Every year on The date of Sam's birth, he requested the same thing. Every year on the date of Sam's birth, he was denied it.
He parents resorted to telling their only son that it was far too dangerous, especially at such a young age, but Sam found that he could never give up the opportunity to initiate the same question every single year:
Could he leave the walls?
Could he go outside, see how his own home fit into the little nooks of the human's, and learn what it meant to be small? If he could only see how big the world really was around him, maybe the adventure within Sam's young body could begin to explore.
Rather than the same boring hallways he traversed with tiptoed feet and quiet whispers, he dreamed of stomping around and yelling out to the world, begging it to offer him whatever it could. He didn't much care for his own safety; just his own curiosity.
Sam was a little boy, and little boys have a starving appetite for the wide expanse of adventure.
But he would always be turned down. Pushed away from a future of possibilities and forced into the life of a borrower, stuck inside all day, waiting for his parents to return from their trips to gain materials.
Sam was a good child. He listened to his mother and father, and so he never complained. He kept quiet, only asking to see outside on his birthdays, always being told to ask for something else.
And now, here he lay, outside the wall and as far away from a borrower's life as possible, his thirst quenched.
The bright rays of sun peeked through covered blinds that would've woken Sam up earlier, had he not been through a long night of begging his parents to have a 'sleepover' with his human.
That was the term they adopted nearly six months ago, after 'being kidnapped' had officially gotten old. Drizzle and Jack constantly joked about Leo stealing Sam away from them for a night or two, but everyone and their mother knew exactly who initiated the requests. For the seventeen year old borrower, a night spent with Leo was considered a delicacy.
Sam's rat's nest of hair brushed against the soft fabric of Leo's bed shirt, leaving him awake in a warm comfort that couldn't be replicated anywhere else. He didn't want to be awake, especially considering the fact that Leo most likely wouldn't be up either, but the nerves of the big day ahead of him refused to let him sleep.
Sam allowed Axel the chance to join them last night, but the littlest one denied it, as always. He would much rather use Sam's phone (though it became more of a family phone, now) to text Elijah all night long. Sam knew for a fact that Eli didn't mind one bit.
Instead, he was able to cherish the alone time he had with his favorite human, the one he was currently waking up on top of as a summer breeze flew in with a wave of heat bristling against it. Sam's ears twitched as a whistle of wind blew against his little head, and he burrowed further into the comfortable fabric underneath him.
Finally deciding that sitting there and waiting wouldn't do much good, the borrower began to arch his back, similar to that of a kitten after a drawn-out catnap. His tail stretched out to the maximum length, his hair bristled with a tired twinge, and his yawn filled the empty room to accompany the sounds of the wind floating by. Sam was so caught up in his stretch, in fact, that he forgot the toll of balance, and plopped right back down after a mishap with his arm slipping on Leo's shirt.
Down and defeated, Sam picked up on the soft humming of a laugh from above. It echoed down into the chambers below him, rising up until Sam could feel every deep vibration of Leo's laughter without even trying. His cheeks glew with an embarrassed pink.
"Shut up," he whispered, but it was loud enough for the now-awoken Leo to hear. Instead of replying, a human thumb crossed over to Sam's position, and waited patiently for him to settle down before making contact.
It was obvious from the misplacement that Leo had yet to open his eyes, meaning Sam's yawn was most likely the very thing that woke him up in the first place only mere seconds ago. Stroking Sam's tail seemed to be one thing that guaranteed him a good night's sleep, as it lolled both Sam and Leo into a mess of bed head and bloodshot eyes.
Yet, as Leo's thumb finally reached Sam, the contact was initiated on the borrower's back this time. As if starting an engine, Sam became a purring mess out of habit, and left Leo a little more awake than before.
"Sorry," Leo grumbled, but didn't remove his thumb from the constant brushing motion from Sam's head to his tail. He wasn't complaining in the least; it was the kind of touch he could only receive from a human, no matter how untraditional his parents viewed it.
Leo's thumb felt through all the brittle bones on Sam's back, unnerved at how skinny the little guy still remained, even after being with him for so long. The could feel each individual cord of Sam's spine, and the muscle that accompanied it that Leo swore he would do his best to fill up.
