Out of their Element

[DocRick]

From Chapter 48. The restaurant

[Nropyub]

Please don’t make us wait after THAT cliffhanger!

[littlest-lily]

I was wondering when the poop was gonna hit the fan.........

We all knew it was coming eventually!

Please don’t make us wait after THAT cliffhanger!

Sorry! Thanks for being invested, I do appreciate it~


Chapter 50
Aiden

Fuck me. Can today get any worse?

I won't lie, I'm really upset when I leave the apartment. Furious, even. I'm concerned about Evie, yes, of course I am, but good god am I frustrated with her too. How the hell are we going to make this work if she just refuses to communicate… at all? I hadn't realized how bad it could get.

It doesn't help that I'm also feeling frustrated with Diego right now. Okay, so the designated driver's car broke down while they were out downtown. Yes, it's annoying, but I still don't understand why he can't just call an Uber. He'd gone on about how there were several more bars he wanted to hit and he didn't want to have to wait around for a ride every time, blablabla. But did he have to be so insistent after I told him "no" multiple times? Just because it's his birthday doesn't give him the right to be so selfish.

He heralds me like a hero, though, when I finally make it to whatever bar the group got stranded at. I could tell by his voice over the phone, but he's already well on his way to getting trashed. The stifling bear hug he gives me is little comfort when I know I'll be the one sober friend in the group for the next couple of hours, all while I'm very preoccupied with the situation waiting for me back at home.

As the night drags on, Diego's in such a good mood and is being so affectionate with me and the other guys that I eventually feel guilty for acting sour. Yeah, I didn't want to come here, but also the issues I'm having with Evie aren't his fault. Ultimately I try to force a smile onto my face, as fake as it feels.

But this eventually wears on me. It's been three hours and midnight has come and gone when I can't take it anymore - I pretend to need to go to the bathroom to take a breather. I sit in the cramped but thankfully clean toilet stall and put my head in my hands. I try and fail to take deep breaths.

What do I do when I eventually get home? I'm assuming Evie is asleep by now. Not that it matters, I'll probably wake her up when I get back whether I mean to or not. Do I try talking to her again? What do I even say? How do I get her to talk to me?

I stew in frustration for minutes on end. I've tried my utmost the entire time she's lived with me to be so careful and considerate and patient. Haven't I proven that I won't judge her no matter what she has to say? Haven't I shown that she can trust me?

Is… Was any of it even… real? Did she actually fall for me the way I fell for her? Or was that fake too, just another way of placating me and making sure she still has a roof over her head? No, I can't… Surely it wasn't all lies. That's not fair to completely dismiss our connection like that, and it's too heartbreaking to think about. But there's clearly complicating factors. And I still have no idea why she wants to avoid getting outside help.

That last thought makes me pause. Come to think of it, I got confirmation today, didn't I? She's definitely scared of the police. I don't know why, but… That sounds kinda major, doesn't it? She's afraid of the law. Perhaps that should be a red flag, but I can't possibly imagine her being a dangerous criminal. Maybe she did something stupid when she was younger, or she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. But whatever happened that led to her feeling the way she does must have been a pretty big deal. Maybe even something really traumatic.

I drop my hands from my face, blinking as I stare down at my shoes. All night I've been resenting Evie for not opening up to me. When maybe what I should be focusing on right now is why she's so tightly shut. I've been grappling with the fear that she sees me as nothing but a menace, but… it's not like she opened up to Moira about this either. And it sounded like she wasn't close with anyone else before us, even back before she lived in a world of giants. Maybe I've been taking things so personally when in reality, it's got nothing to do with me. She might be dealing with some kind of trauma that's bigger than any of us.

And I got angry at her for it.

"Shit," I curse under my breath. I picture her, sitting there on the table, looking… terrified. Maybe not of me, deep down. But I probably wasn't helping. By the end I was just demanding answers despite her clearly having some sort of breakdown. Fuck. Me.

I want to go home right this second, apologize, tell her she doesn't owe me anything. I have to go back and try to fix this.

But of course, things aren't quite so simple. I'm here now. At least the night seems to be winding down, and thankfully everyone else is finally alright with using rideshares to get back home. At this point Diego's completely wasted though, and I want to make sure he gets home okay. So I drive him to his house and help support him as we walk up to the door. I watch him fumble for the keys in his pocket.

"Uh oh," he says after checking the same pockets for the fourth time. "Fuuuuck… My keys're gone. Must've dropped 'em…"

"Wonderful," I groan, "Isn't Star home? I know it's late, but can we give her a call to let us in?"

"Nah man… This was s'posed to be a night with the guuyyys. She's out 'f town, at her parennts…"

I check his pockets myself before finally admitting defeat. With a heavy sigh I think through my options. The timing is awful, but in the end my exhausted mind can't think of any other solution but to offer to let him stay at my place.

As we drive back to the apartment and it nears two in the morning, I'm deep in thought while Diego nods off in the passenger's seat. He's clearly forgetting why he's not in his own house now and giggling like an idiot about the "amazing" night he's had. Okay. Plan is that I get him inside, to my room. I'll sleep on the couch tonight, make sure to stay at Evie's side and keep her hidden. I'll need to talk to her… But first I need to get my larger friend settled in and out of the way.

Thirty seconds. I had left him alone in the living room for less than thirty damn seconds. I'd hurriedly gotten my own bed ready for him and grabbed a blanket and pillow for myself. He seemed so out of it that I figured he wouldn't budge - I was expecting to find him passed out on the floor. But just as I turn to head out of my room, I know immediately something's wrong. Diego's not where I left him. And then I hear a very faint but unmistakable scream.

I'm rushing now, hurrying into the living room, just in time to see my drunken friend slumped over the desk and picking something up off of it. Heart in my throat, I almost panic and start yelling at him. But that might create a worse problem, so silently I toss down the blanket and pillow onto the couch as I run over to Diego, and I grab his arm. I hover an open hand just under his fist and squeeze his wrist, hard.

"Let go," I command firmly.

"Dude, wh-"

“Now.”

With one last jab of my thumb into his arm he loosens his grasp, and I can feel the warm little weight of Evie's body tumbling into my palm. My heart leaps and I close my fingers around her. She grips me back harder than she ever has.

I glare at Diego as I take a couple of steps back. "Change of plans. You sleep out here. Since apparently you can move around just fine. And stop messing with my stuff."

He's looking at me dumbfounded, but I just turn and march back into my bedroom. I shut the door and lock it behind me.

"Evie, I'm so sorry," I whisper urgently, taking the couple of quick steps to my bed and kneeling beside it on the carpet.

I settle my hand onto the mattress and let her slide onto the bed sheets. There's more light here than there was in the living room since I'd left my table lamp on, so I can see how pale and shaky she is. She looks completely disheveled and is gasping for air, shuffling backwards on the bed and looking around frantically. Right, I don't ever bring her in here, of course she's disoriented.

"You're safe, the door's locked," I soothe before asking intently, "Are you okay? How's your leg, did he hurt you?"

Her breath is still coming in fast and shallow and she's keeping a fearful eye on her surroundings, but she manages a small nod. "N-no, I'm okay, he didn't really t-touch it. It's fine. I'm f-fine… I…"

No more words come out. But not because she’s steadying herself. In fact her gasping is getting worse. Her body's shaking, her panic boiling over. She is anything but fine.

Evie starts hyperventilating, curling in on herself as she hugs her arms, and then she drops her head down to the mattress. She goes from panting to sobbing to screaming and back again. She's writhing, rocking back and forth, hitting her head against the thankfully soft ground. I've never seen her come completely undone like this. I watch in wide-eyed fear for a few moments, too stunned to move. It's been too much for her today, and the frightening encounter she just had was enough to push her over the edge. Whatever has built up inside of her is finally all coming out at once, explosively, and she's getting caught in the blast.

I reach my hand back up, cup it around her, gently touch her shoulder with a finger. She flinches a little but otherwise doesn't react, just continues to whimper and cry and dry heave as she curls in on herself.

"Deep breaths, sweet girl," I whisper, leaning down to kiss her upper back. I hope I'm not making things worse, but it's almost like she can't tell I'm there.

The panic attack lasts almost thirty minutes, enough time for me to seriously worry. But whether it's due to exhaustion or getting it out of her system, her cries start faltering. She begins to respond to my attempts to help calm her down. Finally, even though she’s still curled in on herself, I see her reach one tiny hand out, tentatively searching the air. Immediately I offer her my pinkie and she grabs it, pulls it in, hugs it against her.

With my other hand I carefully stroke her back, softly remind her that she’s safe, just as I’ve done again and again for the last half hour. And this time she finally lifts her head. She’s a mess and she looks absolutely exhausted. But she’s also looking lucid again.

"I-I have to talk to you,” she stutters with a hoarse voice.

“Whatever you need,” I say, and I bring up a tissue that I’d found in the midst of the meltdown, tenderly dabbing it against her cheek before offering it to her. “Just don't worry about me right now, okay?”

Evie takes the paper with the saddest, weakest look of gratitude I’ve ever seen. She wipes her face off, blows her nose, takes a deep breath. “No, this is just as much for myself. I should've told you a long time ago... Bear with me, let me figure out where to start.”

Since it looks like she’s more stable, I decide it might be best to give her some room. I hesitantly pull my hands away, she doesn’t protest, and I settle into a cross-legged seat in front of the bed. The tiny woman stares at the bedsheets for a few seconds, her breathing still shaky, but she's looking more and more determined as she gathers her resolve. One more deep, tremulous breath. And then an equally tremulous sentence.

“Growing up… my name was Evelyn Frost.”

Uhh. Definitely didn’t realize that she was about to share a different… name. In the couple of seconds of silence that follows, I steel myself for the telling tale she's about to share.

“Frost was my mom’s maiden name. After my dad passed away when I was four, she took it up again and used it for me too, even though it didn’t match what was on my birth certificate… Anyway, that’s not important. My mom was not a good person. Even before she was a single mom I don’t think she wanted to be a mother at all. And then after my dad died she started doing hard drugs, which… didn’t help.

"Most of the time she acted like I wasn’t there. Any time she did say something to me, it was usually because she was angry about something. She didn’t like me making friends with hardly anyone. She hit me, a lot. Sometimes she’d lock me in the basement for days if she was sick of seeing me.”

I listen quietly. In the back of my mind, I hear Evie’s voice echo, “I hate being underground.” I had no idea the inciting reason for that was straight up child abuse.

“The older I got the more… useful I became to her, I guess. She had me work to help pay rent, do chores, that kind of thing. For the most part I was still terrified of her, but I started standing up for myself too, just a little bit. Not enough to make that much of a difference, and sometimes she doubled down on the punishments. But we were at least able to speak to each other more and more without it devolving into constant one-way fights.”

She glances up at me, a little apprehensive, as if wondering how I’m taking all of this information. I just give her a little nod to let her know I’m listening intently. Then she swallows and clutches her bit of tissue paper tightly as she switches gears.

“I was sixteen when I met Brock. I was waitressing at this old diner at the time, and I was used to guys being sleazy sometimes, but this one was different. He was so kind. So attentive to me. We ended up talking that whole evening as he kept ordering drinks and hardly touching them. By the end of the night I was completely smitten. By the end of the week we were a couple.

“He made me really happy. He would drive me places, he showered me with compliments and gifts, and he was always there for me when things got hard at home. He was eight years older than me so I saw him as so smart and wise… and he was a stand-up citizen so my mom actually approved of him, finally, for once. We'd only been dating for three months when the two of us had already decided I'd move in with him once I turned eighteen. For the next year and a half, I was over the moon.

"On my eighteenth birthday my mom died. She actually got me a cake that year, which was unlike her… I still remember the fancy red cake stand she put it on… Her decision to celebrate didn't stop her from taking a couple of hits that morning though. It was just me and her when I tried to bring up the subject of me moving out, and it didn't go well. It turned into a horrible fight, she was screaming at me, she was so furious that I would abandon her like that. I can still picture the cake on the floor… I was kneeling next to it, I picked up the half-broken cake stand… Next thing I knew she was on top of me, and she tripped or something, she fell on me and my head was knocked back against the counter and I blacked out…"

Like a flash in my mind, I suddenly think of what Evie had said, that night we played Clue and I accidentally hit her in the head. I was worried I'd given her a concussion and her response was "I've had way worse before." I never even questioned that.

"She must have passed out too," Evie continues, "But it's only when I woke up later that I realized she had fallen on the broken ceramic I was holding and had… had bled out… But it wasn't intentional! I swear to you, it wasn't on purpose. Even… even if she deserved it. I didn't kill her!"

"I believe you," I assure her gently.

Her eyes meet mine and she nods gratefully. "But it looked bad. Really bad. I called Brock in a panic and he came over right away. He helped cover for me so that I didn't really have to deal with the police, things were hard enough as is. I did move in with him. I was horrified by what had happened, but… I was also finally free to live my life the way I wanted. And I wanted to be with him more than anything else. I was completely devoted."

Her tone drops as a shadow passes over her expression. "I didn't see the signs then. I thought Brock just loved me so much. He didn't want me to have to worry about working and insisted I should just quit my job, stay at home and relax for a while. Every couple of weeks he bought me a new outfit, even though I was never that much into fashion. The compliments he showered me with started becoming… a little much. And he wasn’t quite as supportive anymore when I was struggling - anytime I’d complain or get sad about something he just seemed so annoyed by it. He didn't like it whenever I tried to make new friends, he thought I was spending too much time with other people. He started limiting how much food I could have. He had certain… expectations in bed. And over time he started getting upset with me over the smallest things…

"I was still pretty young and naive and I made a lot of excuses for him, but eventually even I could tell things were toxic. But anytime I tried to talk to him about it, it didn’t go well. It got physical sometimes. Every time he hit me he was so apologetic, he'd buy me another damn dress and tell me how much he loved me… but I was seeing through him at this point.

"After living together for over two years, I wanted out. He knew I wanted out. One day he took me out into the woods. He confronted me about how I felt, but when I admitted I wanted to break up he went ballistic. He had a gun, h-he threatened to kill himself. The way things had gotten, I honestly wouldn't have put it past him to kill me first... I’d never been so scared in my life… The next day while he was at work, I snuck out. I ran away, just packed the few things I could carry and took the first bus out of town."

Recounting this is clearly painful for her and she falls into silence for a moment, breathing hard. I stare at her for a few seconds, reeling from the intensity of it all.

"Holy shit, Evie," I whisper.

She's determined to keep going. "I was homeless for a little while. Very slowly I found jobs and started building myself back up... But Brock never stopped looking for me. Somehow he would always figure out where I went. One time he showed up where I worked, I just snuck out the back and skipped town again. Another time he'd figured out who one of my new friends was and began harassing her to find out where I was staying, so I left. One day I was leaving for work and recognized his car sitting in the parking lot. I immediately grabbed my stuff and ran away on the spot.

"It was a hard four years on my own. Eventually I decided it might be worth it to go back to school. If I could get a college degree, maybe I could get a better job, move farther away, find a place to live with better security. I applied for a million scholarships and managed to get enough that I thought I could pull it off. That's when I changed my name. I used my dad's last name of Ondine, which is what my legal name is anyway, and just wrote down one of my nicknames as if it was my official one. I hoped between that and the fact that I was moving several states over it might make it harder for Brock to track me down. And so far so good, he hasn't found me. Although, there are probably a few extra reasons for that…"

She motions down at her small stature. It’s hard to believe that she’s been through enough hardship that it rivals the fact that she was shrunken into this state. I’d gotten the sense she had some darker parts of her life she didn’t want to share, things that might have explained the constant glossing over her own needs or why she hadn't been able to maintain friendships, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this bad. And Evie’s not quite finished yet.

"I want to try and explain something…" she says, staring intently into my eyes. "A lot happened during my solo life. A year into it, after I'd stayed a couple of months in the same place… I met a guy. I was so scared of dating again, but he was such a good friend and I gave it a shot. It was great, he helped me realize what a real, loving relationship could actually be like. I owe him a lot. But after dating for a few months I finally told him about Brock. And it… it really freaked him out. H-he didn’t say it was the reason, but he broke up with me the next day. Not that it would have mattered because it wasn’t much longer before I, um… had to move again.

"The year after that, I met someone who I just saw as a casual friend, but he wanted more. He was so angry when I turned him down. Somehow he found out I had a stalker. He tried to blackmail me with it, he’d threaten me every time I saw him at work. I didn’t even wait until Brock showed up again. Within a few weeks I left.

"The year after that, I had my first official roommate since the breakup. It was hard to find hostels or single apartments in the area I was in, and I figured it was time I try living with someone again. She was nice, I guess. But again… I made a mistake and ended up telling her about my ex. She was scared that he might show up at our place and ended up kicking me out."

I'm putting it all together, everything's starting to make some sense. No wonder she was so hesitant to talk to me about this.

She looks too tired to cry but weak sobs are racking her body anyway. "I'm sorry, Aiden, y-you’ve never given me any reason t-to doubt you, but every time I opened up to someone about this shit it always blew up in my face. I d-didn’t want to lose you too. But… but I shouldn’t have just lumped y-you in with–"

"It's okay," I breathe, curling my hand behind her, "It's alright, I get it now. Thank you so much for telling me. I'm sorry you've had such a weight on your shoulders all this time, without any support."

Right then, out of nowhere, she smiles. Just a fleeting moment of pure relief and appreciation after a lifetime of struggling alone. It's just for a second before it crumbles into exhaustion again. I half smile back and then lean in, I want to make sure she knows…

"I'm not going anywhere." I say, kissing her forehead, and I hover there, staying close. "I'm still processing some of that, but… I don't care what happened in the past. I want to embrace everything about you, just as you are. Okay?"

More weak sobs. "I should've known you would," she whimpers. She rests her head against my chin, letting out whatever tears she has left. And then she's kissing me, planting little pecks all along my skin, and it fills me with so much emotion that I almost start crying with her. We embrace for a long time, with her resting in the catharsis while I take the time to really absorb everything she just told me.

"I just have one question, if you don't mind me asking," I finally say, pulling my face away and sitting back on my heels. "I'm still not sure why you're so against the police? I think the situation with your mom could be proven to be an accident, or at least self defense, assuming it ever came up again. And they might actually be able to help with a stalker. I’m sure that’s easier said than done, but…"

Evie slowly shakes her head, gaze trailing to the floor. "Maybe under normal circumstances I would have gotten the courage to go to the cops. But that’s just the problem…" She looks up at me with a defeated smile. "Brock is a cop."

