Crystal awoke, still feeling a bit tired and out of it.  She stretched and stood up, then frowned as she looked around.  She wasn’t sure where she was, but it was dark with some light shining through the ceiling.  “Val?” She blinked a few times, looking out of one of the holes as her eyes adjusted to the light.  She also felt surprisingly… fuzzy?  She quickly realized she had some fuzzy material stuck to her in various places, and on her face.  She also smelled strong minty freshness surrounding her.  ’What the fuck?’ she wondered.  She could see a wall and a ceiling through the hole she was looking out of, and it looked familiar but given her size and state she couldn’t immediately put her finger on it.  She pushed up on the ceiling and was surprised that she could move it.  With a few more pushes she managed to slide it partway enough for her to slip through on one end.

As she climbed up out of the tin and sat on the side of it, she was able to look around in full view of her and Valerie’s room, although it was much much bigger now.  She looked behind herself at the lid, seeing that Valerie had placed her in an altoids tin and scoffed, shaking her head.  ‘Kinda wish this whole shrinking thing was just a bad dream, but I guess all that really did happen last night.’  She started pulling at all the leftover fuzz on her body from having slept on cotton balls.  ’This is kind of a pain, but she meant well.  This was kind of nice of-‘

“HI-IIIIII!” Valerie sang, appearing from seemingly nowhere right in front of her.  Crystal screamed and fell right back into the tin, landing on her butt. Valerie giggled.  “Geez, I was going to give you another hour before I checked your pulse.  It’s like one in the afternoon, now.”  Valerie seemed to be dressing pretty relaxed for how she typically does it.  Jeans, blouse, and a silk purple scarf.  Her hair was tied back and up on her head in a bun.  Unfortunately, Crystal was still stuck wearing her jeans and shirt from the night before, her hair in desperate need of some attention.

Crystal looked up at Valerie from her position sitting in the tin.  “Fuck you, too.  It’s still Saturday, right?  Please tell me it’s still Saturday.  I can’t handle it being Monday right now.”

Valerie frowned down at her.  “Oh.  Well, you don’t have to worry about anything like that.  School’s on break until everything settles down.  Apparently a bunch of people at this school had shrunk down, too.  Teachers as well!  And some of them haven’t even been found yet.”  She paused, as Crystal stared at her expectantly.  “Oh.  Right.  And yeah, it’s Saturday.”

“Took you long enough.”  Crystal climbed out of the tin and onto the desk.  “Did they figure out what caused all this?”

“Nah.  But apparently it affected the whole world.  Like, everywhere.  And it seems so far like it was only us human folk that ended up shrinking.  Animals were too cool to join the club.”

“This was one club I could really do without.”

“They say it was some kind of disease, or virus.  But it has to have been man-made.”  Valerie frowned down at Crystal, studying her as she thought.  “Everyone who was shrunk had their clothes shrink with them.  So however the balls this was invented, it had to target you as a person and not end up targeting something like your seat.  Which meanssss…” she trailed off in her singsong voice for a second, “that it had to have scanned you, or known to have accounted for your clothes.  There’s no way that’s natural.”  She pouted slightly, in thought.  “Unless maybe Mother Nature actually wants all her clothing back.”

“If that were true, I think she would have targeted your ass, first.”

Valerie shrugged.  “I mean…  Yeah.  True.”  Something occurred to Valerie suddenly, as she was starting down at Crystal.  She gasped in joy at the prospect, bringing her eyes super close to Crystal’s body.  “GUESS WHAT, CRYS!?”

“Oh god.  What the fuck.  What is going on now?”  Crystal was actually a bit taken off guard by one of Valerie’s eyeballs suddenly inches from her.  She also wasn’t a fan that even so up close she was easily completely contained with her sight.  It made her feel powerless, and she couldn’t help but be completely stunned as she looked into that single eye, able to make out far more detail than she would’ve personally liked. 

Suddenly, Valerie’s hand reached over and picked her up in a relaxed fist.  “I totally get to do your hair and stuff!  Like you’re my doll!  I never had one of them before, actually… never really cared for them,” she said, frowning in thought as she remembered her childhood, then looking back down at Crystal and smirking mischievously.

“Oh fuck me.  Aren’t they making things for tiny people yet!?”

“Well, of course.  But nothing’s actually out yet so we gots to make do, ya feelin me?”

“Oh god.  This is the worst.”  Crystal sighed.  “But it would be nice to get out of these buttery clothes.”

“Mmm.  Yeah.  You sure you don’t want me to just suck on you for a while?  It’d totally help.  Because that’s science!”  She leaned her mouth close to Crystal before licking her lips, giving off a small moan.

