March

Evan walked through the still brown grass of the front hard, his bow slung over his back. Spring was taking it’s time getting here, but it was warm enough that he could move around outside with a thick coat on. He glanced up at the first buds forming on the trees, and smiled. He’d hoped to shoot his bow at a few early bugs, but it didn’t look like many were out yet.

He trudged back towards the front porch, enjoying the brisk early spring air. A crunch of tires against the dirt road leading up to the property gave him pause, and he turned to see Laurie’s truck rolling up. He waved as the blonde got out, a box of clinking bottles under her arm.

“Did someone order a Saint Patrick’s Day party to go?” Laurie grinned.

“Hell yeah!” he shouted as she walked up to him, leaning over so he could hop into her palm.

“You sure you feel okay hosting a party?” Laurie asked, carrying him in through the front door. “I mean, coming to mine is one thing, but-“

“I’m ready!” he insisted, “Look, it’s just going to be you, some of your family, and Eve, it’s not like I’m letting strangers in.” He grinned, “besides, I feel way more secure out here at my uncle’s house.”

“Yeah…” Laurie muttered, looking up at the high ceilings, “about that, I know you have some crazy traps and stuff you built for tiny-hunters, but could you maybe…” She shifted slightly, “I don’t know… disarm the lethal ones at least? For the party anyway.”

“I don’t leave dangerous booby traps armed,” Evan said, “I have an extremely stupid cat you understand. Nothing I have has any chance of going off accidentally either,” He grinned, “I did learn from some of the best.”

“The army?” she asked uncertainly.

He shrugged, “people I met on my tour, sure.”

“The army?” Laurie repeated, uncomfortably.

“Overstepping,” Evan said calmly.

“What about your uncle?” She asked, “did he maybe have any old mobster hidey holes around here full of guns, gold, and dead bodies?”

“You’ve been asking that for a decade now and the answer is still no!”

…

Eve pulled her car into the driveway, frowning at the line of other vehicles on the lot. Being tiny, Evan didn’t really have a lot of visitors, other than Laurie of course. A pair of blonde men were on the porch, smoking cigarettes, beers in hand. They waved at her, and she waved back, recognizing them as a pair of Laurie’s cousins who’s names she couldn’t quite place. She got out of the car and walked up to the door, hearing the loud sound of Celtic rock music echoing from inside.

“EVE!” a dozen voices shouted as she walked in.

“Uh, hi!” she said awkwardly. “What’s all this?”

“Saint Patrick’s Day!” Laurie shouted, appearing with a whisky bottle in hand, “here you go!” she held out a cocktail glass and quickly poured Eve a shot.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Eve muttered, “I’m not much of a fan of hard liquor…”

“You’re the only one here who’s actually Irish,” Laurie explained, “kind of, O’Mara is Irish right?”

“I think so,” Eve muttered.

“Look, if you take the shot, I’ll go get Evan for you, we put him in a leprechaun outfit,” Laurie said with a wink.

Eve’s eyes lit up with excitement, and she grabbed the glass and downed it instantly. Fire lit up her throat, and she fought a cough as she swallowed. The warmth traced down to her stomach, and a moment later she was fanning her mouth as though she’d just eaten something spicy.

“Okay,” Eve said, the alcohol starting to hit her, “where’s my lucky charm?”

Laurie giggled, stepping away, and with her several of her family members, letting Eve see Evan, leaning against a small shot glass that was full of pennies. He was dressed in a bright green outfit leprechaun suit, complete with a top hat and a wig full of fake red hair.

“Eve!” he shouted, walking up to her. “People keep asking for tips on how to catch me and get my pot of gold, I told them to ask you!”

“I didn’t catch you though,” she laughed, reaching down to pick him up. “Where did you get that costume?”

“Leprechaun outfits for tinies are all over the big chain stores,” Laurie said, swaying slightly as she joined them, “it’s offensive to tinies, the Irish, and the University of Notre Dame, but I just had to buy one!”

