Important Preface:

I started writing this story between 8th and 9th grade, years before I even knew about this site, so the main character and her friends are 13 years old. And considering my name's Jess and the main character here is a Jessie, it isn't exactly a secret that I based some aspects of the character on myself. When I decided to post the story here and continue writing it, even though I was in college by that point, I kept the characters' ages the same. Just like all the men who like writing or reading stories about teenage boys getting together with their babysitters, teachers, or other older women, I liked writing and reading about the same thing too but from a different gender's perspective... and I'd rather the guy be shrunken instead of me, lol.

Just like I don't condone the murder, rape, slavery, and general cruelty that goes on in mine and other stories on the site, I obviously don't condone 36 year old men doing fetish-related things with their 13 year old daughters. I love my fans and I love receiving feedback, but I don't love the rare but unfortunate occassions wherein men have told me they picture their own daughters in this story. That's disgusting! I hope they don't still live with you! Please go to therapy because my stories are clearly too much for you to handle!

Anyways, if you would rather read a version where everyone's 18 or older, there's an adaption on my DeviantArt where the characters are 18+ and seniors in high school. I've also written a spin-off of this story (more info on my DeviantArt), where the characters are in college. 

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INTRODUCTION

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How to Train Your Dad is a special kind of story because there’s multiple versions, but they both follow roughly the same storyline: Marcus has just gotten laid off after shrinking down in size, and is feeling empty and purposeless, not to mention the anxiety he suffers from because of his new size. But his loving daughter Jessie wants to cheer him up again and get him reaccustomed to the world, so with his free time he becomes more embroiled in her life—balancing school, sports, and friends—than he ever had before. 

Both iterations of the story follow the same general guidelines with the same major plot points, but approach them from different perspectives. If you love reading all types of giantess content, I’d obviously suggest both, but if you’re a bit more selective here’s the general differences

Version 1 is best if you’re into...

• a PG-13 story that emphasizes Jessie’s gentle and loving nature, but still with occasional teasing
• a size difference of Marcus being 2’7 vs Jessie being 5’5
• the slowest progression of Jessie and Marcus’ father/daughter relationship
• 115,000 words (230 pages if it was a novel)

Version 2 is good if you’re into...

• an R-rated story where Jessie takes on a bit more of a maternal role, while a bit more rebellious too
• a size difference of 9 inches vs 5’5
• a bit faster paced
• 60,000 words so far (120 pages if it was a novel), but 200k words expected

Version 2 isn’t done yet and new chapters generally come out once or twice a month, but Version 1 is 100% completed, so you can finish the whole thing from front to end before starting up the current version. And just as an additional note, version 1 of this story is a lot faster and more eventful than version 1 of How to Train Your Brother (in case you’ve read that one).

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REVIEWS

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Not convinced? Want a little more info on what the story might be like to read? Like seeing writers toot their own horn? Below are excerpts from some of my favorite comments about the story, both on here and on other sites :)

• "The characters felt real and so did their feelings. Normally gts is something abstract to me, but this felt alive." - skunkpower
• "You have the most creative scenes, sometimes I wonder what all the set-up is for ... but then [the next chapter] will be something that feels like a new spin on a fetish I thought I was already pretty familiar with." - matty
• "Generally I don't like multiple giantesses. BUT Jessie's friends all have such distinct personalities and interactions with Marcus and each other and for once I enjoyed a story like this with other giantesses. Your character development is top notch ... It's nice to have such a cozy and inviting story, even if it is fetish related." - Parajake32
• "[You] paint a vivid picture of everything that's happening. I especially love the characters, and how likable they are." - Darien
• "Story is more of a slow burn than I am usually into, but so well written I'm really into it." - Cuchulain

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Below is the list of chapters, along with tags for what kind of content they contain. There are a lot of scenes that I just didn’t know how to categorize, and lots of little moments that were too small to warrant adding but technically fell under various categories. For example, there’s a chapter where they go to a movie theater and he rides piggyback under her hoodie so she can sneak him in, and then sits in her lap while they watch the movie together, and another scene where she pressures him into doing her homework for her. Those kinds of interactions could be categorized as gentle or femdom respectively, but it's sort of a stretch to call them that. They contribute to the general theme of the story but idk how I'd fairly fit them in.

Some key notes for understanding the tags:

• "Feet" or "socks" without any other adjectives implies that they are clean, if they're dirty then the tag will specify that
• Findom (financial domination) and femdom (female domination) are different in case you didn't notice
• FM+/m means a large group of giants of multiple genders while FFF+/m means a large group of only girls

Version 1:

Day 1 - Gentle

Day 2 - Gentle

Day 3 - Gentle

Day 4 - Gentle, hair

Day 5 - Gentle, FF/m

Day 6 - Gentle

Day 7 - FF/m, yoga

Day 8 - Gentle

Day 9 - Bra/boobs discussion, findom

Day 10 - Yoga, teasing

Day 11 - FFF/m, dirty socks

Day 12 - Body discussion

Day 13 - Angry, size discussion, sweaty feet, ass

Day 14 - Gentle

Day 15 - Twister, ass, playful, teasing

Day 16 - Thong discussion

Day 17 -  Light femdom, ass, teasing

Night - Dream

Day 18 - Grassy feet, dirty socks, femdom

Day 19 - Wrestling, sweat, armpits, dirty feet, light findom, gentle

Day 20 - Playful, feet

Day 21 - Ass, light cuck

Day 22 - FF/m, ass discussion, humiliating massage

Night - Dream, humiliating

Day 23: Initiation - FM+/m, dirty socks, humiliating

Day 23: Presentation - FFF/m, light femdom, feet, hair, ass, pet play

Day 23: Humiliation - FFF/m, twister, boobs

Day 23: Degradation - FFF/m, diapers/ageplay, foot worship, very humiliating

Day 23: Infatuation - FFF/m, boobs, femdom, gentle

Version 2:

Day 1 - Gentle

Day 2 - Gentle

Day 3 - Gentle, humiliating, mouth play

Night - Dream, unaware, vore

Day 4 - Hair, muscles, unaware, dirty socks

Day 5 - Gentle, playful, socks, FM+/m, tickling

Day 6 - Gentle, mouthplay

Night - Dream, evil, mouthplay, vore, gentle

Day 7 - Gentle, worldbuilding, FF/m, socks

Day 8 - Gentle, FF/m, worldbuilding, sweaty socks, legplay, bra/boobs discussion, ass, humiliating, findom, mouthplay

Night - Dream, boobs, breast enlargement, transformation

Day 9: The Surprise - Unaware

Upcoming chapters:

Day 9: Teenage Terrorist - Feet, sandals, worldbuilding (Available on Patreon)

Day 9: A Mother's Purpose - Feet, sandals, FF/m (Available on Patreon)

Day 9: Family Reunion - FFF/m, gentle, feet, teasing, boobs (Coming Soon!)

I hope for this story to have a little bit of something for everyone by the time I’m done with all 3 versions, whenever that is. Hope you enjoy!

Story Note: I'm in college now, but because of when I started writing this story (before I even posted here), there are characters between 13 to 18, so if you'd rather read a version where they're all 18 and up, there's an adaption on my DeviantArt where everyone's a senior in high school.

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Thursday, October 15

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     Marcus Tilden drove home silently on Thursday morning. For the first time in his life, he had lost his job.

     The local news agency where he had previously worked as a camera operator had let him go. But it wasn’t because of a workplace dispute, or another round of layoffs; it was because over the last several weeks, Marcus had shrunk to a height of only 2’7. 

     The size change had occurred because of Hypocorpoplasia, also known colloquially as DSD (short for Diminutive Size Disorder). The disorder had three main differences to Achondroplasia, the genetic disorder that was responsible for most cases of dwarfism. Firstly, dwarfism usually resulted in people having shorter arms and legs, but maintaining an average sized head or torso, whereas DSD caused a size diminishment across the whole body. Because of this, people with the disorder might look smaller than a dwarf of the same height, because their body had less mass. Secondly, DSD was almost never present at birth, and didn’t typically appear in individuals until adulthood. Some people would go their whole lives knowing they had it, but wouldn’t experience any change in size during their lifetime. But lastly, and to some the most important and noticeable difference, DSD would result in a lot more broad results in regards to its effects on those who developed it. Some people would shrink by less than an inch, and hardly even care since it wouldn’t affect any part of their day to day lives. But some would reduce to only several inches tall, far smaller and more dangerous than the world’s shortest person with dwarfism.