[DocRick]

Yeah, I worked with a few like Brock over the years....most of them got their Karma toasted eventually. I guess it's good that Evie can keep such a ......low profile.....for now.

[Nropyub]

Sorry! Thanks for being invested, I do appreciate it~

No, thank you for sharing such a project with us for free. This is a great story and I love the little twists and turns.

[littlest-lily]

Yeah, I worked with a few like Brock over the years....most of them got their Karma toasted eventually. I guess it's good that Evie can keep such a ......low profile.....for now.

Well that's certainly reassuring to know karma usually gets em! And yes her small state is definitely helpful in this case heh

No, thank you for sharing such a project with us for free. This is a great story and I love the little twists and turns.

It's a pleasure to share! It always makes my day when I get such kind comments *sob*


Chapter 51
Evie

It was a dreamless sleep, thankfully. No more nightmares. I've done enough reliving the past.

I jolt awake, thrown off by my unfamiliar surroundings. I’m on a surface that’s way bigger than the bed I normally sleep on, green cloth stretching in every direction. There’s an edge to the fabric, and beyond that is a darker shade of green that… oh. I see now. Aiden must have put me on the pillow on his bed. I don’t even remember going to sleep last night. We had that long talk, and I think at some point I crawled into his outstretched hand… I guess I drifted off in the middle of a conversation. I was so exhausted that I must have just slept through getting relocated to this pillow. He’s even cut out another scrap of fabric so that he could lay a blanket over me.

Aiden’s still here, sitting on the floor by the bed, to watch over me I suppose. But he must have eventually dozed off too, he’s doubled over forward with the side of his head sitting on the mattress, a hundred feet away from where I am now.

He’s still… here. I mean, obviously he’s here, physically, but… Wow. I haven’t lost him. I can’t believe I told him everything last night. It’s so surreal, I have to remind myself that it wasn’t a dream. I’m still a bit wary - in the past the negative effects of me talking about my story weren’t always immediate. But from his reaction and what I know of him, I really believe things will be different this time.

There’s a lot of sunlight in the room, it’s almost blinding actually. I’m not sure how late we were up talking, but we must have been reaching the wee hours of the morning, so maybe now it’s late morning? I’m not sure. I’m still feeling pretty drained, truth be told.

I sit upright and wince at a soreness in my side. I rub my eyes groggily and push my hair back, feeling like a total mess. Yesterday was so stressful, and I did so much crying and screaming and hyperventilating that my throat still hurts now. I’m nowhere near as anxious anymore, but I’m still in the midst of recovering from all that drama. I just need some time.

With a budding smile, I scoot a little closer to the edge of the pillow as I gaze out at my favorite giant. He doesn’t exactly look comfortable with his back hunched over and his neck bent at an odd angle, but it still feels rather peaceful to see him quietly dozing. Which is an interesting thought considering what happened the last time I saw him fall asleep. It's like I should be scared, but I'm just not. So much happened last night and tensions ran high, but none of my affection for him has gone anywhere. If anything I care about him more than ever.

I flinch at the sound of a muffled thump through the wall. Oh… shit. How on earth did I forget that we have a guest?! That’s the entire reason we’re even in this room! It suddenly all rushes back to me, and I realize where the soreness in my side comes from. Unfamiliar tree trunk like fingers plucking me roughly from where I sat, hurtling me into the air and enveloping me into the darkness of a fist… I shudder. I should actually be thankful that Diego was as careful as he was, considering how clearly drunk he was. But regardless of anything else, we now have to deal with the fact that my cover is blown.

There’s more shuffling outside, though from the location of where the noise is coming from I think the other titan is still on the couch. But he’s definitely stirring. I carefully climb off of the pillow and make the trek across the mattress so that I can reach Aiden. It’s like walking through sand as I sink slightly into the sheets with every step. Thankfully he’s not too far away and soon I’m feeling the breeze of his slow, deep breath roll over my feet.

Being careful not to wake him up too suddenly, I decide to approach the sleeping giant’s forehead and gently touch the dark hair of his bangs. He feels the slight tickle and frowns, his eyes squeezing tighter shut before relaxing again - he’s twitching a little but still asleep. I reach out a second time, placing my palm directly against his skin. The reaction is surprisingly different this time. He goes very, very still, but his eyes slowly start blinking open.

I smile and kiss his forehead. In one smooth motion, he both tilts his head up and pulls it backward to catch sight of me. He smiles sleepily and mutters, “Hey, you.”

“Good morning,” I say, sounding pretty out of it myself. “Um… I think your friend might be up.”

“Oh. Right.”

Aiden brings a hand up to the mattress so that he can push himself upright with a groan. He rubs at the nape of his neck, shaking his head as if trying to dispel the sleepy haze.

“I’m sorry I brought him here,” he says, keeping his voice particularly quiet so as to not be overheard. “He lost his house keys while we were out, I couldn’t think of what to do… I should have called up a different friend or something…”

“That’s alright,” I assure him, “I don’t blame you for wanting to help a friend out. And he didn’t hurt me, but… he did see me.”

Aiden nods, eyes unfocused for a moment as he also recalls what happened right before we retreated to his bedroom. When he looks at me again he seems conflicted. “What do you want to do? I can try to convince him that he was just seeing things.”

“Ugh, I don't want to make you lie to him like that… Plus he's seen all my stuff too, that's harder to explain."

I don't like someone else finding out about me. It took a whole lot of convincing to get me to meet Moira, and that was in a much more controlled situation. But now I’m feeling like I don't have much of a choice.

"He’s not a bad guy, right?" I say, trying to convince myself more than anything.

“Right. I’m really annoyed with him at the moment, but he’s a good person. He’s just a lot.”

I can’t help smiling wryly. “You know, you’ve said that more than once, but I always thought you were referring to his personality. Didn’t know you meant it literally.”

“I meant it both ways,” Aiden says with a sigh.

“It’s weird, I don’t remember him being that tall in class.”

“Well, I suppose you have a bit of a different perspective now.”

There’s another thump from the living room, and this time I would guess that it’s from Diego getting off of the couch. Sure enough I can hear it from past the wall… footsteps.

“You don’t think he’ll try grabbing me again?” I ask nervously, hurrying forward on the mattress to get closer to Aiden.

He notices where I’m heading and leans in, offering me an open hand. “No, no, I won’t let him. He’s not–”

There’s a knock at the bedroom door, and the sound makes me feel jumpy enough to quickly scurry onto my protector’s palm. A male voice booms from just outside, and even though it’s muffled it’s still so all-encompassing.

“Hey, Aiden? You in there, bro?”

Well… Here we go. The hand platform I’m on lifts up and up as Aiden gets to his feet and holds me up to his chest. I both hear and feel him take a deep breath in and out to steady himself, and I imitate him in turn. Then he’s walking over, reaching out to unlock the door.

“Yeah, I’m still here,” he says, “I actually, uh… I have someone to introduce you to. Just chill, okay? Don’t get too loud.”

My heart’s hammering hard against my sternum as he opens the door, and the colossus that I’ve only briefly encountered waits on the other side. He looks even more exhausted than either one of us does, and from the way he squints at the slight influx of light, I can tell that he’s sporting quite the hangover. He’s not so terrifyingly monstrous looking in the light of day, now that I’m no longer in as much of a vulnerable state. I’m recognizing him a little better from when I saw him in class - deep dark eyes, warm bronze skin and thick black hair, currently in a state of disarray. But even though he's looking more human he’s still very… very large. Despite Aiden holding me up, I have to tilt my head way back to look at him.

Diego’s eyes find me quickly. It’s not quite the same level of shock as yesterday, just a moment of frowning and staring as I sit there, feeling tense in anticipation. But then to my surprise, his features relax and he lets out a deep sigh.

"Shit, you have no idea how relieved I am that I wasn't hallucinating,” he says, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose, “I’d already sworn off alcohol.”

“Still probably not a bad idea,” Aiden responds with an edge to his voice.

“Well, I guess this explains all that stuff on the desk.” Diego looks at me again and this time he smiles and crouches down a little, lowering his head to better address me. “So what are you supposed to be then, some kind of little elf?”

I can feel the hand I’m sitting in tense up, the fingers curling slightly around me in a protective gesture. “She's a person, Diego,” Aiden growls.

Of all things, this is what sets me at ease. I glance up at my giant and I’m finding myself suppressing laughter. He’s like my own oversized guard dog. Down, boy, I think, giving his thumb a comforting tap, and then I turn my attention to our guest.

"I'm Evie,” I say, raising my voice more than I usually might. “We used to all be in biochem together.”

Diego balks at this. "Wait, what? You’re–" I inhale sharply as he moves closer to get a better look at me, staring into my face with more discerning eyes. "Holy fuck, what happened to you?!"

“Easy,” Aiden interjects, reaching an arm out to stop the titan from getting too close. “Not so loud, remember?”

"It's a long story,” I pipe up shakily, not knowing how else to explain it right now.

Hardly noticing the hand that’s pressing against his shoulder, Diego keeps his eyes glued to my small form as he stands back to his full height. "That's gotta be some story. Have you seen a doctor? You, uh… you might want to get that checked out.”

I hear an intake of breath above my head, a small gasp of sudden realization. "Wait,” Aiden says slowly, “You're in nursing school.”

"Okay, fair point, I'd have no idea where to start with this, not really sure what a doctor would do…”

"No, it's… I think we could use your help.”

Ten minutes later, I'm back on my own bed again, oddly enough. Prone on my stomach, I'm letting my leg get examined by someone who's actually somewhat qualified to evaluate how it's doing and whether the continued pain I've been dealing with is normal. Aiden had briefly left the room with me to make sure I'd be okay with the exam, and yes I'm a little nervous turning my back on a gargantuan stranger, but I think it's worth making sure it’s properly healing.

"How long ago did this happen?" Diego asks, peering through a magnifying glass at the long, still visible cut. I can't believe how easily he was able to switch into business mode, he's honestly been taking the idea of a shrunken person remarkably well. I feel the side of his thumb against my calf, tugging slightly on the skin.

“About a month ago, I think?” I say, trying to think back.

There's the click of a phone button as Aiden checks a calendar. “Yeah, just over four weeks,” he confirms.

“Gotcha,” Diego muses, “This is looking pretty good for four weeks, actually. No signs of infection either - and you'd know by now. You really would've benefited from sutures though, this is gonna leave a scar. Lift your leg up for me?”

I obey, bending my leg and raising my knee. The nurse-in-training slips his fingers underneath, carefully taking my calf in a pincer grasp. His skin is even warmer than what I’m used to, something I didn't notice last night. I try not to imagine how tiny my limb must look to him, and I talk some more to keep my mind distracted. “Aren't I too small to get stitched up?”

“Nah, not if it’s this sizeable. Microsurgery is a thing,” the giant sounds unperturbed as he slowly moves my leg around, this way and that. “Modern medicine is amazing, man. Okay, does this hurt?”

There’s a pressure in the back of my knee but I tell him that it’s not painful. He continues to poke and prod as he checks for sensitive areas, and I’m starting to feel more and more impressed. Judging from his overall demeanor, I thought he'd be a lot rougher than this. I guess he likely has a lot of experience doing delicate tasks, considering his intended profession, so his hand control is pretty amazing for his size. Thank goodness.

I feel the edge of his thumb roll over the sole of my foot, and then there’s a pinching around my ankle as my leg is suddenly lifted a little higher.

“Hehehe, look at that,” Diego chuckles, “Such itty bitty feet.”

“Dude… Focus,” Aiden sighs, “And be careful, please.”

“Aw come on, it's not every day I get such a miniature patient. I’m as careful as can be.”

Another minute or so passes, until my leg suddenly spasms from whatever pressure he just put on it. It doesn’t hurt, but I still yelp, “Ahh, I definitely feel that.”

"Got it. That’s actually a good sign, you should feel that. I'm going to lift your hips now, okay?”

His fingers move to pinch either side of my waist and Aiden jumps in, "Wait a sec, careful with the–”

"I know, I got it. Yeesh, I get that she's tiny but she's not nearly as fragile as you think, bro.” There’s a warm nudge against my ribs. "Does he always treat you like you're made of tissue paper?”

I smile against my pillow before responding, "Well, I did manage to handicap myself…”

"And look how well you're doing now, just a few weeks later with no stitches. You're a hardy lil’ thing. Alright, can you flip back over?”

I roll onto my back, and while I was getting used to Diego’s presence, now seeing him looming overhead like this is making me feel intimidated all over again. He pushes my knee up towards my stomach, then pulls it out to the side, and Jesus Christ his fingers are as big as mountain lions and one wrong move could snap a bone with ease– I shift my attention to the more distant face in the background, calling out to him as I try to stay distracted.

“Hey Aiden?" I yell, "Would you mind checking on Moira? She said she'd swing by today but if she's still sick…”

“Wait,” Diego interrupts, and he suddenly sits up straight. “Moira? Our Moira?” He swings his head around to look at the other giant. “You told her about this but you didn't tell me?”

Aiden’s already pulled his phone out to do what I’d asked, but then he pauses to give his friend a look. “Think about it.” He holds both hands out and gestures with the one holding the phone. “Gentle, sweet little Moira…” His other hand then motions to Diego. “...versus King Kong over here.”

“Alright alright, fuck, I get it,” the larger titan grumbles, turning back to me, “The little shrimp prefers littler people. Although I'm doing a pretty good job being 'gentle and sweet' - aren't I, Shrimp?” he quips, leaning in to give me a lighthearted smile.

I can see Aiden looking positively murderous at the choice of nickname that was just used. But before he can say anything, to my own surprise, I just start laughing and quip right back. “You're doing great, Kong.”

He laughs too, though his attention is back on his work as he finishes up one last leg stretch. “I like this girl. Sit up for me, Evie?”

I push myself up and turn to let my legs dangle over the edge of the bed. For the next minute or two he asks me to do a series of movements with both limbs - lifting each knee in turn, straightening each leg out, curling and spreading my toes, and so on. Finally it seems the exam has come to a close.

"I'm not an orthopedist,” Diego concludes, “but as far as I can tell, you've got good range of motion, and I don't think there was any nerve damage. My guess is that the recent pain's just from overdoing it without properly easing back into things. I'll write down some exercises for you to build that muscle back up, ‘kay? At the rate you’re going, I bet you won’t even feel anything two weeks from now.”

"Thank you,” I say, with a relieved sigh.

"Don't mention it! That was fun! Got my mind off this damn headache. Oh, by the way…” He rolls the chair back and glances between both Aiden and I while pointing over to the side of the desk. “I was looking through your first aid stuff earlier. We should probably get you guys some liquid bandage for emergencies, that’d be easier than using these kinds of dressings. Even Star uses it on some of the smaller animals.”

Damn. Having someone who's actually knowledgeable about this stuff is really coming in handy. But I'm distracted as I frown and look past Diego. “Who's Star?” I mouth in Aiden’s direction.

“His wife,” he explains. “She's that friend who's a vet at the place I worked at.” I’m still a little confused about the rather unusual name, and it's clearly showing on my face because he adds, “Her actual name's Estella. We call her that because–”

“Because she's the star of my life!” Diego interjects, sweeping his arms out dramatically, “The most beautiful, wonderful woman I could ever ask for!”

“...because he read her name wrong when he first met her,” Aiden continues with a growing smile, “He thought her name tag said 'Estrella.' Which is Spanish for–”

“Shut the fuck uuuup, dude!” The larger titan gets to his feet to wrap one beefy arm around his shorter friend’s neck in a headlock, “Why you always gotta make me look bad in front of new people?!”

The scene looks a little more intense from my perspective, but the two wrestling kaijus are both beaming and now I'm giggling too. I’m starting to get a sense of how their friendship works.

“You know,” Diego says suddenly, looking back down at me, “Star might actually be the better person to help you out with injuries, if something like this ever happens again. She's more used to tiny critters, I know she stitched up a hamster's leg before.” He pauses as he seems to think of something, looking between the both of us again. “I can tell her about this, right?”

Just like he did before this morning’s introduction, Aiden’s looking conflicted again, his smile quickly vanishing. “Um… You know I think Star’s great, but… we're really trying to keep this on the DL, man. Moira's the only other person who knows, we weren’t planning on telling anyone else yet.”

“Oh come on,” Diego whines, “You can't make me keep this a secret from her! I mean… I will if I have to, I'll just… pretend it's a HIPAA thing, I guess…”

I keep surprising myself this morning. It’s crazy what unloading a lifetime's worth of anxiety will do to a person. “No,” I call up, “It's alright, you can tell her. Just her, though… please.”

A wide, joyful grin lights up Diego’s face. “You got it, Shrimp! Don't worry, she can definitely keep a secret. Ohhhh and then you can meet her! How about it, we'll have you guys come over for dinner in a few days? It'll be great!”

I smile weakly, bracing myself as my world continues to expand. Honestly, it might very well be a boon to have both a nurse and a veterinarian to turn to for help if I’m dealing with any kind of medical issue. Yes, I’m still nervous about more people knowing about me. But at the same time, the thought of having a couple more friends in my circle… it doesn’t sound too bad.

[DocRick]

"Being careful not to wake him up too suddenly, I decide to approach the sleeping giant’s forehead and gently touch the dark hair of his bangs. He feels the slight tickle and frowns, his eyes squeezing tighter shut before relaxing again - he’s twitching a little but still asleep. I reach out a second time, placing my palm directly against his skin. The reaction is surprisingly different this time. He goes very, very still, but his eyes slowly start blinking open.

I smile and kiss his forehead. In one smooth motion, he both tilts his head up and pulls it backward to catch sight of me. He smiles sleepily and mutters, “Hey, you.”

“Good morning,” I say, sounding pretty out of it myself.”

[Nropyub]

Diego and I would definitely be having a conversation about manners and nicknames. I’d also probably insist on being the one to tell Estella if it was my lady that was little!

Great chapter again! Evie’s world is just a little bigger now. I hope Estella is nice.

[littlest-lily]

Ahhhhh that's so cute!!

Diego and I would definitely be having a conversation about manners and nicknames. I’d also probably insist on being the one to tell Estella if it was my lady that was little!

Great chapter again! Evie’s world is just a little bigger now. I hope Estella is nice.

Diego is a handful for sure lol. We'll see how it goes as the friend group expands!


