Hebe opened their eyes. They could barely see light peeking in through the blinds and over the opening of their makeshift “bedroom.” Excitement and anxiety mingled with exhaustion as Hebe tried to force themself awake. It didn’t work. For a couple minutes (or hours?) Hebe drifted between sleep and half-awake, dreaming about their first day of university, before an audible thump from the larger room containing their own woke them. They rubbed their eyes and finally approached the opening of the baby-blue converse shoe they were sleeping in and stood on their tippy-toes until their chin and arms could comfortably rest on the heel tab of the shoe.

Over the heel of the shoe, Hebe could see their roommate Elaine, who had just stepped out of bed and was rifling through her closet for a shirt. Out of respect for Hebe’s small space in the expanse of the normal-sized room, she typically wore a tank top to bed, but it appeared she had gotten too warm last night to keep it on. Hebe got a bit embarrassed and looked away. Though they had been living in the same space for over a year now, Hebe still felt as if they were intruding sometimes, and didn’t want to make things worse.

After Elaine had found a suitably baggy shirt & shorts, she turned and checked Hebe’s bed-shoe, seeing that they were awake.

“Oh, morning! Sorry if my stomp woke you up, I’m feeling kinda drowsy.” Elaine straightened her shirt as she approached the desk Hebe’s shoe was resting on. As she approached, her looming frame blocked out what little sunlight was coming through the window. Despite the desk Hebe was on standing at least two and a half feet high, Elaine still towered a good 30 or so inches above Hebe. For someone of a weaker constitution, this difference might be intimidating, but the two were used to it. She yawned and reached her hand down and waited for Hebe to get on, her back-length bleach-blond hair tumbling down in a mess above Hebe. She placed them on her shoulder, making sure there was a strand of her hair to grab in case of emergency.

“Are we sure the shoe thing is a good idea?” Hebe asked in a tired and somewhat timid voice. “What if you forget and put it on?”
              “Oh please,” Elaine laughed in response, “I never wear those old things anymore. Was it comfortable at least? Was the smell okay? I tried really hard to get rid of it but your small nose is probably more sensitive than mine.”

“Yeah, it was fine… If a little bit odd.” Hebe said. Though Hebe had been 3 inches tall their whole life, but some things, like sleeping in your best friend’s old size 7 shoe, one never got used to.

“What’s odd about it?” Elaine said, smirking.

“Oh, you don’t see anything odd about sleeping in your best friend’s footwear?” Hebe retorted. “Like, you wore those, your feet were in them for probably quite a long time, and now it’s my bedroom.”

“Aww, do my big ole feet make you uncomfortable?” Elaine mocked, raising a bare foot and wiggling her toes in response. Hebe simply rolled their eyes as they walked to the bathroom together.

For a while, Hebe had slept on Elaine’s bedside table, but continually had difficulty sleeping with the long drop to the floor always in the back of their mind. After that, they had tried inside a slightly open sock drawer, but Hebe’s inability to escape the drawer on their own made both roomies nervous. For one night, Hebe had tried to sleep next to Elaine on her pillow, but the fear of Elaine rolling over in her sleep and crushing Hebe kept them both up. Finally, in the past few nights, Elaine cleaned up an old converse shoe and shoved a few unworn socks inside for padding. The two agreed it wasn’t an ideal situation, but they were making do with what they had.

Elaine set Hebe down on the bathroom counter in the little corner she had prepared for them, which allowed them to prepare for their day unimpeded by the challenges of being three inches tall. Hebe's corner of the bathroom consisted of a blastic water bottle that Elaine filled with hot water, which then slowly trickled out the holes poked in the bottom, where Hebe stood scrubbing themself and preparing for the day. The two went through their morning routines of skincare and teeth-brushing. After a few minutes, Elaine spat out her toothpaste in the sink and stared into it for a moment, water running.

“What’s up?” asked Hebe in a concerned tone.
“It’s nothing, it’s just…” Elaine trailed off, “are you sure this is a good idea?”
Hebe gave a timid chuckle. “Absolutely not.” The two had a brief laugh at that, but the atmosphere quickly became serious again. Elaine turned off the water and rested her (relatively) gargantuan elbow on the counter next to Hebe.

“What if something happens to you?” Elaine asked. “What would I be able to do? What if you get hurt? What if-“
“Relax! Jesus!” Hebe interjected. “Nothing is going to happen. You’ll be with me the whole time, and all of the professors know of my… uh, predicament.” They tried to sound confident in their statement, but their voice waivered and broke at the end. The truth was, Hebe was just as nervous, if not more so, than Elaine.

“Okay but… What if we get separated?”

Hebe pulled a small tracking device out of their P.J. pocket. “That’s what this is for!”

Elaine gave a weak smile and made a kissy sound at their best friend. “You’re right. Everything is going to be fine.” She breathed out heavily and Hebe could smell the spearmint on the strong gust of wind coming from her mouth. “Ready to go get dressed?”
Hebe nodded, and Elaine scooped them up in her hand and carried them back into the studio apartment. Hebe wasn’t the biggest fan of the hand-held routine, but they knew Elaine was feeling anxious and she probably needed the comfort more than they did.

Elaine delicately placed Hebe on the portion of her desk that was designated to be their “bedroom,” where most of their belongings lay, including an assortment of clothing. Hebe’s wardrobe was part modified toy clothes and part meticulously tailored clothes Elaine bought on Etsy. They passively wondered why the hell someone on Etsy made clothes in this detail for a three inch person as they spent too much time deliberating over what color flannel to wear. Elaine was impatiently tapping her black-and-white checkered Vans as Hebe finally pulled on a pair of jeans.
“Ready?” Elaine asked in an exasperated voice.

Hebe's voice cracked. “Ready as I’ll ever be!”

              Elaine tapped her foot anxiously. The rain made soft tinking sounds on the steel roof that protected the bus stop from the rain. Every now and then she’d use her hand to shield the three-inch person resting on her shoulder from the weather as she peeked out of the bus stop into the road to see if their bus was anywhere near.

              “It should have been here almost seven minutes ago…” she said with an agitated huff.  “We can’t be late on our first day! That would be so fuckin’ embarrassing.”

              Hebe’s mind was elsewhere though, thinking about what University would be like. They hadn’t been to school since 8th grade, and their experiences hadn’t been exactly positive. Hebe was made fun of for their appearance, apparent androgyny, voice, and, worst and most obvious of all, their size. Teachers had been less than understanding and Hebe had to struggle simply to survive. They might not have even been able to go to any school at all if they hadn’t met Elaine. The decision for Hebe to accompany Elaine to University hadn’t been an easy one. They both argued in short bursts repeatedly for several weeks. In the end they agreed that Hebe was a person who had an inherent need to learn, just like any other person their age.

              Hebe’s train of thought was cut short by Elaine raising her voice slightly to get their attention.

              “Sorry, what?” Hebe said. “I wasn’t listening”
              Elaine rolled her eyes. “We didn’t talk about where I’m gonna keep you on the way,” she said, looking down at the figure on her shoulder. “You can’t just be visible all the time, and also I’m always afraid you’re gonna fall from there.”
              “Ah, shit.” Elaine was right. Hebe would be at the very least a distraction for the other students, not to mention in danger of getting dropped and lost. Do to their very light weight, they could take a much longer fall than a normal person could, but that wouldn’t matter if they got lost in the cavernous halls of school buildings. “Did you bring my fanny pack?”
              Elaine scowled and looked away. “You know I hate wearing that. It literally makes me look like a white mom and Disney World.”

              “What, you don’t like Mickey Mouse and all his cool friends?” said Hebe in a joking tone. This prompted a rather forceful but playful poke from Elaine. She ignored their jest.

              “I’m afraid if I put you in my pants pocket you’ll suffocate, and if I put you in my backpack you could be crushed by all the shit in there.”

              “You worry too much. Can we just do like we did in middle school?” said Hebe.

              Elaine blushed. “I don’t know if that’s appropriate anymore. Also, I don’t have a breast pocket on this blouse.”

              Before they could come to a decision, the bus pulled up abruptly in front of the two. The door opened and the bus driver gestured Elaine to board without looking up from the road. Elaine looked around frantically, before grabbing Hebe from her shoulder and cupping them in her hands to conceal them. Before Hebe had time to react before their face was pressed against Elaine’s soft fingers in darkness, a bit of clouded light seeping through.

              “Bus pass?” Hebe heard the muffled, gruff voice of a woman who was certainly a smoker through her hands and immediately recognized the trouble Elaine was in: her hands were occupied.

              “Uhh, right.” Elaine hesitated for a moment before quickly, and as gently as she could, rolling Hebe up into her left fist. Hebe had anticipated this and curled up into a ball to help conceal them. Elaine nervously dug around her backpack’s front pocket while the bus driver glared impatiently. Finally, she pulled out a red card and allowed the bus driver to scan the mag strip before briskly walking to the back and finding a seat as far away from the other passengers as she could. She sat down and silently opened her hand to make sure Hebe was ok, to which they responded with a thumbs up. Elaine pulled out her phone and pinned it between her ear and shoulder to give passengers the illusion that she was talking on the phone.

              “Are you ok? That was really sudden,” said Elaine, glancing down at Hebe and then up before anyone got suspicious.

              “I’m fine.” Hebe responded.

              Elaine shushed Hebe. “They’ll hear you!” She whispered, eyes darting between passengers on the bus.

              “My voice is so small, I think if I just talk kinda quietly I’ll be fine.” Hebe said, annoyed by Elaine’s anxiety. The bus started moving suddenly and knocked Hebe down on their friend’s hand.

              “Fine. But we still have to decide what to do with you.” She furrowed her brow in thought, examining her clothes and backpack for a good spot. Her face lit up as she realized she had a loose pocket on the inside of her black zip-up hoodie. She lifted Hebe up and slid them inside. She tried to do this as discretely as possible, but when she looked up trying to act natural, she caught the eye of a girl about her age who had gotten on after her. The stranger had a nose ring and dark eyes, which lingered for just a moment too long before she turned back to face the front. Elaine suspiciously looked at the back of her head and her shoulder-length wavy black hair. She hoped the girl hadn’t seen anything, but judging from the look she gave Elaine, she couldn’t be too sure.

              Hebe was startled by the abrupt movement but found themself in a comfortable and warm pocket. They peeked out only to realize their new hiding spot was pressed up against Elaine’s bare upper chest, close to her collarbone. Hebe blushed slightly and slid back down to find a comfortable spot. The two were very close, but situations like this never got any less awkward. From their spot in Elaine’s jacket pocket, they could make out the tattoo on Elaine’s lower collarbone. The tattoo was a simple one of only outlines, no shading or coloring, depicting a cherry blossom with a small bee resting on one of the buds. Hebe was wondering how they could get a tattoo of their own at their size when they felt Elaine stand up and start to move out the door. They could feel the air chill and their “room” bounce as Elaine exited the bus into the rain and started speedwalking to their first class. Hebe reached out and tugged on a thin chain necklace Elaine was wearing to get her attention. She slowed down and unzipped her jacket enough to look inside. From Hebe’s perspective, Elaine’s face now occupied the entire gap between her jacket and the outside world. Her loose hair fell down around Hebe.

              “What’s wrong?” Elaine asked breathlessly.

              “I just uhh… Before we get to class… I just don’t know what I’m supposed to say to the professor,” Hebe said, fear showing in her voice.

              “Hopefully not that much. I think we just have to introduce you and hand them the ADA form we printed off,” assured Elaine. When Hebe found out they were accepted to Cascades University in Oregon, they discovered that the school, like most people Hebe met, had never dealt with someone their size. They were advised to seek help through the school’s ADA, the office that dealt with disability accommodation. They were sent an email containing a form which Elaine helped Hebe fill out detailing their needs and what the university can do to accommodate. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it was something. Hebe, not quite satisfied by this answer, slouched down in the pocket they were in and absentmindedly played with a piece of string that had come loose from the seam in Elaine’s jacket pocket.

              Finally, Hebe heard a door open and felt the air get warmer. Elaine had left a gap in her jacket, and Hebe gazed at the building through the opening. The first floor had tile floors and few classrooms, mostly study areas, a few private glass study rooms, and a small coffee counter in the corner. The building was built recently and had an open concept, so as Elaine walked through the center of the floor, Hebe could see up the main shaft of the building all the way to the fifth floor, above which was a sunroof which let in obscured light from outside. To a normal sized person like Elaine, this was a pretty regular building with a few neat spots here and there, but it was the largest structure Hebe had ever seen. They gawked at the Greco-Roman columns that decorated the building’s interior and took in everything in their field of view with awe.

              “We’re up on the second floor,” said Elaine quietly. She looked down to see Hebe’s face covered in wonder and smiled. Ever since Elaine had to mostly homeschool Hebe through high school, she knew that they needed to see more of the world to be happy. She was happy for them in that moment, and even sort of wished that mundane things such as the architecture in their Liberal Arts building amazed her as much as they amazed Hebe. She walked up the wide staircase that zigzagged along the central shaft and approached their classroom on the second floor.

              “Shit,” she said, “class has already started. FUCK that bus driver.”

              Elaine opened the glass door as quietly as she could and snuck into the nearest empty seat at the back of class. The professor, a Puerto Rican man with short black hair who looked to be in his early thirties, glanced up at them briefly, but didn’t stop lecturing. On the board, the words “ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION” were written, with a few bullet points beneath it. Elaine took out a short plastic desk divider about half a foot tall that she had bought and set it up to her left in a half-rectangle, with the open side facing her. She gently pinched the back of Hebe’s shirt and lifted them out of her jacket, placing her on the desk beside the divider. The girl who was sitting to Elaine’s left watched this ritual with a confused look on her face, trying not to stare and to appear engaged in the lecture, but she didn’t yet seem to spot Hebe. Beside them, Elaine also placed a small plastic baggy which had in it irregularly cut pieces of paper as well as broken up pieces of graphite mechanic pencil refills for Hebe to take notes.

