Twenty Nine: Giant softie

"I don't know Tess.." Cherry's eyes spoke a thousand words, she was evidently nervous by the idea of going to Austin's home ever since Tess had mentioned the thought, to be anywhere near giants made the other humans shiver in their skin. Jules was clear on not wanting to go. "Are you dumb!"

Oreo was definitely not going, simply whimpering and trembling away behind his books. He had a banana milk and a pile of what looked to be new and pencils. Which he had been using to scribble at a drawing book for majority of lunch. His mouse like eyes flickered to his drawings and nervously to cherry, taking his time in bringing his lunch closer to him away from Tess.

"Come on please, guys. The door would be locked and no one will be allowed in except for us. We'd be perfectly safe and have a whole house to ourselves" Tess persisted, feeling like she was being desperate at this point, she'd get on her knees if she had to. She hadn't spent much time with the humans, hadn't even spent much time out of school. Only seeing their faces on her phone or in class. Looking to Jamie who sat beside her, she grabbed lightly onto her old friends tan arm and gave it a desperate shake between her small hands. "They promised didn't they? You heard them. Jamie met them, he knows, tell them Jamie"

"Yeah they were~ nice... some would say a certain few were a little too nice" he blushed as he bit into a red apple, looking away briefly as he was caught off guard at the memories of the diner the day before

"See! Come on, Don't make me beg guys" she whined, pouting out her bottom lip as she wiggles in her seat.

"Yeah but what if... Austin does decide to come in and mess with us. What then.. we couldn't run away, we're too small" Cherry pursed her lips and her eyebrows knitted together with worry, holding onto Henryk as she spoke looking still seeming anxious by the idea.

"He won't I promise" Tess would make sure of it, Austin wouldn't dare come in especially with Darrick on guard being private security for the humans.

"I think if Jamie says it's okay.. I think we can make an effort babe.." Henryk says as he looked across the table toward Jamie, he'd been trying extremely hard to befriend Jamie since his arrival. It was evident he hadn't seen another boy human in so long, was craving the attention of another male other than Oreo.. since Oreo wasn't like Henryk, he was so quiet and Jamie seemed to have similar interests.

"Well yeah~ they were nice. Tess's boyfriend or whatever is very protective over Tess so I think we'll be right" Tess's eyes widened and she immediately grabbed at Jamie's arm and pinched at his side, making him howl and jump out of his seat

"Hey!"

"Boyfriend! What!" Cherry exclaimed and slammed her hands on the table, mouth wide and eyes even wider, "you never said you had a boyfriend! Who! When we're you thinking of mentioning this?" She looked completely and utterly astonished, shocked by the news of Tess having a 'boyfriend'. Cherrys eyes flickered between the two, leaning forward demanding an answer. Tess shuffles away from the attention, shaking her head shyly feeling embarrassed by the other girls reaction

"We're.. were not dating, well not official at least. It's Darrick~ I didn't think to mention anything cause nothing has really happened up until we went camping.. it's nothing" she blabbered and blundered, looking to Jamie with heat behind her eyes. He cowered back a little, a crooked smile coming across his face.

"Sorry.." he murmured, lightly bumping his knee against hers before continuing to bite into his apple to finish until it hit the core.

"This.. this isn't real. I'm coming then.. I need to meet this boyfriend of yours giant or not!" Cherry nodded, causing her curls to fall into her eyes and looked to Henryk, who nodded in return.

