Smol Mi

It’s been storming for the past few days.

Not a thunderstorm, thankfully, but a winter storm. Not as loud aside from the wind, but those, of course, come with their own problems.

It’s been freezing outside. Your shared home has thankfully been kept very warm and comfortable. This only works, however, if the heating system is operational.

You don’t notice it at first, being asleep and all, but the power has just gone out. All of the appliances have shut off, meaning the heater has as well. Your room had been comfortably warm up to this point, but as you’re sleeping soundly in bed, over the next hour or so, the heat dissipates. The cold begins to seep in, and though the blankets you’re nestled under ward it off for a while, ultimately the room becomes cold enough to wake you up.

You open your eyes, feeling the cold beginning to seep through the covers, and immediately begin shivering. Huddling up under your blanket, you reach an arm out from beneath to turn your bedside lamp on, only to discover that it doesn’t work. You quickly piece together what happened, and try to conserve as much warmth as you can, thinking you might need to pay Drew or Erik another visit to keep warm through the night.

You wouldn’t have to make that decision to face the cold and make the trek upstairs, however. You hear the sounds of footsteps coming down the stairs, approaching your room, and then you hear a gentle knock at the door, followed by a soft voice.

“Are you awake?”

“Y-y-yeah,” you stutter, your body lightly shaking as the cold begins to overwhelm you.

“Oh, good! Can we come in?”

“M-mhm!”

You peek out from under the covers to see the huge shadowy shapes of Drew and Erik entering your room, both of them carrying blankets. Drew sets his blankets down before leaving the room, and you watch Erik begin to lay them out across the floor. It’s not long before Drew returns with more blankets, setting them down before leaving one last time. After returning with pillows, you’re starting to get an idea of what’s going on. They continue to work on their makeshift bed in the other corner of your room, testing the thickness of the blankets before nodding at each other.

You’re trembling in your bed at this point as the cold nips at you, but it’s not long before you watch Drew lay himself down on the bed. Before you can say anything, Erik approaches your bed, reaching his arms down to first pull your blanket away. When you protest, he speaks up with a gentle, reassuring tone.

“It’s okay, you’ll have it back soon, I promise.”

You nod shakily, immediately rubbing your arms as you’re now fully exposed to the cold. You watch Erik fold and drape your blanket over his shoulder before reaching down to gently scoop you up with your pillow. Instantly, you’re already feeling warmer in his arms, clinging tightly to his shirt and burying yourself against him to greedily soak in the heat. Erik chuckles as he stands back up, carrying you with him over to the bed, where Drew has already made himself comfortable.

You watch him yawn, feeling slightly guilty about this being so much of a problem, but he watches his brother approach and offers you a warm smile. You smile back, happy to see him too. He speaks up as Erik closes in, watching his brother carefully kneel down with you, cradling you like something infinitely precious in his arms.

“We don’t know how long the power’s gonna be out, but we’ll make sure you stay warm, alright?”

You glance around in the dark as Erik pulls you away from himself. You begin to shiver again until he sets you down on the spread of blankets next to Drew, who immediately pulls you in close to himself with his arms, enveloping you within them to tuck you against his chest. You snuggle yourself against him, shuddering as his warmth begins to surround you. He begins rubbing one of his hands firmly over your back to try and massage some of that much needed warmth directly into you.

Erik then settles himself down as well, and you turn yourself over in Drew’s arms to watch him make himself comfortable on the other side. Everywhere you look now, your view is taken up by both of them entirely, and you feel your face flushing a deep shade of red. Erik smiles softly at you, reaching up to pull your blanket off of his shoulder and lower it down to you. You eagerly take it from his hand, bundling yourself up to conserve the warmth Drew has given you.

“You nice and warm, now?” Drew asks, and you feel yourself melting under how warm and gentle his tone is, nestling against his chest to feel the comforting vibrations.

You nod your head in response, already feeling much more comfortable thanks to their efforts. You still have yet to see the full extent of their plan, but it’s not much longer before they make it known to you.

Drew pulls you back in against him, tucking you nice and close. Your back is pressed gently, but firmly against his chest as he takes in and releases a content sigh, and something about the way holding you affects them so much has you feeling a warm flutter in your chest. You then watch as Erik scoots himself closer, slowly, carefully, until you find your face making contact with his chest. He gently presses himself against you until your face is firmly, but comfortably nestled against him.

And just like that, you’re snugly sandwiched right between the two mini-giants. Your small body is entirely surrounded, supported, and enveloped by them on all sides, shrouded in darkness and cocooned in warmth.

Now that your position is secure, Erik reaches down to pull a blanket atop the three of you, and Drew makes sure your blanket is properly tucked onto you. The air around you begins to warm, losing the bitter chill it held previously as the heat builds up. Their presence around you is all-encompassing, but they take care to make sure you’re not being squeezed too tightly or suffocated between them. You can still breathe comfortably as they let air filter in beneath the blanket, and it helps keep you from overheating.

“How’s this? Are you comfortable?” Erik asks, his voice low and soft as they keep you so close between them.

All you can really do at the moment is try and process what’s happening. You keep your arms tucked in close, feeling overwhelmed, but also very happy with the direction the night has taken. As the question lingers, you snuggle in and take a moment to just listen and feel the two of them. Their breathing, their heartbeats, the way they both make sure you’re properly cuddled up and feeling safe and warm… it all slowly begins to make you melt.

You’re in a state of warm bliss. Being snuggled up between these two giant beings like this has you feeling significant and special, and it is so very evident just how much they care about you. You nod and mumble out a soft ‘yes,’ nuzzling your face against Erik’s shirt in the process, a gesture they’ve grown to understand. They both quietly chuckle in response, and Erik speaks up softly to Drew.

“Told you this would work.”

Drew sighs and holds you a little tighter.

“Mhm, you were right. This is nice.”

Erik brings one arm to rest down over you as he quietly chuckles again, his hand resting on your shoulder as his thumb softly strokes you. It’s that gentle touch he offers that finally finds you completely melting in their hold, taking in a deep breath and letting it out in a heavy, content sigh. You thought being under their sweaters or snuggled up with them in their beds was so incredibly close to them? Not even a competition compared to this.

You find yourself smiling as you settle in, nestling up between the two of them and sighing again. You then hear Drew taking in a deep breath as well, nestling into him again as his chest expands against you briefly. He then slowly exhales with a quiet hum, and if it weren’t completely dark beneath the blanket, you know you would be seeing a smile on both of their faces too.

You are wonderfully cozy as you lay here, any memory of being cold overwritten by the immense warmth surrounding you. Despite the two of them doing this to help you conserve warmth specifically, you also feel absolutely protected and hidden away by them. Nothing can touch you right now, if anyone else walked into the room, they would have no idea that you’re tucked away in such a manner.

It doesn’t take long for you to feel sleepy again, and you yawn as you focus on Erik’s thumb brushing across you so softly, as well as Drew’s gentle hold on you in his arms. You laugh quietly as you hear Erik yawn in response, followed shortly after by Drew, and both of them chuckle as you yawn again.

“You get yourself some sleep, short stuff. We’ve got you,” Drew croons softly, the rumble in his chest that you’re pressed so tightly to vibrating through you comfortingly.

“We won’t let the cold get you, promise,” Erik reassures, and you once more nuzzle your face against his chest in response.

“Thank you,” you softly mumble, closing your eyes and taking in one last deep breath. You release it slowly, letting yourself relax in their hold and focusing on what you can hear and feel around you.

