Worst first impression - chapter 18 - Seriously?

The same morning, William had woken up alone. The dog was no longer at his side, and for what he could believe, it had run back to the village as he slept. Leaving him alone out there. But he was quite pleased by that outcome anyway. The dog had hopefully returned to its master and his flowers was delivered.

His tummy growled like never before and he realized that he had to solve that problem today. Also… as he got up to a sitting position, he realized that he had not really washed his face jet, and he smelled of sweat and god knows what. It had not crossed his mind until now but if he wanted to be presentable for the little people, he had to wash up a little. What would they think of him otherwise? What would Micah think...

He got up, stretched towards the sky before he tried to find his way over to the little pond. There he could surely tidy himself up even though it was shallow. It took him a while, but eventually he could see the sun reflect the water's surface as he walked in between the trees beneath.

As he approached, he hunched a little in order to make sure no one was there before he went out in the open. Carefully leaning over the trees, he scanned his surroundings and saw that no tiny humans were present. At least of what he could see, but there were some ducks swimming near the bench. Maybe people fed them?

From his perspective though they looked more like small flies, but cute ones at least he figured. The arrow at his neck was almost completely forgotten, but as he pulled his shirt of, it gave off a faint sting. Making William reach for it and pull it out.

He really had forgotten about it since it did not really hurt and as he continued to undress he looked it over. Washing his cloth and spreading them out over the trees, he could not understand how detailed the little weapon was. Small red feathers with a golden bond tightly holding them in a aerodynamic triangle from one side, and the tiniest little metal in the other. Sharp enough to not even be sensible as he stroke it over the back of his hand.

For no reason really, he leaned over and placed it with the arrow-head down into the dark wooden seat. He would surely lose it somewhere otherwise he figured and turned his focus to his morning bath.

He was obviously full of dirt, but he had not really grasped how bad it was before now. He had to scrub himself over and over before he felt the itching sensation finally go away. His face was now only a little stubby, not full of mud or such things. Or blood for that matter… he figured as he got up and tried to squeeze some water from his hair.

Still standing in the lake, he reached for his pants. He had an idea and turned them so that he could tore off a piece of one of the pockets. He managed to create a string of sorts, twisting it so it became harder until he could use it to tie his hair up into a short pony-tail.

William was not really used to the length of his hair, and he was not to sure about what he thought of it. But he could not cut it in an efficient way for now, so he had to settle with the next best option.

He was still alone, but he felt a bit uncertain about staying here for too long. So he got into his slightly dampened pants and brought his shirt with him as he walked away from there. He really did not like the wet cloth against his legs, but he had to endure. He could not walk around pantless until they dried naturally.

So now he and his cloth were a lot cleaner, and he could see a little better as his hair wasn't covering his face like before. One mission complete! But onto the next one. His crying stomach…

Now how would he solve this problem… Everything was so small… How could he ever eat enough?

He hung his shirt over his shoulder and just walked. Making sure that he could follow his little trail back again, he just walked against the sun. If he could not figure out something to eat, maybe he could just stumble upon something. Besides, he had to be open for opportunities and not be too picky. Humans or… meat at all seemed to be out of the picture. He just did not want to feel the taste at all if he could avoid it.

The sun got higher up into the sky as he walked and he let himself enjoy its warmth as he got closer to a change in color of the treetops.

Until now, the forest had been mostly made out of beech trees, but now it looked as if he had stumbled upon some other type. Was is really what he thought? Could apple trees grow up into a forest like this?

He felt happiness as he got closer, realizing that he had found a grove of fruit-bearing trees. Now as he sat down at his knees before them, he saw that it was not just apples. It was pears, and some other type of fruit hanging from the branches. But yet again… the fruit itself was way to tiny for him.

Reminded of his need to be creative, he tore one of them from its stump and tried it out. He shuckled to the thought of eating a tree, but really why not? He was big enough to not feel its hardness in the same way, and even though it was not tasting fantastic, he could feel the sweetness of the little fruits in between. This could work! Besides, he had a lot of trees here!

He felt so incredibly happy to his finding and ate his fill, still leaving a lot of trees behind. Laying down in the sun, satisfied even though his stomach had not really figured out what to do with all of it, he could not resist a short nap. It was just all too pleasant for the moment and he just had to embrace it before he headed back again.

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William was surprised as he woke up to a darker sky. How long had he been out for? He needed to head back!

He brought some “apple-broccolis” with him as he carefully followed his little trail back from where he had come from, getting his shirt on in a quick moment as he walked. Not that he had been at the village since last night, but he still felt as if he missed out on something important.

He could see the faint light of the village grow closer as he walked, and let himself rely on his high posture against the dark sky as he got even closer.

