Lucas hesitated in front of Maeve's door. He wasn't sure if this would somehow offend her, although he told himself that it would be for her own good. If he didn't knock and just went back to his work, then everything could simply carry on as it had. However, he was finding that concept increasingly intolerable.

He had first met Maeve online while looking for roommates to split rent with. She had a stable income and didn't appear to be a creep, so they arranged to meet in person and determine if they'd be compatible living under the same roof long-term. When she walked up and introduced herself at the public park they had chosen, he only needed one look at her to determine he had hit the jackpot. A pretty face, shoulder-length dark hair, and what appeared to be a stunning figure hidden beneath a modest, conservative outfit. Lucas found himself spinning off into fantasies of living in close proximity with this woman when she made a strange pronouncement.

"I'm legally obligated to inform you that I am a mutant. I am technically a risk to you and everyone around me. However, I take every precaution, and you will be in no danger while living with me."

"A... mutant? What, like the X-Men?"

A deep sigh, as if she had been hoping the conversation would move on without comment, but knew it wouldn't. "More or less, yes. I assure you that beyond the initial incident, I've had no other accidents, so you really are as safe with me as you would be with anyone else. The effect is temporary, regardless. I'd prefer we carry on like it isn't even there. It'd go smoother for both of us."

"Effect?" Lucas's puzzlement was overtaking his attraction, and her evasive comments were piquing his curiosity. "What effect? I see this is awkward for you, but I think I ought to know the details before we commit to sharing an apartment."

Maeve set her face and nodded sharply. "Probably best to rip the metaphorical band-aid right off. I can... shrink people. Reduce them in size, sometimes dramatically. It's a conscious effort, so I've never done it accidentally or without thinking. If it does happen, it's only temporary, so there's never any lasting harm. Any other questions?"

Lucas had dozens, but he couldn't voice any of them. He was bewildered by how she could say such fantastic things in a matter-of-fact way. His gut reaction was that she was making it up, but everything else about her seemed almost too good to be true. Perhaps her suggestion to pretend it wasn't real was best after all.

The conversation moved on to more mundane topics. Lucas and Maeve proved to each other's satisfaction that they would be dependable housemates: willingness to do chores, reliability in paying rent, not hosting obnoxious parties, and so on. They sealed the deal shortly after and moved in together.

From the start, Lucas was impressed by Maeve's discipline. She never missed a day at her job, did her share of the chores like clockwork, and rarely went out for any other reason. Her evenings and weekends were spent in her room, either reading or doing additional work. Lucas was skeptical about her whole "mutant" story, but he could tell that she was serious about it, and her desire to avoid any accidents led her to rule herself with an iron fist.

It also made her boring as hell. Lucas was no parry animal himself, but Maeve's routine made him look like the wildest fraternity pledge in comparison. She was obviously hot, despite her best efforts to hide it, and he had entertained thoughts of her warming up and becoming friendly if not romantic towards him. Unfortunately, her rigid self-control bordered on repression, leaving him feeling aloof and alone in his own apartment.

Which led him to the present moment, hesitating before knocking on her door. Lucas figured that her behavior all stemmed from her fear of her mutation, imagined or not. All he had to do was convince her not to be afraid of it, and then she'd be free to open up and live a little. It was for her own good as much as his personal desires, really. He knocked.

"Uh, Maeve? Can I come in?"

"One moment... yes, of course."

Lucas opened the door and stepped in, half expecting to see something scandalous, but she had simply closed whatever work she was doing on her computer. He took a deep breath, hoping that what he was about to say wasn't too awkward or offensive.

"So, uh, it's been a few months, and I know you said it was best to act like you weren't a, um, mutant, but I've got to be honest. I've been wondering this whole time about what exactly it looks like and all. You said it was temporary, right? So is it okay if I ask for a, uh, demonstration?"

"A demonstration."

"Uh, yeah?"

She peered past him and looked around. "This isn't a prank? You're not making fun of me?"

"What? No, I'm genuinely curious. If it's harmless like you said, then I want to see it."

Maeve fixed Lucas with a level gaze and said nothing for several moments. The gravity with which she treated this frightened him a little, and he could feel his resolve eroding. Just before he reached the point of backing down, she nodded and stood up.

"Fine. But you asked for this. Don't complain if you don't like it. I will not have this counted against my accident-free record."

Lucas nodded. "Sure, sure. So, how does this work, exactly?"

"It's like a muscle that I flex. As long as I focus on it, I can 'hold' you at a particular size. When I relax my grip, you return to normal after a short period."  Lucas felt a twist of doubt. "What kind of period are we talking about?"

"It depends on how small I make you. I'm only going to take off an inch or two, so you'll grow back almost instantly. The delay increases exponentially as the shrinking becomes more extreme." Maeve sounded like a doctor explaining a routine test procedure. "Are you ready?"