"I guess I'm coming too.." Henryk muttered while Jules scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"You can't be serious? Your really making me go into Austin Taylor's house. Of all people.." Jules dark eyes were wide and she rested a hand upon her head, slightly messing up her red hair . She groans and rubs at her temple, "fine but only if your buying the booze"

"Deal, guys it'll be great don't you worry" she grinned feeling her entire being glow from the inside out!

~~~

She felt her heart immediately begin to hammer in her chest as she stepped out of the doors to see Darrick, waiting for her sat upon the pavement. He looked twisted and a little uncomfortable sitting on the ground, his limbs too large to be folded in the awkward position. Cute. Every day was a surprise seeing him, every day she expected someone else. Expected Jace or Austin but she was happily surprised seeing him always there, waiting so calmly and not caring what other giants saw. Smiling she quickly hurried over to the giant, her feet unable to move quick enough as she comes to stand by his large sneaker, her head grazing just bellow his ankle at her full height.

"Why hello there" he smiled gently with sealed lips, not immediately reaching for the girl but instead watching her with a hot intensity behind his brown eyes. Biting at the corner of his lip, he watched her closely like a hawk would to it's prey. Making her squirm beneath his gaze and her heart feel heavy in her chest, she felt minuscule where she stood by the seated giant. His long legs stretching out and she could see the twined muscles beneath his pants

Finally, he carefully reached a large hand down, long fingers stretching open to pluck the tiny girl from off the pavement between his thumb and forefinger, lightly squeezing her hips and making her squeak as he brought her up in one swift motion to place in his opposing palm. She was a little breathless once set down, not use to moving so fast and stumbled onto her butt which makes him chuckle lowly.

"Hey" she huffed, pushing back the loose strands of her hair from her face that had become flustered and warm. Lifting her eyes, she met his gaze of dark iris's that looked down upon her with content "how was your day?" She hummed, moving to pry off her backpack from her shoulders to place beside her in his large palm, stretching her arms feeling relief as she removed the weight she'd been holding all afternoon.

"It was okay. I had practice at lunch, will probably have to go again tomorrow and tomorrow afternoon before Friday" he smiled as he looked to her, staying seated upon the ground while the rest of the school dispersed around them "how was your day?"

"It was good, I showed Jamie around, hes been getting along with the rest of the group well" she smiled, but let it fall a little seeing his jaw clench at the mention of Jamie name. Her heart hammered and she quickly scrambled to grab onto another topic. Pursing her lips she let her eyes fall down and let her finger lightly trace over the lines in his palm

"Would you like to come to my house.. today?" He blurted and both their eyes widened as they looked to eachother "O-only if you want to like.. not trying to pressure you or anything cause I wouldn't ever want to make you fee~" he fumbled over his words, hand gripping onto the back of his neck as he tripped and stuttered. He only acted like this around her, she noticed when no one was around, especially the boys he became a nervous little puppy that made her heart warm and stomach do flips.

"I'd love to Darrick" she spoke before he stumbled any further, giggling as his face lights up in a smile and he nods and continues to push himself up from off the ground then patting away any dirt from his pants.

"Really? Okay, well we can get Austin to give us a lift there and then I'll drop you home whenever" he nodded and brought her against his abdomen with his supportive hand and moved to begin heading toward where Austin usually parked

"Where the hell have you guys been! Hurry up would you or next time catch the bus. Jeeze" Austin shouted as they approached, noticeably annoyed by Darricks dawdling.

"Tess is coming to mine." Darrick spoke before he had even closed the door or buckled himself into his seat, making Austin's eyes widen and Jace and Cole in the back both "ooooo" like children when someone's called to the principle office for being naughty

"Oh really now?" Austin smirked and rested an arm on his chair to turn his entire body to face the two. His eyes flickered from between the giant and human in his lap, "moving a bit fast aren't we? You know Tess I've heard rumours Darricks got a big 'you know what', I don't know how your gonna handle~"

"Shut up and drive would you, don't say shit like that" Darrick hissed, slapping at the back of Austin head and making the boy yell in pain, pausing briefly to rub at his head while wincing, massaging lightly at his skull.