Chapter 52
Evie

We hang out with Diego for a couple of hours that morning - afternoon? - while we wait for Star to get back from out of town. Aiden makes some food, and we fill in my new acquaintance on what actually happened to me back in February and how we’ve been managing since. I come to like the guy, even though he really is "a bit much." I’ll admit that I’m relieved when his wife finally swings by to pick him up. Thankfully there's no insisting on me needing to make her acquaintance today - even Diego figures he should probably talk to her first. I'm open to meeting her, but the past 24 hours have been a lot and I’m bone-tired.

Once he's gone, Aiden and I both agree that we need a nap in our own beds. After a good two hours of rest and eventually a light dinner, we finally start to feel more like ourselves again.

In a silent request to join him on his journey to the kitchen, I climb aboard the giant’s plate once we’ve finished eating. “Couch cuddles after this?” I suggest with a smile.

He perks up with a nod and delicately lifts the plate with me in tow. “Yes please.”

The dishes are tended to, and now we can finally relax together. Aiden lets out an audible exhale when he sits on the couch, and I'm already wriggling between his fingers in anticipation as he stretches his legs out and then lowers me to his stomach. I touch down just above his navel and collapse into a happy heap, sprawling out on his shirt as if I'm feeling out a luxurious bed. I'm shaken by a chuckle and look up to see a giant face gazing down at me from the sky, before it disappears as he leans all the way back onto the armrest.

That nap apparently gave me some good energy back. The hand that was carrying me settles just behind me to soon become my blanket, but I want to get closer to his face first, and I want to get there myself. I start climbing, grabbing at the thick fabric of his shirt to help me traverse the angled plain of his body. Up past his ribs, and then over the subtle hill of one of his pecs as I fight to stay stable through each rise and fall of his breath.

I think Aiden's enjoying my little escapade. I hear the occasional whoosh of a content sigh and his muscles seem to be relaxing underneath me. I'm still being mindful of my leg, so it takes me several minutes to traverse his torso. But finally I make it to the top of his chest, and I hoist myself over the tree root-like hump of his clavicle. I park my rear right in the dip above the collarbone, and I lay back, feeling rather proud of myself for journeying all the way up here. I'm getting pretty skilled at this whole being tiny business.

"You feel good," Aiden murmurs, and his hand finally catches up with me, an idle finger trailing against my arm.

"You are good," I respond, reaching up to kiss the base of his neck.

For a long while we don't need any more words. We just exist together, unburdened and at peace. The minutes pass in silence as I gaze up the length of the giant's neck and the underside of his jaw, taking in every last detail. It's a little strange - we're not the same people we were a day ago. At least, I'm not. The simple act of telling my story last night has left me feeling like a new woman.

But… I'm not sure how it makes him feel. I should probably check in on that.

I eventually sit up and shimmy over to the center of his chest so that I can slide down his sternum. As if stirring from sleep, despite being dutifully awake, Aiden turns and readjusts his head to watch my progress.

"Where to?" he asks with a curious smile.

I stop right above his diaphragm and turn to sit cross-legged with my face aimed upwards. I start the conversation gently.

“I just wanted to talk. And see where, um… where we stand, with everything? How are you doing with that bombshell I dropped on you last night?”

There's a pause as Aiden looks down at me thoughtfully. I'm more than willing to wait as he puts some order in his mind, keeping myself from getting too nervous by focusing on the ups and downs of his breathing. Then his hand slides up beside me, fingers already reaching around my frame.

"May I?" he asks, and when I nod he tenderly pinches the digits around my torso. He wants to sit up straighter for this conversation, so he readjusts himself and bends one knee up. That's where he places me, right on the balcony-sized surface of his kneecap so that I can have a steady seat. His fingertips linger at the edges of my waistline.

“Listen, um… First I’d like to mention something that's been on my mind…" he mutters. "I owe you an apology."

I raise my eyebrows. I can see it now, guilt and shame plain on his face, and I wonder where exactly it's all stemming from. I'm glad he kept his finger nearby so that I can hook my arm around it and tug it forward. He lets me, and I lay his fingertip on my lap, petting it like it's a cat.

A whisper of a smile graces his features, and he keeps going. "No matter how I was feeling last night, I should never have lost my temper the way I did. I shouldn't do that with anyone, but it's particularly unfair with you, since you can't just walk out of the room if it becomes too much. If I ever start getting really frustrated about something in the future, I promise I’ll step away first so I can keep my cool. I’m not usually quick to anger, I don’t see this being a big issue, but I’d rather address it…”

I slowly nod and look down to focus on the giant's finger in my lap. I absently start tracing vague shapes across the surface of his fingernail as I ponder my response.

"Thank you," I say, "I appreciate that. The more I've thought about it, though, the more I understand why you were so frustrated. I want to communicate more, I'll try to get better about opening up…" I stop making invisible doodles and look back up at him hesitantly. "But I'll say it now. I don't think it's quite like a switch. I'm so used to repressing everything…"

Aiden bends forward to kiss the top of my head, and then he hovers there. "That's alright. I can be patient, especially now that I better understand why. My communication hasn't always been the best either - I was blaming you for bottling up your feelings, but clearly I had a lot pent up too. We can work on it together."

I tilt my head up to return the kiss before he pulls away. My spirits are lifted by how much better it feels to speak from the heart and not constantly be trying to hide something. Things are already feeling healthier. And I want to keep going with this newfound open line of communication.

“Are you, um, sure you're not too freaked out by the fact that I have a stalker?" I ask with a tilt of the head. I can't help worrying, since literally everyone else I told had major problems with it.

Aiden raises his shoulders in a little shrug. "I don't want to make light of that. I'm concerned for you of course, but I'm not concerned for me, if that's what you're asking. I don't care who he is, I'm not abandoning you. If anything I'm honestly feeling more determined to keep you safe than ever."

"He hasn't stopped looking for me for almost five years," I insist, "He's probably still looking for me right now."

"Well, the good news is that right now…" Aiden lifts his finger up from my lap so that he can lightly bop the top of my head, "…you're very easy to hide."

I chuckle and reach up to grab his fingertip again, hugging it against me with a playful possessiveness. But then with a sobering tone I explain, "See, that's why I've been really wanting to hide."

He frowns. "I hate that he’s what’s keeping us from attempting to get you your life back."

"Well, I wasn’t lying about the rest of it," I say, "I’m still really intimidated by the idea of going public and having who knows what kind of tests run on me. But yeah… he’s at the center of it. I have no idea how he’d react to seeing me like this, but I don’t want to find out."

Aiden sets his jaw. "That's assuming he'd even see you like this… Let’s talk through it? Say we go to the local police. We tell them everything. What happens next?"

I feel a rush of fear take hold. Of course I'm still going to be afraid when I think about this. But now the difference is that I have someone else to lean on as I try to work things out. I take a deep breath.

"Whether he sees it on the news or finds my name in a police record or anything else… the second he knows where I am, I’m at risk of him finding me."

"But… he wouldn’t actually haul you away against your will, right? That’s… that’s kidnapping."

Yeah, he doesn’t quite get it. Maybe I need to share more of the nitty gritty details. I clench his finger a little tighter, holding it like my anchor as I revisit another painful memory.

"That night after he took me to the woods… when he knew I wanted out of the relationship… he locked me in the closet until morning. So that I could 'think things through.' The next day he decided he still didn’t feel like I could be trusted alone at home, so he tied me up and stuffed me into the pantry so that no one would hear me scream while he was at work. I managed to break out and that’s when I ran away but… no. I don’t think he’s above kidnapping me."

Aiden tenses up and looks heartbroken to hear what I've been through. “B-but he’s a cop,” he says with a tone of desperation, “Would he really double down and risk his job like that? He’s supposed to uphold the law, not break it…” I can tell by the look on his face that he’s not convincing himself whatsoever. It's not like police officers are universally model citizens, far from it.

But I opt to hammer it in. "He would do tons of stuff he shouldn't, all the time. Excessive speeding. Illegal gambling. Sex with a minor… He's taken criminal evidence home before just because he thought it was cool and wanted to show me. I doubt he was allowed to wave around his state-assigned firearm when he threatened his own life in the woods. I'm sure half the shit he's done to keep figuring out where I move away to isn't legal either. Not to mention the stalking itself. He totally thinks he's above the law."

I sigh as I gaze down towards Aiden's chest. "And honestly, he is above the law. For better or worse, he accomplished a lot out in the field. Saved lives in pretty dramatic fashion. Every precinct in our area saw him as this hero. Hence him being able to transfer so easily whenever I moved to a new county. He got along well with the other officers, did some favors to keep them in his pocket. They would always look the other way when he did something he shouldn't."

I shudder as I go back through our imaginary scenario of me revealing myself to the cops. "I really don't think I'll be safe with the local police, even if I tell them about him first. I think they would listen to him before they listen to me. Once I'm under their custody, all it takes is him pulling some strings. Or just sneaking me out."

"I won't let that happen!" Aiden interjects, "I'll never let him take you away."

There's a squeezing in my chest from pure appreciation. "I know you'd do what you can," I say softly, "But once shit hits the fan and other people are involved… you don't think I might get separated from you at some point? Even just for a little bit?"

He doesn't answer, just looks past me with concentration, trying to think of some kind of solution. I shrug as I try to take out the tension in the air.

"I might be wrong about all of it. Maybe the cops would be perfectly accommodating and listen to what I have to say. Or maybe my situation is so extreme that I'd be under enough scrutiny and he'd never get to me anyway. Hell, maybe Brock would have zero interest in me now that I'm tiny. Or we could go to a hospital and they run a few tests and fix this right away, before the police even find out. It just doesn't feel likely that it would be easy. I'm terrified of all the risks."

With a quiet sigh of defeat, Aiden nods. "I get it." The massive finger I'm holding comes to life, snaking its way up to touch my cheek as he repeats, "I get it. And I'm not exactly complaining, you know. I like you here, like this."

I smile, immediately comforted by him stroking the side of my face. "You know what?" I say, "Same. I really enjoy my life with you, as scary as it can get sometimes. I know I need to face all that stuff eventually, but I’d feel better if we waited a while, let Brock chase his tail for a bit so that he's hopefully far away when the time comes. If you’re okay with it, let’s stick with our original deal and talk about it again at the end of the year?"

He nods in agreement, and that settles that. Now taking on a more feline role, I rub my cheek against his fingertip, practically purring with affection. His other fingers give me little back scritches, and if this keeps going I'll surely melt into a little puddle and slide right off his knee.

But Aiden switches gears. He turns his palm to my back instead and nudges me with it. I understand that he's wanting to pick me up, so I start raising into a kneeled position and it's enough for him to scoop me right up into his hand.

"Speaking of liking you here. Can we address something else you said last night?" he asks, slowly lifting me higher. "About whether I like you… or the idea of you."

I half forgot that I admitted that. Alright. So far so good with this communication thing. Let's keep going.

"R-right…" I respond.

"I don’t want to assume anything. How much of that do you think is past trauma, versus something you’re legitimately worried about?"

"Uhhh." I sit there in silence for several seconds, frowning as I think things through. Finally I answer, "I don’t know if I’ve ever really thought about it being because of my history… But… damn. Yeah, come to think of it, Brock totally objectified me. His compliments were always about how I looked, and he had certain expectations too - he didn’t want me above a certain weight, for example. I knew that, but I didn’t realize that I might have been projecting some of that onto you. Shit, I… I’m sorry."

Aiden quickly shakes his head. "No, no, don’t apologize. Honestly, all that aside, I think it still makes sense that you’d worry I was just objectifying you too. I told you I'm into tiny girls, and then I turn around and tell you I like you, literally the next day. Of course you're going to have some doubts. So… I want to make it very clear."

He takes a deep breath and brings his other hand up so that they're both cupped around me, gently cradling my frame. I feel a blooming heat inside my chest.

"Yes, I like you little," he says, his hazel gaze bathing me with tender care. "I think you're the most beautiful person in the world, and this way I can see all of you so easily, hold all of you, all at once. I like it in the same way I like the rest of your body… like the shape of your legs, or how you smile with your eyes."

I can't help beaming fondly at him, inadvertently proving his point, and he breaks into an adoring chuckle, for a second overcome with emotion. I feel a prickling in the back of my eyes.

Aiden regains himself. "But when I think about us, I think about our conversations. I think about how good of a listener you are, and how you always know the right thing to say when I'm feeling down. I think about how fun it is to play a game with you, or how nice it is to relax together and watch a movie. I think about how excited you get about things, how infectious that is."

I'm starting to feel short of breath.

"I was falling for you just from our letters to each other. Where it hardly even matters how big the size difference is. You're so much more than what I can see on the outside - you’re creative and thoughtful and hardworking… and you make me feel like I'm actually worth something."

I rub a tear away with the heel of my hand.

"I don't care about the rest," he says, and he wipes another tear from my cheek with the pad of his thumb, "Whether you're Evelyn Frost, or Evie Ondine. Whether you're big or small. Whether you're happy or you're scared, no matter how strong you are or how weak you feel. None of it makes a difference to how I feel about you."

He lifts me higher to be eye level with him.

"Because I know you, Eve. And I'm in love with you."

My tears are falling freely now and my entire body is filled with heat. Tears are welling up in his eyes too but his smile cuts through them as he adds, "I’ve been wanting to really commit to you for a while. I guess I’m stumbling into that right now."

I catch myself before I start sobbing and shakily get to my feet in his hand.

"I don’t have such an eloquent speech prepared in exchange," I say breathlessly, "But I love you too, Aiden. If you'll have me… I'm yours."

He leans in to kiss me. Our joy overflows and we meld into each other as if we were made of pure light. It doesn't matter that to him I'm the size of a mouse, or that to me he's the size of a building. To us it's a perfect fit.

[DocRick]

It's about time these two opened their eyes and stopped putting up their own obstacles. I really thought I was gonna have to go over there and kick their butts.

[littlest-lily]

It's about time these two opened their eyes and stopped putting up their own obstacles. I really thought I was gonna have to go over there and kick their butts.

Haha well if they had everything fully figured out from the start there would be no story! But yes, I'm glad they're officially together now~


Chapter 53
Aiden

I'm slinking under the surface of the water, my eyes squinting upwards for my target. I can practically hear the Jaws' theme in the back of my mind as I approach, slowly… closer… closer…

I aim and ascend, breaking the surface of the water. I hear a playful shrieking, and I can feel that I successfully hit my mark from all of the wriggling that’s happening on top of my head. Evie grabs onto locks of wet hair as she tugs herself forward and reaches the edge of my forehead. I hold myself steady and aim my eyes upward, just able to make out some movement as she leans out.

“That scared the shit out of me!” she yells, though she’s laughing just as hard.

I chuckle in response, “What, you thought I didn’t see you?”

“It felt like you were gonna eat me!”

I flinch, surprised to see my tiny passenger launch herself forward just then, a blur in front of my face as she plops feet-first into the water. I’m mostly submerged, my chin just above the surface, but still - to her that was probably more like cliff jumping. I back up a little bit to catch sight of her, her figure obscured as she sinks a couple of inches down. We’re not in a deep pool, this particular spot being three or four feet deep at most, but it might as well be a lake for little Evie. Without issue, she pops out a few seconds later, fighting against the slight current I’ve just created with my body when I’d backed off.

“Well, now you’ve made it very easy for me to do just that,” I tease, and this time I “dun-dun” the Jaws theme out loud as I lower my chin into the water and slowly close the distance, letting my mouth briefly open wide as a playful threat. She doesn’t attempt to swim away, she just giggles, braces herself and accepts my overenthusiastic kiss as she’s briefly pushed underwater by my lips.

I finally give her a break, bringing my hands underneath her as I straighten back up again. I don’t lift her out of the water but just prop my cupped palms right below her feet so that she can comfortably stand. She fights to find her balance, leaning back against my fingers as she tries to recover from both the adrenaline and the laughter. I just hold my girlfriend there for a minute, gazing down at her with adoration.

God… I can actually call her that now. My beautiful little girlfriend. My love. My partner.

It’s been a couple of days since we made things official. Our entire relationship has formed so gradually that our interactions haven’t changed dramatically. But still, I feel like a middle schooler who just asked his first crush out and she said yes. Both of us have been a little giddy. Honestly, that’s probably more due to our heart-to-hearts and finally feeling like we have a solid line of communication now. But it also feels a bit like a honeymoon phase, and we’re happy to ride it out.

And what better way to do that than enjoy what summer has to offer? It’s downright hot outside these days, and Evie and I began tossing around the idea of finding a place to go swimming. I reached out to both Moira and Diego for any ideas on where we might find somewhere private, and that’s when Diego offered up the code to the swimming pool in his neighborhood. He warned that it wasn’t very big, but as a result not many people go and it’s fairly secluded. It seemed like the perfect solution. And since he also confirmed that her leg injury was okay to submerge underwater, our plan to come out here formed quickly from there. I'm glad we decided to go for it - we've been having a great time.

“If I didn’t have a fear of sea monsters before…” Evie pants, trailing off as she smirks up at me.

“Am I overdoing it? You’re just so easy to mess with in the water.” And since I can’t help myself, I accentuate my point by still supporting her feet with one hand while I start slowly twirling a finger in a circle around her with the other. The little waves I’m creating are just enough to destabilize her stance.

“I know, I feel that much more helpless!” she laughs, batting my finger away. “Just… don’t do anything that’ll actually make me spin too much and we’re cool. Unless you want me to throw up on you.”

For a moment I’m gently batting her hands right back, and then I pet her lovingly on the top of the head. “Let’s avoid that,” I concur as I take a quick look around to make sure the coast is still clear. No one's around, but I do realize something's missing. “Uh oh, the inner tube ran away, let me go get it. Want to swim around here or…?”

“No, bring me with. My leg muscle’s asking for a break and I should probably listen for once.”

“Attagirl. Up you go then.”

I get up to my full standing height while lifting Evie out of the pool. Seeing her shivering once the water has rushed away, I readjust her into a careful fist to keep her warm, so that nothing but her head is sticking out. I wade towards the donut-shaped inflatable that has drifted a little too far. This is her hiding spot in case someone shows up, so we’d rather it stay close by.

Once I reach it, I glance back down and pause. The tiny woman I'm holding has since slipped her arms out from my grasp and now has them folded in front of her on my thumb, her chin resting on them. She looks a little dazed, staring in my direction but without looking towards my face.

“Deep in thought?” I question, absently pulling the inner tube towards us with my free hand.