"Uh... sure? Go ahead."  Maeve's forehead creased with concentration, and she stared at Lucas like she could burn a hole through him. For a moment, he felt nothing, but then it began. A uniform pressure settled on every inch of his body, like an enormous hand gently wrapping around him. Once she was apparently satisfied with her grip, Maeve gradually increased the pressure, and Lucas felt himself begin to compress. The slow but inexorable squeezing left his body with no choice but to retreat in on itself, yielding to the force of her mental effort.

The process lasted only for a few seconds before the increasing pressure stabilized and leveled out. Lucas could see that his eye level had gone down. He was still a little taller than Maeve, but not by as much as he usually was. After a moment of continued effort to hold him at his reduced size, Maeve visibly relaxed. The squeezing sensation immediately vanished, and a second later, Lucas felt his body stretch back to its normal size.

"That... was weird." Lucas remembered his plan to encourage Maeve not to fear her mutation. "But in, like, a good way! I mean, you don't work out, so I didn't think of you as being particularly strong, but you're clearly packing some muscle up here."

Lucas pointed to his temple and chuckled awkwardly. He was exaggerating his excitement. In truth, the display of power unsettled him a little. The notion that she could have shrunk him at any time in the months they had been living together made him uneasy. He was tempted to abandon the whole plan right there, but then he saw Maeve's face light up.

"You're really not weirded out by it? You're not... afraid of me?"

The insecurity shown in her quiet words made Lucas wince internally. If he confessed his fear and unease right now, Maeve would close down even tighter than before. He still held out hope of scoring with her eventually, and his justification that opening up would be for her own good was becoming a sincere belief. So he smiled and reassured her.

"Absolutely not! In fact, I think it's pretty neat. Maybe we should play around with it in the future. Seems a shame to just try and hide it, you know?"

Hesitantly, she returned his smile. "Yeah, maybe sometime. I ought to get back to my work now, though."

"Sure, I'll let you get to it." Lucas backed out of the room and closed the door. In his estimation, that went about as well as could be expected. As long as he could ignore his unease about her power, he could encourage her to be comfortable with it and with herself. Then, once she wasn't such a robot, he could actually enjoy the perks of having such a hot roommate.

The next afternoon, Lucas was surprised to see results already. He was washing dishes in the sink when Maeve returned from work, and instead of disappearing into her room, she brought her laptop out into the living room and sat on the couch. He engaged her in some idle chatter, acknowledging her without coming on too hard, but internally, he was pumping his fist.

Once he was finished washing and drying, Lucas began putting the clean dishes away. He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't immediately notice the way he had to stretch his arm to reach the high shelves in the cabinets. Only when he got to the point where even standing on tiptoes was insufficient did he become aware of the subtle pressure on his body. He turned to see Maeve focusing on him, a playful expression on her face turning to mortification as she was caught.

"Oh God, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have, I don't know what I was thinking, I -"

Lucas interrupted her with a laugh. "It's okay, Maeve! You got me pretty good there!"

She stared up at him, on the brink of tears. "You're not mad?"

"No, it's fine! You didn't mean any harm by it, and it was kinda funny. Just, uh, now that you're done, could you get me back to normal?"

"What? Oh, sorry, sure."

Immediately, the psychic pressure vanished. Unlike last time, Lucas did not regrow right away. It was a good ten seconds before his body was restored. He hadn't been that much shorter than the day before, but Maeve clearly hadn't been kidding about the exponentially increasing time spent shrunken. Lucas vowed to dig out his old textbooks so he could refresh himself on the math. He didn't want any more surprises.

Due to his good-humored reaction, Maeve pulled back from her breakdown. He repeated his reassurances for good measure, then finished putting away the dishes unmolested. Silently, he also reassured himself that spontaneity was desirable in a romantic partner, and he absolutely did not need to fear Maeve going crazy and making him permanently small or anything like that.

They settled into a new normal after that day. Maeve didn't hide in her room anymore, though she still avoided leaving the apartment beyond work and shopping for necessities. Lucas talked and joked with her, trying his best to make her feel comfortable. Occasionally, she would use her power to prank or tease, and he gradually learned to view it as a pleasant surprise instead of an ambush to dread.

About a month later, Maeve had an important project at work. She was stressed enough about it to retreat to her room for hours on end to work without distractions. Lucas was sitting on the couch in the living room, diving into the latest game he had purchased. An hour in, he thought he could feel the now-familiar pressure on his skin. The sensation vanished as soon as he noticed it, and his body popped back up a fraction of an inch. Lucas was about to dismiss it as a trick of his imagination when he felt another brief, subtle squeeze. Once it repeated a third time, he went to confront Maeve.

"Maeve?" He poked his head in the door without knocking. "Were you doing something just now?"

Maeve looked up distractedly from her laptop. "Hm? Oh, uh, yeah... sorry."

"What exactly were you doing?"  "I... may have been squeezing you like a stress ball a little bit while I worked." She at least had the decency to blush as she admitted it.

"You can do that when I'm in the other room? I thought you had to see me in order to shrink me."

