A G/T Obsession

They passed the time during the brief walk to the bar with Jennifer providing one-word responses to each question Zoey asked.

Zoey thought it was cute. Jennifer was mortified that she couldn't get the thoughts in her mind out of her mouth the way she wanted. In her head she was witty and engaging and charming. But her mouth was a totally different story.

Zoey watched the lips big enough to swallow her whole and couldn't care less about the words coming out of them at the moment. The bar was called "Shot and Chaser".

The big single-pane window had a neon sign of an outlined person with one hand on their hip. The other hand was outstretched, flat like a shelf, where a much smaller outline of a tiny person stood astride the hand.

It was a mixed-size bar. Zoey grinned.

Technically, all bars and restaurants accommodate guests of any size these days. But a bar like this was signalling something specific.

Cute, Zoey thought. Then she wondered just how keen Jennifer was to know about this place. She peered up at Jennifer's face high up above her. As if she could feel Zoey's miniature gaze, she peered back, craning her neck down, making her bright blond hair fall and frame her face.

'Very cute,' Zoey thought again of her massive friend.

As soon as they walked in, Jennifer chose the nearest open stool at the big glass window right behind the sign. She sat down quickly. Then Jennifer lowered her hands to the shiny wood countertop for Zoey to step off at her own pace.

"That wasn't too bumpy, was it? I tried to stay even and everything, like you're supposed to."

"No, not at all; that was great. You're a real pro. Truly."

"I am?! Thanks! My neighbour was tiny. We were the same age and went to the same school, so I used to carry her there every morning. I've had a lot of practice. But it's been a minute. We're still friends, but she lives on the other side of the country now with her husband."

Jennifer asked if it would be alright to carry Zoey to the bar, claiming it'd be faster. Zoey took a brief moment to consider it and thought of being in Jennifer's overprotective grasp again. She thought of how Jennifer moisturised with some lovely cream that smelled like lavender.

Zoey didn't object. She was intrigued by this new detail about Jennifer. A tiny neighbour girl? Friend? Or girlfriend, by the way. Jennifer said 'husband'?

Zoey smiled as she considered the backstory to herself.

She could have refused, but Jennifer seemed very nervous for some reason. Zoey worried that refusing a ride would make it even worse for the poor big blonde. Although Jennifer was very cute when she was nervous. Maybe Zoey should have objected.

"Oh, that's so nice of you, but I trust you to order for both of us. You seem to know your way around."

Jennifer's cheeks flushed, and she nodded quickly and darted off.

Zoey sat at a small table with a stool of its own facing Jennifer's empty spot as she waited. She watched Jennifer walk to the bartenders. One was regular-sized like her, and another was tiny like Zoey, with his own little station taking up a section of the rail.

They both seemed pleased to see Jennifer, like they knew her.

"Oh, she's got it bad..." Zoey thought to herself, thinking this was going to be a fun night.

Jennifer returned after a brief chat with the bartenders. She sat down empty-handed, explaining that a server would bring their drinks over.

They both sat in silence, the pink glow from the sign covering both of them. Jennifer thought it really made Zoey's hair colour pop. She swallowed hard and couldn't stop licking her lips for some reason. She took a deep breath to try and steady her nerves.

Zoey noticed. It was hard not to notice everything Jennifer did at her considerably larger size.

Eventually, a server appeared with two drinks in tow. But the server set Jennifer's towering beverage far too close to Zoey's table. It was a faux pas at least but downright rude to most.

Zoey was used to that kind of thing. Jennifer's eyes narrowed at the server, and she very dramatically moved the drink, dressing her down and saying very loudly, "Excuse you!"

The server looked shocked and apologised, quickly disappearing into the crowded bar.

Zoey liked this protective side of her friend. It was new. She wondered if she was reading too much into it or if there was something more. Zoey stared at Jennifer's hand lingering on the tall glass she'd just moved away from Zoey's table.

"That's the same shade of blue as my hair," Zoey noticed out loud.

Jennifer looked down at Zoey, surprised. She extended her fingers, highlighting her painted nails. Then she sucked her bottom lip across the top of her teeth, worried it was too cheesy and obvious.

"Oh, is it? I hadn't noticed!" She lied.

"That's so funny; what a coincidence."

Zoey nodded and narrowed her eyes. Was it a coincidence?

After some small talk, Zoey felt bold enough to ask Jennifer outright about the neighbour girl. It must have been a bit of a sore subject, as Jennifer seemed to just be holding the glass to her lips rather than downing it as one would expect. Jennifer was buying time but finally lowered her glass and licked her lips.

Zoey made a quiet sound to herself at the seeming innocent gesture, her eyes taking in every little, or rather big, detail.

"She...we...were really good friends, and then, well, she wasn't really. It's complicated."

"Yeah?"

"Totally."

"How so?"

"Well, I'm gay."

"I know. I'm bi, but I think I have a bigger thing for girls." Zoey grinned up at the blonde who swallowed and reached for her nearly empty drink again.

Zoey was having too much fun tormenting Jennifer like this; she needed to tone it down.

"Was she straight? You said she was with a husband now?" Zoey added.

Jennifer shook her head and then nodded. Zoey was having a hard time keeping up with her big, fast-talking friend. She'd gone from quiet to a chatterbox rather quickly. It was cute. She wondered which one was the most like the real her once she settled down.

But Zoey had no intention of having her settle down for quite some time if things went as planned.

"No. I mean yes. I mean maybe. I don't know; that wasn't really the problem. I mean, it wasn't a problem. It wasn't a big deal or anything. It's just really sucked because we were so close and she like..."

Jennifer paused and rubbed her eyes in frustration.

"She wasn't into bigs. Not like that. She didn't—she thought it was silly and weird for...well..."

"Oh."

"Yeah. It sucked. Still kind of stings to be honest."

"Sorry. It does. Soooooo, tell me all about your book, "Lips So Far Apart". Zoey changed the subject without really changing it.