     Marcus was glad that the shrinkage had seemed to stop several days ago, but at a height that was less than half that of other men his age, it was hard for him to truly feel grateful. After he started noticing the change in size during the first couple days, Marcus had told his employer he had to go on sick leave for a few days. After he shrunk past the 5 foot mark, he wondered just how small he would be able to get while keeping his job. Obviously someone a few inches tall couldn’t operate a studio camera, but someone who was 5 feet tall still could. But the diminishment didn’t stop at 5 feet, and as he continued to shrink, he began to suspect that he might be in trouble. He couldn’t remember exactly how tall the handles were for operating the rig, but he knew they were around his waist height beforehand. But even though he could likely still reach them at his new height and maybe even manage to roll the cameras around, he would still be far too short to see through the eyepiece at the top. For a little while, he thought his boss might let him transition to field work instead, operating a camera that he held on his shoulder as he filmed reporters and and their stories around the city. But even if he was strong enough to hold one of the cameras (which, after losing half his size, would be far heavier than normal), he wouldn’t be eye level with people when he filmed them. He'd have to carry around a ladder everywhere -- while still carrying the heavy camera gear -- just to match someone’s height. It was completely unrealistic to legitimately pursue.

     So it came as no surprise to him really when he got canned. He had returned to work yesterday, after the shrinking had stopped, to admit to his employer the real reason he had taken a sick leave. He liked his bosses well enough, and he believed their compassion was genuine. But when they told him to take the rest of the day off, he knew they were probably just discussing with their legal department whether or not they would get sued for discrimination if the let him go. And since he clearly wasn’t able to perform his old duties, even with significant and unreasonably complicated assistance, it was pretty unanimous that they wouldn’t be in the wrong. Legally or morally. 

     So that was it. After years of building up a career and working in an environment that he enjoyed, it was over. He wouldn’t even be able to get another job in his field, whether it was with another news agency, or any media companies that needed camera operators. It was a job that simply didn’t work for people of his size, so he’d have to file for unemployment. He had already applied for disabilities from the state, but it wouldn’t be enough on its own if he wanted to keep paying the mortgage on the house and maintain a relatively comfortable lifestyle for him and his daughter.

     Shit. His daughter, Jessie. At 13, she was his only child, and he was her only parent. Her mother had skipped out on Marcus days after their daughter was born, leaving him to raise her solo since nearly day 1. Her mother’s absence wasn’t something that he dwelled on very often; being a single parent was a hard job, but it was the only way he’d ever known how to be a parent. And being a parent would’ve been a hard job already even if he had had a helping hand, so he didn’t really feel like he was able to know how much harder he had it compared to most couples he knew with children.

     If Marcus was being honest, he actually thought that Jessie was handling the situation pretty well. She had little to no problem accommodating most of his needs, which for the most part just boiled down to helping him reach or hold things. Marcus had set up lots of ladders and stools throughout the house, so he was still able to cook on his own, take showers, fold laundry. Whatever typical everyday chores and parts of life that needed to be done. Taking out the trash was pretty much impossible, but that was a quick, once-a-week thing that Jessie was doing most of the time before he shrunk anyways. He had worried that her attitude might change for the worse, and that she’d stop respecting him as a father now that he was half her size. Marcus was aware that most teenagers had rebellious streaks or phases, and while she seemed to have maintained a normal, bubbly personality for as long as he’d raised her, he wondered what life would be like trying to parent a child that was twice his size. Would he even be able to punish her? He hoped that it was just paranoia that clouded his mind, but his imagination still ran wild as he realized that she could easily overpower him if she really wanted to. If he tried to take away her phone, there was nowhere he could put it that she wouldn’t be able to just take it right back. If he tried to ground her, she could just leave the house anyways and he’d be physically incapable of stopping her. Jessie was a good daughter, a great one, and she seemed far from being the kind of person to behave the way he feared. But it was something he kept in the back of his mind. He was still in charge of the finances for the household, and she was still a few years from being able to drive a car. So there were still a few things that gave him leverage. Hopefully, it was leverage he’d never need.

     As Marcus arrived home in his car that he had just had modified with pedal and seat extensions, he wasted no time in heading to his liquor cabinet and pouring himself a glass of whiskey. A definite upside to shrinking was that his portion sizes were a lot smaller, meaning his grocery bills for the last few weeks indicated he'd be saving at least a thousand dollars a year. Although the downside was that it took a lot less alcohol to get him drunk now. His years of drinking beers solely to party with his friends and get plastered had ended over a decade ago. After Jessie had been born, drinking turned into a leisurely activity, a rare time to unwind with friends instead of go crazy with them. But now he would get pretty tipsy just from a single bottle. As he swirled his drink around and headed to his recliner that felt like a throne when he sat in it, he reckoned he’d be pretty wasted within the hour. And for the first time in awhile, being drunk was just what he wanted.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     “Daddy?”

     Marcus jolted awake, his empty glass getting knocked to the carpeted floor. His daughter was standing over him, a mixture of confusion and concern on her face. At 5’5, his daughter was a couple inches taller than the average girl in her class, but far from being a standout height. Although to Marcus, that obviously didn’t make a difference. Everyone was a standout. And he already felt tired of having to look up at everyone he talked to. What I wouldn’t give to just look someone in the eyes, face to face, at a normal height, he thought miserably. One last time. Jessie’s hair was a straight, golden brown, and she was wearing an off shoulder blouse with ripped blue jeans and checkered red Vans. He blushed a little, embarrassed at having been caught. But if she was home, then several hours must have passed since he fell asleep. “Did you pass out? Are you… drunk?” She said that last word like she was scared of it. 

     He laughed nervously. I’m not drunk now, but I definitely was this morning. “No, no, I only had one drink.” He hoped she wouldn’t make the realization that the smaller someone’s body size, the less alcohol tolerance they had. And when you’re barely two and a half feet tall, it’s not very much. That one drink sure went a ways...

     “In the middle of the day? Why?” Fuck, why are children always so curious?

     “Well, yeah, but I…” He trailed off, biting his lip as he worried about how to break the news. She waited patiently, still looking confused and with bated breath, as he wallowed in her shadow. “I got laid off today.”

     Jessie gasped, then bent forward, practically falling onto her dad as she tried to give him a reassuring hug. But he was so small compared to his recliner, it almost felt to her more like she was hugging a chair. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry Daddy. Were you fired?”

     He rubbed his temples, “No, people get fired if they did something wrong, being laid off just means they don’t have work for you anymore. I’ll get a few weeks pay at least, and I can get on unemployment, but…” He breathed in slowly and sighed, getting up from the chair to put his glass in the sink, having to hold the cup with both hands. “I can’t just get another job at some other news company. I’m too small. I’ll need to find a new career, and finding a new job is hard enough, I don’t even wanna know how hard it’ll be when I’m like… this.” He motioned his hands along his body after having put the glass in the sink, bringing attention to his size. Jessie assumed a sorrowful look on her face, unhappy to see her dad distraught.

     “Ohhh, Daddy,” she whispered, bringing him in for a hug, almost tearing up at seeing her dad so miserable and depressed. In just a few weeks, he had gone from the chipper, loving father she loved more than anything in the world, to a despondent wreck that was too discouraged to even get out of bed some days. Even with the help of standing on a mini-ladder, Marcus only came up to her chest, but she still wrapped his head up against her beating heart. She didn’t know how to soothe her father and her father didn’t know either, but Jessie still wanted to make sure her dad knew that he was loved, and that she’d be here for him to help him through. After a tender moment together, Jessie released him from her bind, and he withdrew his head from her chest. “Let’s do something together,” she said, smiling simply as she held his hands.

