Curate, connect, and discover
I'm currently writing this very elaborate g/t au fanfiction and I ended up making this as a sort of, fun exercise to get the plot down for the first act? Anyway, I turned it into a fairytale and it kinda works as a stand-alone thing, I like it a lot so I wanted to share it!
A Folktale for the Big and Small
Once, there was a young man in a world of giants.
Eager to search the world for what little adventure it might offer, he left his small town in hopes of bigger stories.
But in his search, rather than stories he found Massive, Vicious beasts. One such beast stole him away and locked him up in a tower so that he might never breathe free air again.
The young man, small as he was, passed many days and nights in the big bad man’s house, and feared that he was doomed to stay there forever. But, just when hope seemed at it’s lowest; The Big, Bad Giant’s sister helped the Young man escape.
Go, she told him. And may my evil brother never find you, she said, before helping the Young man into the bag of another visiting giant.
The sister had promised the young man that this giant would be good to him, kind and honest. But the young man, too troubled by his imprisonment of the big bad man, did not take her heed. He hid himself from this new giant, even as they left the Vicious man’s tower together.
Even as this new Giant brought them both to his home.
The young man snuck out of this Giant's bag and hid, hoping for the perfect moment to escape. But to his horror, this new house seemed just as much a cruel, locked-up tower as that of the Big Bad Giant’s,. There was no way he could escape!
Many days and nights he spent there, too, with no chance of escape. But in his stay here, this new Giant didn’t seem so bad. Not as bad as the Big Bad Man from before, at least.
He was clever, The young man could see when he watched the new giant talk to his giant friends. He was a talented cook, who loved to draw, and detested the rude. The young man rather liked this giant, he thought—brave and clever, never letting slip any discourtesy. Everything a gentleman should be.
As the young man stayed hidden in this new tower, over his many days and nights he began to grow attached to the place, to the New Giant. Eventually, he didn’t want to escape as much anymore, he even considered staying.
But the young man had grown complacent, clumsy even—leaving traces of his presence all over this new Giant’s house. And when the new giant finally realized what was going on, he was furious!
In a blind rage at such a discourtesy, at an unwelcome guest making a home in his house without so much as a word, he tore the tower apart to find this wrongdoer.
But the young man was still clever as ever, especially after all his years living with the big, bad, giant. He managed to escape the new giant’s grasp, even if by no more than a hair. When The New Giant had looked in all the places he could think to, checked every cranny and opened every nook, he gave up.
After all, he couldn’t continue to ruin his home all for one discourteous guest. Perhaps, with all this ruckus, the intruder had left and his search was fruitless after all..
But the young man had not left. He was frightened and reminded terribly of his old captor, but he could not leave even if he tried.
Still, the young man knew well that he had wronged this giant—-so he left him a note. Apologizing. Though he couldn’t leave his message without reprimanding the Giant for all of the hardship he had put the young man through—that was one dreadfully nasty fit of rage!
A little more sure in his ability, after evading the giant once, the young man grew more bold. He left traces behind, but in all the wrong places. He watched as the Giant tried and tried to find him—but he was always one step ahead.
This young man had been watching for so long, that he could imagine anything the giant might do, and soon enough even the giant realized it.
But the giant, the young man did not know, was lonely. Perhaps he had visitors, and perhaps he enjoyed their company, perhaps he had more people to converse with than he could ever wish for—but he was lonely.
His guests could never truly understand him. Could not see him. This young man, although it was hard to admit it, filled a hole in his heart that had been empty for many years. This trespasser, the young man, knew him. Saw him.
And before long, where once the Giant had been filled with fury for the young man, he found love for him.
He loved every clue. He loved every small, out-of-place book, every cup, pen or chess piece.
He loved it all.
Without ever once seeing his face, this new giant loved the small young man as much as one could possibly love another.
Eventually, the giant wondered if he stopped trying to hunt out the young man, if he would show himself. So he played along—He pulled the books open to his favorite parts, circled his favorite quotes. He filled the shifted cup with tea. Placed a blank sheet of paper beneath the discarded pen. Moved the next chess piece.
I am not angry, anymore, he tried so desperately to tell the young man. But he would not show himself.
Not after the big bad giant from before.
The young man liked the giant, he enjoyed quotes and the tea, he drew for the giant and played chess with him.
But he did not trust him.
One night, their dance was interrupted. A giant, sent by the Big, Bad, man from the young man’s past had arrived. He was there to take the Young man back.
He stormed their tower of books and tea and struck the young man’s giant, smashing in his legs and forcing him to the ground.
The young man watched in horror, for he did not know what to do. But, he could not simply sit back and let this life he had so happily made for himself go. He would not let the big, bad giant take his drawings and his chess pieces from him.
His giant lay on the floor, staring up at the intruder with wide, vicious eyes, fearful that these moments would be his last—but those eyes did not scare the young man. His viciousness did not faze him. They were his to protect.
With nothing more than a sewing needle, stolen from the Big Bad Giant a long, long time ago, the young man lept from the highest point in the tower he could find. With no small amount of strength or courage, the young man drove his blade into the back of the intruder’s neck, killing him instantly.
He and the intruder crumbled to the ground, a great, booming crash flooding the tower at their fall—but the giant, his giant, heard none of it.
All he could hear was his heart, beating in loud in his ears. Still too hurt to walk, the giant could do nothing but watch as his beloved guest fell, killed, and crumbled.
You are beautiful, he managed to tell the young man, who was suddenly closer than he had ever been before—within arms reach.
You are so beautiful. It was all he could say, because he’d never beheld so much beauty in so small a thing, in nothing larger either though.
The young man, after defending his giant with his life, finally came closer. Approached his host and wished to beg for forgiveness, but could not force the words out of himself.
Because he himself was too busy thinking about how beautiful the giant was. They met halfway, the Young man taking hold of the giant’s fingers and then realizing something very, very special indeed.
He loved the giant too, even if it would take a long, long time, before he could ever tell him.
~The End~