Heads up: this chapter gets a little dark and depressing (mentions of death/killing/etc) but nothing extreme, and no actual gore involved. With that being said, happy reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Four boys sat in the living room, three crowded together amongst a single couch while they stared down at the fourth in Elijah's hands. It seemed the human was not going to let him go anytime soon, but neither of his friends were keen to argue against it. Especially not when the boy seemed to finally relax, if only a little, in Eli's hands.
When Sam was brought to the living room and remained in Elijah's palm while the rest of the boys sat, he found himself under the impression that he might be killed later, but would first be evaluated. As much as it hurt to prolong the death, he figured he might as well allow his humans to ask their questions, even if the sole reason was because he hadn't had attention like this since his parents.
Sam learned over time that he was a victim of touch deprivation, and that being alone for so many years led him to curl into the first sign of contact he could find. Even if it were a pinkie finger of a human intent on killing him, Sam allowed his tail to swoop around it and hold its position to avoid any more embarrassing actions. Without his tail, he might've gone so far as to wrap his entire body around the finger on instinct, and there was no coming back from that.
He was having a hard enough time as it was.
"So, can you tell us your name?" Elijah asked him, voice too gentle to control the slight cracks in his speech. He knew Skip might make fun of him for it later, and he resented that fact, but all he could focus on at the moment was how extraordinary the person in his hands was. Not to mention, he was bubbling pride in his chest at the thought of such a creature seeming to trust him and only him for the time being. Why else would he stay still, tail wrapped around his finger for everyone to see?
Sam didn't say his name. He wasn't ready to talk yet. He could deal with being seen by a human, he was making do with being held by one, but actually raising his voice to announce who he really was took too much confidence and energy he didn't have. All Sam wanted to do was fall back into his nest and turn in for the rest of the late afternoon, texting his friends and forgetting this whole thing ever happened. Maybe, if he wasn't so scared, Sam would've been able to fall asleep in the hand carrying him. The thought was frightening, but the palm pulsed warmth into his bones and protected him from the world around him, whether the human knew it or not. Sam could appreciate Elijah never closing him into a fist, or holding him too close to his body.
When it was clear the boy was going through too much to respond, Eli decided to take a different approach. One simple action might break him down again, so, as careful as he possibly could, Elijah smiled down to the tiny person in his hands.
"My name is Elijah," he announced, allowing the boy to stare up at him with round eyes. Although the pointed tips of his nose and ears gave him sharp features, Eli found that when the boy had wide eyes, they were soft around the edges. "Um, I'm seventeen years old, I like to make people laugh sometimes, and long walks on the beach," he huffed.
Leo watched Elijah with ever growing fascination, before returning his gaze back down to their new house guest.
He couldn't stop staring at him. Not because of how small, or how impossible the scenario was, because that was irrefutable and already proclaimed by everyone else's thoughts.
No, Leo could take his eyes off the small boy, because he felt something tick inside of him.
Not the tick of anger, or any feeling he could identify. It was as if he put bread in a toaster, and was now waiting for the timer to go off and the toast to pop out with an audible ding and a scream lodged in his throat. It was a tick that told him he knew what was happening in front of him, but he couldn't place it for the life of him. Leo was a smart kid, someone that understood the ways of the world and tried his hardest to understand new information, but this...
This would take time and more evidence to process. Even so, Leo remained as he was, quiet and sitting off to the side of Elijah, who continued speaking as if nothing were out of the ordinary.
"...and so I made my account because of what she told me, and made a bunch of new followers in, like, two days straight. So I kept making videos because, personally, I thought they were hilarious, but I started getting haters for some reason or another, which was ridiculous because all I wanted to do was make people laugh, you know? Anyways, that's why I made my account, and believe it or not, I still have it to this day. I know, like a whole two years and I haven't even deleted it yet! It's crazy, but I have a bunch of followers still and sometimes I get people to ask me for sponsors, which I due a lot more than people realize because it's literally free money-"
Sam watched Elijah speak to him with complete awe on his face. If he had any less control over his expressions, he might've even started to drool as a result. As it was, he sat on Eli's hand while he rambled on, never stopping for so much as a breath while he continued to talk.