“I love it!” Eve giggled, taking her phone out to snap a quick picture.

Evan just rolled his eyes, “It’s a little scratchy,” he said, “but I do like the little boots, not a lot of boots made for guys my size.”

…

The party went on all evening, with groups being led out a few at a time by the designated drivers. As the crowd thinned it was soon down to just Laurie, Eve, and Evan, looking around at the mess that would need to be cleaned up the next day.

“Guys, I’m still feeling a little tipsy,” Laurie muttered, “mind if I crash? I’ll help pick up tomorrow.”

“Go for it,” Evan said, waiving her towards the stairs. “This place is huge, just pick one of the bedrooms.”

With the crowd gone Marshmallow appeared, having spent most of the day hiding from the raucous noise. The cat glanced around, seemingly disapproving of the cups left on tables, and the peanut shells and green confetti littering the floor. With the feline equivalent of a shrug, he leapt onto an easy chair that was mostly clean, and curled up to sleep.

“So,” Eve said with a grin as she picked Evan off the counter, “about that pot of gold…”

“You can have all the change in the couch,” Evan laughed, “I’ve only ever spent money on a card since shrinking anyway, hard to carry bills and coins, you know?”

Eve giggled as she walked up the stairs with him, “since he doesn’t have a pot of gold, my little leprechaun will have to trade something else for his freedom…”

She carried him into the bedroom, and with a playful flourish tossed him through the air to the bed. He flailed, bouncing on the soft comforter slightly as Eve started pulling her shirt off. As Evan began taking off the leprechaun costume Eve plucked it up, tossing it over to the miniature condo unit she’d gotten him for Christmas. It sat on her dresser now, although Evan mostly used it for storage and occasionally to use the fully functioning tiny sized bathroom. These days he almost always slept with her in the bed, her warm fingers curled around him.

It didn’t take long before they were both naked, and Evan lay back against the blanket looking up at the colossus sized woman looming over him. She giggled as her finger extended, playing with his manhood and pressing him slightly into the mattress as she considered what to do with him.

“Evan,” she whispered in a low voice, “do you want to try something new?”

“Uhh…” he gulped. Evan liked to think of himself as a brave guy, and shrinkees were resilient enough that they could survive and quickly recover from some truly insane injuries, hell Evan had come to terms with the fact that he kind of liked being crushed under Eve’s feet… but at four inches tall? With a giant woman leering at you? You didn’t just immediately say yes to a question like that. “What did you have in mind?”

“Anal!” Eve said, her eyes flashing.

“Whoa,” he murmured, the implication hitting him, “I umm… it sounds a little-“

“What’s the problem?” Eve teased, “guys are always asking their girlfriends to try it-“

“I-It’s not the same and you know it!” he stammered.

“Chicken,” Eve said with a giggle. She saw his face and softened a bit, “another time maybe… Don’t worry, I have another fun idea,” she winked at him and stood up. He watched her walk towards the bathroom curiously, and he raised an eyebrow as she returned with a cue tip, a small bottle, and a roll of scotch tape.

“What’s all that for?” he asked.

“There’s this sort of funny theory going around,” Eve said with a mischievous grin, “that…” she bit her lip, stifling a laugh, “emissions, from tiny guys have healing properties, extend your lifespan, remove wrinkles, all that good stuff.” She leaned down, the plastic ripping sound filling the air as she pulled pieces of tape off the roll. Despite his apprehension Evan didn’t run or fight it when she taped each of his limbs to the bed, the sticky bonds holding him in a spread-eagle position. He tested it slightly, while he was pretty sure he could get out with some effort, for now he was held in place.

“Okay, well you can have as many of my ‘emissions’ as you want Eve, just ask,” he joked.

“Not everyone is so lucky to have their own dispenser in their home!” Eve said, squirting the lube over the cue tip. She swirled it in her fingers, moistening them and coating the cue-tip in the slimy material. She leaned down, giggling at him as her massive face filled his field of vision. “Obviously a certain… harvesting technique needed to be developed.”