              The lecture wasn’t boring but wasn’t particularly interesting. The two roommates took shorthand notes about the United States’ pre-constitution government after the revolutionary war. Elaine occasionally caught the girl sitting to her left looking towards her, but each time they made eye contact, the girl would quickly look back to the chalkboard. After roughly half an hour the professor at the front wrote a question on the board, which read: “Do you think the original constitution could have used improvements? What would you have changed?”
               “Alright class," the professor said in a louder voice than anyone expected he had, "you’ve heard enough of me talking. Now I want you to get into small groups of two to three and discuss this question.” He tapped the board, then paused for a moment. “Also, if you came into class late, could you come see me at the front? You’re not in trouble, you just missed a sheet I gave out.”

              Hebe’s heart rate spiked. This would be their first ever interaction with a college professor! They organized their haphazardly scribbled pile of notes into a neat pile and stood up to look at Elaine. Elaine bit her lip nervously and lowered her hand for Hebe to board. They hesitated but got on to let her carry them to the front of the class. As they walked away, the two heard a gasp come up from behind them where they had been sitting. Hebe tried to turn and look, but Elaine’s arm blocked their view.

              Two others had stood up and made it to the front before Elaine and were talking with the professor and accepting a few pieces of paper. Neither looked back to notice their unusually small classmate anxiously rocking back and forth on Elaine’s hand, but the professor shot a glance at the two each time one of his other students walked away from his desk. Finally, the two reached the front.

              “Hello! I was told I’d have you in my class,” said the professor respectfully, addressing Hebe first, then Elaine. “I’m Professor Betan, I’m your professor for American Political History.” Elaine introduced herself, then waited for Hebe to introduce themself. After a few seconds of silence, Elaine could tell they were nervous, so she introduced Hebe as well. He then handed Elaine four yellow sheets of paper. “These are your class syllabi as well as a schedule that includes the due dates of all the homework and exams. Hebe, I’ll let your friend take care of your papers for now if that’s alright with you. Also, if you have difficulty using those, the forms are available on the class website.” Hebe nodded and smiled. For just an instant, Professor Betan’s smiling face changed to one of pity or concern, but they maintained their cheerful demeanor. “If there’s anything I can do to help you succeed in this class, please don’t hesitate to ask.” The two thanked Betan and returned to their seats, where Hebe got to see what the gasping was about.

              The girl who had been sitting to their left had her mouth covered with her hands. Her eyes were fixated on Hebe. Elaine looked around uncomfortably before she sat down.

              “Uh, hi,” she said, “I’m Elaine…” She paused and waited for their classmate to introduce herself.

              “Oh! Hi, I’m sorry. I’m Izzy,” she said, without taking her eyes off Hebe. Izzy was wearing dark blue torn jeans and a yellow knit sweater. She brushed her curled brown hair out of her face, and the silver bracelets around her wrist jingled together. “Who’s your… umm…”

              Hebe interrupted. “I’m Hebe.” They were annoyed that Izzy had asked Elaine, and didn’t want to think about how Izzy intended to end that sentence. “I’m a freshman.”

              Izzy made a squeaking sound when she heard Hebe speak. “Hi Hebe!” she said in a slightly higher pitched tone, as if she were addressing a child. “It’s so nice to meet you! I had read about someone like this coming here, but I didn’t think you’d be right next to me!”

              Elaine could sense the tension. “Soooo, do y’all wanna talk about the question?”

              “Oh, yeah yeah, sure,” Izzy said, seeming to snap out of it for a moment. Before she looked back down at her paper, she whispered to Elaine “she’s so cute!”
              “They,” corrected Elaine, “and don’t call them cute.”

              “Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-“
              “It’s fine,” Hebe interrupted. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just discuss the question.”

              The two were used to this sort of behavior from strangers, but it annoyed them nonetheless. Hebe had kept a low profile for most of their life, so most people weren’t aware that their condition existed. Meeting new people was always weird for them. Hebe simply rolled their eyes and asked what they had missed. After a moment of awkwardness, the three finally got into a discussion about the coursework.

. . .

              As the class was wrapping up, people who had finished their discussion and packed their bags and started to shuffle out of class. Elaine had a shitload of colorful pens scattered about her desk space, so she was taking a moment to pack up. As people approached Elaine and Hebe, their conversations stopped abruptly one by one, and Hebe endured hundreds of stares from their classmates. Hebe could hear them whispering as they exited the class. Suddenly, they felt incredibly alien. They weren’t going to cry, but they really wanted to. Elaine noticed and looked down in sympathy, but didn’t want to make Hebe feel more vulnerable, so she kept quiet. After most of their classmates, including Izzy, had departed, Elaine heard Professor Betan call down from the front.

              “Elaine, could I speak with you privately for a moment?”

              She looked at Hebe in concern and reached out her hand, but Hebe waved it away and said they would be fine. “Almost everyone has left anyways, I’ll just pack up my stuff.” Elaine nodded and went up to talk to the professor. But as she moved out of Hebe’s line of sight, Hebe spotted one other person in the classroom who they couldn’t see before. She had wavy black shoulder-length hair and a nose ring, and was wearing a leather jacket and tall pleather platform boots. Elaine would have recognized her as the girl from the bus, but to Hebe she was a complete stranger. Despite this, her eyes were completely fixed on them. It wasn’t like Izzy, who was looking on in endearment and interest. This girl was in a trance, completely enticed by Hebe. Hebe stared back for a moment before giving a timid wave. As if she thought it was an invitation, the girl stood up suddenly and started walking towards Hebe. They didn’t know what to do, and didn’t want to seem weird, so they just pretended they didn’t notice. But as the woman crossed the room, clearly directed towards them, Hebe began to panic. Just as the stranger was just one row away from them, Elaine bounced back up the stairs of the amphitheater style classroom and picked up the rest of Hebe’s stuff.

              “We’re good to go! Betan just wanted to talk about accommodations for you. We gotta hurry though, our next class is on the clear other side of campus.”

              Hebe returned to their jacket-pocket sanctuary, but as they did, they glanced to see the girl from the bus standing still, staring at them. It sent a chill down their spine, but they brushed it off for the time being. They had better things to worry about.

              By the time class ended the rain had stopped, but the smell of moisture clung to the air. Feeling more confident, Elaine had opted to leave her jacket unzipped, allowing Hebe to see the campus clearly for the first time as they swung back and forth from their jacket pocket. Elaine had to take extra care as Hebe leaned out and held onto her bra strap for support, but she didn’t want to stifle her friend’s bewilderment. The two crossed the main pavilion of their campus to the courtyard, in the middle of which was a small fountain surrounded by newly blooming tulips.

              “Can we go to the fountain?” asked Hebe excitedly. They had twenty or so minutes before their calculus lecture started, so Elaine couldn’t see why not. She walked through the grass over to the fixture and squatted down. Carefully, she took Hebe from her jacket pocket and removed her jacket, placing it beneath her to sit on. She took off her shoes and socks to feel the grass beneath her toes as she sat and watched Hebe explore.

              Hebe had explored the grass in front of their apartment, but this grass was different. It was denser, greener, and was short and uniform enough that it barely reached their waist. Because of its density, they had to hike their legs up a bit farther with each step toward the tulips, but it wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle. Elaine watched from above, grinning at how much fun Hebe was having, but ready to intervene at any moment should something happen.

              Ever since Elaine and Hebe met, the two had been inseparable. Elaine was always a natural at the gentle care required around Hebe. The foster program had cruelly forced Hebe to go to a normal school despite the dangers (Elaine secretly suspected that the fosters had hoped to get rid of Hebe, but it wasn’t a thought that should be entertained). Ever since then, she had acted as Hebe’s de facto caretaker. She had hidden Hebe in her room all through middle and high school, and once she was of age, they moved out together.

              “Check it out!” Hebe’s tiny shout woke Elaine from her train of thought. Hebe had found an orange tulip petal that had fallen to the earth and was wearing it like a cape. Elaine giggled and reached out for Elaine to join her on her hand.

              “That’s adorable, it looks great on you!” Elaine said with admiration in her voice. Despite Hebe’s size, or perhaps because of it, they were much more adventurous and outgoing than Elaine, who was an introverted home-body. The two complemented each other well. “Hurry up, we gotta get to class.”

. . .

              The two entered the stuffy math building. It wasn’t like the open concept floors of the Liberal Arts building. Quite the opposite: the hall was lit by flickering fluorescent lights, and the ceiling was made of the weird white foamy squares that make up the ceiling of most things built in the seventies. “God,” said Elaine, “we’re gonna die of asbestos in here.”

              Hebe quoted in their best TV voice: “If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, you may be entitled to substantial financial compensation.” The two had a good laugh at that while Elaine walked through the seemingly labyrinthine narrow hallways and up the concrete staircase.

              “Seven… thirty three!” Elaine said as she found the correct room number and opened the door. Inside a few students were already sitting at their tables, mostly too invested in their phones to look up. The classroom was small and stuffy like the rest of the building. The tables were set up with four chairs at each in a square facing each other. At the front of the classroom was an old chalkboard that hadn’t been cleaned properly in a while. Elaine sat at the only table with another girl and set up Hebe’s little corner as they waited for the professor to come in.

              Exactly two minutes before class was scheduled to start, a graduate student appearing to be in her mid to late twenties came into the room holding stacks of paper and books. She looked frazzled and rushed as she threw things down on her desk and wrote her name and the class number on the board. As she made the last stroke with the chalk, she spoke up.

              “Hey class, I’m Anne Schubert, pronounced Shoe-Bear. I’m a math grad student here at CU, I’ll be teaching Calc 1 for you this semester. Sorry for the rushed entrance, beginning of semester is always crazy,” she said breathlessly, and started sorting the papers into piles. She combed her short pixie-cut brown hair with her bright red fingernails before gesturing for the class to come pick up the papers on the desk.

              After everyone had gotten their syllabi and worksheets (Elaine took two of each), Anne gave the class directions. “Don’t get too comfortable,” she said, “I’m gonna randomly split you up into groups for the first couple days, after that you can pick wherever you want. To prevent cliques and shit like that.”

              Elaine looked around and asked quietly, “Uh, ma’am… What should I do about…” she pointed toward Hebe. Everyone in the room looked confused: the only person who could see them was Elaine. Anne’s eyes lit up with recognition.

              “Right, right…” she said. “You can just leave them there. I’ll have you go to that table of three.”

              Elaine began to object, but Anne had already begun directing students to different groups and explaining the worksheet.

              “Keeping it simple this week,” she said as she wrote a couple simple pre-solved equations on the board, “just want you to prove these equations are true. There’s more than one right answer, so get creative.” She turned around and saw that Elaine was standing frozen by her original seat. “Ma’am, could you please take your seat?” she said, pointing to the desk she had directed Elaine to earlier. “Why don’t y’all start by saying your name, major, and a fun fact or something, I don’t know.”

              Hebe and Elaine looked at each other nervously. Elaine mouthed the word “sorry” to Hebe before moving to the other side of the room. Hebe was nervous, but they knew they’d have to do something like this at some point. They pushed over the plastic desk divider with some effort and made their way forward so the other classmates could see them.

              In all the commotion, two others had taken a seat at the pod along with the girl who was there before Hebe came in. One by one they introduced themselves to each other, not noticing Hebe at first.

              “Hey, I’m Hal,” the first spoke up. “Uhh I’m a music tech major, and fun fact… I speak Korean, I guess.” Hal was an asian man with straight short black hair. He was wearing a generic grey hoodie, and didn't seem awfully energetic.

              “That’s so cool!” one of the other newcomers spoke up, twirling her incredibly curly blonde hair. “Do you speak it at home?”
              “Yeah,” he responded, “my parents grew up in south Korea. We moved here when I was like six.”

              “Fun!” she said, before introducing herself. “I’m Maria, I’m a game design major, and uhhh… I’m on the top ten leaderboard for the world record speedrun of Super Metroid.” Everyone at the table was silent at that. “Okayyyy uhh, I make my own cheese at home?” Again, nothing.

              The student who had been there first broke the awkward silence. “I’m Rose,” she said in a bored tone, “uhh I do computer shit, annnnd my dad’s in prison for tax fraud.”

              “Niiiiice,” said Hal, extending his hand for a fistbump. Rose looked at his fist, and then him, with something akin to disgust. He was left hanging.

              “Uhm,” Hebe said, trying make themself heard, “I’m Hebe?” they said, obviously unsure of themself.

              At first everyone at the table looked around to see where the voice had come from, before Maria noticed them. “Oh! Sorry, we didn’t see you. Can you repeat that?”

              “I’m Hebe,” they said, yelling slightly now. “I’m undeclared, but I’m thinking science writing. As for a fun fact… I mean-“ they gestured at their body, indicating their size, “is this interesting enough?” Judging from the group’s response, it was not all that interesting. Hebe presumed they had been forewarned about Hebe’s presence. They opened up the worksheet and started discussing strategy.

              Hebe tried to participate, but their small voice was overpowered by the voices of the giants towering above them.

              "Are we sure these are actually correct?" asked Hal.

              "I don't think the professor would give us a trick question on the first day of class," responded Maria, scratching her scalp with a pencil.

              Rose didn't seem interested in participating. Hebe could see her scribbling nonsense on her paper and she was chewing gum loudly.

              Hebe attempted to chime in. "I think if we start by setting the variables equal to each other, we can work backwards from-"

              "Try like moving all the variables to one side," Hal said, seemingly unaware that Hebe was talking.

              Hebe huffed and stood up. They were becoming frustrated that they weren't being heard. In an attempt to be more audible, they picked up their things and moved closer to the center of the cluster of desks, but just as they passed Rose’s right arm, Rose flipped the page of her packet and sent Hebe tumbling down over to the side of the table, and Hebe’s legs went tumbling over the side. They tried to find something to hold onto, but the rounded edges of the plastic desks proved to be too slippery to hold, and Hebe found themself falling toward the floor. They started swinging their arms around in their disoriented state, desperate for something to grab onto. They managed to grab hold of Rose’s red-and-black flannel shirt, which she had taken off and draped over the sides of her seat.

              “Uh, guys?” shouted Hebe. “Help!” No one at the table appeared to hear their missing classmate, or even notice that they were gone at all. Hebe was forced to take stock of their situation. They were very athletic (you have to be at that size, just to get around), but as they looked up the sleeve of the shirt, they were certain there was no way they’d make it all the way up: the fabric was already difficult to grab on to. Hebe looked around, desperate for something to swing to, but found nothing. Finally their grip began to slip, and they realized their only way out was down. Hebe gripped the shirt with their arm as securely as they could and began to make the descent, sliding down bit by bit. It was going smoothly at first… but about midway through, Hebe felt the sleeve of the shirt start to move.

