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smolmermaidgt · 2 years

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Borrower Gets Caught By World's Most Politest Young Man

I stole @showrunnerihardlyknowher's OCs and made them both borrowers. And then I made borrower!Jacob and human!Caden meet because they're both sweet bois who deserve to be happy and best friends. <3

Summary: Jacob gets caught out on a borrower run by a human and fears the worst. Caden just wants to help the injured tiny person who nearly gave him a heart attack.

Word Count: 3,055

Jacob was always a scaredy-cat, except he didn’t like to be called that either, because cats were terrifying (if admittedly cute). Jacob couldn’t help it! At his size, almost everything in existence viewed him as a meal or a toy. Jacob’s boyfriend Edix was even doing it, the taller borrower constantly playing with Jacob’s hair and making cooing noises like Jacob needed to be coddled and cherished. Not that Jacob particularly minded when it was Edix doing it, but, well… it was the principle of the thing! Life sucked when you’re five inches tall, end of discussion.

It also didn’t help that a borrower's life was one of stealth and acrobatics, neither of which were Jacob’s strong suit. His anxiety skyrocketed every time he left the walls, fearing the worst was around every corner. It would only take one wrong move for Jacob to be crushed by a falling toaster or drown in a bathtub or end up caught in a trap and forced to reveal the secrets of borrower kind, single-handedly destroying life as he knew it for his entire species!

Yeah. Jacob didn’t deal with the pressure well. But he forced himself to go on excursions, insisting that Edix couldn’t be the only one pulling his weight. Jacob had managed okay enough when he borrowed alone before meeting Edix, and Jacob felt even worse anxiety when left behind worrying if Edix was going to come back at all. That greatest fear, the one of losing his boyfriend and never even knowing what happened, forced Jacob to keep his wits about him and behave like a real borrower should.

Edix, ever the worrywart, insisted on accompanying Jacob on borrowing trips, and usually Jacob let him. But today Jacob had ventured off on his own, needing a bit of space. And, if he was honest with himself, Jacob had to prove to himself that he could still borrow alone; he wasn’t going to become solely dependent on Edix, because that’s the kind of foolish thing that gets a borrower killed.

Today, Edix had taken the long trek out to the community garden, outside in the rear of the apartment building. Jacob had gone the opposite direction, choosing the easy target of apartment 1C. This was the home of a well-organized, busy human who always kept to a schedule and rarely questioned his surroundings. The pantries were kept well-stocked, and the plastic containers were easy to remove and replace to leave no trace. It should be an easy in, easy out.

And just in case, Jacob even did a preliminary check of the apartment, confirming where the human was sitting: right at his bedroom desk, surrounded by thick textbooks, as usual. Jacob leaned against the air vent above the desk, looking down at the books. Even if he could read, those looked incredibly boring. It was a wonder to Jacob how a person could stand to stare at something like that all day, but humans were just weird like that. At least this meant the human would be preoccupied for several hours. Jacob had nothing to worry about in that regard.

Unfortunately, there was one factor Jacob forgot to account for when planning this mission: the lack of building maintenance. Usually this was a blessing for the borrowers who didn’t have to clear out their belongings every few months to camp around and avoid inspectors, but in this case it meant the air vent Jacob was pressed against was no longer up to code. The rusted hinges chose this moment to finally give out with a squeak, sending the vent cover and borrower alike tumbling down towards the desk below.

Jacob didn’t have time to process how royally he fucked up before he was colliding painfully with the vent, head slamming against the metal grate and leaving spots in his vision. Worse yet, the slots of the vent had come open, leaving sharp rusted edges that scraped along Jacob’s body, tearing his clothes and leaving gashes in his skin. Jacob whimpered, tears welling up in the corner of his eyes from the pain as an almighty crash shook the desk.

