Living With The Giants

Sixty-Nine: size

"Four. Five.."  Jace leered over the table, his fingers drumming the table top with anxiety, anticipation?

"Couldn't count in your head by any chance?" Austin wiped at his mouth, loosely holding a fork in his hand as he shovelled the remaining leaves of his salad in his mouth. Bland, boring. Horrible food with a lack of seasoning and few options to choose from. Salad, vegetables and a an option of a piece of pan fried meat, chicken or steak.

Jace turned his head away from counting, looking toward Austin, his wide eyed doughy face looking from the other table that was full of students eating their lunches. It looked as if they were prisoners in Austin's mind. Jace twisted his mouth and looked down at his plate, he seemed embarrassed at first

"Five people." Jace says softly as if not to be heard by the other table, "four boys and one girl"

"I can see" Austin rolled his eyes, turning to look toward Darrick who sat silently beside him. Darrick was looking down at his plate of food solemnly, pushing at his piece of chicken with the tip of his knife. Without Tess by his side he looked like he had been disconnected from a part of himself, he didn't speak much, dazed in thought as if unable to hold himself together without his little lover

"Should we introduce ourselves?" Jace whispered again, leaning over the table closer to the boys. Cole nodded eagerly beside Jace, his eyes not having turned away from the red headed girl at the table. She was small in frame with red painted nails, the contrast of the blue jumpsuit and red was somewhat of an eye sore

"I think we should" Cole whispered also, Jace smiling whilst Darrick didn't respond, Austin's let out a bewildered sigh as he looked at the two boys across from him

"Count me out," Austin shakes his head and waves the two away, he didn't believe he could even hold a conversation with strangers at that moment. He wanted to eat and be done with whatever activity they may be forced to do next

"Same" Darrick low voice surprised Austin a little, while Jace and cole gave a shrug and happily climbed out of their seats to introduce themselves. Walking up to the table with large smiles, Cole making it obvious by staring at the red headed girl who sheepishly smiled in returned. Austin couldn't hear their conversation, looking away as Cole and Jace slid into the seats beside the others

Austin felt very aware of Darrick beside him suddenly, felt his breath slowing as to not miss a word or movement. Austin could feel the silence between himself and Darrick, mustering into a thick fog around the two until it began constricting at his chest.

"How is Tess?" He managed, looking up through the loose tendrils of hair on his forehead to see Darrick was still not looking at him. Darrick shrugged his shoulders in response, twisting his knife in his hand. If Austin were a stranger to Darrick he'd think maybe he would stab him with that knife, the way he gripped it so easily in one hand.

"Darrick!" Austin startled and turned in his chair, seeing a pudgy man in a white trench coast and three wispy remains of hair pushing open a door, "let's go Darrick" the man spoke again, comfortable with Darrick's name on his tongue as if he'd spoken the name before.

Darrick stands beside Austin, leaving his seat silently to walk out the doors, head down as he walked past the scientist. The room was silent as they watched him leave, everyone was confused and muttered amongst themselves. Whilst Cole, Jace and Austin bore similar expressions of worry. A common phrase shared silently between them, where are they taking him?

~~~

"The 3 S's,I hope you remember these well. Safe, check that yourself and your counterpart are safe! Very important. Sensitive! Be sensitive and careful when around a human, do not be too fast or loud otherwise you will scare them! Secure, making sure your human doesn't feel threatened and always making sure you ask before touching! This also includes if you are allowed to pick them up, keeping them secure and safe in your hands"

Austin sat on the ground with his legs stretched before him, his head idled back to stare up at the ceiling. They were in a large warehouse looking room, the ceilings were ridiculously high and the walls solid with steal beams. The air was stale, no windows or even a fan to circle any cool air. He could feel sweat building under his arms and on his back. Could see sweat staining Cole's back, it was that hot.

Recreation room was written above the exit, written in bold writing above a green flickering exit sign. The lights were always flickering, as if everything had been wired wrong.

Darrick was in recreation, but he sat at the front with the same scientist man that stole him away at lunch. David was his name, he wiped at his forehead every few seconds with a handkerchief as beads of sweat dribbled down his swollen face. He was abrupt and blunt, looking at everyone almost disinterested

"Today we have Darrick here, say hello." Darrick didn't utter a word, instead standing, towering over David  in his simplest form. "We won't be using anything else today for Rec, Darrick is our master size shifter we'll be able to experience height with only one person today." David smiled, cocking his head up at Darrick at the excited mutters of the other group. Austin's brows furrowed, sitting up further "Oh and we're skipping over our buddy shifts. We'll be spending some time only with Darrick instead"

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