Heart Thump

Running hurts. A lot. The pain burned when he was cramming himself out of the back entrance and he might have torn one of the automatic doors of its hinges when he popped out on the other side. Didn’t exactly have the time to enjoy the fresh air- he was going to be hunted if he didn’t hide. Lacking options within the city streets, he crammed himself into the closest alley way.

Breathing hurts. As much as he wanted to rip that damn mask off, he couldn’t risk exposing his identity if an unlucky passerby were to spot him. As much as he tried to exhale, that warm breath just sprayed back at his chin. He couldn’t think with feedback blaring into his ears and the agonizing sting on his arm. The crushing weight of, well, everything, made him lose feeling in his fingers and before he knew it- all sensation left Jason’s body. All he knew was that he was falling… falling… and falling.

The next time Jason opened his eyes, it was completely dark and his nose was invaded by the smell of wet cardboard. Jerking up right, thrown out plastics spilled off of his lap and the nearly melted slow cooker box flopped off of his head. Miraculously, it had seemed that his fainting spell landed him right into a recycling bin. The wound resumed its tirade as he struggled to pull himself out of the trash. Groans echoed off of the walls after his feet tripped over the edge of the bin and his shoulder met the pavement. Right away he yanked the mask off and took in the most painful yet sweet breath he ever had in his life. A scream was boiling in Jason’s chest and tears were threatening to fall out of his eyes. Yet, all he could do was choke on nothing and grip his hurt arm close to him while the rain washed away his tears. 

At some point, he pulled the ruined hoodie off and wrapped it around the mask.  Pulling his glasses from the hoodie pocket, Jason shakily pushed them onto the bridge of his nose, he needed to just suck it up and go home. Upon leaving the alley way, he noticed how dark it was and guessed he’d been out for a few hours, give or take. During the long walk home, Jason moved the bundle in his arms to peek at the rather nasty gash on his arm. He dreaded to think if that thing had swung at… 

Her.

Remembering hurts. So, so much. How cruel the universe had to be for them to be in the same place at the same time. She saw him for the first time and bloody hell, she was terrified of it. Of course she would be, and it would be only a matter of time until she figures out that the monster behind the mask was supposed to be her friend. 

“I can’t believe you didn’t- J-Jason??”

No. No she cannot find out. He can’t lose her. Is that incredibly selfish? Oh absolutely it is, but the mere idea of her looking at him like that again when he wasn’t graced with anonymity was… 

“DUDE STOP- AGH!”

“Jason!”

Even after he fetched her hat and apologized to her, she still saw nothing but a freak of nature. Rightfully so in her defense. One way or another, he had to keep this thing in hiding as long as possible until he can get rid of this twisted attachment to Natasha. It had proved itself dangerous and he failed to protect her. He was no hero.

“Bloody hell, WHAT IS IT ELLIE?... Oh.”

Being yanked out of his spiral, he noticed that the elevator wasn’t going up any longer and was struggling to even lift itself upwards with rather pitiful jumps. Though what quickly became apparent was that he was now crammed in a small box and had Ellie unintentionally pinned in the corner of the elevator with his knee blocking any escape route. The best she could do was shove herself into the corner she was locked into and death gripping her small backpack. Her demeanor was similar to a rabbit, being all cornered like that; her eyes wide and staring up at Jason as if he was a fox.

In an instant, his annoyed stare melted into a regretful gaze. To his credit, he did try to pull in his leg to let Ellie have breathing room, though it was in vain as he couldn’t find the room to move it out of her way. “I-I’m sorry I didn’t realize I was…” Jason mumbled as his eyes looked away from her like a dog who’d been caught tearing apart the couch, “Lost in thought.”

Ellie was rendered completely speechless by the thought that she was nearly crushed. Eventually she found her words as she brushed a hand through her hair and took a deep, deep breath. Which was followed by a heavy sigh and the most forced smile she ever had to make. “It’s fine,” Ellie said, holding back a storm as she made a gesture towards Jason’s leg, “Let’s just relax and shrink back to normal okay?”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Jason said, taking in a large breath that had been too quick and the elevator wobbled as he attempted to shuffle his body into a position that was a bit more comfortable. A push on his knee stopped him mid-breath, he looked back down at Ellie to see her darting a glare at him.

“Jason,” Ellie said, “Remember, four seconds.”

“O-oh right…” he mumbled.

“Let’s start from the top,” she instructed before she began to slowly count down from four.

Jason inhaled through his dinner plate sized nostrils and slowly let his chest fill up with the stale elevator air. Holding that breath while Ellie counted back up to four, he tried to fill his mind with thoughts of newborn kittens and the gentle breeze of a sweet smelling field of flowers. Just as he had practiced for this very day.

“And now… let all that stress go,” Ellie said as a smile returned to her face.

His height dwindled upon exhale, letting Ellie have her personal space back and relieving the elevator of its heavy burden. Shrinking had its own strange sensation, Jason had found. Vertigo overwhelmed him in the opposite direction and he felt like he was falling without ever hitting the ground, though the strange feeling does end when Jason returns to his diminutive self with a wave of calmness washing over him.

It feels good, relaxing even.

Until it isn’t.

After the nice moment passes something else much less pleasant kicks in when he looks around his surroundings. It was a very subtle anxiety which he hadn’t noticed for the first few times he came back down, though lately it had been making itself apparent. He realized that everything around him seemed too big and that something just wasn’t right. Of course, he tripled checked and no; he wasn’t actually getting smaller than his usual 5’3” every time he had shrunk. That would have been a nightmare all on its own. He simply feels like he gets smaller than he should be for a while before the uncertainty eventually passes, when he finds himself distracted from it.

Jason had now found himself sitting on the elevator floor with his legs sprawled out in front of him and his back planted on the wall. The elevator, thankfully, didn’t get stuck and jolted back into its ascension to their floor. The overwhelming walls surrounding Jason sent him reeling, trying to not fall back into the panic spiral as he gripped his fists. An offered hand that dangled in front of his eyes snatched his attention. He looked up to see a friendly face, who was holding out her hand with a smile sweeter than ripe blueberries.