Their slow, gentle breathing is a constant reminder that they are two huge, living beings lovingly sharing their warmth with you in the coziest way you’ve experienced thus far. You can feel Drew’s heart beating in his chest behind you, and you press your ear to Erik’s chest to listen to his. Both are slow and soothing, and as they too settle in to fall asleep, they almost sync up perfectly. Erik continues to softly stroke you, Drew gives you the gentlest squeeze, and as they offer their comforts to you, you accept them eagerly as they assist you in drifting off.

I'm just so excited about this arc rn!

This last chapter as been rotating in the back of my head for years. Seriously. Just the concept of: I need Isabell to leave and come back to sort her own mental state about this dynamic. Because I keep trying to put her in cute situations, and she keeps derailing me by engaging in the horrors. So, that needed to be sorted, (more on this soon.)

Then, the other thing that I wanted from the chapter was that I wanted Zeke to be... pretty upset about it. Having him do a heartfelt reunion didn't sit well with me. Narratively, it was not the most exciting choice, and the more I've learned about his character over the years... he just wouldn't. Not under these circumstances at least.

So, I wanted to explore how he would process something like this. Because he's ... him. He's developed over the years so I'm not exactly sure if this reads... uh consistently (the problem of taking 10 years to write a story) but my philosophy for his... philosophy... is that: If someone would say something with a sentence, Zeke's going to say it in a word. If someone would say it in a word, Zeke would just give you a look about it.

One thing about him that I just think about all the time is, how his care risks being nearly invisible, just because it looks effortless. With Isabell, he's been doing it since day one, so he can come across as "just like that" ... He isn't. He's choosing to do all that.

Zeke hasn't experienced seeing a tiny before, he doesn't have some built-in understanding of the situation... but he's empathetic, and he's super observant. That's how he loves. He notices. So, he sees Isabell's fear, what makes her uncomfortable, and he accommodates accordingly. He's thinking things through, he's problem solving constantly.

Which I think is why he's so hurt in this chapter and in what's to come. He's spent so much time carefully considering her and her perspective and how things will affect her... trying to become safe or her... that the idea that she didn't see any of that effort (or she did and just didn't care) is pretty challenging for him. He doesn't know how to navigate being hurt with Isabell quite yet.

He doesn't know how to express himself without being overwhelming to her. How can he be mad without her perceiving him as a threat? He doesn't have that trust, so he's just pulling back.

And we'll get into it in the next chapter, but yeah sure he might be being a tiiiiny bit vindictive, because it's like "you left? you want space? fine take your space, have it."

But it's mostly, "I was so scared and you're going to show up on a random Tuesday and pretend nothing happened?? I don't think so."

Zeke is quick, he's sarcastic, he can absolutely cut people with his words... But he will remove himself before he hurts Isabell with any of that. He's just so contained, because he feels he has to be.

I think this whole arc is really going to allow Zeke to stop policing himself so harshly and to be more vibrantly himself. Which just opens the door to a ton of character discoveries I haven't even made yet!!! Like, obviously, he's not an entirely different person, but he's definitely been operating through a consistent level of restraint.

Conversely, Marcus loves fast, he loves big, and he loves LOUD. He wears his emotions right on his face. He's going to act before he thinks, it's just who he is. When Isabell came into the picture, he just didn't really see that he was scary. It wasn't a consideration to him, meanwhile Zeke was only thinking about how scary they must be from her perspective.

To Marcus, he's like "I'm just me." He's not trying to scare her, so why would she be scared? He isn't trying to hurt her, so no one should worry about it. He's a big ole golden retriever and he has good intentions. I love him so much he is literally so fun.

Then the two of them together... These two are my earliest OCs so I have such a soft spot for them if you can't tell

Even though Marcus and Zeke are so opposite, they have the best friendship. I love that Marcus just gets him. He doesn't need to be shown or told what Zeke is thinking, most of the time he just already knows. And if he doesn't know, he'll just straight up ask.

And I think Zeke just genuinely needs that. Because despite all of Zeke's observational prowess, he's pretty shit at navigating like ... ~interpersonal ambiguity.~ So, put him in a situation where someone is obviously upset, but says that nothing's wrong he's like... hm. an unsolvable puzzle.

That's how he approaches things. He tries to fix. He tries to solve, all of the things... with backups, all internally before acting. He is so used to stepping back, that he often forgets that he is like, an active player in the game almost?

Marcus can tell when Zeke is just being quiet, or when Zeke is being quiet... but in an upset way. Marcus just naturally charges in, says the quiet part out loud. Now, Zeke has something to respond to, rather than sorting through a hundred possible hypotheticals.

Who they are individually, works really well for them together. They both know exactly how to push each others buttons, they fill each others blind spots.

I hope that reads throughout the story... I might spend more time thinking about their dynamic than I do writing about it. haha!

Okay, back to Isabell.

Up until now the dynamic with her and the lads has been very... caretaker to patient, right? Even if the lads weren't exactly thinking of it that way, Isabell definitely was. She is there because she has to be. They are tentatively building trust, and Isabell is learning that big can also be safe, and all of that. But, for their relationship to actually progress any further the power dynamic needs to ... chill out.

Yes, there is just inherently going to be a power dynamic at play. But right now, Isabell still sees the lads as other. Like the scale of them has them operating in a space that is well, I mean, frankly a little dehumanizing... but from the opposite perspective?

I think a really common theme is the struggle for for the tiny to be viewed as a person, that their size doesn't invalidate their humanity, right? And that theme is absolutely present here, but I think there is also the element of... well that works both ways.

Until now, she has been viewing the lads as... too big to be affected by her. It's a very self-minded train of thought, but given her background it's totally valid.

But now, we are back on our (literal) own two feet. And I think that realization that they can be hurt and she can be the one to hurt them is going to like... force their dynamic onto a more even playing field.

Then, we can have some actual relationship building, without the baggage of like, "I'm taking care of you because you're helpless." Or, "I am reacting to everything with the main goal of self preservation because you are inherently a threat to me." And no one is expressly wrong. It's just they're just people. They're taking justified feelings and... makin messes.

Isabell is justified in leaving, she just handled it poorly.

Zeke's hurt is justified he's just handling it poorly.

Marcus... well. He's just chillin. He's fine.

But anyway. They're doin their best and I love them. I think this is the sort of stuff I just really enjoy writing. Characters in situations lmao

“Hey, can I talk to you for a second?”

You find yourself startled awake, glancing over your shoulder at your friend, Devon. He looks nervous, and you have no idea why, but you sit up and rub your eyes before nodding.

“Sure… is everything okay?” you ask with a yawn.

He looks away, his hand rubbing the back of his neck before running through his short, dark brown hair.

“It’s… complicated, but I’m not mad at you or anything. I just need to tell you about something.”

“Something like…?”

“Like a secret I’ve been keeping, I can’t keep hiding this from you. You deserve to know.”

You look at him warily, and he sighs anxiously.

“It’s okay, I just need you to promise me you won’t get scared. I’m not about to tell you I’m like a serial killer or something like that, but it’s, ah... still a bit crazy,” he says with a nervous laugh.

“And we have to do this now? It’s one in the morning…”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can sleep until I tell you.”

He gestures for you to follow him, and you do so, rising from the couch you were sleeping on groggily, curiosity and anxiety both tugging at you. He leads you into the garage, a spacious room with no vehicles occupying it, and turns the lights on. He takes a few steps toward you and gently places his hands on your shoulders, and you can’t help but stare into his eyes. It’s obvious just how anxious he is, and it’s mirrored in your own eyes.

“Okay. You trust me, right?”

