"Are you sure you have everything?" Enzo asked.

"Yep!" his little brother chirped, his tuft of white-blonde hair bouncing with his impatient little hops.

Enzo frowned. "Extra tape?" he prodded. "String? Your knife?"

Harper rolled his eyes. "Yes, Enz, stop worrying!" he whined. "Let's go before it gets too late!"

Enzo tried not to smile as he turned his little brother around, pushing him towards the exit of their nest in the wall.

"Ok, ok," he relented. "And do you remember the five rules?"

Harper rattled them off obediently.

"Look and listen before moving. Always have a place to hide. Stay within sight and sound of each other. Don't take more than I can carry. Run if something happens to you."

Enzo nodded in approval. They had been doing this little routine every day for years. Harper was surely sick of it by now, but it put Enzo's mind at ease to know his brother had been listening. Harper was actually a little bit too young to come borrowing with him, but with how ingrained the rules were, Enzo trusted that Harper would instinctively follow them in case of emergency.

"Good job." Enzo ruffled his brother's unruly hair before sliding open the cardboard panel that separated the hollow sleeping area of their nest from the narrow spaces that ran throughout the walls.

"And what are we getting?" he asked, leading Harper to the power outlet that led to the living room. They could have traveled through the walls to the kitchen, but it was faster to cut through the apartment.

"Bread, water, foil, and thread," Harper recited, running his little fingers over the walls as they walked. His voice was a little too loud in his enthusiasm, so Enzo quietly shushed him.

"Yes, and a battery, if we can find one."

"Luca keeps them in a drawer by the fridge," Harper offered helpfully, and Enzo winced.

"Only if the packaging's already open," he said, not wanting to leave any traces for the human to find. "Otherwise, we leave it."

Enzo shifted the power outlet to the side and poked his head out of the wall hesitantly, but just like usual, the living room was dark and abandoned, the human having already retired to his room for the night as he always did at exactly 11:30 pm.

Enzo thanked his lucky stars every day that they had wound up in the home of such a predictable human. It made his life much, much easier, especially in the early days, when Harper was a baby and fifteen-year-old Enzo had just moved them here after the death of their parents.

Upbeat and busy, Luca, the human they lived with, was just a few years older than Enzo. He had stayed in this apartment for the last seven years, not even moving out after he graduated college.

Enzo didn't know much about human norms and lifestyles, but from what he could tell, most college students moved around a lot, and they definitely left once they found jobs after school was over.

But Luca had stayed, and Enzo couldn't have been more grateful. The human was quiet enough, and he kept his floors and countertops clean, which Enzo appreciated. He liked going out with his friends, playing sports, and learning new songs on his guitar.

And he stuck to his routine like no other human Enzo had ever lived with. He always worked from home on Mondays and Thursdays, going into what he called an office the other days of the week. He was usually home on weekends, but he did go out often, always consulting his white board calendar and mumbling to himself about what time he would be back.

He was rarely gone for more than three days at a time, which Enzo thought was odd, given the long vacations his old human hosts liked to go on. But it was better for them if Luca was around, as Enzo remembered the bleak, hungry weeks whenever his past humans got rid of food before big trips to avoid spoilage.

Luckily, we don't have to worry about that here, Enzo thought. The human they lived with now was very reliable, and he left food and supplies in convenient locations. The perfect host for any borrower.

Before hopping out of the wall, Enzo silently pointed at the couch, their first target. Harper nodded determinedly, and after Enzo dropped down to the ground, Harper swiftly followed. They ran to the cover of the worn couch, ducking under it and using its shadow to make their way to the kitchen.

Harper grinned at Enzo as they walked, making little jumps every now and then in futile attempts to touch the underside of the couch. When Enzo reached up to easily touch the couch himself, Harper's mouth dropped open in silent outrage. Enzo just rolled his eyes at his little brother and turned back around to hide his own smile.

Now at the end of the couch with the dark kitchen doorway in front of them, Enzo held out his arm to stop Harper from moving forward. It was more of a formality than anything else, as Luca almost never left his bedroom after 11:30. But Enzo didn't want Harper to get into the habit of carelessly walking out into the open. Stuff like that got borrowers killed. 

The air was still and quiet, no sound of movement from the human's bedroom. Satisfied, Enzo nodded to Harper, and the two of them darted into the open. There weren't many places to hide on the floor of the kitchen, so Enzo ushered Harper behind the trash can before peeking out and assessing the silent room.

The counter and sink lay across the room from them, meaning they had a whole open space to cross. Enzo hated letting Harper be exposed like that, but there weren't many other options. Everything they needed was on the opposite counter.

The glowing numbers above the oven read 2:14 — the human was surely fast asleep by now, leaving little to no chance of him coming out and discovering them.

But Enzo still took the time to point out the fridge with two fingers, letting Harper know that they were supposed to hide under it in case the human woke up and came into the kitchen. This was another formality, as Harper was already well aware of all the hiding spots in this apartment. Enzo had drilled them into his head, after all. 

Harper nodded, looking determined, and when the house was still silent, the stillness only broken by the quiet tick of the clock over the sink, Enzo finally led them out onto the main floor.

Crossing over the massive tiles to get to the counter, Enzo pointed at first the bread box and then the potted plants on the other side of the sink, reminding Harper where they would hide once up there. Both sets of objects were near power outlets, so they were ideal for getting back into the walls. 

Harper nodded again and waved him off, already pulling his hook out of his bag. The little boy still had some trouble getting his hook as high as the counter, so Enzo tossed it up for him. After Enzo tugged on the line to make sure it was stuck fast, he motioned for Harper to begin climbing. 

Enzo stayed on the ground to ensure Harper didn't fall, watching carefully as his brother made the long climb. He was doing well, especially since he had only been climbing like this for two years. Most borrowers didn't come out on supply runs until they were ten, but necessity had forced Enzo into letting Harper tag along since he was six.

He hadn't wanted to bring him at first, preferring to leave Harper in the safety of the walls ever since his brother had gotten too big to be strapped to his back. But Harper had insisted, and since it was just the two of them, Enzo had to admit that it would be safer for Harper in the long run to learn everything that he could about borrowing sooner rather than later.

After all, if anything happened to Enzo, Harper had no one else to rely on. Enzo couldn't bear the thought of his little brother trying to survive on his own without having had any real borrowing experience. He would be dead or discovered in a heartbeat, and Enzo would never forgive himself if that ever happened. 

Once Harper had safely made it up the line and over the counter, Enzo sent his own hook whistling through the air, where it stuck into the wooden cutting board that Luca kept there.

After tugging on the line and feeling satisfied with its hold, Enzo began the climb himself. It was dark and silent in the kitchen, the only light source being the night light plugged into the outlet on the counter.

The borrowing conditions couldn't be more perfect. The human was asleep, Harper had already made it up to the counter, and they didn't need a ton of supplies. Enzo reckoned they would be out here for an hour, maybe 90 minutes, tops.

What he hadn't accounted for, however, was his line breaking.

_________________________________________________________________________

Hello, hi, welcome to another story. It's chill and sweet and not hecka long like my other story (thank goodness). Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for reading and see you in the next part!