Back in the apartment, Luca turned and raised his eyebrows at the two borrowers who were staring at him from the couch.

"See?" Luca said pointedly. "Nothing too crazy, right? Not bad for officially meeting and talking to another human, right?"

Enzo looked like he wanted to disagree, but Harper nodded and grinned. "I want to meet someone else!" he chirped, already forgetting how nervous he had been at first. "Like the neighbors we used to live with!"

Luca cocked his head. "Who?"

"When we moved out last year," Enzo explained. He still looked annoyed at having been told he should consider getting human documentation. "We moved to apartment 221."

"Oh, Mike and Melissa?" Luca asked. "They're great. You want to meet them?"

Harper gasped. "You know them?"

"Sure. Sometimes we'll say hi in the hallway or borrow stuff from each other. Melissa likes to drop off brownies whenever she makes a batch."

Harper gasped again. "I love Melissa's brownies!"

Luca laughed, looking at the excited boy affectionately. "You want to go over there and say hi?"

Harper bounced on the balls of his little feet. "Yes!" he cheered, dark eyes lighting up.

Enzo finally spoke up. "Absolutely not," he said.

Both Harper and Luca turned to look at him.

"Aww, why not?" Harper whined.

Luca was confused as well. They had just met Jenny and nothing bad had happened. But maybe meeting one human a day was Enzo's limit.

Enzo was just shaking his head. "It's not safe. We literally used to live with her, Harper. What if... what if she saw us at one point? And she recognizes us now?" He paused before shaking his head again, more firmly this time. "Just... absolutely not."

Luca gave him a small smile and placed his hand on Enzo's shoulder.

"We'll talk about this later, k, Harps?" he suggested, not wanting to try to reason with Enzo in front of Harper. The last thing he wanted to do was undermine the borrower's authority in the eyes of his little brother.

"But," he added, when it looked like Harper was about to protest, "how about we go to the playground instead?"

Harper's eyes widened and he immediately brightened, already forgetting what they had been talking about. After getting a nod of approval from Enzo, the little boy immediately ran to put on his shoes, leaving Enzo and Luca alone.

Luca moved to follow Harper, but Enzo caught his hand.

"Thank you," Enzo murmured, giving his hand a quick squeeze. "For distracting him."

And then he was gone, off to meet Harper at the front door.

***

The playground was closer than the park, only about a block away. As they got closer, Enzo could just make out a woman there with two kids.

Luca turned to Enzo immediately, having caught sight of the three humans, too. "Do you want to go home?" he asked quietly, referencing Enzo's rule that they could only go to the playground if no one else was there.

Enzo was about to say something when Harper gasped. He had just seen the people at the playground, too.

"Enz!" he whispered, tugging on his older brother's hand. "Look! Kids! Maybe they're my age! His dark eyes grew big with longing. "Maybe they want to be friends."

Enzo took one look at him and bit his lip. He couldn't bring himself to say no to Harper now, especially after turning down a visit to the old apartment. So, he just shook his head at Luca. "It's fine," he said, voice tight. "We can still go to the playground."

Screw it all, I guess, Enzo thought unhappily. We've already talked to people at the climbing gym and just met a whole human ten minutes ago. What's three more?

Luca's eyes softened, and he patted Enzo's shoulder. Enzo wished his hand would linger, missing its steady warmth.

"I'll watch Harper the whole time," Luca assured him. "He'll be fine. And we'll introduce ourselves to the kids and their mom to see if they'll be nice to Harper. Ok?"

Enzo nodded uneasily, but he still followed Luca forward, Harper tugging on his hand relentlessly.

They stepped foot onto the mulch of the playground, and the woman, who was taking pictures of the kids on the swings, turned to look at them.

To Enzo's absolute astonishment, it was the human woman they had just been talking about, the one he and Harper had lived with for a couple of months before they sorted things out with Luca: Melissa.

Harper was the first to speak.

"Melissa!" he blurted out. "What are you doing here?" He looked at the kids on the swings, visible confusion coloring his face. "Huh? I thought you didn't have kids."

Enzo's eyes widened in horror, and he tugged Harper back sharply. From Melissa's point of view, they were total strangers to her. It made no sense for Harper to know her name let alone the fact that she had no kids.

Melissa looked even more confused than Harper. "Umm, I'm sorry, but have we met before?" she asked curiously.

She looked at Enzo and Luca next, her eyes brightening in recognition at the sight of Luca.

"Oh, Luca!" she exclaimed. "It's good to see you again! How are you?"

Luca stepped partially in front of Enzo and Harper, and Enzo breathed a little easier. Harper still tried to peek around Luca until Enzo tightened his grip on his hand.

"Hey, Melissa," Luca greeted her casually. "It's good to see you, too! I'm doing alright. How are you and Mike?"

"Oh, we're both good." She peered around Luca to look at Harper and Enzo, and Enzo stiffened. "Are these two friends of yours?"

Luca shifted out of the way, and Enzo had to stop himself from forcibly pushing Luca back in front of them. "Yes, these are my friends Enzo and his little brother Harper. They're currently staying with me."