     Marcus couldn’t help but return the smile, truly thankful for a loving daughter like Jessie who was trying her best to help and cheer him up. “I appreciate the gesture, honey, but I don’t feel much like going anywhere today.” He glanced longingly at the bottle of whiskey that was still on the living room table. 

     “OK, then we’ll stay in,” she replied cheerily, not losing a beat. “How about watching some movies together?”

     Marcus wrinkled his face at the idea. Didn’t she just come home? “At what,” he said, turning to look at the clock on the oven, “5:15?”

     Jessie shrugged, “I’m just trying to get your mind off of things. We can have a marathon. What’s your favorite movie?”

     “Jurassic Park,” he answered, fondly remembering his dad taking him to see it when he was a kid.

     “Great! That’s a series, how many are there?”

     “Well, five I guess, but I mostly only liked the first two.” He paused, remembering what day it was. “And it’s a school night, I don’t want you staying up. And don’t you have homework?” 

     Jessie sighed, she felt like even when she was trying to help her dad, he would fight back without even realizing it. “Yeah, just math. I can do it while we watch. And if we’re only watching three movies, I’ll still be in bed by 9.”

     “I don’t know, the movies are kinda long…”

     Jessie rolled her eyes, beginning to grow impatient but trying to keep her cool. All this back-and-forth was at least distracting her dad from his troubles. She’d rather see him be uptight and a bit annoying than moping around though. “Three movies aren’t gonna last til midnight Daddy. I can handle going to bed at 10 or something for one night.” She stepped forward, dawning a caring face, making sure not to pet his head or fondle it, something he was very vocal about disliking as he was shrinking. “I know losing your job sucks.” How could she know, she’s never even been old enough to have a job, he thought stubbornly. “But there are plenty of people with DSD who have normal jobs. You’ll find something else. And having DSD sucks, but you’ll always have me, Daddy. You’ll get used to it. Maybe we can get you to see a therapist. But for today, let’s just have a relaxing father-daughter movie night. Normally when I have a bad day, I just go to sleep and honestly, a lot of the time my mood’s better in the morning.” 

     They looked at each other for a few seconds, as Marcus thought about what she had said, lowering his gaze to his own eye-level, looking around the house in thought. She’s right. I’ll feel better in time. And I need to be better for her. If I’m a mess, she’ll eventually be a mess, and she doesn’t deserve that. “OK,” he conceded, “you’re right.” He looked back up at her and did his best to smile again. “There’s a frozen pizza in the freezer, we can have that for dinner later.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement, and just seeing her light up was already improving his mood. “I’ll see if I can rent it,” he said, heading to the couch in the living room. “Go get your book bag and get your homework,” he told her, and she smiled and spun around to fetch her backpack before settling in for a night with her dad.

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Friday, October 16

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     Marcus slept in the next day, and didn’t wake up until after Jessie had left for school. I should appreciate the feeling of sleeping in on a weekday, he thought, but it’s too hard. I know I should be working right now. Instead I’m just gonna sit around all day and do nothing. He rubbed his temple as he got out of bed. The stress alone is gonna give me a headache. He wanted to immediately just head back down to his liquor cabinet and start the day by taking a load off. But he knew he couldn’t repeat what he did yesterday. Even if he still felt discouraged and borderline hopeless in his situation, Jessie was right last night that he at least felt less depressed than yesterday. If I don’t want to immediately get drunk as a way to solve my problem, then that’s a step in the right direction.

     He saw that he had a text from Jessie in his notifications, sent right around the time she normally left for her bus. “i know looking for a job is stressful, but at least u get to wake up whenever u want! maybe doing simple and easy stuff around the house would be better than looking for a job today. idk. just my thoughts. but that way u can still be active and get something accomplished which would be good for ur motivation 😊 either way, love u, hope u have a good day!” Marcus breathed in and out slowly, and couldn’t help but smile. Even if he didn’t feel like he’d be able to get through the next few weeks, or months, or however long it took for him to find another career at his new size, he was glad that he at least had Jessie by his side. I’ll love her more than she’ll ever know.

     He realized that she was right though. Smart for her age. Distracting myself for the next couple days would probably be good for me. I have some time. Especially with the disability payments. Yeah. I’ll be fine. After getting up and getting dressed, Marcus headed to the kitchen to make breakfast while watching the morning news. He thought about cleaning it as he was getting some eggs from the fridge, but at his reduced size, the counters came up to his eyes, so wiping them was one of the things around the house that took a bit more work. Why do I have to wipe them down? I don’t want to have the climb up on the counters and get down on my hands and knees just to scrub them. It was the only way he was able to safely reach the back of the counters near the wall, since his reach with his stools and ladders weren’t adequate enough. But he stopped his train of thought before dwelling on the negativity any further though. Me and Jessie didn’t clean it last night, so it needs to get done. Even if it’s a little bit harder, she's got practice til 5, so I have 7, maybe 8 hours until she gets home. Plenty of time to give the kitchen a good clean beyond just putting away food. Actually scrubbing the counters, sweeping the floor, organizing things around. Marcus had never been married, but he imagined that coming home to a clean, tidy kitchen was the kind of thing that the cook of the household would appreciate. And Marcus still cooked a lot, but Jessie had definitely taken up some of the slack ever since he started shrinking - it was just easier for her. Obviously Jessie was his daughter, not his wife, but maybe she’d still notice. It felt good to Marcus for someone to notice something he’d done without mentioning it, just like everyone feels. That’ll be my job for the day, he thought proudly. One step at a time.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     “Aw, it looks so good in here,” beamed Jessie as she shrugged off her backpack and gym bag on the kitchen table. Marcus grinned at her reaction. Exactly what she was hoping for. “I guess you got my message this morning, you never texted you love me back.” 

     Her dad chuckled nervously, giving her a side hug around her thigh. “Sorry, I’m not great at that kinda thing. I’m glad you noticed. You were right, it felt good to have a task to day for the day.”

     “Looks like we should think of something for you to do every day,” Jessie responded, heading to the pantry to pick out a snack to eat.

     “I don’t know if there’s really enough stuff to keep me occupied though. Like this,” he said, his arms out as he motioned around the kitchen, “took me almost an hour. But if I did something like vacuuming tomorrow, I’d be done in less than 15 minutes. I might need to get creative.”

     “That’s OK, I can help you be creative,” Jessie reassured him. “Tomorrow’s a Saturday anyways, so I’ll be home all day. Maybe you can help me with something instead and save the vacuuming for Monday. Like you could help me with homework, I never feel good about the essays I have to write for English.”

     “What about Sunday though?”

     Jessie sighed, but kept her smiling demeanor. “We’ll worry about Sunday when it’s Sunday, OK? We don’t even need to worry about tomorrow yet, it’s still today. And today, you did this,” she said, looking around the kitchen. Her phone buzzed, and she saw that her friend had texted her. “Anyways, I’m gonna go to my room, let me know if you need anything,” she said cheerily, then headed off to talk with her friend. Marcus stood there, and looked around the kitchen one last time. He still could hardly see the tops of the counters, but it looked good from where he was. He had been productive for the day, that was good. Now he just wondered what kind of work Jessie would suggest he do tomorrow.

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Saturday, October 17

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     It didn’t quite make sense to Marcus initially, but having Jessie home with him on Saturday put his mind at ease. Friday, the first full day after his layoff, had been an improvement over the day before, although he still retained a strong sense of hopelessness and depression as he went about his day. And while those feelings continued into his third day without a job, they were alleviated by the fact that his daughter was around to keep him company.

     “I just wanted to let you know I really appreciate all that you’ve done for me,” he told her that morning, sitting across from her at the table while they ate breakfast. 

     She smiled down at him as she scooped some cereal into her mouth, “Well thanks, Daddy, but—” She cut herself off as milk spilled out of the corners of her mouth, and she giggled.

     “But what?”