'He's trying to make me feel comfortable', Sam realized with a jolt. 'He wants me to feel safe in his presence.'
And Sam appreciated that, he honest to God did, but after a while, it just felt like stalling for the inevitable. Not to mention, the way Eli was speaking to him, rather than down to him, only furthered his need to burrow into Elijah's hand and stay there with his friends for the rest of the growing dusk.
Elijah didn't stop talking even as the outdoor lights blinked on and flooded in through the windows, making a hardly noticeable impact on those still watching Sam's small body as he yawned.
Skip didn't want to admit it was an almost adorable sight to behold.
"So then, I made one video after a few months of having my account, right? And these two idiots literally DM'd me to tell me they wanted to be my friend or whatever, and at the time I wasn't that famous, so I said sure and was added to the group chat with them. It was pretty cool at first, but then Skip started to get real mean to me because he's a complete asshole- OH! I never introduced them! Okay, the two sitting next to me are Skip and Leo. Skip's real name is Zeke, but we never call him that because he doesn't like to be called Zeke..."
While Elijah listed off the names of his friends without pointing to either of them in order to differentiate, Sam turned to acknowledge the fact that he knew who Eli was speaking about.
Leo heard his name being called, though Eli seemed to skip over the introductions completely and let the boy decide for himself.
However, something much more strange happened.
As soon as Eli called Skip's name, the small kid in his palms turned his head to Skip's body. As if he knew who he was talking about from the start.
Leo's name was mentioned, and the boy met his eyes.
And Leo felt the toaster go off with the ding he wasn't ready for.
Because the tiny person amongst them knew who he was, and knew with such a burning knowledge in his minuscule eyes that Leo nearly leaped back with a yelp.
Because he looked at Leo with familiarity, like a long-lost friend, and Leo couldn't remember him. It was a sad fire burning into Leo's gaze, begging him to realize, and yet afraid of what might happen if he did.
Because the only person missing from their friend group was Sam, who hadn't responded to any of his texts last night or the day previous. Sam didn't reply except for two words that echoed in his brain like he was made entirely of a tunnel, repeating the same phrase over and over and over and-
I'm coming.
And Leo practically ripped out his phone to view the profile picture of Sam's contact information. The blurry, pixelated mess that displayed ebony hair, elvish features, and skin as pale as snow in the flash of the phone. A phone that couldn't focus if the individual taking the picture was too small to recognize at such a short distance.
Because the tiny person sitting on Elijah's palm was not a stranger, nor was he human.
"Like the group chat was a big deal, okay? I spent most of my time texting these guys on a daily basis, mostly for entertainment purposes but sometimes because you just need someone to talk to, you know? Oh, there's another guy in the chat that isn't here right now, he's personally like my favorite little brother I never had because he's-what? Like, 16? Younger than me, that's for sure. He couldn't come here today because I don't think his family let him, which is a bummer because I would love to meet the guy, but I guess you gotta stick with family sometimes. Anyways, his name is Sam-"
Sam jerked his head away from Leo, watching Elijah ramble on about nothing, not even realizing the effect he had on the Non human in his hands. He wanted to cry, to panic, to scream that it was him, but fear kept the words swallowed in his throat and remained there as he kept trying to control the oncoming tears.
Nobody but Leo noticed the visual change of his expression when Sam's name - his name - was called out. Skip sat on the opposite end of the couch and listened in on Elijah's venting, apparently about ready to turn in for the night and pick this back up tomorrow. Leo, however, found the subject at hand far too important to go to sleep anytime soon.
It was Sam. All the evidence proved him right; the inability to take pictures, the sense of never really knowing what was going on in his life, the phone that-
Oh God. The phone that went missing as soon as Sam showed up.