“Hm?” Evie snaps out of it and looks up at me before smiling smugly and shaking her head. “Nope. I’m just admiring my man. In the past, anytime you’ve walked around shirtless post-shower or whatever, I’d always look away... Now I can ogle you and it’s okay!”

“Oh is that how that works?" I feel a little self conscious but still grin in delight. I tilt my hand and loosen my grip just enough to be able to take a peek at the rest of her. "Says the girl wearing a sexy bikini. Does that mean I’m allowed to ogle you too?"

She laughs. “Does this count as a bikini?" She looks down at herself critically and adds, "I definitely don’t think it counts as sexy."

True, what she's wearing isn't quite what you'd see in a store. Evie owned exactly one swimsuit from before she was shrunk that was still in her suitcase. Apparently it dated back from when she lived with Brock, so she was all too eager to destroy it and utilize the material to make herself new miniature swimwear. Her top is wrapped around her chest and tied off over one shoulder, and the bottom is knotted off at each hip. The fabric has an intricate red and white pattern that keeps her nice and visible, and it's also very lightweight, which is important. If she was wearing her regular, water-absorbent cotton clothes, she'd probably sink like a rock.

I open my hand a little further to help her readjust into my palm, and my fingers actually feel a bit stiff as they unfurl. I… I touch her a lot, don't I? It's only natural, since me picking her up is largely how she gets around. But even though it's commonplace for us, that doesn't mean the simple act of me holding her doesn't feel intimate. Especially when there's this much bare skin for my fingers to casually run over. Luckily we've spent months as just friends so I've had plenty of experience with trying to really respect her, and I still have a strong determination to continue doing just that. But… it does take a lot of self control sometimes. A lot of holding myself back.

After a second or two of maybe some excessive staring at the length of her legs and the curve of her waist, I finally respond to her with, “It’s a two-piece swimsuit, right? Which makes it a bikini? And if you’re wearing it, then it’s sexy. Simple as that."

Evie giggles melodically as her cheeks go bright pink. “Thanks, babe," she says with a grin, and I get tingles all down my spine from her calling me that.

My ears prick up at the loud squeak of a metal hinge, and I catch movement out of the corner of my eye. Trying to look as nonchalant as possible, I bring my occupied hand over to the inner tube’s cupholder and slide my little secret right inside. She bounces in, gets her bearings, and quickly scrambles with the paper umbrella that’s already in there. It opens with a quiet pop and forms a light blue circle to cover the hole, effectively hiding her tiny figure from sight.

Keeping a hand on the inflatable, I let myself glance over to whoever just opened the entrance gate. Then the glance becomes eye contact and I smile widely.

“All good,” I say out loud in the direction of the paper umbrella, “You can come out, it’s Moira.”

Evie shoves the parasol aside and eagerly starts using it to help her climb up onto the edge of the cupholder. She sticks one little arm up to wave at our friend, and it’s enough for Moira to notice and wave back.

“Hey guys! Sorry I’m late. I was sitting in the parking lot for forever trying to end a phone conversation with my sister. It’s so hot out, I started roasting in the car...”

“Come over to the shade, then,” I say, taking the few steps to the edge of the pool to better greet her. Mo plops down a tote bag and steps out of her flip flops, then she sits down to dip her feet into the water with a sigh.

At this point Evie has apparently managed to climb out of the cup holder, since the next time I look over there she’s sliding off of the innertube completely. There are just a couple of feet between us and she starts swimming over like a little frog while us two larger folk chat and watch her with amusement. The shrunken girl nears Moira’s leg, who trails her foot through the water just enough to send a little wave in Evie’s direction.

“Kinda fun to mess with her in the water, huh?” I say with a chuckle.

“Weirdly fun,” she confirms.

“Thanks a lot, guys!” Evie laughs, and she gets close enough to latch onto her friend’s ankle. Moira carefully lifts her foot out of the water, tiny girl in tow, and reaches her hands out to take her in them. This way the smallest of us can join in on our conversation.

"Looking forward to dinner with the Ignacios on Friday?" Mo brings up.

"Yeah, that'll be… interesting," I say, crossing my arms and leaning my lower back against the wall of the pool. "I'm glad you'll be there too. Diego's been really excited, to no one's surprise."

"It's funny," Evie says from her spot in her friend's hands, "I legit look forward to it. I mean, I'm nervous of course, but at this point I've heard so much about how great Star is and I'm excited to meet her!"

Moira beams down at her. "Look how far you've come! I do think you'll like her. She's not quiiite as high energy as Diego but she's still super friendly."

Soon there's a lull in the conversation, and Evie and I share a look. We may have filled in Moira over text about what happened on Diego’s birthday. But there were certain things that we wanted to wait to talk about in person.

Finally I clear my throat and pipe up, “Hey, um, Moira? Just wanted to let you know…" I motion towards the tiniest of us with my chin, "that we’re a couple now."

“Oh my god! Really??" If her hands weren't occupied I think she would have clapped them to her mouth.

Evie nods and giggles. “We weren't sure if you'd already know."

“I mean… I knew. I figured it was a matter of time, I just wasn’t sure when you two would figure it all out! Aww, congrats, guys. I’m so happy for you." She brings Evie up to her face and then gives me an affectionate shove on the shoulder. It's really nice, not just making it official in private but with our mutual friend as well. Makes it feel all the more real.

I remember the other conversation topic that needs to be brought up and give Evie a quick nod before hoisting myself out of the water. “Actually, if you’ve got her, Mo, I’ll go grab some snacks. I left them in the car."

Leaving the two girls on their own, I’m toweling off as I step out into the parking lot. I don’t grab the food yet but just meander in the vicinity for a while, enjoying the feeling of the sun drying me off. Since I want to give them plenty of time, once I’m dry enough I go fetch my phone that I left in the car. I notice a new group text that has formed with Diego and Star.

S: Aiden, does Evie have any allergies or anything? I was thinking of making aguachile.

D: WAIT you can’t feed shrimp to the little shrimp!! That’s cannibalism :O

S: Oh right! Why didn’t I think of that :P

S: Actually, is salmon ok?

I smile at my phone. I still haven't fully decided if I'm nervous or excited about dinner in a couple of days. I like everyone there, but after months of secrecy this is all a bit out of my comfort zone. I go ahead and reply to the text, and they must be right by their phones as the conversation continues promptly.

A: Salmon’s great. Shrimp would have been fine too lol. She's not very picky

S: Be real with me, should I give her her own plate or is it better if she eats off of yours? I don't want to be rude and I don't know how to handle this

A: I'll bring over her plates and stuff, don't worry about that part

D: She plays Magic too right? Bring your decks, we can play after we eat!! I've already told Moira

S: Buncha nerds <3

Alright… I think I'm settling on feeling excited. My friends are good people, and that includes my girlfriend. I'm sure we'll all get along great.

I check the time, and it's been about half an hour. Hopefully that's enough? I gather up the snacks and go back to the pool gate, peering through the metal bars without opening the door yet.

Moira's inside the pool now with her arms folded on the edge, and she's put Evie down on a towel on solid ground. The larger one is looking very focused, still deep in conversation. I notice tears shining on her face. Good ol' Mo. Such a kind soul. I know it's not easy for Evie to recount everything from her past yet again, but she felt it was important to not just open up to me about it but to her other closest friend. And from just the glimpse that I'm seeing, Moira's being every bit as supportive and caring as I knew she'd be.

She catches sight of me hovering near the gate and waves me over. Even though they're still talking, I sheepishly walk in their direction and set the food down before I take a seat next to Evie.

Moira's in the process of sighing deeply. "I just want to give younger you the biggest hug, girl. Hell, I wish I could give you a big hug right now." She looks up at me from her spot down in the water. "Can you believe this shit?"

I nod sympathetically, slipping a supportive hand behind my tiny girlfriend's back. "Wish I didn't have to," I mutter. Evie tilts her head back to give me a weak smile and touches my finger tenderly. She looks a bit drained from the recounting, but she's handling it way better this second time around.

"No wonder you swore off dating," Moira says with a shake to her voice, rubbing at her tear-filled eyes. "I’m sure I would have done the same thing."

"You swore off dating?" I say with raised eyebrows, "Uh… oops."

Evie grips my hand tighter and lets out a breath of laughter. "Don’t worry. I definitely needed a break from it, but it all feels like so long ago. I'm glad you changed my mind."

"And no wonder you're always so determined to do everything yourself," Moira adds.

Both Evie and I pause and frown at this. "What do you mean?" she asks, tilting her head.

"Oh, I just figured, since you had what sounded like such a controlling ex…"

Moira trails off to a few seconds of silence. It's one of those moments where the insight seems obvious in retrospect, but apparently even the victim in the situation hadn't quite put it together. As it clicks in my brain, I feel a growing sense of determination.

I gaze down at my precious little partner, too small to reach anything or get anywhere without assistance. I want to make up for not just her size, but for all of the times that her mother and her ex tried to keep her under their thumb. I want to empower her, to help her find independence and self assurance in whatever way I can. The plan wouldn't solidify in my mind for another month or so, but this is the moment that a spark of an idea lights up inside of me.

[DocRick]

Did I get it fairly right?

[littlest-lily]

Did I get it fairly right?

Totally! Down to the swimsuit colors.


Chapter 54
Evie

I’m not sure what feels better right now… The warmth on my back from the sun, or the warmth on my front from my giant partner…

Alright, fine, that’s a complete lie. Of course it’s the warmth of the guy I’m head over heels for. It’s no contest.

Still, the sunbathing part is pretty nice. We’ve been spending a good chunk of the afternoon at the pool and I’ve enjoyed the fun of playing in the water, the catharsis of telling Moira about Brock, and now the relaxation of laying on Aiden’s back. He picked out a spot just by the pool that's under a tree to put down a couple of towels so that we’re not in direct sunlight, but the branches above us are patchy enough that the rays still partly reach us. I think he’s reading a book - or at least he was at first, but from how low his head is to the ground he might just be resting at this point.

Moira’s doing her own relaxing in the water, laying in the inner tube with her head hanging back. I’m practically falling asleep from my spot near my boyfriend’s spine, but when I see movement coming from my other giant friend I’m roused into being slightly more alert. She’s anchored the heel of her foot onto the edge of the pool to keep from drifting away so that she can chat with me.

"Evie, while I'm thinking about it - I have that silicone clay in the car for you, the kind that doesn’t dry out. Don't let me forget before we leave."

I sit up so that I have an easier time projecting my voice her way. "Oh awesome! Thanks, Moira, that's a huge help."

“No problem. Hey, I was looking at your reviews yesterday, by the way. You really need to start charging a little more. Everyone’s in love with your stuff! And your price points are way below the standard."

“Yeah, I know, I plan on upping the prices a bit with the next wave. I got those metallic paints so it felt justifiable since the armor and stuff should look better… I don't know, I feel weird making it more expensive for no reason. I kinda have an unfair advantage that lets me make all of those little details that people are praising me over.”

“I completely disagree. I’m sure overall you’re spending just as much if not more time and effort than the average person on these since they’re so much bigger to you. Know your worth, girl! Your work is beautiful so don’t sell yourself short.”

“She’s right,” Aiden mumbles from below.

I smile widely. “Thanks. I’m still new at this owning-my-own-business thing, but it’s been really great so far. I’ll get the hang of it.”

Moira loses her grip at that point and her heel slips off the stone. She giggles and waves helplessly as she starts drifting away again towards the other end of the pool. I return the wave then slide back down onto the warm, expansive mattress underneath me.

Several minutes pass, and then Aiden tugs at my attention when out of nowhere he chuckles a little. It’s quiet, subdued, but it still shakes me and so my eyes flutter open.

“What’s up?” I call out curiously.

“Nothing.”

I lift my head up. “Tell me!"

“I’m just picturing how you’d react if I tried to scratch the itch you’re causing. It's funny in my head.”

“Oh shoot, I’m causing an itch?”

“Barely. I think it’s more of a mental thing. I'm just hyper aware of your little body up there…” Like a wave passing under my paddle boat, I float up and down as he sighs deeply. “Don’t worry. I love it.”

But despite that I get up into a kneeling position with a blossoming smile. I start crawling up the length of his back, passing between his shoulder blades, until I reach the side of his neck. Still on my hands and knees, I playfully arch my back and rub up against him like a cat requesting attention, and when I actually start kissing his neck he shudders and I have to actively keep my balance.

“Y’know…” Aiden mutters, words slurring with how relaxed he is, “If this whole painting minis thing doesn’t work out, you could always open your own massage place. Just walk all over peoples’ backs, easy money.”

“I’m not sure any of this counts as an actual ‘massage’ though,” I counter. I take a seat so that I can start running my fingertips along his skin instead, satisfied at the way little bumps start rising up.

“Semantics,” he sighs, “Whatever it is, I never want you to stop.”

I won’t lie, it's pretty nice for me too. It’s just so gratifying to feel like I can give him any sort of pleasure like this. It’s actually kinda… stirring something inside of me. I lean in to kiss him again, and the simple sensation of his warmth against my lips creates a wave of my own goosebumps all up my back. My breath hitches and I close my eyes as I trail my nose along his neck.

“I don’t want to stop either,” I murmur.

But I guess the universe had different plans. Just then we hear the sound of voices in the distance, claps of laughter from an approaching family. In one smooth motion, Aiden reaches a hand up to encircle my frame between his fingers while lifting up onto his elbows. We’re not in the water so I can’t hide in the innertube, but his back is facing the gate that’s currently squeaking open, so I’m pretty easy to hide. He sets me down onto the towel, just underneath him, and he casually scoots his book a little closer to look like he'd always been reading it.

For the next half a minute, my partner’s having a silent conversation with Moira who’s at the other end of the pool, presumably exchanging looks with her to gauge if now is a good time to head out. But I’m… very distracted. Aiden’s naked chest is just above me, looming overhead like the ceiling of a gymnasium. His pecs are smooth and mostly bare, just very lightly brushed with dark hairs here and there, but leaving nothing to cover up the tone of his muscle. His shoulders are so broad, his neck long and towering as it trails up to his jaw. I let myself lay back on the towel and take it all in as if I was stargazing, my eyes darting from the faint shadow going up his middle to the lines of his collarbone to the curve of his Adam’s apple.

And then he suddenly looks down right at me, a smile softening his hazel gaze as he briefly takes me in too. “Ready?” he mouths, eyebrows lifting with the question. I’m sure I’m blushing fervently as I silently nod.

My mind’s all over the place. We’ve been at the pool for a while now, it’s an appropriate time to leave, but in reality I wish I could lay here a little longer. I briefly wonder how he’s going to sneak me out of here, which leads to me asking myself, Do his swim trunks have pockets? That would be quite the new experience - I’ve never been in his pants pockets before. The space would be tighter, the location more… awkward. Yeah okay, this line of thinking is dumb, and in any case, no, I’m pretty positive his swimsuit doesn’t have pockets.

And then to my own shock, my mind goes all the way into the gutter as I imagine myself hiding in it anyway. All it would take is him pulling back the waistband and–

Whoa, whoa, whoa! The hell am I thinking? I flip over, burying my face into the towel, mortified. Thankfully the giant above me doesn’t really seem to notice as he’s busy getting to a sitting position while also casually bunching up the sides of the towel to keep me hidden from sight. He doesn’t see how beet red I must be when he reaches over for his bag nearby to retrieve a shirt.

I more or less get a hold of myself by the time he puts the garment on. Moira has now joined too, a towel wrapped around her, and between the two of them and their bags and the fact that Aiden is turned away from the occupied strangers, it’s a pretty simple transfer for me to get into his shirt pocket unnoticed. The next few minutes are a little hazy as I'm taken along for a ride, back out to the parking lot. I pop out briefly to say goodbye to Mo, and before I know it we've started the drive towards home.

It’s not uncommon for me to sit in silence when in his pocket, even during car rides like this where we're alone, and I take advantage of that now as I lay back against the wall of my partner’s chest. My head feels heavy with the buzz of the intrusive feelings I was having earlier, and as I let my eyes close all I can see in my mind’s eye is Aiden, his massive form hovering over me, unknowingly presenting himself to my lustful stare. Even now his presence is overwhelming, so expansive and all-encompassing as I sit here contained against him. I lean into the corner of the pocket so that I can turn the front of my body towards the giant’s chest. I focus deeply on the sound of his heartbeat.

Ba-bump

I sigh softly, lightly hugging my arms against the wall. I’m so attracted to this man, inside and out. I both love him so purely while also lusting after him like a depraved hormonal teenager. What I'd give to be able to be in his world again, just for one night. To have uninhibited, uncomplicated sex with the person I adore most.

I picture him in front of me, imagining what he would look like if I was my old size again. I could touch so much more of him at once - I could press my mouth against his while my hands grip at his back and my leg hooks over his waist. We could wrestle and writhe together without having to be so cautious, until that deepest of intimacies as he slides inside me. How I took it for granted, the simple ability to become one with my partner.

Ba-bump

But then again, even in my fantasies Aiden's at least a little taller than I am. I suppose I actually enjoy a certain amount of height difference. In the picture I’ve formed in my head, the difference between us slowly starts to increase. I wonder how much shorter than him I could be before he wouldn't fit inside me anymore. Three feet tall maybe? Shorter than Moira, shorter than any adult I've ever met. But perhaps just tall enough?

Ba-bump

I know that sex is far more than one person inserting themselves into the other. What else could we do together? I mentally shrink myself from that three foot height, down to the size of a Barbie doll. Surely I would be able to accomplish something then and it would still feel good to him? I could use my hands, my mouth, something.

Ba-bump

But I’m not three feet tall, or even twelve inches tall. I’m so much smaller than that. I don’t really know what he looks like down there, but his manhood is probably bigger than I am. What could I possibly do to pleasure him at this three inch height? My touch is nothing more than a tickle. Enough to give him goosebumps, sure, but never enough to fully satisfy him, right? But there’s so much he could do to me. And it’s so easy for him to touch my entire body all at once. He’s just so incredibly powerful, it’s intoxicating.

Ba-bump

My breath has grown more and more shallow as I sit there and subtly squirm in Aiden’s pocket. God, I'm so sensitive right now that I can feel the vibrations of his heartbeat, the rhythm strong and steady. It tickles my chest, my stomach, and then I tilt my pelvis ever so slightly and feel small shocks of pleasure with every resonating thump.

Ba-bump

I can’t think straight anymore. My subconscious has just enough wherewithal to keep me quiet and relatively still, but I’m completely entranced with the giant’s presence as he unconsciously dominates my mind. As if moving of its own accord, my hand slips in between my legs.