After being pulled back up to his feet, Jason set his hand on Ellie’s shoulder to support his wobbly balance. They shared a long sigh.

“Jason,” Ellie asked, “Are you sure you’re ready to be back at work?”

“I have to be,” Jason responded, letting Ellie go and straightening out his jacket, “Can’t laze around my living room forever you know.”

“I get that but,” Ellie said, her hands hovering for a moment, “I had to stitch you up last night and, like, we really should have gone to the hospit-”

“And what do I tell them Ellie!?” Jason yelped loudly, “That I got it from having a tussle with a monster while the police were actively searching for me!?” He gestured his hands to his chest, glaring at Ellie who at that point put her hands up in surrender. “Oh I’m sure they would be very understanding and not hand me over right then,” he said with heavy sarcasm, rolling his eyes and folding his arms.

“Dude, I understand you’ve got a lot going on, but you don’t have to take it on me,” Ellie responded quite firmly as she brushed a hand through her hair, “I-I’m just worried about you, especially since I woke up to find you bleeding all over my doormat.”

“I… ” Jason stopped himself, deflating his anger and looked down at the tile of the elevator in shame, “I’m sorry Ellie, I don’t mean to come off as ungrateful.”

A beep passed.

“Thank you,” Jason spoke up, reaching a hand to her shoulder, “For always lending a hand when I’m in trouble.”

She sighed and looked up at him with a tired smile, “It’s all good.”

Jason chucked as his other hand met her shoulder, “I know that I can always depend on you.”

Her smile froze stiff as he patted her shoulder before letting go, as the elevator doors finally opened to the marketing department floor. Jason left Ellie behind for a moment as Ellie had to let it sink in; that today was going to be a very, very long day.

-----

The first hurdle to Jason’s day was getting past undetected to his desk. Ellie darted out of the elevator with a spring in her step, hastily acknowledging the tired mass of grey hair at the HR desk before making a bee line to her workspace. When Jason tried to catch up with Ellie, a wrinkled hand rose from behind HR’s computer monitor with the sound of clanking bangles.

To Jason’s great surprise, there were some people who were only on a company-role- name basis who did notice him disappearing for a couple of weeks.

“Good morning,” an aged woman’s voice spoke in her usual monotone drawl, her grey hair peeking over her monitor as she fixed her cat eye glasses at Jason, “Haven’t seen you in a while, welcome back.”

Jason nearly jumped out of his skin, nearly fumbling his ID card and looked over at the HR lady, who was actually looking up to greet him. He smiled a little bit, thinking that maybe he was closer to her than he originally thought.

“Oh! Uhm, yes I’m all better now, Thanks for asking Carol,” Jason said with a small wave, “Hope everything’s been not too hectic around here-”

“Glad to hear that James,” She interrupted in her same, uncaring drone before turning her head back to the computer as if she hadn’t seen him in the first place.

“Well… ahem, alright then,” Jason stammered and scurried on ahead into the main office floor. Ellie had already seemed to already beat him to their cubicles and everyone else seemed to be doing their own usual morning rituals. Just like clockwork, poor hungover Benny sat down at his desk with fast food he’d ordered on his phone, Liza was frustratedly shaking her head in despair at the printer, and Dillon was already staring blankly at the water cooler at the bubbles. Wash, rinse and repeat every single day. Today unfortunately, they all didn’t realize that he’d become a ticking time bomb.

He swallowed air and beelined it to his desk. Hoping that he doesn’t drag any attention to himself as he’d have no idea how he could explain why he was covered in bandages and where he’d been off to for the past several weeks. While he did have some crafted lies such as; getting side swiped by a careless truck driver, Oliver didn’t take his vet visit very well or that he fell face first into a mirror, a retroactive case of bad luck. Jason wasn’t going to take that chance even if it was minuscule.

Upon turning into his cubicle, Jason thought he got away scot free, though his sigh of relief abruptly turned into a gasp when he noticed what was on his desk. Nothing much had changed in his cubicle since the last time he’d almost outgrown it, aside from the fact that someone had left him a butter cookie tin and a light pink paper card that had ‘get well soon!’ written on the front with an absolutely adorable kitten below it.   

He’d almost caught his throat squealing, “Awh what do we ha-” Jason covered his mouth and turned his head away. Harshly suppressing that spark of glee and averting his eyes away from the sweet display as if he was trying to not stare at something obscene. Doing a terrible act of pretending to not care, he sat down at his desk and logged into his computer. Darting his gaze from the accounting spreadsheets of the last month’s marketing budget to the sad little eyes of that baby kitty, his weak resolve was beginning to betray him.

Deep down Jason knew who would bother getting him the specific cookies he likes and to his horror, he could feel his perspective slowly shifting upwards despite being hunched over. He slapped his hands together in front of his chin and exhaled a held sigh. Now wasn’t the time to let himself be stupidly giddy like a teenager. One moment of weakness and his entire life could be uprooted.

Closing his eyes, he attempted to ground himself. Reining back his feelings wasn’t new to him, long before this disastrous curse. He’d had to hold himself to an average standard for a good portion of his life. To stay in the background and keep in line while following his orders like a soldier. No, he wasn’t a soldier, but an ant within a colony. Hardly anyone even noticed that he wasn’t present, and will continue to not pay him any mind now that he’s back.

Of course, he's Jason bloody Anderson, the accountant that clocks in, works, clocks out, and goes home to watch rom-coms alone before going to bed at 8 PM sharp. The one his coworkers barely know on first-name basis, who leaves their memory the second he's left. The last one in the room to be acknowledged, just after the watercooler and the wallpaper. Being unnoticed wasn't an accident - it was his very craft, and it had earned him his proud reputation of being absolutely nobody. Jason was the King of mediocrity, if such a thing could be.

Jason took a deep breath, hands clasped together as if he were praying. Closing his eyes to imagine himself as just a spec of dust in the wind. A little chipmunk filling away acorns for the winter. A pebble being kicked down the sidewalk and onto the asphalt of a side street. He is unremarkable, he is small.