“GOD!  Please!  NO Val!  Bad Val!  BAD!”

Valerie giggled.  “Fine, have it your way.  DON’T be in my mouth.  See where that gets you in life.”

Crystal looked up at her in utter bewilderment.  “Uh… fucking yeah, I think I’ll choose that path in my life right about now, thank you very much.”

Valerie grinned, showing her teeth.  “But think!  In a way, a lot of people could be quite jealous of you!  Think of all the things you could see.  And the places you can be.”  She angled Crystal’s head towards her lips, and opened her mouth wide, engulfing Crystal within and closing her lips over Crystal’s waist.

Crystal didn’t know why Valerie was doing this, but she was now panicking as she was trapped within the familiar heat and humidity of Valerie’s mouth once again.  And again, it was so sudden she barely had time to react beforehand.  She squirmed in Valerie’s grasp, yelling and screaming to be let out, but was muffled by her friend’s maw.  She couldn’t even move her arms since they were pinned by Valerie’s lips.  The only thing she could take any kind of comfort in was that instead of being surrounded in popcorn scent, it was instead minty, as Valerie had recently brushed.

Valerie giggled evilly while her friend was trapped halfway in her mouth, the sound shaking Crystal at her core.  She always liked messing with Crystal, and at her new size a whole new slew of opportunities just opened themselves up to her.  But she also didn’t want to overdo it too much. She was keeping her tongue from touching her little friend, despite her temptation to do otherwise, and she wasn’t using her teeth either.  She felt Crystal squirming and trying to escape, making little squeaking sounds as she yelled up at her, and it was getting harder and harder to maintain a straight face since she had to keep her lips tight against Crystal’s body.  Sometimes she yelled so loud in her confined space Valerie could feel the echo off of various spaces inside her mouth, sending tingles down her spine.

Luckily for Crystal’s sake, this was only happening for the span of two to three seconds.  Eventually Valerie released her tiny and slightly moister friend from her prison, grinning wickedly at her and overemphasizing her giggles. 

“What the FUCK Valerie!” she screamed up at her, kicking at her fingers. 

Valerie’s reply was simply more cackling, to which Crystal cried, “You’re SUCH a fucking child, holy shit!”

“Aw, calm down lil lady, I was only playin’.  Besides, that was my one chance, you know!?  It’s not like I’m going to do that again after we clean you up some!”

“Oh fuck that, you damn bitch.  You are NOT helping me clean up.”

“Can I at least brush your hair?”

“HELL NO.  I don’t want you TOUCHING me unless you absolutely have to, AND you have my permission.”

“Oh.  Okay.”

Valerie stood still while Crystal stewed in her enclosed hand awkwardly for a bit before speaking up again.  “So, yeah.  Bathroom.  Leave me stuff that I can work with.”

Soon after, Valerie left the bathroom to give her friend privacy.  With a couple of small washcloths, a small bowl of soap, and the running sink water, she figured that’d be enough for her right now.  She felt a little off-put since Crystal seemed seriously mad with her, but she couldn’t help herself.  She was always a kind of trickster.  And she never had any siblings to really focus that part of herself on.  ’They can’t make stuff for the little people fast enough,’ she thought.  ‘Perhaps there’s some fancy doll clothes we could use, but even those would be too big for her.  She’s like less than the size of my pinky.’

Valerie frowned.  ‘The first thing we’d really need is something to really protect them all with, or some kind of comms or tracking devices to make it easier.  Right now, they’re just easy pickings.’  Valerie raised her eyebrows as she just realized something she was forgetting.  ‘Wait… doesn’t she have her cell?  Would that still even work?  Huh.  We’ll have to see when she’s finished up.’ 

A knock came on their door, snapping Valerie from her train of thought.  “Who are you people!?” she yelled out. 

“You forget to take your meds again, meemaw?!” came a female voice from the other end.

Valerie strode over, and opened the door.  She clenched her teeth tight as she jokingly bellowed, “Get in here!”

Brittany came through and Valerie closed the door behind her.  She was about the same age and year as Valerie and Crystal, and living nearby in the same dorm.  Valerie would have classified Crystal as stocky, but Brittany was definitely a phase or so ahead of that, having a more chubby body.   She was dressed in sweats and a t shirt.  “Wut up, amiga!” she said.  “Hey, did you hear about the thing?”

“You mean the end of the world?  Yeah, I heard it.  I just didn’t realize it was the divine plan to shrink the chosen few, but I guess it makes putting them where they need to be a bit easier.”

Brittany laughed.  “But good thing it wasn’t any of us, huh?  Guess we got pretty lucky.”