Almost an hour of patient listening later, and several more drinks, Zoey regretted asking about the books. Jennifer was very into them and knew every detail. Zoey needed another drink and kept trying to get the server's attention.

Jennifer noticed.

"Don't bother. That server is the worst. Did you see how he set down my drink? It was so rude. He's not getting a tip from me."

Zoey smirked at the fierceness of Jennifer's disapproval.

"It wasn't a big deal. It's really busy in here. I'm sure that he was just overworked and stressed. It happens a lot. I'm pretty easy to overlook, even with the hair."

Zoey shook her head wildly and ran her fingers through it, shaking it out. Her eyes had been closed, and when she opened them again, she saw Jennifer staring at her like an oasis in the desert.

"I really like your hair..." Jennifer said, leaning down closer to Zoey, talking softer.

This is almost too easy, Zoey thought to herself. She leant forward too and crossed her arms under her chest to emphasise it. She noticed Jennifer staring right at them as she did, just as Zoey had hoped.

Way too easy, Zoey thought.

"I'll get you another drink at the bar!" Jennifer blurted out and then stood up so fast she nearly knocked her stool over. She paused to settle it again and stood there looming over Zoey.

Zoey looked way, way, up at Jennifer's flustered face. Zoey wanted to climb this girl like a monkey on a tree. Jennifer could tell.

Jennifer turned on her heels and bolted over to the bar through the crowd. Zoey watched her go. She noticed how much higher Jennifer's head was than the other women she passed. Zoey checked—Jennifer was wearing flats.

"I guess she is pretty tall..." Zoey said out loud to no one as she saw Jennifer talking with the equally tall, male bartender.

A few minutes later Zoey watched Jennifer make her way back with a new, big-sized drink in her hand that was the same as what Zoey had been drinking. Jennifer set the drink down in the proper place in relation to where Zoey sat.

Jennifer rifled through her purse for something and finally removed an eyedropper. Zoey raised an eyebrow. Then Jennifer reached into her drink and sucked up a small amount and refilled Zoey's glass very delicately. She didn't miss a single drop like she'd done it thousands of times.

"You carry that around with you?"

Jennifer looked up from focusing on her task at Zoey's surprised expression.

"Yeah? I have lots of stuff in here. Strong string, a few sets of different tweezers, a magnifying glass, one of those single LED flashlights, a small blanket, some wrapped candy, lipstick..." Zoey's head tilted as she listened, and Jennifer stopped. They both knew what the contents of Jennifer's purse meant. "And I mean, it doesn't really make sense to pay the same price for two drinks, right? Especially not with the lousy table service here," Jennifer added, trying to brush off her oversharing.

Zoey smirked as she went through the evidence in her head: Best friend as a kid, maybe more, was tiny and obsessed with these sleezy-sized books and carried around a freaking eyedropper and stuff you'd only need if you were tiny.

Come to think of it, she had never heard Jennifer ever talk about anyone who wasn't smaller...

"She's got it really, really bad," Zoey thought, trying to keep the corners of her mouth from reaching all the way to her ears.

Zoey picked up her refilled glass and raised it up towards Jennifer.

"Cheers!"

"Oh! Yeah! Cheers!"

Jennifer brought her glass closer and kept it still so Zoey could clink hers against it. Zoey did and waited until Jennifer started taking a sip.

"You're a really big girl, aren't you?"

Jennifer spat out her drink, thankfully turning her head to the side just enough that she didn't drench Zoey. She coughed a few times, setting her drink down in a clatter.

Zoey took a sip from hers as Jennifer collected herself.

"What?"

"You're tall, right? It's kind of hard to tell, but I noticed when you went to go get another drink."

"OH! Uh, yeah, kind of, I guess!" Jennifer patted her mouth and coughed a few times into a napkin.

"I like big girls. Bigger the better," Zoey added.

Jennifer could feel her heart thumping between her ears.

"What?" Jennifer whispered, but it was still perfectly loud enough for Zoey to hear.

Zoey didn't answer for what felt like an eternity. They sat there in silence together staring at one another. Jennifer blinked first.

"You've got a thing for littles, don't you? I mean, this bar, the books, and I – I realise I've never actually seen you talk to anyone who isn't a tiny bit, now that I think about it."

"No! That can't be right? I mean...I'm no more into anything else. I'm not like a size chaser or anything. It's just tinies are so..." Jennifer slowly moved her hand away from her drink down towards Zoey. Her finger was extended, and Zoey stayed still for her. Zoey could make out the ridges of Jennifer's fingertip, and the smell of her lotion wafted over her as it got closer.

"It's okay if you are. It's flattering. Not everyone appreciates the benefits of a mixed-size relationship, you know?"

Jennifer suddenly pulled her finger back like she was sleepwalking. Zoey looked disappointed. She wanted to feel that finger on her.

Jennifer quickly downed half of her new drink for courage. Her hand was making the drink shake.

"I really like you. Do you like me too?" Zoey asked, standing up and taking a few steps across the countertop to get closer to Jennifer.

Jennifer paused and swallowed, looking down at Zoey.

"Very much...yes."

"Your nail colour isn't a coincidence, is it?"

"No—I kept hoping you would notice, but then I thought that'd be too cheesy and you'd think I'm a dork."

"I like dorks. Same as girls. The bigger the better."

Jennifer exhaled through her nose long and hard.

"Do you...I mean, it's ok if you don't. I just was hoping..."

"Yeah. I'm into you too. A lot."

Jennifer nodded.

"So...do we...I've never..."

"Oh my god," Zoey laughed.

Jennifer put her face in her hands for a second. Zoey smiled. The huge gorgeous blonde was adorable.

"Listen. Okay? I just...I really want to, but then it never seemed to work out with anyone for a while, and there were a few guys, but I really only liked them because they were small, and then I figured out I was into other women, and I—" "Let's go to your place."

"What?"

