Archive of Our Own ^beta

Roman didn’t think he’d be getting back home before nightfall anymore.

He knew crossing the yard to the greenhouse goodies would be an all-day affair. He knew it was smarter to just wait for the old human to eventually bring their collection basket inside the house and just take from that while they took their time doing other things in the morning. But Roman wasn’t a fan of staying up late just to get out in the morning…he and Remus were used to being nocturnal, but this human only left the best stuff out early in the day. 

He knew he should have turned back when he was half way to the shed and saw the clouds gathering…but that hadn’t really been the problem. He’d been out in the rain before, and they knew how to get home safely. The problem, it turned out, was a feral cat. One that had locked onto Roman from the moment it hopped up the fence. Roman ditched his gathering bag and sprinted back for the nearest cover, even though he knew turning his back on a cat was basically an invitation for it to pounce. But he didn’t have time to waste, and the narrow headstart was all he could afford right now. He honestly would not have made it if not for a number of factors– the main one being delayed getting outside by Remus leaving their longest rope in the vents. 

Roman had been annoyed, but he’d have definitely made it too far from the house and been out in the open crossing had he not . He was grateful he’d followed the rules their mom had drilled into their heads since they could walk– never get stuck out in the open with nowhere to duck. He and Remus had scoped out the best path to the greenhouse…and his hiding spots were limited. They hadn’t yet had time to make extra burrows or hidey holes to escape into the loose siding. That left him with a very undesirable option…and every other option left him open, or was not small enough to stop a cat from reaching him.

Undesirable was better than death by claw. He took speedy strides for the rusty drainpipe on the side of the house and lunged in, it was just low enough for him to jump inside and scrambled for holds. The abandoned pail at the bottom bought him some time, cutting the feline off from just immediately snagging him before he had a chance to get up.  

Roman scrambled up the rough ridged sides, struggling to get a good grip and not slip, which would be deadly. But not getting up far enough would be too. It was hard when it was nearly as wide as his armspan, but he could rest and know he wouldn’t immediately slip down if he had to hold himself on the walls. Very carefully…a scrape on this rust would also be game over for him. He nervously peered up at how far up he’d have to go and didn’t know if he had the strength to make it. Could he just wait it out…?

Roman flinched as the cat mewled and bodily knocked the metal bucket away. He made the mistake of looking back down and saw the grey and brown paw stretching into the opening inches below his foot, and he willed himself to not freak out and fuck this up. He was safe, he was– he should just stay still here and not risk trying to go higher yet. He grimaced, heart pounding in his ears...or maybe that was distant thunder. Gods, was this just a punishment for something he’d done to deserve this?

He did not want to hear his brother’s smug jokes about Roman going out on his own and immediately getting caught up in the giant’s garden, but he kind of wished Remus had had less faith in him and followed him out just this once. But Remus wasn’t like those they’d grown up with– overly cautious or hovering wasn’t how he was. And to be fair, it wasn’t how Roman was either, to a lesser extent. But moving out here on their own was starting to show both of them all the challenges and just how easily things could go wrong for a borrower who was alone.  

The close call with the toaster had clearly not been enough to get through to them about the necessity of constantly looking out for one another. Remus would have to wonder what happened to him .Maybe he’d eventually find Roman’s bag or the rope. If the old man didn’t first.

Roman knew he couldn’t hold on here forever, and did end up trying to move up more. He knew the cat was still lurking, but as the thunder got more frequent and he heard the drizzle of rain start, he heard it moving away. He waited, nervous and exhausted from the wait, but he knew he would not be able to get back up if the cat was lurking. 

Then the rain got gradually harder, and he already knew that soon he would not have a choice. 

Water started trickling in from above, and then quickly, the stream got heavier. Roman was drenched as the rain started coming down more, and all of it that hit the roof was coming his way.

Roman tried to ease himself down the slippery sides of the metal tube and his foot slipped within a minute. Roman screamed, scrabbling for a hold as he slammed his head into the side of the wall and wasn’t able to regain his footing. He tumbled down and right down with the water. 

And to his horror, his fall did not stop at the puddle he expected to find there. The bucket had been covering an old broken sewer drain, small, but inescapable in the torrent of water that swept roman away and right through the cracked grate.

Roman had no idea how he got a handhold at all, in the moment he’d been falling sideways. He slammed his side into a bent bar of the grate that had allowed him to fall through, and he managed to blindly get his leg and hands around it. Roman just held still for a moment, heart pounding and body aching from the abuse. He groaned, trying to just stick his head out of the water pouring in over top of him so he could actually breathe. He coughed, and the dank smell of old sitting water and mold was not reassuring. He stared down into what felt like an abyss as water falling down on him tried to pull him with it, and he clung on for his life. He tried to pull himself up more, but the rain was making that a losing battle. Even if he managed to climb up, the collection of water above was like a little whirlpool that he was not sure he could escape on his own strength. He wouldn’t get lucky a second time.