“Long time no see!” Natasha cheerfully said as she leaned her arm onto the edge of the cubicle’s opening. The smirk on her face dropped when she noticed that Jason wasn’t sitting at his desk, he was cowering under it. Jason dove head first under the desk the moment he heard her utter the first syllable. “Uh, what are you?...” Natasha tried to ask, though was interrupted with the man’s squeal.

“OH H-HELLO NATASHA IT’S BEEN A WHILE HASN’T IT?!” Jason blurted out, feeling the top of his head pressing onto the back of his desk and quickly running out of room, “I uh- Just realized the wires got all messed up down here.. and I was just going to sort that out haha...” Luckily, it seemed that hiding behind the chair and being shoved under his desk managed to hide his body shooting up an extra foot.

“...Okaaay?” Natasha responded confused, dropping her arm from the cubicle and leaned in a little, “You need help with th-” Before the unintentional interrogation could begin, Natasha felt a hand grab her shoulder and pull her attention away from Jason. She was met with a wide smiling Ellie, grinning ear-to-ear with a panicked look in her eyes.

“Natashaaaaa!” Ellie spoke through her teeth, “Oh my GOSH I heard what happened at the mall yesterday, you should have called!” Before Natasha said a word, Ellie wrapped her arm around Natasha’s shoulder and gently moved her away from the pod.

“Wha-” Natasha sputtered, trying to turn her head back to Jason’s cubicle and faintly pointed back at it, “Ellie I was just trying to help Jason with settling back in-”

“Don’t worry about that!” Ellie said with another gentle tug towards Natasha’s office door, “He can take care of it himself.”

A rather loud bang behind them almost got Natasha to squirm her way out of Ellie’s grip, but the little woman had a death grip on her shoulder that refused to let her go that easily.

“Ellie!- UGH” Natasha yelped before she started whispering, “Girl what the hell?”

“Come on Natasha,” Ellie said as she patted her shoulder and opened the office door with her other hand, “Lets just have a quick chat okay~?”

“But I- ugh, alright fine,” Natasha sighed, turning her head a bit and raising her voice, “We’ll talk later Jason!”

Jason at this point, resembling a turtle more than a man with the desk encasing his back and his computer monitor knocked onto the carpet, sighed. “O-Okay…” Jason whimpered, closing his fists as he stared at the floor.

“Th-this going to be hell isn’t it?” He whispered under his breath.

[Image Description: Natasha, being confused and disappointed, getting escorted back to her office by a wide smiled Ellie as Jason hides like a coward under his desk. There is a couple of nicknaks on the cubicle wall such as a cat calendar and a metal shelf with a cactus.]

Natasha knew her fate was sealed as she heard the door’s lock to her office click. The gall of Ellie, being a subordinate pushing her boss around would be an unspeakable crime against professionalism. Luckily for Ellie, they go way back since the days of them bemoaning over college projects during their bachelor degree era. After all these years, Natasha knew better than to try to pull away from Ellie’s help, as she always seemed to have a rebuttal to her denials. She learned that lesson ages ago.

“Let’s have a quick chat!”  Ellie cheerfully spoke as she led Natasha over to her office chair, letting Ellie gently guide her down into the seat. After a quick pat to the shoulder, Ellie took the other chair for herself with a light plop.

“Look Ellie,” Despite previous conversations like this one, Natasha tried to put a stop to whatever was about to happen. “I don’t think this is gonna be appropriate to talk about here, why don’t we wait till after work?” 

“That’s understandable but,” Ellie said, leaning an arm on the desk, “Think it’s best to get it out now and not forget to check in later right?” She raised a single eye brow with a knowing smirk.

Shit.

Natasha wasn’t getting out of this one.

With a relenting sigh, she crossed her arms on the desk and spoke frankly, “Lily, I’m not traumatized from that whole thing at the mall.” She gripped the fabric of her blazer coat, “If that's what this is about, I’m fine.”

“Wasn’t implying that you were,” Ellie said with a hand to her own chest, “Just that gas leaks are pretty scary and if your first thought is going to be that you’re traumatized…”

“No- I- I’m not-” Natasha balked before planting a palm to her forehead, hissing a very quiet swear before re-gaining her composure. “That place was falling apart anyways,” Natasha said, “I should have gotten a clue to not go there since the waterline incident a couple of years back, You remember that right?”

“Yeup, but-”

Before Ellie could finish, Natasha just barged on ahead with that line of thought.  “Yeah like, it smelled really bad didn’t it?!” Natasha said, “You had just bought those cute heels too and we had to blow dry those things to save em’!”

“Natasha…” Ellie spoke with that sickenly sweet voice, her eyes still locked onto Natasha while still holding a warm smile. 

“...Alright fine,” Natasha relented, nearly bonking her head onto the surface of her desk before she moved her bangs out of her vision. “I was going to pick up a few things at the game shop and when I got there this stupid…” Natasha paused for a moment, remembering the horrid interaction, she’d rather not dwell on that, “Aite doesn’t matter-” She waved her hand before continuing, “I got the games I went there for and when I tried to leave…”

Once again, the room went quiet. How could she find the words to describe what happened next? Not only was it hard to re-collect everything as it happened so fast, it was completely unbelievable as none of what she saw was actually real. She tapped her pointer finger on the head as she averted Ellie’s gaze.

“...Sorry it’s just...” Natasha mumbled, biting her lip, though she released it as she felt a hand softly hold onto hers.

“You’re okay,” Ellie said, “Take your time.”

“I know but,” Natasha said, “There ain’t any universe where you won’t think I lost my mind.”

“Try me.”

Well, she did ask for it. Natasha composed herself once more and tried her best to keep the shaking of her fingers to a bare minimum as she explained herself. “Right in front of me was this… Dammit, I don’t know what it was exactly but it looked like a knock off of one of those aliens from uh… Aliens, I guess.”