Jacob’s heartbeat stuttered, realizing that the human had toppled out of his seat at the sight of the borrower. Jacob had been seen- well of course he’d been seen, a failure as spectacular as that was hard to miss, but the full force of his fear hit him like a wall when the human popped back up, his menacing shadow looming over the borrower.

Jacob whimpered again, his eyes widening in horror as a hand larger than his entire body came straight for him. The poor borrower fought to try and get away, but his bruised and battered form took just a moment too long, and he was snatched up in those ginormous digits with terrifying ease.

The sudden vertical movement made Jacob’s stomach plummet, leaving the borrower nauseous with his vision spinning further. His own heartbeat pounded in his ears, making it impossible for Jacob to understand the human’s ramblings, but he could see the mouth in front of him moving a mile a minute, warm minty breath blowing over his face in an unnatural breeze. For a horrifying moment, Jacob imagined himself fitting between the molars, the human popping his head like a grape. Could humans do that? He wouldn’t be surprised.

In the face of the unknown, Jacob couldn’t sit back and accept his fate! Jacob squirmed about, ignoring the way his injuries flared up as he scrambled to fight off the grip caging his limbs.

“-woah, hey!” The human’s voice finally began to register as the fingers moved around Jacob, pinning the borrower more firmly. “Please be careful, you’re injured, I’m just going to-”

“LET ME GO!” Jacob demanded, a sudden burst of bravery overcoming his fear.

The human blinked, clearly startled by the way Jacob spoke at all, but he took it in stride, continuing in those soft ramblings like Jacob was a cornered baby mouse. “It’s alright, I promise, I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to clean your wounds and, well, help?”

Frantically Jacob shook his head, vehemently rejecting the idea of a human messing with him even further. “Let go of me! Put me down! I- I don’t need your help!” Jacob insisted, knowing it was a useless plea. Humans did what they wanted, never caring for the whims of ‘lesser’ creatures. Jacob’s mind was racing with all the horror stories he had heard about borrowers being shoved in jars or mouse traps or, in one terrifying ghost tale, brutally torn apart as part of an experiment. Was that what was going to happen to him? Would Edix never know what happened, or was he going to be found out too in some sort of brutal borrower witch hunt?

“O-okay.” Contrary to the expectations of Jacob’s train wreck of a mental state, the hands began to lower back towards the desk, opening up and gently sliding Jacob off to rest on one of the abandoned open textbooks.

…what?

“Sorry. So sorry.” The human apologized- apologized?!- and pulled his hands slowly back towards himself as if trying not to frighten Jacob further. “My fault, I should know better, grabbing someone without asking like that- but truly, are you alright? That was quite a fall, comparatively speaking. At least I assume so, but I don’t mean to- can I do anything to help? Hydrocortisone? Bandages?”

Jacob blinked, his woozy state of being making it even harder to understand the human’s new set of ramblings. “...hydro-what?” Is all Jacob could think to say.

“Ah, you know, for abrasions.” The human explained gently. “Should help with cleaning your…wounds.” The human now gestured to Jacob’s everything, the already pale gigantic face growing even paler. “Is it getting worse?”

“Huh?” Jacob finally looked down at himself, taking in the state of his body. His clothing always looked raggedy and dirty (a side effect of living in the walls and making clothing from scraps), but now they were also shredded, with a few large gashes bleeding. Not at a particularly alarming rate, but the sight still made Jacob feel a bit sick himself. Jacob watched a little splatter onto the pages beneath him. He winced, watching the blood stain the sleek white paper. “Oh. Sorry about your book.”

“Sorry about-? Nonsense, don’t worry about my textbook, you’re bleeding!” Tears began to form in the human’s eyes, but he quickly wiped them away. “I- can I help? Do you need anything? Or do you need to get back up there?” The human pointed up to the open dirty vent up on the wall. “Oh, right, but you don’t want to be grabbed… not that I blame you! That must have been scary, huh? I’m sorry. But do you have a way up there? Or… does any vent work?”