     “But I haven’t really done that much for you,” she replied after swallowing. “Like you said like, ‘all that I’ve done for you,’ but you only got fired a couple days ago and I don’t really feel like I’ve done anything out of the ordinary.”

     Marcus sighed as she mistook how he lost his job again, “I wasn’t fired, Jess, I was laid off.” It was important to him that she made the distinction. “And you haven’t really done anything out of the ordinary the last few days, that’s true. But ordinary over the last week means something totally different than what ordinary would’ve meant several months ago.” He smiled at her, “I wasn’t sure how my shrinking was going to affect you, but you’re just the same girl that you were from before.” 

     Jessie blushed and looked down at her cereal, trying to hide her smile as she spun her spoon around the bowl. Her dad’s size change wasn’t something she really thought about that much. In the days after first learning about him, her mind and imagination went wild. She wasn’t sure if he would shrink down to an inch tall, or if he’d have to live in some kind of medical facility and lose custody of her, or even if he could die somehow. But none of that happened. So far, nothing had really changed. And she was surprised by how quickly she forgot about his situation in the first place and had simply become accustomed to having him only be as tall as her waist. As if her dad had always been two and a half feet tall.

     I probably should be looking for a job right now, Marcus thought as he climbed the stool to put his bowl in the sink. But I think I’d rather just relax for the day. I don’t need to rush into the job search immediately, I have enough in savings to last a few months. Spending the day with Jessie sounded like a fun idea, but he didn’t know what to do. He and his daughter spent time together fairly regularly, especially since they were the only family they each had (in their household anyways; obviously there was extended family, and Marcus’ mother was present enough in his life). But now that he had to deliberately think of something, he came up short. I used to love going to Disneyland with her, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to have fun there again. I’m not even tall enough for some of the kiddie rides. “How about we watch a movie again?” he thought out loud all of a sudden.

     “Clueless!” she exclaimed, smile wide.

     “What?”

     “Maybe that’s not the right name.” Her smile faltered a bit, seeing that her dad didn’t understand. “Megan said it was a Netflix movie about a popular girl in high school during the 90s. She didn’t say who the girl was, but apparently Paul Rudd is her brother. She said it’s really good.”

     Marcus laughed, knowing just what she was talking about after giving more detail than just a single word suddenly blurted out. “I think I know what movie you’re talking about, it came out when I was a freshman in high school. My first girlfriend took me to see it in theaters,” he said, fondly remembering his 14 year old self.

     Jessie got excited, “Did you like it?”

     “Well, I think it had been out for a few weeks when we went to see it, because the theater was totally empty. And I, uh…” he trailed off, unsure how to broach the subject with his daughter. “I don’t really remember much.” He scratched his neck and avoided her eyes, hoping she wouldn’t spot his lie.

     “Ewwww!” Jessie twisted her face in a mixture of laughter and disgust. She knew exactly what he was trying to hide. “You lost your virginity in a movie theater?” She tried to stifle her laugh, but couldn’t help but giggle at the situation. A movie theater? It seemed kind of lame to her.

     “Jessie!” he shouted, cheeks searing red at his daughter having asked such an intimate question. “Don’t… We didn’t… we just made out, it wasn’t anything like that!” Although Rebecca definitely kissed me in a few places that weren’t my mouth… “And don’t talk about stuff like that with me.”

     Jessie rolled her eyes at her dad’s antiquated behavior. “Jeez, we already had ‘the talk’ a couple years ago, it’s not a big deal.”

     “No, I…” he paused and sighed, trying to think of how to say what he wanted to say. It was times like these that he really wished he had a mother for Jessie to help ease the hurdles of parenthood. “What I mean is that I don’t want you asking about my sex life. Just like I’d imagine you wouldn’t want me prying you for yours, right?” Jessie looked away, her dad was right. “You can always ask me anything you want to, I’d rather you ask me than just assume something. But that’s different than openly talking about it for no reason. Do you see what I’m saying?”

     Jessie bit her lip, “OK yeah, I guess, can we change the subject now?” She hated this feeling. It was like she was in trouble even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.

     Marcus smiled softly, hopeful that she was being honest. And he really did hope she could trust him to come to him about anything. Hopefully this interaction won’t change that. But was I wrong? Was I being hypocritical, or is there a difference like I thought there was? Never mind, she wanted to move on. “Yes. Anyways, Clueless. Megan’s right, it’s a pretty good movie. I haven’t seen it since back then but I know it’s a bit of a cult classic.” He wasn’t thrilled about watching something that he deemed was just a chick flick, but if it made Jessie excited, then he’d do it for her.

     Jessie perked up hearing her dad’s review of the film. “OK, well did you wanna watch the movie tonight then?”

     “Who says we have to watch movies at night?”

     Jessie paused for a moment. “But it’s like, 10am.”

     “So?” Jessie didn’t know what to say again, then erupted into a fit of giggles; the idea seemed so absurd to her, and yet he was right. Her laughter was contagious and Marcus started chuckling too as he looked up at her, “What?”

     “I guess we can have movie night in the morning then!” she replied, a few giggles bubbling up from her. She grabbed her dad’s hand, pulling him along into the living room. He had to jog lightly to match her pace, struggling to keep up with his daughter, before she pulled him onto the couch and grabbed the remote. He collapsed against her, embarrassed about having been so easily handled by someone more than twice his size. But as he rested his head against Jessie’s torso and reflected on his smaller stature and being so effortlessly jerked around, he at least felt better knowing it was his daughter doing all the jerking.

*    *    *    *    *    *

The rest of the day went by mostly uneventfully for the two of them, with Jessie spending a lot of time in her room on her phone, and Marcus lounging around in the main area of the house. He got the idea to start reading books again, starting with The Woman in the Window. A couple of his old coworkers had recommended it back when the movie came out and said the book was a lot better, but he never got around to actually starting it. But with all his new free time, he figured a book might be a perfect way to fill in the gaps - and luckily, it was. The time practically flew by, and before he knew it, his daughter was shaking him on the shoulder and peering down at him from above his spot on the couch.

     “Hey, what are we doing for dinner?” she asked. “It’s almost 6.”

     Marcus glanced at his watch: 5:47. Shit, the time really does slip away when you’re reading. And he was more than halfway through the book; he’d have to find something new to read (or something new to do) in the coming days. He sighed and gazed out the window, thinking of what they should cook, and the darkening skyline gave him an idea. “You know, I’m not really in the mood to cook something tonight, and I’m sure you aren’t either.”

     “I’m never in the mood to cook,” she smirked. Her eyes began to widen as she realized what her dad was suggesting.

     “Let’s pick up some takeout,” he suggested, and Jessie’s eyes shrunk a little. She thought he was going to suggest they go out to eat, like a sit-down restaurant. Takeout wasn’t bad, it was easier than cooking, but she liked eating the food as soon as it was ready, not boxing it up and waiting to get back home to eat it.

     “I thought you were gonna suggest we go eat somewhere,” she said. “Like sitting down and getting served.”

     Marcus chuckled, “It’s the same food, Jessie, it’s just given to you differently.”

     “Well I really wanted to go to Culver’s, and then we could eat outside,” she reasoned. “It’s really nice out tonight.” Jessie’s dad hesitated, not wanting to give in. He liked Culver’s too, but he didn’t like the idea of eating in public. He was still self conscious about his size, and going to a popular restaurant at dinnertime wouldn’t help. “Come on, Daddy.” She turned to the window he had been gazing out of, and perked up. “If we leave now, we can sit down in time to watch the sunset!” He still felt like holding out, but he couldn’t deny that an evening watching the sunset with his daughter sounded like a nice way to end the day. Besides, he still had years of life left, decades. Getting used to being out in public was just something he was going to have to get used to, it was just a way of life for him now. 

     He cracked a smile and looked back up at her, and she smiled as she could tell before he even said anything that she had won him over. “Alright, you convinced me. Culver’s it is.”

     “Yes!” she shouted triumphantly, and ran to her room to get her purse while Marcus got his keys. Was it just a coincidence, or was convincing her dad a lot easier than it used to be?