“Well yeah, but you’re not making a lot of sense right now.”

“I know, I’m just… worried you might see me differently after this, or that you’re not gonna want to be around me.”

“You’re acting really weird, are you sure you’re okay?”

“I…. I will be after this, I think. I hope.”

“Okay, can you please just tell me what’s going on?”

“Right, yeah. So, I’m not really sure how this happened, but I can… change my size. Like, I can grow.”

You blink at him. You feel a jolt of excitement in your chest at the idea, trying not to outwardly express it.

“…Show me.”

He raises his brows at you.

“You’re not gonna scream or run away and hide?”

“I honestly don’t know, just show me.”

He takes a deep breath, his eyes watching you carefully. Lifting his hands from your shoulders, he backs away a couple of steps and gives you one last ‘are you sure?’ look. You nod softly, and he nods in return before he slowly increases in size a few inches. You jump as you watch him grow taller right before your eyes, clutching your hands close to you as you try to process what you’re seeing.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you,” he quickly says as he stops, his hands raised. He sounds panicked, but you shake your head, you know this already. You’re not afraid, you’re astonished.

“H-How long have you been able to-”

“I don’t know, but it’s been a few months since I found out.”

You pause and blink at him a few times.

“…Can you grow any more?”

He looks at you incredulously, like he can’t understand why you’re so calm about this.

“This doesn’t freak you out?” he asks, gesturing at himself with his hands.

You shake your head, unable to take your eyes off of him. He grows another few inches to answer your question, and you find yourself in awe as you look up at him. You were already short compared to him, but this is something else entirely. Lost in the utter absurdity of what you’re witnessing, you don’t realize that your face has turned a deep shade of red.

His eyes soften when he sees you flushing, and he smiles warmly in response, any confusion or worry simply melting away. You finally catch yourself staring and look away from him, at the ground, and nervously wring your hands. Your heart begins racing as he then takes a few steps closer until you’re only a couple of feet apart. He reaches down with a hand that’s now quite big, gently tilting your chin up to look at him. You notice him grow a bit more, feeling his hand increase in size and watching him become even taller.

There’s a soft, yet somewhat playful glint in his eyes as he watches you, having not expected this sort of reaction from you at all.

“What’s got you so flustered? I was so worried that you’d be afraid of me after this, but you only seem more shy now. Is this… do you like this?”

You stare into his eyes briefly before looking away, suddenly feeling like you’ve been caught doing something wrong. Your cheeks turn a deeper shade of red as he’s effectively got you cornered, yet you know that he would still let you pull away if you needed to.

“I-I… d-do you like it…?” you ask in an attempt at redirection, not wanting to admit it.

He smiles softly, chuckling warmly as he grows another few inches, now standing at eight feet tall, looking down at you with an expression of adoration toward you that makes you feel weak in the knees.

“I do now.”

You already knew you liked him, but for some reason you can’t explain, him being able to grow in size immensely increases the intensity of your crush on him. You realize now, too, that he’s either just found out about your crush, or he’s known for a while now. At this point, you suspect it’s the latter.

He watches you fidget nervously, his thumb reaching up to softly brush over the side of your face.

“Hey, it’s okay. Do you want me to grow more?” he asks, his tone now soothing and comforting. He’s clearly much more relaxed about this ordeal now than he was at first, and he doesn’t seem to be judging you about this.

You sheepishly nod your head, your breathing quickening as you feel him pull away and step back before watching him sit on the ground cross-legged. 

He begins to increase in size again, taking up more space in the garage until his head nearly bumps the ceiling. He then stops and watches your reaction, but all you can do is meekly stare at him, wanting to get closer but too shy to initiate anything. He seems to take notice.

“It’s okay, you can come here,” he calmly encourages.

He slowly uses one hand to beckon you over, waiting until you’re close enough before reaching both hands under your arms and lifting you up, bringing you closer and setting you down in his lap, facing sideways.

The moment you’re sat in his lap, you feel his presence all around you as you’re held in his arms, with one of them resting behind your back for support and looping around to hold your legs so they’re folded in, curling you against him. Feeling his warmth surround you causes you to shudder and flush, and you notice his head tilted down, watching you closely with his deep brown eyes that you can now see so much more detail in.

The moment you make eye contact, you look away, finding it incredibly difficult to keep a small little smile off of your face as he’s holding you. You tilt your head down to try and hide it, but it quickly becomes obvious that he’s seen it anyway.

“Oh, you like this a lot, don’t you?” he gently teases, but his voice also holds genuine undertones, and a strong sense of relief.

Knowing you’ve definitely been found out, you lightly nod your head, sharply inhaling when he gives you the softest squeeze inward before slowly exhaling. Even if you are shy and flustered, you’re still enjoying this immensely. You feel yourself briefly pressed tight against his chest, your hands now finding out just how much definition his abdomen has through his shirt as you place them on him reflexively. You freeze up, finding all of this a lot to process as he relaxes his arms and gives you back a little room in his lap.

“I’m glad you’re not afraid. Admittedly, I’ve known you’ve liked me for a while, but I wanted to wait until I knew whether or not you were going to be afraid of me like this first before I said or did anything.”

You feel a sinking feeling in your chest as you realize it was clearly more obvious than you thought it was, and you find yourself sitting a bit stiffly in his lap. He leans down after a moment to check on you. 

“Are you okay?”

You feel him gently brush against your arm, leaning just slightly into his soft touch as you look up at him. Seeing the warmth in his eyes, the way he smiles at you sweetly, you find yourself melting just a little. You nod softly, though your hesitance is still written all over your face. He reaches up to hold the side of your face in his hand, his thumb rubbing over your cheek.

“Still feeling a bit shy about all of this?”

You nod your head again, fidgeting with your hands before he gently grasps them both in his other hand.

“You don’t have anything to be ashamed of or embarrassed about. If I haven’t made it clear enough, I like you too, and I’m actually really glad you like this new part of me that I’m still trying to figure out.”

You feel your heart flutter when he confirms that your feelings are mutual, and you feel a wave of relief now that the scary part of having these feelings for him is over. You still fidget anxiously, however, as this has now instead left you feeling a little overwhelmed. He takes notice, humming in thought for a moment before speaking up.

“I’m gonna re-situate you a bit here, are you alright with that?” 

Once more, you nod your head, feeling both excitement and nervousness as you think about what he might possibly do next. He pulls both hands away from behind you, and you watch and feel him reach them under your arms. With the same amount of care as before, he carefully lifts you up, rotating you to face away from him before setting you back down in his lap. You feel your back brushing against him, flushing immediately.

“Doing okay so far?”

You jump, not having expected to hear and feel his voice rumbling behind you. You feel him chuckle softly, but he sounds more sympathetic this time.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to spook you. I haven’t been too loud, have I?”

After taking a moment to acclimate to it, you shake your head. You can feel the heat of his body directly behind you, his torso a looming presence as you glance around, unsure of his next move. 

It’s not long before you find out, seeing his arms reach in to loosely wrap around you. You place your tiny hands on one of his forearms, and he places his hand over and strokes his thumb across them. 

After a few moments of still sitting a bit stiffly, he begins to slowly squeeze you closer to him. You can feel his abdomen pressing up behind you, and you’re now acutely aware of his breathing as he tucks you in close.

If you weren’t already flustered enough at this point, you certainly are now. You try to relax a little, but instead you only tense up more as you begin to cling to him. You wonder if some small part of you is worried that this will all go away if you let go.

“Hey.”

You feel him rumble behind you, tilting your head back to look up at him.