              They looked up. Rose had put her pencil down and was pulling on the back of the shirt that Hebe was hanging from, presumably to put it back on. The sleeve was jerked from their grip and Hebe tumbled further toward the ground and landed by Rose’s feet.

              Hebe was dazed for a moment, but quickly got their bearings. They had made it most of the way to the ground in their climb, and they had become used to falls like that. They stood up and looked around their new environment. Directly above, Rose’s tight light-blue jeans were bouncing up and down with her leg. Hebe moved away from Rose’s Adidas just in case her foot happened to move. They looked around the underside of the table, trying to gain an understanding of where exactly they had landed. They identified that to their right sat Hal: his long lanky legs were outstretched so far that they nearly reached the seat where Elaine had been sitting before. Hebe identified him by his purple high-tops. Looking past his long legs, Hebe saw a pair of clean black flats, and rising from them were pale white legs. By process of elimination, Hebe identified them as belonging to Maria.

              Now that Hebe had identified their options, it was time to form an escape plan. In front of them, the heels of the purple high-tops were resting with the toe of each shoe in the air. These looked easier to climb than the others, but with the length of Hal’s legs, it would be a much longer journey, and Hebe wasn't sure they’d make it before class ended. They made note and kept looking. Maria was the shortest and least fidgety, but she was wearing shorts, and her legs were clean-shaven which would make them near impossible to climb.

              That left her with the fidgety, and proven to be absentminded, Rose. Her Adidas would be okay to climb if they would just stop bouncing for a second, and her neon green socks wouldn’t be a problem either. Hebe reckoned they could reach the hem of Rose’s jeans from there.

              Plan in mind, Hebe took a deep breath and cautiously moved toward Rose’s bouncing left foot. The toe of her shoe rested on the ground, while the sole and heel were rising and falling erratically with the motion of her leg.

              Hebe was now close enough to touch Rose’s shoe. They looked up to plan their ascent along the inline of Rose’s jeans. Hebe looked up along the seemingly endless legs, and as their eyes reached the top, they made eye contact with Rose. Hebe was saved! They waved and yelled frantically to get Rose’s attention, but Rose didn’t react. She just kept staring.

              Hebe grew more and more concerned at Rose’s lack of reaction. Feeling defeated, they began to move toward Hal’s long legs. But when they started walking, they heard a loud stomp and were knocked backwards by a gust of wind. When they opened their eyes, they found that a large Adidas shoe blocked their way. They looked up, past the neon socks and endless light-blue jeans to meet Rose’s eyes again. It was clear to Hebe now that Rose actually had noticed her, but had no intention of helping her.

              Hebe, not knowing what to do, panicked and began to run. But everywhere they ran, they found their path blocked by a white Adidas. Rose moved much faster than Hebe could hope to, but Hebe was too panicked to think about that. They were running for their life, and running out of breath, but Rose’s smallest movement of her leg thwarted every effort to escape.

              After what felt like hours, Hebe was slowing down. They didn’t know if they could keep this up for much longer. In their frantic scurrying, they tripped over a loop in the carpet and fell flat on their back. Panting, they tried to force themself to get up, but their legs screamed in protest.

              Rose saw that her plaything had run out of steam and used the tip of her right shoe to take off her left. She moved her gigantic neon-socked foot back next to Hebe, and raised it above them, flexing her toes.

              Hebe saw all of this but was powerless to do anything about it. As Rose raised her foot above them, the light filtered through her sock, revealing the silhouettes of long toes, scrunching in anticipation of their prey. In one last escape attempt, Hebe pushed themself up with the strength remaining in their arms and began to crawl away, but their efforts were in vein as they felt a moist and immensely heavy object press down on their back.

              Rose was now completely ignoring the other two at her table and was enjoying the struggles of her tiny classmate against the sole of her foot. Her eyes glossed over with enjoyment as she gazed down at her toy while the other two finished out their worksheets. Rose didn’t apply more pressure than she thought Hebe could take, but each movement Hebe made excited Rose more. She pressed down and released repeatedly with the ball of her foot, occasionally twisting slightly. She closed her eyes and focused on the sensation of Hebe’s movements.

              Hebe was pressing up on Rose’s foot with all their might, but it yielded nothing. The pressure was gradually increasing, and Hebe wasn’t sure how much more they could take. They would occasionally try to squirm to the side to escape, but the neon ankle sock would follow them without fail. Rose’s gargantuan foot moved up and down Hebe’s body. They struggled against the pressure of Rose’s toes. Occasionally they could move one of them, but it would just push back with even more force a moment later. Rose then slid her foot forward and grinded Hebe into the rough carpet with the soft ball of her foot. Rose, feeling that Hebe could take more pressure than she had expected, moved her foot forward more to let the weight of her heel rest on Hebe’s back. She gradually applied more and more pressure, but to her surprise and glee, Hebe kept pushing back against Rose’s heel.

              Just when Hebe felt they were about to suffocate, they felt the pressure on their back release. They rolled over to see Rose’s long fingers extending to capture them, but they had no energy left to resist. Rose picked Hebe up between thumb and forefinger and brought them up. Hebe thought Rose had finally decided to release them, but found that when Rose’s hand stopped moving, it was above her own empty Adidas shoe.

              Rose could feel Hebe’s movements slowing and weakening, and she didn’t want to kill the poor thing, but she did want to keep it. When Hebe’s movements finally came to a halt, Rose quickly snatched up her prey. Just as she was about to claim her prize, she saw students at the other tables standing up. Afraid to get caught, Rose quickly brought Hebe’s face right next to her lips. “Don’t you dare say a fuckin’ word, you got it?” she threatened. Hebe nodded feverishly, and Rose placed Hebe down by their original workspace and packed up quickly before Elaine came over to pick up her friend.

              Hebe allowed themself a moment of rest, letting their eyes remain closed for an extra second. As they saw Elaine approach, they looked toward Rose who was leaving. Rose made meaningful eye contact just before exiting the room, a glance that said “I could do worse if you narc.” Hebe stood up despite the exhaustion in their legs and examined themself. As far as they could tell, there were no injuries, other than maybe a few bruises on their arms and legs. They felt strangely impressed by their unexpected fortitude but didn’t have too much time to think about it before Elaine poked them on the back to get their attention.

              “Hey stranger, how was class?” Elaine asked in a cheerful voice, but she pulled her finger away in surprise. “Eww, why are you like, sweaty?” She examined Hebe more closely. “And why are you out of breath.”
              Hebe thought about what Rose had said, and the cold glare of her brown eyes was burned into Hebe’s mind. “Oh, it’s nothing. Math is hard, y’know!”

              “Uhh, okay weirdo. Here, hop on. It’s time for lunch!” Elaine extended her hand and Hebe happily obliged, glad to feel the warmth of someone who wasn’t smothering them.

              As the two walked toward the cafeteria, Hebe had a silent de-brief of sorts with themself. What had just happened? Why had Rose acted that way? Was this something that was common with normal size folks? What could Rose do if Hebe snitched? What would snitching even accomplish? None of these questions had immediately obvious answers as far as Hebe could tell. But they knew one thing for sure: nothing was going to stop them from coming back to school. They had been waiting to finally experience the outside world for years, and one creep’s crush (aha, nice) wasn’t going to stop them. They also had to think about Elaine. Hebe knew she would never forgive herself if she found out what had happened while she was away. If she knew, she might drop out, and make Hebe come with her, and Hebe didn’t want to crush Elaine’s dreams just because of a mishap. Hebe decided to keep it to themself for now.

              It was their second day of school. Hebe waited in semi-darkness for Elaine to return. She had joined an intramural volleyball team. At first she was nervous to do so, since Hebe obviously couldn’t compete or join, but they were glad to have a restful time before their class (they only had one on Tuesdays). Elaine had carefully positioned her backpack so that Hebe could have a fair amount of room to move around and locked it safely in her locker. She had left her phone for Hebe to use to listen to music or watch videos or whatever, so Hebe wasn’t too bored.

              Hebe was in the middle of a boring but weirdly entrancing video about the airline industry when they heard the doors of the locker room open and a dozen or so women came in to gather their things, mixing and mingling all the while. Hebe could make out Elaine’s voice and could tell that she was talking to one of the girls on her team. At first, they weren’t all that interested in their conversation, but when they heard their name mentioned a few times they became curious. They paused the video and exited the backpack through the gap in the zipper Elaine had left for them and peeked through the slits of Elaine’s locker. Quickly, they turned bright red and turned away: they had not stopped to consider that this was a locker room and people were changing. They waited until they were certain most people were decent, and checked again.

              From the locker, Hebe could make out Elaine and a few others. Hebe could see that Elaine was looking slightly up in front of them as she talked. They adjusted their position so that they could see who else was there. Though her height made it difficult to fully see her from Hebe’s position, they could at least tell that they were much taller than Elaine, who stood at about 5’5”. All they could see currently was the woman’s volleyball shoes, the size of which far dwarfed Elaine’s own, her short black athletic shorts, and up to her back, where long bright pink hair fell in two neat braids down to her lower back.

              Hebe continued to try to adjust their position to get a better look at the person, but before they could, the two walked over to the locker Hebe was in. Not wanting to seem like a creep. Hebe leapt back into Elaine’s backpack just as the locker door opened.

              “They should be somewhere in here,” Elaine said to the woman standing with her.

              “I can’t wait to meet them!” a loud, energetic and bubbly voice responded. Hebe pressed the power button with some effort and made their way to the front of Elaine’s backpack just as she undid the rest of the zipper.

              “Oh my god hello!” said the woman with pink hair, bending over to get a better look at Hebe. Her eyes were bright blue and the teeth that formed her wide smile were perfectly straight. Hebe didn’t want to be rude, so they didn’t mention it, but they could smell the sweat from the two, poorly concealed by dollar store deodorant.

              “Hebe, this is Sarah. Sarah, Hebe,” Elaine said, politely introducing the two. “I met Sarah today at practice, we mostly bonded over some anime we’re both into.”

              “It’s so nice to meet you, I’ve heard so much about you!” Sarah and Elaine laughed. Sarah pondered for a moment before gently outstretching her palm toward Hebe. As she did this, she looked back at Elaine and said, “you don’t mind, do you?”
              “By all means!” Elaine responded. Hebe shot Elaine a scowl for answering for them, and Elaine took the hint, “er, with their permission, of course.”

              Sarah looked expectantly at Hebe. They sighed and obliged the pink haired woman’s request, climbing step by step onto the woman’s incredibly long fingers. With less care than Elaine usually took, Sarah brought Hebe up to her eyeline as she stood up straight. The change actually made Hebe a little nauseous: the only person they’d been picked up by in years was Elaine, but Sarah was at least seven inches taller than her, which at Hebe’s size was nothing to sneeze at.

              “Oh my god, you look-“ she cut herself off, “-uh, you look great! I love your top!” Hebe could tell Sarah was about to say cute, but they at least appreciated the effort to be respectful.

              “Thanks, got it online,” said Hebe, speaking up for the first time in this whole interaction. Sarah tried to conceal an obvious squeal by closing and covering her mouth. Strangely enough, Sarah’s behavior didn’t bother Hebe as much as Izzy's had. They could tell from Sarah’s tone and body language that this was coming from a place of genuine admiration, rather than a place of humiliation or objectification. Hebe suspected she acted this way with many of her girlfriends. Their size was part of it, sure, but Sarah was being genuine.

              “So, do you ladies - and, uh, theydies? - have time to go get coffee?” Hebe laughed at the nickname. It wasn’t their favorite term, but Sarah was making an effort to be inclusive, which they appreciated.

              “I’m down!” said Hebe. This elicited a big smile from Sarah and she looked toward Elaine, who nodded in agreement. “Great! Let’s get changed first. I wasn’t expecting a mile run on the first day.” Sarah held Hebe out for Elaine to take, but Elaine looked to Hebe and said “why don’t you hold onto them? I’m sure they’ll be fine without me for just a minute. Right Hebe?”

              Hebe’s mind immediately returned to their encounter with Rose and they hesitated. But Hebe could see that Sarah was taking much more gentle care than Rose had, and didn’t detect any malice, so they shrugged and responded, “I guess, if that’s what you want.” Hebe was also made more comfortably by the fact that this would only be a minute and Elaine would be within shouting distance if anything happened.

              Elaine beamed. “Great!” And with that, she skipped off to one of the showers with her gym bag in hand...

              “What do you think that was about?” Sarah asked Hebe.

              “Oh, uh. Elaine has been telling me I need to socialize more. Clearly it’s not super easy at my stature.” Said Hebe, turning on Sarah's wide cupped palm to face her. Sarah laughed and brought Hebe down to the bench which sat in between the rows of lockers for them to depart.

              “I get that. I’m gonna rinse off really quick before we head out.” said Sarah. Hebe nodded in understanding. Sarah pulled her gym bag out of her locker and set it on the bench a safe distance away from Hebe. She pulled out a pair of green overalls, a pair of artsy socks with flamingoes on them, a pair of normal black tennis shoes, and a plain white top, and set it all in a pile before bending down to untie her volleyball shoes.

              “Quite the fit you’ve got there,” said Hebe in a mocking tone. Sarah laughed and responded, “yeah, I get that a lot. I just buy what I like from thrift stores, and it doesn’t usually match. Not a lot fits me.” Hebe could understand the sentiment of clothing-size being difficult, though probably in a much different way.

              Between the bag and Hebe, Sarah placed her orange volleyball shoes and sports socks. Hebe covered their nose covertly. The smell wasn’t overwhelming, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant. Sarah didn’t seem to notice.

              “Be right back!” assured Sarah before grabbing a towel and her change of clothes and walking off to the shower rooms.