Ba-bump

I haven’t even acknowledged my own arousal that I'm clearly caught up in, even though at this point my breathing has tripled in speed. Aiden suddenly makes a quiet noise, a small “hmm” in the back of his throat in reaction to something on the road. But to me it’s an intense vibration that bursts through my body. It rattles me and pushes me over the edge as I fill with heat and adrenaline and an overwhelming affection.

I gasp in shock at my own release. It wasn’t particularly amazing, it almost felt like tripping at the finish line, but still… did that seriously just happen?

My boyfriend seems to have noticed my gasping and responds, “You alright? Sorry, that car was making me nervous so I moved over, but I didn’t mean to swerve like that."

I hadn't even noticed any weird movements on the car's part. I was in a whole different world for a few minutes there. I shake my head, flustered. I can't believe I just did that right under his nose. Ugh, I'm such a creep.

“Oh, okay! No worries," I say, doing a surprisingly good job at playing it cool. Great, now I feel ashamed for hiding this from him. But I'm just too embarrassed right now to come clean.

This does make me realize something very clearly. I want to take my relationship with Aiden to the next level. I don't know if that's exactly what he would want or what possibilities are open to us. I'm also aware that he's going to be busy tonight grading his students' reports and I should probably hold off… But I need to bring this up with him soon. Very soon.

[DocRick]

Did I get it fairly right?

Totally! Down to the swimsuit colors.

[ROGU3_20]

[/quote]
Aiden’s naked chest is just above me, looming overhead like the ceiling of a gymnasium. His pecs are smooth and mostly bare, just very lightly brushed with dark hairs here and there, but leaving nothing to cover up the tone of his muscle. His shoulders are so broad, his neck long and towering as it trails up to his jaw. I let myself lay back on the towel and take it all in as if I was stargazing, my eyes darting from the faint shadow going up his middle to the lines of his collarbone to the curve of his Adam’s apple.

My mind’s all over the place. We’ve been at the pool for a while now, it’s an appropriate time to leave, but in reality I wish I could lay here a little longer. I briefly wonder how he’s going to sneak me out of here, which leads to me asking myself, Do his swim trunks have pockets? That would be quite the new experience - I’ve never been in his pants pockets before. The space would be tighter, the location more… awkward. Yeah okay, this line of thinking is dumb, and in any case, no, I’m pretty positive his swimsuit doesn’t have pockets.

And then to my own shock, my mind goes all the way into the gutter as I imagine myself hiding in it anyway. All it would take is him pulling back the waistband and–

Whoa, whoa, whoa! The hell am I thinking? I flip over, burying my face into the towel, mortified. Thankfully the giant above me doesn’t really seem to notice as he’s busy getting to a sitting position while also casually bunching up the sides of the towel to keep me hidden from sight. He doesn’t see how beet red I must be when he reaches over for his bag nearby to retrieve a shirt.

It’s not uncommon for me to sit in silence when in his pocket, even during car rides like this where we're alone, and I take advantage of that now as I lay back against the wall of my partner’s chest. My head feels heavy with the buzz of the intrusive feelings I was having earlier, and as I let my eyes close all I can see in my mind’s eye is Aiden, his massive form hovering over me, unknowingly presenting himself to my lustful stare. Even now his presence is overwhelming, so expansive and all-encompassing as I sit here contained against him. I lean into the corner of the pocket so that I can turn the front of my body towards the giant’s chest. I focus deeply on the sound of his heartbeat.

I sigh softly, lightly hugging my arms against the wall. I’m so attracted to this man, inside and out. I both love him so purely while also lusting after him like a depraved hormonal teenager. What I'd give to be able to be in his world again, just for one night. To have uninhibited, uncomplicated sex with the person I adore most.

I picture him in front of me, imagining what he would look like if I was my old size again. I could touch so much more of him at once - I could press my mouth against his while my hands grip at his back and my leg hooks over his waist. We could wrestle and writhe together without having to be so cautious, until that deepest of intimacies as he slides inside me. How I took it for granted, the simple ability to become one with my partner.

But then again, even in my fantasies Aiden's at least a little taller than I am. I suppose I actually enjoy a certain amount of height difference. In the picture I’ve formed in my head, the difference between us slowly starts to increase. I wonder how much shorter than him I could be before he wouldn't fit inside me anymore. Three feet tall maybe? Shorter than Moira, shorter than any adult I've ever met. But perhaps just tall enough?


I know that sex is far more than one person inserting themselves into the other. What else could we do together? I mentally shrink myself from that three foot height, down to the size of a Barbie doll. Surely I would be able to accomplish something then and it would still feel good to him? I could use my hands, my mouth, something.

But I’m not three feet tall, or even twelve inches tall. I’m so much smaller than that. I don’t really know what he looks like down there, but his manhood is probably bigger than I am. What could I possibly do to pleasure him at this three inch height? My touch is nothing more than a tickle. Enough to give him goosebumps, sure, but never enough to fully satisfy him, right? But there’s so much he could do to me. And it’s so easy for him to touch my entire body all at once. He’s just so incredibly powerful, it’s intoxicating.

My breath has grown more and more shallow as I sit there and subtly squirm in Aiden’s pocket. God, I'm so sensitive right now that I can feel the vibrations of his heartbeat, the rhythm strong and steady. It tickles my chest, my stomach, and then I tilt my pelvis ever so slightly and feel small shocks of pleasure with every resonating thump.


I can’t think straight anymore. My subconscious has just enough wherewithal to keep me quiet and relatively still, but I’m completely entranced with the giant’s presence as he unconsciously dominates my mind. As if moving of its own accord, my hand slips in between my legs.

I haven’t even acknowledged my own arousal that I'm clearly caught up in, even though at this point my breathing has tripled in speed. Aiden suddenly makes a quiet noise, a small “hmm” in the back of his throat in reaction to something on the road. But to me it’s an intense vibration that bursts through my body. It rattles me and pushes me over the edge as I fill with heat and adrenaline and an overwhelming affection.

I gasp in shock at my own release. It wasn’t particularly amazing, it almost felt like tripping at the finish line, but still… did that seriously just happen?

I hadn't even noticed any weird movements on the car's part. I was in a whole different world for a few minutes there. I shake my head, flustered. I can't believe I just did that right under his nose. Ugh, I'm such a creep.

“Oh, okay! No worries," I say, doing a surprisingly good job at playing it cool. Great, now I feel ashamed for hiding this from him. But I'm just too embarrassed right now to come clean.

This does make me realize something very clearly. I want to take my relationship with Aiden to the next level. I don't know if that's exactly what he would want or what possibilities are open to us. I'm also aware that he's going to be busy tonight grading his students' reports and I should probably hold off… But I need to bring this up with him soon. Very soon.
[/quote]

hoo boy! Eve, slow down there! As Aiden may also have those kinds of thoughts (circa Part 1), hold it down for now and even i have trouble seeing if if you did the deed at your current size.

[ROGU3_20]

Aiden’s naked chest is just above me, looming overhead like the ceiling of a gymnasium. His pecs are smooth and mostly bare, just very lightly brushed with dark hairs here and there, but leaving nothing to cover up the tone of his muscle. His shoulders are so broad, his neck long and towering as it trails up to his jaw. I let myself lay back on the towel and take it all in as if I was stargazing, my eyes darting from the faint shadow going up his middle to the lines of his collarbone to the curve of his Adam’s apple.

My mind’s all over the place. We’ve been at the pool for a while now, it’s an appropriate time to leave, but in reality I wish I could lay here a little longer. I briefly wonder how he’s going to sneak me out of here, which leads to me asking myself, Do his swim trunks have pockets? That would be quite the new experience - I’ve never been in his pants pockets before. The space would be tighter, the location more… awkward. Yeah okay, this line of thinking is dumb, and in any case, no, I’m pretty positive his swimsuit doesn’t have pockets.

And then to my own shock, my mind goes all the way into the gutter as I imagine myself hiding in it anyway. All it would take is him pulling back the waistband and–

Whoa, whoa, whoa! The hell am I thinking? I flip over, burying my face into the towel, mortified. Thankfully the giant above me doesn’t really seem to notice as he’s busy getting to a sitting position while also casually bunching up the sides of the towel to keep me hidden from sight. He doesn’t see how beet red I must be when he reaches over for his bag nearby to retrieve a shirt.

It’s not uncommon for me to sit in silence when in his pocket, even during car rides like this where we're alone, and I take advantage of that now as I lay back against the wall of my partner’s chest. My head feels heavy with the buzz of the intrusive feelings I was having earlier, and as I let my eyes close all I can see in my mind’s eye is Aiden, his massive form hovering over me, unknowingly presenting himself to my lustful stare. Even now his presence is overwhelming, so expansive and all-encompassing as I sit here contained against him. I lean into the corner of the pocket so that I can turn the front of my body towards the giant’s chest. I focus deeply on the sound of his heartbeat.

I sigh softly, lightly hugging my arms against the wall. I’m so attracted to this man, inside and out. I both love him so purely while also lusting after him like a depraved hormonal teenager. What I'd give to be able to be in his world again, just for one night. To have uninhibited, uncomplicated sex with the person I adore most.

I picture him in front of me, imagining what he would look like if I was my old size again. I could touch so much more of him at once - I could press my mouth against his while my hands grip at his back and my leg hooks over his waist. We could wrestle and writhe together without having to be so cautious, until that deepest of intimacies as he slides inside me. How I took it for granted, the simple ability to become one with my partner.

But then again, even in my fantasies Aiden's at least a little taller than I am. I suppose I actually enjoy a certain amount of height difference. In the picture I’ve formed in my head, the difference between us slowly starts to increase. I wonder how much shorter than him I could be before he wouldn't fit inside me anymore. Three feet tall maybe? Shorter than Moira, shorter than any adult I've ever met. But perhaps just tall enough?


I know that sex is far more than one person inserting themselves into the other. What else could we do together? I mentally shrink myself from that three foot height, down to the size of a Barbie doll. Surely I would be able to accomplish something then and it would still feel good to him? I could use my hands, my mouth, something.

But I’m not three feet tall, or even twelve inches tall. I’m so much smaller than that. I don’t really know what he looks like down there, but his manhood is probably bigger than I am. What could I possibly do to pleasure him at this three inch height? My touch is nothing more than a tickle. Enough to give him goosebumps, sure, but never enough to fully satisfy him, right? But there’s so much he could do to me. And it’s so easy for him to touch my entire body all at once. He’s just so incredibly powerful, it’s intoxicating.

My breath has grown more and more shallow as I sit there and subtly squirm in Aiden’s pocket. God, I'm so sensitive right now that I can feel the vibrations of his heartbeat, the rhythm strong and steady. It tickles my chest, my stomach, and then I tilt my pelvis ever so slightly and feel small shocks of pleasure with every resonating thump.


I can’t think straight anymore. My subconscious has just enough wherewithal to keep me quiet and relatively still, but I’m completely entranced with the giant’s presence as he unconsciously dominates my mind. As if moving of its own accord, my hand slips in between my legs.

I haven’t even acknowledged my own arousal that I'm clearly caught up in, even though at this point my breathing has tripled in speed. Aiden suddenly makes a quiet noise, a small “hmm” in the back of his throat in reaction to something on the road. But to me it’s an intense vibration that bursts through my body. It rattles me and pushes me over the edge as I fill with heat and adrenaline and an overwhelming affection.

I gasp in shock at my own release. It wasn’t particularly amazing, it almost felt like tripping at the finish line, but still… did that seriously just happen?

I hadn't even noticed any weird movements on the car's part. I was in a whole different world for a few minutes there. I shake my head, flustered. I can't believe I just did that right under his nose. Ugh, I'm such a creep.

“Oh, okay! No worries," I say, doing a surprisingly good job at playing it cool. Great, now I feel ashamed for hiding this from him. But I'm just too embarrassed right now to come clean.

This does make me realize something very clearly. I want to take my relationship with Aiden to the next level. I don't know if that's exactly what he would want or what possibilities are open to us. I'm also aware that he's going to be busy tonight grading his students' reports and I should probably hold off… But I need to bring this up with him soon. Very soon.

hoo boy! Eve, slow down there! As Aiden may also have those kinds of thoughts (circa Part 1), hold it down for now and even i have trouble seeing if if you did the deed at your current size.

[ROGU3_20]

Aiden’s naked chest is just above me, looming overhead like the ceiling of a gymnasium. His pecs are smooth and mostly bare, just very lightly brushed with dark hairs here and there, but leaving nothing to cover up the tone of his muscle. His shoulders are so broad, his neck long and towering as it trails up to his jaw. I let myself lay back on the towel and take it all in as if I was stargazing, my eyes darting from the faint shadow going up his middle to the lines of his collarbone to the curve of his Adam’s apple.

My mind’s all over the place. We’ve been at the pool for a while now, it’s an appropriate time to leave, but in reality I wish I could lay here a little longer. I briefly wonder how he’s going to sneak me out of here, which leads to me asking myself, Do his swim trunks have pockets? That would be quite the new experience - I’ve never been in his pants pockets before. The space would be tighter, the location more… awkward. Yeah okay, this line of thinking is dumb, and in any case, no, I’m pretty positive his swimsuit doesn’t have pockets.

And then to my own shock, my mind goes all the way into the gutter as I imagine myself hiding in it anyway. All it would take is him pulling back the waistband and–

Whoa, whoa, whoa! The hell am I thinking? I flip over, burying my face into the towel, mortified. Thankfully the giant above me doesn’t really seem to notice as he’s busy getting to a sitting position while also casually bunching up the sides of the towel to keep me hidden from sight. He doesn’t see how beet red I must be when he reaches over for his bag nearby to retrieve a shirt.

It’s not uncommon for me to sit in silence when in his pocket, even during car rides like this where we're alone, and I take advantage of that now as I lay back against the wall of my partner’s chest. My head feels heavy with the buzz of the intrusive feelings I was having earlier, and as I let my eyes close all I can see in my mind’s eye is Aiden, his massive form hovering over me, unknowingly presenting himself to my lustful stare. Even now his presence is overwhelming, so expansive and all-encompassing as I sit here contained against him. I lean into the corner of the pocket so that I can turn the front of my body towards the giant’s chest. I focus deeply on the sound of his heartbeat.

I sigh softly, lightly hugging my arms against the wall. I’m so attracted to this man, inside and out. I both love him so purely while also lusting after him like a depraved hormonal teenager. What I'd give to be able to be in his world again, just for one night. To have uninhibited, uncomplicated sex with the person I adore most.

I picture him in front of me, imagining what he would look like if I was my old size again. I could touch so much more of him at once - I could press my mouth against his while my hands grip at his back and my leg hooks over his waist. We could wrestle and writhe together without having to be so cautious, until that deepest of intimacies as he slides inside me. How I took it for granted, the simple ability to become one with my partner.

But then again, even in my fantasies Aiden's at least a little taller than I am. I suppose I actually enjoy a certain amount of height difference. In the picture I’ve formed in my head, the difference between us slowly starts to increase. I wonder how much shorter than him I could be before he wouldn't fit inside me anymore. Three feet tall maybe? Shorter than Moira, shorter than any adult I've ever met. But perhaps just tall enough?


I know that sex is far more than one person inserting themselves into the other. What else could we do together? I mentally shrink myself from that three foot height, down to the size of a Barbie doll. Surely I would be able to accomplish something then and it would still feel good to him? I could use my hands, my mouth, something.

But I’m not three feet tall, or even twelve inches tall. I’m so much smaller than that. I don’t really know what he looks like down there, but his manhood is probably bigger than I am. What could I possibly do to pleasure him at this three inch height? My touch is nothing more than a tickle. Enough to give him goosebumps, sure, but never enough to fully satisfy him, right? But there’s so much he could do to me. And it’s so easy for him to touch my entire body all at once. He’s just so incredibly powerful, it’s intoxicating.

My breath has grown more and more shallow as I sit there and subtly squirm in Aiden’s pocket. God, I'm so sensitive right now that I can feel the vibrations of his heartbeat, the rhythm strong and steady. It tickles my chest, my stomach, and then I tilt my pelvis ever so slightly and feel small shocks of pleasure with every resonating thump.


I can’t think straight anymore. My subconscious has just enough wherewithal to keep me quiet and relatively still, but I’m completely entranced with the giant’s presence as he unconsciously dominates my mind. As if moving of its own accord, my hand slips in between my legs.

I haven’t even acknowledged my own arousal that I'm clearly caught up in, even though at this point my breathing has tripled in speed. Aiden suddenly makes a quiet noise, a small “hmm” in the back of his throat in reaction to something on the road. But to me it’s an intense vibration that bursts through my body. It rattles me and pushes me over the edge as I fill with heat and adrenaline and an overwhelming affection.

I gasp in shock at my own release. It wasn’t particularly amazing, it almost felt like tripping at the finish line, but still… did that seriously just happen?

I hadn't even noticed any weird movements on the car's part. I was in a whole different world for a few minutes there. I shake my head, flustered. I can't believe I just did that right under his nose. Ugh, I'm such a creep.

“Oh, okay! No worries," I say, doing a surprisingly good job at playing it cool. Great, now I feel ashamed for hiding this from him. But I'm just too embarrassed right now to come clean.

This does make me realize something very clearly. I want to take my relationship with Aiden to the next level. I don't know if that's exactly what he would want or what possibilities are open to us. I'm also aware that he's going to be busy tonight grading his students' reports and I should probably hold off… But I need to bring this up with him soon. Very soon.

hoo boy! Eve, slow down there! As Aiden may also have those kinds of thoughts (circa Part 1), hold it down for now and even i have trouble seeing if if you did the deed at your current size.

[littlest-lily]

hoo boy! Eve, slow down there! As Aiden may also have those kinds of thoughts (circa Part 1), hold it down for now and even i have trouble seeing if if you did the deed at your current size.

Yeeeeeeaaaah about that... :P


Chapter 55
Aiden

I’m in heaven right now.

The day didn't start out so great. I almost got hit by a car this morning while crossing the street, and then I had a really rough day at work, so I was a bundle of nerves when I got home. But Evie has helped all of those layers of stress just melt away. She gave me a particularly sweet love note that she’d folded up into a heart-shaped origami, we’ve had a simple oven-baked meal, I’ve showered and freshened up, we talked for a good long while and… now we’re making out on the couch. Like I said, heaven.