Keeping track of Ellie’s reaction, Natasha noticed her eyebrows raise from her words but her focus remained stoic as if what she was saying wasn’t strange at all.

Natasha continued. 

“Shit was scarier though, like the thing had glowing teeth and I could feel its breath blowing in my face.” She could feel the shiver crawl up her spine remembering it. “I can hardly remember what happened next,” the snow cap in her chest collapsed into an avalanche as she spoke, “Just that I was busting my ass to get away from it and the next thing I know I’m on the floor about to get DECAPITATED!”

The desk shook as she slammed her hands down upon it, tears welling up in her eyes as she slapped a hand over her mouth for daring to let out such a screech. Ellie at this point stood up from her chair to comfort her, though was backed down by Natasha’s waving hand as she used the other to wipe her tears.

“Hol-hold on, I'm not done,”  Natasha spoke wearily, “There was also… another thing.” She cleared her throat, unsure whatever she was about to say was going to make any kind of sense, gas leak induced hallucination or not. “This guy shows up in this, like… hockey mask?” Natasha slowly put it together, “And he uh… Damn how do I put this…”

A muscle twitched in Ellie’s jaw, breaking her resolve for a split second. To Natasha, this was an obvious sign that she was about to lose faith in her as a lucid leader. She took a deep breath and put her hands together on her desk. “He got… like he…?” Natasha said, voice raised with uncertainty, “Damn it, no that’s gonna sound weird-”

“Like he got taller?” Ellie asked matter of factly as she rested her head on folded hands. Natasha blinked.

“Um yeah,” Natasha confirmed, “Like freakishly tall, how did you...?”

Ellie waved her hands in front of her as she backpeddled immensely, a strained grin on her face as she looked anywhere that wasn’t Natasha’s face. “OH!” Ellie exclaimed, “Lucky guess, ahaha…”

That earned a moment’s worth of a strained gaze at Ellie, though to be fair it could really have been a real lucky guess. That or Ellie is just so good at reading people that she is borderline psychic. Nonetheless, Natasha glossed that over and tried to continue re-accounting her gasleak fuelled nightmare.

“...Anyways,” Natasha said, “He and the monster fought each other, or I mean it would be more accurate that the thing fought him because to be honest, it was wiping the floor with him.” She sighed and turned her gaze to the window behind her, rolling her chair away from Ellie. “That guy might have looked scary as fuck but,” Natasha spoke her eyes drifted to the building across her office, seeing a grumpy looking persian cat staring back at her, though once their eyes met, it turned away. “He seemed… surprisingly vulnerable,” she concluded.

A high pitched whine came from Ellie as she shifted uncomfortably with a shaky head nod.

Getting lost in her memories, Natasha turned away from the window and leaned onto her desk, a hand propping up her chin. “I think we ended up killing it with a fire extinguisher?” Natasha said with uncertainty, “Can’t remember much considering it was a hallucination." Another palm joined her chin as she leaned in further, her eyes supposedly on Ellie, though Natasha's gaze may as well be going straight through her. “At the time I… I couldn’t exactly make sense of it and it terrified me,” Natasha said, “Kinda feel bad for the big guy because I wasn’t exactly in a mood to be grateful, He got my hat and was being so… sweet.” She groaned and her palms rubbed upon her face with fingers getting tangled in her bangs. “And what did I do? Scream my head off,” she bemoaned regretfully, “Like sure it was freaky watching him grow right in my face but like- I could’ve at least said ‘thanks for saving my life’ or literally anything else.”

“Oh Natasha…” Ellie attempted to reach out her hand to comfort her, though was interrupted with Natasha sitting up straight again with a small sad chuckle.

“Pft, look at me feeling bad for somebody who ain’t even real,” Natasha said as she reached over to her coffee which had gone cold at this point, “Crazy how your head can make stuff up like that, can’t imagine what else I coulda made up if Motor didn’t find me.”

“Doesn’t mean it felt any less real during it,” Ellie said with her fingers interlocking with each other, “There’s nothing to be ashamed about, especially what you’ve experienced.”

“I guess,” Natasha mumbled as she rolled the mug around in her hand, “But I mean my life wasn't in danger.”

“...Uhhuh...” Ellie hesitantly confirmed the confidence in her shoulder’s faltering.

Natasha brought the cup to her lips for a sip, “Those… huge hazel eyes that he had though they were…” Natasha sighed, “Beautiful.”

The looks on Ellie’s face changed rapidly, first from her mouth being hung open, to twisting her lip in curiosity and then a wide smirk on her face.

“Are you into tall guys by any chance?” Ellie asked.

Suddenly Natasha found herself choking on coffee, nearly hacking it right back into the mug. One hard swallow later and she was coughing up the rest of it. Once she got her bearings back in order and slammed a fist to her chest she finally gave Ellie the response that she deserved.

“GIRL WHAT?!” yelped in disbelief.

The backpeddling began as Ellie lifted her hands in front of her in a panic, “I-I mean it could be your subconscious trying to tell you something and-”

“WHAT??” Natasha repeated herself, placing down the mug in one swoop as she almost stood up from her chair- a completely outraged look upon her face.

“J-Just um,” Elllie tripped on her words, “Just play along with me alright? I promise I’m getting somewhere.” A wide pleading smile was frozen on her face, with her fingers interlocked together.

“...” Natasha took a few seconds to give Ellie a puzzled scowl and responded after setting down with a sigh, “Aite.” She couldn’t believe it herself that she was going along with this, though surely Ellie had to have some valid reason for this, right?

“Are we talking Steven Merchant tall or Shaq tall?” Natasha asked, trying to keep her whittling composure together.

“Jack and The Beanstalk?” Ellie clarified.

“Okay,” Natasha hissed under her breath with finality as she took from her desk. 

“Nata-” Ellie tried to speak up, but a firm hand was already firmly pressed on her shoulder. Not quite out of anger but concern. She looked up to meet Natasha’s eyes as pity formed in them.

“Ellie are you doing alright?” Natasha asked, “You gotta be more stressed out than usual.”

