Todd, in the meantime, was hyper focused on this project. He had printed off all of his blueprints and was making adjustments as needed to accommodate. The base was the easiest part, laying the popsicle sticks down as the floor joists and leaving gaps for the rods he intended to use as posts and wall joists. Each cut and measurement had to be precise and exactly to scale if he was going to succeed. Thankfully, he was diligent and precise.
Within a few hours, Todd had a significant portion complete and had only burned three of his fingers on the hot glue. He sat back in his chair and was about to pull out his phone when he heard the familiar *zing* of the line and the catch of the hook. Carefully, he glanced over and down to see Shay beginning to ascend to the top of the table. Seeing his tiny roommate climbing the table brought a smile to his face.
“And what brings you this way little lady?” he asked, leaning back as he watched her begin to inch up the line.
“I was… wondering… if you… ooofff… could help me…. With something…” Shay responded in between breaths when she had secured her footing on the line. Todd chuckled.
“Probably. I was just about to take a break,” he said. “You know, I could give you a hand. This table is pretty tall.” Shay locked her position with her feet and stared up at Todd. The momentary break allowed enough time for her muscles to begin shaking. If she stayed clinging to the line and not moving for too much longer, she would undoubtedly have to go back to the ground. The other option, having Todd quite literally lend her a hand to stand on, was daunting. She hadn’t been held or touched by Todd, and her Borrower instincts flailed against the idea.
Still, her muscles were tiring quickly, and she was already starting to slip down the line. Shay clenched her jaw. She trusted Todd and had been trusting him for these past few weeks. He had proven himself time and again, and that was enough for Shay.
“I know you can do it on your own,” reminded Todd. “But, I thought the offer might be nice.”
Shay partially snorted in amusement. Even now while he saw her muscles shaking, he wasn’t forcing her.
“Okay,” she said softly with a shy nod. Todd’s eyes widened as he suddenly realized what he had offered. With a subtle nod, he reached down just below Shay and leveled his palm just barely an inch below her.
The young Borrower’s heartrate tripled as the immense hand rested just beneath her. Her body tensed instinctually and she gingerly lowered herself until she stepped onto the soft surface of his palm. It gave way under her feet like a stiff pillow, but it was far too warm. Shay noticed only now that the tips of Todd’s fingers were bandaged and slightly blistered. She knelt and could see all of the ridges on his fingers and on his palm, every line and crease making up this part of his body.
His fingers curled instinctually upward only a fraction of a degree as the human lifted the teenage Borrower from where she was onto the table. It was a rush of motion, reminding Shay of dropping down a line suddenly. It sent her senses tingling and a shiver of excitement up her spine. For a moment, Shay stayed crouched, almost wanting him to do it again before coming out of her partial daze, and stepped off.
It was then that she saw the thing he was working on. It was a massive structure, easily five times her height. The building itself had rectangular elements, but there were interesting triangles and circles attached like it was trying to emulate a pyramid and a dome at the same time.
“Woah,” she said, walking up to the wooden structure. “You… made this? In just a few hours?” she asked.
Todd, still reeling from the sensation of Shay standing and crouching on his hand, simply hummed an affirmative response and nodded. “Yeah. It still needs a lot of work, but I thought I’d give my fingers a rest from being burned. Overall, I’m pleased. There are still a few things on the inside I need to work out, but that’ll take time I don’t really have.”
Shay stepped up to the front, realizing the door was just her height. Being so close, she could see he used actual screws just barely larger than her hand to secure the door. She turned around and pointed absent mindedly at it.
“Could I… go in?” she asked. Todd’s eyebrows raised, taken slightly off-guard by the question, but nodded and gestured toward the structure.
“Go right ahead. Just be really careful. Some of the glue is still setting and those elements I’m having some trouble with are inside, not really outside,” replied Todd. Shay reciprocated the nod and crossed the threshold.
Immediately, she was astounded.
There were walls and nooks and stairs all on the first floor. The ceiling was far above her and revealed each floor. The dome and the pyramid let her see the ceiling of Todd’s apartment, but some of the other areas she could walk into and not worry about hitting her head. There were places that had shelves and spots for coat hooks. If a Borrower were to live in a house, this is probably what it would look like.
“What do you think?” he asked from the outside. Shay peered around to see his massive eye looking in through one of the windows, a sight that made her startle. When she regained herself, she could only smile.
“It’s amazing. Do all of the stairs and doors work?” she asked, stepping over the threshold into a smaller side room and began closing the door, which came loose and fell almost on top of her. She yelped and leapt back.
“Shay! Are you okay? I was just about to say most of them. There were a few things that I haven’t quite fixed because it’s running into other design problems,” said Todd.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” huffed Shay, passive aggressively shoving the door with her foot. “What design problems? This whole place is amazing!”
“You’re being way too nice,” said Todd with a roll of his eyes. “For one, some of the doors are running into one another. I thought I accounted for that, but they end up opening into each other and that’s not a great design. Plus, I don’t know what to do with the roof. I thought about just covering it, but that’ll reduce a lot of natural light. Problem is that if I don’t cover it, the overall structure won’t be stable enough to sustain the shape. Anyway, it was a good concept, but I may have to go back to the drawing board.”
Shay stared up at the roof for a minute thinking about what Todd said. She didn’t understand all of it, but she understood enough.
“Why don’t you just put some beams to support it?” she asked.
“I thought about that, but the weight it’ll have will put too much pressure on the walls,” replied Todd.
“No, I meant… Here.” Shay began climbing the stairs all the way up until she made it almost to the roof. Then, pointing, began explaining what she meant. Todd’s eyes narrowed as his brain began calculating angles, suddenly catching onto Shay’s idea.
“So, use the beams here instead of here?” he asked, pointing to the points on the structure. Shay nodded. “Huh… that… could… actually work. Here.”
Todd seized a handful of popsicle sticks and began placing them with the glue. Slowly but surely, he removed the original supports and, sure enough, it held. In the meantime, Shay walked around and began readjusting and fixing small things she noticed. Things like the stairs and the frames of the doors.
“Hey, what do you know!” Todd said with a pleased grin. “Way to go Shay.” Shay, rather pleased with herself, accepted the human’s complement with a bashful grin, feeling the tips of her ears and cheeks pinken.
“Thanks,” she said, blushing.
“You know, you’d make a good engineer,” said Todd leaning back.
“An engineer?”
“Yeah,” said Todd. “Like me. Someone who designs and builds stuff.”
Shay looked around at the structure and felt a swell of pride. Perhaps there was a purpose she could serve here.
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