"Usually, yeah. But since I've been doing so much with you lately, it's becoming easier for me to get a fix on you."

"Right, okay." Lucas rolled his eyes and closed the door to her room, trying to ignore the nervous twist in his gut at how easily and casually she was messing with his size. This was what he wanted, right? To help Maeve get over her fear of her mutation and make her more comfortable and relaxed about interacting with him. He just had to persevere a little longer, and soon enough, she'd be better adjusted, and he could start looking to hook up with her.

Soon, Lucas found an opportunity to push Maeve beyond her nonexistent social circles. His birthday was coming up, which was as good an excuse as any to invite some friends over and have a little party. After a week of negotiating and cajoling, he convinced Maeve that it wasn't that big a deal to host a half dozen people for an evening. He even suggested she invite a few people, but naturally, she wasn't close enough with anyone to be worth asking.

When Lucas mentioned he was going to buy some drinks for the party, Maeve nearly backed out of the whole thing. Apparently, she had learned of her mutation before she was of drinking age, so in keeping with her disciplined, reserved lifestyle, she'd never actually had any alcohol in her life. The thought of being inebriated and losing her inhibitions brought up all of her old anxieties. Lucas reassured her that she wasn't obligated to get drunk, but he did encourage her to try at least one beer just for the experience. With some reluctance, Maeve agreed.

On the evening of the party, Maeve surprised Lucas by wearing a more casual and revealing outfit than usual. He had been bragging to his friends for several months about how hot his reclusive roommate was, and her choice of tight pants and a low-cut t-shirt would certainly make an impression. Crass as it may be, seeing her display herself like that reminded Lucas of just how lucky he had been to find her.

Lucas's friends arrived one by one, and he began playing host while Maeve hung in the background. Too shy to strike up any conversation, she instead picked up a beer. Lucas chuckled to see her sip it, make a face, and then take a longer swallow. As he introduced her to his friends, he tried to keep the focus of the conversations off of her, so she had enough space to listen and be a part of the group without feeling pressured to speak up. Lucas could see everyone stealing glances at her out of a mix of curiosity and admiration for her appearance.

Maeve finished her beer and picked up a second drink when Lucas wasn't looking. He wasn't sure whether it was the alcohol or if she was finally getting comfortable with herself, but Maeve was beginning to carry conversations without a hint of awkwardness. When one guest asked about her reclusive lifestyle, which Lucas had described in the past, she didn't shy away from the question. She launched into explaining her mutation, speaking casually instead of using the clinical tone she had when she and Lucas first met. Lucas took the opportunity to duck away and top off his own drink, trusting Maeve to handle herself alone for a minute. As he returned, he heard her saying his name.

"No, it's cool, Lucas actually likes it. Check it out!"

She reached out and grabbed his arm, dragging him back into the circle of conversation. Her forehead creased in concentration, and she abruptly shrank him. Unlike the previous times, when she had carefully found her grip on him and gradually compressed him, this felt more like a rough shove. The sudden assault of pressure all over his body had Lucas reeling, and when he regained his composure, he was shocked to see he was waist height to everyone else. Maeve had shrunk him by two or maybe even three feet, far more than she had ever done before!

"Maeve, what the hell?" His temper flared, fueled by instinctive fear of being reduced by so much. "How long am I going to be stuck like this?"

Maeve was unfazed and only chuckled at his anger. "Oh, it should only be a couple of hours. You'll be fine."

Lucas took several deep breaths, trying to control himself. Maeve was clearly feeling the effects of her alcohol, and tearing into her right now, in front of everyone, wouldn't be productive at all. Unable to think of any other solution, he stormed off to his bedroom and locked the door behind him. He could hear the party awkwardly die out in the wake of his departure, but he didn't care to go back out and try to salvage it. Instead, he flopped onto his bed, which felt wildly oversized, and glared at the ceiling until he fell asleep.

By the time morning came, Lucas was back to his normal size, for which he was grateful. Maeve peeked her head out of her room while he was going about his morning routine, but he deliberately ignored her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her blush and retreat back inside. She seemed ashamed of her behavior the previous night, which was fine by him. Since he was still feeling upset, Lucas was content to leave her stewing in her guilt.

The same scene repeated that evening. Maeve came home while Lucas was on the couch gaming, and she lingered in the doorway, clearly wanting to talk to him but unwilling to bring herself to start the conversation. Lucas gave her the cold shoulder again and hid a smirk as she slunk away.

After a few days of this, Lucas was mostly over his anger and was feeling ready to talk. However, Maeve had returned to her reclusive behavior, practically hiding from him. Her guilt at misusing her power had drawn her back to her old habits of refusing to interact with anyone.

Lucas knew that he had to fix this. His reaction, however justified, to her mistake had undone all the work he had done so far to pull her out of her shell. She wouldn't make the first step towards reconciliation, so it would be up to him to forgive her and coax her out once more. As he stepped up to knock on her door, Lucas chuckled at the irony. In order to be the bigger man, he would have to ask her to shrink him.