Ollie stumbled backwards, falling to the floor as he stared up at Anna with fear. Memories of his past life flickered in the shine of the knife she wielded, and his eyes welled up with tears.
"You… You took me in." Was all he could manage.
Anna's heart was racing, and she was anxiously panting for breath. She slowly let the knife drop to her side, but she didn't put it down yet. She was still figuring it out. "That doesn't answer my question," she said, keeping her voice desperately calm when she much rather would be breaking down. "Who. Are. You?"
Ollie took shallow breaths before closing his eyes, relaxing as he shifted. He looked back up, much smaller now, chittering softly. Its me.
Anna inhaled swiftly and let out a gasp as he transformed. A strangled whisper was the most she could manage, "Little one?"
Ollie shifted back, hugging his knees close to his chest as he nodded softly. He simply stared, unsure of what would happen next. Afraid of what could come. He was going to be rejected again, cast out just like before. He just knew it. More tears sprang from his eyes as she sniffed slightly.
Anna slowly set the knife down on the counter and slowly approached him. "Who are you?" she asked in a volume just above a whisper. "What's your name?" She stopped a few feet away from him, still skeptical.
Ollie moved back a bit, still tentative on how she would react. Her voice was calm, yet filled with the fear one would expect from seeing such a thing.
“Oliver…” he rasped, barely audible. “Oliver Vasquez.”
She nodded slowly. "Hello, Oliver. I'm Anna Clayton, though I suppose you already knew that. Why are you here in my flat? And don't say because I brought you here. You left, and you didn't need to come back. But you did. Tell me why."
Ollie looked down, ashamed. He had deceived her, went into her home… she probably thought nothing of him but a freak and a criminal.
He sighed, trying to think of the right words to answer. Why did he come back, anyways?
“I… because he hurt you. You were hurt, and I didn’t want you to be.” He mumbled, hugging his knees a bit tighter. “I’m sorry”
Anna continued to come closer. The boy didn't seem like a threat. In fact, he was acting like the exact opposite. Anna had dealt with many threatening people in many threatening situations, and this boy wasn't giving her any reason to believe that he would harm her. So, cautiously, she knelt in front of him. "Wait, you came back… because of me? Not food or shelter or… anything else? Me?"
Ollie, this time, sat where he was. She wasn’t going to hurt him, that was clear.
He sighed softly, pursing his lips as he shrugged. “I… I guess I…” he chuckled a bit. “Well to be honest it was nice having a place to stay. But I… I did come back for you.” He admitted quietly
Anna was shocked, and it showed on her soft features. "Is this about Harry? Are you some kind of… friend of his? Do you know him?" Her tone was an odd mixture of resentment and hope.
Oliver glared. "You're assuming I even know that whore?? I wouldn't even affiliate with his kind! Ugly bastard…" He sort of blurted before realizing what he said. "Oh uh… to answer your question, uh, no." He blushed a bit deeper, smiling sheepishly
Anna's jaw went slack. She blinked quickly and stammered aimlessly for a moment, processing what Oliver had said. "You know he is my ex-husband, right? You've been around me that long to realize that, I hope. He's… flawed, yes, but… that doesn't mean he's a bad person…"
Ollie suddenly turned red, folding his arms tightly as he looked down. Often, his temper was too much for him to control. "Shit I… I'm sorry I shouldn't have… I'm sorry."
Anna shook her head with a small smile. "I understand what it's like, but sometimes… we can't just say what we want to." Her eyes seemed to convey more than her words did, but she rose to her feet and offered her hand to help him up. "So… do you have a flat of your own?"
Ollie cleared his throat, nodding as he graciously took her hand, brushing himself off as he rose to a height not much taller than Anna's.
"Oh, well… I…" He cleared his throat again, unwilling to let himself look up. "I just live in the park. Where you found me." He mumbled
Anna's eyes softened. "You don't have a place? At all? There's… nowhere you can go?" She immediately felt sympathy for him, no matter how badly he'd tricked her. Anna always saw the best in people first, which was how she'd ended up even marrying Harry in the first place. "Well, I suppose you could stay here. You can sleep on the couch at night. I… I can sleep in my room. Um, I think I have some old clothes of Harry's you could wear, or I could buy you new ones."
Ollie shook his head, taking a small step back. "Oh no no no, I'm a shapeshifter, so technically I can live wherever! The park is fine. Its… great. It works. Not to mention I just deceived you and possibly insulted you and- maybe it would have been better if I never shifted… not that I wouldn't have shifted! Y'know, you were bound to find out eventually. Goddammit, why didn't that raccoon just finish me off…" His mouth stumbled with every impulsive sentence, his mind reeling with thoughts. How could she even offer that??
"Oh my God," Anna murmured incredulously. "Please don't say that! I saved you from that raccoon, so you owe me, right?" She crossed her arms, arched her eyebrows, and spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. "Well, you owe me this: stay here and sleep on my couch. God, I have a conscience, you know. It would kill me to know that if I kicked you out, you'd be stuck up sleeping in some tree with… killer raccoons waiting to pounce on you!"
Oliver pursed his lips, nodding gently. He did want to make her happy, right? And if staying in her house and sleeping on her couch and letting her buy him clothes made her happy…
He sighed, crossing his arms likewise as he looked up timidly. "Alright… if that's what you want." He muttered
Anna smirked, and a somewhat playful glint flashed through her serious eyes. "Yes, it is what I want. Now, come on, let's see if I can find any old clothes of Harry's for you." She strode past Oliver and headed upstairs. Taking a slow deep breath, she pushed open the door of her bedroom.
Oliver felt himself start to smile, then pushed it down. He shivered as she said his name. his name. Wearing his clothes?? If she couldn't even go into that room, what would looking a bit like him to do her??
He cleared his throat, starting to follow up the stairs. "Wait! I… I could just… i'm fine just getting my own clothes!"
Anna touched the doorknob and looked back at him. "You have clothes?" she asked skeptically. "It's alright, I know there's at least a few shirts in here anyway that you can wear until I can buy you something suitable." She opened the door and stepped into the room with a longing sigh. It still smelled like him. It had always smelled like him. She shook her head and went to scoop up some shirts from the floor.
Ollie gestured to the clothes he was wearing, tilting his head. "Yeah? I have a job too. Not like a job job, just one that gets me enough money to… buy clothes…" He trailed off as he watched her, feeling even worse. Oh great gods above…