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Kelsi stared up at the large silhouette covered in blankets through the darkness, rising and falling slowly with each breath. She could barely see the outline of her owners face, strong jaw, high cheek bones and the ridge of his nose, but her eyes had become well adjusted in the bleak midnight light since her blanket had fallen off Jace’s nightstand. She had woken up cold, and shivering, as the snow outside fell thick, frost crusting over the window and the air in the gigantic bedroom cold and dry.

Only a week ago had Jace adopted—no, as he constantly called it, “taken her in”. He never used that word, or any other word that he felt supported the idea of her as a pet. Humans were popular and expensive pets on Rumon, the giant’s planet. She had circled through many homes throughout her 17 years, some good, some alright, and some horrible, until she finally stopped at Daniels. Daniel was horridly abusive, drunk and angry. He had used her to take out his frustration, for a few long, painful months, before a neighbor saw her injuries and reported it.

But of course, the adoption system being as corrupt as it is, she was just placed back in the Shelter, until she caught Jace’s eye and something had just… clicked between them. She wasn’t sure how to explain it, but the scenario came rushing back to her as she stared blankly at the 20 year old sleeping before her.

She had been curled into a tight ball in her cage, attempting to catch some sleep when she felt that uneasy feeling of being watched somewhere in her stomach. She knew why, of course, but she merely curled into her ball tighter. Maybe if they think I’m asleep, they’ll go away, she thought, not wanting to deal with any more giants if she didn’t have to.

“Ah, I see you’ve taken an interest in Kelsi, our newest addition.” That high-pitched, peppy voice suddenly burst around her, the loud sound causing her to flinch slightly. Being abused by Daniel had only intensified her natural paranoia around the giants, making it near impossible to hide her fear. “Hmph—She’s just trying to ignore you, she does that to everyone. Perhaps you would like to see some of our better selection, the ones with a little more training—”

“Umm, no thanks—I actually think I heard the customer bell ring.” She opened her eyes slightly at the new voice, obviously male, a twinge of fear running through her bones again at the thought. However, the voice wasn’t as loud and cruel as Daniels—there was something gentler behind it.
“Oh, I’ll go see who it is then~” She heard the footsteps of the obnoxious worker walk away, and despite the woman’s apparent density, she knew when to take a hint from her customers.

There was a slight pause as the giant seemed to be lost at words, before he chuckled slightly, “Heh, sorry you have to put up with people like that… must be annoying.”

Kelsi slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head to address the new giant before her. Most would have left by now. She was glad, and slightly alarmed, to find that he had dropped to his knees in order to be eye level with her. He had a slight, sad smile on his face, but his eyes were curious and bright. She froze, finding herself staring directly at one of his dark brown eyes—at this closeness it was impossible to see both. They were a rich, deep brown, the vibrant color darkening and seeming to get deeper and deeper the more she looked. A sudden calmness seemed to fill her as she stared, starting at her chest, her shoulders un-tensing and her muscles relaxed. She felt a smile appear on her lips, and as this happened, his eyes seemed to light up, his smile widening as well.

“Ah, my name is Jace. Nice to meet you.. Kelsi?” He asked, his voice seemed to fill the space around her, but it was soft and quiet.

She averted her eyes, and nodded slightly. She hadn’t used her voice in a while, and was afraid if she spoke it would turn out raspy and hoarse. Besides, a lot of giants seemed to become disgusted or offended if a human looked into their eyes, or even spoke, and she reminded herself of this, not wanting to upset the titanic being before her.

But if she had been watching, she would have seen the hopeful expression on his face drop a little. He had nearly gasped when the tiny human slowly lifted her head to look at him, and found himself in awe as she stared—straight into him. The tiny human was actually… really pretty, which he hadn’t necessarily expected. She – Kelsi, had long, dark brown hair that waved and curled slightly off her shoulders, partially hiding her features. Her gaze seemed to fill some missing part of him, and he found himself unnaturally calm. When she smiled at him, his heart seemed to skip a beat, and he found himself smiling cautiously back at the girl, who was merely the size of his pointer finger.
He nearly kicked himself when he realized—he forgot to tell her his name, how stupid of him. He informed her, reminding himself to keep his voice as soft and gentle as possible. But suddenly the girl averted her eyes, and merely nodded at his statement. He felt the joy he had inside him drop a little at her response, but attempted to bring it back, as quick as he could.

“Hand shake?” Jace asked, bringing his pinky finger up to the bars of the cage—even though the sight of the cage was enough to make him feel disgusted. He knew his people treated the humans as pets, but merely thinking like that caused him to feel monstrous. The two species appeared so similar—only smaller, but despite this, he still found himself craving some sort of company after moving out of his family’s house, and his parents, noticing his obvious change in mood, had suggested investing in a human. At first the idea disgusted him, but after doing more research, he wondered if a connection—not a pet-master relationship, but perhaps a true one, could, just maybe, happen.