I’m splayed out on my front, elbows propping me up and feet hanging over one side of the couch, while my girlfriend’s sitting on the armrest on the other side. I can’t imagine what it’s like for her, but the feeling of her warm, delicate little body against my mouth is like nothing else. I’ve been mostly focusing on kissing her torso as I tilt my head to the side, so that her face is still in my line of vision just past my cheek. But she’s determined to lean in, out of sight, and press her tiny lips against mine time and time again, so I frequently let my eyes close and just focus on the physical sensations. There's the dip of her waist… that's her entire forearm gently pushing against my upper lip… oh, yup, those are her boobs… Fuuuuuck yes.

At one point Evie lays back on the armrest to catch her breath, and we share a quiet laugh as I relent and force my mouth to give it a rest. She sighs happily and says, "If anyone had told me how much I would enjoy being kissed by a giant man, there's no way I would've believed it."

I chuckle and nudge her leg with my nose. "It's less of a surprise to me, that I enjoy this, but still… I guess we lucked out."

She sits up high enough to kiss the tip of my nose, and then I pull back far enough to get a good look at her. Really take her in. She had been absently braiding a few strands of her hair while we were chatting earlier, and now they've mostly unraveled but add a few waves to the chestnut brown locks. She's wearing a dark blue dress that looks cozy in the way it drapes over her body, and for the first time I notice some kind of tiny gold embroidery that lines the hem. Her miniscule cheeks are flush with a soft pink. She's biting the very edge of her smile. So many beautiful details.

I also notice the look in her eyes. I melt at the sight of my adoration reflected back at me through her own lens. But there's also something else there… a sadness? A pain of some kind? I'm not sure.

"You okay?" I ask softly.

She blinks and perks up. "Yeah, I'm fine."

I arch an eyebrow at her. "You know that response has become a bit of a red flag for me, yeah? It's like… the opposite of the boy who cried wolf."

She laughs, and it sounds genuine enough that I feel a modicum of relief. "I get that," she says with a nod, "I know I'm still working on expressing everything... But I promise there's no wolf. I really am fine - great, even. I just…” She pauses for several seconds, deliberating before she simply says, “I just want you."

Aww. I give her a wide, loving smile. "Well, you're in luck. I'm all yours."

"Aiden…" Evie bites her lip again, and that look in her eyes returns. A yearning, I realize. Her voice comes out with a sigh, "I really. Really. Want you."

It takes me a second to get the true implication here. I suddenly see the blush on her face in a new light. I had already started feeling a tightness in my pants a long time ago, but this is the first time that I’m seeing clear signs of a similar level of desire on her part. My pulse quickens and causes a short circuit in my brain.

My girlfriend's vulnerability catches up with her and her skin flushes a shade pinker. "I’ve honestly been really distracted lately, I’ve been thinking about this a lot. B-but I'm not sure exactly what it would… entail," she stutters. "I don't… suppose… you have any ideas?"

I start pushing myself up into a sitting position, trying to stay as calm as possible. "Sorta," I mumble, "Um. How about we just…" I make sure my hands aren’t shaking before I reach up to her. "...meander to the bedroom and…” I maneuver my fingers under her body. “...see where things lead?"

Despite both of us clearly being flustered, I still manage a gentle smile and a tender kiss on her forehead once I've lifted her up. This gesture is so easy for me now, I don’t even have to think at all about aiming when I kiss her. She might as well be an extension of my hand.

Okay. I need to be really careful here. I can't let myself get too excited. I don't want to pressure her and, depending on where things go, I especially don't want to hurt her. Honestly, the thought of my wild fantasies coming true in any capacity is freaking me out a lot more than I thought it would. I'm still haunted by some of the trials we've been through - like my unconscious assault, or that night on Diego's birthday when she was forcing herself into a sexual situation just to please me. That's probably why I haven't made any moves myself yet. She might look eager now, but I want to be particularly careful about not pushing her past her comfort level. I set my expectations very low as I walk over to my bed.

Holding Evie aloft, I carefully climb onto the mattress and lower my head to the pillow. Then I set her down on it too, a few inches in front of my face. She turns towards me onto her side, propping her head up with an arm and attempting a playful smile. We're not any closer than we were a minute ago, but the fact that we're in bed together like this is creating a whole different atmosphere.

"Obviously you can't… um… fit," she says nervously, fiddling with a fold in the fabric. "I'm just really worried that there's not much I can do for you."

I take a deep breath in. "Trust me, there's plenty you can do for me," I respond quietly, "But let's take things slow. I don't want to overwhelm you."

Evie searches my face, her eyes roaming what must be a vast distance from the top of my head to the base of my neck. Her voice is a little weak but still determined. "I just want to know, even if we don't do it now. How? How can I make you feel good? I can try and like… massage it? But it would hardly be anything to you…"

My stomach is doing somersaults at this point. "Trust me," I repeat, "That would feel amazing to me. This is part of my kink, remember? I'm… I'm excited just thinking about it." My mouth feels dry so I close it and swallow before I try to speak again. "But there are plenty of other sensitive spots. Plus, touching you already does so much for me."

Latching on to one particular detail, my little partner smirks as her eyes light up. "Sensitive spots? Like what?"

"That's… classified," I mumble.

"You're really nervous too, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. Just because I've imagined this kind of thing doesn't mean I have all the answers. I don't want to hurt you by accident… Honestly, the idea of you going anywhere down there kinda stresses me out right now."

She ponders this for a moment and then reaches both arms out towards me. Knowing what she wants from the way she aims lower than my face, I slide a hand into the space between us and offer her my index finger. She takes it in her arms, kissing it a couple of times before holding it against her. She tucks her knees around each side of the digit too and I vaguely wonder if this makes me the little spoon.

"At the risk of sounding selfish…" she says, "Would you rather we just focus on me then? For this time at least?"

I immediately nod with relief. "Yes. I would. If that's okay with you? I want to make sure you're not forcing yourself this time, are you sure you're ready to explore this?"

"A thousand percent. My past relationship with sex is complicated, it was super unhealthy with my first ex, but I did a whole lot of healing with my second one. I promise you, I want this. I'll let you know if anything's wrong."

"Alright… Maybe we should use a safe word, just in case? Of course I'll stop if you tell me to stop, but if for any reason that's too hard to say, maybe we could…"

"Yeah okay, that's a good idea. I've used the traffic light method before. Green light meaning all good, yellow is slow down and evaluate, red is stop everything."

"Got it. No problem."

"I'll be surprised if we need it though... We both know you can touch me anywhere and it'll feel great." The longer we talk like this, the more we're starting to loosen up, just a bit. Evie's smirk is veering more towards seductive. "Noticed where any of my sensitive spots are?"

"Mmmm… right here?" I suggest. I keep my forefinger in place and use my middle finger to brush against a spot near her waist. "I've noticed that when I pass over your ribs you tend to…"

She shudders, and it's the exact reaction I was looking for. I'm laying so close to her that I can actually make out the near microscopic goosebumps on her arms. Her pleasure is entrancing.

"Uh-huh. You'd guess right," she sighs, "The entire sides of my torso are actually pretty sensitive." The next sound she makes is a frustrated groan. "God, Aidennn… I'm so attracted to you…"

“Ditto,” I mutter with a matching sigh.

“You're attracted to you too?” she giggles. I smile but I figure she’s just being silly and nervous and she doesn’t actually expect a response. Evie slowly unravels herself from my finger and flops onto her back, her face still in my direction. “I can’t stop thinking about when we went swimming yesterday… When I got to see a little… more of you.”

Well then, she’s just taking all of the steps forward, isn’t she? I grin at the implied request and lift my head up from the pillow, cautious about not destabilizing her. Then I sit up sharply and promptly take my shirt off.

“You mean like this?” I say, tossing the garment off the side of the bed. Evie’s blinking up at me wide-eyed, looking a little overwhelmed by how quickly I’ve moved, and then she takes me in hungrily. I go for a playful looming, propping my hands by either side of the pillow so that I can look straight down at my little one from above. This slightly dominant gesture is making me ache longingly from the inside out.

She’s laying on her back and I can’t help but notice that one of her hands is drifting over a spot just below her stomach. In fact… it looks like she might be thumbing the waistband of her shorts through her dress…

She’s trying to give me a frisky smile in return, though she's a bit too overcome to manage it. Her voice is a little weak but I still catch it when she says, “Man… I need to remember to thank Diego for dragging you to the gym so often."

I laugh. “Please don’t. He already mocks me relentlessly for not being able to put on nearly as much muscle as he does.”

“Well, lucky for me, I prefer your tone to his bulk,” Evie chirps, and I swear she’s started pressing her legs together under that dress… subtly moving them this way and that… The fact that I'm intentionally towering over her like this is definitely enough to feed my own arousal, but apparently I’m not the only one affected. Damn, she just looks so adorable down there.

A few moments later, the tiny woman reaches an arm out to pat the space that’s next to her. “Okay, okay, I’ve done enough staring… Can you come back?”

I close back in, swooping down to lay my face alongside her again, and the weight of my head causes her body to rise as the pillow buckles. It was such a small gesture for me and yet enough to make her lose her balance… She's just so little. So delicate and enticing. As she lays on her side, the ups and downs of the hills of her body call out to me. I just want to touch her again, so my hand sneaks in from behind and I explore the miniscule bumps of her neck and shoulders as we gaze into each other's eyes.

"I can't stop staring either," I say wistfully.

Evie's muscles stiffen a little bit and she mumbles, "I guess it’s only fair if I…" Her hands drift down and gather up the hem of her dress, which started just over her knees. It's now slowly crawling up higher as she tugs at it.

She freezes then, hesitating. Her jaw tightens and her gaze droops lower as the seconds drag. I get it - this is a big step. I lift my head up just enough to slide my face towards her, pressing my lips against her forehead.

“No pressure, sweet girl," I say soothingly, "Only whatever you’re comfortable with." I shift back but am still only inches away, and it suddenly strikes me just how big and prying my eyes might look to her. “Am I too close?"

“No," she says quickly. "I want you to be close… I really want to do this."

I’ve seen her naked before. It was just for a split second, an accident, and it was immediately followed by her distress as she tried to cover up. I now experience the exact opposite end of the spectrum. Evie’s movements are slow and deliberate as she pulls her dress up higher and reveals more and more thigh. She’s wearing shorts underneath, black and form fitting, accentuating the length of her graceful, slender legs. Her hips transition into her waist as she uncovers her abdomen. And then with one smooth, lightly undulating motion she pulls the dress right over the top of her head. For a second my eyes dart straight to her breasts, spectacularly bare, modest in size and perfect in shape. Then as she slips off the garment I see her face again, flush, her hair tumbling over her shoulders, framing the dainty shape of her body with the slightest unkempt flair.

She’s so close to me. I’m suddenly seeing that much more of her skin and it’s all right in front of my face. It hardly seems fair that I can take in so much of her from such close proximity. My shrunken partner lets her dress fall to the side and for a second she just looks up at me as if awaiting judgment with bated breath. But then she sees my expression and reacts with a heart-melting little giggle. She puts her hands out in front of her like she's warming herself by a campfire.

“I think I can feel the heat coming off your face from here,” she remarks teasingly.

I open my mouth a couple of times, trying to think with my brain for a second. Finally I manage to whisper, “You’re just so gorgeous, Eve... I just… You’re… I mean…” I pause with a slight shake of the head. “Words are hard.”

She smiles and sits up a little straighter on the pillow, pivoting her lower half so that her legs are folded beside her. Between her posture and the way her hair spills over the curves of her body, she looks like a tiny mermaid.

“I used to feel a bit more confident in how I look," she says with a waver to her voice, "I just can’t shake the feeling that I don’t have much to offer. Like, literally.”

“It is… so much. Seriously. I feel like I’m falling in love all over again.”

We've gone back to simply gazing at each other. My hand is still close by, hovering just behind her back. But I can't get myself to make contact this time. It just seems too risky, somehow. She's just so exposed, and combined with her nervous expression it makes her look oddly helpless. It's like I'm afraid of breaking her, as if she was made of glass.

I notice a shivering in Evie's body. In response, I open my mouth to gently breathe on her. The warm air is enough to cause a flutter in her hair and a relaxing of her muscles. She lets out a quiet, wistful moan.

“Don’t you want to touch me?" she asks, eyes widening into a slight pout.

“Absolutely," I say, "I just, um… you sure? You… have this look on your face, I want to make sure you're still okay…"

Her expression shifts, eyebrows curving and smile widening. “Thanks… I appreciate you being so considerate with all this. Yeah, I guess I’m a little scared, it’s kind of a vulnerable moment for me. But that doesn’t make you any less desirable. I still absolutely want this.”

Evie slides out an arm so that she can gracefully lower herself back onto her side, her eyes never leaving mine. She’s started pressing her legs together again, twisting them against each other.

“Even though you're lying down like this, you’re just… towering over me, it’s… it’s honestly…”

And now her hand is slipping right under the waistband of her shorts, almost as if she doesn’t realize it. My heart is hammering away as I recognize every last indication of lust in her expression and in her stance. And I'm surprised that she’s emphasizing the difference in scale, just enticing me all the more. My hormones and her size are calling out the primal part of my brain that wants to claim this beautiful little creature as my own. Which doesn't seem so wrong… since she wants me too.

“S-sorry,” she suddenly says, as if now realizing where her hand has gone to, “I guess I really am just focusing on me.”

“Don’t apologize,” I respond softly, “If it makes you feel any better, I’m doing the exact same thing as you right now.”

She raises her eyebrows and looks down, along the length of my body. My own waistline is quite a distance away, but she must have seen it for herself as she looks back up at me and seems enlivened. She lets out a small gasp and her voice is tight. “That’s… actually really hot.”

“Okay, good. Because honestly, watching you do that is, um…”

I trail off as Evie closes her eyes for a few seconds, and at first I just think she's overcome with arousal, but then I notice her little brow is furrowing with actual discomfort. Her whole body tenses, her eyes fly open and she says urgently, "Wait. Before we go any further I want to tell you something. I-I have a confession…"

This gets me halfway to sober in an instant. I lean in just a tad with worry, giving her my full attention, and she plows right on.

"Yesterday, on the way home from the pool, I couldn't stop thinking about you and how much I wanted you and I…" Her mouth quivers and she looks down in shame as she squeaks out, "I started diddling myself in your pocket!"

I lay there for a moment, just blinking. But then I can't help but smile. "Did you just use the word 'diddle'?"

Evie covers her face with the back of an arm. "I'm sorry. I'm so embarrassed."

"Why?" I ask gently, already starting to feel warm and fuzzy again, "I mean, yeah, I wish I had known I guess, but it's all good. In fact…"

I start really processing what she just told me. This happened yesterday? While she was on me? If I had simply glanced down at my pocket instead of keeping my eyes safely on the road, I would have caught her in the act? I can't believe I couldn't tell, the movements and the sounds must have been too subtle. Fuck. That's how small she is. So incredibly tiny, to the point that I didn't even notice her touching herself when she was so close to me. My breath catches, I feel a pang of pleasure between my legs and I have to voice it to her–

"Evie, that is insanely hot," I say breathlessly.

Now she's the one to take a moment to blink in the silence. "Oh. Really? Wow, that's… that's a huge relief."

God, and she was touching herself thinking about me? Not to mention the fact that she felt safe and relaxed enough around me to even go there. As if I wasn't already overwhelmed with affection for this girl… If this confession isn't proof that she wants me as much as I want her, I don't know what is.

I now finally have the courage to move the hand that's next to her ever closer. My fingers hover just above her body, a hair away.

“This okay?” I whisper. She perks up and nods encouragingly.

I touch her bare skin. It makes me sigh with a strange relief as my muscles unclench. She’s here, she's with me, she’s real. And she’s so lovely. My fear over breaking her fades away. This is just like touching her normally - my hands are well practiced and already know just how gentle to be. But now I can enjoy how warm and soft and smooth she feels.

Evie shivers all over as my fingertips run along the side of her frame. I briefly remember that night just a few days ago when she was forcing herself to make things sexual, just before we had our fight. It was clear then that she was pushing herself too far, that she had some kind of underlying fear. It's so different this time. This feels infinitely more genuine and passionate. And her arousal is so addicting. I just want to help it build and build.

I'm still hesitant on touching her naked breasts, but she solves that problem for me as she rolls onto her back, into my touch, taking my finger and pressing it against her. It’s not like she’s never hugged me before, how does it feel this much better when her chest is naked? The round, perfect little pillows make me twitch, and I almost squeeze her a bit too tight as my fingers close around her.

For a couple of minutes we’re just feeling each other, me massaging her entire body within my hand as she writhes and wriggles against me. We make frequent eye contact, silently checking in with each other as our breathing gets more and more shallow. I have to hold back so much, forcing half of my mind to stay incredibly aware of how much force I’m using as I fondle and caress and squeeze.

At one point my thumb passes over her thigh, and Evie lets out a louder moan in response. This makes me pause, like a scientist who just made an unexpected discovery. I focus in on her legs, gently touching them again, gradually teasing them open. Her eyes snap up to meet mine, and for a second I’m worried I’ve screwed up. She’s pulling away from the prying digit, and that’s all I need to completely let go of her, lifting my hand off to hover above her body on the pillow.

“No, no,” Evie tries to explain breathlessly, “Don’t stop, it's still green light, I just need a second–”

I realize she’s pulling at her shorts, slipping them off as quickly as she can and kicking them away. And just like that, she’s fully nude. Leaving nothing to the imagination anymore, from the generous curve of her rear to that sacred spot between her legs.

Frozen in time for a moment, I’m too busy staring at the full picture, but my little partner is desperate to get back to it. My hand is still floating above her head and she sits up to reach for it. I immediately follow her lead, more than willing to bring my fingers around her again as she lays back onto her side. I use my index to give her backside a cheeky caress and my thumb slips between her legs from behind, almost as if I was about to pinch the base of her torso. Evie lifts her knee up and takes the tip of my thumb in her hands, looking at me as if she’s asking for permission. Carefully I massage the inside of her thigh, nudging tentatively higher, requesting permission right back. We meet in the middle and I feel gentle moisture, like a little dewdrop against my skin.

The tiny woman exhales heavily upon contact and closes her eyes for a second. She grips my thumb with her legs, one hand on the digit and the other clutching at her own breast. I squeeze ever so slightly, and she gasps in surprised pleasure. She starts writhing her hips, grinding against me.