"Oh," Melissa nodded and pushed her dark hair back from where it fell in front of her glasses. "Nice to meet you guys. I'm Melissa. I live down the hall." She smiled at Harper. "But it seems like you already knew that, huh, big guy?"

Harper pointed at himself. "Me?" he asked quizzically. "I'm big?"

She laughed, and Enzo tried not to shake. Encountering strangers at the store or gym was one thing, but coming face to face with a human he used to hide from? It brought out all of Enzo's borrower instincts with a vengeance.

Luca noticed how tense he was and reached over Harper to place his hand on Enzo's back. Enzo tried to focus on that as he breathed.

"Yeah, Harper and Enzo started living with me not too long after you dropped off your last batch of brownies," Luca lied smoothly. "Harper loved them, so I told them who had made them and pointed you out while you were getting the mail one day."

"Ooooh," Melissa nodded, the confusion on her face clearing up. Enzo thought they were home free until she gestured at the kids behind her, who had stopped on the swings to stare at the newcomers with interest.

"How'd he know these little terrors aren't mine though?" she asked next, and Enzo's heart sank. How could they explain away this one?

Luca smiled. "Harper's been asking if any of our neighbors have kids his age," he answered. "That's why he's confused. I told him that it's just you and Mike."

The two kids are off the swings at this point, standing next to the woman and staring at Harper curiously.

"Well, these are my sister's kids, Collin and Samantha," Melissa introduced. "They're twins, and they're turning nine this year."

Harper's face lit up. "Hey, me too!" he exclaimed. "I'm turning nine, too!"

The girl human, Samantha, looked him up and down. "Really?" she asked incredulously. "You're eight? You look like you're in kindergarten!"

Harper visibly bristled at that, and Enzo vaguely remembered that kindergarten was for five-year-olds. Luca had taught Harper about school, and Enzo only remembered it because he had thought it was such a weird word.

"Do not!" he protested. Samantha just held her hand to her forehead and moved it out over Harper's head to show the height difference between them. She looked at him pointedly, and he frowned.

"Whatever!" he said. "I bet I'm still faster than you!"

Her eyes lit up, and she grinned. "Oh yeah? Prove it!" she demanded, and Harper tugged his hand free from Enzo's and took off, Collin and Samantha not far behind.

"Harper!" Enzo called after his brother, horrified. He was just about to race after them, when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

He whipped around to glare at Luca, who just shook his head.

"He'll be alright," he said softly. "I've met Sam and Collin before. They're nice kids. And we can see Harper easily from here."

Enzo just stood there helplessly and stared after Harper, hoping and praying that he wouldn't randomly change back to his true size.

"So, Enzo, was it?" Melissa began, trying to keep up the conversation. "How long have you and Harper been living with Luca?"

Enzo had no desire to get sucked into talking to this human while his brother was possibly in danger. He gave her a curt answer. "I can't remember. A while."

"Two months," Luca cut in. Enzo assumed that had been the last time Melissa had dropped off brownies.

She stared pointedly at Luca's hand on Enzo's shoulder. "And are you two...?"

Enzo didn't understand her question, but Luca seemed to.

"No," he answered. Enzo squinted up at what appeared to be a light blush dusting his cheeks. But maybe that was his imagination. "We're just friends."

Enzo instinctively scooted closer to Luca, still eying the human woman suspiciously while still trying to watch Harper. Luca carried on the conversation amicably, moving his hand from Enzo's shoulder to his back, keeping it there to steady him.

Enzo leaned into the touch, trying to focus on Luca instead of the panic crawling up his throat.

The two humans continued their small talk for what felt like hours while Enzo stared fixatedly at Harper. His little brother was showing the twin humans how to climb all over the playground equipment like a borrower, and they were enthusiastically following his instructions.

Enzo had never seen his brother look happier, his white-blonde hair fluffing up in the breeze, a look of pride and sheer joy on his pointy little features.

He's never had a friend before, Enzo realized. He turned slightly to look up at Luca's profile. Even... even I have a friend. I have Luca. But... Luca and I aren't the same as friends for Harper.

Just watching his baby brother, Enzo came to the uncomfortable realization that maybe... he and Luca weren't quite enough.

He needs us to love and take care of him, but he needs... friends, Enzo thought. To play with and to understand him. I... remember being that lonely once, too. I can't do that to Harper. He doesn't deserve to feel that way. 

As he stood there, pensively tuning out Luca and the human woman, Harper and the human twins came running back, out of breath and grinning from ear to ear.

"Enz!" Harper burst out. "Collin says my space T-shirt is cool, and Sam wants to go to Mars one day! We all like tacos and gummy worms, and they said I can go to their birthday party next month! The theme is frogs, and they're going to have a pinata and a bounce house! They say they only live 15 minutes from here, and I can go over to play whenever I want!"

Enzo stiffened. He didn't understand half of the words tumbling out of Harper's mouth, but he did understand that he was absolutely not going to let Harper go to a human's house and be surrounded by a bunch of other strange humans.

He was just opening his mouth to say so when Luca interrupted

"Wow, Harps, that sounds like a lot of fun!" Luca said. "We'll get a formal invite from Melissa later and check our schedule back home to see if we're free that day, ok?"