Zoey downed the rest of her drink and stood up.

"I said let's go to your place. I'd invite you to mine, but I think you'd have a hard time fitting inside. Although maybe you'd enjoy that. I know I would enjoy watching you try. Especially from behind."

Jennifer's face was burning at the thought. She downed the rest of her drink. "I really like your hand cream, by the way," Zoey added.

"Thank you. I'm really glad you like it. Did you want me to carry you again?"

"Yeah, but not in your hands this time."

***

She hadn't been this nervous since the first time she'd laid eyes on someone who had turned giant. It was seared into her permanent memory with crystal clarity. Even now as she waited for giant Tyler, she replayed the moment in her head like a looping film clip.

But it was more than just seeing the giant. It was the feeling of it. She remembered that too.

When she saw Tyler the other week, it was like that first time but a thousand times stronger.

She should hear him at any moment. Or rather, feel him at any moment.

Being just over 150 feet tall meant small tremors accompanied Tyler's every step. He must have weighed hundreds of thousands of pounds, maybe more. None of it was physically possible.

Science certainly couldn't explain it. In fact, it was scientifically impossible, but it still kept happening.

After Tyler turned, he was at the very upper limit that the government would allow for without shipping him away to far less inhabited spaces out west. Tyler was greatly relieved to know he wasn't going to have to move to a desert or something. He had grown up in and around the city. He couldn't imagine being anywhere else.

Even if the city had become a miniature version of him now. He'd miss out on a lot now, like the subway, but he was glad he didn't have to leave.

Zoey was relieved that Tyler got to stay too, but for what she suspected were very different reasons. She shook out her hands as she waited for that first tell-tale shake of the earth.

She couldn't stand it anymore. She stood a safe distance from the edge of the roof, gravel crunching under her high heels. High heels. It seemed ridiculous to wear high heels. Zoey was only 5'6" on a good day, and the heels added a couple of inches.

Tyler was way taller than she was before he turned, even though she was in heels. And now...

Zoey pulled a pack of cigarettes from her jacket pocket and lit one as she thought about it. She had hoped that pacing might keep her from chainsmoking as she waited. She was wrong.

She started smoking while pacing, regretting the heels. Just as she exhaled a second drag, she felt it.

The shake. A pause. Then another shake like distant thunder.

It didn't take Tyler long to get anywhere around the city anymore. But being extra careful with every step did slow him down a bit. There was a longer pause between each step than when she heard Jennifer nearby.

Considering his size, the government didn't rely on a promise from Tyler to be careful. Instead, the government made Giant No. 979 alert them, three days in advance, anytime he intended to travel farther than his specially designated zone so they could clear a path for him. It was annoying, limiting, and time-consuming.

The government didn't trust giants despite the uneasy accommodations they had decided upon once it was clear this would be a recurring problem.

Zoey took another long drag and flicked it off into the distance on the roof, letting it land somewhere amongst the gravel. Even at the top of the 12-story building, she felt the rhythmic vibrations go through her body from his approaching steps. They got stronger and stronger each time. Tyler was getting closer. "Hey! You're excited! BIG night!" Zoey clapped a hand to the earpiece wrapped around her left ear. It was the voice of her friend Jennifer, Giant No. 783. She said the word "big" in a teasing way that made Zoey's brow furrow in annoyance.

But the way she said it also made Zoey's heart skip a beat. Big was an understatement when it came to Tyler after he turned.

The specialized earpiece Jennifer's voice came through was something the government created. It was hooked into a reserved network, like a private cell phone service that operated separately from normal telecommunications. Besides the exclusivity, it was also intended to make it easier for turned giants to communicate with regular-sized humans.

It used bone conduction to keep the giant's voice volume down. Some could be deafeningly dangerous if they yelled.

Zoey only had the earpiece version because she was a licensed government vendor to supply meals for giants. She had to have another license just for that because the network was highly regulated. It was far easier to take orders with the earpiece than other alternatives.

Zoey spent as much time around turned giants as she possibly could. Unlike the government, she never worried about her safety with them. She was always in wonder and awe of them, despite the real risk.

In quiet moments since it had happened, her thoughts returned to how amazing it was just to sit in Jennifer's hand the other week. She did it without warning, with good intentions, but it was one of the biggest shocks of Zoey's life. She kept thinking of the slight translucence of the skin on Jennifer's palm, the lined patterns raised enough that they looked like someone had taken a rake through dirt, the warmth, and every other brain-melting detail.

She couldn't stop imagining how different that would be with a giant Tyler's size. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Don't make me more nervous than I already am, for god's sake!" Zoey whined at Jennifer through the earpiece. Being only 70 feet tall, Jennifer was allowed to live at the city's giant dormitory on the repurposed government facilities on Plum Island off the coast of Long Island. When Jennifer had an assignment in the city, almost always construction but sometimes emergency first response, she had to commute.

Traffic seemed to be an inescapable part of living in the metro area regardless of one's size.

Tyler was too big for the Plum Island facilities and had been parked over in Eerie Basin, where the NYPD had an impound lot. The cars had all been moved to make space for Tyler.

It was supposed to be temporary until the government figured out what to do with him, but it was very likely going to be permanent. "Why are you nervous? It's just Tyler. You told me you've known him for years! Just pretend you're talking to him through a big magnifying glass or something, you know?"

Zoey frowned. If anyone needed to pretend like they were talking through a big magnifying glass in this situation, it was Tyler.

After she saw him turned for the first time, Zoey had accessed a special government website only for licensed vendors to use for planning purposes. It had a database of every turned giant with some basic information about it, including their height and weight. But it didn't have what she was looking for, so she went to one of the many turned giant fan sites.

From there, Zoey figured out she was the same height as Tyler's thumb. His thumb...

Zoey looked down at her thumb for a lingering moment as the thundering footsteps got closer and deeper.

"I don't know if I can do this..." Zoey wondered to herself, not really considering that her earpiece was still active.