He figured that he needed to find out where Micah had gone, and could not help wondering if he had been out, looking for him today. Of course, William would not have been found since he was sleeping miles away, and so he felt as if he had betrayed Micah a little. He wanted to be within reach for him, but he needed to care for himself also…

He walked with light steps and saw how two people walked away from what he though was the villagers inn, over to a small building further down the road. Was that Micah? It was hard to tell… but as he leaned in and tried to hear the voices more clearly, he figured that it had to be.

He just wanted to pick him up as soon as he realized that it really was Micah. But he had to resist. He had another person at his side right now and he could not interfere like that. All too aware of his own appearance. Sure, he was clean and had fixed his hair and such now. But he was still… well… William. That did not seem to be in his favour…

Instead he let his happiness stay with himself as he sat down behind the little building to which they had entered. Lying down in the trees behind it, he tried to focus his hearing. He wanted to hear Micah's voice, but it really was hard to tell the little voices apart at all, even though the back door was slightly open for ventilation.

He sighed and lay his head against the grass, waiting for his little companion to walk through the door up ahead. But that was surely unlikely to happen. Why would he walk out the back door alone? No, he had to be realistic. But he just felt as if he needed to stay close to the little creature even if the hours passed him by.

He heard screams, causing him to fly up in an instant to see what had happened. Leaning over the little house, he could see how Micah danced out into the courtyard before, unsteady at his feet.

William had a hard time not to laugh as he watched the little creature dance like that, but reacted as he heard his name being shouted up toward him. Had he been seen? Really? William thought that he would be safe standing as he did, but figured that no harm had been done since Micah was alone down there.

Micahs dance suddenly came to a stop, and he heard that he infact had been detected. Micah knew he was here! And he looked incredibly happy to see him! William had figured that he would be angry by his method in helping him, but he sounded really joyful even though he didn't understand a word of what he said.

William kept his silence, not wanting to give himself away more than possible, and reached down to collect the little screaming Micah. He was all too far away for his heart to feel at ease, and he was about to give away Williams position if he continued like he did.

The little thing was slippery though, falling over as he tried to get hold of his abdomen. William was a little worried about Micahs change in behaviour but eventually got hold of his leg as he lifted him to his face for inspection. It did not seem as if Micah cared about the way he was handled at all! William knew that he was a little sloppy when he grabbed him, but how could he be to blame? Micah was the one behaving like an eel in between his hysterical laughters and high pitch “Wiiii”es.

He really acted like a tiny dork and as he held him in front of his face, drinking in the little person's appearance, he realized that he must have been drinking. Not just a little sip at that!

“Micah… what have you done to yourself? Was that really a good idea? I'm so glad that you are happy though. I was so worried for your sake you know… I just had to let the little people help you.” He whispered so that no one other could hear him but Micah. He was met with the cutest of smiles, spreading across Micahs face before he changed and looked a little troubled suddenly. “Aaa.. right, sorry” William said as he with great care pinched the back of his apparently new shirt and turned him over. He then could not resist to lay Micah against his own nose as he saw him reach for it. Eager for some closeness.

As expected, the Micahs little figure could hardly be detected due to his lightness, but William could feel his warmth and the feeling of his little arms trying desperately to hug him.

William could feel his face flush and brought his hand up around the little loveable creature, embracing the moment of their reunion. He was barely even aware about that he was still standing over the bar, but eventually turned and walked into the forest. Micah was his responsibility from now on he figured and felt how the little body relaxed against him.

It really was an indescribable feeling to be this close to Micah, not having him freaking out or feeling scared for heights or any of those matters that he had previously seemed to react to. Maybe it was for his advantage that Micah was drunk… Now he could relax more easily and not to say that William could act however he wanted, but the options were more flexible so to speak.

Micah pushed away suddenly so that they could look at each other more clearly. He did not understand what he said, but it did not matter. He got the picture and stroke a finger over the little black mess of hair, adjusting it so that the little face was clearly visible. He was a bit too close for Williams focus, but he managed to see and hear him laugh as he leaned back against his hand, following with it as William held it before himself.

The little creature laughed to the movement, trying to play around a little which made triggered William to grab a leg like before. Trying to illustrate how ridiculous Micah was he lifted him just a little and blew his hair, laughing. Micah held his hands up before him, trying to save himself as he laughed and let himself be raised back to Williams nose yet again as the other hand got hold of him.

William walked a great distance under the starry night sky before he could fully relax and lay down for the night. He had his precious with him now and could relax like never before. It really was incredibly relaxing to lay there with Micah, sleeping deeply as he gave away small puffs of air as he breathed.

“William….” The little person said to his delight as he slept, and he could not resist to hold a hand over the tiny frame as he let himself get carried away. As he fell asleep, he felt the tiniest of hands pet his cheek. Awake or not, Micah was clearly happy to see him.