"Ready for today?" Sam asked, breaking the casual morning talk for something a little more interesting. That is, after Leo's mind caught up with him, and he remembered what today was dedicated to.
"Oh, shit," he said. The sleepiness in his voice had faded by the minute. "That's today, Huh?"
"All day," Sam smiled up at the eyes that were now opening. He took to shrugging the thumb of his back, stretching his arms above his head for good measure before coming to his feet on the unsteady surface and walking as best he could towards Leo's face.
The valley between the human's chin and neck was now the easiest area for Sam to sit while Leo was laying down. He plopped down and rested his forearms on the top of Leo's chin, allowing his head to come down on top and stare up at his friend from below. It gave him a funny looking face; one with nostrils bigger than his eyes and a head that swole down the further it went, but the perspective didn't break away from the fact that he was comfortable and able to be heard from his placement.
"So?"
"So, what?" As he spoke, Leo's chin bobbed up and down, forcing Sam to move with it.
"Are you excited?"
"It's too early to be excited about anything," Leo rebutted and drew an arm across his eyes to block out the sunlight.
"Boring," Sam huffed, turning his head towards the window in the room. The sun was higher than he thought, no cloud as far as he could see.
"Fine, I'm excited. You?"
"It's not everyday we get to see them," Sam said in a mellow tone, but it was clear that he used it as a disguise. He was ecstatic about the situation. "In person, I mean."
"Doubt they'll recognize you."
"Why's that?"
"Well, with the height difference and everything..." Leo joked. Sam grew two centimeters since he last saw them, and Leo somehow managed to tease him about it everyday since. Sam only flipped a middle finger up in response; a gesture that Skip had taught him, and told him to only use with Leo.
"It's okay to be jealous, not everyone gets taller after sixteen."
"Oh, you're dead," Leo's hand came forward to pinch Sam by the tail, a common practice that he liked to use as long as Sam's father wasn't in the room.
He plucked him up, leaving Sam dangling through the air with kicking legs and a screeching laugh that rang out through the room. They both knew to be quiet when Leo's parents were home, but at times like these, it didn't matter quite as much.
A notification beeped from Leo's phone underneath the pillow he was currently leaning on, and so he gently dropped Sam back to his own two feet on his blanket-covered chest, reeling back to give him a sturdy plane to stand on. Sam, who was feeling lazier than ever, decided to sit.
E_J_K: are we getting lunch before or after
"Before," Sam told Leo after being shown the message. "I wanna go to a restaurant for once."
"How do you plan on doing that without being seen? You're not gonna hide in my pocket while Eli and I eat."
"Why not?" The borrower pouted.
"Because Axel would be there too, and i'm sure he won't be comfortable with it either."
Sam thought it over for a moment, coming to the conclusion that while he hated to admit it, Leo had a point, and he wasn't willing to scare his brother away from the first night back with his humans.
"No restaurant, then. But I still want to eat before we get there."
"We can do that." Leo grinned at getting his way. "We should get ready soon, huh?"
Sam nodded in response, preparing his tired body for the act of getting up and ready to go right back to laying in Leo's hoodie while the human got his bags ready.
"Text Axel," He said. "Tell him to meet us under the bed in a few minutes."
The giant human groaned as he lifted his body up from the warm covers of the bed, allowing Sam to roll out and land on a comfortable enough area that he wouldn't be squished as Leo swung his legs onto the cold, hard wood of his floor.
It didn't take long at all for Leo to prepare himself for the trip.
Skip said it would last as long as they wanted, but everyone involved knew that if they had it their way, it might last forever. Instead, just three months of planned vacation time was scheduled out before Elijah and Leo had to go back to school after their summer break, and they would be forced back home.
Still, three months was much better than the one they were granted previously.
Life went on after that. With Leo and Sam's family in his house, things were a lot different than what that month held for them. Mr. and Mrs. Green were home more than they wished was true, and Sam's parents didn't exactly give the borrower and the human much time to interact. Instead, they had to make do with the miniscule amount of nights they were awarded for sleepovers, and the phone that went on to be shared by Sam's entire family. Whether it was used to talk to their respected humans, or used as a television for the family nights spent together, the phone went on to require a lot more charging than it used to. Leo, a kind soul, was always happy to help in that department.