===================

Sunday, October 18

===================

     Marcus’ first few days of unemployment were going better than he initially thought they would. The presence of his daughter had really been helping his emotional well being; he almost felt like he was on a vacation, getting to spend so much time with her. And he was lucky that due to his disabled status, the checks he’d continue getting from the government would help stave off his need for a job by a little extra time, meaning more time that he could spend with Jessie. But he also knew he couldn’t keep putting things off forever. Eventually, he’d need to get a new job, one way or the other.

     He didn’t even have a copy of his resume, since it had been so many years since he’d needed one. His job at the television station had lasted years, a position he got before the modern job application ecosystem became a mostly-online process. He planned to worry about his resume and his formal recommendations on another day though; for Sunday, he just planned on taking a few hours to research possible jobs at his new size, and look for openings that he could begin tailoring applications for over the next week.

     The first thing he did was simply google ‘good jobs for little people.’ He was surprised to find a few articles written on the subject, considering how rare people with either DSD or dwarfism were. But a quick scroll through them revealed they weren’t anything substantial. Oh, short people are a great size to be an F1 driver, he thought miserably. If only I were just short and not actually small. And maybe if F1 drivers weren’t a fucking top-tier professional sport. The list didn’t seem to actually have any suggestions for careers that little people could seek out, and seemed to focus more on speculating the possible advantages that someone who was shorter than average could have. But Marcus wasn’t just under-average height, he was literally half the average height. He was three feet smaller than most people’s heights, and that kind of difference crossed out a lot off the list. I wouldn’t be able to do anything where I serve other people, like retail or food service. The customers would barely even be able to see me over the counter, and I wouldn’t expect a workplace to install a hundred little ladders all over just to accommodate me. But working with customers isn’t necessarily a dead end, since I could easily work in customer service. I’d just have to answer phones. I don’t wanna answer phones for angry people for the rest of my life though. Maybe I should leave that as a last resort.

     He returned to his search results and continued looking for ideas. Here’s one for a daycare. Working with kids? I guess that one makes sense. As much as it pained Marcus to admit, he was a lot closer in size to most toddlers than he was to adults. I wonder if they’d like me more because I looked more like them. But what if they were to pick on me and I wasn’t able to stop them? I might just end up being more of a toy for them than an actual daycare worker. Wait, how young does daycare go, would I have to change their diapers if they had an accident? Their shit stains would be twice as big at my size. He shuddered at the thought. OK, so only if they’re more than a few years old, but not so old that they could throw me around. And that would probably require going back to school too for some kind of degree in early education. He sighed, and decided to move on. A daycare would be better than customer service, but still had some significant downsides. Moving on…

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus’ elbow was propping his head up, nearly slumped over, when Jessie came into the kitchen and spotted her dad. He perked up a little at the sight of her and tried to sit up straight, while she came around the table to look over his shoulder at what he was doing. “Applying for jobs? Already?”

     “Well I’m not really applying yet, just looking for what’s out there. Trying to get an idea for some of the kinds of jobs I’d still be good at at my new size.” She nodded understandingly, and went to grab a cup of water. “But yeah, I’ll be applying to things pretty soon. Looking for a new job can take people months sometimes, and it’s definitely gonna be harder now that I’m barely two and a half feet tall.” He sighed as he said the last few words. He’d have to get used to it eventually, but it tired him out just as much then as it did when he first got the news. “Not to mention all the companies that wouldn’t want to hire me.”

     “Isn’t that illegal though? Wouldn’t that be discrimination?” Oh Jess, he thought with a chuckle, you’ve still got a lot to learn about the world.

     “Yeah, it’s technically illegal. But it still happens all the time. Discrimination is what people think about you, and it’s hard to prove in a court of law what was going on in someone’s head. Unless there’s a clear pattern of evidence, or if the person hiring you explicitly told a coworker why you were being rejected. And most people are smart enough not to do that.” He leaned back in his chair, and crossed his arms. Saying it out loud, it was really starting to get to him. He knew it’d be an uphill battle, but there just wasn’t anything he’d be able to do to make it easier on himself.

     “Oh.” Jessie saw her dad’s change in demeanor and felt bad about asking. Meanwhile, Marcus saw his daughter look guilty after broaching the subject, and figured they switch topics.

     “Hey, remember when I used to braid your hair when you were little?” he asked, sitting up again with renewed spirit.

     “Yeah,” she said cautiously, a smile creeping onto her lips, giving Marcus more encouragement.

     “Well I can braid it again, if you’d like. I don’t know if you still—“

     “Sure!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands together in excitement. “Of course I still like getting my hair braided. I could even wear it to school tomorrow."

     “Here, let’s do it on the couch so I have somewhere easy to sit.” He hopped off the kitchen chair and walked over to the living room, while Jessie followed closely behind, making sure not to walk too fast and bump into him. He climbed onto the couch and took a seat on the armrest, while Jessie took a seat next to him before turning so her back was to him, and she was sitting criss cross on the cushions. She shook her hair excitedly, rotating her head in a circle before tilting it towards Marcus so the hair could gather at her back for him. He sized it up and down: golden brown, and a little wavy, but not really curly yet, it came down a little past her armpits. Probably a little more than half as long as I am, he figured. He couldn’t help it, nearly everything he looked at down was a comparison to his own height and size. But at least I’m not too small to braid it, he thought confidently. He weaved his little fingers through Jessie’s long, silk-like hair, and began overlapping bunches of strands, one over the other, doing his best to interlace her gorgeous locks and raise both of their spirits with the nostalgic activity from her childhood.

===================

Monday, October 19

===================

     Years of working a Monday-Friday job had led to Marcus going to bed around the same time as his daughter on Sunday nights. Back when he had a job for the news station, he would usually have to go to bed earlier than most adults for their jobs, because of how early his work started. Working for the 5am morning news would mean he had to wake up at 4am, so he had gotten used to being an early bird. Several weeks of “sick leave” had messed with his sleep schedule a bit, in addition to some bouts of sleeplessness from the first few days after his layoff. But luckily, he was starting to feel a bit better every day, and on Sunday night he had, out of habit, gone to bed at 9:00. So on Monday morning, after sleeping for a while longer than his body was used to on week-nights, he woke up, feeling fully rested. Swinging his legs over the side of his bed and stretching, he picked up his phone to check the time: 5:23. Marcus scoffed, surprised at how early it still was. Even after sleeping as long as I could, I’m still up early. Jess probably isn’t even up. Her school started at 8:00, and he doubted she needed three hours to get ready in the mornings, even accounting for the bus ride to school.

     So Marcus figured his best course of action would be to make her breakfast for when she woke up. She probably just eats cereal for breakfast, he thought, trotting out of his room and heading into the kitchen. But I can do her one better and cook up an omelette. Or maybe she already eats eggs every day and some other breakfast would be a better surprise. Jeez, should I feel bad that I don’t know what my daughter tends to eat for breakfast on school days? He also wasn’t entirely sure how to even make an omelette. It’s kinda like two fried eggs on top of each other, but the whites and yolk are mixed together, and it’s kinda glued together on the sides like a calzone… Shit, maybe I’m in over my head. He hoped he could get away with using the small pan too. He wouldn’t be strong enough to use the big pan and quickly jolt it upwards to flip over the food in case any kind of that action was required. But he carefully set down his small laptop next to the stovetop and looked online to find a recipe that would teach him how to make one. 

     First he got some ham slices out of the fridge; despite Jessie being the only one in the house who ate them, usually putting them in her sandwiches for lunch, he was glad to find that they were on a relatively low shelf that he was able to reach. After chopping them up, he next got some cheese, spinach, butters, and a carton of eggs, placing them one by one on the counter near his laptop. I’ll eat the first one, he figured, as a test run. And also cuz she probably won’t wake up for a little while longer. Carefully following the instructions on the website, he whisked together salt and pepper with the eggs, poured it into the pan, added his ham, cheese, and spinach mix, and then folded it over, albeit a bit clumsily. But it was an omelette! He stood on his stool, beaming at his culinary creation, as he slid it off onto a plate. It doesn’t look super pretty, but it probably tastes great. The proud man took his breakfast to the table after grabbing a kiddie fork and knife. He sat down and took a bite, “Yep, tastes like omelette,” he murmured to himself. Hopefully Jess will like it. The spinach might’ve been a big risk. 