"Ok!" Harper chirped, grabbing hold of Enzo's hand excitedly.

Enzo flashed a look at Luca, caught between feeling grateful that he had handled that situation so gracefully and annoyed that he made it sound like the party was even an option.

Luca caught his look, and he nodded slightly. Enzo decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and dropped it, fidgeting slightly.

"Well, we'd better get home," Luca said suddenly, and Harper whipped his head up to frown.

"Aww, why?" he complained. "We just got here!"

"I'm sorry, bud, but I forgot to finish something for work that needs to be submitted to my team tonight," Luca said. "We'll come back another day."

Enzo squinted at Luca. Knowing Luca, he suspected that the human didn't have any work at all. He had just noticed how uncomfortable Enzo was and was trying to give him a way out. Enzo kicked at the mulch a little bit, feeling guilty for being annoyed at someone who was so considerate of him.

Harper obviously didn't like it, but he turned to his new friends anyway.

"Bye," he said sadly, and Samantha gave him a hug.

"Bye," she said back. "We'll see you at the party!"

Collin nodded. "I'll wear my space shirt, too!" he said. "Then we can match!"

Harper brightened a bit and nodded enthusiastically. Enzo felt bad just watching the exchange, knowing how disappointed Harper would be once he turned down the party.

Samantha and Collin seemed like nice kids, too. But kids were curious, and even if they didn't mean to, they would probably hurt Harper if he was small.

Harper took Luca's hand in his other one so that he could be between both adults. He beamed at Melissa.

"Bye, Melissa!" he exclaimed. "I live in apartment 217 with Luca if you ever make too many brownies!"

Melissa laughed at his cheekiness and waved goodbye.

***

That evening, Enzo paced back and forth in the living room while Luca watched him from the couch. Harper had hounded him all day about the party, asking him if they could go. And Enzo, who had originally planned on a very stern no, took one look at Harper's shining face and shocked himself by saying "maybe." 

And now he regretted it.

"Enz, let's not go to the twins' party if it's making you so nervous," Luca suggested after watching Enzo quietly for almost ten minutes. "It's not worth it if you're like this."

"No!" Enzo burst out, and Luca looked taken aback. Enzo quickly quieted. He never raised his voice.

"No," he repeated, quieter this time. "I mean... I don't know... I don't want him to go, but Harper... he's so excited. I've never seen him look so happy. He... he can have friends, Luca. Kids his own age. That's all he's ever wanted. I can't take that away from him."

He sighed, and Luca spoke up again. "Ok, so let's go, and have a really good plan in place so that you don't feel worried."

Enzo just shook his head. "I don't... what if that's not good enough? What if... what if we change back?" he asked. "With so many people there, it will be all too easy for the change to be so quick and unnoticed that we get stepped on or caught by someone."

"That won't happen with me there," Luca reminded him. "I'll keep an eye on you both the whole time."

Enzo rubbed his forehead, feeling panic surge up from his chest and out along his limbs, that urge to run and keep running. It was a feeling he was all too familiar with.

"I... know you will," he said. "But... I don't know. I just... I just..."

"What do you need from me?" Luca interrupted gently. "Tell me, and I'll do it."

Enzo stopped in the middle of the floor and just stared at Luca— at his calm face, icy eyes, and strong shoulders. At the dark roots of his hair growing out from the gray dye job yet again.

"I... can you just... hold me?" Enzo asked, his voice small.

He froze as soon as he said it. He hadn't meant for that to slip out, and he certainly hadn't meant for it to sound so little and pleading.

Luca looked taken aback as well, but his eyes quickly softened.

"Of course, Enz," he said. He held out his arms, looking unsure. "Umm, how do you want to do this?"

The opened arms were enough of an invitation for Enzo, who simply dropped onto Luca's lap and melted into him.

Luca froze for a second before responding, wrapping his arms around Enzo and pressing him in close.

Enzo sank into his embrace and buried his face in the crook between Luca's neck and shoulder. Luca was firm and warm and oh-so-familiar.

There it is, he thought, relieved. This is the same comforting warmth that I used to feel whenever he'd hold me. Maybe... it has less to do with my size and more to do with... being close to Luca.

"You alright?" Luca murmured in his ear. "What's going on?"

Damn, this probably looks really weird, Enzo realized. But... I can't bring myself to get up.

"I just... needed you to hold me," Enzo finally answered. "Like you used to."

***

Enzo's dark hair brushed against his cheek, and Luca closed his eyes, trying not to sigh. His hand automatically reached up and began rubbing Enzo's back, and the borrower shifted to press even closer.

Wha... what does this mean? Luca wondered, a million thoughts racing through his head. What does he want from me? Somehow... this doesn't feel very... platonic.

But he didn't voice any of those thoughts out loud, choosing instead to just hold Enzo and try not to wish for anything more.

_______________________________________________________________

A/N: Spoiler alert, it's not platonic. 

Also, poor Enzo. Today's just not his day. Meeting four humans and getting invited to some random kids' birthday party? His worst nightmare.