“What kind of-“ he began, but he was cut off as the cue tip began brushing around his erection. The soaked cotton tip felt amazing, and he felt his head lolling back as Eve casually teased him with it.

“You know when I was younger, I wanted to be a scientist,” she mused, “subject appears to enjoy stimulation, experiment in tiny man milking procedure number one appears to be going well.”

“Number one?” he asked, grinning a little.

“Test subjects don’t talk,” Eve said with a wink, “hold still…”

The cue tip picked up it’s pace, and he grunted as the silky wet material continued to stroke up and down along his manhood, accentuated by the playful giggles of the giant woman overhead. She slowed down, and he looked at her pleadingly.

“Eve!” he begged.

She put a finger over her lips, smirking at his reaction, “No talking! Subject is uncooperative, decreasing speed.”

He looked at her, just barely stopping himself from saying something. She gave him a smug smile, then picked up speed again. He felt shivers going through his body, and he strained against his scotch-tape bonds. He desperately wanted to reach down and finish himself, and Eve could see it in his eyes as he writhed. She twirled the cue tip, rotating it around him and continuing to hold him at the very edge of orgasm.

“Would you like to finish?” She asked, leaning in so close he could feel her warm breath.

“Y-“ he caught himself, she was trying to get him to slip up and break her “rule.” He smiled as pleasantly as he could, then nodded eagerly.

“Good boy,” she chuckled.

The cue tip assaulted him one final time, circling his erection even as it slipped up and down, rising up to tease his head while Eve covered her mouth in mock surprise. The brunette licked her lips as the first of his cum came out, and her massive fingers darted out, stroking him eagerly as he screamed in pleasure. Each spurt was collected on the cue tip, soaking in with the existing lube and cotton.

“Come on,” she muttered, “get it all out, excellent work test subject!”

“Fuck yeah,” he muttered, collapsing in a heap.

“Test subjects don’t-“

“Experiment’s over,” he replied.

Eve rolled her eyes, then lifted the cue tip to her mouth and stuck it in. She sucked on it for a second, making sure that anything of his that was on it disappeared into her dark throat. She smacked her lips playfully as she pulled the cue tip out, and with a flourish she flicked it into a small trash can next to her night stand.

“I feel younger and more beautiful already!” she said with a smile.

“So, people really want shrinkee jizz?” Evan asked as Eve leaned down to rip the tape off him.

“Yeah,” Eve said with a chuckle, “I don’t know if it actually does anything, but some tiny guys sell it to cosmetic companies I guess.”

Evan frowned, “how much do they pay?”

Eve shrugged, “probably not a lot? And they don’t use a cue tip anymore, they strap you guys in to these harnesses and slip these little hose things over your parts.” She bit her lip and gripped the blankets a moment, “I could uh… probably find one for sale online if you wanted to-“

“I don’t know about that,” Evan laughed. He paused, “you sure seem to know a lot about this harvesting procedure…”

“Just curious!” Eve said quickly, “I mean… it’s kind of fun to play scientist with me, right?”

“You missed your calling,” he said with a grin, “but for the next round I want to be a guy that explores caves, a geologist!”

“I think they’re called spelunkers,” Eve corrected with a laugh, “now come here!”

…

“So, our numbers aren’t great this quarter,” Amber said from the front of the conference room, “but we’re doing better.” She grinned at the assembled team, “Does anyone have any questions?”

Eve remained silent. Truthfully, she was a little bored, she was sure most of her coworkers were as well. These meetings were mostly about Amber’s ego, and the worst part of it was that she actually had something to be proud of, she’d turned around the branch’s finances and had actually proven an effective manager for most of the employees.

