Gt July Day 9 – Rainy Day
Decided to revisit the How to Train Your Sawyer AU after a while! Good to have giant Sawyer back in action.
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The rain was coming down in buckets- the entire forest was caught in the deluge, raindrops falling thick and fat onto leaves before pooling off onto the ground, where it ran in currents through newly carved streams in the dirt. All creatures big and small found somewhere to wait out the torrential downpour.
Sawyer, all seventy-some odd feet of him, definitely counted as one of the “big” creatures. To him the downpour was a little less severe, the raindrops relatively fine, but he was huddled in his cave all the same. Big or not, he would still get wet if he went out in the rain, and he didn’t really have a way to get dry aside from waiting and hoping. It was just easier to sit underneath the cool stone of his cliff face and watch the water falling from the sky.
Normally he got antsy, being stuck in his cave, but when it rained, he found it a little easier to just sit and relax. The only reason he was worried at all right now was because it was later than he usually had company.
Sure enough, within a few minutes he perked up as he heard the sound of small, hurried footsteps splashing through the field. He wanted to stick his head out and make sure, but the thought of being wet kept him waiting impatiently instead. His predictions were confirmed as Charlie scrambled into the mouth of the cave and stopped, dripping and heaving for breath, just a few feet past Sawyer’s shoes.
“Hi,” Sawyer cheerfully greeted him, taking in the small human with some amusement. “I was beginning to wonder if you’d decided to stay home because of the weather.”
“I should have,” Charlie replied, sounding exasperated. He shook the water from his arms, droplets flying off of the sleeves of his jacket. Sawyer barely felt a couple hit his ankle. Charlie slicked his wavy blond hair back, slinging more water around, and it fell wet and dark around his pale face. His cheeks were a little pink from the chill; Sawyer didn’t really feel it, but he’d learned to tell when little humans like Charlie would. “I’m soaked, that rain came out of bloody nowhere.”
Sawyer chuckled, the sound filling his relatively small cave and rumbling through Charlie where he stood shivering. “The clouds looked dark enough,” he mildly countered. He watched as Charlie set his backpack up against the wall of the cave, and remembered that sometimes Charlie had books in there. He would probably be upset if they got wet. “Is your backpack okay?”
“Fine,” Charlie huffed. “Thankfully I didn’t have anything much in there today, just a water bottle.” Certainly some luck on his part, though it was only because Charlie had gotten most of his homework done earlier. He sighed and peeled off his jacket, since it was soaked and only serving to make him colder, and set it by his backpack.
A genuine smile crossed Sawyer’s face. “That’s good,” he enthused. He reached forward, crossing the length of the cave in moments, though Charlie didn’t so much as flinch. He was so used to this by now that he didn’t even wiggle as Sawyer cupped both hands around him and lifted him off the floor of the cave.
Instead of holding him close and getting him warm immediately, Sawyer set Charlie on his curved stomach. He picked up the hem of his shirt in both hands and began gently rubbing Charlie dry. Charlie opened his mouth, probably to protest, but Sawyer moved a thumb to ruffle his hair dry and Charlie was too covered by cloth to manage that. By the time Sawyer was done, Charlie was bright pink but a great deal drier than he had been before.
“Thank you,” Charlie said, sounding more than a bit aggrieved and embarrassed, but Sawyer just grinned.
“You’re welcome,” he happily replied. Charlie’s sheepishness rolled right off of him; He might as well help his friend get dry, after all. It was the least he could do when Charlie was really his only friend, and also walked on his little human legs all the way out here all the time. Besides, he was pretty sure having other people around was the reason for humans to get embarrassed like that, and there were no other humans to worry about. “Here.” He scooped up Charlie and held him close, his lingering shivers muffled against Sawyer’s broad chest. Sawyer rubbed his thumb over Charlie’s little arm, barely feeling the miniscule goosebumps there. “You can warm up for a bit. There’s nothing else to do in the rain like this.”
Sighing once more, though more in relief than aggravation this time, Charlie snuggled up against Sawyer. The giant really did exude body heat. Charlie looked out past Sawyer’s hands at the rain coming down outside.
“Yeah,” he said quietly, already feeling warmer. “We might as well just sit.”