"I already had a headache, thanks for making it worse" Austin glared to Darrick and grabbed at the steering wheel while he grumbled deeply, muttering curses under his breath while Cole and Jace chuckled in the back

"Shut up you two or I'll make you both walk" Austin spat back at the two, his eyes burning hot pokers that burnt into the skulls of the other boys.

"Okay okay.. no need to get all hot headed" Cole sniggered along with Jace.

Tess was left mortified by Austin's words, blinking mindlessly while her mouth hung open like a fish out of water. Realising her mouth was open, she quickly closed it and swallowed to wet her dry tongue and lips. Looking slowly up to Darrick, she felt her face scrunch into a grimace as her cheeks blushed a dark red as she looked to the larger boy who's lap she sat upon. She didn't have to be told it was big, yesterdays.. boner incident in the car to the diner had already given her that idea. As a human she couldn't believe her ears, in no way was that a comforting sentence to hear especially when going to the boys house. Darrick looked equally as embarrassed as he looked to her, his brows furrowing and eyes scrunching as he noticed her looking at him.

"Don't listen to him.." he spoke softly, his voice raspy and deep, having to clear his throat before continuing "come on, come up here" he spoke and reached down to scoop the stunned girl into his hands, bringing her to his chest where he continued to carefully slide her into the breast pocket of his shirt, away from his lap.

"Yeah don't listen to him, Tess! Austin's just jealous cause he's got a small d-" Jace laughed but was quickly shut up as Austin's hand reached back to try and swat at the other boy who tried deflecting and dodging his hand while Austin tried keeping the car on the road

"Okay can we please stop talking about dicks, it's making me feel uncomfortable" Cole grumbled, sinking into his seat as he watched Jace who began blushing and Austin, who grumbled under his breath

"Same here.." Tess murmured from where she stood within Darricks pocket, letting her knees fold and curl into a ball inside Darrick oversized shirt pocket.

~~

His house was a simple looking home with a two door garage and only one story. Dark green hedges had been left unkept, grew wildly against the front window of the home by a porch that had a old chair hidden amongst the greenery. As Darrick made his way up the long stretch of the driveway, she took the time to look across the yard of Darricks home. The lawn was considerably neat, trimmed roughly to the edges by an amateur gardener. Darrick flashed her a look of what she could only guess appeared to be embarrasment as he came to stop at the garage door, smiling tightly before he leans down to pull back the garage door loudly to reveal not tools or a car but instead a room. A garage had been renovated into a neat little one person bedroom. A bed was pushed to one side of the room with a cupboard on the other, a pile of clothes having been littered about the floor which Darrick quickly tried flicking to the side with the toe of his shoe in an attempt to make the room look a touch tidier

"Sorry.. i didn't get time to clean up this morning" Darrick looked to her with slight embarrassment behind his eyes as he moved around his garage room, placing the little human girl down upon the giant expanse of the bed, making sure she was comfortable before he began looking around. She watched with agentle smile as he quickly grabbed at some of his clothes and empty packets of chips that had been left upon the ground, quickly chucking them in a laundry basket and bin by his door. His room was fairly clean, the walls were painted a navy blue that contrasted against the white of his comforter in which she sat upon. The bedroom was furnished on a meagre budget. Looking around she saw a photograph which had been placed upon Darricks beside table, a man smiled back at her in a black and white uniform of what appeared to be a father holding a child on top of what seemed to be a black motor bike. A helmet too large sat on the boys head who looked to be around five at the time and the father stood beside a women with hair the colour of ember flame curls around a slender face with high cheekbones and plump lips, eyes a dark brown similar to Darricks. The family of three seemed to have been shot in a moment of laughter, smiles on their faces as they held each other. A family photo

Darrick as a child, with his mother and father it appeared. Happy and looking dashingly similar to his father who had dark locks and thick brows, a smile so bright upon his face that it was blinding. Turning where she sat, she smiled up toward Darrick "Is that your father and mother?" she pointed to the picture frame from where she sat, looking to the large boy as he turned to face her, his eyes narrowing upon the picture she pointed to. His features scrunched ever so slightly, bringing a hand behind his head he tugged lightly at the locks. He seemed uncomfortable suddenly at the mention of the picture, eyes flickering to the ground as he hesitated. She could remember when they'd first met, him mentioning his dad passing but never went into detail