“Are you sure everything is alright? You’re holding on pretty tight there.”

You look back down, seeing his thumb still rubbing the backs of your hands. The affectionate gesture, his arms holding you to him and keeping you warm, it’s all still so new to you.

“I-I’m sorry, I’ve just… never been close to someone like this before.”

You feel him hum an ‘aww’ sound briefly behind you, feeling it vibrate through you into your very core.

“I understand. You don’t need to apologize, this is new to me, too. I mean, I’ve held people before, but I’ve never been big while I’m holding someone.”

You feel him lean over you, his shadow looming and all encompassing. He speaks to you just above a whisper, a hint of his voice still present and rumbling through you as his chest presses against you.

“Would it help if I told you I really like holding you like this?”

The wave of warmth rushing through your chest as he speaks those words to you so softly, along with the chills that run down your spine, is like nothing you’ve ever felt before. Knowing that he’s enjoying this helps you feel less shy about it, and you finally begin to slowly relax in his hold. 

You release your grip on him, letting go of your worries as you trust him to hold you and not let go, and as you hoped, his hold on you does tighten just enough to account for it. You release any lingering tension in your muscles until you fall limp, hearing him chuckle as he makes sure you won’t slump too much.

“Comfortable?”

“Mhm…”

“Good.”

Once he’s confident in his hold of you, he raises a hand to the side of your face. You feel a wave of warmth as he brings it in, resting it over your cheek, but really it encompasses the entire side of your head. He begins to softly stroke your temple with his thumb, a display of affection that finds you closing your eyes in response.

Feeling your head resting in his hand, you’re lulled into a state of deep calm as he holds you. You can feel his heartbeat behind you, it’s so soothing, what could go wrong if you just closed your eyes for a second…

.

.

.

…You aren’t even aware that you’ve dozed off until you feel the gentlest of shaking, jolting awake once more and looking around in a brief moment of confusion. 

“Easy, it’s alright, you just fell asleep,” he chuckled.

Realizing now what’d just happened, your face turns beet red, feeling both embarrassed and self-conscious that you’d just fallen asleep in his lap like that. He doesn’t seem to mind, however.

“Hey, it’s alright. I would have let you sleep more, but my back would kill me if I sat like this all night.”

“How… How long was I out?”

“About twenty minutes.”

“Oh, I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“

“Shh, it’s okay, I promise. If it were a problem, I wouldn’t have let it happen in the first place. It was actually really cute, if I’m being honest.”

You still find yourself feeling embarrassed about it, but he once more strokes the side of your face before tilting your chin up. Even though his face is upside down to you, you can still see the warmth and care in his eyes.

“It really is okay. In fact… If you’re comfortable enough with me being this big to fall asleep in my lap, how do you feel about me being even bigger?”

You feel a shiver run down your spine as he proposes such an idea, looking up to see him watching you warmly. Just how big could he get? You don’t know, but it’s clear he hasn’t shown you the full extent of his ability to grow yet. You nod your head softly, seeing him smile as he approves of your response. 

You can’t help but feel a little disappointed as he carefully lifts you from his lap and sets you on the ground, shifting in size back down until he’s his normal height and standing to his feet.

“Okay, I’m gonna grab something for you real quick, then we’re gonna go outside to the hills.”

“Wait, outside?”

“Yeah, I can’t really fit in here if I grow bigger than I just was.”

“Okay, but… Sleeping outside?”

“It’ll be fine, I’ll keep you safe and warm, I promise.”

You flush deeply as you think about what that could feel like as you watch him step back into his place from the garage entrance. Moments later, he comes back out carrying a pillow and blanket in his arms. After making it back to you, he holds them out toward you, and you awkwardly grab hold of them in your own arms. You realize quickly that they aren’t yours, briefly confused until you notice that they pleasantly smell like him. 

“There, that should be plenty warm for the night. Let’s go,” he said, heading toward the exit into his backyard from behind the garage. 

Stepping through the back door, you’re met with a small fenced area, but he exits through the fence gate and begins to wander into the fields behind his home.

He approaches a sizable hill, motioning for you to follow him as you carefully try to carry his pillow and blanket without dropping either. He pauses at the base of the hill, nodding in approval. 

“This should do nicely. I’m going to get a bit bigger than I was before, just let me know if you start getting scared and I’ll stop.”

You nod your head, watching him begin to slowly grow until he reaches 10 feet before sitting himself down in the grass. He then continues to grow, surpassing 17 feet before pausing to check on you.

“Is this too much?”

You softly shake your head.

All you can do is watch in awe as Devon continues to grow, his body taking up more and more space until he reaches 22 feet, then stops, looking very comfortable at his current size. He then turns his head to look at you, lifting his arm and motioning for you to approach him. 

You realize almost immediately that this was much easier when he was in charge, picking you up and putting you down where he wanted. Now, you have to convince your muscles to move when you’re still trying to take in just how big and cozy he looks. He makes it worse by patting his abdomen invitingly, making it clear where he wants you settled. You’re already struggling to keep your knees straight as they threaten to go weak, and Devon speaks up, his voice a bit louder now, but still soft and gentle. 

“Come here, I want to hold you again.”

Hearing him confirm that he isn’t simply humoring you, a concern that annoyingly won’t go away, gives you a slight boost in confidence.

It’s enough to get you to slowly wander up to his side, at the very least. This close, the difference in size hits you even harder, and you pause in place as you stare up at him, seeing him watch you with warmth in his eyes. You flinch just slightly as he reaches down, gently taking the pillow and blanket from your arms with careful fingers that are now much, much bigger than even in the garage. Feeling someone so massive take something from you so delicately is difficult to wrap your head around, but he smiles as he lifts his hand from you, placing the bedding into his other hand before lowering his arm down by his side on the ground next to you. 

After he’s made it clear that you have to climb up onto him yourself, you step forward and place your tiny, slightly shaky hands on the side of his forearm. You kick off your shoes and take a deep breath before using it to brace yourself as you slowly, awkwardly start to climb your way up. 

Crawling over his arm, his skin, is an experience you never thought you would be living right now, but here you are, stumbling slightly as you feel him tense up beneath you reflexively. You reach out and grab onto his shirt to steady yourself before continuing upward, climbing up and onto his abdomen with relative ease. Once you’re up, you turn to look and see him smiling softly.

“There we are. Go ahead, make yourself comfortable.”

You jump as you feel his voice beneath you, and that’s the moment it sinks in that you are completely on top of him now, your weight supported by him entirely, with solid ground being a few feet below you. You look around with slightly wide eyes as you try to take it all in, and grab onto his shirt with a slight jolt after his abdomen raises below you, realizing that you can feel his breathing beneath you as well as his speech. You feel it raise and lower you slightly, feeling your face flush as you realize just how close, personal and intimate this situation is, much different from sitting in his lap earlier. Here, he’s supporting your entire body atop him with ease, and you can tell just how muscular he is beneath the shirt you’re now laying on. You glance up, both hearing and feeling him chuckle beneath you as you sit and process, his hands coming up to rest beside you.

You shift yourself a bit until you find a position that’s a little more stable, your breath hitching as you feel the warm, living surface beneath you twitch in response to your movements. Everything he does now just feels much more massive in scale, and you find yourself sitting rigid, your face a very deep shade of red, as you try to keep your composure.

Devon catches this, and reaches over to gently tilt your chin up toward him. He wears a warm smile as he regards you comfortingly, his thumb brushing across your cheek.

“Don’t be shy, you can relax. It’s okay.”