He stole his old phone?
Leo almost smiled at that. If they ever got past this, he would find a way to tease him about it.
Right, he would need to actually talk to Sam about it first. And judging by the way he was silent, reluctant to share the information Leo just discovered, it would be plain cruel to put him in front of the others without consent. Leo would need to find a way to speak to Sam, alone, but prying him from Elijah's hand would be difficult.
"...But I told him it wasn't his fault the dog died, and he gave me three dollars and I was on my way. Which sounds like a fake story, but I swear it isn't because I still have the three dollars in my wallet-"
"Eli," Leo interrupted. "It's getting late. You still need to set up the guest room."
"Shit, we do. And I don't want Skip's grubby hands touching all my stuff," Eli jabbed the elbow of his free hand into Skip's stomach, resulting in a deep grunt and a string of curse words coming from the giant.
"I'll take him while you go set up," Leo said and held out his hands for Sam. It took a little coercion, but he knew Elijah trusted him more than anyone else, and so it was that Sam was quite literally slid into his cupped palms before Elijah could trot off with Skip in tow, still on the verge of passing out and looking to all the world that he was done with this shit.
As soon as Sam heard Eli needed to go, his heart sped up faster than he knew was possible.
He was going to be alone with the boy that wanted him dead. If he was going to pass away, now would be the time, and Sam started to tremble in reflection of what his life meant at the moment.
He got to meet his friends.
That was a plus if he ever saw one. And while they still had no idea who he was, except for apparently Leo, he didn't regret being able to sit in Elijah's hands and feel the warmth of his voice for an hour or so. Elijah was so soft, so incredibly nice to not kill him, that Sam found himself wondering if Eli would ever miss him. Even if he found out who Sam was, he liked to imagine Eli would fight for him to live, though he knew it would never happen.
Skip was mostly silent the whole time, except for the occasional grunt as a reaction to Eli's words, but Sam didn't mind a bit. He loved Skip just as much as the others, always ready to fire a comeback or take him under his wing when he needed advice. Skip was an acquired taste, but one that Sam found himself quick to grow used to in such a short period of time.
And Leo, who's hands he sat in now, allowed him to meet these incredible people and stay with them until his last moments. Leo, who loved Sam back with just as much intensity, who called him on the phone anytime possible to speak about stupid things that neither of them cared about. All that mattered was that they were speaking to each other, and melted into meaningless conversations whenever the other needed a distraction from life.
Leo, who taught him not all humans were bad, no matter how deadly. Soft, gentle, caring Leo that gave Sam a new meaning to his name and kept him going.
Leo, who he now found himself not ready to leave, because although Sam resigned himself to his death, he didn't want to go at all.
"It's okay, Sam," Leo spoke in a hushed whisper, and he broke apart at the mention of his name, because it meant that his theory was correct, and that he would die at the hands of the person he least expected.
It was like a dam broke the second his name was muttered.
Sam screamed into the palm underneath him, buckling under the weight of his cry and clawing at the cloth around his reddening skin.
Hot tears overlapped the dried old ones, staining his face and threatening to burn the skin off at any given moment. His cheeks flashed a dark shade at the heat, and the lack of oxygen from the poor soul's lungs.
Sam cried out in pain, in memories that would be lost for good, in remembrance of his parents before him.
They told him to grow up safe, they taught him to avoid death, and now he would be killed at a younger age than they could ever imagine.
When Leo spoke his name, he expected Sam to brighten up at the fact that he wouldn't have to hide anymore. He expected a wholesome reunion of two friends that had been dying to meet each other for months now.
What he didn't expect, however, was his best friend breaking down into a pitiful ball on his hand, screaming out in utter agony with clenched fingers grasping at his clothes. Sam's tail wrapped around his entire body, forcing himself into an even smaller form, absolutely broken in every way possible.
Leo was, to say the least, confused.
