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Patton didn’t know dates on the calendar. He was too busy trying to survive for that. He knew that a few times a year outside was loud, very loud, even louder than thunderstorms. He had hoped to avoid those few days when he had started moving (the people of the old house had started setting out mouse traps, too risky), but it seemed like he wasn’t so lucky.
He rushed under a bench, trying to calm his breathing. There were.. quite a few humans, and a lot of bright lights and extremely loud noises. The humans were all a few feet away, starting the loud sounds every few seconds, with almost as loud cheers. His breathing got worse with every loud sound and every bright light. After a while, the world went black, his tiredness, hunger, coldness and panic catching up with him.
He didn’t know what had happened for the first few seconds after he woke up, only that he was comfortable. That was weird, most places he went were not comfortable, the walls mostly were cold and not as soft as whatever he was laying on right now.
The loud sounds were still there but muffled like he was in a-
His eyes snapped open, taking in the dark walls, the blanket he must have been placed on, and the small heater right next to the table he was on. The human that must’ve brought him in mustn’t want him to die, but then what did they want? He sat up tentatively, looking around
The human might not want to hurt him, right? So why was he in their house? The floor started rhythmically shaking in a way that Patton recognised as footsteps, and his heart started racing. A bright flash of colour and a loud bang only managed to make his unease worse
He didn’t like loud noise much. The door opened, and a tall human stepped into the room, eyes immediately locking onto Patton’s terrified form
“Ah, I’m guessing you’re awake? I’m Janus, now do you want to explain to you why I found you passed out under a bench earlier tonight?” Janus didn’t move any closer, which Patton was grateful for
Before Patton could answer, another of the loud sounds cut him off. He covered his ears as fast as he could, his breathing getting panicked once again
-
Janus didn’t know what to do when he found a freezing cold tiny person underneath a park bench. He had only gone through the park to see if the teenagers were lighting their fireworks properly and not firing them at each other as it seemed to happen every year. He had gone to sit on a bench for a few minutes after his balance and his leg started acting up.
That’s when he noticed the small person. At first he thought they might’ve been a toy, and he went to pick them up to place on the table next to the bench for any kid looking for it. That’s when he felt the gentle move of the chest and the staggered breathing.
This thing was alive, and they were absolutely freezing. He placed them in the pocket of his outfit, and picked up his cane. It was about a two minute walk back to his house, perhaps the little thing would warm up by then? At least slightly..
Once inside, he gathered a large blanket and placed it on the table next to the couch, and then brought a heater to place next to it. The limp form in his hands barely changed when they were placed on a blanket, other than curling up slightly more. Janus went into his bedroom to sit down for a while and regain his balance, and rest his leg. After about half an hour, he went to check on the small person.
They were awake and seemed rather scared, so Janus decided that it was possibly a bad idea to get closer
“Ah, I’m guessing you’re awake? I’m Janus, now do you want to explain to you why I found you passed out under a bench earlier tonight?” Right as he finished speaking, an extremely loud firework went off
The tiny person seemed to be having the beginnings of a panic attack, which gave Janus a slight bit more insight on why they might’ve been passed out.
He very deliberately didn’t step forward “Are you okay?” He instead asked
The tiny person shook their head quickly, very noticeably refusing to look at Janus “I do hope you don’t mind if I sit down, I have problems with my leg you see. Are you hungry?” He sat down on the opposite side of the couch to where the tiny person was, watching them out of the corner of his eye
A small head nod was his answer “Do you have any preference for what you eat?”
They seemed to be calming down, and Janus noticed a shake of their head. Something warm would probably work, but Janus wasn’t sure he’d be able to stand long enough to wait for anything to cook, besides he wasn’t sure what he could make that was accessible for them to eat. He decided to just make a sandwich for them, though it was incredibly hard to make a small version.
He brought it in and placed the plate next to the tiny person, trying not to notice the flinch when he got close to them.
“I hope you don’t mind if it’s not the best, I am rather tired today”
The tiny person had their eyes on him as they ate.
Eventually, they spoke “My name’s Patton”