He releases your chin as he carefully reaches his arms up to loosely encircle you, and you watch them hover nearby, waiting patiently. You adjust yourself into a position where you’re half laying down, still trying to get used to the fact that you’re resting on such an incredibly massive being. Movement is slightly unsteady, but you finally find a position you’re comfortable with. Laying down almost on your back, you use your elbows to keep yourself supported, resting quite stiffly. You don’t know why you’re still so shy despite Devon clearly giving you all indications that he wants this too.

“All the way, little one,” he croons, reaching his hand over to gently stroke down the side of your face with the backs of his fingers.

Those words, followed by that motion, cause you to release all of the tension in your muscles as you slowly melt, and his hand follows you as you finally lower yourself down the rest of the way. Leaning back entirely against him, you take in a deep breath, slowly letting it out as any apprehension left fades away. You even go so far as to snuggle in, wriggling your upper back and shoulders against him until you’re perfectly comfortable.

“That’s it, settle yourself in. I’ve got you,” he reassures. You can hear the beaming grin on his face through his voice as he reaches down, slowly placing his arms across you and pulling you in.

With his arms wrapped gently yet firmly around you, you’re not going anywhere, and you’re not upset about it one bit. Feeling a bit more confident, you decide to try and get a conversation going.

“S-So, you said this started a few months ago, right?”

“Mhm. I really don’t know what caused it, but I felt something… awaken in me, I guess? I really don’t know how else to put it. I’ve messed around with it a little, but I don’t know exactly how big I can get, and I haven’t been too interested in finding out, since I don’t want to hurt or scare anyone.”

You give his forearm a squeeze with your hands, an attempt to offer him comfort.

“Well, I’m not scared.”

You look up at him, giving him a smile as he looks back down at you. He smiles softly in return.

“Then I guess I have someone to experiment with this around now, don’t I?”

You feel yourself shudder under the tone of his voice. It’s teasing, but also incredibly enticing. He knows you like seeing him grow now, and as you flush deeply again, it’s obvious he’s learning exactly how to fluster you and taking full advantage of that knowledge.

He chuckles beneath you as you hide your face beneath your hands, and you know he’s pleased that his attempts are working. As if teasing you even more, he grows a couple more feet around and beneath you, now at 25. His forearms get just a smidge bigger as they gently squeeze in, holding you to him very securely.

“Hmm, look at how small you are, now… almost small enough to fit in my hands,” he says, clearly not done learning what your limits to this might be.

The thought of only his hands holding you has you swooning, and you suddenly feel yourself going weak at the thought. You feel him hum pleasantly beneath you.

“Mmm, you like that idea?”

You nod your head, and he moves one of his arms to bring his hand in, brushing his thumb against your cheek as he smiles down at you.

“How about we try that tomorrow, then, hm? I’d do it now, but I’m already comfortable, and I’m enjoying holding you like this.”

You nod again, his gentle touch relaxing you further as you snuggle in against him. You finally feel exhaustion creeping in, the adrenaline starting to wear off from the initial shock of Devon’s size shifting reveal. You yawn as you pull your arms back in toward yourself, trusting him to keep you secure.

He carefully tilts your head up toward him, smiling as he sees how tired your eyes are, as if he’s been waiting for this moment specifically.

“Are you getting sleepy again?”

You nod your head, yawning again as you lean into his hand.

“Let’s get you all tucked in, then.”

You turn your head to stare up at him with concern.

“Wait, isn’t the ground uncomfortable to sleep on, though?”

You watch him shrug.

“Eh, it could be worse, I've done it before. Honestly, though, getting to sleep out here like this with you is worth a little back pain tomorrow,” he says with a smile.

You still don’t feel totally satisfied with his answer, but you’re too tired to argue any further. You yawn once more and rub your eyes, trying not to pass out right then. You hear a deep sigh, and you can feel the anticipation he’s had for this moment.

“Is it alright if I make myself bigger?” he asks warmly. 

You nod your head, thinking that he probably means a few more feet. Instead, you feel him shifting beneath you as he grows until he’s reached a staggering 40 feet. You feel tiny now as you lay atop him, glancing around in shock and mild apprehension as you realize just how vast he is beneath you.

“Come here,” he croons, his voice rumbling beneath you in a soft, loving tone.

You look up just in time to see his huge hands approaching, feeling a rush of anxiety and adrenaline in your chest. You glance around quickly, feeling significantly overwhelmed at this point. You felt confident when you told him you weren’t scared of him, but you didn’t expect him to get this big, and you can’t help but feel just a smidge frightened. 

You squeak as you begin to back away from his hands, only to find your efforts immediately thwarted as he moves one hand behind you, blocking you. You lean to the side to try to escape, but he’s quicker than you are, blocking you on both sides and closing his hands in. 

His thumb brushes against your shoulder as you give up, clinging tightly to his shirt and trembling. You jolt with a quiet whimper under his touch, and you hear a hum of concern.

“Oh no, easy, easy…” he murmurs softly. “Shh, shh, shh, shh. It’s okay, sweetheart, you’re safe.”

You feel his voice softly rumble beneath you, hearing care and comfort in his tone as he tries to quell your fears.

“Do I need to shrink back down a bit?”

You slowly shake your head, his offer to shrink comforting you, a confirmation that you feeling safe and comfortable are still his top priorities. You may be afraid, but you also want to push through this. You take a few deep breaths as you try to ground yourself. He won’t hurt you, you know this, so what is there to be afraid of? 

You shiver as a gust of wind breezes through, instinctively huddling closer against him. You hear another soft ‘aww’ from him, and then feel warmth around you. You lift your head to see his hands cupped around you, blocking the breeze from hitting you.

You look up at him, and he watches you with a smile. Any fears you had simply melt away as with that small gesture, he manages to wordlessly calm you down. You smile back after a moment as you adjust to his new size.

“May I pick you up?”

You nod your head, watching as his hands close in around you. With the utmost care and precision, he softly scoops you up off of his stomach using both hands and lifts you up. You cling tightly to his thumb as he brings you up to his chest, letting go only after he sets you back down. His hands pull away, and you look up to see him watching you fondly.

“How do you feel sleeping here?”

He holds up his blanket and pillow in his hand, and you nod your head, knowing that this means putting all of your trust in him. He smiles as he reaches his hand in, focusing closely on his movements now that his hands are much bigger to you. He uses his fingers to stroke down your back, gently coaxing you into laying down on his chest.

“It’s alright, darling, you can relax. I’ve got you.”

He reassures you once more, as he has been the entire night. Always checking on you or encouraging you closer, it’s very obvious that he cares about your perception of him at this size immensely, and you suspect he was bracing for a much more negative reaction to all of this. With the way his huge fingers are still so delicate in their movements, you begin to slowly relax on his chest, curling up and tucking your arms in. 

He offers you the pillow first, and you take it from him to rest it beneath your head, adjusting it until you find the best position for it to go. He then drapes the blanket over you, and you take a deep breath as you snuggle inward under it and on his chest. You then feel the weight of both of his hands resting over you, holding you close and making sure you’re warm, and that you feel safe with him. The gentle pressure is enough for you to feel his heart beating in his chest directly beneath you, lulling you into an even deeper state of calmness.

“So, what do you think?” he asks quietly, and you shudder as you feel the deep vibrations in his chest rumbling through your entire body, chills running down your spine. You feel his thumb rubbing your shoulder, soothing you further.

You think about everything that’s happened tonight. You were initially annoyed that he’d woken you up so late at night, but that annoyance quickly faded into wonder as Devon revealed his secret to you. After discovering that you like this secret, he’s wasted no time in taking the opportunity to hold you, to wrap you up in his arms and cuddle you close to him. He was quick to comfort you in your moment of fear, solidifying your trust and strengthening the quickly growing bond between the two of you.