Sam watched Leo swarm around the room, checking and double checking that his bags were packed to the brim and nothing from his room was missing. Even after the fact was confirmed, he still turned to ask Sam if there was anything he could notice that needed to be taken with them for the long trip.
"Snacks," Sam answered, and received a glare in return.
"I'm not in the mood to have your parents hate me right now," Leo said, keenly aware of the fact that Sam's father despised him being fed by the humans. He didn't quite understand it, until he witnessed Jack describe it to him the same way one fed a pet, and he immediately recoiled at the image.
Sam was the furthest thing from a pet in his eyes. 'Nobody would want to keep such an annoying little moocher on purpose,' Leo joked in his head, and then laughed at his own thoughts.
And then he was reminded of Sam still standing in front of him as he kneeled towards the bed, and was being given a wary eyebrow raise after laughing at nothing.
"Why are you laughing?" Sam crossed his arms, taking a firm stance.
"Just thinking," Replied Leo, and he went back to doing his business.
"Thinking about snacks?"
Leo rolled his eyes, completely aware that this was not a conversation that would simply go away, considering he had gone through it a million times before.
"What kind?" He asked, defeated, crossing over to his closet to pick out the green sweatshirt Sam fell in love with.
"I'm good with any," Sam grinned, and took to finding purchase on the bedsheets to climb down and face Axel at their entrance. Leo didn't bat an eye as he thrust the sweatshirt over his head, walking towards the kitchen as he did so. It was common knowledge by now that no matter how much food he consumed, Sam would always be in amazing shape physically, and agility was never hard to obtain when he constantly climbed up and down surfaces to reach his friend. Instead, he ignored Sam, taking to the pantry in the kitchen that contained every snack known to the household.
It was there that his father was found drinking his morning coffee, staring at the dishes in the sink as if they would get done through looks alone.
"Getting ready to leave?" Mr. Green asked Leo, and the son nodded in response. "You excited?"
"Why is everyone asking me that this morning?" Leo groaned, holding a bag of chips to his chest. They were Sam's favorite brand, though he told his parents differently. The things he did for that kid...
"Who's asking?"
"Sam," Leo blurted out, remembering at once his fool-proof story of who Sam was to him.
"You're meeting him there, right?" Mr. Green prodded, now that the subject was in his interest. "I'd like to meet him over the phone when you do."
"He's shy."
"So you've said."
"I'll try to get him to talk to you," Leo finally gave in, hugging the chips as if his life were dependent on it, eager to get back to his room.
"That's all I ask," Mr. Green said. Then he left Leo to his own devices, carrying the half-empty cup of coffee with him on his way out.
Leo sighed out in relief, looking down at the same sink that his father had been, reminding himself over and over that Sam meeting his parents wasn't the best idea.
Just six months ago, Sam and his family sat on that very countertop, debating whether or not Sam might be able to stay with Leo. Even earlier than that, Leo found Sam on the same countertop for the very first time, wondering how it was that someone so tiny could exist in his own house.
Leo put the chips down beside him, hefting himself up to sit where Sam once stood, watching the kitchen from a different point of view. While he might never know what it was like to be so small, he could at least pretend.
The way the kitchen window didn't block a single ray of sunshine from popping in, or the way the fridge made a constant humming sound to fill his ears. How might that noise affect Sam?
Leo found himself asking things like that a lot more now than ever. Aware of Sam in his walls without having the ability to be near him, it was obvious the human being would be curious about how his daily actions affected the borrower. Simply turning over in his bed let out a creek that rang out through Sam's household, or so he had been told. That freaked Leo out more than he wanted to admit.
The thoughts plagued Leo's mind whenever Sam wasn't around. The thought that he had found him by accident, and scared the shit out of him in the process, repeating the same image of Sam crying over and over, no matter how close they had gotten as a result...
Leo jumped off the countertop, grabbing the chips once again as he thudded into his bedroom and closed the door behind him.
"Sam?" He called out, less of a whisper than he would usually use in his home.
"What?"
The voice came from under his bed, meaning he was still waiting for Axel to hurry up and come out for their big day.
"Can you come out for a minute?"