"Uh~ it was" he sighs and moves over to carefully push the picture face down against the top of the side table so it was out of view and hidden to her eyes. Her brows raise curiously, watching as the boy came to take a seat by her side, smiling down at the human girl that sat so small beside his thigh. What did he mean by "it was?" He seemed unbothered, simply scooping her up into his strong hands to place her atop of his pillows as he lay on his stomach. Rubbing at the side of his temple he could tell the human girl was intrigued by his words. Letting out a breath he leans a hand against his cheek, slightly puckering his lips as he did so

"My mother is.. to say the least, very sick." he nodded seeming unbothered by the words as he looked toward her "she gets sad sometimes and can't get out of bed"

"Oh I'm sorry~?"

"And Well~" he clears his throat, his eyes shifting to the mattress bellow him "if you really should know, my dad died when I was younger in a accident. Mum didn't handle it well" he says softly, turning his eyes down away from the human girl. The painful memory reflected behind his eyes like shard of glass, stabbing him and making him frown.

"I really am sorry to hear~" she frowned and moved down the length of the pillow til she came to stand by his hand where she reached out to try and comfort the larger boy, feeling a similar ache considering her own father had left her and her mother. He chuckled beneath her small touch and shrugged his shoulders loosely, moving his hand to cup around her small body to lift to hold against his warm cheek the painful thoughts of the loss of his father was pushed away like a old book, so deep and horrible; he left them on the shelf to gather dust.

"It's okay" he sighs deeply causing her body to vibrate against his warm skin "your so soft" he whispers, gently guiding her away from his cheek to place her back down upon the pillow before him, leaning forward to loom over her.

Sitting upon his pillow, she looked up to his face from where he lay on his stomach upon the bed, hair ever so slightly in his eyes that watched her every move so carefully. Her own eyes couldn't help themselves wandering down the length of his face and then down the collar of his shirt, seeing a cheeky glimpse at the front of his chest and collar bones as his shirt hung from his body . She had to force her eyes away as to not be caught perving on the giant boy, who's bed she sat on.

"You make it very obvious that your looking, Tess" hr hummed deeply, her eyes snapping up to see he was smiling at her as his hand lightly rested against his chest, where she was looking "you make me want to blush"

"Sorry.. Sorry" she blushed herself, quickly turning her eyes away to look to the wall, seeing trophies upon a stand similar to Austin's.

"Don't be sorry.." he whispers and she jumps as his face comes into view as he leans around to catch her eyes, his entire billboard sized head takes up her vision so she couldn't escape his gaze "youd be the only person I actually want to look" he chuckles, resting his elbow on the mattress by her and let's his head rest in his palm as he admires her. She felt flustered, intimidated but also very attracted to Darrick in that moment. Letting her eyes wander up, she couldn't help bite lightly at her lip.

He couldn't help but chuckle at the look she gave him and he lightly grazed her cheek with his thumb, making her hum as she leant into his warm touch. His eyes wandered over her small face, his thumb larger then her head itself. His eyes were deep and she could see flickers of gold within his irises that looked over her small body with so much content, making her somewhat anxious beneath his gaze. shivering, she brought her hand to rest against the large thumb which dwarfed her in size. She couldn't help but think he was about to ask her out, could feel it on the tip of his tongue. She wanted to shout at him, ask me out already ! But she knew she couldn't, would probably embarrass herself if she did. What if he didn't want to date, what if this was all an act and he didn't in fact want her.. he was just using her. She felt a pang at her heart which she tries to ignore, pushing her thoughts aside to bring her arms around the diameter of his finger to hug close. Squeezing her eyes closed wanting to stay like this forever

Just tried to push this update out I hope you liked. I was a bit unsure if I liked this or not but here you go!!

Would love to hear your thoughts and leave a comment on who and what you'd like to see next '