“I… I really like this,” you whisper meekly, clinging to his shirt once more as you relax under his gentle stroking. You feel a soft hum of satisfaction beneath you, and you curl yourself further inward.

“I do too. Since this happened, I’ve been hoping that someday I could hold you like this, that you would feel safe around me, and here we are. Thank you for trusting me with this, it means a lot to me.”

His voice is so calm, so soothing, so warm. Combined with his hands holding you close, his heart beating beneath you, and the gentle warmth enveloping you from all sides, you’re struggling to stay awake in such an environment. You yawn softly, your eyes closing as you begin to let sleep take you.

“Mmm… is there anything I can do to make you feel more comfortable, little one?”

“Mm-mm…” you quietly mumble, shaking your head. You’re already feeling nice and cozy after being lovingly tucked in on his chest. You don’t know if it’s even possible for you to be more comfortable than you are right now.

“Then sleep well, darling. I’ll be right here if you need me,” he whispers, continuing to stroke your shoulder as you’re slowly drifting off.

Focusing on the feeling of his breathing and heartbeat beneath you, both a bit slower with his size increase, you’re soon lulled to sleep, excited about what the morning might bring, wondering what it will be like to see him grow even bigger…

…

She can’t focus. This is pointless.

She would much rather just be closer to the humans than sit worrying about if they’re staring at her from a distance. She can’t stand it any longer. She turns. They’re not even looking at her, of course they aren’t, it was an irrational thought. She waves, and Zeke’s eyes flick down to her. He leans in to see what she needs.

“Can I just sit with you?” She asks quickly, before she can talk herself out of it. This gets Marcus’ attention too.

“Of course,” Marcus says. Zeke nods, and begins looking down at the couch around him, trying to figure out the best way to set her up.

“How would you like to-” he begins, but Marcus just reaches forward. Zeke is all about plans, Marcus is all about action. Isabell tenses as his hands rush toward her, but he pulls back at the last moment. He rests his hand palm-up nearby instead of just scooping her up. She is almost certain that he remembered to do that at exactly the last second, but he remembered. It’s progress.

She steps into his hand, and once she’s settled, he lifts her gently off the coffee table. He shoots a quick glance between her and Zeke. There is a spark of mischief in his eyes.

“Here,” he says with a wink down to her. Before she can process what he’s up to, he thrusts her forward. She lets out a small sound as he tips her out of his hands into Zeke’s. He curses under his breath as she tumbles into his hand, but he quickly becomes steady beneath her.

She lays on her back, staring straight up at him with flushed cheeks. She only catches the underside of his jaw as he shoots a glare at Marcus. His roommate just reclines back on the couch with a self-satisfied grin.

Zeke finally turns his gaze down to look at her, sprawled out in his hand. The eye contact is enough to pin her there a moment longer. He quickly glances over her. She’s wearing black shorts and an oversized pink shirt that reads ‘BARBIE’ and hangs off one shoulder. Her hair is down and it’s long enough to spill around her in soft waves. He only looks at her for a moment, but it feels like he’s seeing her in enough detail to count all of her eyelashes.

She should be terrified, but she can feel the remaining whisps of her resolve slipping away. All this contact with the humans, she likes it. She isn't supposed to, but she does. Which is exactly why she has to leave. At least for a little while, if for no other reason than just to prove to herself that she can. But she refuses to let herself mourn a moment that isn't over yet. Eventually, she has to go home, but right now she will enjoy spending time with her lads.

“Okay,” Zeke says quietly. His fingers curl in slightly, and he pulls her closer to his chest as he looks away from her. He moves a pillow, making a small stack between him and Marcus. “Here, let’s try this.” He sets her down gently. She steps off his palm and immediately sinks into the plush surface.

Marcus chuckles, she looks up to find both him and Zeke looking down at her.

“Sorry, you’re really cute,” Marcus says, not even trying to hide his wide grin. Zeke also looks amused in his own way, but he looks away as soon as she caught him looking. Her cheeks burn with embarrassment, and she situates herself on the pillow, with some difficulty.

She isn’t convinced that this is better.

The two humans tower over her on either side. She’s closer, sure, but now she somehow feels smaller. Not to mention, every time she moves, she sinks deeper into this pillow.

She huffs quietly, looking up at the humans around her. Marcus is reclined easily, holding a bowl of popcorn. Zeke is stiffer than his roommate, shifting slightly as though he’s not quite comfortable but he’s too worried about disturbing her to do anything about it.

This is silly. There are better options available. She looks around for a moment before an idea springs into her mind. She fumbles her way to the back of the pillow; her movement instantly draws the attention of the lads around her. She grabs on to the thick woven fabric of the couch cushion. She hoists herself up and begins scaling the back of the couch.

“Woah, Isabell-”  Zeke leans forward, hovering a hand beneath her, like he’s torn between wanting to grab her, and wanting to let her climb on her own. But, she’s halfway up the couch before he even finishes saying her name.

“She’s fine, dude,” Marcus says around a mouthful of popcorn.

“I know,” his brow furrows, “just… I know.” Despite saying that, he doesn’t stop following beneath her, in case she were to fall.

She easily makes it to the top of the couch. Zeke slowly pulls away, looking at her with a sort of astonishment. The humans probably don’t realize just how proficient she is at climbing, considering they’ve only known her while she’s been basically immobile. Holding her arms out for balance, she walks along the back of the couch closer to Zeke. She grabs onto his sleeve and pulls herself up onto his shoulder. She perches there, dangling her legs off the front of him.

Once she's there she realizes that was the first time since her injury that she has been able to climb something without it being a total disaster. She smiles, feeling a much-needed sense of accomplishment. She missed the dull ache of activity in her limbs. It feels good.

Zeke has craned his neck to look down at her, he doesn’t say anything, he barely even breathes. He just blinks at her. She grins up at him, thrilled that she’s finally able to move on her own again, and relishing a little bit that she was able to do something that a human found impressive.

“Okay,” his voice is a low whisper. “I guess… is that where you want to be?”

“Is this fine?” she asks him, realizing suddenly that she is very close to him.

She didn’t really think about that. Maybe it’s because she’s so high up, or that he can’t really look at her from his shoulder. It just seems like less of a deal to her than being held in his hands. Apparently, from his reaction, he doesn’t share the same opinion.

“Yeah. It’s- yes, of course.”  

“I’ve got to get a picture of this,” Marcus says, pulling out his phone.

“Let me see!” She says, once he’s taken it. Marcus turns phone around to show her the screen.

In the picture, Zeke looks so cool. A small, amused smile pulling across his lips, a slight quirk of his brow, and there she is! Smiling from her perch on his shoulder. She’s never seen herself like this before, she’s only ever experienced it from her point of view.

 “Oh cool!" She looks at the phone, her eyes shining, "I wish I could keep this somehow," human technology is so interesting.

“We can print it out for you,” Marcus says. “If we’re doing that, I want to be in one too!” He turns the phone around, leans closer to Zeke and takes another picture.

After that, Marcus settles back into the couch. Zeke still sits stiffly, like he’s afraid any movement will topple her from his shoulder.  

“You can move you know,” she leans over giving his neck a playful shove. He flinches slightly at the contact.

"I- You sure?" He asks quietly.

"Yeah. You can be comfortable. I'll allow it." She smirks, she can hear Marcus chuckling behind her.

