What even is that shower?! I don't remember ever needing a protractor in the bathroom!

But taking that scene a bit more seriously, that's some incredible attention to detail on Liam's part. I think it also implies either a stubbornness or cheapness to him (based on what we've seen so far, I'm strongly leaning toward the former) that he would rather memorize the the perfect way to use their messed up plumbing set up for the shower rather than just have it fixed. In any case, his exactness regarding such a minor thing really stood out to me.

Then there's the seemingly contradictory way he got offended when being labeled a sizist despite the fact that his job involves torturing downsizers, which we were reminded of in an extreme way when he told Luna that he broke 14 bones on the last tiny he paired with his fleshlight. The distinction he makes between those other downsizers and Luna is intriguing: Those other ones deserved to be punished while Luna is his wife and therefore doesn't. He also claimed that his job is to protect downsizers.

He seems like a very black-and-white, law-and-order type. Between that and his attention to detail that I noted above, I'm starting to think that he might be former military or something along those lines, which, if true, would give us some interesting insight into the type of people that Lilliputian Lakes has on the payroll (I'm assuming he works there because of the shirt Sofia found). Why would they need someone like that around just to deal with little people? Again, this hints at darker intentions on the part of those operating in the downsizing sphere.

And, of course, the larger question to come from all that is what, exactly, does a downsizer have to do to deserve some alone time with Liam?

The fact that Luna knows what Liam does with certain downsizers (and based from the way she talks, I get the feeling that she has watched him do these things) and her reaction to it is almost a sense of jealousy rather than horror says a lot about her. She even seemed to be getting wet when he told her about breaking that downsizer's bones, and the way it turned her on to see things from that perspective is obviously telling. But one thing I'm left wondering is whether its her kink that lets her be okay with the reality of what he does or if she has somehow been convinced (or accepted as a natural consequence of "saving the planet") that such things are just a necessary part of this new world. My initial thought is that it's the former, as I've been leaning toward her being all talk with no substance regarding her activism (she clearly had other motivations for downsizing), but I don't think I know enough about her yet to know that for sure.

She also seems like a lot. On some level, her high energy and bubbly personality make her really likable, but she also gives no thought to the consequences of her actions and just expects everyone to be on the same page as her regardless of the situation. Her chaotic nature also clashes pretty hard with the more orderly lifestyle of Liam. In fact, their whole relationship confuses (and, again, intrigues) me. He clearly has a thing for bigger women, given his attraction to Sofia, and Luna was so much smaller than him before that they had to prepare her for sex.

Still, he really does seem to love her and even started to see the appeal of having a tiny wife. He seems pretty loyal to her (although it's almost never a good sign when you have to tell yourself that you would never do something the way that he did about Sofia), which, again, could possibly indicate a military background or experience in some other professional organization.

But the highlight of the chapter for me was the time we got to spend with my girl Sofia.

I think you did a tremendous job of balancing her sweet, humble nature with her budding fascination with dominating her tiny husband. I think it's hard to pace something like that in a way that makes sense, but you're off to a good start with her here. To me, at least, she maintained her meek, loving nature even when she was teasing and casually overpowering him.

Even the times when she hurt him (keeping him in her tits or pushing his head into her nipple in the tub, for example), it came off as innocent rather than malicious or even just power hungry. Part of this is her growing fascination with being big, giving even the rougher parts of her overpowering him more of an exploratory feel than anything. But I think a bigger reason is Miguel.

First and foremost, having her tiny husband be so into her has clearly done a lot for her confidence. She went from being concerned about how weird she would look to him to actively emphasizing the size difference both physically and verbally while using him to get herself over the edge. It was Miguel's words, his enthusiasm at the prospect of seeing and exploring his giant wife, that allowed her to move past her awkwardness and embrace this changing dynamic.

But maybe even more importantly, because of Miguel's machoism, annoyed seems to be his default for dealing with any negative emotions, and he holds back when talking with her about how rough she is with him at times. He didn't even let her know how beat up he got riding in her cleavage. And if instead of "What the fuck?!" he would have said something like, "Why would you do that to me?" when Sofia pushed his face into her nipple, I think she would have had a very different reaction. But because he came off as annoyed instead of scared or upset, because his reaction didn't reflect the desperation that we read just a couple paragraphs earlier, she just laughed it off, chalked it up to needing to get that training, and teased him about it.

