Fifty-Four: Babysitting

[ J A C E ]

He could've sat on the bed and ignored him all day, Austin's bed was fairly comfortable and Jace had dozed in it before. But as he lay there now on his phone, he couldn't relax with the constant whining of Lenny. Pulling a pillow over his head, he closed his eyes and tries to try block out his nagging voice.

"Jace I'm hungry get us some food would you"

"Jace don't ignore me"

"Jace! Your so dumb, answer me. I'm gonna starve and it's your fault"

Jace groaned and curled his knees up and to his chest where he lay on his side upon the bed. He much rather Lenny be scared of him at that point, maybe he'd shut up. He didn't really know why he agreed to look after Lenny, he'd been a bit mad at Austin for referring to him kissing him when he'd been drunk to Lenny. He was sick to death of people saying he was gay, maybe he was, but he didn't want to admit that. He knew he loved Cole but he knew that loving a friend was normal, wanting to kiss them probably wasn't. Not for a guy anyways that had always identified as a straight white male. Rolling onto his back he pushed the pillow off his face to stare at the ceiling, pressing his lips together into a line deep in thought. While being gay wasn't a bad thing, his hometown had always been a little homophobic he guessed, not being so open to new topics like humans and a gay man. Especially with the most popular people in town being guys like Austin, captain of the Backnott team and "ladies man".

Sighing deeply, he lifted his head then to look toward the cage seeing Lenny leant up against the bars like a prisoner with his arms hung out begging for freedom. His cheek was smushed against the bars, eyes closed looking weak from Austin not having properly fed the boy. Austin wasn't the best with pets, let alone Lenny who was now a human sized giant. Giants had a massive appetite, it was probably easy to forget even when shrunk they still were significantly more hungry then the average human. As a kid Austin had a pet called a Grey Clenent named Dozer, a rat looking thing for a human but much fluffier and long ears. Much bigger then a human, Tess could probably ride one of the larger Clenents if she wanted but were More like the size of a small dog to giants. Clements we're a very expensive animal, rare and very cute. They were very calm also, not the best thing for a crazy 12 year old boy. Austin probably had Dozer for about two weeks before he lost it in the backyard, Jace always thought he may have killed it but didn't want to admit he killed Dozer. Poor Dozer

Not letting Lenny become another dozer, slipping out of the bed he moved to crouch before the desk in front of the cage, Lenny perking up suddenly he retreated the the back of the cage quickly, startled by Jace appearing in front of him. Jace rolled his eyes and moved to open the hatch of the cage, located on the top of the cage so Lenny couldn't open it himself.

"What are you doing!" Lenny snapped as he curled into the corner of the cage, looking as if he was trying to disappear into the bars. Jace raised a brow down at Lenny, his tone wasn't confident something more childlike and full of fear.

"I'm helping. You know, it's called being nice. Something you wouldn't know how to be" Jace reached into the cage, offering his hand for Lenny who looked at it hesitantly with uncertainty "You said you wanted food" Jace reminded Lenny, moving his hand closer to Lenny so he could climb into his palm that faced up for him. Lenny flinched, pulling his legs up and hugging his knees to his chest. Shaking his head, he scowled up toward Jace

"I'm not letting you carry me" Lenny glared, turning as if to turn his back on Jace. Jace sighed and reached in further, something he'd never really done before with Tess but he grabbed Lenny and lifted him out. Gathering him up in one hand, he curled his fingers around the boys legs and abdomen. Feeling his small body squirming and trying to thrash out of his grasp, he had to tighten his grip a little to not drop Lenny. He was considerably much stronger then Tess, pushing his larger fingers and kicking, it didn't hurt but there was definitely a lot more strength behind his hits. Jace still managed to lift him up and out of the cage, bringing the shrunken boy to eye level

"Put me down!" Lenny shouted, squirming madly til his face turned red. Jace sighed and ignored Lenny, moving to head for the bedroom door. Brian wasn't home, neither was Tess or Darrick. He wasn't sure about Margaret but if she were home she usually didn't leave Brian's room, where her own house was situated on Brian's desk. Jace wandered downstairs with a thrashing Lenny, hurrying to the kitchen to get food for both Lenny and himself.