“I’m not my brothers,” her voice comes out sharper than she wanted.

He scoffs.

“Seriously, whatever beef you have with them-”

“You’re just going to pretend that you don’t know?” He's glaring at her.

“Know what?” she asks, exasperated.

“I fought Marshall.”

“Alright? And?”

“I won,” he looks at her like that should mean something to her. It doesn't. Not really.

Mars is tough. He gets into those super fights all the time, it comes with the territory. He doesn't lose often, but it's bound to happen eventually. If anything Felix is telling her his power is very strong. But that isn't something that should concern her. 

“...Congratulations?” 

His jaw tightens, like somehow that was exactly the wrong thing to say. 

“Felix, I don’t know what you want from me. I just came out here because I thought my friend was upset.”

“Friend?” He questions viciously. 

“...yes,” she had thought they were friends. 

“Cute."

Ouch.

“Kay.” She hops up to her feet. Felix moves with her immediately. His shoulders squared, muscles braced like he's preparing for something. 

She shakes her head. “We aren't doing this. You’re being a dick. I'm leaving,” she says, turning away from him to collect her things.  

“What, because it would be beneath you?” he asks with a sneer.

She laughs. Not because it's funny, it's really not funny at all. It's just that he’s being ridiculous. Her laughter only makes him more upset. She shakes her head, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

“Look, I’m not going to fight with you over something that doesn’t have anything to do with me,” she says simply.

“No?”

“No. I’m leaving,” she repeats.

She turns to walk away, and suddenly a wall slams down in front of her. She jumps back quickly, whirling around to face Felix again, only to discover that he’s, well, everywhere. That wall... is his hand. She follows his arm all the way up to his shoulder, then further to the scowling face blotting out the sky. The size of him is dizzying. It’s impossible. 

What is happening? She quickly replays this in her head trying to figure out what she missed and how this was a reasonable escalation. 

“Come on, Beauregard,” his voice is low but still resonates through her. She’s probably being dramatic but she swears the ground rumbles as he talks. “You’ve been holding out on me. What can you do?” 

The hand forming the wall behind her moves. Lifing over her. All she can do is stare gobsmacked until he plows her over. With a single finger he pins her on her back against the forest floor. The digit rests heavily against her chest, her hands fly up to meet it. 

Her stomach does a flip as she looks at her hands, both of them, braced against his fingertip. As if that would do anything to stop him if he decided to grind her to a pulp against the ground right now. She tries to breathe through the pressure. It's not impossible. She supposes this is him being gentle.

“Your heart’s beating so fast,” he notes, “A Beauregard? Scared?” He looks her over in disbelief, a teasing smirk spread across his face. 

He thinks they're playing a game, but she doesn't know any of the rules. 

“I- I yield!” She calls up to him. She’s seen fights before. That usually ends it. 

“What? That’s it?” 

He pulls back. She pushes herself up on her elbows, breathing deeply, now that she can. His hand comes down again, she lets out an involuntarily yelp when he pinches her between his two fingers. Her backpack is left behind as she’s whisked up off the ground, into his waiting palm. He holds her up to his face, studying her, his brow pinching together as he tries puzzling her out. All she can focus on is how high up she is. He’s sitting yet she is so stupidly high off the ground. 

“You’re not going to even show me your ability? That’s bullshit. You’re showing me what you can do first. Then, we can be done.” 

He doesn’t really give her any time to respond. He grabs her up again, pinching her by her ankles and dangling her over his head. 

“Felix!” she shouts.

“Aw. Afraid of heights?” He taunts her, letting her sway back and forth in his grip. She has always hated roller coasters, this is a million times worse. She flails, trying to grab onto something, anything, but coming up empty. “Careful squirming like that. You wouldn’t want me to… lose my grip.”

“You wouldn’t,” she gasps. “Felix, I know you wouldn’t.”

“You don’t know shit,” the playful tone drops from his voice. 

He lets her go, and she falls. 

It's only for a moment before he catches her. She lands face first against his other hand, hard. Past the panic and the blood roaring in her ears, she can hear him chuckling. She scrambles to right herself, pulling her knees to her chest, sitting in the center of his palm. She can’t catch her breath. Her heart hammers so fast it feels like it’s trying to break out of her ribcage and leave her behind to deal with this on her own. She sucks in uneven, shallow gulps of air, all too aware of the scrutinous eyes taking her in.

Being held like this doesn’t feel particularly secure, but it’s better than where she was. At least she can almost pretend the ground isn’t that far away. At least she isn't dangling upside down. But still, despite the relative safety, a dull awareness of the danger seeps into her. She could have broken an arm just then… or worse.

“You’re so stubborn. All you have to do is just-”  

“Wait!” She shouts. He's been moving too fast for her to explain. Her brain has finally caught up, and she's not going to get herself hurt because she's too proud to say this, “I don’t have an ability!” 

His body jolts, jumbling her awkwardly in his palm as he freezes sharply. Blinking down at her wordlessly, his brows pinch together, like he's not quite understanding what she's saying.

“I am completely mundane! Alright?”

The world lurches, the ground rushes up to meet them as he suddenly drops his height. He sets her down fast, like holding her was burning him.

“Are you serious?”  His hands are clamped down on her shoulders, his expression is nothing short of bewildered. He scans her up and down frantically assessing the damage. “Why wouldn’t you say that?” She pushes him away. 

“Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize you wanted me to introduce myself like: ‘Hi, I'm Charlotte Beauregard. Yes, as in those Beauregards. Don't worry though, I am mundane, no powers here.’ That probably would have been more normal than what I was doing. Should have led with that!”

She feels so jumbled up right now, even the little things feel impossible to process. 

He rakes a hand through his hair, swearing under his breath. He steps away from her, pacing across the clearing. She watches him. Oh sure, she gets tossed around like a ragdoll, but he's the one that gets to freak out.

“Calm down, Felix.” She says, with a sigh, crossing her arms to stop her hands from shaking.

“I swear, I didn't know. You're a Beauregard! You- I mean all of them- I didn't know.”

“That's not an apology,” her tone is dry and emotionless.

He clamps his jaw tight, stopping mid-step to look her up and down. 

“Sure," she says. "Fine. That was horrible, and you're a jerk. But don't say you’re sorry or anything!” She waves a hand his way dismissively and picks up her discarded backpack once more. 

“Beauregard, seriously-”

“Can you stop doing that?” She snaps, whirling to face him. “It's just Charlotte. Or Charlie, if you want, I don't care. But I don't- I'm not-” she shakes her head, she can't make the sentence fit right. She doesn't want to talk about how she's a failure held against the legacy of her family name. Not to him, especially not now. She forces her mouth into a tight smile. She knows it isn't convincing, probably mostly looks sad. “Charlie's fine. I'm going to leave now.” 

He raises his hands, a wordless surrender. Telling her he’ll let her go this time. 

He still hasn't apologized. Probably isn't going to. She leaves him alone in the clearing. She holds it together for long enough, but once she's solidly down the path, and sure she's not being followed, hot angry tears spill down her face. 

She thought she had made a friend.

The three women had brought over folding chairs and blankets to set up in front of my laptop, making a sort of makeshift movie theater. Their set up reminded me of the summer movie nights the park I'd worked at back on my planet would have, where people would gather on a lawn outside one of the visitor centers for an evening film. It also looked far cozier than the admittedly hard metal chair I was sitting in. It was made from sort of Earth metal, and was far more industrial than it was cozy. Or even comfortable, really. Given how hard I suspected it would have been to manufacture a chair that was my size on Earth, though, I'd never voice that. Instead I usually just sat on my bed, which had a thankfully decently comfortable mattress at least. 