"What?! What do you mean?!" Shit, Zoey thought.

"I-I don't...I don't know. This is silly. What is the point? How could he possibly...I'm the size of his fucking thumb, Jenn. HIS THUMB!"

"You can do a lot with just a thumb in my experience."

Zoey gasped and Jennifer giggled.

Then Zoey heard a helicopter. It came whooshing up the street with a large spotlight shining downwards. It was lighting up the path for Tyler. She'd see him any moment.

"You're going to be fine, Zee! He's into you. He was into you before, right? I don't know why that'd change now. He just got bigger. Well, way, way, WAY bigger, but still..." "Thanks, Jenn. I'll call you later."

Zoey ended the call with Jennifer. She couldn't handle the way that she was saying "bigger" right now.

Zoey pulled out her phone, went into the special app for the device in her ear, and dialed Tyler's number.

It didn't even ring once completely before it stopped.

"Zoey?"

Zoey didn't need the earpiece to hear his voice. It filled the air from afar.

She looked past the hovering helicopter to see Tyler step around the corner, coming out from behind a skyscraper.

Her breath stopped. It had only been a week since she'd first seen him. But it felt like she'd stepped in front of an oncoming bus.

Thinking about him being just Tyler didn't help. He was enormous. All she could see was the size of him. Her heart beat was pounding between her ears.

"Zoey? You there?"

Flustered, Zoey scrambled to make sure her earpiece was activated.

"Oh-uh-uh... Yeah! I'm here!"

Zoey raised her hands above her head and waved them, thinking that might help him spot her from amongst the rooftops. Then she was blinded by the spotlight from the hovering helicopter as it swept over and stopped on her like she was on a stage.

Zoey covered her eyes with her forearm until the light went away after a few seconds. She felt a couple of huge thumps before they stopped. She lowered her arm and looked ahead.

She was eye level with the top of Tyler's chest.

She watched it rise and fall with his slow, steady breaths. Her neck and face craned up and up, taking in every single detail.

She could feel him. She could feel him even though he must have been a good thirty or forty feet from the side of the building.

She looked up at his face and locked eyes with him, wondering if he could even make hers out.

Zoey swallowed, staring up at him in stunned silence.

"Hey."

Zoey raised up a hand and gave him a slow wave in return.

"Hi..." she stuttered back.

He could hear her almost perfectly through the device around his neck.

"So...nice to see you, I—"

Tyler got interrupted by the harsh shriek of a speaker turning on from the hovering helicopter near his head.

"You have two hours, 979."

Tyler waved them off, annoyed, but he nodded.

The helicopter tilted and veered away, speeding off into the distance.

"They're so annoying. It's not like I'm going to destroy my hometown, right?"

Zoey nodded, oblivious to how unlikely it was for him to notice. It wasn't just because of how small she was compared to him now, but it was also night.

They were only illuminated by the ambient light of the city around them. It made him seem even bigger somehow, to be only partially lit this way by the various-sized buildings all around him.

He didn't look real, but he was, and it was making it hard for Zoey to even breathe.

"Zoey? Is your earpiece working okay?"

Zoey clenched her jaw in embarrassment.

"Yes! Sorry! Sorry, I...it's...I...uh...how are you?"

Tyler shifted his weight from one foot to another, staying in place.

"Good! Good, you know, not a big fan of camping, but it's not too bad. At least it hasn't rained lately. I'm hoping they give me a tarp or something. We've been going back and forth about it. I'm not really a logistics guy. That's more Dave's jam."

Zoey nodded again as she listened. Dave was Tyler's manager at the delivery company. Tyler talked about him all of the time over the years. Zoey had never met him, only heard him over the radio in Tyler's truck complaining about how long his delivery to Zoey's shop was taking compared to other stops.

"What about you?"

Zoey froze at his question.

How am I? I was nervous, but now I'm a little...what? No...a little...a lot... Oh God. What am I? "I'm—I'm...overwhelmed...so huge...Oh my god..." Zoey thought to herself.

After an awkward silence, Tyler raised his eyebrow, waiting before Zoey finally managed to stutter something out.

"Fine! Good. Good. Yeah...good..."

Zoey's voice trailed off as she stared up at him in slack-jawed wonder. Tyler smiled. He was being so casual. He carried himself like he wasn't the size of a building now. If anything, he seemed way more confident than he used to be. It was a big shift for Zoey.

"Maybe next time they'll let us, well me, go watch a game or something instead of just getting to stand here next time."

Tyler meant going to watch a Mets game in Queens. It was a bit of a trek, not really for him distance-wise, but in terms of clearing a path, it'd be like having to block traffic for a parade.

Now that she thought of it, Zoey realized she had rarely ever seen him without the same Mets cap on. She doubted they made one his size now. Then she thought about getting to watch the game from Tyler's shoulder...or maybe even his hand.

"Zoey?"

"W-What? What'd you say?"

Tyler looked confused that she didn't hear him. She seemed off.

"I said I like your heels. They make you look a lot taller."

Tyler grinned. Zoey balked. He did notice.

There was another long, pregnant silence between them. Tyler played with his lips and then scratched the back of his head, running his hand through his long hair. Zoey liked his long hair.

Tyler let out an exasperated sigh.

"It's too weird now, isn't it?"

"What?"

"Me. It's too weird now. I'm too weird. I'm like a monster now? Is that why you're acting weird?"

Zoey froze and swallowed. She wasn't acting weird. Well, she wasn't acting normal, and it was because of his new size but not for why he thought.

Tyler crossed his massive arms across his chest and looked away, his expression turned.

"I get it. But I was hoping...I thought you could—"

He paused, choosing his words carefully.

"I thought you were my friend and could look past this and just talk to me like I'm Tyler, not Giant Number 979 or whatever. I thought that maybe... never mind. It doesn't matter, I guess. I'll call them so I can go."

He shrugged his shoulders as he spoke, and Zoey's nervousness was replaced with an even worse feeling.