“This is…" she gasps, "I thought this would be rougher, but…” I don’t even quite mean to move, I’m just having such a hard time staying still, but I twitch and it elicits a high-pitched moan. “Oh my god, babe, I… Yeah. Keep going.”

"Evie…" I breathe out her name in rapturous pleasure. I’m already so close.

Her eyes glisten with sudden tears when they meet mine again, filled to the brim with gratitude and with care. “Aiden,” she finally sighs, “Kiss me…”

Without needing to be told twice, I keep my thumb in place and cup the rest of my fingers behind her back, and I drag her to my mouth. My lips envelop her abdomen and from there I start completely covering her with kisses. She wriggles and writhes and gasps, and even the smallest of my moans seem to vibrate through her and cause euphoric sighs in return.

It doesn’t take me long at this point. About a minute later I have to brace myself, trying to disguise my groan of pure ecstasy as just a regular sound of pleasure. I’m still breathing hard as I keep kissing her, keep angling my touch in whatever way she seems to enjoy most. And it’s just a couple more minutes before she shudders and clenches her knees against my thumb as she lets out a high-pitched, quiet, shuddering wince and I feel a new level of wetness against my skin. She shivers and looks at me with a spark of concern in her lust-drunk gaze.

“Are you…?” she gasps, nodding in the general direction of my body.

“I’m good,” I assure her, smiling and still short of breath. “I’m so good.”

We devolve into breathless giggles and discover that apparently our only vocabulary in the aftermath of post-coital giddiness is just variations on the words “I love you.” I'm kicking myself for not having brought a towel or something to have at the ready for her to clean up with - I eventually opt for the nearby tissue box that I’ve thankfully left on the floor within reach. I grab a few so I have some for myself too, and then I make sure to leave my hand on her to keep her warm as she presses the giant tissue between her legs. She’s still shivering a little bit, but I think it’s just with excitement. She’s got the biggest grin on her face, and I’m sure I have the exact same expression.

"Thank you, Aiden,” Evie gushes. “That was amazing. You’re amazing.”

I chuckle and nuzzle into her with a sigh, practically laying my face on top of her as I go into full relaxed mode. "The pleasure’s all mine. Let's do it again sometime.”

"Can I ask you something?”

"Anything.”

"What are your other sensitive spots?”

I laugh again, and groan with pretend exasperation. But I go ahead and answer. "My ears. I've got sensitive earlobes, apparently.”

"Ooooo. Yeah that's dangerous information for someone like me.”

"Hence why I hesitated telling you in the first place. A bit on the sides of my neck too, but you've probably figured those out already.”

Evie wiggles out from under my cheek to sit up and lean her arms onto the bridge of my nose, beaming as she looks me in the eye. "I promise I won't abuse the power,” she says with an obviously mischievous tone.

She's so close that her figure’s a little blurry, so I close one eye to help me focus in on her face. “Uh huh,” I respond simply, clearly unconvinced. "Hey, do me a favor. The next time you want to diddle in my pocket… invite me to the party?"

She laughs. "While you're driving?"

"Hey, it's my pocket, it's only fair. I can make it work."

She leans in and gives me a long kiss in the space between my eyes. "Deal."

We transition into the most wonderful, relaxing time just resting together, without putting our clothes back on. For the rest of the evening we cuddle on the bed, skin to skin, as we drift in and out of conversation. Sometimes she’s laying in my hand, sometimes she’s up against my throat, tucked below my chin on the pillow. At one point she’s sprawled out on my forehead as we stare at the ceiling. At another point she’s curled up on my bare chest with my palm against her back.

I’m telling you. I’m in heaven.

[littlest-lily]

Chapter 56
Evie

It’s been a rather quiet drive today. I can tell by the sound of Aiden’s heartbeat that he’s a little anxious, and I’ve been leaning against his chest from within his pocket, rhythmically moving my hand over the fabric of his shirt in what I hope is a somewhat comforting pet.

The nerves are starting to get to me too. I even tried to dress up a bit, not only picking out one of my nicer dresses, but also wearing my first attempt at shoes - although since they’re made of fine yarn they’re closer to thick socks. I’ve even followed Moira’s example and tied half my hair back into something a little more elegant, using a bit of thread in lieu of a ribbon. I don’t think this is supposed to be a very formal dinner party, but it’s the closest thing I’ve been to one in several years.

“Pulling up now…” Aiden mumbles, and sure enough I slip forward a little as the car gradually slows to a stop.

“Everything will be fine, babe,” I soothe as I get to my feet, eyes aimed up.

“I know,” he says with a glance down at his chest. “I’m mostly excited. It’s just, you know… several people who are much bigger than you. I can't help but worry about how you'll feel. Pinkie squeeze if it gets too overwhelming, okay? I can make an excuse to leave.” As he's talking he pulls the plastic shield out of his pocket and then reaches in for me.

“Okay. Thank you,” I say with a nod, gripping at the fingers that are currently pinching around my torso, “I’m not planning on that, though…" I feel antsy getting extracted from my warm and reassuring little cave, so I quickly add, "Kiss for good luck?”

He grins and I’m rewarded with a pair of enormous lips heading my way. I pucker up and then push my entire face into his upper lip, arms spread wide to hug as much of his face as I can. Aiden starts laughing at my overenthusiastic embrace and doubles down by knocking me onto my back in his palm.

“Gotta get the PDA out of our system,” I giggle, and when he starts twisting around to my neck I yelp, “Wait, wait, don’t mess up my hair!”

“Oops, sorry,” the giant relents, though he barely pulls away. He hovers above me, his large eyes captivating me for a moment as they look me up and down. “Don’t worry, you still look lovely.”

“Thanks. You too!” I chirp before playfully shoving at his cheek with my foot. “God, we’re disgusting... Let’s go, I don't want to be late.”

And before the nerves have time to reclaim either one of us, Aiden gets out of the car. He holds me near his chest as he heads down the walkway to the Ignacios' house, hiding me just in case any neighbors look in our direction. Then his palm flattens out as he reaches the door, and once he knocks I sit on my heels and smooth out my dress.

I hear some quick footsteps from the other side and brace myself as the door opens. An unfamiliar face greets us, bright eyed and breathless, sporting a big smile with its own touch of nerves. This must be Star.

She’s actually a little more… normal looking than I imagined? It’s just that the way Diego had described her beauty, I thought I was about to meet a supermodel. She’s not unattractive though, her gray-green eyes rather striking against her olive skin tone. There’s just the slightest edge of a punk rock feel to her appearance, her dark hair in a long and layered bob with a streak of bright blue near the front of it.

“Hiii!” she gushes softly but enthusiastically, and she’s zeroing in on me immediately, covering her mouth with one hand. “Oh my goodness, aren’t you just the cutest thing! It’s so nice to finally meet you, Evie – come on in, guys, make yourselves at home!”

“N-nice to meet you!” I manage to stammer out, blinking as if I’d just been blinded by a flash of light.

I'm abruptly reminded of something. Back when I used to be a nanny, I once had to take one of the kids I was caring for to the pediatrician. I’m sure they’re not all like this, but not only did the doctor employ an ultra-sweet, doting tone with the child, but for some reason she also talked the same way with me, the adult. That’s exactly the way Star talks. Like a kind and overly eager schoolteacher, and maybe this makes some amount of sense since she’s almost like a pediatrician, but for animals instead. Perhaps the borderline infantilizing tone should be bothering me, I guess, but… she just seems so genuine that I kinda get swept up in it. To my own surprise I find myself smiling right away.

She steps aside, revealing the cavernous interior of the house. This place looks gigantic, even compared to our apartment - the entryway opens straight out to the back of the house like one wide hallway, and it's on the opposite end that I make out a dining table and chairs. It's so colorful inside, the sunny yellow walls covered in photos and vibrant decorations. There are live plants everywhere, adding refreshing splashes of green to the warm interior. And the ceiling might as well be the sky… The area opens up into its full two-story space, with stairs off to the left leading to an upper landing that looks like the top of a canyon.

The giant who’s carrying me steps into the house, and Star puts a hand on his shoulder as she closes the door. “Aiden, it’s been too long - good to see you, man.”

“It really has! Thanks for inviting us over." Even he seems to be absorbing her energy, though I can tell he’s being careful to still lead by example in keeping the speaking volume from climbing too high up.

Speaking of which. There’s an echoing boom that makes me jump, and I immediately recognize this voice.

“Yoooo! Perfect timing, I just pulled the fish out of the oven!” Diego calls as he sweeps in from the other room, the scale and intensity of his presence making my heartrate tick up a few beats.

Either he noticed me flinching or Aiden shot him a look, because he quickly tones it down when he steps up to us. Even though his attention is on Aiden and I, his hand absently slips around his wife’s waist as he stands alongside her. I’m realizing she must actually be on the tall side, but she still doesn't come up to his shoulder.

Diego’s eyes light up as he focuses on me and lowers his head with a wide smile. “Hey, Shrimp! How's that leg doing?”

Star’s the one who reacts to the nickname this time, her eyes going wide as she smacks the back of her hand against his arm. “Diego!” she hisses with disapproval.

He straightens back to standing, holding his hands up disarmingly as he looks at her. “No, no, we're cool! I’ve said it to her face before, she’s fine with it. Right, Evie?”

He glances at me hopefully, and I couple a quick eye roll with a genuine smile. “It’s good to see you, Kong. Leg's been feeling better every day.”

“See?” Diego grins at Star, who maintains her scowl.

“Don’t let him push you around, okay?” she tells me and then nods to the dining table deeper into the house, “Come sit, we’ll grab you guys some drinks.”

Aiden and I manage to make quick eye contact as he carries me over to the table, checking in with each other. He runs a thumb over my leg and raises his eyebrows quizzically, and I reassure him with a nod. All of this is a lot, but I felt prepared and I’m doing alright. He takes a seat as the other two giants recede to the kitchen, their quiet conversation briefly reaching our ears.

“But it’d be soooo easy to push her around,” the taller of them jokes.

“Diego, I swear to all that is holy–” is the chiding response before the mumbles become undecipherable.

Aiden sighs but seems amused, and he gives me an apologetic look as he sets his hand with me in it onto the dining table. “They’re harmless, I promise,” he says.

“I know,” I laugh, trying not to slip with my new footwear as I step onto the slick wood. “I really like your friends, Aiden.”

He smiles, and since we’re not in the privacy of our apartment, he goes for the more subtle gesture of kissing his fingertip and touching it to the top of my head.

I take a quick look around to get my bearings. The table’s as big as a tennis court, and the plates and cutlery that are already laid out are just as colorful as the rest of the house. A large vase of fresh flowers sits in the middle of the table - the sweet scent is probably too subtle for anyone else but it feels like a special treat just for me. There’s a stack of napkins just ahead of us that would be at the perfect height for me to sit at and use as a table, which actually might not be a coincidence since I notice there’s a second stack a little further away that's more central to everyone else.

The Ignacios make a couple of trips to bring out cups of water and bottles of wine, and they mention that the food needs to cool down so we can just chat while we wait for Moira to wrap up her shift at work. I had packed all of my eating and drinking supplies into a pouch that Aiden fishes out so that I can retrieve them now. I hand him a lid that used to belong to a soy sauce bottle, and he uses a pipette to transfer a couple of drops of wine from his glass to mine. I think I’m slowly getting more accustomed to alcohol and enjoy having some on special occasions.

Star takes a seat across from us and props her elbows onto the table, looking positively enchanted with the way Aiden and I interact. “Forgive me for staring,” she says gently, “I’m so fascinated. You just don’t even look real, Evie. I straight up didn’t believe Diego at all when he told me about you. It's not until I talked to Aiden on the phone that I realized my husband hadn’t gone off the deep end.”

I finish my sip of wine and set my cup down on the nearby stack of napkins. “I don’t blame you at all," I say, "I wouldn’t have believed it either if I hadn’t… you know, lived it."

“Gosh, that must have been horrible. And yet look at you, you’re so, like… confident! Like you’ve always been that size. You’re one strong chick.”

I blush and find myself walking towards her across the table. Star’s the first person who’s been quite this blunt and curious about my situation, but everything about her tone and demeanor is so authentic and disarming. Since this isn't my first rodeo, putting it all out in the open like this is kind of refreshing.

“It took a while to get to this point,” I say with a shrug. “You’d be surprised what a person can get used to.”

“Ain’t that the truth. I guess it helped that you got rescued by this one,” she says, nodding towards my partner behind me. “Mr. I-Live-To-Help-Others. Ever seen him work a charity event?”

“I haven’t!” I respond, glancing over my shoulder at Aiden, who’s already starting to look self conscious.

Diego chimes in from his spot next to Star, “Then you’ve never seen him in his element! Always running around, making sure everyone’s drinking water or whatever. Like a fucking soccer mom.”

"Staying hydrated's important," Aiden mumbles, holding his water cup up pointedly before taking a sip.

I’m not particularly surprised to hear this, but the mental image is entertaining nevertheless. “What kind of events have you all done together?” I ask, now standing closer to Diego and Star's side of the table.

“The pet clinic I work at partners with local shelters a few times a year," Star explains. "So for the most part it's adoption events."

"Oh yeah, you know the blanket I gave you on that first night, Eve?" Aiden interjects, "With the dog logo on it? It was from a shirt I got at one of those events."

"Yes! I still use it all the time."

"Aww, you cut up a tiny blanket for her?" Star gushes, leaning her chin against the heel of her hand as she gazes down at me. "That's so adorable."

"You should see the setup they have," Diego chuckles at her, "It's like a family of mice moved in and set up camp on his desk."

"Heh, makes sense I guess. So how long have you two been living together?"

Aiden and I make eye contact as we do some mental math. "Almost five months now?" I suggest and he nods.

Diego shakes his head. "Man. And all that time you were keepin' your girlfriend a secret from your best friend. Even when when I called you out on it. Never knew you could be such a liar."

A massive wave of guilt washes over me as I watch a shadow pass over Aiden's expression. I didn't know he'd ever been "called out" for anything. Just how much has he had to deceive his friends for my sake?

"I wasn’t completely lying," he grumbles, "I mean, we weren’t actually together yet when you said that..."

Diego lets out a hearty, booming laugh that brings both Aiden and I back down to earth. "I'm just fucking with you, bro. If I was in either one of your positions I'm sure I would've done the exact same thing. That's why I left you alone about it - I could tell you were hiding shit this semester but figured it was for a good reason."

Aiden smiles weakly, clearly relieved. My gaze lingers on him, guilt giving way to gratitude as for the millionth time I think about all that he's done for me. I don't know just how much of an effect I've had on his social life, but I'm glad that he no longer has to lie in this particular friendship, at least.

"Wait, wait, hold up," Star interrupts, "Are you two dating?!"

Color floods my cheeks and I find myself at a loss for words, but Aiden sits up a little straighter, his expression brightening. "Yeah, we are," he says proudly.

Star knocks her head back, putting a hand on her chest as if she'd been shot. "Be still, my heart! I can’t take the cuteness. I love that so much."

"Yeah, congrats," Diego adds, beaming, "You both look really happy together."

"It's been great," I manage to say sheepishly, and I start making my way back across the table to my boyfriend.

"I have so many questions, though…" Diego muses, his mind very clearly inching its way towards the gutter.

"And we're not answering any of them," Aiden shoots back.

His abruptness creates a ripple of laughter across the table. I reach my giant's arm and hop up into a comfortable seat near his wrist. Star watches me with that same enchanted expression before she looks up at Aiden.

"I always did think you’d end up with a little thing," she says pensively. "You had me going with the last one. This isn’t quite what I had in mind, but still - totally called it."

My ears prick up at this. I'm vaguely aware of the fact that Aiden has some amount of dating experience, but I still don't really know of any details. Before anyone can say anything else though, there's a knock at the door.

"I'll get it!" Diego exclaims, jumping to his feet and hurrying to the entryway.

I put a mental pin in that conversation topic - I can be curious about past girlfriends a different day. I just want to enjoy the evening now, and having a familiar face join us can only improve things all the more. In the distance the door opens, and there she is, looking adorable as usual in her bright summer dress with ribbons in her hair. Jesus Christ, she looks like a little kid next to Diego.

“Moiraaaa!" the taller of them bellows, and he scoops her right up to spin her in a circle, "How you been, chiquita?"

Moira's both laughing and actively trying to wriggle out of Diego's bear hug, teetering a little when he sets her down again. "Dizzy," she giggles, "But I'm good! It smells great, hopefully you guys haven't been waiting too long?"

"Nah, not at all. I'll start bringing in the food – no, you stay there, Star, I got it!"

Moira walks over to the rest of us in eager greeting, and Aiden stands up so he can meet her in a quick hug before Star joins in too. It's almost comedic just how much the taller ones have to bend down to accommodate their friend. At least they're able to, though…

Despite the happy voices filling the air, I feel a twinge of sadness as I watch everyone embrace from my perch on the dining table. I'm glad that I'm here. I really am. I'm so happy that I'm able to have a potential friend group again, to feel like I'm a part of something greater. And it's better for Aiden too this way - he doesn't have to lie to these people anymore, and he doesn't have to keep from seeing them as often as he did before. I'm glad things turned out the way they did.

And yet… It's like there's still this invisible barrier, keeping me in a separate world from all of them. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to break through it.

I begin staring at my boyfriend in particular. Will I ever get the chance to put my arms around his neck? To feel what it’s like for him to hug me tightly against his chest? What I would give to truly be in his world again, just for a moment. Just so I can know what it’s like.

Moira smoothly steps over to me at the table, reaching her hand to cup around my back with a grin and just as enthusiastic of a hand-hug as she's able to give me. I smile, grateful for her doing her part in making sure I don't feel left out, and I cling to her for a beat longer than I normally might.

"This is tripping me out," she says as she goes to take a seat next to Aiden. "How cool is it that we can all hang out like this?"

"Eeee, I'm so happy that we're part of the secret club now,” Star chirps, sitting back down in her own chair.

Diego’s brought out the salmon and the sides at this point, and as the plates are passed around, Aiden and I take a little extra time so I can pick out tiny portions to put on my own dish. I notice that there are at least five full-sized servings of everything, and maybe that’s just what the Ignacios would always do to make sure there’s plenty of food, but the thought that they planned for me as if I was one of them warms my heart nevertheless.

We fall back into conversation and spend what turns out to be a lovely evening together. Moira catches the others up on her Florida trip and the animation panel she hosted. I ask Star and Diego how they met and get to hear all about the time they ran a 5k together, and how they were so engrossed in their conversation that they took a wrong turn and got lost in the middle of the race. They also tell us about the headaches they’ve been dealing with during some bathroom renovations happening upstairs. Aiden and I talk at length about our adventures since I’ve been shrunk. Two hours pass and we never run out of conversation.

