Aos Sí

11: Home

Mark and Seán went out around LA the next day. There wasn't anywhere for me to hide to tag along, so I stayed in the house. However, to keep his dog, Chica, from overheating, Mark had to leave her inside as well, and honestly I didn't want to constantly battle having to deal with her, so I was kind of stranded on the table.

Until I heard a quiet voice from the wall.

"Hey! Hey, Ani, right?"

I bolted upright from my ceiling staring to look over the edge of the table. Down at the floor, against the wall, a section had been removed. Ethan smiled up at me.

"Yeah! Oh geez, I wasn't sure you were going to come back after last night!"

He twirled his hook and thread a bit before tossing it up to me. I grabbed it and hooked it firmly in a crevice. I was ready to slide down, only to see him starting to climb up. I waited, then helped him over the edge of the table. He flopped back with a huff. He hadn't brought any supplies or bags with him, just the grappling hook.

"And miss the chance to talk to someone again? Hell no!"

I told myself it was not a good idea to cry here, though I did bounce in my spot a little. "I don't even know what to talk about, I'm just so excited to see someone my size again!"

He folded his legs beneath him, leaning forward. "You really are Seen, but not in any danger?"

I bit my lip, looking towards all of Seán's stuff. "Yeah, I didn't believe it myself, at first!" I quickly counted on my hands. "At this point, four Beans know about me, but they all seem perfectly fine keeping it to themselves." I hesitated. I guess it was techincally five with...

"Hey, you alright?"

I snapped out of my memory and nodded. "Yeah. I mean, it hasn't all been great, and right now it's really aggravating 'cause I wasn't even suppose to join Seán on this trip, but--"

"Wait, I thought that Bean's name was Jack? Mark kept call him Jack."

I shrugged. "He goes by both."

Ethan scrunched up his face. "He has two names? That seems a little silly."

"I thought that too! But I guess it's the whole YouTube thing."

"Oooh, yeah! I guess Mark does go by Markiplier when he's sitting at his computer. And he knows about you, too?"

I nodded, "That one was kind of awkward." I felt my face go red as I admitted, "Seán, his girlfriend, Signe, and his video editor, Robin, know about me because, I, uh... Kiiiinda didn't realize he could see me from his recording camera?"

Ethan went wide eyed. "Seriously? How long did they know?"

"A while, apparently. Though it wasn't until I did something a little too daring that Seán caught me." I huffed. Saying this all made me sound like a terrible Borrower. Ethan poked my forehead.

"Hey, it's a mistake anyone could make."

I sunk back a little, "Yeah, but I was the one who made it."

He blew a raspberry, then looked around. I saw a familiar overwhelmed feeling on his face. He turned his attention back to me. "Hey, do you want to head back into the walls? For a bit?"

I nodded. Maybe we'd actually get stuff that's my size in there.

--

Ethan had a lot of easy access entrances throughout the house. He had left a light inside of the one he had come through to see me. His pathways had been carved to stairs and ladders, with a pulley system set up to help him between the first and second floors. He admitted the pulley system was meant to work for one person, but believed it could support both of us. The rush of the fall was exhilarating.

It stopped suddenly in the middle of the drop, and I nearly fell off. Ethan managed to catch me.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry! I should have warned you about that."

I regained my balance on the button, my face heating up when Ethan's hand stayed on my waist to keep me balanced. He seemed to realize what he was doing and quickly removed his hand to pull at a string nearby.

"What's that for, anyway?" I asked, hoping to distract us both from the awkward.

"To, ah. Make the descent faster without hurting me. It stops halfway so I can slowly let it down from there."

I looked down below us into the darkness. Ethan's light didn't reach that far. The descent was still quick, but not really the free fall the first half had been. At the bottom, we both jumped off the button. I shook out the bit of stiffness in my legs and followed him further through the walls.  He opened a section of the wall, and a blast of cool air hit me as we entered.

His house was quite... homey. I had never gotten a set up like it in my time in Brighton. Brightly colored cloth made for wallpaper, with various other pieces of forgotten clothing pieces spread around to make his tables and chairs. A metal jut out of the ventilation system sat in an undecorated corner.

I burst into tears.

Ethan panicked, asking if I was alright, but between my sobs, all I could do was nod.

"I haven't been somewhere like this since I left my parents," I admitted once I calmed down enough to talk. I smiled as I wiped my eyes. "I just-- Didn't realize how much I missed it."

"Uuuhhh," Ethan hesitated, looking a tad lost. "Tea?"

I laughed a little, still wiping my face of tears.

"Yeah. Tea would be great."