"I'm sorry! You are! Tyler! You're Tyler. I know. Jenn said the same thing, and she's right. It's just you. It's just...I..."

There was another long, silent pause between the two of them that seemed to last for more than one hour. Tyler turned his attention back towards her. It made her shiver to be his complete center of attention.

"Are you scared of me?"

"No!"

"Honest?"

"No! No! Of course not. That's not it. At all! I see giants all the time. I'm not afraid of them, of you."

"Then what's going on?"

Zoey dug deep and swallowed through her clenched jaw. She'd never get a better chance than this. She'd waited her whole life for an opportunity like this.

"I HAVE A THING FOR GIANTS!"

She blurted it out quick and bit her lip. She screwed it up.

"You have a thing for giants?"

Tyler uncrossed his arms. He lowered his head to bring his face closer to the edge of the building towards Zoey. She wanted to take a step back, but she stayed in place.

Tyler was smirking. His one eyebrow was suddenly raised up a bit the way it always was when he said hello or goodbye during his deliveries, checking her out from the driver's seat. She hadn't noticed it before, but there was a faint scar that made his eyebrow look more pronounced when he did. It was a detail she couldn't see before until he was over twenty times larger.

Zoey's cheeks were burning red from the scrutiny and confession.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out another cigarette, struggling to light it. Her hands were shaking. Just standing in front of him like this as he looked at her was making her hands shake. It wasn't just her hands. Her whole body was shaking.

It wasn't bad, just overwhelming. She'd never admitted it to anyone before, and now she'd told a friend. Not just a friend, but the biggest friend she'd ever had. One of the biggest giants on the planet.

She took a deep breath, sucking down the cigarette quickly. She exhaled and dragged her thumb across the bottom of her front teeth.

"Yes! Okay?! I always have! Even before all of the turnings started! I've been obsessed with them since I was a kid. I don't know why, and then people started turning into them, and I was so excited and even more obsessed than before. And I never..."

"You never what?"

Tyler's smirk had turned into a full, toothy grin, peering down at her. She was mortified, but it was too late now.

"I never knew anyone...before they turned. No one I knew before then became a...a..."

"Giant?"

Tyler purred the word out like he knew what it would do to her. His voice was purposefully louder than before when he said it. It made her shiver. Then she shivered again on her own. Just hearing the word from someone his size was too much.

She rubbed her face and took another deep drag from the cigarette.

"Yes..."

"Cool!"

Zoey looked up at his grinning face the size of a highway billboard. He looked so pleased with himself. Like he had just won the biggest stuffed animal at Coney Island. But he was taller than the Astro Tower now. She swallowed at the realization.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Yeah? Of course."

Zoey groaned, rubbing her face again. This was worse than any nightmare of being naked in front of the whole school during a cheer rally in the auditorium.

"Can you try to just blow some my way? I've been dying for a cigarette since I turned, and they won't make me any my size. I think it's worth a try."

Tyler came even closer and opened his mouth a little bit, waiting.

Zoey swallowed and made a strange sound as he did. His open mouth was right in front of her. She could have leapt inside of it like a cave.

Zoey steadied herself and took as deep of an inhale as she could. Then she leaned forward a little and blew the smoke out and into his mouth as best as she could.

He closed his mouth and his lips shifted right in front of her. She was shaking again.

She wanted to touch his lips. She wanted to feel how they felt against her hand. Against her lips. Could he even feel it if she kissed him?

"Anything?" She asked genuinely, curiously.

Tyler shook his head and then whispered.

"No, but thanks for trying. Worth a shot. Plus, it gave me an excuse to get closer so I could do this."

"Do this?"

Before she could process what he meant, Tyler's lips came forward and pressed into hers. Not really her lips, but her whole face and upper body.

Zoey felt a bolt surge through her body, and she went stiff. Tyler kept them there for a beat and then pulled his face back.

"I've wanted to do that back for a while. I didn't think it'd be like this, though. Was that okay? Too much?"

Zoey's cheeks were burning again, and she brought a hand up to fix her messed-up hair. She shook her head no.

"No...not too much...It's...uh..."

"So are you into taller guys in general or only giants?"

Tyler grinned, saying the word again in a way that made Zoey's heart skip again.

"Do it again and find out..." She whispered into her earpiece, making him grin.

On Plum Island, Jennifer was lying down on the poor excuse for bedding. It was on the floor of a hastily constructed, massive hangar on one side of the island that was a little better than a cheap tent would have been when she was regular-sized.

She stared up at the rafters that her head almost scraped when she stood straight up.

"I wonder how it's going between those two..."

Regular-sized students who had never encountered a PES before could be a hassle. Screaming was the thing that always set Tyler off. Once, during his freshman year, Tyler was walking through the quad his second semester trying to look out for any tiny interlopers that might have strayed into the PES walkway. It wasn't supposed to happen, but Tyler usually stayed vigilant given his extra-PES-ness.

He was keeping his gaze down at his feet when a shrill scream from an open window close to his ear, on a very high floor of the Biology building, startled him. He stumbled and had nearly taken out a group of people taking a photo before catching himself on the ledge of the library roof.

In addition to close calls like that, the only other thing that sometimes bothered him about non-PES students was the ones really into giants as a thing. People who had the complete opposite reaction to fear around him.

The proper term for them was "Size Oriented Partners." But most giants called them "size fuckers."

Tyler used to take the time to check every nook and cranny he could think of in places where size fuckers often hid or set up cameras. Like his "dorm room," which was really an old storage warehouse on the far edge of campus. Or the giant's shower and restroom facility. That got lots of frequent lookie-loos.

But after several Greek organizations had added sneaking into the showers as part of pledge week, Tyler gave up and just went about his business. He'd lost any sense of bashfulness long ago in high school.

