With my commissions wrapped up for the holiday season, I’m trying to go through and read more stories, so I had to give this one a go.

I absolutely adore it so far! Those first three chapters were enticing, if not a bit stressful. I could feel myself getting upset on Mateo’s behalf when his families decided that he was going to shrink. And then on top of that, his mother can’t shrink and now he’s not even guaranteed the level of comfort that would’ve made something like this worth it? I think Mateo was infinitely more mild mannered than I would’ve been given the circumstances. I genuinely don’t know if I would’ve made it out of that meeting without permanently ruining my relationship with my parents. 

Chapter 4 was a very much appreciated relief from the stressors of imagining what poor Mateo’s future would look like. In his shoes, I imagine that I’d be struggling with depression in the face of such overwhelming adversity, so having Hazel and Emma to give him a much needed distraction was a big relief for me as a reader. But that being said, I’m hoping that Mateo gets some time to face these emotions. 

Looking forward to making my way through the story!!

This was one of the most engaging, enthralling gentle-centric chapters I've read on this site.

I think that starts with how we're presented with Mateo's new perspective of his old world. You hit on little details like the volume of Hazel's voice both behind the glass and when Mateo is right in front of her face, the speed and turbulence of her walking, the loudness of her car's engine, and the general weirdness of these new, yet familiar environments to him in such a relatable way that it's easy to empathize with him. Him walking onto her palm for the first time was easy to imagine and the scene captured his timid, unsure but trusting state of mind in that moment. I also love that he has a different feel than Emma for Hazel when he walks on the human's palm.

I also love Hazel as a giantess. She's so adorably enthusiastic about Mateo's downsizing that it's contagious! She also doesn't take any offense at his fear and hesitancy and seems to completely understand where he's coming from. At the same time, she doesn't coddle or infantilize him, either, and still makes jokes about things like dropping tinies. So she's basically just her usual self, but bigger (from Mateo's perspective, at least), which turns out to be the exact kind of familiarity he needs in his life right now.

I almost hate to say it, but ignoring Miguel and walking out on his family was probably the best thing he could have done in terms of adjusting to his new size. I love Sofia, but there's no way she was anywhere near as ready as Hazel, an experienced permit holder with a downsized girlfriend, to handle him and get him used to the human world. The way Hazel actually accounted for Emma and Mateo's downward momentum when catching them on their respective trust falls (we'll come back to the trust fall) is prime example of this. There's no one Sofia would have even thought of that, let alone been able to pull it off with no experience. Mateo is definitely safer with Hazel than he would be with his mom.

And then there are the mental preparations. Emma and Hazel introduced him to human pheromones, and I've got to think that Hazel was a lot more patient with Mateo's skittishness than Sofia would have been (not that his mom would have gotten mad, but I think it would have stressed both Mateo and her out to no end).

But that heart-to-heart between Mateo and Hazel did more good for him than anything. Her touching description of their friendship and what she really thinks of him revealed to Mateo that not only is this the same Hazel that he's always known but that she sees him as the same Mateo as always. She just feels like now this is her chance to pay him back for all the kindness he has ever shown her. How could he not trust her completely and lose those lingering doubts after hearing that. Being so comfortable around Hazel will do more to help him adapt than anything else. Hell, Mateo went from wanting to be completely isolated from humans to wanting a human girlfriend. I think that pretty much says it all.

There's nothing Sofia could have said or done to have had this effect on him, particularly given the tension that has come from her not being able to downsize.

As for the trust fall itself, it kind of made me think back to Emma and Hazel's skateboard trick back in chapter one. Emma mentioned having complete trust in Hazel then, and now we have a much better idea of what she meant by that. Not only that, but Emma's carefree attitude when jumping off the nightstand and Mateo freaking out over her safety is exactly like their reactions during that trick. In a way, this seems like a right of passage for Mateo, one in which he went from the human way of thinking (oh my god, what if Hazel doesn't catch her) to the downsizer way of thinking (whatever happens, Hazel has my back and won't let anything happen to me).

Emma was a lot of fun this chapter. She was pushing Mateo way too hard on trusting Hazel, but it's understandable that she would do so. She's been tiny her whole life, and , given both that fact and she that she related with Mateo about how scary seeing your first human can be, she likely grew up in a downsized community, but she's never been human.

She can't comprehend what it's like to see the world one way your entire life and then suddenly everything looks so much bigger and scarier, including your friends. She wants Mateo to get past what she knows is an unwarranted fear of Hazel for his own sake, and she's also offended on Hazel's behalf that he doesn't trust her giant girlfriend to the same extent she does (He really does trust her, but there's some things that are just harder to get past mentally). So she's pushy with him and get legitimately angry with him over it, even when Hazel understands where he's coming from and isn't upset at all. She just can't understand what's holding Mateo back, and she's understandably frustrated by that.

Ultimately, Emma was right, though, and despite her pushing too hard and not having the capacity to empathize with him, Mateo was lucky to have her there. Sometimes friends have to push barriers and break you out of your comfort zone, and he only got to the place he was in at the end of the chapter because of her.

Also, I absolutely adore the fact that Emma wears the pants in that relationship. Hazel pretty much does what she says, even when she doesn't feel comfortable with it (like putting Mateo underfoot.). In fact, the only time all chapter that Hazel took charge of her was when she pushed Mateo to his breaking point; it literally took seeing one of her closest friends about to lose it to step in and put Emma in her place, which just so happens to be Hazel's butt. I think that says a lot about how much Hazel cares for and respects her, as well as how much trust she puts in Hazel.

Finally, there was not one, but two Beth fantasies in this chapter! And both pheromone-induced hallucinations had clear messages for Mateo. The first one, in which Beth brought him his homework and promised him an A+ on it right before making out with him, is clearly his subconscious showing him exactly why he had been doing that for her for so long. In the fantasy, she was doing it out of a desire for him because that reflects the reality that he did that for her out of a desire for her. That desire is buried deep, probably because of some combination of misinterpreting her bullying of him (which is understandable), a fear of rejection, and the fact that he was in a relationship up until the evening before this fantasy took place.

The second hallucination is even more obvious, just in case he didn't get the message the first time. Trish is with him and tiny and even sucking his dick on the lake, and he still dreams about giant Beth picking Trish up, discarding her, and taking him for herself. He has always preferred Beth, but those things listed above (or whatever else was keeping him from realizing this) kept him from seeing it. Now, with a direct window into his innermost mental workings, he's being bombarded with this truth.

I also wanted to point out that Mateo actually seemed more upset that Trish wasn't around to be his giant girlfriend than he was about actually losing the relationship with her. We don't know much about their relationship other than how it ended, but I'm getting the vibe that it was more one of those high school "be in a relationship just to have one" type of deals than anything. I mean, she ditched him pretty quick at a time when he really needed support, and he sure got over that really quickly. Now he's pissed because he's pining for what Hazel and Emma have, but doesn't know where to find it.

Well, he does, but will he be able to admit it to himself? And even if he does, will Hazel and Jack even let him anywhere near Beth to pursue it? And what'll Beth's reaction be when she sees a tiny Mateo for the first time? Is she still going to try and apologize for taking things too far before, or is she going to be too horny to even think of that (it's pretty obvious that she's into downsizers)? Or will she revert back to her hard outer shell and try to pick on him like normal (well, mostly normal, but with an even bigger height advantage)?

I don't know the answer to any of those questions, obviously, but I have a feeling that we're going to see Trish's reaction first, given our trio is going shopping and Trish is a documented shopaholic.