              Hebe was left alone to their devices in the locker room, and started to looked around to pass the time. They were sitting on a wood bench, though it felt more like plastic, and on either side of the bench stood medium-sized green steel lockers, which were numbered. There wasn’t much else of note in here. Finally, Hebe’s eyes fell to rest on Sarah’s huge shoes and socks. The shoes could have easily been a men’s size 13, and Hebe guessed Sarah often had to buy men’s shoes. Elaine’s shoes were often easy enough to climb onto in one jump, but Sarah’s would have been a challenge. Not that that was something Hebe wanted to do, they thought, shaking their head. But the more time passed, the more they felt drawn toward them. This was not the first time they had felt this, but it certainly wasn’t a welcome feeling. After at least eight minutes, Hebe could still hear the water running. They gave in with a sigh and crept over to Sarah’s white tube socks and felt them. They were still pretty moist, presumably from sweat. They were large enough that just the foot section could have fit maybe twenty of Hebe into each, if they packed in tight enough. They shook their head to try to rid themself of this unwelcome thought, but the opening of the sock was enticing.

              Just as Hebe was getting some bad ideas, they heard a loud “All done!” Sarah’s shout startled them so bad they fell backwards. Sarah noticed them exploring her shoes and laughed. “Yeah, I know, they’re huge. Probably even moreso for you!” Hebe was relieved Sarah hadn’t assumed anything weird about finding Hebe there. She picked up her shoes and socks and shoved them back into the bag before extending her hand once more for Hebe to join her. When they got on, Hebe noticed that Sarah smelled much better than when they’d met a few minutes ago, and the smooth skin on her palm was soft and warm. It smelled like she’d used lavender lotion or something before they left, and it was pleasant. Elaine joined the two not long after. The three walked to a coffee shop just a block and a half off of the main campus, discussing the latest episode of whatever shows they were watching. Sarah told the two about some interesting podcasts she was listening to, some of which had strangely specific topics for any medium of entertainment. Elaine said “oh, we should check those out!” lying, of course. No one ever actually checks out the podcasts you recommend.

              The three found a table for them to sit at. It was early afternoon, so the coffee shop had patrons, but wasn’t bustling like it might be in the morning. After they had ordered, Sarah put her stuff down and went to the bathroom, leaving Elaine and Hebe alone.

              “Sooooo,” said Elaine, “what do you think about her?”

              “What do I- what?” Hebe asked, confused.

              “Not like, romantically or whatever, just, as a… companion?”
              “That is possibly the least normal way you could have said friend.” Hebe said, rolling their eyes.

              “Okay whatever, I just… What do you think?”

              “Is it important what I think?” said Hebe. They saw Elaine take offense to that, and quickly added, “no no I didn’t mean it like that. I just mean – why are you looking for my approval?”

              Elaine frowned. “You’re my best friend, we’ve been together for like almost a decade! Why shouldn’t I consult you?”

              “Yeah, that makes sense I guess. I just don’t…” Hebe looked down and thought about what they wanted to say. “Sometimes… I don’t know, I feel like I a burden. Especially on your social life…”

              Elaine was shocked and reached out to scoop their friend up in a big hug. Hebe found themself pressed between Elaine’s palms and her chest. “Sweetie! No! It’s nothing like that!” She was tearing up a bit, but she held it back. She didn’t want to make Hebe feel even worse. “Honestly, if it weren’t for you, I probably wouldn’t have a social life at all.”

              Hebe laughed and hugged Elaine back, to the best of their ability. “I guess you’re right.” The two enjoyed the moment together, before Hebe finally answered Elaine’s original question: “I mean, she seems super nice, and friendly, and…. tall.” Hebe shrugged and Elaine laughed.

              “Do you think we should invite her over?” Elaine said, setting Hebe back down on the table and resting her arm.

              “God, only if you fucking clean up first,” said Hebe, and punching Elaine’s elbow, “It’s literally a fucking bomb test grounds in there,” they said between laughing fits. Elaine didn’t find it as funny, but smirked anyways at how funny Hebe seemed to think it was.

              “You’re riiiight, but I have to clean up after two! It takes time!” she objected.

              “Elaine I’m THREE INCHES TALL! What kinds of messes could I POSSIBLY make!” Hebe’s stomach was hurting from laughter at this point and they tried to catch their breath.

              “Small ones!” Elaine said, joining the laughter finally. “They’re hard to see!”

              Sarah returned while the two were in an uncontrollable laughing fit, tears in both of their eyes. She looked confused, but smiled. “Uhh, what did I miss?” she asked, but the two were too busy laughing to respond.

              “Uh, alright,” Sarah said and chucked nervously. At that point, the barista arrived with their order, which was two milk coffees and a coffee cake. The barista looked at Hebe and asked, “uhm, did you get anything ma’am- or, sir- uh-“

              “It’s fine, I’m sharing,” Hebe interrupted. They unhooked a plastic bottle which probably held less than two milliliters from their belt loop and held it out to Elaine, who took it gently, dipped it in her coffee, and handed it back. Sarah watched this ritual with adoration on her face.

              “It must be hard living with a big person like Elaine. Or at the very least weird. How do y’all do it?” Sarah said, watching the two interact as naturally as two people of the same height would.

              “Oh, it’s a lot of trial and error.” explained Elaine as she took a bite of the coffee cake.

              “And yeah, a lot of weird,” Hebe added

              While she was chewing, Elaine moved a crumb in front of Hebe with her fork. “Some stuff doesn’t ever get less weird, like it’s really hard for Hebe to comfortably go to the bathroom. We made something work, like a tiny little toilet that kinda flushes, but if we don’t empty the tank it's connected to regularly it starts to smell. Just small stuff like that, stuff you take for granted when you’re our size.”

              “Yeah, and I sleep in a shoe,” said Hebe with a mouthful of coffee cake crumble. Sarah found that very amusing.

              “The little old theydie that lived in a shoe,” she snorted, almost spilling her coffee.

              “Hahaha, never heard that before,” Elaine rolled her eyes.

              The three continued on with the banter for a few minutes while they all finished their drinks. When the conversation lulled a bit, Elaine spoke up.

              “Hey, I was thinking,” she said, swirling her straw around in her drink, “or, Hebe and I were thinking- we should have you over some time this week.” Elaine was very timid, but seemed determined to make at least this one friend. “It’s not much, but we can make burritos or something and just hang out. We have Hulu!”

              “That sounds like so much fun! Uhmm I’m busy tomorrow but maybe Thursday?”

              “Sounds good to us!” the roommates said in unison.

. . .

              Elaine and Hebe were talking about plans for the week on the bus ride home from campus. They were excited to hang out with Sarah, but it would be Hebe’s only new friend since at least middle school, so they were a little nervous. While they were discussing things they could do with their new friend, the bus stopped again to let on a few people, including someone both roommates now recognized: a girl with wavy black shoulder length hair and a nose ring. Their conversation quickly ended and Elaine did her best to conceal Hebe, who was sitting on her lap, with her hands. Last time, the girl was already on the bus when the two boarded, so they could easily keep their distance. This time, however, she walked leisurely to the back of the bus where the two were sitting and sat on the seat directly across the aisle from them. Elaine discretely opened and closed her legs, allowing Hebe to fall through the gap. Hebe now found themself in a dark space with little room to move, pressed between the fabric of Elaine’s pants and the hard plastic of the seat.

              Elaine watched the woman carefully. She didn’t look back to meet Elaine’s glances, but Elaine could tell she was paying attention to her. She was so focused on the woman that she almost missed their stop. She pulled the chord to request a stop, and as naturally as she could, picked Hebe up with her right hand in the same instant she stood up. Though the movement was fast and concealed, as Elaine passed she found the stranger glancing in her direction.

              Once the two were off the bus, Elaine let Hebe rest on her shoulder, but not before glancing around to see if they had any other “admirers.”

              “What was that about?” Hebe insisted while fixing their clothes and short blonde hair which had gotten jostled in the commotion.

              “That girl, have you met her before?” asked Elaine with concern in her voice.

              “Not really, but she was staring at me in class.”
              Elaine looked to Hebe with fear and confusion. “Class?”
              "Yeah, she’s in our American political history class, she sat pretty much at the opposite side of the room but at the end of class she started walking over just before we left.”

              Elaine bit her lip and started walking home. “I don’t know,” she said, looking straight ahead as she walked. “She just gives me the heebie jeebies.”

              Hebe was in the process of tying back a shirt that was a little too long into a pseudo-crop when Elaine turned away from the closet half dressed and holding up two shirts for Hebe’s judgement.

              “The yellow?” she said, holding up a cropped sweater to their torso, “or the green?”

              “That’s teal,” said Hebe dryly.

              Elaine looked down at it while holding it in front of her. “No it’s fucking not. This is green.”

              “I swear to god Elaine how are you this fucking colorblind,” they said, threading a piece of twine through the belt loops on their black jeans. “It’s literally teal.”

              “FINE, the yellow or the TEAAL?” She said the last word in a mocking tone.

              “It depends, are you going to put on pants?” Hebe joked.

              “You are actually useless,” Elaine sighed, turning back to the closet.

              Hebe chuckled and finally answered, “the yellow.” Elaine said a sarcastic “thank youuu,” before picking out a pair of shorts and putting on her glasses.

             “Do you think she’ll like these, or should I put in my contacts?”
              Hebe dropped what they were doing and put their hands on their hips.                     “WHY are you so worried about what to wear? It’s literally a person we met THIS WEEK coming to OUR apartment.” Inside, Hebe knew exactly why Elaine was acting this way, but couldn’t distinguish how they felt about it. Whenever Elaine talked about or looked at Sarah, Hebe got this weird feeling in their stomach. It felt like a hot liquid was churning around inside them.

              Elaine’s cheeks turned pink, confirming Hebe’s suspicions,  “I don’t know! I just… we haven’t had someone over in a while, that’s all!” she said, brushing her hair for the second or third time. Hebe had the chance to admire how good Elaine was at makeup. The pale-pink color of lipstick she’d chosen fit her skin tone perfectly and was complimented by the blush on her cheeks and nose. Not to mention her eyeshadow, which mimicked the colors of a sunset, the bright yellow bringing out the corner of her eye and the orange a shadow over her eyelids. Hebe had never really had the opportunity to do detailed makeup, since they kinda had to do it with their hands, and no one could really see it, but they hadn’t really had the urge to either. It seemed like a lot of work for something that came off after a few hours most of the time, unless it was very nice makeup and you were very careful.

              “You only did one eyebrow,” Hebe said.

              Elaine froze, brush still in her hair. “Shit.”

              And at that exact moment, the doorbell rang.

              “I’ll get it!” shouted Hebe sarcastically. Elaine gave Hebe a hostile glare before running to the door, still in the process of doing her eyebrows.

              “Hey! Oh my god you look great!” Hebe could hear Sarah coming through the door but couldn’t see her from their position on the bathroom counter. They straightened out their shirt, took hold of the piece of string fastened to the towel rack down to the floor and headed to the main room. As they entered the room, a gigantic black converse high-top crashed down a few inches away from them. “Where is Hebe?”

              “Down here!” Hebe shouted up at Sarah. She looked around for a moment before spotting Hebe on the floor next to her right foot. She recoiled in shock

              “Oh my god I’m so sorry! Are you ok?”
              “Yeah, I’m fine, you missed by a mile.”

              “Hebe, you really have to be more careful when there are guests in here. They’re not used to having to look for you,” said Elaine, with more scolding than concern.
              Sarah bent down to give Hebe a lift up on her hand. “Oh no it’s fine, I should be more careful. It’s your house after all.” Hebe climbed on and Sarah stood up. Once more, Hebe found themself much higher than they had expected.

              “I’m gonna start some popcorn. Hebe, why don’t you show Sarah around?”

              “Elaine we live in a studio, she can already see around from where we’re standing,” Hebe said with exasperation. Sarah found that amusing.

              “Yeah Hebe, show me around!”

              Hebe sighed and looked for something to show her. “Uh, ok over here is Elaine’s bed…” Her bed was completely decked out with pink and green pastel pillows, none of which were very comfortable. Her bedspread and sheets were clean white. Her comforter was so plush that Hebe had difficulty walking on it: any time they shifted their weight they’d sink down. “Over there, next to her bed by the window, is her desk, and kind of my room.” Sarah walked closer with Hebe to see their corner of the wooden desk, which consisted of one blue shoe filled with socks for the bed, a few small Tupperware containers in which Hebe stored their clothes and various belongings, a few battery LED lights that made a lamp of sorts which they could turn on and off as needed, and a paper screen that Hebe changed behind.

              “This. Is. Adorable!!!” Sarah jolted forward, nearly causing Hebe to lose their balance. She inspected every corner of Hebe’s “room,” which didn’t take that long. Hebe knew she was just being nice: they didn’t have an especially refined sense of style. But regardless, they appreciated Sarah’s interest.

              “And finally, on the other side of the room, is the living area, I guess?” In a studio, it was hard to distinguish which areas were for what purpose, but Elaine had done a good enough job dividing the room with different rugs, which made the space feel much bigger. Sarah took her shoes off and set them by the front door before stepping on the rug in their makeshift living room.

              With the tour over, Sarah looked back to Elaine, and made a face of confusion. “Why are you using a wok to make popcorn?” she asked.

              “No I swear it’s better! When the kernel pops it goes up to the top of the pan away from the heat so it doesn’t burn!” Elaine said while shaking the wok to mix up the popcorn and seasonings within.

              “I guess that makes sense, but it doesn’t make you look any less insane right now.” Sarah propped her pink-socked feet on the (admittedly messy) coffee table and gently set Hebe in her lap. She was wearing short shorts, so her legs were mostly bare.

              “Go ahead and put it on, I’m pretty much done,” Elaine said, transferring the popcorn into a bowl and moving to the living room. Hebe watched as she sat close enough to Sarah that their legs were touching. They looked up at Sarah to see her reaction. She was looking dead ahead with her lips slightly sucked in. Hebe could tell she was nervous, but not in a bad way.

              Hebe was kind of annoyed. Literally the first week of school and Elaine had already found someone she was interested in. From Sarah’s body language, it looked like the feeling was mutual. Hebe had never once dated anyone in their entire 18 years of life, so how was it so easy for Elaine? Hebe knew Elaine had dated in high school, though both of them were boys, and neither of them ever found out about Hebe. Elaine was being much more forward than Hebe had ever seen her be, and they didn’t think they liked that.

              “Let’s get started!” Elaine said, turning up the volume.