In other words, Miguel's ego causes him to downplay things, keeping Sofia from feeling the guilt she might feel if she knew the full extent of her actions.

But as good as Miguel's machoism may be for Sofia right now, we also saw here that it might not be so good for him. I can understand his concern about Liam making a move on Sofia and even that Sofia might not shoot the average-sized man down. I don't think Sofia would go for it, as she seems incredibly loyal to and loving of her husband, but the insecurity of being two inches tall with a full-sized, super hot wife is, as odd as it may sound, pretty relatable. Yeah, that particular situation isn't something the reader will ever experience, but that feeling of inadequacy that comes with recognizing your perceived flaws while being with someone you view in such high regard is actually fairly realistic.

The problem is that Miguel's need to "be a man" forces that insecurity to come out in a way that unintentionally makes it sound as though he's questioning Sofia's faithfulness. I really don't think he's thinking that Sofia is actively looking for a way out of their marriage or that she's desperate for a "real man," but that's kind of how he comes off, hence Sofia's annoyance. Making it worse is that any comment she makes that could be construed as feeding into this insecurity (being flattered that he thinks she could land a younger guy like Liam, for example) is going to be taken in the worst possible way by him.

If Miguel doesn't find a way to dial that machoism back a bit and be a little more direct about how he's feeling from time to time, this could cause some serious problems for him down the road. I think his "fear for his life," while again understandable, isn't a legitimate concern; she's not going to intentionally hurt him. But there are a lot of other things she can do to him now that he's that small ...

I feel pretty bad for Sofia after that voicemail that closed out the chapter. It has to be rough not only not knowing where Mateo is but also knowing that she's the reason he's not with her and instead out in the world, incredibly vulnerable. To make it even worse, it's not actually her fault things turned out the way that they did; she meant everything she told him about downsizing and clearly doesn't think less of people who are downsized. The whole situation has to be incredibly frustrating and terrifying, too. For all she knows, she may never see her son again, and whether or not she does might not even be his choice!

That being said, this chapter shows that he's in better hands with Hazel right now than he could be with his mom. She doesn't have the training or experience in handling or dealing with little people that's ideal for handling a new downsizer. I think this transition so far would have been a lot harder on him if he had stayed with his parents, and he'd certainly be having a harder time accepting it.

Goddamn, am I glad I ran into this story!
I can’t say whether I’ve come across much of your other works thus far, but if they’re anything like this, then you’re a tremendous writer, mate. Your writing is excellent, really deftly able to compel the reader through the story, and you’ve already included a whole host of engaging characters throughout. Alongside a bit of fantastic smut, if that wasn’t obvious.
Absolutely can’t wait to see where things go from here, particularly with the variety of personalities at play combined with the introduction of ‘unregistered downsizers’ as a concept and downsizers getting ‘punished’ on top of that. Plus the M/f stuff was really great, even if the similarly superb F/m and F/f content will understandably be the priority. No doubt Mateo has got plenty of shit ahead of him at his new size, surrounded by his friends (love Hazel & Emma and their dynamic especially), Beth (intrigued to see just how her dynamic with our main man evolves how that he’s downsized), and Tricia too (doubt that’ll end well for him if she runs across him).
Keep doing what you’re doing, mate!

Author's Response:

Wow! Thank you for your comment!

I'm the type of person that loves to get lost in stories. Imagine myself living in those alternate universes where size difference is a thing. And this Downsizing universe is something special I've been working on and off for years. I think this is the 3rd time I tried to write this story, and it's coming along just as I hoped it would.

I'm a huge M/f fan, so that'll for sure come up again. But I'll balance it with pretty much every other role. Because in these types of universes, we can't reasonably think it'll all be F/m, haha. But yeah, all the characters introduced will make a re-appearance. Thank you again for your review! I hope you enjoy what I got planned!