Despite everyone’s best intentions, there are enough of us that it gets a little loud. On more than one occasion I get talked over by accident. On the other hand, unlike anyone else I’m also able to easily walk around on the table and can catch someone’s attention by my movements alone. The dynamics may not always be flawless, but they're decidedly good.

Once we’ve all finished the tasty meal and the dishes are put away, I wander to Aiden's hand that's resting in a half-fist, palm down on the table. I settle onto him like he’s a chair, sitting on his thumb and leaning back against the side of his hand as his forefinger absently begins stroking my leg. He launches into a story from work, going on about one of his students that he’s particularly proud of, and I find myself staring up at him adoringly. I really am obsessed with this guy.

I don’t realize that I was daydreaming until I’m knocked out of my reverie by something that almost makes me fall over onto the table. Everyone else suddenly goes quiet, exchanging confused glances over the unexpected sound. The doorbell just rang.

[DocRick]

DON'T OPEN THE DOOR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nropyub]

Pocket, now!

This can only be bad. Lie, say very little if asked, and seem bored with the conversation if this is anything about anyone asking for the whereabouts of a certain little brunette.

[littlest-lily]

DON'T OPEN THE DOOR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh they gonna open it hehe

Pocket, now!

This can only be bad. Lie, say very little if asked, and seem bored with the conversation if this is anything about anyone asking for the whereabouts of a certain little brunette.

Nah nah it's just a trick or treater don't worryyyyyy (jk, it's summertime in the story lol but happy Halloween anyway!)


Chapter 57
Evie

Diego’s the one who moves first, frowning as he stands up.

“A lil’ late for solicitors,” he mutters, “I’ll go check.”

Not taking any chances, I hop to my feet, and Aiden’s on the same wavelength - he quickly plucks me up and guides me into his pocket. I catch both Star and Moira’s worried glances in my direction before I slip down inside the fabric shelter.

The only sound is Diego’s footsteps growing more distant as I settle into a seat and hug my knees to my chest. The door opens and his voice carries his surprised exclamation.

“Camila? Wha–”

“You weren't answering your phone! What the hell,” a female voice responds, sounding flustered and frustrated. I curl further in on myself in reaction to the new voice.

"I've been busy, it’s in the other room… Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I'm just stressed out. I need your car."

"Huh? What for?"

"My roommate's dumb brother's coming into town. It's a long drive to the airport so he doesn't want to pay for a ride."

"And you're telling me this now? I could've been out tonight!"

"I tried to tell you half an hour ago but you didn't check your phone. And you're not out, so it's fine. Right?"

Diego sighs heavily and the door creaks open further. "Alright, whatever. Come in for a sec. We just got our house keys replaced so they're not in the usual spot, uhhh... Wait right here, I’ll go find them.”

My breath has grown shallow and I try to stay steady as I hear the door close again, this time with the girl now clearly inside the house. Diego hurries away to find his keys, and Star pipes up to make conversation.

“Hi Camila! How's school going?”

“It's going alright. Sorry to interrupt dinner... Oh my god, Aiden! You're here too?”

I tense up. Hold still, I tell myself, attempting a steadying breath through my nose, You’ve done this a million times. Hold still and she won’t notice anything.

My nerves aren’t exactly settling as I notice the thumping of Aiden’s heartbeat growing faster. “Hey, Camila,” he says with a smile in his voice despite sounding a little tense, “Nice to see you.”

I hate that I can’t see anything, but I definitely hear footsteps, and then I have to keep from yelping as my giant partner suddenly stands up. For a moment I'm confused, and then I figure out that he doesn’t want to be sitting as she approaches, since she’s on her feet and might be able to look straight down at me in his pocket.

“It's soo good to see you!” Camila’s voice rings emphatically, and it’s close. Too close. Aiden makes a small, strained sound in the back of his throat and I can feel all of his muscles tense as he shifts backwards. A second later I realize why - half the pocket suddenly buckles inward. There’s the sweet, floral scent of perfume and a warm weight of a second giant, pressing up right beside me, sandwiching one of my feet, but I don’t dare try yanking it away. I don’t know how tall this girl is so I don’t even know what exactly is pushing against me right now, but she’s clearly gone in for a hug.

Don’t move, I think desperately, holding my breath, Just hold still..!

“I haven't seen you all semester,” the stranger says softly, having no idea this intimate moment involves a third party. “I missed you.”

Thankfully the pressure withdraws as Aiden carefully maneuvers his way out of her grip. “Yeah, last semester was rough... Eighteen credits on top of the TA gig. Never doing that again.”

With the slightest hint of urgency, Star interjects, “Come sit and chat while we wait. You know Moira, right?”

“We've met a couple of times,” Mo says warmly, “It's nice to see you again."

“Yeah, you too.”

Camila’s voice recedes - it sounds like she’s going to park herself where Diego had been sitting - and I finally feel like I can breathe again. That was a really close call. A more direct hit and I could have been crushed, or more likely, Aiden wouldn’t have let her and I would have risked being discovered. I continue to hold as still as I can as the titans make small talk with the unwitting intruder.

The minutes pass and I gather that she goes to the business school, she’s younger than the rest of us as she recently turned 21, and apparently she’s known Aiden since childhood since she makes reference to some vacation their families had been on when they were kids. I remember that Aiden’s also known Diego since he was young and that their parents were friends. Maybe Camila and Diego are siblings or something?

It’s an agonizingly long ten minutes before I hear the triumphant jingle of keys as footsteps enter the dining area. The small talk wraps up and goodbyes are exchanged. My partner’s a bit more prepared this time as he stands up less abruptly, and he's more deliberate in the way he gives Camila a side hug so that my hiding space is spared. I’m so tense and stiff that my muscles ache, but at no point do I budge in any way. My eyes do trail upwards, up towards the thin sliver of the pocket’s opening.

I glimpse the edge of Aiden’s face - an ear, some dark locks of hair, one end of his jaw. And as he pulls away from the farewell hug, an unfamiliar hand comes into view. It has a slender shape, honey tan skin, white and gold acrylic nails. It rests above me, on his shoulder, fingertips lightly tugging at the collar of his shirt.

“Let’s hang out sometime, yeah?” Camila says quietly, her voice once again far too close for comfort.

“Sure, just shoot me a text,” Aiden mumbles, tense and rigid.

She hums in agreement. And then her hand descends. Straight to me.

A lot happens all at once. Realizing what’s happening half a second too late, Aiden tries to back away. But Camila’s already pulling on the lip of the pocket. Like a prowling lion discovering its prey, I see the edge of her fingernail curl dangerously close to me, finding purchase against fabric right above my head. Light pours in and suddenly I'm looking at her face. It’s just for a split second, but I see dark brown eyes peering inside, an expression of curiosity mixed with amusement.

My stiff muscles are trembling like an overwound spring, and I react on instinct at the unexpected sight of this gigantic stranger. I gasp and scurry backwards in a panic, having nowhere to go, cornering myself into the side of the pocket. Camila’s countenance shifts in an instant, a look of horror passing over her. My eardrums burst into pain as she screams.

And now Aiden’s hurrying backwards in earnest, the face I'd seen for a brief moment is ripped away, everything breaks into chaos. I'm breathing hard in fear and in pain, ears ringing, head spinning. All sounds are fuzzy and distant as I hold my head in my hands and curl into a ball while the world shakes. There are multiple voices, all talking at once, and at first I can’t parse out any of it, still reeling from the explosive sound of a giant's unreserved shriek at such close proximity. I vaguely realize that we’re moving, we’re going somewhere, I'm bouncing with each hurried step, the voices are fading away. The ringing starts to abate just enough for me to catch a few words.

"No – seriously, what the hell was that?”

“Camila, just hold on–”

“That was real, wasn’t it? What in the actual fuck is–”

A door closes, shutting the voices away, and things grow still. All I can hear is their faint drone in the distance, and the much closer sound of Aiden’s labored breathing. Gently he touches me through his pocket.

“You okay?” he asks softly, “That was so loud.”

I realize how bad I’m shaking when my teeth clatter the moment I try to speak. I choke out, “I-I’ll be fine. I can s-still hear.”

He sighs heavily, the soft pressure encompassing my entire frame. “Shit, Eve. I’m sorry… Let me think…”

After everything that happened, I’m starting to feel more trapped in here than safe. I get to my feet and poke my head out of the pocket, finally able to get my bearings. I think we’re in a bathroom, from the relatively cramped quarters and the fact that I’m looking out at a mirror right now. I take in the sight of my boyfriend, looking a little shell-shocked and pale as he leans over a sink, his gaze downcast and one hand laying over me against his chest. My motions make him look my way, our eyes meeting through the mirror.

“Was it because I moved?" I ask, whimpering breathlessly, "I tried to hold still, I… I didn’t think I…"

Aiden looks pained in reaction to my pitiful state. “No, no, you did nothing wrong. Aww, babe, come here…"

He looks straight down at the actual me now, reaching in to gingerly lift me out. He holds me in front of him, wrapping his fingers around me like a security blanket. “Everything’s going to be okay," he soothes.

I'm still trembling like a leaf, and I cling to one of his fingers as if it's a buoy. My breath is coming in very shallow. “Sh-should we be here right now? If she’s freaking out, shouldn’t w-we be…"

Aiden's face swoops down to meet me, and soon I'm surrounded by him. Everything becomes a little more still and the light grows dimmer as he touches his forehead to mine.

“It can wait," he rumbles, "Deep breaths, honey. I’ve got you, you’re safe."

I sigh and let myself go limp in his hand. For the next few moments I try to focus on the air going in and out of my lungs and the feel of his skin. It's difficult to ignore the din of the faraway voices, but I'm starting to calm back down.

“So who… who is that?" I finally ask.

Aiden takes a second to tenderly kiss my stomach before he raises his head again to answer me. “Diego’s cousin. I’m not nearly as close with her as with him, but I’ve known her for as long."

I nod and continue to fret, “Is this bad? She sounded so upset."

His jaw tightens. He glances towards the door before looking back at me and saying, “Don’t forget, for the other introductions we were able to prepare them ahead of time. Well, other than Diego I guess, but he was drunk and half conscious. Camila's not as chill of a person and I’m sure seeing you was a bit of a shock. But she's not a bad person or anything, she’ll come around. I’ll talk to her, okay?" A beat later, he adds, "Listen, see? It sounds like the others have already started to calm her down. I don’t think she’ll be unreasonable once we explain."

He's right, the noise level has lowered to a low hum. I take a couple more deep breaths to steady myself. The hand I'm in levels out, tilting to cup me in his palm. Aiden brings his other hand up to touch my arm, stroking it softly with the back of a finger.

“I know this wasn’t on your terms," he says. "I’m really, really sorry Evie."

I shake my head. “Don’t be. It’s not your fault."

“I don’t know, there’s a reason she wanted to look in my pocket. I was trying not to be obvious, but maybe she noticed me glancing down at you. All of us kept looking over, she probably got curious as to why we were acting weird…"

Something about seeing Aiden's intense guilt and concern brings me a strange calm. I manage a smile and place my hand on his finger. “It’s okay. Like you said, we’ll just… we’ll just explain."

“I can leave you here," he says with a knitted brow. "I’ll send Moira to be with you, you don’t have to come."

“No, that’s alright. I should at least, um… say hi."

We spend another minute or so gathering our composure. I don't want to go out there. But we really need to do damage control. And I have to be on my best behavior. I have four other giants on my side, it's going to be okay. It has to be.

Once he's sure I'm ready, Aiden opens the door and retraces his steps through the parts of the house that I hadn’t seen. I breathe deeply as the world passes by - out of the bathroom, through the living room, across the kitchen… He pauses just before the threshold to the dining area and readjusts his grip on me so that he's holding me to his chest, hiding me from view for now. Let's go.

“Hey, Camila?" he says, stepping into the room, and all the other voices go completely silent. "Sorry I ran off."

I understand the need to ease this new acquaintance into things, but never being able to see what’s going on is so nerve-wracking. I look out the side of the hand that's holding me, and Moira's in my line of vision. Her big green eyes quickly find mine and she tries to reassure me with an encouraging smile. I weakly smile back.

I flinch at the sound of Camila's voice saying, “Is that…?"

“Yeah, I have her right here,” Aiden responds, “I’d like to introduce you. Is that alright?"

The question lingers in the air. The implication he's layered on with his tone is a clear "you're not going to scream this time?" There's no answer, but I'm assuming she nodded because a gap begins forming between me and my boyfriend's chest. He holds me just far enough so that we can exchange a look before he tilts his hand to reveal my tiny form.

“This is my girlfriend. Evie."

Finally I get a good look at her. I'd only caught the briefest glimpse amidst all the chaos, but her full figure now stands before me. Turns out I really was destined to meet a supermodel today… Camila's beauty is staggering. She knows how to dress herself and apply makeup to expertly flatter all of her features. Her dark hair is long, lighter at the ends in a subtle ombre effect, perfect waves that rest gently on her shoulders. Her lips are full, her cheekbones high, her eyelashes dark. She has this innocent, youthful look about her, despite the fake nails and dyed hair and layers of makeup. She's wearing a subtle frown and keeps her mouth shut as she fixates my revealed form.

I don't waste time staring - I have an impression to make. I put on my best friendly smile and give her a little wave. Camila doesn't wave back and she doesn't return the smile. She's not quite glowering but is still regarding me with a hard stare that creates sparks of anxiety at the pit of my stomach.

“I know it’s a lot to accept," Aiden continues, "but there's nothing to be afraid of. We used to be classmates, actually, before an accident made her like this. She's just like you and me."

She looks up at him, then back down at his hand, still watching silently. She glances off to the side, towards her cousin, before her eyes briefly meet mine.

“I’m sorry I yelled," she says in a low tone.

I jump at the opportunity to speak. “Th-that’s alright! I get why you'd be freaked out. I was pretty freaked out too, when this all started." I don't mention how freaked out I am this very second.

Camila's frown deepens into more of a scowl. “Yeah, this… this is fucking insane…"

“Mila," Diego growls from off to the side, a warning in his tone.

I shy away, taken aback by the hostility in her voice. She’s mostly holding it at bay, but there’s an anger there. Or maybe a disgust.

My smile falters and there’s a tension growing in the air. Maybe Aiden was right. I shouldn’t have come here. I should have just let him talk to her first and make sure she was in an approachable state. I have no idea how to save the situation. Not when everyone’s towering over me like this. There's too many gigantic people in the room and they're all looking at me right now as I'm just sitting out in the open to cower under the glare of a massive stranger…

I’m snapped out of the moment by movement to my left. Moira’s approaching, her gentle presence a welcome interruption. She reaches a hand up to hover next to Aiden’s in an invitation to me.

“How about Evie and I go check out those house renovations?” she says calmly, “We’ll give you guys some time. Star, can you show us the way?”

Trembling, I slink onto her open palm, thankful for the opportunity to escape. Moira doesn’t wait for an answer, simply marching away to the nearby staircase with me in tow. Star trails along behind us as we go upstairs, and then she quietly leads the way through their main bedroom and into the newly refurbished bathroom. I didn’t even look at Aiden when we got out of there. I have to trust in his ability to take it from here.

As she closes the door behind us, Star lets out a sigh. “Damn… the night was going so well, too…”

Moira’s entirely focused on me. She walks across the room to sit on the edge of the bathtub, setting her hands down on the nearby counter. I don’t get off of her quite yet, it’s like my legs are refusing to work in the aftermath. I look up at my friend with tears welling up in my eyes, barely able to stop myself from breaking down.

“Th-thank you,” I whimper, “Thanks for r-realizing how s-scared I…” The sentence doesn’t finish as I struggle to keep it together, but she gets the gist of it.

“Evie,” Moira says intently, “She had already agreed not to tell anyone else about this before you guys came in. Okay?”

She knows full well about the things I'm afraid of and why. I nod slowly, taking shaky breaths and wiping away tears, and I finally crawl onto the counter. Her hand flips over so that her finger can touch my shoulder as she gives me a comforting smile, and I attempt to smile back gratefully. Star observes us and pulls up a stool as she comes to realize how much I need the reassurances right now.

“Yeah, it’s alright,” she says sweetly, “You don’t need to worry about her spreading the word. I’ve only really gotten to know Camila for a couple of years now since she moved up here, but I know she’s not a blabbermouth. She'll understand. Just give her some time.”

I nod again and silently put my face in my hands, forcing one deep breath after another. I’m dizzy. In less than a week I’ve met three new giants unexpectedly. It's too much. It feels as if everything's started spinning out of control.

“Poor thing,” Star says softly, and for the first time she touches me, softly putting a finger to my other shoulder. “Hang in there, girl.”

“Do you need some space, Eve?” Moira asks quietly.

I take my hands off my face and shake my head, this time able to give them a more genuine smile. “No, I appreciate the support. Thank you. Um… I really was interested in seeing the renovations, actually…”

The change in subject helps distract me for a while. I truly am grateful to these two women and their kindness - all the more so now that I’ve seen what a less-than-friendly new acquaintance can be like. The freshly crafted details of the bathroom really are beautiful, and I marvel at all of the plants that they have set up in here. I even spend some time in Star’s hands for a change, to her absolute delight. She’s very gentle with me but has much more confidence picking me up than Moira did at the beginning. One of the perks of her job as a vet, I guess. I’m not as wriggly as most of the small animals she probably has to deal with.

Eventually we hear the front door opening and figure it might be okay to come back out now. I look over the edge of Star’s fingers, able to make out three figures past the dizzying height of the balcony, all standing in the entryway below. Aiden is off to the side while Camila and Diego are at the door, the two of them quietly conversing in Spanish. He puts one arm around his cousin’s neck and kisses the top of her head before opening the door wider for her to leave. Having noticed our presence, Camila briefly glances up to the second story as she steps a foot out the door. She gives me one last dark look and then vanishes into the night.

[DocRick]

I don't like her and definitely don't trust her.

[Rusco57]

I don't like her and definitely don't trust her.

Agree, she doesn't inspire trust, the way she looks at Evie bodes trouble.

[DocRick]

I don't like her and definitely don't trust her.

Agree, she doesn't inspire trust, the way she looks at Evie bodes trouble.

Hell knows no fury as a woman scorned.