. . .

              It was nearly eight in the evening now, and the sun was about to set. Elaine and Sarah were completely invested in the show, which they had gone through a few episodes of, but Hebe was having trouble keeping interest. Every time they tried to focus all they could think about was the two behind them.

              As they were thinking, they felt Sarah shift a bit underneath them. They turned around to see Sarah had rested her hand on Elaine’s bare thigh. Elaine pretended to keep calm, but Hebe could tell she was absolutely losing her shit inside. Sarah kind of looked relieved in a way, like the energy to make that miniscule movement had taken the past forty-five minutes to muster. For a moment, Hebe sympathized with the two and thought it was sweet. But their jealousy quickly took over. Before they knew what they were doing, they scrambled over onto Elaine’s lap from Sarah’s. They could feel the gigantic eyes watching them from above and heard them giggle in a breathless, absent sort of way. Despite Hebe’s objections, they weren’t confident enough to say anything, so they just sat there staring out the window.

              That was until the two interlocked their fingers.

              At that moment, something inside Hebe snapped, they stood up and turned around, face bright read from the cheeks up. “Can you two not? With me right here?” Hebe didn’t yell, but the tone in their voice was one Elaine had never heard from them before. It wasn’t muted sarcasm hiding kindness, or joking, or concern. The way it rose irregularly and wobbled scared Elaine, but not as much as it scared Sarah. She instantly removed her hands and placed them in her lap. She looked as if she was about to cry. Elaine watched Sarah’s reaction in powerless agony.

              The room was silent for at least two minutes. Hebe stared at Elaine who stared at Sarah who stared at nothing. Before the episode of the show they were watching was even over, Sarah said, “I should probably get going,” in a pathetic whimpery voice. Her cheeks had grown bright pink and her eyes were wet.

              “No, Sarah-“ Elaine started, but Sarah had already gotten up and started gathering her things. Wordlessly, she let herself out the door.

. . .

              Elaine stared at the door, mouth agape. Her eyes were darting back and forth trying to process what had just happened. Then she remembered Hebe. She turned slowly to face her lap.

              "What. The FUCK.” she yelled. Hebe’s rage waivered but didn’t break.

              "You two are basically fucking right in front of me! I’m SIT-TING-ON-YOU. Do you not get how that’s rude?”

              Elaine started talking over Hebe mid-sentence. “FUCKING? We were HOLDING HANDS! What is your fucking problem?” Elaine got up without moving Hebe, causing them to tumble onto the couch. Hebe noticed then that Elaine’s eyeliner was running. Still, for reasons they themself couldn’t understand, Hebe pressed on.

              “It doesn’t MATTER what you were doing, just fucking think about how I felt!”

              Elaine tossed her hands in the air and scoffed. She was in the kitchen wiping the runny makeup off her face. “Oh, how YOU felt? How YOU felt that you just scared off the only other person I’ve been friends with in FIVE YEARS.”

              “HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL,” Hebe was screaming now. Tears of their own were streaming down their cheeks, though they didn’t notice. “You’re literally the only person I have, the only person I have ANY CHANCE to have! I’m stuck like this for the rest of my FUCKING life. No one else even knows I EXIST, and if they did, they wouldn’t give a shit! You’re my best friend, my ONLY friend! What am I supposed to do if I lose you?” with the last two words, Hebe’s screams turned into a dying whisper, and all at once their body felt exhausted. They could feel the heat rising from their head and arms, the red of their cheeks, the drying tears on their face. Their knees almost buckled but they didn’t fall. Elaine stared in shock for several seconds. “What if…” Hebe whimpered, “what if you get tired of me.”

              “Hebe…” Elaine didn’t know how to respond. At that moment Hebe collapsed into a ball on the couch, crying silently and staring blankly. Elaine walked over and bent down on her knees so that the two were at eye level. “How long have you been thinking this?” she whispered.

              Hebe had difficulty responding. A thousand thoughts a second were flying through their head, each one passing before it could even be processed. “I don’t know,” they said weakly, “a long time.”

              Elaine used one hand to roll Hebe onto the other and laid down on the couch. She brought Hebe to her chest and let her rest on it bare. She could feel that Hebe was very warm and could feel the tiny tears running off of Hebe and onto herself. The two breathed in unison, just for one moment. A moment stretched out for a length of time neither of them bothered to count. After an eternity but before the sun had set, Elaine breathed the words to Hebe, “I could never get tired of you.”

              Hebe registered the words and warmth filled their chest, but they didn’t respond. Elaine continued. “I don’t love anyone in the world more than you, and I don’t think that’s about to change because of someone I met at volleyball practice.” Elaine was stroking Hebe’s back with two fingers. She could hear them sniffling loudly while she stared at the ceiling, thinking. “But I want you to understand… Love isn’t a limited resource. Just because I’m interested in someone else doesn’t mean I’ll have less love to give to you. And… Hebe, the friendship we’ve built means the world to me, but I’m an adult now. I’ve moved out of my parents’. We’re in college, meeting new people every day. Life is changing and I want to change with it. I have to.” Elaine sighed and could hear Hebe’s sobs becoming less frequent. “I’m not saying you’re not enough for me, but… I just want to experience what life has to offer me, what it’s offering me right now, because it might not come back around.”

              Hebe was choking on their own words. They felt like a piece of shit. Elaine was completely right, and Hebe had only thought of themself. “I’m sorry…” they choked out.

              Elaine breathed out through her nose. “You don’t have to be sorry,” she said, “everything is changing for you too. It’s natural to oppose that or be confused by it.” She returned Hebe to her palm and sat up so the two could see eye to eye. “I like Sarah. And I want you to like her too. But I understand if you don’t.”
              Hebe was busy wiping the tears from their puffy eyes, and couldn’t really see that well, but they tried to look Elaine in the eyes. “No, it’s not that,” they said, strength returning to their voice, “I really do like Sarah. I just. I got jealous, I guess. I thought…” Hebe swallowed, took a deep breath, and said what was really troubling them. “I thought because of my size and the person you are and the person I am… that maybe you were the only chance I had…” they sniffled, “at love.”

              Elaine smiled. “We can love each other regardless. It doesn’t have to be confined to dating or marriage or whatever the fuck the current ever-changing rules of society tell us. Even if Sarah and I fall deeply in love, and move into a cottage in the woods together and listen to Hozier all day while we dry wild berries we gather in the forest-” Hebe laughed, and snot came out their nose.

              “Grooooss,” the two said in unison. Elaine used the hem of her sweater sleeve to clean Hebe’s face and continued. “Even if all that happens, at the end of a day, there’ll still be a corner of my desk just for you.”

              Hebe smiled through their tears and reached out for a hug. Elaine brought them back to her chest, and for a second they were completely connected. Every emotional barrier that divides people and builds up over time, becoming higher and higher, was broken down, just for a second.

              The second passed. “I should probably apologize to Sarah,” Hebe said with regret.

              "Yeah, you probably should,” Elaine sighed in response.

              “I got you a present!” Elaine said, holding up a strange object in front of Hebe.

              “Uhhh… Thanks… What is it exactly?” Hebe asked. Elaine was holding up what looked kind of like a necklace based on the clasps at each end, but in the middle was a 4-ish inch tall pattern of thick baby-blue thread that looked like a mast-climbing rope one would see on a boat.

              “Something for you to ride on, beside my shoulder or my jacket pocket!” said Elaine, smiling and tilting her head. “I’m honestly getting sick of wearing the same black Modern Baseball zip-up hoodie every day. It’s embarrassing and a little too warm. Plus, it’ll be easier for you to look around now.

              “Oh, Cool!” said Hebe, putting down their homework paper and reaching out to grab it. Elaine brought it down closer to the desk so Hebe could climb on. Their hand easily fit between the spaces in the square-patterned threads, and they were about the right thickness for Hebe to hold onto comfortably. Elaine made sure Hebe was secure before carefully bringing it up and securing the clasp behind her neck. The necklace swung back and forth a little during this process, but Hebe kept their grip.

              “There!” said Elaine. Her voice was much louder from right on her chest. Hebe could feel it resonating through them. “Is that comfortable?”

              Hebe looked down and turned bright pink, quickly looking away. If they fell from this position, there would be no avoiding falling directly into Elaine’s cleavage, especially in the thin tank-top she was currently wearing. “Yeah,” they said quietly, “it’s uhh… yup.”

              “What?” Elaine said, sounding concerned. She looked down to see what Hebe was embarrassed about. “Oh my god, really?” she said, “we’ve lived together for like years, you can’t handle this?”

              “No, it’s fine I wasn’t… It’s good, thank you for getting this.” Hebe was very embarrassed but tried to show appreciation for their friends’ thoughtfulness.

              “Good!” Elaine responded, “now hop off. I still have to get dressed.”

              Hebe climbed down onto Elaine’s hand and Elaine set them back on the desk before going to the closet.

              “So…” Hebe said bashfully, “have you… talked to Sarah?”

              Elaine stopped what she was doing and sighed. Without turning around, she said, “I texted her, but she hasn’t responded yet. Today is Friday so we might not see her ‘til Tuesday.”

              Hebe made a face and looked away. They didn’t feel great about how they’d acted and wanted to make up as soon as possible. Elaine deserved to be happy, and Hebe had gotten in the way of that.

              Elaine got dressed and saw that Hebe was still sulking. She walked over and sat down in her desk chair, resting her chin on her elbow in front of them and extending a finger to Hebe. “It’s not your fault,” she said gently.

              “Yeah,” said Hebe, “it is.”

              “Okay, it kind of is,” said Elaine, smiling, “but the way you felt is understandable. We can’t do anything about it right now, so there’s no point in sulking about it.” Hebe understood, but that wasn’t going to stop them from sulking anyways.

              “C’mon, let’s get going.” Elaine bent down so that the miniature Jacob’s Ladder hung close enough to Hebe for them to grab on. Hebe tried to focus on not falling, but at least if they did, they’d have a cushion to catch them.

              Elaine gathered up Hebe’s and her things and made her way down the stairs out of their apartment complex and to the bus. At this point the two had grown used to seeing the girl with the wavy black hair on their bus. They always tried to pick a seat farther away from her, but now that Hebe was hanging from Elaine’s neck and not hidden in a pocket, they were completely visible to the woman, who stared at Hebe the whole walk to the back of the bus. Hebe tried to shake it off, but they knew they would see the girl in class in a few minutes.

              When the students got off the bus, the stranger was following more closely than normal. She usually kept a respectful distance, but this time she was nearly within arm’s reach, and appeared to be speeding up. Hebe assumed Elaine noticed too: she was speedwalking.

              “Hey,” said a vocal fried feminine voice from Elaine’s side. The two jumped back in surprise.

              “Uh, hi…” Elaine said, instinctively bringing her hand up to where Hebe was hanging from her chest. The stranger took notice of this.

              “I’m Quierra,” she said. “Call me Q though. I’m in your APol class.”

              “Yeah, I know…” said Elaine. “I’m Elaine, nice to meet you.” She extended her other hand to shake. Quierra didn’t take it.

              “Who’s your friend?” Q said, nodding toward Hebe.

              Elaine noticed she had been hiding Hebe and removed her hand. Hebe turned around carefully and responded, “I’m Hebe, nice to meet you.” When Q didn’t react, they asked, “can we… help you?”

              Q looked annoyed by that. “I was just gonna ask if I can sit by you in class.”

              Hebe and Elaine looked at each other, eyebrows raised. “Uh, sure?” said Elaine.

              “Great.” Suddenly, Q became a lot more cheerful. Her droning voice shifted to a high-pitched enthusiastic squeak. The roommates exchanged another confused glance before entering the liberal arts building.

              When the three walked into the lecture hall together and sat down, Elaine tried to position herself between Hebe and Q, but Q quickly and covertly moved to the other side so that she was on the same side as Hebe. This made Elaine very nervous, but Hebe was honestly just curious. Why was this woman so fascinated with them? It wasn’t like Rose, who was just mischievous, or Sarah, who was just friendly. Q couldn’t take her eyes off of Hebe. Nonetheless, Hebe tried to focus on lecture while Q idly tapped her short black-painted fingernails on the desk in impatience.

              “Alright class,” professor Betan said, “if you’d open your textbooks to chapter three…”

. . .

              After class, Elaine was packing up rather hurriedly, clearly uncomfortable, but Q was taking her time. Her patience proved to pay off, because Elaine quickly dropped her coffee all over her pants.

              “Fuck!” she exclaimed, recoiling from the hot liquid. “Uhh, I’ll be right back guys. Q can you watch Hebe?”

              Q grinned. “No worries, take your time!” and with that Elaine waddled off to the bathroom, the coffee dripping from her pants leaving a trail.

              Q scooted closer to the desk space Hebe was using and loomed over them. Strands of her dark hair fell in a curtain around Hebe. They looked up and could see deep into her brown-nearly-black eyes. She moved in closer, grinning with impeccably straight and white teeth.

              “Hi,” she said in a flirty tone.

              “Umm… hi,” said Hebe, not sure how to react.

              Q pressed her lips together in polite frustration and kept gazing down. Hebe felt completely naked in front of her giant eyes as they darted up and down their body. “How are you?”

              “I’m… good, how are you?”

              “Just great.” Q bit on her lower lip, slightly smudging her cherry red lipstick. Seeing that small talk wasn’t getting her anywhere, she got to the pint. “So listen,” she said, “I like you.”

              “Oh that – what?” Hebe choked on their response: this was not a social situation they ever expected themself to be in.

              Q placed both her hands forcefully flat on the desk on either side of Hebe and leaned in closer. Hebe could smell cinnamon and caramel on her breath. “I,” she said, leaning in even closer, “like. You! I think we should go on a date.”

              “Oh, uh, I’m flattered but uhh, how would that even work?” Hebe asked.

              Q sat up and looked annoyed. “I don’t know, I could have you over for dinner or something. I could just take you from school so Ellie wouldn’t have to take the bus twice.” Her smile had faded, and she was speaking in a dry tone again.

              “You mean Elaine?” Hebe was feeling a little uncomfortable, but that was outweighed by the butterflies in their stomach – someone had just asked them out for the first time!