"Wh-Whats wrong? What did I do?"
Sam couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't bear keeping up his silent treatment, because it didn't matter how scared he was. He was going to die, whether fear crept into his throat or not. And so, with about as much intensity as the screams beforehand, Sam took heaving breaths and called out to his friend.
"I don't want to go! I don't-I don't want to go. I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't do it, I can't-" his raspy breath cut him off, hyperventilating to the point of no return as he broke down as far as possible.
"You...go where? Where do you not want to go? Sam, what are you talking about?" While Leo was ecstatic that he finally got his friend to speak, this was not okay.
"I don't-I can't do it, please-"
"I don't understand, Sam! Tell me what's going on!"
"I DONT WANT TO DIE!" Sam screamed out in a final effort to voice everything he realized, everything he learned over the past few days. "I want my friends, I want to stay with you, I want my parents, I want my home-"
Leo couldn't understand for the life of him what was happening. His heart shattered into a million pieces at Sam's emotional breakdown, the scream echoing in his ears, and he wanted to fix it. No matter the stuffiness he felt in the back of his nose, or the heat rising into his own eyes at the sight of such a broken kid in his hands.
"Why do you think you're going to die?!"
"You...you want to kill me..." Sam sputtered out between heavy intakes of breath. Leo only looked on in horror.
"I...what?! Sam, what are you talking about?!"
"You set up the traps for me..." Sam drawled off and finally, finally, was able to catch his breath and slow down into more controllable sobs. His hyperventilation, which still made him a little dizzy, was gone and he had the opportunity to rake in gulps of much needed air for his lungs.
Leo felt like he might throw up.
When Sam heard the sniffles that were far too loud to be his own, he raised his head to watch in awe at Leo, staring back down at him, letting his own tears fall free.
"No. Sam, I-no, I...those weren't for you," he stuttered, Crying, using his free wrist to wipe the incoming tears from falling any further down his face.
"But you kept on trying to get me to come out..." Sam insisted, more of a whisper than anything as a result of his utter confusion at the sight of Leo crying. "Why are-why are you crying?"
"I was texting you to make sure you were okay," Leo shot back with an overwhelming amount of tears in his eyes. "You never responded and I thought I did something wrong and then you said you were coming, which meant coming here, and I got so excited to meet you. But you still didn't answer, and I thought you...you only did it to get our hopes up. The traps weren't for you, Sam. My parents think we have rats in the walls."
"But...I only told you I was coming so you wouldn't get impatient..."
"Impatient because you thought I wanted to kill you?!"
Sam looked down in guilt, shame, and disgust for even thinking so poorly of Leo in the first place.
Leo, noticing how wrong everything had been misinterpreted, couldn't sit around and do nothing any longer. He stood to his feet, pressing his palm against his chest, and hugged Sam with his fingers as he stalked into his bedroom a few feet away.
"I would've forgiven you..." Sam called up, even more confused at being crushed against Leo's chest for the time being. It wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest, but he felt Leo's heartbeat through the walls of muscle and flesh, and Sam could resonate with how fast it seemed to be beating.
"That's...no, Sam, please don't say that."
Sam shut his mouth in an attempt to make Leo happy. When Leo noticed this, he sat on the edge of his bed and cradled him further into his chest, attempting to give him the most solid hug he could at their size difference.
"Sam, can I please tell you something?"
He heard a tiny "okay" from inside his fingers, and looked down to see Sam's head burrowed amongst his hand and chest, apparently cuddling inside the space given to him.
"I couldn't kill you. I can't even think about killing you, okay? It doesn't matter if I'm upset with you, or if you think you've done something wrong. I mess up all the time too, okay? Please, please, believe me when I tell you that you are my best friend, and even though you're, like, smaller than my finger, it doesn't change a single thing."
