Taika doesn’t sleep a wink. How could he? There was some kind of CREATURE in his bed with him!! He paces back and forth on his porch, the cold night air giving him a bit of a chill. He keeps an arm wrapped around his narrow torso for warmth. Despite his naturally high body temperature, he’s very sensitive to the cold, always quick to shiver and complain during winter weather.
“No, I swear to god, it wasn’t a mouse!” He hisses on the phone. “It had a little face! Like a HUMAN face, and he was wearing little glasses!”
He’s been in a panic over the incident for the last few hours. After turning every light on in the house, and spending an extensive amount of time googling “tiny people who live in your house”, he decided that he felt more comfortable outside than inside. He wasn’t sure what he saw. A part of him even thought the burglar might have been a tiny ghost which circled him back to googling “can ghosts be tiny?”. Of course, he found little to nothing there, sustaining the mystery of what happened here tonight.
“I haven’t taken any weird drugs, no,” he huffs. Of course his friend doesn’t believe his story. It sounds insane! A cute, miniature blonde man with glasses stealing the necklace off his neck while he slept? He knows he sounds like a basket case, but how can he deny what he saw? His friend slowly talks him off of the ledge and eventually, his nerves start to wear down. After hanging up the phone, his tiredness takes precedence over his nervousness and he heads back inside.
He tiptoes back to his room and takes a peek inside. No tiny little nightmare men scurrying across the floor? His eyes land on his full length mirror, catching sight of his reflection. He’s half naked- wearing pink boxer briefs and a cut off hoodie. His raven hair is pulled back in a messy bun. Even frazzled and sleep deprived, he’s still stunning at least. How much of him has this little intruder seen? He’d guess probably everything… Taika’s never been the type to turn down an audience, but he doesn’t love the idea of something crawling in bed with him without permission…
Taika closes his bedroom door and bunches up a towel in front of it, hoping to block off anything that might want to slip through the crack. Just for good measure. He’s going to sleep on the couch tonight, not that he’ll be any safer there… his bed is just tainted by the experience. He curls up with a fly swatter in his hands, ready to defend himself at a moment's notice.
The next day, he’s nothing less than exhausted at work, but that’s no different than a regular day if he’s being honest. He's a bartender, and while he’s a natural at serving drinks and charming customers, his job can still be really dehumanizing at times. He usually deals with that by slipping a few drinks to himself throughout the shift (maybe one too many on occasion), and flirting with cute customers always lifts his spirits too. Today he’s a little distracted, though. His mind keeps drifting back to the events of the night before, trying to devise a plan of action for when he gets home.
It’s a little disheartening. Taika grew up an orphan, then spent a few years as a young man on the streets. Even with all his talent and charisma, it never changed the fact that he was born into nothing. Lots of other people his age were going to fancy colleges, getting married or working their dream jobs while he was just grateful to have a roof over his head. Which is exactly why when he found a house for rent that he could actually afford, he jumped on the opportunity.
It was a cute place, relatively small. He could tell it must have been owned by someone elderly by the style of the wallpaper, and well, it had that old lady smell. He spent the first few weeks making it feel like home, filling it with all of his belongings, his smell, his music. The bedroom closet had more color and texture than ever once he filled it with his pretty clothes- the one thing he’d always allow himself to spend money on. The place was really starting to feel like it belonged to him. It was maybe the first time in his life he’d ever felt that way. Which is why he was not going to let some spectacled little man scare him off.
As soon as he’s home, he’s pulling his hair off his neck into a ponytail and throwing on the sweats he usually wears while he does house work. He grabs for a roll of purple painter’s tape and gets down on his hands and knees in search of any holes or cracks in the walls. He’s not sure if this is going to work at all, but maybe it will at least give him some peace of mind. The little guy must have come from behind the walls, right? Maybe this will keep him out. He starts covering every hole he can find with a piece of tape, then smooshes something against it like a book or box, anything he thinks might be too heavy for someone of that stature to move. The house is filled with the sound of his singing as he gets to work, turning up his speaker and listening to music.
Meanwhile, all the borrowers are turning in for the evening. The scouts spent the day out in the house, searching for food while the giant was away. They managed to score a decent haul, though they wish Taika did a better job of keeping his kitchen stocked. There wasn’t a ton in the way of groceries. One of the most significant things they stole was a can of beer, which they spent the last few hours getting drunk on. Many of the colonists listen to the sound of Taika’s singing as they fall asleep, grateful that he has a good voice. The only borrower not partaking in the festivities is Arthur who is far too nervous about the repercussions of his actions to enjoy alcohol.
Once everyone is tucked away in their rooms, he decides to go spy on Taika. He’s afraid that the man might do something dramatic like call an exterminator or put out traps or something. That would mean awful things for him and his friends. He scurries down his usual path through the house’s walls, following the sound of Taika’s handsome voice. He has trouble finding the exit for some reason… had he somehow forgotten where it was? It seems darker than usual… oh no!
He rushes over to the wall touching the area where the exit used to be, realizing that it’s all sticky. Oh gosh, oh gosh- is that tape?? He pulls a sewing needle off of his hip and stabs at the tape, hoping to tear it away, but there’s something solid on the other side.
“SHOOT!” He swears. Does Taika mean to cover all the holes? If the other borrowers see this, they’ll freak! In a panic, he rushes to the next nearest exit. That one is dark too! He quickly realizes that the tenant has covered a lot of ground. It takes him half an hour to find an open hole. Gosh, what is he going to do?!
Taika is feeling pretty good about himself by this point, standing in his kitchen and enjoying a cold drink. He pulls his shirt up to wipe some sweat from his brow. Maybe he’ll sleep better tonight with a little whisky in his belly. He sighs and sets the drink down, stretching his arms over his head as he turns to leave the kitchen. He’s about to turn off the light when his eye catches something.
He’s standing on the kitchen island, clutching a sewing needle like it’s a sword. Taika recognizes his messy blonde curls, his round rimmed glasses and of course, his tiny stature. The genasi man’s jaw drops a bit, stomach sinking the way it does when you know a rats been living in your house, but this is the first time you’ve really seen it. Arthur swallows as he’s caught in the giant’s sights again.
“Hi… we need to talk,” he says.