Strange Sizes (G/T Oneshots)

📦~Moving

Boxes and bags were piling up in the corner of the room and eating up all the space, but she wasn't even halfway done packing for the day, let alone the whole month. Willow wiped the sweat off her forehead.

She reached up for her glasses and grabbed... Thin air. A quick glance around wasn't enough to spot them, nor could she find them after a thorough search. She heaved a sigh and glanced at the dozens of boxes looming over her. She would eventually have to search there, so better do it right then.

Her mind had completely shut off from exhaustion, so when she saw a strange shape tucked in a corner with her shirts, she took a whole moment too long to comprehend the oddity.

Willow might have had one of her childhood dolls lying around by any chance, but the human-like figure she was looking at was unfamiliar to her. She leaned forward to take in its details, brows knitting in confusion, then jumped a good foot in the air when what was supposed to be an unmoving hand twitched.

Willow stumbled a few steps back. Every nerve of her tired brain buzzed to keep her wide awake and try to make sense of the sight. She risked coming closer again to the evil doll, whispering every prayer she could recall. Even then, the creature was still there, and she could see the tiny chest moving as if it was breathing. None of the non-fiction books she'd read mentioned the existence of tiny human-like beings, but she could certainly think of a few from fiction books.

The girl knelt down and prodded the little... human? Doll? Tiny? With a careful finger. Maybe her sleep-deprived mind was pulling a mean trick on her to get her to bed, but she could feel the faintest heartbeat against her fingertip and it felt as real as her own. There was no more room for doubt. A tiny was hiding with her stuff, as surreal as every word of it sounded.

The being twitched and stirred. Eyelids opened halfway and small, lazy eyes settled on her hand. Willow was quick to retreat it, but that seemed to make the form jolt away from her and press back in the corner.

"None of that. I won't harm you," she held her hands up in the air. Even that movement made the little person flinch, and made her heart pang. "What are you doing here?"

"H-Hands up, don't move!" A boy, and a loud one at that. Surprise alone intimidated her, and she did as instructed. "I'll leave, just don't get grabby and forget you saw me." He kept his head downcast, not meeting her gaze.

"Didn't say a thing about leaving," She tried to keep her voice soft and even, but the effort did little to ease off the tiny being's trembles. "I wasn't expecting to see a tiny human tucked between my clothes." The boy's face flushed, and a smile tugged at her lips.

"Uh... Look, I'll leave you alone, so you can do the same." His eyes darted around the box, and she reasoned the poor thing was looking for an escape route.

"I already told you I won't lay a finger on you, so don't worry about that, pal. I just..." She leaned closer in, taking in the tiny human's delicate features. His face stiffened, "... Want to know what you are."

Tiny brown eyes drifted away from her. Her heart throbbed in her chest, letting her imagination wander. "A fairy? An elf? A little? A borrower?" She listed off. No reaction.

"None of that. I don't have wings and I don't have pointy ears or a tail or large hands, and I'm nothing like those beings you know of from those stories." It was her face's turn to flush. Willow swore a smirk came to the boy's face for a second, but by the time she leaned close enough to make sure it was already gone. "I don't know what I am, but I travel from home to home and live with humans. I just happened to take a liking to you so I'm moving with you." He muttered the last part, but willow was close enough to hear it.

"Aww, move with me? I'm flattered!" A tiny admirer living in her walls. Could a girl wish for anything more? Scratch that. Could a giant and tiny loving girl wish for anything more? Her heart pounded against her ribcage and she felt heat rise to the tip of her ears. It seemed her nights of prayer had paid off and brought Mary Norton's fiction to reality. "If you wanna be roomies, I'm absolutely down for it." A smile stretched wide on her lips. The tiny boy didn't mirror her expression.

"I-it was already the case, so why not make it official..." He stammered in a voice barely high enough for her to catch. She stared too long without answering, still in disbelief of the situation. Maybe exhaustion helped her accept it, and maybe the next morning she would wake up and freak out as she would have expected, but at the moment Willow was glad things were going smoothly and she wasn't overwhelming her little guest. She knew a good few hundred people around the world who would do anything to be her right then, she wouldn't mess up her lifetime's opportunity.

Ever so slowly, the girl brought a hand closer to the hand-sized boy, making him all but flatten himself in the corner. She kept her hand palm up and a few inches shy of him. "If you're staying here tonight I can offer a better place to sleep?"

His reply was instantaneous, much to her chagrin. "Touchy, aren't you? I'll be just fine here." He eyed her hand like a prey eyeing its pred, not that she would blame him for the reaction. If anything, she would have expected a tiny to be much jumpier, she was lucky to meet one, and brave at that.

The interaction hadn't lasted that long, but she felt there wasn't much more to ask; at least, not in the middle of the night. "My door is open if you need anything." He barely paid her any mind and he laid back down once she took a few steps back. Tomorrow she would ask him more, and she would tell him about herself and they would learn about each other's unfamiliar life.

She only hoped his sleep wasn't an act to leave in the middle of the night. She only hoped the magic would last till the next morning.