     Just as he was about to take a second bite, he heard some rustling, and then the creak of a bed, come from Jessie’s room across the house. The improvement to his senses was one of the few things that he was thankful for after having shrunk, and he rushed off his chair, preparing to make the second omelette for his daughter. As he mixed together the egg whites and yolk together again with his simple seasoning, he heard her door open, and a gradual flood of light from her room fill the hallway. He couldn’t see her, but the closing of another door told Marcus that she had probably gone to the bathroom. I wonder if she knows I’m up. Did I leave my door open? Or can she hear me right now? As he poured the eggs onto the pan, he realized he was feeling excited about the whole situation. Cooking breakfast for her wasn’t a big deal, but it would still be a kind surprise. And it’s the little things that can go a long way sometimes for people.

     Rubbing her eyes as she noticed the kitchen lights were already on, Jessie slowly trudged down the hallway, and turned the corner to see her dad turned to her, smiling proudly as he held a hand on the handle of a frying pan. “Breakfast’s on me today,” he said, and her mouth fell open, before the corners of her lips curled upwards into a smile. She was still a bit too tired to react with the amount of enthusiasm someone would normally expect out of her, but she was still clearly happy.

     “Reeeeally?” she said quietly, approaching her dad to see what he was cooking. She wrapped one of her arms around his body and embraced him. He returned the affection, doing his best to wrap his small arms around his torso, his head resting against her chest. Marcus and Jessie didn’t hug as much as they used to anymore due to their size difference, and when they did, it meant either Marcus hugging her thighs, or Jessie having to squat down. But anytime he had a slight height advantage like he did now with the stool, it meant being able to show his daughter the affection and love he used to take for granted. “Why are you up so early?” she asked, looking down at him as he withdrew from her and returned to his pan.

     “I don’t need as much sleep as you do,” he explained, adding the inner ingredients on top of the solidifying egg. “So I woke up at 4am, out of habit from work, and then went back to sleep. And by the time I couldn’t sleep anymore, it was still only around 5:30. So I figured I’d make you some omelettes since I had nothing else to do, and I needed breakfast too anyways.” Spatula in hand, he turned and pointed to his own finished one on the table. “Which I’ll probably need help finishing by the way.”

     Jessie pursed her lips in the kind of smile that comes from feeling a tinge of guilt, and went to sit down at the table. She turned to face her dad as he finished up with her food. “Thank you,” she murmured quietly, genuinely surprised at the gesture and grateful to have such a loving dad.

     He finished up her omelette and slid it onto another plate, then taking it over the table and presenting it to her. She gladly took it, and he returned to his own spot at the table, across from her. They ate together in silence, enjoying the food and each others’ company.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     The front door opened, alerting Marcus to the fact that Jessie was home from school. He had been lying on the couch, but he quickly sat up upon hearing her arrive, switching screens on his laptop to make it look like he was being productive. He sighed and scolded himself internally, It’s just like when I was a kid and my mom came home from the store and I rushed to start working on her chores. Except in this situation he was the parent. Jess probably wouldn’t have even cared if she came home to see me on Twitter. She’s been nothing but supportive of me this past week. Hell, she’s the one who’s been telling me to relax more than I’ve wanted to. “Hey Daddy,” Jessie said cheerily as she came into the living room. Marcus smiled back at her, about to greet her, but was startled as he saw another girl enter behind his daughter. She was a slightly chubby, short hispanic girl from Jessie’s class that had been friends with Marcus’ daughter since last school year. Jessie herself wasn’t even very tall, but this new girl was only about as tall as his daughter’s chin, likely several inches under 5 feet by his guess. She had a timid expression on her face as she entered the room, but her eyes grew wide as she saw Marcus on the couch. 

     “Oh, I didn’t know you were bringing someone over,” he said nervously, fidgeting in his seat and blushing as he saw the young girl’s reaction to his shrunken size. "Is she one of your teammates?" She had never seen someone with his condition in person before, or at least not as small as he was. Normally Marcus would’ve greeted his daughter’s friends, but he felt safer on the couch. He already felt short, of course, but people always look shorter sitting down.

     “Hi, I’m Camila,” the girl quietly said, still looking Marcus’ body up and down. She didn’t look excited, or mischievous, but curious more than anything. The only people shorter than her were usually children, and while Jessie had mentioned to Camila that her dad had DSD, Camila was still shocked to see him.

     “She doesn't play volleyball, we just have some homework we’re gonna work on together for a class project,” Jessie explained. “We can stay in my room and be out of your way, she has to be home in a few hours anyways.”

     Marcus was still surprised to see the newcomer. Now that he thought about it, she was the first stranger who had been in their house since Marcus had started shrinking. “Oh, OK. Yeah, that’s fine,” he mumbled, doing his best to not sound too startled. “Can you uh, text me when you have people coming over though? It’s just good to know.” I could’ve hidden in my room if I had known someone else would be here. Or maybe covered myself with a blanket and pretended to be asleep. 

     “I did,” Jessie replied, not missing a beat. “It’s from our last period class though, so I guess you didn’t get it yet. But Camila’s parents are both still at work right now so I figured it would be better if we came here, in case we needed help with something. What can I help her out with at my size? he thought, a bit cynical about the whole situation. Oh, she probably just means questions.

     “Alright, I guess that’s fine,” he said, sighing as he got more comfortable in his seat. 

     “OK, thanks Daddy,” Jessie said, turning to head towards her room. 

     Camila smiled again. “Bye Mr. Tilden,” she said, politely waving as she followed Jessie. He had never met Camila before, or heard Jessie talk about her, but from the looks of it she was a bit of a shy girl. I suppose if someone has to be the first friend Jessie brings over now that I’m shrunken, it’s better for it to be someone who’s a bit shy instead of some of Jess’ other friend’s. As he closed out his “productive tab” and went back to wasting time on Twitter and checking emails, he reflected on some of Jessie’s other friends that she had brought over throughout the past few years. I certainly wouldn’t mind if Camila became Jess’ new best friend, she seems kind and polite, and keeps her distance. Wonder when I’ll feel comfortable with Jess hosting sleepovers again or having a bunch of people over for parties, I can’t restrict her from having a proper childhood just because of my new size anxiety. 

     Unfortunately for Marcus, those days were a lot closer than he was expecting.

===================

Tuesday, October 20

===================

     Jessie sighed out of exhaustion as she slumped her backpack and gym bag off at the door. It was a little after 8pm, and she had just gotten back from her volleyball game. One of her teammates lived nearby, so Jessie carpooled home with them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when they typically had games (with the exception of the week before, which had been a bye week). Jessie’s team had won, but it didn’t diminish how tired she felt. Twice a week, she had a schedule of waking up early to go to school for 7 hours, then spend time between school getting out and volleyball working on homework, and then another several hours at practice and eventually the matches. All to come home and have less than an hour to herself before she had to go to bed. Luckily, volleyball was the only sport she played, so her hectic schedule only occurred two days a week. But it was still tiresome.

     Sprawled out on the couch, Marcus felt a bit self-conscious as he saw her come home, and sat up in his seat a little. Here he was, having done almost nothing productive all day, while his daughter had spent a little over 12 hours learning, studying, and getting exercise. At least he used to be able to say he provided for the two of them and took care of her. But after shrinking, it wasn’t totally fair to say he did the former anymore, and it was becoming increasingly evident to him how little he was now able to do of the latter. She trudged over to the living room where he was seated, and crumpled to the floor, sitting criss cross with her back hunched over, and looked up at her father. He pursed his lips, seeing how miserable she felt after such a long day, even by an adult’s standards. “Looks like your day was harder than mine,” he admitted, and she couldn’t help but smirk at his remark, falling back onto the floor.