Amber’s surprising ability in the leadership role was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it made it that much likelier that she really would get promoted off into corporate next month when the CEO visited. On the other… well, there was no chance of HR intervening on Charles behalf. He was sitting on top of a pink tissue box now, his tiny sized chair having been “misplaced.” Amber had offered him the tissues in a condescending manner in front of everyone, a little reminder of his stature. She seemed to be sneezing a lot, and she always made a show of reaching for the box, knocking Charles over, at one point she’d “accidentally” tossed a balled tissue his way, giggling when he’d scurried quickly to dodge it.

“Sorry Charles, spring allergies I think.” She sneezed again for emphasis, sniffing slightly, “Okay, I think we can wrap things up then,” Amber said with a smile, “we can probably expect a performance bonus this year…” her gaze lingered on Charles, a glint in her eye, “those of us that made a sizeable effort anyway…”

From the look on Charles face, he knew the implication, and he sighed and looked down at his feet. For the millionth time since Amber had welcomed her back in, Eve wanted to say something. Amber had looped her into more and more management activity since they’d returned from the retreat the previous month. She’d seen Charles’ file, he was doing the work of three people and had top marks from all of their clients, to cut him off from a bonus was borderline criminal.

She knew all that, and she said nothing, laughing as Amber made a joke about hating Mondays.

…

Evan was walking through his wall tunnels, inspecting them. He didn’t use them much these days, there didn’t seem to be a point with Eve no longer trying to become his guardian against his will. Still, he liked to be prepared, and he had little else to do during the days besides watch TV or surf the internet.

He frowned as he noticed a Christmas light burned out, “cheap pieces of shit,” he muttered. The long string lights had seemed the most obvious choice for his interior lighting, they were cheap, lengthy, and not much of a fire hazard. They were still Christmas lights though, and many of them had stopped working for seemingly no reason at all.

At full size they were cheap and disposable enough that he had always just thrown them away and bought new ones. At tiny size? Replacing a string of those lights would be at least a day of work, and there were burned out bulbs in almost all parts of his network. It was time to finally figure out how to change a Christmas light, he decided.

When he’d been diagnosed with the shrinking virus, he’d had months before getting tiny, and he’d used that time to make a lot of what he’d need when he was small. He thought back to that doctor’s appointment sourly, he’d have never gone in for the mild cold symptoms normally, but with the virus going around he’d wanted to be cautious… He pushed the memory out of his head, turning back to the matter at hand.

His original “bedroom” was in a hollowed-out part of house’s front wall which he’d constructed by tearing down the drywall and equipping it with power, running water, and a few hidden viewports to the street outside. After placing his phone and some furniture for himself inside, he’d sealed it up again, painting the new drywall until only the most well-trained eye would be able to tell there was anything unusual about that patch of the room.

He climbed up into his old living space, walking over to his bank of phones. Three of them were just used as mechanisms to control various features of the house, mostly things like the smart thermostat, the internet router, and a few less mundane things he hoped to never use. At the far end was a smartphone as large as he was that served as his personal device and which he used to surf the internet. He quickly pulled up a youtube tutorial on changing Christmas lights, and after a few minutes he decided it seemed simple enough.

He pulled up his texts, “can u find me Christmas lights at the store?” he texted Eve, “any kind of holiday lights should work need 2 change bulbs”

…

“So this guy I’ve been seeing,” Amber said, “turns out he actually moonlights as a Tiny-Hunter,” she laughed to the girls around her. They were talking about their love lives, Sandy and Diane were talking about how hard it was to find good guys around their area, and Amber was discussing the man she’d been seeing, evidently the same one as the previous month. “I guess there aren’t enough tinies around unclaimed anymore to do it full time,” Amber said, sipping her coffee, “so he just works at a warehouse mostly.” She sneezed again, wrinkling her nose slightly and sniffing, “sorry, anyways-“

Eve’s phone beeped, and she picked it up, checking the text. She frowned, not sure where he expected her to find Christmas lights this time of year, but she sent back a promise to check on her way home.

“Ooh,” Amber said, peering over her shoulder, “and who is Miss O’Mara texting?” Eve practically squealed with terror, hugging her phone to her chest.

“It’s got to be a guy!” Sandy giggled, “come on Eve, spill!”