Placing Lenny upon the counter, he moved away to raid the pantry, Lenny shouting at him curses and all kinds of words in anger. Jace ignored him, finding a bag of Dorito chips he brought them out and ripped them open for himself. He knew Brian didn't like when he ate his food, but he thought in that moment he deserved some what of a treat

"You freak, don't you dare touch me again" Lenny was still rambling as he scrambled back upon the counter top, away from the edge towards the wall. Lenny looked at Jace as he pressed his back to the wall, chest raising and falling heavily as if he were panicking. Jace rolled his eyes, usually he would care about a human being scared but not as much with Lenny. Placing a large orange chip infront of Lennys feet, Jace moved to lean his hip and weight up against the bench as Lenny simply stared at probably the largest chip he'd ever seen in his life. Lenny should know Jace wouldn't hurt him, even as a giant Jace never touched Lenny when he'd tease him, even though he was considerably much taller then Lenny even when at his normal height. Maybe because he was always so scared of Lenny actually hurting him. Lenny had definitely don't damage to people much bigger then himself before.

His phone buzzed then, looking down to his phone to see a message from Austin.

Austin: I'll be home later. You can stay at mine if you want I don't care

Jace knew that meant Austin was probably upto no good and just wanted him to mind Lenny for him. Austin would probably get in trouble being out so late since his dad had tried grounding him and staying home with his injured head and everything.

Eyeing Lenny as he shoved some chips into his own mouth now knowing he'd have to look after him all night, his fingers turning orange, Jace began to think. Why was he being so nice? Lenny was no bigger then his hand, what could he even do to him at this size if he were to push him around a bit. Why be nice to someone who had tormented him almost his entire life. But he also considered the decency of Atleast trying to keep Lenny safe, he knew Austin didn't care maybe he should take the role of good cop while Austin could be left to his own devices.

Distracted in thought, he looked back to where lenny was standing, seeing he'd taken a few nibbles from the chip.. eyes widening he leant closer to see the shrunken Lenny was gone. Eyes widening he quickly looked up and down the bench for the small thing running around, where did he go! "Shit" Jace hissed, dropping his bag of chips on the bench and began shoving things aside to find Lenny, there wasn't many places to go especially high up on a counter top. Pushing the fruit bowl, he searched under every apple, nothing. Behind the toaster, amongst the assortment of Brian's cooking books. Austin would kill him if he lost Lenny, it had only been like 30minutes since he'd left for his appointment and he'd already lost Lenny. What if he got out somehow, told someone. If Brian were to find Lenny he'd surely be killed alongside Austin.

"Lenny come out! Seriously this isn't funny. You'll get hurt" Jace didn't realise he was panicking, frantically opening draws as if Lenny at his size would even be able to get down into one. He was frantic, worried for Lenny up until he saw something dash across the counter, his heart beating still in his ears as he fell silent, hearing a rustle coming from the bag of chips. He could only hear his breath and heart, mind buzzing still from trying to find Lenny who apparently had thought the bag of chips was a good idea for a hiding place. Even Jace knew that was dumb.

Smiling gently to himself, his heart began to calm as he realised where Lenny was. Standing up to his full height from being hunched over the counter, he stepped away from the counter to stand behind the bag of chips that lay on their side. He could hear him, the bag rustling lightly beneath his weight

"Lenny? Where are you? Come out now" Jace didn't know why he thought this was a good idea, this unintentional game of cat and mouse made him smirk like some kind of weirdo. Reaching forward, he grabbed the end of the bag so that it closed with the tip of his fingers. Then simply tipping it back til Lenny slipped down into the bottom of the bag. Jace knew he was in there, could here a small peep of shock as Lenny fell down and the weight of his body hitting the bottom of the bag.