With the gentle pats on her back wearing her resilience down, Ellie’s mask began to slip as she finally stopped smiling. “What? Nooooo,” Ellie refuted, “I’m fine, just uh… Finals, you know?”

According to the stare down Natasha was giving her, it was obvious that half-truth wasn’t fully bought. “Sure, I guess that’ll be stressful,” Natasha said with her arm draping over Ellie’s shoulders, “But that didn’t get you down this low before.” A finger tapped on her chin in thought. “Is it your love life that needs help?” Natasha asked with no intention for an answer she already knew, “I mean you did really hit it off with that tall bouncer you were chatting up a month ago-”

“Ah HA-” Ellie gave a panicked laugh that was more similar to a squeal, “We- Uh, we really don’t need to talk about that.” At this point Ellie was the one being cornered even as she pushed Natasha’s arm off of her slowly.

“You know,” Natasha said, “Just because you’re about to become a psychiatrist, it doesn’t mean that you can’t vent to a friend.” She smiled as she bent down a bit to meet Ellie at her level, “You can tell me what’s actually on your mind.”

Just then, Natasha noticed that Ellie’s knuckles were shaking as they were gripping the denim of her pants. Her lip was quivering and the words fought to be spoken, her mouth gaping open, but nothing came out. Those words she wanted to say died like the light in her eyes as she turned away from Natasha.

All of a sudden, Ellie stood up from the chair, lightly pushing Natasha’s hand off of her with a smile returning to her face - yet it was a weak one. “I’ll be alright Nat,” Ellie said as she started to make her way to the door, “got some documents to process anyways for the meeting today anyways.”

“But-”

The door opened as she turned her head to Natasha with a smile, “We should get back to work.”

With that, the door closed.

Silence from the office bellows.

Thoughts swirled in Natasha’s head as she stood where Ellie had left her. Wondering what she could have done to make Ellie not want to open up to her. Was she really that taken aback by her reaction to her question? Was it not normal? Was that girl talk™ that she failed to respond to?

One dejected sigh later, she moved back to her desk to begin business as usual. The conversation rolled in her mind, she wasn’t sure what Ellie meant by her obtuse question. Once she lowered back down into her leather chair, she did take a moment to ponder it. Her mind couldn’t leave it well enough alone, because of those eyes.

Not only were they pretty, but something about them had instilled a sense of comfort that she’d felt somewhere before. Though she couldn’t quite pin down where she had sensed it. Obviously the figment of her imagination must of pulled that from somewhere because all she can really think about was the sweet man that went out of his way to bring her a morning coffee and the way his eyes beamed when he’d hear one of those corny love songs show up on the break room radio, him humming along as if he heard it thousands of times.

Of course that giant couldn’t have possibly been Jason, not only was he on the short side, he’s meek as a kitten and would never in a thousand years throw hands. Plus Natasha had never heard him swear like that. However, the softness shown to her afterwards was completely in character for him when he thought no one noticed. Though he’d never been so forward with his kindness like the giant was. Perhaps if he was that giant then...

Suddenly Natasha noticed her face was enveloped with warmth, her gut dropping in horror as she realized she was succumbing to a twisted fantasy. It was one thing that she had a crush on a subordinate the moment he came into the interview, it was another fantasizing him being an impossibly tall- and devilishly handsome giant. Already being on thin ice as it was far from professional to have these feelings, she couldn’t allow herself to think about Jason in that way. Gas leak trauma or not; she was his boss first and foremost.

She needs to act like it.

Natasha’s forehead promptly met the desk with a light plunk, desperately trying to put that thing she discovered about herself back into Pandora's box from whence it came. Motor really was a bad influence wasn’t he? Natasha’s hands had found her scalp and they gripped onto it. The poor man she was fantasizing about had just come back from a near death experience and she wasn’t out there helping him get settled in. What an absolute freak she was-

A perky anime theme song yanked Natasha out of her spiral.

Her head rose from the desk and her eyes gazed towards her phone, which had been slightly out of casual reach. Once she picked it off the desk and took a look at the caller ID, her mouth became agape and she could feel her hair raise on the back of her neck.

She would never call at this hour unless…

With a shaky breath, Natasha’s fidgety finger swiped on the answer bar and held it up to her ear.

“Hey Mom…”

---

This had been the most stressful two hours of Jason’s work life and it wasn’t even the start of the wrap-up quarter. Not only did he have an awfully persistent curse to tame, and his resolve seemed to be much weaker than he’d thought, but he had to play catch up with weeks worth of marketing investments. Thankfully no one else other than Natasha had come over to chat with him so he’d managed to get away with having to crouch in his cubicle when his mind went to daydream.

Made typing on his keyboard a nightmare though.

He did manage to shrink himself back when he heard foot falls coming his way, that fancy focus ability, he had to admit, was coming in handy. Though this made it hard for him to completely give his all to his work. It wasn’t like he needed to be even farther behind than he was already. His ego took a hit, knowing that parsing numbers and budgets was one of the only things he would say that he was great at. In the past, he’d be able to crunch several spreadsheet documents in time for a moved up meeting and still get welcomed praise for it. But now, all he could really think about was if he was going to be going home or locked up in a government facility at the end of the day.

It didn’t help that every time he brushed his fingers through his hair, he’d remember the gust of wind flowing through it when he stood above the trees. In retrospect, the view from above was breathtaking as everything around him looked so far, yet he could reach out and touch it. He also couldn’t help but to imagine if he had held someone, perhaps it could be say, Natasha for instance. Man alive he wished he could have hugged her with his fingers due to how utterly cute she looked being so tiny- 

‘NO.’

Jason’s palm knocked him on the forehead- he can’t let himself feel anything but disgust at those frightful thoughts, let alone giddy about them.

With another completed session of deep breaths to calm his height, Jason stood up from the carpet and stretched his back with a groan. He really needed to get back into his proper chair, though he’d fear that it was going to snap at any given moment and he couldn’t imagine trying to explain how it happened.