Leo waited for a response, not noting the way Sam's head peaked up at him through his fingers, eyes too blurry to see properly. He was trying to judge how honest Leo was being, and whether or not he could trust everything being said to him. But when he found that, after everything, Leo was still crying, Sam decided there was no harm in indulging in his fantasies.
"Do you promise?"
"Yeah, bud, I swear on my life."
"Then okay...um, I'm sorry...Can I go home, please?"
"Where is 'home'?"
Sam stopped to think about his answer, because while he didn't want Leo to know he lived directly beside him this whole time, there was also the possibility that Leo wouldn't care at all. Slim, sure, but a possibility nonetheless.
"I live in the walls," he whispered up, begging Leo to remain merciful. When all he got was a surprised eyebrow raise, he relaxed the strain in his shoulders and curled further into the fingers surrounding him.
"Where can I put you down, then?"
"Um, underneath your bed. Please."
Leo, reluctant to let Sam go after such a short interval of time, got down on his knees and pulled him away from his chest. He felt a damp spot forming on his soft shirt, but decided against saying anything to lessen the awkward air surrounding them.
"It's probably best to go to sleep, okay? Promise me you won't stay up all night worrying."
"I promise," Sam said a little too quickly, but when he thought more about his response, he added a short "you do the same, too".
"I promise," Leo repeated, setting his palm face-up on the wooden floor underneath his bed, waiting for Sam to leap off and go running at the first sight of freedom. Instead, Sam unfurled himself from the comfortable hand and sulked all the way down until he was gone from sight, hidden behind the dark shadows of the bed in the nighttime. Leo was too scared to say anything else after him.
Three minutes later, a knock on his door rattled Leo out of his thoughts, and he swiveled around to find Elijah underneath his doorframe.
Elijah, for his part, did not expect to see Leo on his knees in front of his bed, looking off in the distance as if someone had broken in and stolen his brain. He also did not expect to see Leo empty-handed, but decided not to jump to conclusions if his friend's track record was anything to go by.
"Where's the tiny dude?" He asked, voice soft in the presence of the silent night.
"I...he-" Leo cut himself off, holding a hand up to his mouth and stifling what could've been a sob, if Elijah didn't know any better. Leo was up on his feet in a matter of seconds, quick to find his way over to Eli's spot underneath the door way, and tears sparkled from his eyes.
"Hey, relax, what happened?" Eli was swift to move a hand to balance Leo's movements, watching him sway as he let more tears fall for the millionth time that night. "Did you let him go or somethin'?"
"It's Sam," Leo cried out, finally letting himself drop any tension in his body and fall against Eli, who was definitely not expecting that reaction. And while his actions were unscheduled, Eli wrapped his arms around Leo regardless, never faltering in being there for his friend, before his words finally drifted to his skull and he made out what was being said.
"What happened with Sam?" He asked, still gentle in his voice, because he knew Leo might break like glass if he so much as raised his tone. It didn't defer from the fact that Elijah was quick to freak out on the inside, worried about something horrible happening to his friend.
"No, it's-he...the tiny person. It's Sam. He thought that I-that...he..." Leo babbled out, apparently losing his ability to speak properly as he clung to Elijah's hug. Eli only hardened his grip in utter confusion.
"Sam?"
"Yes, and he thought I wanted to kill him, Eli!" Leo choked out, brushing his face down into the crook of Elijah's neck, burying his tears in an attempt to stop them. It didn't work, and Leo was left sobbing on a bemused Elijah for the next fifteen minutes into the night, wondering if how the meeting of all four friends could have gone any worse.
_____________________________________
A/N: yikes!
I'm really excited to bring you guys this chapter, because it was definitely the most fun to write. Loads of angst, but no worries; happy times in the (distant) future!
Also, thank you all for the recent support! As I mentioned earlier, this is my first time posting my writing anywhere, so seeing people enjoying it really makes my day :)
As always, make sure to leave a comment (even if you just wanna say hi) because I love hearing feedback and opinions! Thank you so much for reading! :)