Diane’s hand darted over her other shoulder, and before she could protest her phone was slipped out of her hand. Diane frowned, looking at the conversation about Christmas lights.

“Who’s Evan?”

“I know who Evan is,” Amber giggled, “you let him have a phone?” She reached over and took Eve’s phone from Diane. Amber quickly read the conversation, “Christmas lights?”

“He uh, gets scared at night,” Eve lied, “he’s just a poor tiny little guy, so I gave him some so he wouldn’t be scared!”

“You’re being too nice with him,” Amber muttered. She quickly hovered her thumb over Evan’s contact information, forwarding it to her own device. With a shrug she handed the phone back to a nearly hyperventilating Eve.

…

“Hey, tiny bitch,” a text appeared on Evan’s phone.

Even frowned, the message came from an unknown number. He had been looking up videos on a few other topics when it had come in. He reached up, using his whole hand to bring up the phone’s touch screen keyboard.

“Excuse me?” he tapped back.

“I work with your owner tiny, I just wanted to introduce myself, I’m Amber.”

A picture of a redhead giving him a smug grin and flipping the bird came with it.

He frowned, confused, “You know Eve?” he typed back.

“Yes, I know all about you, I’ve been talking to Eve about having you brought in sometime for us girls to play with.”

Evan read and felt his confusion deepen; Eve didn’t talk about work much… Was this some coworker? Why would Eve give out his contact info? Whoever Amber was, he didn’t care for her.

“You seem confused, don’t contact me again,” he typed. He reached up to block the number, but another message made him pause. It was a video attachment…

“Learn to do this shrinkee, this is what you’re going to be doing for me when Eve starts loaning you out.”

He clicked “play,” starting a short video of a series of tiny men providing pedicure services to a woman’s feet. He rolled his eyes, preparing to close it out, when he heard a conversation on the audio, the first voice he didn’t recognize, the second…

“When are you going to bring your tiny guy in to meet us?” a woman’s voice asked.

“Oh, any time now,” Eve’s voice responded, “I’m just working on building up his trust a little more.”

Evan suddenly felt hollow, and he wanted nothing more than to close that video, but his hands shook too much to do so.

“That’s a weird way to go about it,” Amber said, “but if he’s really as smart as you say, I guess you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”

“Tiny guys just need some… guidance,” Eve said, “he doesn’t even realize how much he’s already mine, seriously!”

Evan’s mouth was dry as he looked for the date on the video, and it was like another blow as he saw it had come at the end of February, just a few weeks ago…

“Sounds like you’re pretty attached,” Amber said, “don’t go soft on me again Eve!”

“Soft?” he mouthed numbly.

“He’s just a tiny Amber! He’s feisty but it’s going to end with him as my slave, I’m just letting him walk into it instead of chasing him!”

Just a tiny

He felt sadness and fury battle within him, a swirling vortex of emotions that he felt would tear him apart even as he sat there, outwardly calm on his old bed.

“Just a tiny?” he repeated again, blinking a tear out of his eye. Maybe that’s all you’ll ever be to these people, he thought with a sigh. Maybe it’s time to stop this pretending and accept it.

No, he blinked tears out of his eyes, feeling sadness give way to rage, no, I’m a man, always was, always will be.

He stood up; his hands clenched in fists of rage that almost turned his knuckles white. At any size he was still a man, still human. He had work to do before Eve got home.

…

Eve turned the key to the house, humming to herself as she entered, “Evan?” she called, “what do you want for dinner?” Silence. That was odd. She brushed it off, he was probably just in his tunnels somewhere. She hung up her coat, kicking off her shoes as she entered the house.

“Mrow?” she turned to see Marshmallow, peering out of his carrying kennel curiously.

“Hey buddy,” she said with a smile, “did Evan tell you to go in there? Is it time for another vet visit already?”

She looked around again, half expecting Evan to appear, telling her what was wrong with the cat and what she needed to ask about when she got to the vet’s office. Still nothing. She frowned, was he out with Laurie somewhere?