“...Remus!! Remus, help!” Roman yelled, and continued yelling himself hoarse even as he knew deep down it was in vain. 

There was no way that even his brother could hear him over all this heavy rain, even if he was crazy enough to think Roman was still outside in this. Maybe he’d been lucky and Remus happened to be watching from the attic window? But no, his brother often slept in or went ‘rummaging’ while Roman was out. It was unlikely Remus even knew anything was wrong. And in this weather, he couldn’t– shouldn’t– come and try to find him.

Roman was getting absolutely drenched by the downpour, and he was lucky he’d managed just to hook his leg around the bent metal, because his grip would have failed him by now. He was too terrified to move this time, and his head throbbed with his pulse. The rain made it impossible to tell if he was bleeding. And it just wasn’t stopping. Roman clung to his lifeline miserably… helpless. He had no idea how long it had been but he did notice when it got darker out. Roman frowned. He didn’t think it was possibly evening yet, but he didn’t know what to make of it. Was the storm getting worse?

Roman shivered and just wished he could get a break from being pelted by the stream of water and leaves, and nearly jumped out of his skin at what he saw. He cried out, his hand almost slipping free entirely when he saw the distorted glowing yellow eyes flash with the lightning above him, staring right back. 

And with a sinking feeling in his gut, he knew he was screwed. That wasn’t a human, but this was arguably worse. A sprite had found him.

Sprites of the woods were not fond of humans, and borrowers were no better than humans to them. They often caused trouble and were minor nuisances to humans…but to borrowers, they were known to be far more vindictive and less restrained. Probably more emboldened due to their dollish size giving them an advantage in that case. And given where Roman was right now?

Roman was frozen, then horrified as the creature slipped down through the grate, their form more fluid and transparent than anything close to solid. It was coming down here.

Roman leaned away from the large, outstretched form of a hand reaching out at him, and he cried out as his hands were too cold to keep their grip, slipping down the slant of the metal, but he didn’t fall far. His scream and plummet were cut off before they really began as he landed in one of the sprite’s palms.

“W-Wait!!” he cried out, his scared mind scrambling to grab for something to stop the sprite from taking him or dropping him into the churning water far below. 

It closed its hands around him when he squirmed, sealing him in. Roman struggled against their grip weakly. It really was useless, and would be even on his best days, but he was not about to go down quietly. The sprite was translucent though, and so even in the confines of the hand– honestly, he’d take any relief from the numbing rain and air like ice on his clammy skin– he could see he was being taken away from the drain and further out into the garden. 

The sprite idled, opening it's hand when it felt him moving. Another hand was cupped over Roman to keep the rain off of him. Roman gasped, looking around wildly before back up at the being holding him and staring back. 

"Wha-where are you taking me??" 

The sprite didn't respond, form shifting like smoke as the rain fell around them. The sprite's eyes narrowed and looked up. Ro at first thought this was a reaction to what he's said, but then he noticed other sprites near the fence, glowing as they appeared. There were several earthy colors, greys, greens, and a pale blues, watching him. Watching both of them. Roman didn't like their stares. Oh gods, was he being taken over to them...? Had he or Remus truly been noticed and somehow pissed off so many nearby?

The yellow sprite flickered, pulling Ro closer to it. Roman panicked, clinging now and looking at how high up they were. For a moment, he thought he was about to be whisked away and never seen again to a much worse fate, and a potential broken arm from a fall was looking much better than that. A fall wouldn't kill him. But the sprite simply flew low over to the greenhouse, of all places. 

They slipped inside through the cracks of the door, their wispy body phasing in where air could, and with Roman, they pulled him in through a borrower-sized crack in the glass.

They moved between the tables of potted plants and the warmth was a stark contrast from the temperature outside to the cold borrower. Small blessings. They weren't followed inside, in any case.

The sprite settled low to the floor behind a bag of potting dirt and wheelbarrow, opening their palms to gaze down at their catch with shimmering yellow eyes, and Roman was as captivated as he was worried he was a captive. He didn’t want to be the first to move, now that he wasn’t being pinned in a hand nearly twice his size. 

The sprite didn’t blink, which unsettled Roman the longer they stared at him…expectantly?

“...w-what?” Roman eventually chattered out, the stress of the long silence getting to him. He hugged his legs to himself as the shivering got worse, and it was exhausting to his worn muscles.

The sprite did not answer, instead cupping him between their folded palms and Roman gasped, afraid he was getting squished for real now. But the sprite’s palms were shockingly warm against him, and when they slowly pulled their hand in a pinching motion from him, the water on him was flicked away. Roman blinked, feeling his hair and clothes. His clothes were still a little damp, but they weren’t drenched like before. Roman was still cold to his bones, but at least his clothes were not making it worse. He trembled a little in their hands, but nothing else happened. 

"You...t-thanks?" he said hesitantly, to maybe appease it a little, and the sprite...smiled at him. A small quirk of their lips, looking like he'd just said something cute.