It seemed Sam could sense the urgency in Leo's tone, and so he exited from under the bed with his tail straightened out behind him.
"What's wrong?" Sam asked as Leo came to kneel in front of him.
"I just...I have a question, and I want you to answer it honestly. Like, actually honestly. I've been thinking about it for a while and I kind of need to know."
"Okay?"
"Would you have ever met me if we never found you?" Leo blurted out, aware of how fast he was speaking, yet ignoring it in favor of watching how Sam would react.
"Thats-"
"You don't have to lie to spare my feelings," Leo interrupted, cutting Sam off as his face got more confused by the second.
"Are you getting cold feet about the trip? Is that what this is?" Sam asked him, gauging the nervous ticks he recognized in a heartbeat by now.
"No," Leo said. "Not at all. I just keep thinking..."
"Thinking that we might never have met? Because we did by accident?"
"Right."
"Thats stupid," Sam crossed his arms once more, looking up deep into Leo's eyes and just waiting for them to water up. He dared them to.
"What?"
"Leo, things happen for a reason."
"I know that."
"And it's not like I volunteered for Elijah to find me, but that doesnt mean I regret it."
"But-"
"But maybe if I hadn't been found then, we never would have met. You know I was taught not to talk to humans, no matter how much I wanted to. Rules are rules. I'm just happy they were broken for me."
Leo calmed down just a little after that, but was still obviously uncomfortable with the atmosphere he created to begin with. They were supposed to be forgetting all things stressful now that they were trapped together for the next three months, but it seemed that Leo only brought on more weight to their circumstances than before.
"You get like this when we don't hang out as much," Sam observed, taking stronger steps up until he reached Leo's knees, placing a hand down on top of one to pat it with as much sincerity as he could. "I'm gonna request to see you more."
"You request it enough. I don't want your parents to hate me."
"To be honest, Leo," Sam told him with a smirk. "I don't really care what they think, and I don't think you should, either."
"That's a horrible thing to say," Leo said, yet he laughed regardless.
Axel came out only a few moments after their little talk, seeming as if he was unaware of the conversation, though the gentle way he regarded Leo when greeting him told otherwise. He was a borrower after all, and it wasn't the hardest thing in the world to eavesdrop on a conversation.
Their plan to meet up with Elijah before arriving at Skip's new home went through like a knife on butter, and the reunion between Axel and his human was something that Leo couldn't forget in a million years.
He wondered, if him and Sam got separated from each other for six months, if that was how they might react. Falling into each other's arms with no room to spare, nearly on the verge of tears at being able to see one another after being apart for so long. Leo wondered if he might ever get split up from Sam in the first place.
And then he thought that no, that wouldn't even be possible, because with Sam in his hands for the next three months, he would never let go.
No matter what, Leo wouldn't let go. And he had a sneaking suspicion that Sam wouldn't either.
It's funny, Leo thought on the way up to Skip's home with a bright smile on his face and a friend in his hands, How someone so small can make such a big impact.
Little did he know that Sam, staring up at his grin from underneath with a smile to match, was thinking the exact same thing
_____________________________________
A/N:
This was supposed to be a little self-indulgent fic, and it ended up being over 98k words
I can't even describe how happy I am that I'm finished, not because I wanted it to be over, but because I've never completed an entire story before, especially not one this long!
So to everyone who's been reading it: Thank you. Genuinely, I would not have the motivation to continue this without y'all's comments and thoughts about this story. I loved reaching each and every one of them, and sometimes I still go back and read over them again just because it puts a smile on my face :)
If you've been here from the start, oh my god thank you!! If not, I'm still so grateful you've made it here regardless.
I think I'm going to take a well-needed break after this, and once my college ends for the semester, I'm going to try and pick a story back up and begin posting again! Something new and exciting, just because I found passion to write again.
That's not to say I'm finished with these boys, because I'm so in love with writing them, there may be one shots with them in the future if I feel up to the challenge.
Either way, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading my story, and if you've enjoyed it, I'm more than ecstatic to hear it. As I've mentioned before, this is my first time posting any of my works or letting someone other than immediate family read my writing, so I was of course anxious at first, but the support I received blew me out of the water.
I cannot wait to see what comes next.
As always, thank you for reading. ❤️
-D