He'd only been around forty feet tall then, and his high school's setupwas far less accommodating for his size, leading to lots of awkward episodes through puberty. Now he mainly worried about accidentally stepping on someone or swiping them off a high access ledge to their deaths rather than his own modesty. Especially when his eyes were closed trying to get shampoo out of his long hair.

And if he was totally honest with himself, he didn't hate it that much.

Tyler liked to be prepared, and volunteering for move-in day was an easy way to meet lots of new students. And suss out whether he'd have to keep an eye out for them in the shower one day.

Getting PES volunteers for Move-In Day was the Provost's idea. Even though the PES community had been normalized for generations, the provost knew from personal experience that warnings and pictures didn't really sync up to the real thing. Because the provost herself was a respectable twelve feet tall.

The Provost didn't actually help with Move-In Day like other PESs. Instead, she was all grins and handshakes for the students and concerned parents, who were spending a fortune at the school. And, even though she didn't lift a large finger, she had a neon safety vest for the occasion.

The school didn't want to spend the money on a high-visibility vest that was Tyler-sized. Although it probably would have been a good idea to have one available sometimes. He had pointed out that many PES could reach his size, and some could get even larger, as impossible as that seemed, and having a vest would be a good idea. But, seeing as Tyler was at the upper limit for size-integrated areas, the school wasn't persuaded to make the expenditure.

Instead, they connected a couple of tennis court nets into a makeshift sash. They had used duct tape to make big letters on the square cords that read "Welcome to Move-In Day!" in the hopes that they, and the white trim, would suffice.

Like the other volunteers, Tyler was wearing a special shirt for the occasion. It had the school name across the front and back. The shirt had been free. The school was willing to pay for that, as it considered the shirt as advertising given Tyler's dimensions.

"Seriously? This looks like an unfunny Halloween costume," Tyler complained to the provost, who stood on the roof.

The provost had come up to talk to Tyler specifically, before the day began, as the largest student on campus. The next biggest was only thirty feet tall. He was rather miffed when he encountered Tyler for the first time. The smaller PES had hoped to claim the "Biggest Man on Campus" title, which was an actual plaque kept in the library, but the thought drained from his face when he met Tyler, who towered over him. He found some consolation in the fact that Tyler had no interest in joining a fraternity, which automatically made the smaller guy the "biggest Greek," at least.

The provost had gestured over to the folded-up nets in the back of a university landscaping truck and told him to put them on. Tyler reached down into the truck bed and delicately pinched the folded-up net between his fingers. It unraveled as he lifted it up. Tyler paused for a moment, holding it in the air like a banner, and looked at the letter with a grimace.

"Tyler—I know it's not fair to us, but we have to try and make smaller people more comfortable around us if we can. You're a very good student, and I'm sure you've never experienced it, but try and use your imagination to put yourself in their place," the provost suggested.

Tyler quietly looked at the tiny, at least to him, Provost while thinking before he spoke.

"And how does this help?" Tyler asked, lifting up the nets off his shirt between pinched fingers.

"It shows effort, for one. Smaller people appreciate it when they notice us going out of our way for them. It may not seem like much or even rather silly," she gestured at the net before continuing, "but even the smallest gesture helps them feel more secure and makes us look less threatening. Integration is important for everyone. You know what it used to be like in the old days?"

The provost was hinting at what Tyler considered ancient history when giants and normies lived totally separately or totally at odds.

Tyler knew she had a point. But he still felt like he was something out of a bad children's book.

Tyler wasn't sure how he even got roped into helping in the first place. He was too big to fit into most of the buildings on campus and certainly too big for the tiny-sized dorms. He felt like the provost just wanted to show him off like a prop.

He certainly wasn't much help doing the actual moving for Move-In Day. He could just barely get an arm inside the normie dorms. And he could only get it in so far before he risked getting stuck like a kid's hand in a movie theater seat's cupholder.

After he reluctantly slipped on the tennis net sash, the provost was called away by her assistant, who only came up to her waist. Tyler had spent most of his day since in the same exact spot where he'd first sat down that morning.

His back was up against the corner of the building, letting him reach across to the main entrance doors. Tyler figured the least he could do was act like he was a crane, lifting up things for other, much smaller, giants to take from his hand outside from the large, ancient windows of the dormitory.

Tyler reasoned that things were less likely to break that way than if they were carried through the hallways and up stairs. The smaller giants, who, for the most part, only had to bend down and watch their heads to fit inside. But elevators could be a tight fit.

But he mainly didn't want to be bored and wanted to get to do something if he was going to be stuck wearing the ridiculous sash.

With the smaller PES coming in and out of the building while he was at his fixed position, Tyler ended up being the first giant most families encountered. Even when seated, he wasn't hard to miss.

After a bit he forgot about the sash, and Tyler found himself enjoying meeting the new students. He only scared a few of them; that was always to be expected if they had never encountered a PES before, but they got to a shaky understanding that they were safe around him.

The reactions from younger siblings always made up for the spooked freshmen. In Tyler's experience, the younger they were, the more enamored they were with someone his size. One small boy he met mid-morning was especially enthralled by him. Although small was relative, as Tyler could tell he was standing a few feet over the heads of his parents despite being only 9 or 10. It wasn't unheard of for the genes to skip a generation. When the boy finally left, he told Tyler that he hoped he'd grow to Tyler's size someday. Tyler gave the kid a high five with one finger, but the kid's parents didn't seem as enthusiastic.

By the afternoon, the arrivals were slowing down, and there was a longer gap between each one as more and more got settled in. At this point, Tyler could hear far more noise coming from inside the building than there was outside. He was finally getting bored just sitting there.

Tyler exhaled through his nose, surveying the ground below him, when he noticed an abandoned bicycle, missing its front wheel, chained to a nearby lamp post. He reached down and easily broke the chain to free it. He then spent a while absent-mindedly spinning and fidgeting with the bike between his fingers, letting his mind wander.

"You look bored," said a loudish voice down by the dorm entrance.