Roman hadn't even known they had mouths, and that was an unsettling find, all things considered. He'd rather have not known that. But the look they were giving him seemed mostly pleased, and gently pressed a finger to his cheek. Roman flushed at the doting look they were giving him, a little embarrassed. Why was it-- were they looking at him like that?? The sprite ran a finger through his hair and Ro winced as they found the cut that was giving him a headache. They pulled back with a slight frown, and Ro worried he'd offended them. But then they were floating up again and the sprite, barely looking over all the plants scattered around in the greenhouse, drifted over a few and picked some leaves and the stem of another plant. 

Some sap oozed out of the snapped succulent and onto one of the leaves. The sprite put a finger under his chin and held him still as they pressed to the cut on his head. It was soothing, and tingled pleasantly. Roman relaxed into their touch as the throbbing gradually lessened. He was practically being cradled in their soft hands-- how many did they even have??-- and just that was enough to make his own tiredness start to catch up with him. His adrenaline had run long-run out, and even though he really should remain alert around this unknown creature, his brain couldn't find the energy anymore to spend on being ready for flight. He was too comfortable and their warmth felt nice against him. He pressed his forehead against the pad of what he figured was a thumb, and the sprite shimmered across their full body now. Roman tensed as he was pulled in against their chest and held there. There was no heartbeat, but a single source of white light radiated inside, and it was like sitting in a sunbeam from the windows. If daylight had a smell, it would also be this, like a breeze on a warm day with just a little ozone...it just added to the pleasant experience, really.

Roman curled into the warmth, and knew he was a fool to mistake it for any sort of safety, but what else was he going to do? The sprite had taken him, and it wasn't like he could flee or get back to the house right now. He was not at all eager to head back out into that weather, and the sprite had only helped him so far, gently petting him, and Roman had the faint thought that it was all a trick and he'd wake up in it's lair, unable to ever leave. He should be trying to leave and get back home...but as the thunder rumbled in the distance and the steady but even patter of the rain on the glass roof continued lullingly, Roman couldn't bring himself to want to pull away. What was the rush?

As he started to give in to his heavy eyelids, he heard an alluring, melodic voice, and he wondered if a spell had been put on him. The thought wasn't as frightening as it should have been. He let himself finally rest, no longer in survival mode.

...

Roman didn't expect to wake up on the water-stained windowsill in the attic, not far from the home Remus and he had been working on making themselves, far more hidden away. Water dripped down outside from the overhanging roof panels, and the sun had seemingly set hours ago over the garden below. His bag that he'd lost in the yard was beside him, empty and muddy, and the only indication that he'd been out at all was the leaf that fell off his head when he moved, and the dull but manageable aches that jogged his memory. He pressed a hand to his head where the cut definitely once was, but he didn't feel anything there.

He looked around only to spot Remus laying on his stomach nearby, kicking his feet and whittling at a stick and making...something suspiciously like a thing Roman did not want to see sitting on any of their shelves back home. 

"Remus? How did I get back? I was at the greenhouse--"

"No clue! I only came up here because something wouldn't stop knocking at the window until I did, and I just found you unconscious here, like, 2 hours ago."

Roman made a face. "And you just let me lay here that long??"

"What? You seemed fine! And look, you are! Not like that old guy could get up here." 

Roman took several seconds for his brain to wrap around that. "But...the sprite...? Did it bring me up here?? It saved me from the drain--"

Remus rolled over, sitting up in surprise. “Oh, so you met Janus??”

“...you know–?! When did…how did you– so they have a name??”

Roman stared at his brother, suspicious of that name coming from him specifically, but remus seemed to not be making a joke.

“Um, duh?? Of course he does, he totally gave me 'Janus' vibes. He likes to hang out in the garden sometimes. I think he likes sitting in that old tree? Anyway, seems he likes you, which is great. That'll be less awkward for me running into him since you didn't make him mad."

"I-I didn't do anything! He just grabbed me and wanted to cuddle during the rain, I guess??"

Remus rolled his wrist dismissively. "Well whatever it was, we have an ally now! So good job, keep wooing him so we can get free lifts to the greenhouse."

Roman balked at him. "I-I was NOT wooing the sprite!!"

"That's not the vibe I got from all that, but whatever, I'm not judging and I don't actually want to know about what you've got going on with that. The ancient forest sprite was totally hitting on you, though, so maybe keep it up anyway and then let him down gently so you probably won't get cursed."

"REMUS. That is NOT helping. I almost died, you know!"

Remus was already up and walking towards the edge where the nail-ladder mad hit easy to get down. "Tell me about it over dinner! But we'll be fine, you made a boyfriend and I'm sure you'll see him again, if he's decided you're his. Sprites are possessive as hell."

Roman put his face in his hands, exasperated and to hide his face that might betray him. This could not be his life. Maybe "Janus" would look out for them? He...really did want to see those adoring eyes again, though. There were many worse ways to have attention on him. It might be nice to have someone to talk to outside of just his brother around here...whatever this was. He smiled to himself. This might be very nice, truly.