     “Yeahhh…” She extended her arms and legs out as she stared up at the ceiling, and slid them back and forth across the floor like she was making snow angels in the carpet. Marcus smiled at her juvenile behavior, while Jessie lay and felt like she was wasting her precious few minutes that she had before she had to take a shower and get ready to go to bed. She lifted one of her legs up, holding her knee straight and pointing it right towards the sky. She had already stretched after the game, but it still felt good to do again now, to feel her flexible hamstrings at work.

     “I guess you got a good workout in too, huh?” her dad asked. This wasn’t her first year playing sports, but it was her first year playing as a part of her school’s team instead of just a neighborhood club. Still feeling relatively new to the more “official” experience, she wasn’t sure yet which she preferred.

     She bent her calf downwards, nearing her foot to her torso, and reached to slip off one of her blue and black athletic socks that had been confined in her shoe for the entire day. “You tell me,” she smirked, and bundled the thick sock into a big, musty ball, throwing it playfully at her dad. He dodged to the side to avoid being struck in the face, and it bounced off the couch and onto his lap. Even though she wore a fresh pair every day and had only spent a couple hours actually being active in them, he knew better than to let the stale garment hit him in the face. Marcus chuckled at her antics as she lay back down on the ground, slipping off her other sock with her toes after realizing how nice it felt to finally air them out. Her expression fell as she thought about how she felt. “I hope this isn’t what adulthood is like. Just doing a bunch of stuff 24/7 and never getting any free time to yourself.”

     Marcus sat back, not having expected her to get so serious all of a sudden. “I think it depends on what kind of adult you plan to be,” he mused. “If you have a bunch of kids of all ages, then yeah, it’ll eat away at your time I think, and you won’t get many breaks. Or you can have no kids at all, which a lot of people seem to be doing more often these days, and is totally fine, and then you can have tons of free time. It was only a few months ago that I was working full-time, raising you, and I don’t get the help of a second parent.” Jessie’s head turned to the side, feeling the slightest tinge of guilt as she was reminded of what her mom had done shortly after Jessie was born. “But I still felt like I had a lot of time to myself despite all that. And I obviously wouldn’t trade having you for anything in the world.” Jessie smiled and rolled her eyes at her dad’s cliche. “Even having my height back.” She looked at him now, and could see that he meant it. Jessie mattered more to Marcus than anything in the world, way more. Despite the enormous weight that he felt bore down on him now that he was half-sized, it paled in comparison to the thought of losing his only daughter. 

     The two of them let Marcus’ words hang in the air for a few moments, before Jessie broke the silence. “It’ll probably be a lot easier when I don’t need to go to bed so early. Even people who work a 9 to 5 job get to start an hour later than I do, and they don’t need to sleep for fifty hours a night,” she grumbled sarcastically, rolling over onto the floor, and yelling into the carpet. Marcus chuckled, but was instantly reminded of just how empty his day was. He typically didn’t have time to take her to school, so he never had, but now his days were wide open. He was sure that she was aware of this, yet he admired her humility for not even asking for some help from his end, despite how much he still had to offer at his reduced size.

     “What if I were to take you to school in the mornings,” he said, and her face instantly lit up. 

     “You mean, just for tomorrow? Or like, every day?” she asked excitedly, propping herself up on her elbows.

     “Well, at least until I get a new job, yeah. Every day. I obviously have the time to now, and if you didn’t have to take the bus, you could leave, what, half an hour later?”

     Jessie shrugged, “Yeah, something like that. It takes about twenty minutes, but the bus drivers try to get there super early.”

     “Well then, if I start taking you, then you’ll be able to wake up half an hour later, which means going to bed at 9:30 instead of 9. I know you usually don’t have a lot of time on volleyball nights since you need to take a shower but you come home so late, so hopefully that should give you a little more peace of mind and let you relax for a while longer.

     Jessie was bursting with joy, her dad’s new rules sent a surge of energy throughout her tired body, and she leapt into the air. Marcus smiled warmly at her reaction; it always made him feel good to see her so happy, especially if he knew it was because of something he said or did. “Thank you so much, daddy!” she squealed, and hurled towards the couch, her body collapsing on him as she slipped her arms behind his back and squeezed him into a hug. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you,” she repeated, over and over, planting kiss and after kiss on his cheek.

     “OK, OK,” he laughed, trying to push his excited daughter off of him. But she was much too strong in comparison for him to stop her. “I knew you’d be appreciative but didn’t think it would mean this much.” She reminded him of all the times they’d play together when she was younger, and she’d clamber all over him, but now she was more grown up, and he was the tiny one. She felt his small nudges and pushed herself off of him, her body leaning against her arms that were propped against the couch on both sides of his head. He felt slightly intimated with how much of her head seemed to take up his field of view at his size, and it was still a foot or two away from him.

     “It’s the little things, dad. An extra half hour each night is a lot when I normally only get 10 or 15 minutes to myself.” 

     “That’s true,” he said, ducking under her arm and scooching away from her. He obviously wasn’t angry with her for how she showed her affection or gratitude, but sometimes it could be a little much. “Well I’m glad you’re happy then. I’ll be ready tomorrow morning, and we can leave by 7:40 if that sounds good with you.” 

     “Perfect!” she beamed, standing up straight. “I’m gonna go take a shower then, and watch Friends in bed before going to sleep.” She reached down to his lap and grabbed her dirty sock, which he had completely forgotten about. “See you in the morning, good night!”

     “Goodnight sweetie,” he called back, and turned to watch her bounce towards her room. Smiling to himself, he turned on the TV to watch the nightly news while reflecting on how proud he was of his parenting skills.

======================

Wednesday, October 21

======================

     On Wednesday morning, Marcus felt like he was getting used to this newly adjusted schedule that he had given himself. Waking up later than he typically would for his old job, but early enough that he could take his daughter to school still. “Morning, daddy,” she said cheerily as she passed him in the hallway on her way to the bathroom. 

     “Hey sweetie,” he said, smiling up at her as he headed to the kitchen. Jessie had already eaten breakfast and gotten dressed for school, but she still needed about 20 minutes to finish her makeup before she’d be ready for her dad to take her. Which was the perfect amount of time that Marcus needed to eat his own breakfast and and get dressed.

     Jessie’s dad was waiting in the living room when he heard her shuffle up behind him. He turned to see her smiling down at him, a ponytail draped over her shoulder, wearing a simple school hoodie and black yoga pants. “You look nice today,” he commented, standing up as he grabbed his keys off the coffee table. “I don’t remember the last time I took you to school.”

     Jessie rolled her eyes at what she considered to be her dad’s overbearing affection, but couldn’t help but blush a little at the compliment. “I’m not even wearing anything special, these are like, casual clothes.” She took the lead and headed into the garage, holding the door open for her dad and pushing the garage door opener. Then they hopped into his car, him making sure his booster seat and pedal extensions were secured, and her making sure she had her homework for second period Pre-Algebra, and together headed off to school.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     That afternoon, Jessie came home again with her friend Camila. He was in the kitchen trying to cook dinner when he heard the front door open and noticed the two of them come in. “Oh, hey girls,” he called out, and they both greeted him back as they came in to see what it was that he was cooking: fettuccine pasta. “Camila, right?” he asked, smiling to the small girl standing next to his daughter. Because of his stool that he was using to reach the stove, he was only a few inches shorter than her, which made him feel more natural when he was addressing people. Both the girls’ heads were twice the size of his, but at least he didn’t have to look up just to speak to them.

     “Yeah,” she nodded, smiling since he remembered her name. “What are you cooking, Mr. Tilden?”

     “Oh, just pasta, it’s probably not very exciting. But more steps means stuff takes a lot longer for me to cook compared to her,” he said, tilting his head towards Jessie, “so I cook a lot of simple things nowadays. But it’s still good!” He stepped down a step on his stool and pulled open the drawer next to the stove and grabbed a spoon. It felt like it was nearly a foot long compared to his old height, but he was still easily able to use one hand to lift it. Closing the drawer, he got back up and dipped it into the sauce. “Here, lemme know what you think,” he said, and grabbed the spoon with his other hand to steady it as Camila leaned forward and opened her mouth to take in the sauce. Marcus watched as her lips closed his culinary concoction, and he pulled the spoon back out to get a second dip for his daughter. “Good?” he asked.