Tyler cleared his throat and looked down at the source of the obvious observation. It was Jennifer. She was a sophomore like him. They met each other during the freshman orientation. Jennifer stood fourteen or fifteen feet tall. Tyler couldn't tell, and Jennifer never really cared that much. A foot didn't make much of a difference at that point.

They had hit it off during the far longer orientation for PES students. Unlike the usual tour, the PES tour covered not only the basics about school but also all of the special places and procedures that they would have to follow or face expulsion. The school had a flawless safety record and intended on keeping it.

Jennifer looked very sweaty and tired. She lifted up the bottom half of her special Move-In Day shirt and wiped her face off. Even though it was cramped, Jennifer could make it into the building. She had spent hours carrying luggage, minifridges, and all manner of personal junk into dorm rooms. It took a while, but it finally started wearing her out.

Like Tyler, Jennifer also enjoyed Move-In Day. Jennifer especially liked chatting up the new students. Unlike Tyler, Jennifer had a thing for sizefuckers. After helping one student settle in, Jennifer could tell they kept looking at her in that way. While showing off a bit to get the normie hot and bothered, Jennifer was distracted and banged her head right into the sprinkler head in the ceiling.

There was a white bandage wrapped around the top of her head like a beanie, blocking most of her blonde hair, that wasn't there the last time Tyler saw her. He reached down and extended a finger at Jennifer, who was a little larger to him than a Barbie doll would be to a regular person, gesturing at her head.

"Sprinkler?" Tyler guessed, retracting his finger.

"Sprinkler," Jennifer confirmed.

"I bet those hurt," Tyler tried sympathizing but had no idea what it felt like, as he was in a totally different size category.

He hadn't worried about sprinklers since the second grade and spent most of his youth outside of normie buildings.

"It was worth it," Jennifer added up to Tyler's confused face.

Jennifer pulled her phone out of a pocket and held it up over her head towards Tyler's face. He bent down, peering at the screen. He saw a contact name and phone number he didn't recognize and laughed. Jennifer started laughing too before she was interrupted.

"What's so goddamn funny?!"

They both stopped and turned towards the angry shout. It was their mutual friend Zoey. All five feet six inches of her. She was walking towards them, dragging a large roller duffle behind her. Tyler and Jennifer looked confused.

"Hey Zee...uh, what are you—" Jennifer started to ask before Zoey interrupted.

"Were you laughing at me?!" Zoey yelled angrier than before.

"What? "No," Jennifer exclaimed, holding up her hands innocently.

"You fucking better not be. It's not funny," Zoey warned.

"Didn't you move off campus?" Tyler whispered, shifting a bit on the ground to get closer to the two of them, curious why she looked like she was moving in too.

Unlike PES students, normies usually moved off campus after freshman year. Zoey had actually moved out after the first to move in with her junior-year girlfriend, another normie. They hadn't seen her over the summer and didn't know the latest. Zoey's girlfriend had dumped her for a PES student from one of Zoey's girlfriend's summer classes. It meant that all of the affordable off-campus housing nearby was gone, and Zoey was left with either a long commute or a return to dorm living.

Zoey wasn't taking her break up or Move-In Day well.

"Yes! Tyler! Thanks for remembering! I'm moving back in because there are no more freaking apartments nearby that I can afford, and at least my scholarship will pay for on-campus housing. So here I am! On fucking Move-In Day like a fucking loser."

Tyler looked stung. He wasn't a loser for living on campus. Just enormous.

"Did—" Jennifer started to ask before Zoey interrupted her again.

"Yeah, Jenn! Yeah! She dumped me! I got dumped, alright?!"

"Sorry," Jennifer interjected.

"Yeah, that sucks, Zoey. She's dumb," Tyler offered, trying to calm Zoey down. "We weren't laughing at you. Jennifer was just showing me some freshman she picked up who's—"

Before Tyler could finish, Zoey made a sound somewhere between a shriek and a groan of frustration.

"A size fucker!"

"Well, if you want to be crass about it," Jennifer whined, even though she only used that term too.

"I do, Jenn! I do want to be crass because my fucking girlfriend is one!"

"Oh," Tyler and Jennifer both said at the same time at wildly different volumes.

"Yeah, because apparently a bug like me is no comparison to one of you," Zoey pointed at the two of them accusatorily, using the derogatory slur some giants used for normal-sized people.

"Zee, we would never," Jennifer objected as Tyler nodded in confirmation.

Zoey held up her hands in surrender and rubbed her face like she was trying to massage her cheeks off.

"I know. I know. I'm sorry. I—I..."

But before she could finish, Zoey started sobbing heavily into her hands. Tyler grimaced and made a look at Jennifer, gesturing at Zoey with a nod of his head. Jennifer had already closed the distance and knelt down onto one knee, hugging the far smaller Zoey gently. She looked over her shoulder at Tyler and mouthed, "Oh my god, poor girl." Tyler nodded, wondering what giant Zoey got dumped for but realizing that probably wouldn't matter much. Still, he was curious.

"Do you know what room number you're in?" Jennifer finally asked after Zoey had calmed down a bit.

"Yeah. 523."

Tyler looked to his side, knowing this dorm only had three stories. She must have been in the other one that was six stories across a small courtyard. Tyler slowly pushed up off the ground and stood up to his full height. In the dimming afternoon sun his body cast a long shadow over Jennifer and Zoey. They both noticed and looked up at him.

Zoey's breath caught in her throat. It had been a while since she'd seen Tyler around campus. She forgot just how huge he was. He bent down and with one hand picked up the duffle that Zoey dropped, putting it into his other, waiting, hand like he was picking berries. He picked up her other things the same way, depositing them in his other hand's palm with ease.

"Here, I'll take your stuff over, and Jennifer can walk you over, okay?"

Tyler was telling rather than asking. Zoey sniffled and just nodded, and Tyler crossed the distance between the two dormitories in a couple of careful steps. He looked through the windows that were at his eye level on the fifth floor. He saw someone unfolding clothes and putting them in drawers in one of them. He tapped the window with his fingernail, getting their attention.