              “Yeah, whatever. Let me just give you my number-“

              “I don’t actually have a phone. For, obvious reasons,” Hebe laughed nervously. “Can you give it to Elaine when she comes back?”

              Q looked annoyed by that. She glared at the door and looked back. “I guess.” She wrote down her number and left it by Elaine’s stuff before grabbing her backpack and standing up. “I’ll see you on Monday after school?”

              “Oh, uh, sure?”

              “Sweet.” She opened up a pack of gum and threw one in her mouth, biting down on it with unnecessary force. “See you then!” She winked, and walked away.

              Elaine came back mostly cleaned up and saw that Hebe was sitting on the desk staring at the door. “Where’d Q go? What’s up Hebe?”
              “I think,” they trailed off, “I think I just got asked out.”

              “Really? That’s so great! By who?”

              “Q,” Hebe said, still staring at the door.

              “Oh..." Elaine's tone changed significantly. “Well… That’s great! I’m so happy for you! Did you make plans?”

              “She said I should come home with her on Monday after class.”

              Elaine made a few unintelligible noises before speaking up again. “I don’t uhm… Do you… Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Elaine said. She wanted to express her concern for Hebe’s safety, but didn’t want to step on their independence or ruin this moment for them.

              “I mean… Why not? She’s interested in me, I kinda… I don’t know… I’m kinda curious.” Hebe responded breathlessly.

              “Well… Then okay! Monday it is!” Elaine then noticed the number on her desk and assumed it to be Q’s. “I guess we’ll make plans ASAP!”

. . .

              Their first weekend of the school semester flew by. The two were busy making plans for the next week, getting started on their first batches of homework, and enjoying the last dying breaths of summer. Hebe grew more and more anxious for their first date ever. Elaine did too, but for different reasons than Hebe. The two hadn’t heard from Sarah, and were growing worried. It would suck to mess up their first college friendship. Sarah seemed really fun, and their personalities all meshed well.

              “Oh!” Elaine exclaimed, “Sarah texted back!”
              Hebe dropped what they were doing and ran over to Elaine’s portion of the desk, almost tripping over some pencils and wires. “What’d she say?”

              “She said we can talk on Monday morning. Oh god, I hope she’s not mad at us.”

              “Why would she be mad at you? I’m the one who yelled at her.”

              “True…” Elaine said, but she couldn’t think of something to say to comfort Hebe. Hebe noticed Elaine nervously curling her bleach-damaged hair and smiled. They really hoped at least Elaine and Sarah could make up, if not the whole group.

              Monday rolled around, but the two didn’t see Q on the bus. They had to take an earlier stop to be able to chat with Sarah before classes started. Elaine was relieved by this. She knew Hebe at least reciprocated Q’s interest, and didn’t want to come between them, but she had a bad feeling about Q’s intentions. Though the two hadn’t talked about it, Hebe could detect Elaine’s shifting body language when Q was around. They didn’t want to make Elaine uncomfortable, but this might be their only chance to get a date for a long time, if not ever.

              When the two exited the bus, they could see Sarah standing down the sidewalk, one arm self-consciously holding onto the other, and looking off in a different direction. Elaine took a deep breath and walked toward Sarah, who didn’t notice them until they were basically right next to each other. She turned around. The face she was making broke Hebe’s heart: there was no inkling of the enthusiastic and energetic girl they’d gotten to know the week before. Instead, she looked nervous and lonely, and her body language was closed up all over the place.

              “Hey Sarah,” said Elaine, trying to sound as casual as possible, but unintentionally letting some sympathy come through. “How are you feeling,”

              “Fine,” she said quietly, “how are y’all.”

              It was silent until Sarah spoke up again. “What did you want to talk about?”

              “Oh, uhh… Hebe wanted to talk to you.” Elaine said, gently lifting Hebe from their resting place on Elaine’s necklace. Sarah extended her hand and Elaine slid Hebe into it. They did their best to keep their footing, but the sudden shift in the angle of the surface they were standing on caused them to stumble. Sarah brought her other hand up in case Hebe fell.

              “Thanks,” said Hebe. “Um… Elaine could I talk to Sarah alone for a second?”
              Elaine nodded and walked a few feet away. Not really sure where she should stand so that she was available but didn’t seem like she was eavesdropping (which she was), she found a brick wall to lean against and tried not to look at the two.

              “Hey Sarah.” Hebe wasn’t sure how to start. Sarah didn’t respond though, so Sarah pressed on. “I wanted to talk about what happened on Thursday.”

              Sarah just nodded, still not making eye contact with Hebe. They took a deep breath and tried to get it all out at once.

              “I didn’t mean to get angry at you like that. I had no reason to, you didn’t do anything wrong.” They said, trying to sound as earnest as they could. “I got angry because I was… kind of jealous.”

              “You like Elaine?” Sarah said incredulously.

              “No no, it’s not like that… I thought I did but I honestly just haven’t ever known anyone else well enough to be able to distinguish what being really close friends and being lovers felt like.” Hebe was saying things they didn’t even know they knew. They weren't sure where it was coming from, but both could tell it was honest. “Seeing you two interact in a way I didn’t think I’d ever get to experience that with anyone except for maybe Elaine, but when we talked about it, I realized that it didn’t have to be romantic for me to get that kind of affection, and that there are other fish in the sea. And it would be weird if I got romantic with Elaine, she’s basically my sister.”

              Sarah looked at Hebe and gave a weak smile. “Thanks, Hebe,” she said, “I’m sorry I made you feel uncomfortable. That wasn’t my intention.”

              “Not your fault,” Hebe said, smiling back. “Are we cool then?”

              “Totally,” said Sarah. She placed Hebe carefully on her (uncomfortably bony) shoulder and started walking back to Elaine.

              “By the way,” Hebe whispered in Sarah’s ear, “in bed, pull on her hair, she goes crazy for that shit.”

              “Hebe!” Sarah shouted, turning tomato red.

              When they reached Elaine, they were both beaming. “Kiss and make up?” Elaine asked.

              “More or less!” Sarah smiled down to the person on her shoulder and attempted to give a gentle kiss on the cheek, though due to their size difference she unintentionally got most of Hebe’s face. Hebe returned to Elaine’s hand as a group of bus riders exited the bus and started heading to their classes.

              “I think we should probably get going. I’ll text you?” Elaine said. Sarah nodded and blew a kiss, and they went their separate ways.

              When Elaine and Hebe came into class, Q was already sitting in the usual spot. Q glared and then returned to staring at the front of class. Her troubled face lightened up a little bit when Elaine placed Hebe between them, but she didn’t move or say anything for the entire class. Occasionally during lecture she would get bored and bother Hebe by poking them with a pencil or a finger, but otherwise she was as quiet as she had been the past few times they had talked.

              At the end of class, Elaine and the other two went outside. Q had reached out for Hebe to join her on her hand, but Elaine had quickly snatched Hebe up in her fist before they had the chance to decide. The three walked outside together. The first chills of fall were starting to blow in, and Elaine pulled on her cardigan that she had draped over her backpack.

              “Well,” said Elaine, trying (and failing) to hide her discomfort, “uhm, I guess have fun?” Q once again held out her hand for Hebe. Elaine hesitated for several seconds before placing Hebe in Qs hand. Q grinned and brought Hebe close to her chest. She was wearing a lacy black top through which Hebe could easily see her bra. “If you need anything Hebe, just press the button. Q, you should also just call me if anything happens.” Elaine and Q exchanged a charged stare. “Uhm, Hebe, I can’t control what you do, but please be home before like midnight. Just for my wellbeing, I wouldn’t be able to sleep.” Hebe nodded but Q kept staring silently. Eventually, Elaine finally turned to go to her next class.

              “God,” she said to herself, “I feel sick.” This was the first time Hebe would be going to someone else’s place alone since Elaine and Hebe had become friends. And something still didn’t sit right with Elaine about Q. She was too interested in Hebe, and it didn’t feel like that interest was purely romantic.

              Q squeaked and wrapped her fist around Hebe, bringing them up to her face. “We’re gonna have so much fun!” Hebe felt very uncomfortable in Q’s tight grip, but didn’t want to be rude, so they just nodded.

              “Great,” they managed with a strained voice, “let’s get going.” Q put Hebe rather roughly into the pocket of her skinny jeans. Hebe found themself pressed almost immobile against the inside of Q’s pocket due to the tightness of her pants. They managed to shift around so that they weren’t suffocating, but it was far from comfortable, especially after Q sat down. If that wasn’t bad enough, on the bus ride home Hebe could feel Q’s finger exploring their outline in her pocket, occasionally finding somewhere on them to press down in what Hebe had to assume was affection. Q’s finger found Hebe’s back and pressed down harder than Hebe would have liked, deeper into Q’s leg.

              Finally, their stop arrived and Q stood up, allowing Hebe some more breathing room which before they had taken for granted. Q’s hand dove into her pocket and fished out Hebe, trashing them around in the process a bit. Not seeming to notice Hebe’s discomfort, she started showing Hebe around.

              “This is my apartment complex,” she said. It was a relatively nice place for the location. There were three stories in each of 5 separate complex buildings, the lowest story slightly inset into the ground. The grass was well kept & the sidewalks were clean. At the end of the sidewalk in between two of the complexes as a small water fountain that made gentle pleasant splashing noises as the water dripped its way down the stone slabs. Q turned and headed down into one of the inset apartment rooms.

              “I do have a roommate, Lexi, but she’s almost never home. I told her I have a date so she will probably leave us alone,” Q said, tossing Hebe into her other hand to get the keys. The inside of Q’s apartment wasn’t dirty, but it wasn’t particularly organized. There was a small pile of dishes laying in the sink and several articles of clothing strewn about the common area. Without comment, Q made her way into her own room. It was dimly lit by one small desk lamp and what little light made it in the partially sunken window. Q’s walls were mostly bare except for a mirror by the door and a corkboard, upon which some deadlines and to-do lists were pinned, many of which looked like they hadn’t been updated in quite some time. Q placed Hebe atop her white desk before moving to her closet.  She took off her vans and black socks, and began to take off her jeans right in front of Hebe. Hebe blushed and turned away. Q came back over to her desk wearing pajama shorts and smiled.

              “Aww sorry, did I embarrass you?” she said in a joking tone. Hebe’s face was pink.

              “You could’ve warned me at least, I wasn’t expecting that.” Hebe said, slightly offended.

              “It’s fine, we can get comfortable here.” Q took off her jacket, leaving only her lacy tank top on. “Do you want to eat?”

              “Sure,” said Hebe timidly. They were glad Q was so comfortable around them, but they weren’t sure they were equally comfortable around her. Q pinched Hebe in her fingers and walked them to the kitchen, setting them on the counter. She pulled out a plate and put some leftover beans and rice on it. She popped it into the microwave and pulled over a stool into the kitchen to sit in front of Hebe.

              “So,” she said, getting comfortable, “tell me about yourself.”

              “Uh, okay,” Hebe said, not sure what was even worth telling, “I’m nineteen, I’m a freshman, uhm, I’m not quite sure what I want to do but I know I want to do some kind of writing. Maybe journalism…” Hebe paused, gauging Q’s response. Strangely, Q wasn’t responding that much to what Hebe was saying. She was looking down with adoration but it didn’t seem she was listening at all.

              “Yeah…” Q said. Hebe was about to continue but the microwave went off. Q hopped up, shaking the stability of the counter Hebe was on. She brought the plate and a fork to the counter and set it next to Hebe. She began eating before giving Hebe any.

              “Uh, can you grab me a plate?” said Hebe, trying not to be too rude.

              “Here’s your plate right here!” Q gestured to the plate she was eating off of.

              “I don’t really know how I’m supposed to eat off of that…”

              “Just climb on! You’re strong,” Q said. Hebe felt blatantly insulted by this but was hungry enough to climb on and make their way over to the rice.

              Suddenly a fork crashed down in front of them, scraping against the plate and excavating the bite of rice Hebe was headed towards. “Woops!” Q said sarcastically, “try another one.” Hebe reached another bite of rice, this time with more success. They were used to eating with their hands, but were not so used to eating from the same plate as someone else, let alone from the same food while they were eating it. Q continued to scoop up bites of rice and beans, each bite coming uncomfortable close to Hebe, until only the bite Hebe was working on remained.

              “Are you gonna finish that?” Q joked.

              Hebe laughed. “No, this is almost the size of me.”

              “More for me then!” Q’s fork came crashing down behind Hebe, scooping them up with the bite of food in front of them.

              “Hey!” screamed Hebe, “Q what the fuck!”
              Q pretended not to hear. She opened her mouth and moved the fork towards it. Hebe could see piles of mashed up beans in her molars and some rice clinging to the back of her throat, which pulsated eagerly.

              “Q Jesus Christ put me down!”

              Q closed her mouth. Her pouting lips filled Hebe’s vision.

“What? Sheesh, I was just kidding.” She laughed and the bean smell washed over Hebe. Q returned the fork to the plate and let Hebe disembark. Hebe gave a nervous chuckle but was not amused at all.

              “Well if you’re full, let’s go back to my room!” Q more politely placed her hand in front of Hebe to climb on. The two walked back to Q’s room, this time coming to rest on her bed. Her bed was the nicest part of the room: the bedspread was clean and black, and half a dozen grey pillows lined its end. Above them, a white veil-like sheet was hung and fell around it, making it feel like a small cozy room, or to Hebe, like a mystical cave.

              Q set Hebe down on one of the pillows and crossed her legs, sitting across from Hebe.

              “Do… you want to tell me about yourself?” Hebe said awkwardly. They didn’t really know how to do the date-talk thing and were just taking queues from Q.

              Q smiled. “Sure! I’m a dance performance major, second year.”

              “Oh, that’s so cool!” Hebe said. “I’ve watched some contemporary dance videos, the stuff they do with their bodies is wild. Kind of over my head to be honest.”

              “Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot of drama though, but if you can look past that it’s a very fulfilling art form.” Hebe was feeling like they were finally getting a conversation going. Q’s next sentence made them worry about that. “By the way,” Q said, looking off into nothing, “who was that girl you were talking to before class?”

              Hebe was confused by what she meant. “Oh, you mean Sarah?” Hebe hadn’t noticed Q in the group of students that walked by while they were talking.

              “Sure,” said Q, rolling her eyes.

