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g-t-prompts-all-the-time · 20 days

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I am begging everyone to read this story please this is so good

Mushroom Circles

Chapter Nine

Ao3

—

When an accidental blood sacrifice leaves him in a strange new world, Roman has to hide

Logan would like to know what has been eating all the fruit

—

Roman glared at Janus, who was now having a laughing fit. Ugh, he felt sick after that little levitation stunt. The fact that Janus was only laughing, and showing absolutely no remorse for their actions just made Roman feel…

For lack of a better term, blegh.

He felt blegh.

It was like every negative emotion was stacked on top of each other in one horrific sandwich. He was angry, he was scared, he was upset, he was jealous that the faeries had every advantage over him, and he was so, so tired of dealing with all of this.

Was it too much to ask that he be able to go home? Was it too much of an unreasonable request that he get put in a situation where someone, anyone even, would understand him? Just someone who he could talk to?

He pushed his head into his hands and leant backwards. He was sick of this, he was so, so sick of this.

The faeries were discussing something above him. He hated how loud their voices were. He hated that he had virtually no context to help him figure out any words- he hated that he even had to.

He hated that he had to be saved from drowning in what was pretty much a puddle, he hated how much attention Logan and Patton put into making him less startled- it was embarrassing.

On the flip side, he hated how little attention Janus put into the same- it was dehumanising to be treated like a simple plaything by someone so much larger than him.

He hated how he couldn’t even say anything to them. His little outburst had been the first time he’d spoken in front of them (other than when he was drowning, but that was special circumstances), and all it did was make Janus laugh. They could understand him only as much as he could understand them- less, even.

He knew their greetings, he knew how they apologised. They didn’t know this stuff about him.

He just… he just wanted to go home. He wanted to put this whole mess out of his mind and go home. He missed his bed, he missed his house, he missed his brother. He missed a whole lot.

He looked up at the faeries. All three of them were too close to him. Patton was saying something to Janus, who actually looked somewhat apologetic, for the first time Roman had seen. Wow, never thought he’d see the day, he thought bitterly.

Where was this sympathy before the torment that they’d subjected Roman to? He watched them go back and forth in conversation for a small while, before Janus, looking as though they had a gun to their head, turned to look at him.

“I’m.. sorry,” they said, with a vaguely apologetic tone, though it was clear that their words were being forced to be spoken. It was the same words the other faeries used as an apology, so the meaning was quite clear to him.

Roman re-crossed his arms, and turned away from them. Their apology was certainly not accepted. Especially not since they clearly weren’t giving it of their own accord.

He heard the chatter start back up again. This time he had no clue what was being said, but he had simply stopped caring at this moment in time- he couldn’t bring himself to care about anything while he was still thinking about home.

He couldn’t bring himself to care, when he was still shaking from being levitated and brought across such a distance in an instant like he was one of the mere objects the faeries did the same to.

He couldn’t bring himself to care when he was in such a position.

How would he even figure out what was said, anyway? He couldn’t just magically understand languages. He sighed.

He felt a light touch on his arm, and unwillingly flinched. It was just Patton, but the physical touch was startling to say the least. God, it had been weeks since he had a human near him, he missed it-

Quickly snapping out of his thoughts, he looked up at the faerie, who was staring down at him with that pity-filled face. He looked away, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment.

He knew full well how pitiful he looked. Hell, he felt just as pitiful. Perhaps more so. Didn’t make it any less infuriating. Embarrassing. Annoying? He didn’t know.

He grumbled under his breath, and looked back up again.

He was sure that they certainly felt bad for him, but he was fairly certain that they didn’t entirely understand the length of his sorrows. How much he missed of home, how undeniably scared he felt in their mere presence, how much power they truly held over him (how much more they could if he ever gave his name).

He smiled, unsure of his exact emotions (he was still feeling blegh) but knowing it was always better to put on a confident mask than to show his weakness.

Patton’s hand was still close to him, twitching as though they wanted to grab him. He ignored that, taking a deep breath; Patton was always good at making sure he wasn’t grabbed without his consent.

That wouldn’t change (hopefully. He didn’t want to think about anything like that) but the way their hand was lingering there was making him nervous. He looked at it, and back at them a few times, feeling like he was trembling.