Jacob squinted up at the giant, who even as he towered over Jacob was looking more and more like a frightened rabbit. The idea of a human being nervous only made Jacob grow suspicious. “What’re you trying to pull, huh?” Jacob demanded.

“What?” The human shook his head, short blonde locks softly bouncing with the movement. “No, I mean it. I made a horrible first impression, I was caught off guard, but that’s no excuse to be rude. Are you alright? Truly? Are you going to be okay?”

Jacob didn’t know why the human would ask such a thing- but he certainly didn’t want to be captured again just for the human to inspect for himself. “I’ll be fine, so keep your meaty hands to yourself!”

The human looked down at his own hands, briefly puzzled by the adjective before turning those bright eyes back to Jacob. “Yeah, sure, anything you need.” The human hastily agreed, and crossed his arms to shove his hands against his sides for good measure.

Jacob narrowed his gaze. “...take a step back.”

The human didn’t even hesitate to take a large step back. “Whatever makes you comfortable.” He agreed.

Now Jacob’s eyebrows shot into his hairline. Since when did a human listen to a borrower?

“Do you… need me to go further?” The human asked. “I can, but if I go too far it might get hard to hear one another. Or maybe you have better ears than me, I’ve always been a bit deaf, so my mum says. I could leave, too, if… you wanted.”

“You’d leave?” Jacob almost laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of what was happening. “This is your room!”

Though looking a bit crestfallen, the human was quick to nod. “Sure, I know you didn’t mean to intrude, not really in a studying mood now anyways. Would… would you be able to get off the desk though? I don’t want you to be trapped and injured, too.”

Jacob didn’t trust a single thing that was happening in his life now, but he also couldn’t help but realize the predicament he was in. Jacob still had all his gear, thankfully, so he could hook up into the vent or down to the floor- but the open wounds were a worry. The thought of moving at all right now sounded terrible to Jacob’s poor bones.

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to ask for some bandages, as a test. If the human failed, Jacob would just have to hastily make his escape and press his shirt against the abrasions, hoping for the best. But if Jacob could at least bandage himself, he could shoulder through the pain and make the long trek back to his home with far less chance of him just passing out dead at some point between here and there, Edix not even knowing where Jacob had gone to know to come look for him.

“If you really want to help me…” Jacob swallowed, wetting his chapped lips as he once again realized how incredibly stupid he was acting, “...go…grab some bandaids or something.”

The human nodded hastily, stepping towards the door. “Sure thing! Back in a minute. Do you, um-?” Jacob looked as the human tilted his head a bit. “You know what? I’ll just grab a little of everything. Just hold on!”

“Hold on to what?” Jacob murmured, but the human was already gone. Jacob shifted to his feet, holding his arms around his chest and looking up to the vent. Climbing a rope all that height seemed like torture, so Jacob knew he’d be escaping via the floor instead. A very casually graceful fall with a little rope assistance never hurt. Much.

Jacob was cautiously inspecting the edge of the desk when he felt the tremors of a human approaching. Jacob tensed, scrambling back from the edge, and immediately the tremors stopped.

“Sorry.” A quiet voice came from above, and Jacob looked up to see the human halfway across the room. “Did I startle you?”

“No.” Jacob lied, quickly putting on a brave front.

The human was kind enough not to point out Jacob’s farce, or perhaps he truly didn’t notice. “Good; I didn’t want you to fall again.” Now the human approached slowly, an assortment of bandage types and gauze held in his hands. “Ah… do you need any help, or do you just want me to leave these here?”

“Leave ‘em.” Jacob ordered immediately.

“Okay.” The human placed the items onto the desk, and while the hands made Jacob tense at the reminder of his own imprisonment, the human kept his distance and stepped back once the bandages were placed.