              “She’s just a friend of Elaine’s, they met through Volleyball club,” Hebe explained.

              “If she’s friends with Elaine why was she holding you?” She said, looking Hebe dead in the eyes now.

              “What? I mean, we’re friends too… Q what is this about?”

              “Do you like her?” Q said quickly.

              Hebe paused. “Do I like her? I mean, as a friend I’m glad to have her, but like… more than that?” Q’s brow was furled. “I mean, no. No she’s just friends with me through Elaine, they’re closer than I am. I’m not really interested in her if that’s what you’re asking.” Hebe was kind of annoyed, which caused them to be more upfront than they normally would be. “I don’t mean to be rude, but… Why is it important to you? This is our first date, I think it’s kind of early to be getting possessive.”

              Q took the hint and her face softened. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I know that was kind of presumptuous of me. It’s just…” Q shifted. She moved her legs which were crossed under her out behind her, laying on her stomach and lowering her face closer to Hebe. She propped her head up on her crossed arms. “I’m really attracted to you. And I was jealous. Sorry.”

              Hebe really didn’t know how to react to this kind of affection, since this was more or less the first time they had recieved it. Hebe tried to soften themself too and sat down in front of Q, gazing into her deep brown-almost-black eyes.  “Oh, it’s okay… I just…” Hebe was having difficulty communicating what they were feeling. While they were trying to decide what they felt, Q started leaning in.

               Hebe’s heart immediately started pounding. They had no idea what to do in this situation. Is this a kiss? they silently panicked. How do I even kiss at this size, there’s no way she’ll feel anything. Do I use my arms? Do I have to do tongue stuff? I’ve never done tongue stuff. Hebe was running out of time to think. Q had closed her eyes and her mouth was slightly agape. Hebe could feel the warm breath passing from between her pink mattress-sized lips. Timidly they just leaned their face forward, imitating what Q was doing. They closed their eyes and their entire face was enveloped in a warm, wet embrace. The two lips enclosed Hebe and massaged their entire upper form. Q took her time, applying some pressure into Hebe, and Hebe found it kind of nice. Hebe could feel and smell the peppermint-scented lip balm Q had used and pressed into it, letting the balm and saliva cover them as well. The two leaned into each other a bit more. Before Q let go, she gave Hebe’s face a soft lick with the tip of her tongue. Q pulled away beaming, but broke into laughter.

              “What?” Hebe panicked, “did I do bad?”

              “No,” Q said through laughs, “you’re bright red.”

              “Oh.” Hebe relaxed a little but tried to hide their face in their hands. Q simply laughed and grinned.

              “No, that was nice, actually,” she said, “I wondered what it would be like to kiss someone so tiny.”

              Hebe shrugged. “Acceptable?”

              Q’s smile widened. “More than.” She gave another quick unexpected peck before sitting up. She made a nervously expectant face. “Do you want to…” Q grabbed the hem of her own shirt and tugged meaningfully.

              Hebe’s anxieties were starting to melt away in the face of Q’s affection. They were comfortable taking off their shorts since they were wearing loose boxers underneath. They unbuttoned them and started to slide them off. Q’s face turned red, and she sighed and grinned. Hebe started to take off their top but Q bent down.

              “Can I help?” she said in a breathy, deep tone of voice. Hebe bit their bottom lip and nodded. Q carefully pinched the back of Hebe’s top and guided it over their arms and head, tossing it aside and leaving only Hebe’s binder.

              Q’s head turned in confusion. “What’s this?” she said, tapping the black fabric with one finger.

              Hebe got visibly embarrassed. “It’s, uhm…” they were trying to think of a way to explain without oversharing. “It's called a binder. Because of my gender, I have some body perception issues… this helps with that.”

              “Oh,” said Q. Hebe could see her eyes thinking. “Do you… want to take it off?”

              Removing their binder in front of someone wasn’t something they’d done with anyone but Elaine. It would be an enormous emotional ordeal to do so, and it was difficult to tell how their dysphoria would react. “I would rather leave it on…” they said, “if that’s ok.”

               “I don’t wanna push that right now,” Q said, looking disappointed, “but I do wanna push you!” Q poked Hebe with just enough force to knock them over onto the pillow. Hebe was still experiencing some discomfort with their binder being exposed, but tried to play along with Q nonetheless.

              Q carefully moved Hebe’s arms above them and pinned them to the pillow with two fingers. Hebe gasped and writhed, overcome by an unfamiliar but intoxicating feeling in their abdomen.

              “Oh,” Q whispered deviously, “you’re a sub, huh?” She bit her lip and applied more pressure, immobilizing Hebe’s arms about above them on the pillow. Hebe had no choice but to smile at this point, looking up at Q in anticipation. With her other hand, Q pressed a finger between Hebe’s legs. They closed up instinctively, but Q kept massaging until they gradually opened up for her. Q began to slide Hebe’s underpants off.

              That’s when Hebe started to feel uncomfortable. “Q,” they said quietly. Q didn’t seem to hear and was invested in de-clothing Hebe further. “Hey Q…” they said louder this time. Q’s smile faded and she looked up to meet Hebe’s eyes, where she saw obvious resistance.

              “Sorry…” she said, putting Hebe’s underwear back on and sitting up.

              Hebe immediately felt guilty for stopping Q’s fun. Admittedly, Hebe was having fun too, but they felt Q had breached a boundary without permission, and that had ruined it. Q handed Hebe back their clothes and reached for their phone.

              “I didn’t mean to offend…” Hebe started, but Q wasn’t paying attention. It looked like she was texting Elaine. Hebe pulled their shorts and top back on and sat at the edge of the bed. Q put her top and normal pants back on. This time Hebe didn’t look away and saw Q’s cute lacey black panties. Once they established better boundaries, Hebe was interested in becoming more intimate, but this time they simply weren’t comfortable with that.

              After some waiting in awkward silence, Q said “Elaine’s here.” She reached to allow Hebe passage on her palm, and walked barefoot out to the parking lot. The sun had just set and the sky was a dark navy, but light was still visible from over the horizon.

              “Thanks,” said Elaine, accepting Hebe as Q dumped them into her hands.

              “See you on Wednesday I guess,” Q said with a huff, and walked away.

              Elaine frowned. “Did it not go well?”

              “Can we talk about it at home?” Hebe said, “I kinda don’t want to talk about it out here.” Elaine understood and didn’t press the issue further.

              On the bus ride home, Hebe felt this inexplicable pang of loneliness suddenly. All of the emotions and hormones that allowed the high they had just experienced flushed from their body at once, leaving what felt like a social chasm in their chest. Hebe, still resting in Elaine’s palm, cuddled deeper into Elaine’s stomach where her palm was resting. Elaine felt this and immediately knew something had happened, but she could Hebe needed time to think about it and be in themself, so she didn’t question it. She just silently supported Hebe by giving them a tight squeeze and a loving glance.

              When they got home, Elaine placed Hebe on her bed before changing out of her school clothes. Hebe sat cross-legged with their hands on their head, trying to understand what was happening to them. Elaine slouched down into bed next to them and gave them an understanding smile. Nothing had to be said, but the invitation for Hebe to talk was there.

              Eventually, Hebe did speak up. “I don-“ their own voice surprised them and they stopped and choked on the words. They were crying, but they hadn’t noticed. Elaine offered a warm hand behind Hebe in support but didn’t interrupt. “I don’t know how I feel,” said Hebe hoarsely.

              Elaine frowned. “Can you be more specific?”

              Hebe tried. “I was enjoying it one second, like it was really really good. And then in an instant I just. It stopped.” Hebe put their head in their hands and sobbed for a moment. “Why can’t I be normal?”

              Elaine cried silently with her friend. “You mean your height?”
              “No it’s not even about that right now like, this would have happened if I was normal sized too.” Hebe said through their fingers. “We were in bed and having fun. But then she touched my binder, and she started to take off my shorts, and it all fell apart. I felt pleasure and fun and it all turned into fear.”

              Elaine was silent but her breaths intensified. They knew deep down Q would try something beyond Hebe’s comfort without permission. “What did you do?”

              “I asked her to stop, and she did, but I felt so bad afterwards.” Hebe sobbed. “I don’t know why I just felt like I’d fucked it up. Like it was my fault she had misunderstood the situation and I made it awkward.”

              Elaine wrapped her other hand gently around Hebe, cupping them in between. Hebe curled into the warm skin and the tension that was subconsciously plaguing their entire body relaxed a little.

              “Sweetie, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Elaine said. “You communicated your boundaries. That’s good, that’s normal, and it’s what everyone should do in that situation. Just because she wasn’t happy about it doesn’t make it your fault.” Elaine was also glad Q had actually stopped when she was told (it was more than she had expected of Q) but didn’t say that part. She opened up her palm and tried to meet Hebe’s eyes.

              “Is the dysphoria bad?” she asked. Hebe’s sobs intensified and she nodded, curling back into a ball. Elaine brought Hebe to her chest and cupped her hands over them while they got it out. When the sobs began to slow, she said quietly, “you know you’re the best you can be. And the most beautiful little themby friend I could ask for.” Hebe nodded. “Your body might not look how you want it to and that sucks. There’s not much we can do about it and I hate that.” Even though Elaine was only saying things they both knew were bad, Hebe started to loosen up, and the emptiness they felt on the bus started to go away. They felt understood.

              The two lay in silence together, continuing to communicate in nonverbal ways, until Elaine felt that Hebe had gotten it out. She leaned forward and let Hebe fall into her palm.

              “Did you have fun at least?”

              Hebe wiped their face with their sleeve and nodded. “It was nice,” they said, “to feel wanted. She was really into it,” Hebe laughed.

              “Would you go back?” Elaine asked.

              Hebe had to think about it, but they nodded. “Yeah,” they said, “I think if… we can like, talk about expectations, it’ll be better next time. And I do want to like… ‘go there,’ if you know what I mean. Just on my own terms.”

              Elaine smiled. She still didn’t like Q, but if Hebe trusted Q then so did she.

              “Let’s get some hot chocolate for my little hottie.”

“Oh my god you look… Great!”

Hebe was sitting on Elaine’s bed trying to help her decide on an outfit. They’d gone through multiple iterations of cottage-core aesthetics and pretending-not-to-care hoodie outfits but had decided on a tight black romper that hung around one shoulder. She did a spin and grinned at Hebe. “You think she’ll like it?” she asked.

“Yeah definitely,” Hebe said confidently. “Are you excited?”
“Excited and very nervous,” said Elaine. Sarah was on her way to their apartment in her red mini-cooper for a night of drinks and games. The three hadn’t seen each other in a few weeks, so they were unsure how the night would go. They continued to tidy up and get ready as they anxiously awaited Sarah’s arrival.

“How do you feel about this whole thing?” Elaine asked while she scrubbed some dishes half-heartedly and tossed them in the dishwasher.

 “What do you mean?” Hebe asked.

“I mean, last time it was uncomfortable for you, and like, no matter what you’re just kinda gonna be here like I can’t just ask you to leave the room. So how do you feel about Sarah coming over? Or about us dating?”

Hebe thought about how to respond, feeling increasingly selfish for what had happened last time. “All I want is for you to be happy,” they said, “and if this is it then I’m totally in support of it. I like Sarah, anyways, I just had my own shit going on last time. But I’ve mostly worked through that.”

Elaine didn’t seem convinced, but she dropped the subject. Hebe was truly happy for Elaine, but they would be lying if they were to say no trace of jealousy remained. Elaine was Hebe’s best friend, so naturally they were very protective of her, even if the person in question seemed perfectly nice.

The two sat on the couch composing a good Spotify playlist for the evening when the doorbell rang. Elaine jolted, accidentally knocking Hebe off her lap, and ran to the door. She took a moment to compose herself, straightening out her dress, before opening the door.

“Hey guys!” Sarah said, peeking her head through the door. She was wearing open-toed heels, making her even taller than normal, so she had to slightly duck as she passed through the door. She was wearing a white knee-length dress and a pair of pastel-striped shorts and was holding what looked to be a bottle of red wine as she entered. She set the bottle down on the table and bent down to give Elaine a hug. Hebe saw Elaine blush as she had to actively avoid pressing her face into Sarah’s cleavage due to the height difference.

“Hey kid!” Sarah said over Elaine’s shoulder, raising a hand to wave her fingers. Hebe waved back and moved from the couch onto the floor so they could make their way to the coffee table via a string that hung down.

The two moved from the entry/kitchen area and into the main living space where Hebe was. Elaine’s white-socked feet tiptoed past Hebe as they were used to doing, but Sarah who was still adjusting to the size dynamic walked haphazardly, stepping dangerously close to Hebe in the process. Hebe wasn’t too shaken but wished Sara would be more careful. Hebe was beginning to climb the string into the table when Sarah gave them a lift, grabbing them by the back of their shirt and dropping them on the coffee table. She smiled as if she had done Hebe a favor, and Hebe smiled back politely, but was more used to the care Elaine used when transferring Hebe. Elaine was clearly a very nervous host, however, and didn’t seem to notice Hebe’s displeasure at being moved so roughly. Sarah sat down and Elaine dug through the closet to find some board games. Hebe found Elaine’s phone on the desk and played the playlist the two had made through the speaker beneath the TV.

“What should we play?” Elaine said, setting a big pile of board game boxes on the coffee table. “We have Life, Monopoly, Sorry, Betrayal…” she kept listing board games long after the other two stopped listening.

“That’s… Why do you have so many board games?” asked Sarah.

“Uhhh,” Elaine didn’t really have an answer. She just liked board games and had little self-control when shopping. Before Elaine had a chance to answer, Sarah pulled Sorry out of the pile and moved the other boards to make space to set it up. Sarah set up the red pieces while Elaine set up the blue. Hebe moved to the box to start setting up the green pieces but saw there were only three where there should have been four.

The other two had finished setting up, and saw that Hebe was searching for a missing piece. “Oops!” said Elaine, “looks like we’re missing a piece. Guess you’ll have to be yellow Hebe.”

Hebe groaned at the thought. “No, I’ll just use one of the yellow pieces.”