But he shouldn’t have been. He was just being scared for no reason at this point.

Their hand retracted with a small apology to him, and he nodded.

——

Patton had not been very pleased with his cousin after they had pulled such a stunt with Tiny. To be quite honest, he wasn’t pleased after Janus had first met Tiny, either.

The problem seemed to him that it was Janus’s lack of understanding of Tiny’s point of view, and why they were as scared as they were. Not even Patton knew everything that was going on with them, though he could piece together bits and pieces from their reactions.

They were scared. They were scared of Patton, they were scared of Logan, and they were terrified of Janus (and after their first meeting, who could blame them?).

They were small. They were afraid. They were fragile. They didn’t seem to have magic. They didn’t understand anything Patton said to them.

Patton could barely resist the urge to scoop them up into his hands and hug away their negative emotions.

Over the past few days of them living with him, he’d made progress on that front, actually. He’d been allowed to hold them in his hands a few times (only if he was able to find a way to get their consent, of course. He really, really didn’t want his guest to be uncomfortable).

They were… light. Like he was carrying barely anything at all.

Apparently, that rang true for how easy it was to levitate them as well, based on Janus’s smug grin at the way they were now sat on Patton’s kitchen counter.

Patton stared for a few moments as Tiny clearly took in their surroundings. They looked slightly paler than usual, which Patton knew tended to be a bad thing. Before he could say anything, Tiny crossed their arms and in a tone that sounded half angry, half upset they said something.

Patton hadn’t heard them speak before, except for that first time he and Logan had found them. Unfortunately for them, their moment of bravery in finally speaking (though it wouldn’t have been understood either way) was undercut by Janus beginning to laugh.

Patton couldn’t help the way anger began to rise in him- Tiny was going through a lot, why didn’t Janus see that? Why didn’t Janus understand how much he was upsetting them?

“Janus, what are you doing? Why would you do this?” He asked, as Tiny was sitting with their head in their hands (luckily not crying this time- Patton didn’t think he could handle that heartbreak again)

Janus’s laughter calmed down

“Oh, come on, I barely did anything!”

Logan was staying silent right now, but Patton could almost sense the glare that he was giving to Janus. Patton took a deep breath

“Janus. Have you ever once stopped to consider this situation from Tiny’s perspective?” He asked, though he already knew the answer

Janus, like he often did, rolled his eyes, and crossed one set of arms, the others resting on his hips

“What’s there to consider? It’s being pampered, and fed, and you two dote on it all the time. It’s got a good life here,” he said, but Patton just shook his head

“We don’t even know where they came from, Janus. But we think it must be far away; can you imagine being in their position? Somewhere unfamiliar where you’re smaller than everyone, and you can’t understand anything people around you are saying, and they can’t understand you. Just think about how frightening that would be,”

Janus was beginning to look somewhat remorseful, but Patton pressed on

“Now imagine that while you’re just starting to be less scared, a new giant starts tormenting you every chance he gets. Does that sound good to you?” He asked, crossing his own arms in return, his wings flapping once in emphasis

“Alright, alright! I’m sorry or whatever,” he said

Patton nodded his head in Tiny’s direction

“I’m not the one who you should apologise to,”

“Seriously? It won’t-”

Patton cut him off

“They,” he said pointedly

Janus sighed “Okay, they won’t understand me,”

Patton just stared at him until he turned to look at Tiny, who was staring at all of them with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Janus said reluctantly.

They all watched for Tiny’s reaction. They crossed their arms and turned away from Janus, which wasn’t that shocking all things considered

Janus happened to have a bit of a grumble about it though.

Patton gently touched their arm with his fingertip, forcing himself not to marvel at the fact that his fingertip was the size of half their arm. He felt his heart breaking ever so slightly at the way they flinched

They stared at his hand for a few moments before looking up at him. Patton felt so bad for them, his hand lingered for a few moments before he noticed how nervous it was making them

“Sorry,” he apologised quietly, bringing his hand away

They nodded, and he took in the way they were smiling. He doubted it was a real smile

—

@a-chilly-pepper @betamash @da3dm

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