very pretty girls. And she knew already how dangerously flirty some of them could get. So, a troublesome thought sparked in her mind.
Mia opened her mouth. “Clara… tell me… you haven’t, you know…”
Clara tilted her head innocently. “Haven’t what?”
Mia narrowed her eyes. “I mean, if you’ve been rooming with these girls for a month. And they’re as clingy as you make them out to be. So you haven’t… like… hooked up with any of them?”
The Borrowers glanced at each other, some smug, some indifferent, some pretending to be interested in anything but this conversation.
Clara crossed her arms and sighed. “Not exactly… but I did kiss them each…”
Mia threw her free hand up. “Ugh, what the hell, Clara!?”
Lyra grinned. “Told you she was ours, Mia.”
Ari winked, leaning on Lyra. “She gets around, what can we say?”
Sally snickered, kicking her feet against the table edge. “I think she was testing the waters. You know, seeing which one of us is the best kisser.”
Ivy hid her red face behind a bag, mumbling, “Please stop talking.”
Mia groaned, rubbing her temples. “This is too much. First, tiny people. Then, Borrower nonsense. And now, you’re all—ugh!”
Clara decided to try a little something different and commit to this, grinning and leaning back. “What? You jealous?”
Mia sputtered. “No! I’m just—just—confused!” She pointed at Alexa, who was casually eating more marshmallow. “Wait, even her?!”
Alexa shrugged, licking her fingers. “Nah, I kissed her.”
Mia collapsed onto the table, face down. “I hate this house.”
Clara could see the stress boil in her head starting to re-erupt. So, in an effort to help (or in actuality just make things worse) she pushed herself towards her giant face. Mia then jerked upright as she felt the tiniest press of lips against her nose. She blinked rapidly, staring at Clara, who had a cocky little smirk on her face.
“W-What the hell was that?” Mia asked, completely thrown off.
Clara stretched her arms lazily. “What? We've done worse.”
Mia froze. “Excuse me?”
Lyra, Ari, Sally, and Ivy all turned to Clara at once, their faces a mixture of shock and utter delight.
“Oh-ho-ho,” Ari grinned, crossing her arms. “You two have history.”
Lyra snickered, throwing an arm around Clara’s shoulder. “And here I thought you were against us flirts. Turns out you’ve been a player even before all this.”
Sally gasped dramatically, pointing at Mia. “Wait, you two actually dated?!”
Mia buried her face in her hands. “Clara, why—why would you do that?!”
Clara shrugged nonchalantly. “I dunno. Felt like the right moment.”
The Borrowers immediately erupted into teasing remarks.
“So, Mia, was she a good girlfriend?” Sally grinned, leaning forward.
“How many dates did you two go on?” Ari nudged Mia’s arm.
“Did she pull the same ‘cool and distant’ act with you, too?” Lyra teased, smirking at Clara.
Ivy, blushing furiously, just muttered, “I-I can't believe this conversation is happening.”
Mia pointed a trembling finger at Clara. “You—you are ridiculous!”
Clara just laughed, hands on her hips. “What can I say? Guess I get around.”
---
As they slipped back into their cozy den within the walls, Clara stretched her arms and yawned, already feeling the exhaustion of the day settling in. The familiar warmth of their space, dimly lit by makeshift lanterns, was a welcome comfort after all the chaos with Mia, Alexa, and the others.
Lyra stood up straight, suddenly looking uncharacteristically serious. She reached behind a stack of cloth and tiny trinkets, pulling something out carefully. She turned back to Clara, her expression a mix of pride and something softer, something more personal.
“Alright, you pain in the ass,” Lyra said with a smirk, holding out a small bundle. “Happy Borrow-versary.”
Clara blinked, caught off guard. “Huh?” She looked down at the hand-crafted object Lyra was offering—a perfectly tailored, miniature leather jacket.
Clara froze, her eyes widening slightly as she hesitated to take it. It was incredibly well-made, stitched together with carefully-cut fabric, reinforced seams, and a tiny set of silver pins lining the collar. It looked like something a rebellious Borrower would wear, something perfectly suited for Clara—if she ever actually cared about dressing up, that is.
Lyra shifted uncomfortably, clearing her throat. “I figured since you’re always making stuff for yourself, and even stuff for us,” she crossed her arms, avoiding Clara’s gaze, “thought I’d try my hand crafting somethin’ for you.”
Clara, still staring at the jacket, slowly reached out and took it. The material was surprisingly sturdy, yet flexible. Well-worn, but clearly made with intention.
For a moment, she didn't know what to say. Then, finally, Clara huffed a quiet laugh. “This is so stupidly extra.”
Lyra smirked, nudging her. “Yeah, well, so are you.”
Clara sighed, rolling her eyes—but her fingers clutched the jacket a little tighter. Warmth spread through her chest, though she wouldn’t admit it. She slipped it on. It fit perfectly.
Clara smirked, adjusting the jacket and rolling her shoulders. “Alright, fine. I’ll admit it. This is actually kind of cool.”
Lyra grinned, nudging her with her elbow. “Damn right it is.”
But before Lyra could bask in her victory, Clara suddenly zipped into her makeshift bedroom, pulling out an object on a delicate chain on her shelf. She held it in front of Lyra, watching the dim light reflect off its metal surface. “I actually got you something, too. Well, I guess ‘got’ wouldn’t be the right term. But, whatever.”
Lyra blinked, caught completely off guard. “What?”
Clara hesitated, twisting the chain in her fingers before handing it over. It was a small, silver locket, worn but polished, the kind of thing that looked sentimental—something that carried history.
“I, uh… grabbed this from my old room,” Clara admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. “I dunno, I just thought it kinda fit you? Not really my thing, but—” she gave a small shrug “—it'd probably look good with you.”
She expected Lyra to snort, roll her eyes, or make some snarky remark. Instead, Lyra stared at the locket like she’d just seen a ghost. Her fingers hovered over it, not taking it right away.
Clara frowned. “What, you don’t like it?”
Lyra’s eyes darted up to Clara, filled with something Clara couldn’t quite read. Her breath hitched. She swallowed hard, emotions colliding and unraveling all at once.
She knew this locket. She had left it behind. Back when she first broke into the house, when she first decided to observe Clara from afar, when she still thought of humans as distant, faceless beings—before Clara became something real.
She had abandoned it back then, thinking it didn’t matter anymore. Yet Clara had found it. Kept it. And now gave it back to her. “You absolute dumbass,” Lyra muttered, her voice unsteady.
Before Clara could react, Lyra grabbed her face and kissed her—hard. Clara squeaked, completely caught off guard, barely registering the warmth of Lyra’s lips before—THUD.
Lyra shoved Clara backward, making her stumble into her tiny bedroom.
“H-Hey! What the hell—?” Clara sputtered, squirming in protest as Lyra pinned her against the bed, her face burning.
“You’re so freaking stupid,” Lyra huffed, eyes still wild with emotion.
Clara glared up at her, breathless. “W-Well, you’re—!” She cut herself off, too flustered to even form words.
Lyra just grinned, still holding onto the locket. “Yeah, yeah. I know.”
Clara would eventually overcome Lyra’s advances, returning back to her bedroom in an embarrassed huff. However, this time she had decided to let Lyra indulge in her emotional desires just a bit longer than she normally would. As a bonus gift, she excused to herself.