Out of curiosity, Jason’s eyes peaked over his cubicle as he stood on his tip toes to look over at an uncharacteristically quiet Ellie. While she usually was on time with her tasks, she wouldn’t miss the chance to chat up a storm with their coworkers. Though today she seemed to be actually locked in her cubicle. It was odd she barely spared him a glance when she left Natasha’s office. She just walked back to her desk with a thousand-mile stare and sat down with her fingers fiddling with her bracelet. 

She was still doing it by the time Jason silently checked in on her.

Not wanting to be nosy, Jason slinked back down. Surely Ellie can sort whatever she was going through and just needed a moment to herself. Besides, how could he help her when he was already dealing with his own big mess.

Speaking of which, it was almost break time and he had a feeling that he was going to be tracked down if he left at his usual time. Perhaps he could wait till after it to sneakily grab his lunch and rush back to his desk. Then again Natasha could wonder where he was and find him at his desk. God, the way he was planning his day around snubbing her made him feel like his guts were twisting inside.

Jason walked back to his desk with his palm slithering down the side of his face, looking at his email inbox and noticed a very recent notification that made his heart, and height skip a beat.

Subject: Want to get lunch and talk? :) - Natasha

He was already bending down in order to sloppily type a response without reading the bulk of the email. 

Hastily, he replied with; ‘ sounds nice but I am already got lunch thH ank youuuu!’ 

After slamming the enter key and breathing out a huff of air, he stumbled out of his cubicle. Swearing a storm under his breath and trying desperately to hold back his heart for the seventh time that day. His will was starting to crack however, he needed to get outside for some air right then and there.

Before he got across the floor however…

“Jasssonnn,” Liza bemoaned from the supply room, “The printer’s broke again.”

His heels halted, as he took a deep sigh.

“Fuck,” He hissed, inhaling to power though another fake smile on his face as he swung around to one of his less helpful coworkers.

“What seems to be the problem?” Jason asked as he walked into the room with awkwardly stiff legs as he wriggled his hands together. Though by the time he turned around he already deduced what the issue was. A half muddled paper was struggling to get through the output, earning a crinkle each time it tried to push itself out.

“It’s stuck again…” Liza said as she lowered her head, obviously admitting her defeat to it once more this week. IT, or at least someone qualified, should really get a proper look at the thing, however they lived in a far-from-perfect world.

Making do with what they have, Jason sighed as he approached the side of the massive paper weight. Staring it down, he brought up a fist above it and with a stern thwack. The machine’s internals echoed and after a second, the paper was spat out into the tray with a half baked page of a  report. It was followed by the rest of the report that had printed normally.

“Aaa you’re a life saver!” Liza chirped as she snatched the report off the presses and flipped through the pages. “Funny how it seems to work when you hit it like that!”

While he did like not having the spotlight on him, it certainly brought a genuine smile on his face when he felt appreciated. He leaned his elbow on top of the printer with a hand holding up his chin. “Ah don’t mention it,” Jason said with a flap of a wrist, “This thing is probably older than I am, real surprised they haven’t-”

“Oh hey Boss!” Liza said as her attention turned to an approaching Natasha. In just one second Jason no longer existed, which usually didn’t bother him (much) however he was caught red handed. He tried to hide the grimace on his face with his lips still curled upwards, though he knew it was too late as Natasha was only half-paying attention to what the intern was saying, the rest of her focus spent cornering Jason with her alluring eyes.

“Sorry about the delay,” Liza hammered on, “I’ve got the performance reports printed! Josh got the print-”

“It’s Jason…” Natasha politely cut her off.

“Oh yeah, anyways,” Liza skimmed over it as she flipped through the papers, “He fixed the printer and once I get them stapled they’ll be ready for ya!”

“Did he now?” Natasha smirked, that confused stare softened, “Nice job~”

For Jason, time suddenly slowed down. ‘This is it,’ Jason’s inner monologue cried out when his heart began to skip a beat, ‘It’s all over from here… there’s no way I can escape in time-’

“WHO BURNED POPCORN IN THE MICROWAVE?!” A voice shouted from across the office. Liza’s eyes widened in horror as she bolted out of the supply room, Natasha sighing as she followed her out with a hand on her forehead.

“Lizaaa,” Natasha complained, “You gotta keep an eye on that! The whole office is going to smell again,” as she sulked through the doorway…

…conveniently, right as Jason’s shoe unintentionally slammed the door shut as the printer was crushed underneath his elbow. 

---

After several minutes of shoving himself through the back exit door and calming down in the stairwell, he made his way past the front desk. Already having that close call knocked the wind out of his sails. Unfortunately, it was only the middle of the day and he couldn’t afford to let his guard down. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to send a sick email and bail, but he already had so much work he’d been putting off and-

“Don’t make me ban popcorn on the company floor Liza,” Natasha said as she left the break room, taking off rubber gloves. Though before she could finish her scolding, her eyes darted towards Jason, seeing him right across the office. Her dreary look brightened as she made her way over to him.

Jason pretended that he didn’t see her, though the panicked look he had definitely gave it away and he speed walked down the back row of cubicles. He took the long route to his desk, though that little detour did not fool her one bit.

“Hey wait I need to talk-” Natasha exclaimed as she turned the corner, though her words were interrupted by a bug-eyed man popping out of the cubicle in front of her like a weasel. His obliviousness almost caused them to collide.

“He-eey Boss, I uh… ” he mumbled anxiously.

“Dillon I’m the middle of something here!” Natasha snapped.

“S-sorry ma’am…” Dillon said as she solemnly pointed at his computer, “I got locked out… Again…”

Taking this chance, Jason throws himself in the next aisle, though perhaps leaping into it wasn’t the best choice as it caused him to sprawl his body on the floor. 

--- 

‘Is it going to be like this for the rest of my life?’

---

One of the Water Cooler Boys once again slammed his whole self into the bathroom door. It did not budge and it only earned him a quick trip to the floor. He groaned in pain as Natasha found him and the small crowd trying to get into the bathroom.

