piecewise | g/t snippets & drabbles

kind (m/m)

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

The humans that had taken him under their wing had been shaking, but young Peter didn't mind at all. He'd looked at them with such hope, such a light that the eldest sibling's challenged stare wavered slightly under his. How ironic, that the only one tall enough to see him eye to eye was the only one to loosen when the younger's gaze met him.

"Kind."

It was instinctual, the word that had been swarming in his head ever since Avon signed the papers. Even when his younger siblings nodded at the giant, huddling behind their very own pillar for protection, Peter could only brighten at the thought of being a part of a family again, a family that actually wanted him.

Kind, was the word he thought when Avon huffed, taking out a hand for the 10-year-old to take, ignoring how the younger's hair wisped centimeters above his own. The word stuck even when Vivian and Julian mustered the courage to walk alongside the two, abandoning their brother's protection for Peter's warmth.

For Peter, kindness was new, as novel as the curiosity that oozed through the young twins as they compared their human hands to his, wonder seeping through as they examined the boy six years their younger. Even as they made it to the apartment, and Avon stared at him with a look the young boy could only describe as lost, the giddiness inside the child never wavered as he took in his new home, letting new for the first time be a blessing and not a burden. His eyes crinkled as Avon came back to reality, settling on the one that finally chose him. 

He was kind, and Peter wanted to be just like him.

----

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Peter winced as his older brother threw a book at him, and then another, and then another. He had long outgrown the 24-year-old, but the anger that burned still reminded him of his younger days - when they both could see eye to eye. 

"When I grow up?" Peter whispered. "When I-"

Avon's anger hitched, a flash of fear on his features. He'd always been like this, ever since Peter became a teenager. His rage often hid his trepidation, the facts he could not know being the fuel for his outbursts. Vivian had moved out months ago, after graduation, and Julian already got married to his high school sweetheart. But Peter, poor 12-foot-tall Peter, was still a growing boy. He was 16, yes, but he was still not old enough to move out. 

Peter watched Avon sigh for what felt like the thousandth time this year, his eyes softening. "Sorry," he said abruptly, but even the teen could see that he felt guilty. "I...when you..."

Peter nodded. "Change."

They knew it was only a matter of time. It wasn't Avon's fault that the other humans were like this, that they heard of the carnivorous tendencies of adult giants and pushed the young adult to kick Peter out. Week by week, an officer would demand a synopsis of the homeschooled teen's activities - down to the grocery runs and hours unaccounted for. The bags under his eyes and the weariness in his expression barely masked the fear he had for the mini-giant in his apartment. 

Nevertheless, the human found it in himself to nod along. "I'm sorry, Pete." He said more affectionately, groaning as he put a palm to his forehead. "I just...want you here. Y'know?"

Where it's safe. He didn't say, but the mini-giant understood. It was safer here, where Avon could lie about his whereabouts and he could socialize with people his age on the world wide web. It was easier here, where he didn't have to explain why he hadn't grown a story tall or even submit a bunch of world records to Guinness, the conundrum of his mixed heritage not even a question to those who lived with it.