Valerie squinted, as if in pain, sucking air through her teeth and giving Brittany a meaningful look.  After a tick or two Brittany picked up on it and gasped.  “Oh no!” Brittany said, “Crystal!?”

Valerie nodded.  “Yep.  She on the short bus now.”

Brittany raised her eyebrows in shock.  “Dannng.  That sucks.  Where she at now?  Back with her folks?”

“Nah, she’s here.  She’s getting washed up now.  I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.  You know how she gets when she’s all ornery.  She’d kick our asses right now, even at her size.”

“I’m pretty sure she could have kicked my ass before, anyway.  I think you’re the only one who ever managed to beat her in martial arts.”

“Eh, yeah, but I’m too awesome.  Too much raw fighting ability, ain’t nobody can beat me one on one.”  Valerie stood a bit higher, feigning pride.

“Oh, please.”  Brittany rolled her eyes.  “So you guys have any idea what you’re doing during surprise break?”

“No idea.  Crystal just woke up a little bit ago.  Hah.  Little.  See that, what I did?”  Valerie made a mock happy face.

“Ugh, sometimes I wish I can actually beat you up, meemaw.  I don’t feel like facing the consequences right now, though.”

Valerie frowned.  “Now that you mention it though I guess Crystal’s parents might end up taking her home.  No point in being a one inch psychologist if all the people you interview can just smoosh you.  Huh.  That’s too bad.”

“Eh, who knows, they might be able to come up with a way.  Or she could be behind protective glass, or something.  Or be in forensics.  You know.  Consulting and stuff, or whatever they call it.  It’s not all over for her, I’m sure there’s something.”

They both suddenly heard a small voice call out “Fuck youuu it’s over!”  It sounded like it was outside the door and down the hall, but Valerie knew otherwise. 

“You ready to say hi, sunshine?” Valerie asked.  She heard Crystal reply back in the affirmative, so she made her way into the bathroom.  Crystal was looking a lot better and cleaner now, and she must have smoothed down her hair with the dry washcloth.  Her clothes were damp, too, from having hand washed them.  “Well ain’t choo lookin good, gurl!”

Crystal rolled her eyes.  “Yeah.  Whatever. So Britt’s here?”

“HOLA, LITTLE WOMAN!” Brittany shouted from beside Valerie. 

“You should tell this bitch to swallow her food better.   Do you know how much more popcorn I had stuck on my body?  Because it wasn’t a tiny bit.”

Brittany looked confused.  “A-what?  I feel like I don’t want to know.”

Crystal sighed.  “Ah, you don’t.  So, what, you giving up on me just because I’m tiny, now?”

Brittany laughed.  “No, chica.  I really don’t think anything in the world can stop you once you have your mind set to something.” 

“Sucks, though.”  Valerie said.  “Until they come out with more stuff to help the tiny people, it’s going to be really hard.  They were saying that something like just under 20% of the world’s population might’ve ended up shrunk.”

“No shit?”  Brittany said, gasping in real surprise. 

“Yeah.  I’m pretty sure this was intentional, too.  Some crazy old scientist developed a doomsday device.  Or the government wanted to control the population.  Something like that.”

“Huh, maybe,” Brittany said.  “But usually rich people are safe from those kinds of conspiracies, no?  There’ve been a bunch of rich people shrunk, too.”

“Hm.  No way.”  Valerie said, mostly consumed by thought.

“Ugh, okay!  Crystal!  Um.  Would it be okay if I held you?” Brittany asked, seeming more excited at the idea than Crystal maybe felt comfortable with.

“What!?”  Crystal was caught off guard by the question.  “Urgh.  Fine, go ahead.” 

Brittany held out her hands, and Crystal slowly walked out onto them.  Brittany gasped as she felt her tiny feet stepping unsurely into her awaiting palms.  “Oh my god.  This is so weird!”  She looked down at Crystal, a look of awe on her face.  “SO weird!”

“Yeah, tell me about it.  At least you’re taking care of me better than this bitch has.  She literally tossed me into her mouth in the first few seconds.”

“Wow,” Brittany said, “so that’s what you meant before?”

“SHE DID IT AGAIN TODAY!”

Brittany gave Valerie an odd look, raising an eyebrow at her.  “What!?” Valerie exclaimed, “you can’t say you haven’t at least thought about it!” 

Brittany turned to Crystal for a moment, looking her up and down, then said, “Well, yeah, now I am.”

“Seriously,” Crystal said, “what the fuck am I doing with you people?” 

Valerie grinned.  “Come on, Crys.  You know why.  You’re our psychologist!  Now, make us normal!”

“I don’t think there’s enough drugs and time in the world to make that happen,” Crystal replied.