To the normie's credit, they didn't seem phased at all by it and opened up the window to talk.

"Can I help you?"

"What room number are you? I'm looking for 523?" Tyler asked.

"Oh, I'm 521. I think 523 is next door."

"Thanks."

"Welcome," the normal-sized student said and slid the window back down to close it.

Holding Zoey's belongings in one hand, Tyler pressed his fingers against the window, being as delicate as he could until his fingers caught sufficiently to slide the window all the way up and open. He then took the time to pick up each bag from his hand and gently slip it through the window onto the floor of Zoey's new dorm room.

By the time he was finished, Jennifer and Zoey had made it over. Jennifer was walking beside Zoey, bending down and struggling to hear all of the details of what had happened. Or at least that's what Tyler was guessing as he peered down at them, unable to actually hear what was being said.

Tyler saw them disappear into the building and waited outside the window. After a bit, Zoey reappeared with Jennifer staying out in the hallway, ducking down to peer in. Tyler leaned the side of his head towards the window, with the ear facing the gap, to hear better.

"Anyway...did you have a good summer?" Zoey asked Jennifer out in the hallway.

"Oh yeah, I went home and caught up with some friends from high school. Went to the beach a lot. You know, usual stuff," Jennifer said, leaving out the several brief flings she'd had that hinged entirely on size and size alone to spare Zoey's feelings.

"Well, that sounds a lot better than mine," Zoey replied before turning around and facing the window looking out at Tyler.

"What about you, Tyler?" Zoey asked, walking over to the window ledge before adding, "And thanks for carrying all of my stuff over. You didn't have to do that. I was..."

"Being a mean bitch at the wrong giants?" Jennifer finished for her, having squeezed into Zoey's dorm room with some effort.

Jennifer sat down cross-legged in the center of the room, occupying quite a bit of space, looking down at Zoey with a smug but teasing look.

"I mean, you didn't have to say it like that, but yeah...sorry."

"It's cool. I know it sucks to get dumped," Tyler lied.

Zoey turned around to look at Tyler's face occupying her large window. Jennifer's head tilted to the side, wondering how she had missed this story.

Tyler had no idea what it was like to get dumped. There was no unshared story to have missed out on. Unlike Jennifer, Tyler didn't really do mixed-size relationships or flings. And at Tyler's size, that severely limited his options.

His first formal date was in high school for his senior prom. Tyler had agreed to go with a girl in his class who had asked him almost every day for three weeks before he gave in. He knew she had a crush on him since middle school and was very likely a closeted size fucker, but he didn't want to miss out.

When the night of the prom came, Tyler showed up at her house wearing his usual clothes rather than a tuxedo like every other guy. After struggling to take some photos together at her parent's house, she asked that he carry her to the dance. He didn't mind, but she kept giving him strange looks and rubbing his palm the whole time.

Halfway through the night, when it was clear that it wasn't going to progress any further between them, he ended up spending the rest of the night in the parking lot with some friends.

Freshman year was equally a bust for him, as he couldn't quite find himself attracted to anyone. He wondered if maybe he was gay but realized he really just wanted to have someone who could look him relatively in the eye while standing on the ground. He had met one girl online, over the summer, who turned out to be even bigger than he was, but she was only into much smaller guys. She was only up for being friends of unusual sizes.

No one had really pried that hard, but Tyler basically lived like a monk.

"I can't imagine someone dumping you," Zoey said after a brief pause.

Jennifer's eyebrows shot up, and Tyler's brow furrowed, reading into what she said.

"I mean because you're really nice and all. Not because, you know. You're...you're just a really nice guy even though you don't have to be," Zoey explained herself, pivoting her head between Tyler's blank stare and Jennifer's amused face.

"Jennifer! It's not like that. That's not what I meant," Zoey complained at the look on Jennifer's face.

"Are you sure?" Jennifer asked, extending one huge pointer finger towards Zoey like she was aiming for her stomach or was going to torture tickle it out of her. Zoey raised her hands up defensively and took a step backwards.

"Yes, and don't you dare—"

As she backed up, Zoey's heel caught on the corner edge of one of her heavy bags. She lost her footing and fell backwards. The back of her thigh hit the open window ledge, and her arms flailed trying to keep her balance. Jennifer reached out with a cry, but it was too late.

Zoey fell out of the window. There was a flash of panic as Zoey realized what was happening, and then time seemed to go slack and loose. It went slow as the sensation of dropping filled her.

But she suddenly hit something, softly, and the dropping was gone. She was panting and still, thinking that she had hit the ground. But then she felt herself rising. She hadn't landed on the ground. She had landed in Tyler's hand.

"Are you ok?" Tyler asked rather nonchalantly, as if he caught people all the time, like she was just another piece of luggage he had been moving all day.

Jennifer's head popped out of the window, on all fours inside, looking relieved.

"Jesus, Zee, I am so sorry!" Jennifer pleaded out to Zoey lying motionless in Tyler's big palm.

She had never been in a giant's hand. Ever. She looked up at Tyler's face looming over her, seeming in no rush to set her down.

She was suddenly flush with an entirely different feeling as their eyes locked onto one another.

"Oh my god...I get it now," Zoey whispered, awestruck.

"What?" Tyler asked, raising his hand up to the ear opposite from the outstretched hand holding her.

Zoey stayed silent, overwhelmed.

"Thank you," she finally said.

"No problem," Tyler said and moved his hand towards her window, waiting for Jennifer to crawl back.

"Wait!" Zoey yelled out.

Tyler's hand paused in the air, hovering high up off the ground.

"Can...can I just get a minute here?" She asked loudly, trying to regain her composure.

"Yeah. No problem," Tyler repeated and looked over at Jennifer inside Zoey's dorm room.

Jennifer was grinning.

***