Sarah smiled mischievously. “No, that would look ugly.” She set up the 3 existing pieces and then grabbed Hebe’s chest between log-sized (relatively) finger and thumb. Once Sarah put Hebe down and they regained their composure, they saw they were in the start space with the rest of their pieces standing just above their hip height.

Elaine and Sarah laughed, and Hebe shrugged. “I guess this works,” they said. Sarah walked over to the kitchen, swaying a little to the music, and grabbed some wine glasses and the bottle of wine she’d brought. Hebe looked at Elaine, who was completely engrossed in Sarah’s movements, watching her with her arm rested on her knee and a glaze over her eyes. Hebe smiled at Elaine’s clear infatuation. They didn’t know if they’d ever seen Elaine like this, and they were happy for her.

Sarah sat down and poured the two a glass before looking at Elaine.

“Uhh,” she pondered, looking around, “I don’t really know how to give you some of this.”

“Oh no, it’s fine,” said Hebe, “it’s really not a good idea for me to drink with my tiny liver.”

“Not even a liiiiitle,” urged Sarah, “a teensy weensy drop?”

“Come oooon,” Elaine egged on Hebe.

“Fiiiine.” Elaine grabbed one of Hebe’s tiny bottles and put it on the desk. Sarah tried to carefully pour some in but made a mess anyways. Hebe picked it up and emptied a bit into the already spreading buddle of spilled wine so that it wasn’t too full. Before having a taste. They coughed in disgust but tried to hide it. This was technically their first real taste of alcohol. The two sitting above them noticed and laughed, causing them to turn red.

“I’ll go first!” Sarah announced.

Though none of the pieces on the board were actually taller than Hebe, they still felt dwarfed by the giants above them as they reached their long arms over the board to move the pieces with no effort whatsoever. As Sarah picked her card and moved her piece, the flimsy cardboard shook under Hebe’s feet and they had to brace their knees to keep upright.

Sarah and Elaine took their turns, and on Hebe’s turn Elaine had to draw for them. It was a 5, nothing special. They picked up one of their green plastic board pieces with some effort and moved it 5 spaces, then returned to their starting place as a piece of the game themself. This went on for a while: a few times one of Hebe’s pieces got knocked back to the start or had to move backwards, but eventually they were the only “piece” left in the starting tile and were forced to move.

Sarah and Elaine were both thoroughly tipsy at this point and giggled as they watched Hebe try to draw their own card before asking for help, and then moving themselves the number of spaces the card dictated. Within the safety of their start bubble the game hadn’t seemed that intimidating. But now on the board, Sarah or Hebe’s pieces would pass them, shoving them to the side of the space while the two drunks above them tittered in delight.

Hebe once found themselves on one of the “slide” spaces, waiting for their turn. Sarah picked her card and moved accordingly, slowly tapping her piece on each space until it finally landed at the beginning of the slide. Sarah looked at Hebe and gave them a downright devilish grin before sliding their piece directly into Hebe, knocking them over.

“Oh no!” she said, while Elaine laughed uncontrollably. “Looks like you have to go back to start!” Sarah picked up Hebe by one leg and dangled them above the board. Under normal circumstances this might have terrified Hebe or at least annoyed them, but they had had plenty to drink and so they laughed along with the two chuckling giants. Sarah clumsily reached over the board to drop Hebe back in the starting position.

The three kept playing their game, but it was clear to Hebe the other two were starting to lose interest. Elaine’s eyes were droopy and she was leaning on Sarah’s shoulder. Sarah was clearly nervous about this but was trying to play it off like it was no big deal, and tried to make her bony shoulder comfortable for Elaine. The two had to be reminded of their turns frequently, and Hebe noticed the two getting much more flirty, but wasn’t really sure if they should just leave the game and let them do their thing.

“It’s so hot in here,” Elaine said, and everyone agreed. She got up and stumbled over to her closet, pulling on a pair of shorts so she could take the romper on. Sarah went bright pink: the only thing Elaine was wearing under the romper was a bra. Elaine noticed that this had had the desired effect on Sarah but didn’t show, other than a smirk across her face. Elaine walked back over to the couch, obviously trying to be sexy but looking more drunk than ever, and fell into Sarah’s lap. The two giggled and gasped, and Hebe could tell it was time to go. They climbed off the coffee table and over Sarah’s feet over to the desk where they began to climb up. It was much more difficult to climb this high while intoxicated, especially since Hebe had discovered that they were a lightweight, but they made it to the top nonetheless. They shifted the paper screen that divided their room from the desk so that the bed was obscured to give the two some privacy. Though they hadn’t made their way to the bed quite yet, Hebe knew it was just a matter of time. Not quite sure what to do with their time, they dragged the iPod nano closer to their shoe-bed and used an earbud as a speaker to listen to their own tunes while the other two had their fun.

After a few minutes of the two whispering and giggling on the couch, Hebe could hear them move to the bed from the creak of the bedframe and rustle of the covers. Now drunk and slightly aroused, they lay down in their shoe and tried not to think about what was going on in their room. They tried to focus on Q. They still weren’t quite sure of their feelings about Q, though the one time they had spent time together had been mostly pleasant. Hebe wasn’t sure if it was love though, not the same way Elaine and Sarah were doing it anyway. When Hebe and Q went to bed, there was no buildup, very little anticipation. Q had just jumped into it with very little thought and much impatience, almost like that was the only reason she had brought Hebe there. Sarah and Elaine spent a lot more time dancing around what they actually wanted to do, which to some might be annoying, but it struck Hebe as romantic. It seemed exciting, not knowing exactly what was going to happen or whether the other person would be receptive. Nerve-racking, yes, but that was half the fun.

At this point, the sound of Elaine and Sarah sucking each others’ faces had become louder than the music Hebe was listening to, so they climbed out of their shoe to turn the music up. As they did this though, the noises stopped for a second, and Hebe heard Sarah whisper something to Elaine underneath her, a question. There was a pregnant pause, before Elaine’s anxious crooning voice called out.

“Uh… Hebe?” she said, audibly uncertain.

“… Yeah?” Hebe responded, equally confused.

Before Elaine responded, Hebe could hear shuffling of sheets and stomping of feet, and saw Sarah’s form wearing nothing but her bra and a pair of boxers tower over the desk.

“Elaine and I want to know if you want to join us,” Sarah said with a confidence that no one else in the room had.

Hebe opened their mouth and closed it several times, nothing more than a gasp of air coming out. “Wh-… How… What do you… mean?” they stuttered out eventually.

Sarah smiled and didn’t answer the question: they both knew what she meant. Hebe had no idea what it entailed exactly, or how it worked, or if it was even right, but the implication was clear. They looked back up at Sarah, which Sarah correctly took as an answer. Sarah placed her hand on the desk for Hebe to join them. They hesitated and stepped back several times, but finally climbed onto Sarah’s hand, positively shaking with uncertainty. Sarah, still drunk, did her best to guide Hebe over to the bed. Once Hebe was at Sarah’s chest height, they could see Elaine laying on her back with her arms out to the side, face and body flushing from the alcohol and affection. Her face was one of pleasure but also apprehension, probably at whatever they had in store for Hebe. Hebe on the other hand was terrified. Not that they would hurt them, but they simply had no idea what to do in this situation, and wasn’t even quite sure what this situation was.

While they were still parsing the room, Sarah slid Hebe onto Elaine’s chest, nearly right in between her breasts. Elaine was embarrassed by this but did nothing to object. Hebe was as red as a tomato now and just sat there, mind running through a hundred possibilities of the two’s intentions.

Sarah climbed into the bed and placed her elbows on Elaine’s arms, effectively immobilizing them, and started kissing her again. Hebe instantly felt infinitely more awkward, as if they were just a voyeur to the giants’ affections. But without looking, Sarah moved her right arm from Elaine’s and used one finger to press Hebe into Elaine’s chest, massaging them up and down between Elaine’s breasts. Hebe was helpless to stop this, and frankly helpless to do anything to help it. Sarah grabbed Hebe and lifted them up in between Elaine and Sarah’s faces. Hebe could feel the frantic hot breaths coming from all sides of them, and could taste the excitement on it.

“Do you want a kiss too?” Sarah gasped out, and Hebe nodded. Sarah set Hebe carefully on top of Elaine’s lips. Hebe was a bit scared by the chasm below them but knew Elaine would never do anything to hurt them. Elaine’s lips quivered in excitement and her hot breath sped up, beating on Hebe’s back. Sarah admired the two before slowly leaning back into Elaine’s face, closing her eyes and opening her mouth slightly. Hebe braced themself for the impact of the giant lips. Initially they made soft contact, gently feeling both Hebe and Elaine. Hebe was now overcome by the smell of wine riding on the moisture in the breath of the two. Suddenly Sarah’s mouth plunged into Elaine’s, trapping Hebe between them. Hebe was repeatedly thrown back and forth from the suction created by the mouths of Sarah and Elaine. Sarah’s tongue snuck out of her mouth and pressed Hebe into Elaine’s. Elaine felt this and responded accordingly, wrapping her tongue around Hebe to the best of her ability and pushing back. Hebe wanted to participate in the pleasure, but at their size and with the two pink snakes battling over them there was little they could do. Fortunately their mere presence in the mouth of the two seemed pleasure enough. At one point Hebe’s lower half was trapped between Elaine’s lips pressed together and Sarah repeatedly brought her mouth down over Hebe, sucked and pulled back, giving them just enough time to breath between each attack. On one of these attacks the suction pulled Hebe free from Elaine’s grasp and fully into Sarah’s mouth. Sarah continued to kiss Elaine with her new tiny passenger being thrown about in the cavern of her maw, between teeth carefully avoiding them and often being pressed to the roof of Sarah’s mouth.

Eventually the movement slowed and Sarah freed Hebe from their warm wet prison, back onto Elaine’s chest, where they lay catching their breath as Sarah kissed up and down Elaine’s sternum. Hebe could hear the clasp on the back of Elaine’s bra come loose, and she took it off and cast it aside, letting her breasts flow freely now over her chest. They weren’t too large to manage, but were at least large enough for Sarah to move around, which she did with urgency. She pulled Hebe down further onto Elaine’s sternum as she did this, and Hebe was pressed repeatedly between their friends’ boobs as Sarah had her way with Elaine. Hebe made their way free onto Elaine’s stomach, where they found a new challenge, as the bellies of the two behemoths crashed together repeatedly in the excitement. Hebe was pressed between their stomachs periodically, given just enough time to move and breathe between each crashing wall of flesh. Elaine could feel this and must have known it was uncomfortable, because she reached down and grabbed Hebe in her hand, to Hebe’s relief.

The two were starting to slow down, and Sarah finally rolled off from on top of Elaine to her side. Her long legs hung off the end of the bed easily, but she didn’t seem to mind. Elaine and Sarah gazed deeply into each others’ eyes while Hebe lay panting in Elaine’s hand, removing some of the now soaked clothing they had been wearing. Elaine brought Hebe to rest in between the two, placing them close to Elaine’s face. Before, Sarah had been intentionally lower to keep their eye level at that of Elaine’s, but now that it seemed things were gearing down she scooted up so that at least most of her body was on the bed and pressed Elaine’s face (and as a result, Hebe) into her breast. Hebe writhed around until they found a comfortable spot and promptly fell asleep, primarily from exhaustion.

. . .

Sunlight broke through the holes in the blinds and woke Elaine first. She sat silently, simply enjoying the warmth of Sarah’s bare skin, her soft chest, the way her hair was tangled up beneath her. She carefully moved Hebe to a safer location before pressing her face deeper into Sarah’s chest. Sarah was just waking up, but reacted by placing her hand on the back of Elaine’s head. The three lay there in momentary peace without saying a word before they all realized they smelled like shit.

“Ugh,” Sarah groaned, sitting up and rubbing her head. She squeezed Elaine’s hand and walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

Elaine rolled over and smiled at Hebe, who smiled back.

“How are you?” she asked.

“Pretty great,” Hebe whispered, not opening their eyes.

“Do you feel okay about last night?”

“Yeah,” Hebe said to their own surprise, “it was nice.”

Sarah came back after downing a glass of water and grabbed Elaine’s hand. “Let’s get cleaned up,” she said. She helped Elaine up and offered Hebe a hand, which they accepted.

The two undressed rather shamelessly and Hebe found themselves looking away. Despite having been inside each of their mouths and between their chests the night before, they were still embarrassed. Elaine got some hot water running in the shower and filled the small tank Hebe used to take their own makeshift showers. While Hebe had their own private shower on the counter, they could hear Elaine and Sarah giggling in the shower together on the other side of the room. Hebe finished before they did and got dressed, leaving the bathroom and returning to the leaving room.

In the living room Hebe realized they’d left a bit of a mess. There was little they could do about it: the pieces of the gameboard were scattered all across the room and wine glasses as big as a shed were on the floor. Instead they just climbed onto the coffee table, put on a TV show, and waited for their roommate and Sarah to finish.

Once everyone was dressed, Elaine started making breakfast in the kitchen. Sarah propped her feet up on the coffee table by Hebe. Even by normal standards, they were huge. She looked down at Hebe and smiled, wiggling her toes.

“How was last night, cutie?” She asked.

“It was actually good,” said Hebe, “I was nervous about how getting between my best friend and her… girlfriend? would feel. But it doesn’t feel that weird, like it was just kind of a fun thing. I’m not too worried about it.”

Sarah smiled and pressed Hebe between her soles for a moment before returning their attention to the TV show they were watching. Hebe didn’t particularly appreciate that, but was growing more fond of the affection people had been showing them in one way or another lately.

Elaine returned with some eggs and pancakes and dished out portions, leaving Hebe’s on a toy plate the size of a bottlecap. She propped her now also bare feet up next to Sarah’s, and occasionally they’d cross or play with each other. Hebe found this a bit rude, but didn’t want to ruin the mood, so they kept quiet.

Eventually, Sarah had packed up her night clothes and was ready to leave.

“Call me?” Elaine said hopefully.

“Will do!” Sarah reassured, before blowing a kiss to both and leaving for the day.

As soon as Sarah closed the door, Elaine fell down onto the couch and covered her face, squealing in glee. Hebe didn’t have to ask, they were certain Elaine felt nothing but joy right now. Hebe smiled knowing their friend had made a new connection, and that it was going to grow and make her even more happy ass the year progressed.