"Pet"

Chapter 2

The sun peeped through the curtains as the light shone onto Mateo, awakening him slowly. He stretched his arms, still feeling that same pleasant touch on his ears from last night. He spun around and looked at Basil, who seemed to have circles under his eyes and looked like he was about to pass out. "I was up all night petting your ears, you're too cute." he chuckled as Mateo rubbed his arm shyly, a little ashamed he had kept the one giant that was actually pretty decent to him from sleeping. "Sorry." He apologized in a quiet voice, but started purring again when Basil shook his head and continued to pat his ears. "Right, anyway. I'm off to work, little guy." He stood up, gently and carefully setting Mateo down on the bed. Mateo's ears drooped and so did his tail. He was a little disappointed to see the kind giant leave so soon, but it might have been better for him that way. "Bye Basil." He called out. Basil waved back to him and left. "See ya bud!"

He sighed and flopped down onto his back, a little bored. What would he do now? His line of thought was cut off as the door swung open: it was Leo. Oh crap. Here we go... Mateo sighed and straightened up, standing. This giant was tough, and was very unpredictable according to yesterday's shenanigans. "Oi, tiny." Leo called. He looked up dreadfully at the looming, giant figure and swallowed dryly. "Yes?" He squeaked in reply.

"Let's have some fun."

He began to panic at the word 'fun'. He knew giants had a significant difference in what fun meant to what the word was to tiny people. He squirmed around a little in Leo's palm as he walked into Basil's room. "Let's see, you can go with his spiders! How does that sound?" Leo grinned as he held Mateo over a box of spiders. His heart dropped as he looked down in horror at all the arachnids and creepy crawlies scuttling around the containment. "Oh god, please don't do this, Leo." he begged, but his pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears as he was dropped in harshly. His breathing quickened and he pressed his back against one of the corners of the box, trying not to draw the attention of the spiders. He shut his eyes tight in fear, and cowered, much to Leo's amusement, who started laughing. Anger was boiling up in Mateo's chest as he tried to steady himself. However, he knew he couldn't do much because of his size, so all he was able to do was just sit there in fear and anger, shaking with both exploding emotions piling up inside him.

{A couple hours later...}

He let out a short scream as he was lifted into the air roughly, up to Leo's eyes. He was a little relieved to be out of that box alive, but still scared. He felt that same drowning sensation every time he stared into those eyes, like it was a deep, dark hole. He shivered slightly and wrapped his tail around his waist. "How was your night with Basil?" he heard the giant ask in a sarcastic tone. He blushed slightly as he thought about the night, getting lost in his thoughts, but was abruptly shaken around, causing him to snap back to reality in alarm. "I said, how was it." he repeated, this time annoyed. "It was great, great!" he spluttered quickly in fright. He felt a sense of dread when he saw a smirk creep across Leo's face. 

His stomach dropped as he was brought closer to the giant. "Listen here  you little bug. If you even think about talking to Basil, you won't see another day." Leo sneered in a low voice. 

"Are you, um, are you threatening me?" Mateo stammered with unease in his shaky voice. Leo nodded. "I am, smartie. I bought you, and Basil certainly did not, the broke brat. Keep that in mind, rascal." He said. 

Mateo nodded grimly as he was placed on the counter and left there for a while. Soon, the door opened after the noise of jingling keys and a couple whispered curses, as Basil stepped inside the house through the doorway. His gaze fell on Mateo and he smiled, running over and crouching down next to him. Mateo's fear lessened significantly when he saw Basil, but he knew he wasn't allowed to talk to him, so he just tried to ignore the giant. "Hi Mateo!" He exclaimed excitedly. He tried his best not to reply. Stupid, stupid, stupid Leo!  Stupid giant! Was all that ran through his mind as he attempted to block out everything else. He was enraged and terrified at the same time, he couldn't control it. This was what he hated about being so small. He had no free will, everything was up to the giants; the higherups (literally) choice.

"Mateo..?" Basil asked softly, frowning. Mateo glanced up at the giant, his heart aching when he saw how sad he made someone feel. There was no way of telling Basil what had happened or why he wasn't communicating with him either. He just sighed and curled up into a tight ball, his tail swishing in distress. Basil sighed and picked him up, which made his stomach lurch slightly. He got placed onto a couch, with a thin blanket covering him. He was grateful Basil had made sure he was comfortable before he left Mateo to his thoughts. He couldn't help himself, and broke into a sob as he thought of all the occurrences that had happened today, letting his emotions spill out from being kept inside for so long. He wrung his tail in his arms, his ears pressed flatly against his head. He couldn't live like this, he just couldn't! 

But he would have to suck it up and deal with it for now, he had no choice. Only they did. And he hated that with all of his guts.