“What is going on here!?” Natasha asked as she helped him up from the floor.

“I think the door’s locked or somethin!” he exclaimed as he rubbed his arm, “Is it out of order or something?”

Natasha looked at the unlabeled door for herself and saw no such sign on it. She gave it a half hearted push herself and found that it was completely locked. She gave a shrug, “I can go ask Motor what’s up, but ya’ll know there’s the other bathroom right?”

“But that’s the women’s bathroom!” he balked.

“... they’re both gender neutral,” Natasha plainly stated.

“Oh... right,” he conceded, the rest of the watercooler trio sighed and moved on to the next door as Natasha went to find Motor.

Though there was nothing out of order in there, unless one were to count a giant man huddling against the bathroom entrance that let out the biggest sigh of relief.

---

‘I- damn it, I just need to get used to…’

---

“Natasha!” Ellie yelped as she grabbed onto Natasha’s shoulder, causing her to shriek and spun back around to meet Ellie with a glare.

“Ellie I'm in the middle of something-” Natasha hissed, nearly being tipped over the boiling point as she was about to nonchalantly corner Jason in the front desk area.

“Sorry, uh,” Ellie bumbled, her eyes looking at the ceiling for a split second before snapping her fingers, “Youuuu have a meeting.” Another hand grabbed Natasha’s hand. “Right now.” Ellie re-affirmed.

Natasha found herself being pulled away from the archway entrance. She didn’t have any meetings today did she?

Nevertheless, Ellie pulled her away, trying to not look at the 10ft man who was doing his best to squeeze himself on the other side of the archway.

---

‘No this… this can’t work forever.’

---

“Jason, can I see you in my office…” Natasha lost her words as she entered his cubicle, noticing that his chair was flopped over on the ground and that the keyboard was missing a few keys.

“Please...?”

---

‘I can’t do this anymore.’

---

“Rough day huh?” Motor quipped, seeing that his janitorial closet had an unexpected invader in the form of Jason laying pathetically on the floor with a leg hoisted over a mop bucket. Not being the one to hold back a laugh, Motor chuckled as Jason angrily grasped the rag off the top of his head, and half heartily threw it at Motor as he awkwardly tried to ground himself.

“Piss off,” Jason grumbled, shaking as he held onto a broom for support and yelped as he slipped on the bucket’s edge. Thankfully this time he did manage to catch himself and wobbly made his way out of the closet. Feeling like he didn’t need help, Motor just stepped aside to let Jason stumble out of the supply closet. He watched as Jason pushed his glasses back up the ridge of his nose and made a sad attempt at brushing his hair into a better looking state. Though Motor didn’t bother suppressing a chuckle when Jason’s bangs didn’t cooperate and were still sticking sideways. He guessed that the office rat had been in there for a while.

That death glare Jason gave Motor didn’t shake him one bit, in-fact he took this as an invitation to chat. “Surprised you bothered to show up, ” Motor said as she leaned on the door’s edge, “Not gonna lie, you looked like shit after that fight.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Motor.” Jason said plainly with a huff as he tried to get away from him. Though it wasn’t going to be that easy as Motor cut him off with a single step.

“Oh come on,” Motor said while looming over Jason, “You can’t leave me hanging without any deets!”

Jason’s sleep deprived eyes stared up at him like a cat who’s been denied its personal space. His pupils darted around the break room, seeing as there was no one there to hear them.

Keeping his voice low, Jason muttered, “If you really must know, It was horrifically awful for the both of us and I’d rather forget any of it happened just like everyone else has…” He paused, glaring at Motor, “Except you.”

At this, Motor beamed with pride as he crossed his arms with a coy smile. “That’s ‘cause I didn’t let myself get brainwashed by the feds,” Motor explained, “They could inject all the memory wipe stuff they got but I thought ahead of time because I knew it was all gonna be covered up!”

The scrutinizing look in Jason’s eyes dropped into a blank stare. “What- what on earth are you talking about?” Jason asked.

“Oooohh now you want to talk about it?” Motor hardly acknowledged his question as he walked over to the vending machine and casually slid a few quarters into the coin slot.

“Motor, what do you mean ‘brainwashed by the feds’?!” Jason asked more urgently, his hands twitching as he followed him.

Motor mused to himself for a moment as he scratched his beard, even when you couldn’t get a good look at his eyes, he definitely wasn’t putting any attention on Jason becoming more frantic. “When me and Natasha left the building we got cornered by some cops,” Motor eventually answered when the soda can fell into the tray, “They blew us off when we told them what was happening and we ended up in some ambulances.”

Motor bent down to pull the can out of the slot, not saying anything else as he stood up and walked over to a lunch table. Jason seemed to not only have big power, but little patience as he kept prodding Motor.

“And?!” Jason asked, still trailing him as Motor sat down to enjoy his soda.

“I could smell a government cover up from a mile away,” Motor finally said as his finger pulled the ring, “I wasn’t gonna let anybody try to scramble my head,” Motor continued explaining noncallantly, “Couldn’t convince Natasha though, so she went with ‘em.”

In his peripheral vision, he could see Jason’s hands grow as they were planted on the table. “Calm down, Lover boy,” Motor said, “I kept my eye on her and didn’t see them inject her with anything.” Motor then jabbed a thumb into his own chest. “Me on the other hand,” Motor grumbled as he looked at Jason’s tie- then up to where his face actually was, “The shit they put in me gave me the worst hangover of my life, but I still got everything intact.”

Jason slapped himself on the forehead, “It’s great you’re fine Motor,” Jason sarcastically replied, “But what about Natasha!?”

Despite the taller man leaning over him angrily, Motor did not shudder or even give a reaction other than a sip of his drink. “Like I said,” Motor replied, “She’s got none of the signs of amnestic poisoning, she even ranted to me about it afterwards under the pretense of it being a ‘gas leak’.”

A strong breeze of Earl Grey blew his bangs up as Jason’s height shrunk back to the little office rat that he was. Jason’s hands were planted over his eyes until he yanked them away from his dumbstruck face. “How do you even know about that stuff!? No wait actually, how do you even remember everything if the dribble that you’re saying is true!?” Jason asked.