That hadn't really been a viable option for watching a movie with humans (and one equally tiny vampire), though. It was too far away for me to really see the screen if I was sitting on my bed and the laptop remained on the table. And the trio joining me on my bed wasn't feasible. That seemed like it would have been too intimate for what was supposed to be a casual movie with coworkers, as well as a bit practically difficult with how small they were. I imagined maintaining balance while attempting to traverse giant bedding would be hard. 

“Man, more ads already?” Penelope said as a commercial for some prescription drug replaced the comedy movie that had been playing. It was a film from Earth I hadn't seen before, revolving around male models. 

“The price for ‘free’ movies, I guess,” Angie replied. 

“What do you think of the movie so far?” Zoey asked, leaning back in her chair and looking up at me. 

“It's really comedic,” I said. More blurted, really, with any more eloquent potential responses choosing to replace themselves with the feeling of butterflies as I met Zoey's gaze. Wow, real smooth. What type of response even was that, it's a comedy movie. Of course it's comedic. 

“I was not expecting those guys to die in that gas station explosion though.” I added with a laugh, hoping my initial response hadn't seemed as painfully nervous as I felt. 

“Yeah, that was pretty dark if you think about it,” Zoey replied. “So much for my weekend plans to have a gas station dance party.” 

I laughed at that, both Angie and Penelope joining in as well. Before I could reply, a vibration followed by an incoming video call notification appeared on the laptop screen. All three women jumped, the buzzing no doubt closer to actual tremors for them. 

Shit, shit, shit. I almost went to hurriedly hit decline on impulse, catching myself at the last second before actually moving. 

“So sorry, I'm just going to lean over you guys to hit decline,” I said instead, making sure to keep my arm well out of the way of the three humans as I tapped the screen, declining the call and putting the device on do not disturb. I could feel my face burning with embarrassment, which was not helped by the realization that the red rushing to my cheeks was going to be incredibly obvious to my small coworkers. 

“I'm super sorry about that, I should have put it on do not disturb to start with,” I said, also realizing that looking down to attempt to hide the redness in my cheeks did not help at all given that all three humans were already below me anyways. If anything, it probably made it even more obvious. 

“Hopefully it wasn't-are you guys okay?” I wasn't even really sure what I was trying to say. The noise had been loud - louder to them - but not harmful. Probably?  

Fuck, was that level of noise harmful to humans? John had never said anything about it, or the human friends I'd had on Aphiria. But I also hadn't had this laptop back then, and I wasn't sure John had ever been standing as close to it when a call came in as my coworkers currently were. What if it was like, deafening or something? Another wave of panic washed over me. 

“Is Jasper a relative?” Zoey’s question caught my spiralling mind so off guard I just stared at her for a moment. Possibly a bit too long of a moment, pieces slowly coming together in my mind. I'd been so focused on hitting decline I hadn't actually bothered to look at who was calling. 

“He has the same last name as you,” Zoey added. “Which, I guess it could totally just be a common name on your planet-” 

“He's my brother,” I said, finally mentally catching up, then realizing I'd cut her off. “Sorry. I'm really sorry about all of that.” 

“It's fine, man. Male models will still be waiting whenever,” Penelope said, sounding slightly confused. “Did you want to like, call him back? In case it's something important?” 

“I'm sure it's nothing, I can just call him back later tonight,” I said. “The ringing wasn't like…too loud?” 

I saw realization cross Zoey's eyes. “Oh! No, we're fine. It was more just surprising. But not painful or anything.” 

I felt some of the tension leave my body. 

Thank goodness. 

Zoey's statement seemed to clarify why I was so flustered to the other two at least in part.

“Oh my god, yeah, don't worry, it wasn't harmfully loud,” Penelope added. 

“Okay, good. I wasn't sure,” I said with a nervous laugh. I apparently still wasn't fully used to the smaller - the much - smaller size of the most of the inhabitants of Earth. Especially when it came to things that might be harmful to someone that size but wouldn't warrant a second thought to me normally, as the absolute last thing I wanted to do was accidentally hurt someone through an oversight like that. 

“I used to go to a lot of punk concerts anyways, so if anything was going to give me hearing damage, it's probably already happened.” I evidently still looked concerned, as Zoey offered me a reassuring smile along with her words. Seeing the soft smile on her face worked - it was the sort of smile that felt like a gentle hug, and was hard to stay worried upon seeing. Or at least as worried, anyways. 

“And seriously, if you want to call him back real quick just to check it's cool,” Angie said. 

“And then we'd get to talk to another Aphirial!” Penelope chimed in enthusiastically.

I was almost 100% sure Jasper's call would be nothing important. Still, it wouldn't hurt to make sure. Plus, some part of me wanted him to see that I was (for once) with people on Earth. That I was making connections at work and succeeding at adult life or whatever. 

“Well, I guess I can just make sure. It'll be quick,” I said. I once again let them know that I was going to reach over them. As I leaned forward, I caught a glimpse of Zoey gazing up at me with a look of…almost wonder? That probably wasn't right. Maybe nervousness, given that I was looming over her. I couldn't imagine it was a very flattering angle. I hastily opened the video call screen and hit the button to call Jasper back. 

He answered it quickly. I saw a brief look of surprise when he noticed the three small people in front of the camera before he composed himself and directed his gaze up to me. 

“Hey, man. Is everything okay? I'm in the middle of a movie with some coworkers.” I said. 

“I was just going to call to say hi, just realized it'd been a minute since I checked in with my youngest brother. We can catch up later, though.” He said. “Don't want to interrupt movie night!” 

“You're not interrupting anything!” Penelope called, giving a dramatic wave from her spot on the table. “So you're Easton's brother?” 

“That's me. Name's Jasper, and you don't look like…what was it, John?” Jasper said, his eyes flickering down ever so slightly to look at Penelope at the bottom of the frame. 

“This is Penelope, she works at the gift shop here,” I said. “And that's Zoey - she works at the gift shop as well - and Angie, who's a ranger.” Zoey and Angie both gave a wave when I referenced them.

“It's nice to meet you!” Penelope said. 

“Well, it's nice to meet all three of you as well. I take it you're settling in nicely there, then, E?” 

“Yeah. It's a beautiful planet,” I replied. “I feel very fortunate to get to be here.” 

“That's good to hear. I won't keep you, but give me a call when you're free sometime. And again, nice to meet you three,” Jasper said, giving them a wide smile. He hung up shortly after. 

“He seems nice,” Zoey said. 

“Yeah. He's chill,” I replied. It was a bit more complicated than that, but it didn't seem like the time or place to get into a couple decades worth of family dynamics and drama. And these days, he was definitely one of the chiller members of my immediate family. 

“I've now gotten to speak to 200% more people from Aphiria than I had before I came here,” Penelope said. 

“Does a videotape really count though?” Angie teased. 

“I'm counting it. Unless Easton wants to take me back to Aphirial for the holidays, that's probably the closest I'll be getting.” Penelope replied, crossing her arms. 

“I think that would involve a lot of paperwork,” I said with a laugh. 

“So, we gotta count it.” Zoey had taken Penelope's side it seemed. 

“We gotta,” Penelope repeated. 

“Alright, fine, you guys win. It counts.” Angie said. 

“So…now that we've completed that side quest, shall we continue the movie?” Zoey asked, looking up at me. 

“Yeah! And, again, really sorry for the…side quest.” I wasn't familiar with that term, but surmised it was slang on Earth for a secondary, unplanned venture.