Kelsi looked at the giant’s finger, confused. He wanted her to… shake his finger? But wasn’t a ‘handshake’ something only Rumonians did between themselves? She stared at the digit, dumbfounded and unsure. She disliked the idea of touching a giant—even if it was just his pinky, giants were ridiculously strong, and what was going to keep him from using his brute force against her? To hurt her? It brought to many horrible memories back. Daniel constantly played tricks like this, purposefully placing her in situations like this and then using it against her to suddenly inflict pain, getting the response he so craved. Even if this giant appeared kind, it could just be a mask – perhaps he was even worse than Daniel, the idea making her cringe with sadness and turn away from him, a tiny tear slipping out as the memories of horror and hiding flooded back to her.

Jace stared expectantly at the human, despair filling him when the confused look on her face slowly turned to disgust then sadness then fear. His eyes widened at the slight sight of a tiny drop of water seem to fall down the girls cheek, which she quickly wiped away with her fore-arm—wait, was that… he swore he saw a dark tinge of blue and some slight cuts on her arm, and looking closer confirmed his belief. But—isn’t this place clean?! I made sure to come to a clean shelter— the idea suddenly dawned on the young giant, and it suddenly made sense. She must have been abused, he realized, the pieces suddenly clicking into place. The mere idea of someone hurting the girl filled him with a strange, harsh, protective anger, before it faded into a type of sadness—dread that seemed to dwell in the pit of his stomach.

But his attention came back, sharp, as he saw the slight change in the girls breathing. It came a little sharper and quicker, and he could tell her attempt to hide it—to calm it, somehow, but it only became stronger and now she was sobbing, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. She rubbed at her eyes furiously, wiping the liquid away, looking around her prison—anywhere but at the being in front of her, who seemed to stare at her with what appeared to be strong, strong empathy and she felt panic build up inside her—she had never had someone look at this before and it made her feel vulnerable. All the tears she had been holding in, that she had attempted to hide since she had gotten to the shelter and all the weight of the memories filled with pain seemed to overflow and spill out of her.

But then she heard a loud, cracked sound and looked up at quickly to see Jace—the giant, quickly trying to wipe away some of his own tears, his huge fingers curled over the bars of her cage. She stared in shock, the tears now flowing freely down—giants, they never cried. She had never, in her years with Daniel, seen him reveal his own emotions, break down like this in front of her. But here was one—who called himself Jace, right here, sharing her own pain and sadness. She quickly found herself drawn to him, staring in shock as he quickly wiped his own tears away with his arm, a shiny film over the brown eyes that had seemed to draw her in when she first saw him.
“Sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” She heard his now cracked voice repeat, through loud sniffs. “I d-don’t know why I’m crying.. Just—”

She hurriedly and suddenly found herself reaching for one of the curled fingers peeking through the bars of her cage, wrapping her arm around the tip of his pointer finger, before she even knew what she was doing.

There was a sharp intake of breath as Jace felt her tiny grasp on his finger tip. He could sense every thin, tiny digit of her hand and neared closer to the wall of the cage, closer to the tiny being that could possibly make himself feel this way.

He saw tiny sobs still rack through her body now, but they were slighter and less harsh. She had her head now resting on his finger, and he felt a shiver rush through his body, goose bumps appearing on his arms now. This was the one, of course it was. She was broken but he felt a strong urge to want to heal her—to help her with whatever that brute had done to cause her to act this way…

“K-Kelsi..? Would you like to come home with me…?” He whispered, his voice still affected from the tears that he had shed at the sight of her crying.

“I-I..” He nearly froze at the choked voice that had come from her. He listened carefully for more, for more of the voice that she apparently rarely used, but nothing more came, except for a shaky nod that confirmed his wishes, and she quickly released his finger as if she suddenly realized she was touching him and backed up a bit.

But Jace merely smiled, pulling back his hand that had latched itself to the bars of her cage and took a few steps back, before raising his pointer finger as if to say “Just one minute.” Before walking off to talk to the cashier to fill out the forms and pay the money…

That was only a week before, and still the memory rang clear in her mind.
However, although the memory seemed to feel her with a slight warmth, cold air swept it away, and she began to shiver again, the soft smile on her face fading.

Surely.. He wouldn’t mind? Right? She questioned herself. Although on the first night of her stay, she wouldn’t have even fathomed of doing such a thing, she had been too incredibly nervous around him. Well, she still was, but not nearly as much. But right now, the cold nipped at her, she having kicked her blankets away in one of her many nightmares that had risen from the abuse in the past.

