A Giant Mountain (g/t)

Chapter 8-Bonding?

*back to Émelie's point of view*
*also time skip: 3 days after Chad's*

Why did Nathaniel keep looking over at me? I tried to ignore it and focus on the YouSurf video, but he kept doing it.

"What?" I finally said.

"What?"

"You keep looking over at me, why?"

"Uhh, no I don't!" he protested.

"I'm not stupid! Why?"

"I don't know. You just looked really annoyed. But I let you out of your cage, I fed you, let you take a shower, and I'm even letting you use my phone!"

I laughed dryly.

"And you don't see why I'm annoyed? You shouldn't need to let me do anything! I should be able to eat when I want, clean myself when I want, watch videos when I want! And I certainly shouldn't be in a cage in the first place!"

He stared blankly at me for a moment, understanding finally dawned on him.He looked like he was about to apologize, but I kept going.

"But I can't do any of those things by myself, because you took me away from my home for no freaking reason and now I feel small! So yeah, I'm sorry if I'm a bit annoyed,"

He stared at me dumbfounded, but I just glared daggers at him. I've spent enough time with him to know that he won't actually hurt me, so I was no longer afraid to yell at him. I also knew that he no longer intended to share me with his pals, so I wouldn't have to worry about them either. Both were great things to boost my confidence, and my temper.

Nathaniel walked over to the bed and sat down so that we were eye level with each other. Or we would be if I didn't bring the phone up to hide behind. He sighed and effortlessly lifted the phone up and away from my grasp. I turned around, trying to avoid looking at him again. But he just gently pinched my waist with his fingers and brought me up close to his face.

"I'm sorry. I really am Émelie, but I already told you, it was either me or the authorities. I wasn't allowed to just leave you there after you saw me,"

"But who would've stopped you! Leaving me there couldn't have been as bad as keeping me in your house!" I snapped.

"Fine! You wanna know something? I need your help, alright!"

What? What could he possibly need my help for? He's made it clear in the few days that I've spent with him that he only thinks of me as small and helpless.

"Last year, my father was killed by humans. That's why I was in the woods, I wanted closure. But then I met you, and no offence, but I became even more confused because you were so small. I didn't understand how your kind could've possibly killed him,"

"Oh," was all I managed to say. "I-I'm sorry to hear that. But, I don't know how I can help. I haven't heard news about a giant that was killed before. And quite frankly I don't know how they could've killed your dad either," I gestured to the the giant hand that was holding me.

He nodded and sighed.

"You know, my mom died a few months ago. My dad was there when it happened and ever since he's been... different. That's why I ran away, the system was going to take me and put my dad in a hospital," I wasn't planning on telling him this, but he opened up to me too.

"I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know what I would've done without my mom. And I am sorry for taking you, it was selfish of me. But I just needed closure,"

There was a small moment of silence between us, but not an awkward one. We both lost a parent and that gave us a similarity. Then Nathaniel brought me close to his chest, kind of like a hug. It was weird, but also comforting. He felt so warm and his clothes smelled like they where fresh out of the dryer. We stayed like that for another moment until he brought me back down on his bed.

"Ok that was too many emotions for me, wanna go watch a movie or something?"

"I couldn't agree more!"

He picked me up in a loose fist and made his way to the kitchen where he placed me on the counter.

"I'm gonna go make us some popcorn," said Nathaniel as he walked over to the pantry.

"Oh hey Nathaniel... do you think that you could ask before you pick me up?" I mumbled.

"Oh, yeah sure. Sorry,"

"Yeah it's ok, just... uh thought you should know,"

Ok so that demand worked well. I decided to push my luck.

"And... do you think you could stop calling me tiny nicknames? It's kinda degrading..."

During my time with Nathaniel, he's called me feisty fairy, short stack, shorty, tiny and others, and it was getting really annoying. He walked over with a bag of microwave popcorn. He put the bag in, put the time on and then looked back down at me.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you say something tiny?" He smirked.

"Are you serious?" I scoffed.

"The picking up part, totally understand. But I'm not gonna stop teasing you. You get all flustered and cute,"

Flustered? Me? No. I don't get flustered. Especially not by huge hot guys making fun of my size. Wait, did I just call him hot?

"Ugh fine,"

I heard a loud beep from the microwave and I had to cover my ears. Nathaniel took the popcorn out and placed his other hand, palm facing up, beside me.

"May I?" he asked, that annoying smirk back on his face.

"You may," I said as I climbed on his hand.

You know what? Maybe Nathaniel wasn't so bad after all. He was certainly at times annoying, but he had a sweet side. He walked us over to the TV room.

"This new movie came out. Aiden told me you like action movies, so this one should be good,"

He sat down, still holding me and the popcorn. He set me down on his left thigh as he opened the bag. He lowered the bag so that we both had easy access to it. I reached in and grabbed a huge popcorn. My mouth watered as I looked at it. I started nibbling away at it as Nathaniel got the movie going. The movie was about this guy who had to save these hostages from a convenient store. It was a pretty generic action film, but the effects were so good!

A little over half way into the movie, I started to feel sleepy. I sank into Nathaniel's stomach and wrapped some of his shirt around me. It was really comfy, but then I remembered that I was leaning into Nathaniel! It was really weird to think about, but it was just so warm and comfy that I almost didn't care. I quickly fell asleep.