She shrugged; she’d text the other woman in a minute. She walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, pulling a large pitcher of iced tea out. She poured herself a glass, replacing the pitcher and walking into the living room as she sipped it.

She took a long drink as she sat down, the frowned. Something was a bit off about it. She blinked, realizing the walls were growing blurry, the ceiling looking farther and farther away… She looked down in shock as her hand went limp, her glass of tea clattering to the floor as her vision left her and the world went white.

…

Eve groaned, blinking awake. She was still on the floor of the living room, and she sat up, looking around in shock at the spilled drink. She glanced at the clock in shock, realizing she’d been out for hours.

“I thought about tying you up,” Evan’s voice came, “but it felt a little too Gulliver’s Travels, and it wasn’t necessary anyway.”

He was on the floor in front of her, wearing the same camo pants and headband as the day she’d met him. His bow was in hand, but the arrows in the small quiver on his back glinted in the light, metal instead of toothpicks, with disturbingly large heads that Eve was sure would do far more damage than his usual wooden projectiles.

“E-Evan?” she asked groggily, “somethings wrong, I think I passed out-“

“I drugged you,” he said angrily.

She froze, “W-What?” she asked disbelievingly.

“Yeah, you never secure any of your food or drink, it’s something I could have done to you at any time if you got out of hand,” he said bitterly.

“Why?” she exclaimed, anger rising.

“I saw the video,” he said in a low voice, “I heard the things you said about me… just a tiny, letting me walk into it.”

“Oh god,” she said in a hushed tone, “Evan, that was just something I said to… to fit in-“ she reached for him pleadingly, but like lightning his hands had an arrow nocked and ready, aimed at her face.

“Don’t fucking touch me!” he snarled, “reach for me again and I’ll put one of these through your eye!”

Please don’t Eve, he pleaded internally, I can’t… I can’t do it. He blinked away another tear, hoping she wouldn’t notice how much his hands were shaking.

She recoiled, “you’re scaring me,” she whispered.

“Good!” he screamed, spittle flying from his mouth, “I’m a scary person Eve! Bad people were, ARE, afraid of me!” he chuckled, the light never reaching his eyes, “I’ve got to thank you Eve, I didn’t believe I could be the person I was after shrinking, it was really tearing me apart… You really reminded me of who I am.” A crazed grin crossed his features, “pick up that glass there, check your reflection.”

Shakily she reached for the glass, holding it up so she could see herself in the glass. She gulped as she saw a red line traced across her neck.

“That was done with a sharpie,” Evan said bitterly, “it could have easily been done with a knife.” He looked up and met her eyes, “any time Eve, I could have pulled the trigger on all this any time.” He laughed, a mad tittering sound betraying his voice about to break into sobs, “still think I’m just some tiny?”

“No,” she sniffed, fighting back tears, “I don’t… Evan, please, I didn’t mean those things!”

“How can I know that?” he asked, his shoulders slumping. “You seem nice, you seem like you’re my friend, but that Amber woman sure seems to think you’re her friend too, which one of us knows the real Eve?”

“You!” she insisted, bursting into tears at last, “please Evan-“

The door opened, and Laurie walked in. She had a grim look on her face, and she refused to look Eve in the eye. Without a word she picked up Marshmallow’s crate, and through the door Eve could see the battered truck idling in the driveway.

“W-why’s she here?” Eve asked quietly.

“I’m going to stay with her for a while,” Evan said, walking towards the door. “You wanted the house so badly? Enjoy it.”

Laurie returned, stooping down to pick him up. The blonde glanced at Eve, watching from the doorway, she and Evan exchanged a few words that Eve couldn’t hear, and then Laurie carried him to her truck. Eve wanted to run after it as it crunched out onto the gravel road, but she was frozen, numb.

Eve staggered to the couch and sat alone in an empty house, tears built in her eyes, and she wept, unheard and unseen by anyone.