"Fine then. If you won't come out, I'll just wait and eat this bag of chips" Jace chuckled, sitting down at the dining table he opened the bag again to peer inside. Pretending he couldn't see Lenny, he grabbed a handful of the orange Doritos like chips. Some of the chip had broken from Lennys body falling, seeing he was mostly covered by the orange chips as only one arm and a leg was visible from underneath. Jace smile sweetly, kind of feeling bad for Lenny but amused

"I'm in here! Stop!" Lenny shouted, sounding annoyed and frustrated he tried squirming himself free from the greasy bottom of the bag. Jace reached in to retrieve another chip, bringing it to his mouth with an amused look in his eyes as he looked at Lenny. Who was now partially free from the barrage of chips "get me out of here, moron"

"Oh there you are!" Jace laughs,"You know~ I don't think it's the best idea to hide in food. You'll get accidentally eaten if you do" Jace smiled as he reached in for another chip, sitting back happily as he ate a few more, leaving Lenny in the bag made him feel confident. He understood now the feeling of having power over something so small, someone that couldn't do anything to help themselves. He then frowned a little, hating the feeling of being so happy in himself for tormenting Lenny. Is this how Lenny felt when he took Tess.. Reaching down then, he grabbed Lenny by his ankle, hearing him shout out as he was lifted up to eye level, looking at the angry shrunken boy dangling before his face

"If you eat me, I swear to god I'll choke you on the way down" Lenny scowled Reaching out trying to punch Jace in the face but missing by a far mile.

"I'm not gonna eat you" Jace sighed, lifting his other hand to deposit Lenny into his palm "eat something then I'll give you a bath. Your covered in chip dust" Jace chuckled, gently wiping at Lennys cheek to rid of some of the orange dust

"A bath! Nonono you are not bathing me" Lenny looked panicked "What am I some kind of pet! I don't need a bath" Lenny grunted where he sat, annoyed that he was in Jace's hand but chose to sit even though he looked like he was panicking again. Jace sighed and stood up, how could Lenny be so mean to Tess. why did he do that to her, someone so sweet and small. Jace was just trying to help him now

"Get your perverted hands off me you fag!" Glaring down at Lenny he swear he could've crushed him in his hand where he sat, instead he rushed upstairs holding Lenny in a tight grip not caring about Lenny crying out.

"Shut up for once would you" Jace growled almost as he pushed the door to the bathroom, letting it swing open and flipped the sink on, whether it was warm, too hot or cold he didn't care simply. There it was again calling him a fag, gay, a homo. Washing him in the sink was his plan but his eyes wandered to the side

He shoved Lenny into his pocket as he got a better idea, turning off the sink he moved around to the bath that sat dry, not been used in a while. Flipping on the tap he began to fill the empty bath til it was full of warm water. Retrieving Lenny from his pocket, the little twerp was flailing and trying everything possible to free himself from the giants grip.

"Jace!" Lenny growled, his face having turned a shade of bright red. Jaces brows furrowed and without a second though, he let his fingers unfold from around the tiny humans body, letting him fall from his grasp. Plunk, his small body fell into the water, sinking down below the surface of warm water. He knew Lenny could easily swim, seen him swimming in the lake near the campsite. As he emerges he was a coughing, spluttering drained rat. Splashing water everywhere, getting in his mouth and ears, Lenny choked on air out of shock, but Jace had no remorse, remembering the anger he felt from when he found out Lenny had been hurting Tess, calling him gay, teasing him, it all came flooding back as he reached for the edge of his shirt to pull over his head. He knew this was out of character for Jace but he wasn't thinking straight in that moment

"J-Jace!! I didn't mean it!" Lenny shrieked at the sight of him taking off his shirt. Why should he care "fuck you! Fucking faggot" Lenny shouted in a fit of anger, Jace glared down at the smaller boy in the large expanse of water, chucking his shirt aside to move onto unbuttoning his pants. Maybe a bath would calm himself and Lenny, he didn't care anymore with what Lenny had to say, if this was too gay so be it. What was Lenny to do anyways. He was no bigger then his hand, and If Lenny was so persistent on the idea of Jace being gay, maybe he'd just prove he were right to think that for a change.

"Don't be so tense, Lenny. It's just a bath"

Updated ahh! Hope you enjoyed please vote and comment.

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