“Orange Juice.” Motor answered. 

“Or-orange juice?” Jason stuttered in disbelief.

“Yeah,” Motor nodded, “You can learn a lot from the deep web, and orange juice flushes that shit out of your system,” he said this with a proud smirk on his face, “Snagged a whole gallon of it from the cafeteria when we split up.”

“Oh so that’s what you were doing while I was being murdered, alright.” Jason hissed.

“HEY I took out the cams to cover for your big ass!” Motor exclaimed with indignance, “You’re welcome by the way.”

“Right…  right… ” Jason sighed, pushing himself away from the break table as he rubbed his glabella. “Thank you for that, and for helping Natasha. ” Jason said, turning away from the table, “Hopefully neither of us have to deal with anything like that ever again.”

Motor raised his head at this. “What are you talking about?” Motor asked, “We’ve got training to do because you can’t throw a punch for jack.”

“That’s not happening,” Jason said as he spun himself around with a glare, “I told you I'm not a hero, or whatever you think I am supposed to be!” The little man kept making excuses as Motor sat his empty can down. “Whatever happened at the mall was a mistake I’d rather forget!” Jason spat in anger, “I did nothing to help and only made things worse for everyone!”

While he was ranting, Motor slowly stood up and stared at Jason with a tilted head. He was unusually quiet as he stroked his bread, deep in thought.

“She was so scared and… And I don’t blame her for trying to forget about the monster that failed to protect her… ” Jason’s tone went more somber, “For her sake, it’s better I don’t feed into whatever curse I have.”

A very half-baked idea in Motor’s head made his lips curl into a devious grin.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” Motor said, “You saved her life by getting that thing’s attention.”

“I mean- I guess but-” Jason tried to argue but stopped when he realized Motor was staring him down.

“And didn’t it feel great playing the hero?” Motor continued as he leaned down to meet Jason’s face, “Admit it, you got your ass handed to you because you’d do anything for her.”

Seeing the tattle-tale sign of Jason’s face turning pink told Motor to back up a step as he witnessed Jason sprout in height so fast that his head nearly hit the plaster on the ceiling. Having to bend his head a little, Jason tried to back away from Motor, quaking as the man he now towered over kept approaching him. “You… you can’t be serious!” Jason sputtered in a state that was in the middle of annoyed and scared.

“Yeah, you can’t hide it big man!” Motor kept prodding with his smile only growing wider, “One of these days the cat is going to be let out the bag.” He watched as Jason continued to helplessly grow large enough that he fell over on his backside from trying to crouch. Despite the scene starting to spiral out of control, Motor walked in between Jason’s legs to keep eye contact. Motor gestured to Jason’s knees that were already getting taller than he was, “Look at yourself, you think you can avoid this forever?”.

“Stop talking!” Jason’s louder voice shouted, though he quickly corrected his volume, “You’re going to cause another bloody incident just-”

“No,” Motor said, prodding a finger in between Jason’s chest, “You are.”

[Image Description: Motor is pointing up at Jason, who is nearly outgrowing the break room and looks scared and angry at the same time. Motor is unafraid and calling him out. The break room has a few corporate posters and a soda vending machine.]

“Oh you- agh!” Jason tried to tell him off, but his head was starting to be pointed sideways from the ceiling pressing on him. So that gave Motor an opening to talk.

“You need my kaiju training, ” Motor said, “Otherwise you’re gonna slip up and not know how to handle yourself at the size of a building!” He then pointed his finger up at Jason’s large upset face. “Don’t you think it’s irresponsible to wield this much power and refuse to learn how to use it?” Motor asked rhetorically.

At this point, Jason’s growth slowed, though he certainly wasn’t comfortable being cramped by the breakroom’s walls. He was unintentionally looming over Motor, biting his lip as he desperately tried to hold back his rage. With another gust of tea laden breath, Jason tried to make an excuse to not go along with his destiny that people would kill to have.

“I-I don’t…” Jason mumbled, though it rang out at speaking volume.

“Besides, if you don’t accept my help I’ll just tell her everything.” Motor said this as if the moment it left his mouth he wouldn’t have Jason’s nose nearly touching the top of his head furiously.

“What happened to not being a snitch!?” Jason exclaimed as his hands curled up into fists and one of his legs knocked a chair over.

Motor, with all the care he ever had towards most things in life, smiled as he crossed his arms. “Only to people who I can respect,” he said as he stared right back at the giant eyes, “And the one who’d earned it was Natasha, not you.”

A well-sharpened chef’s knife would have trouble slicing though the tension in the air as the two men stared each other down. While Jason certainly had the height advantage to be potentially intimidating, Motor was unmoved by the sad attempt at posturing and stood his ground.

“You… you wouldn’t dare-” Jason growled, sort of. It was more akin to a harsh mumble than anything else.

“Keep being a walking fucking liability and see what happens,” Motor spoke out right, “I won’t tell the feds, but if you think you can put my friend in danger because you think you’re too good for my help…”

The giant’s mouth gawked, opened and closed like a dying fish. That glare that Jason had had slowly started to melt into a despondent gaze. He shook his head slightly before pulling away, as much as he could, from Motor. “Fine,” he conceded, “But if you try to make me something utterly stupid then the deal is off. ”

Motor grinned as if he was the cat that caught the canary. “Don’t you mean fun?” he said as he turned away from his ginormous coworker’s torso, “I’ll pick you up at 5 in the morning, wear something comfortable for a day out in the woods.” 

Jason said nothing to that, trying to curl in his limbs in an attempt to feel smaller than he actually was. He wasn’t even looking at Motor walking towards the break room door with a ‘Do Not Enter’ sign in hand.

“Relax ya big lump,” Motor commented as he turned his head one last time with a smile, “Me and you are going to have a great time...”

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE PRINTER!?” A distant voice shouted, leaving Jason to grit his teeth and draw himself further inward.