Jacob waited until the human retreated to come inspect the materials, which could easily cover the floor of his bedroom. A few of the ones still in paper packaging were sticky, and Jacob found these easiest to try and stick to his chest and then fling around to the other side. The borrower winced when the glue made contact in a few spots with his wounds, but the cotton covered the majority of exposed skin. Hopefully these would hold all the way back home.

“So, ah, what’s your name?” The human asked, righting the chair that fell when the human first toppled over and placing it a few steps away from the desk. “I realized as I was gone that we sort of forgot that part of introductions in all the panic. My name’s Caden, Montgomery.”

Jacob was currently occupied twirling his hips to try and get a bandaid to swing around and stick to his back. It was slow-going considering how his abs protested the motion vehemently. Caught off guard, Jacob could think of nothing but answering the truth. “Ah… Jacob? Just Jacob.”

Caden sat down in the chair, facing Jacob once again with a gentle smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Jacob. Do you live around here?”

Jacob pressed a bandaid down on his arm. He winced internally, only now remembering the borrower rules which he had grown up reciting with his siblings. “We’re… not really supposed to talk about ourselves.”

“Oh, okay.” Caden, who could have gotten annoyed or pestered further, seemed to take this in stride. “Then what can you talk about?’

Jacob shook his head. “No, we’re not supposed to talk to humans at all.” Jacob clarified, finalizing his hand-made first-aid.

“Oh.” Caden’s smile faltered. “Ah, sorry about that. That’s my fault, then.”

Jacob frowned. Sure, it was only after Caden grabbed him that Jacob spoke up… but Jacob knew in his heart that it wasn’t entirely fair to blame the human. Jacob was equally at fault for falling in the first place and forgetting the rules. Besides, it’s not like Jacob had said anything too incriminating, and looking at Caden’s giant dumb face made the human almost look pitiful. Like the younger brother Jacob never had.

“Whatever.” Jacob shrugged, looking away with a huff. “I mean I’m the one who spoke, so- yeah. And besides, can’t make it worse now, you already know I can talk.”

“Then… is there something you want to talk about?” Caden perked up hopefully. “Like, ah, your favorite meal?”

Jacob blinked, once again surprised by the innocence of the question. “Ah, I dunno, I guess donut holes? Mostly take what I can get.” Jacob could have kicked himself, realizing that might be a clue about borrowers, and hastily added: “I’m not a picky eater, is what I mean. That’s all. But pastries are great.”

“Pastries are great!” Caden agreed quickly. “My aunt owns a bakery, she used to let me help out all the time. I loved the almond flaky ones with icing. I could bring you some actually, she always has leftovers so it’d be no bother.”

“Really?” Jacob’s eyes widened, imagining just for a moment all the pastries that could be obtained… but reluctantly, he shook his head. “Ah, thanks. That’d be great, sometime. If I’m ever around again.”

Caden nodded, slower this time. “Well, you’re welcome to come over anytime. Although you don’t have to fall next time, I could just bring you some. Or we could do something else, do you play games? Or read? Or we could go somewhere, although that might be difficult. I’m the only one who lives here, so you don’t have to worry about any other humans.”

“Yeah, sounds great.” Jacob said, but his heart wasn’t in it. With his wounds patched, Jacob was once again thinking about how long he had been out in the open, and realized he needed to start the long trek back before he headed home. “Look, I uh, I appreciate the bandaids, but… I should get going now.”

“Oh.” Caden’s gaze was sad, but still he sent Jacob one last smile. “Do you need any help, then?”

Jacob shook his head. “Could you just… leave the room? It’d feel weird with you watching.”

“Of course, whatever you need.” Caden stood up slowly, considerate with all of his moments. “It was nice to meet you, Jacob.”

Jacob gave a nod in return, watching the human close the bedroom door. He clutched his head, still reeling from the events of the past twenty minutes. Jacob took a deep breath, steadying himself as he got out his hook and walked to the edge of the desk. As he repelled down to the bottom, Jacob had only one thought left in his tired brain:

Edix is gonna kill me.

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