She shivered violently… the cold was nearing in, as well as the nervousness. Still she watched, his body rise and fall, slowly, surely. There was no way he would be cold – at least not as cold as she was now, with the large amounts of quilt and blankets he had gathered for himself. She had been in his hands a few times before, and the warmth they emitted was always comforting. He had warned her it was going to be a cold night, and had taken care to give her extra blankets—but that was still no help as she had flung them all away.

If she didn’t get help, she was sure to freeze and get sick… She had been in situations like this before, and knew that she was cutting herself close, shivering even more violently now, her teeth chattering loudly in the dark.

Jace wouldn’t mind… he wouldn’t, she reassured herself. He wasn’t like Daniel. Not Daniel. All he had done for her in the past week only proved this fact… And she needed this.
So she backed up on the cold metal of the night-stand, preparing herself for the long leap to his bed, to warmth. She ran, before launching herself off the stand, at least as much as she could with her chilled bones. She landed with a thud on the mattress, yelping a bit as it was a hard and sloppy landing.

Rubbing her arms, the tiny human felt forward blindly in the darkness, before finally her freezing, shaking hand touched something that was firm yet gave away slight warmth. She moved her hand slightly across the rough skin, guessing it was his arm. It was good enough. She laid down by the limb, attempting to curl up against the slightly warm skin… The whole time, the nerves in her stomach were going crazy. This was insane… what if he woke up and I was right here and—

“.. Kelsi?” A gruff voice filled the still air and she froze, still shivering and shaking violently from the cold.

“J-Jace! S-s-s-sor-ry I –” she stuttered uncontrollably once she got a hold of herself, fear rolling off of her. She wasn’t supposed to be discovered—she wasn’t supposed to wake him up. “I-I didn’t—”

“Holy shit, you’re as cold as ice,” Jace mumbled, sleep still evident in his voice. “God, are you ok?” She felt a finger brush against her side, incredibly warm, and she nearly leapt out of her skin.

“Ah, there you are,” He whispered, rolling the shivering, freezing Kelsi into his palm.
“S-s-s-sorry,” She spluttered pathetically, fearing the possibilities now that she was in his grasp; He could literally do anything with her right now, if he wanted. The strength of the fingers that now curled around her were unmatched—they could end her life, or injure her beyond repair, in a matter of seconds. As this realization dawned on her, the tears began to pick up, spilling over her cheeks.

“Shh, shh..” The air hushed around her and she felt herself being lifted up from the bed sheets. She quickly wrapped her arms around his thumb out of fear of being dropped, holding onto it tightly, squeezing her eyes closed.

But all Jace did was bring her to the crook between his shoulder and his neck, where he pressed her gently with his palm against his warm pulse. Right above his collarbone, and under his chin, where he could feel her, shivering and teeth chattering. He cupped his hand over her, as if to seal in the warmth, with a soft, hesitant smile plastered onto his face. He had wished, guiltily, for this type of closeness with the shy human for a while, and now she desperately needed it, and he was willing to give it to her. Although she felt like an icicle against his skin, he felt pleasurable goose bumps flutter over down his arms. He could feel her slight inhale and exhale against his bare shoulder, and the silky softness of her hair against his fingers and neck—as well as the wetness from her cheeks as the freezing human nuzzled closer in for warmth. He found himself gently rubbing his thumb against her hair and back, his hand cupped around her, until she stopped shaking from fear, and now just slight tremors from the lingering cold.

He rumbled a small hmm as her tiny hands, little pinpricks of ice, reached up to grasp his thumb, and he let her pull it closer, feeling her curl slightly around it still under his palm.
He let out a soft, long sigh as that strange calm flooded over his body again.

He wasn’t sure what that feeling was, but it occurred basically whenever she was around him, in those soft strange moments—such as this one. It was a strange type of contentment, a calm which relaxed all of his tense muscles and filled him with a perfect sort of happiness; as long as she was here with him: safe and happy, he was happy too.

“J-Jace?” He heard her voice, clear in his ear, for the first time. It was thin, but had a slight ring to it, like the sound of his guitar when he hit that sweet note or that of a piano—a softness that made him close his eyes in the darkness and smile. He wondered what it would be like for her to sing— like she sometimes did when he was finishing homework or cooking and she thought he wasn’t listening—like this, close to him, where he could hear the slightest fluctuations of her tone and voice.

“Hmmmmmm?~” She heard—and felt—the happy, calm hum vibrate around her and she smiled against the soft, supple skin of his neck, leaning against his touch, her face most likely a bright pink as she pressed her cheek to his skin. Of course, there was nothing to fear from Jace. She never knew giants fingers could be so gentle... and the warmth. It spread all through her diminutive frame, healing her numbed limbs and making her heart pound. She could feel his pulse, slightly, below her and, although her face was burning bright red from the contact, she placed her hand over it, feeling it jump against her skin.

“Thank you. For everything.” She said, and this time her voice came out sure and definite.
“Mhhh..” He murmured, slowly beginning to fall back asleep in the calmness.