     “Yeah, tastes homemade,” Camila answered, as Marcus gave Jessie a taste as well.

     “Still got it, daddy,” Jessie said. “Can Camila eat with us tonight?”

     “My mamá would probably be glad if she knew she didn’t need to cook for me when she got home,” Camila explained. 

     “Of course, yeah, yeah, I always make more than enough so I can have leftovers. I used to work non-traditional hours at work too, I would usually arrive at the studio before Jessie even woke up for school,” he went on, trying to empathize with the young girl. 

     “Oh, where do you work?” Camila asked, genuinely curious what kind of job a two-and-a-half foot person would be able to hold down.

     Marcus sighed, remembering the bad news he had gotten a week ago. “Actually, I don’t work there anymore. My… shrinking only happened over the last month, so they just let me go last Thursday.”

     “Oh, I’m sorry I asked,” Camila said, looking down in embarrassment.

     “No, no no no no, you didn’t know, don’t feel bad,” he said, trying to reassure her. “Besides, it’s just life, right? I’m still several feet tall, there’s stuff out there I can do, it’s just a bit harder to find.” He smile hopefully at Jessie, and she did the same, hoping to boost each other’s spirits. “I’m actually on unemployment and disability now, so I had a pretty nice safety net catching me. I’m still looking for a job because eventually the unemployment will run out, but we’re not too worried.” He reached his hand out to Jessie’s shoulder, holding it affectionately. “And I’ve gotten lots more time to spend with Jessie which has been great. She’s had after-school sports for the last year or so, so she’d get home a while after I did, and sometimes we’d get less than an hour together before she had to go to bed, or even none at all if she was at a friend’s house.” 

     He realized after saying that that their situation hadn’t changed that much in regards to how much time they spent together. He had been home all of yesterday, but they still only had a few minutes to spend with each other before she had to go shower and head to bed. Initially he had considered his increased time at home to be a silver lining of his new condition, but so far it was looking like not much was changing. I wish I could spend more time with Jess, he thought. Besides, she’s only got a few more years before she’ll be old enough to head off to college, and then what’ll I do? I’ll be all alone, and if I could never a new girlfriend or mother for Jess over the last 13 years, I definitely won’t find one at this height. Suddenly, he was in a despondent mood once more, brought on only by his own words and thoughts. He fantasized about a future where he might live with his daughter beyond her college years. A lot of parents end up moving in with their children, especially when they get old and it’s harder to look after themselves. If it’s hard to look after myself, maybe I could do the same with Jess. It wasn’t a far-fetched thought, but that was at least 6 years away. A lot could change in that amount of time, so he decided to just stop thinking about it altogether. For now, he’d simply try to spend more time with his daughter.

     Unbeknownst to Marcus, his words triggered almost the same kind of guilt with Jessie. She knew that she was all that her dad had, even more so now that he was without a job, one that he seemed to like a good amount. She wasn’t sure what he’d do after she went off to college, but between his DSD and now what seemed like a depression he got after losing his job, she wanted to work harder to make sure they continued having a great relationship, especially during this period when he was jobless and home all the time.

     “Well, we have to keep working on our class project,” she said, “so just let us know when dinner will be ready.” 

     “Sounds good,” her dad replied, and she twirled around to head to her room, with Camila following behind. Turning back to the stove, he tasted the fettuccine sauce for himself. The girls were being too generous, he thought, wrinkling his face in mild disgust. Needs more salt.

 *    *    *    *    *    *

     Shortly after the three of them finished what ended up being a much better dinner than what was hinted at during their tasting session, Camila left to go home, and Jessie retired to her room while Marcus watched his nightly news shot. But after it had finished and he started browsing what else was on, he started to remember his conversation with Camila from earlier that afternoon, and the thoughts that followed. Here I am all by myself, doing nothing important. This is a great chance to spend time with Jess, and I’m just sitting here. With a huff that signaled the start to what would hopefully be a changed attitude around the house, he hopped off the couch and headed to his daughter’s room to see what she was up to.

     Her door was open, and soft, melancholy music got progressively louder as he turned the corner into her room to see what she was up to. His daughter was on the ground in front of him, her hands flat on the ground and arms upright, with her torso pointed towards the sky, while her legs extended behind her, the tops of her feet facing the floor. It looked like she was doing yoga. Before he could say anything, her legs shuffled backwards and her feet did a 180 on her toes, so her soles were flat on the ground now. Her legs lifted higher and higher into the air as her torso and head moved to face the ground this time. He had never been into yoga, but he at least knew which one this was called: downward facing dog. He glanced at her butt, which had slowly risen up to face him as her legs grew higher, and he quickly squatted down to look between her legs and address her, although her eyes were closed. “Hey, just came to see what you were doing” he said, and her eyes popped open, looking at the small man between her legs that was upside down from her point of view.

     “Just some yoga,” she smiled.

     “Oh, I didn’t know you liked to do that. Is it for volleyball?”

     “Uh, kinda, Ms. Johnson never told us we had to do it, I just figured it’d help with my flexibility. I only started doing it last week.”

     “Well it’s about time, I’ve bought how many pairs of yoga pants for you since you were little, and you’re just starting now?” Jessie couldn’t help but giggle and roll her eyes at his dad joke. She obviously couldn’t punch him from her position, so she lifted one of her feet off the ground instead to give him a playful jab. “Whoah,” he laughed, bumbling backwards as he dodged to get out of the way. “So how many positions have you learned then?”

     “Ummm… like five I think? I haven’t really learned any new ones since I started, I’ve just been doing the ones I already knew about. This is downward facing dog, and before that I did upward facing dog, and before that I did a butterfly, actually I don’t know if that one’s actually a yoga position but it’s still stretching. And then I know there’s the one where like your hands are stretched out on both sides and your feet are really wide but kinda bent, and the one where you stand up straight and have to put your foot on your inner thigh and hold your hands up above you. So that’s… yeah, five.”

     “You don’t even know all the names? What if you’re doing them wrong?”

     “Uhhhh…” she took a few seconds to think about an answer. She hadn’t actually considered that, but they were pretty simple, she didn’t think she was messing them up. “What do you mean?”

     “Do you have to do push-ups when you have practice?”

     “Yeah, sometimes.”

     “OK, so has Ms. Johnson ever explained the right way and the wrong way to do push-ups?”

     “Ohhh…” She was starting to understand where he was going with this. “Yeah.”

     “Right. You’d think that you’d be working out your arms either way, you’re just moving up and down, but if they’re too far apart or too close together, you can actually hurt your muscles.”

     “Oh, I see what you mean,” she said, and stood up now, turning her body to the side but still looking towards her dad. Then she held her arms out flat behind and in front of her, while stancing both her legs several feet apart, bent at the knees. “But I’m not lifting any weights or anything, so why’s it matter?”

     He looked down to her knees, then glanced at the one behind her, bent like her front one that was pointed towards him. She was trying to do a warrior pose, but he noticed her positioning was wrong. “Like the one you’re doing now, I don’t know what it’s called off the top of my head, but I know your back leg isn’t supposed to be bent like that. It should be straight instead. I don’t know what the difference is, like why it’s bad, but if you were to do that for a few weeks and then start doing it at practice around everyone else, some of the other kids might know better and make fun of you for doing it wrong.”

     “My teammates wouldn’t laugh at me,” she insisted, but fixed her back leg anyways. “But I’ll still do it your way,” she smirked. “Maybe I’ll look up the reasoning behind them in class tomorrow.”

     “Well at least you’re starting though. I’m sure doing yoga the wrong way is still better than not doing it at all.” He scratched his neck as he looked over her body. As much as he wanted to spend more time with her, he didn’t really want to join her, and sitting around on her bed and watching just to hang out with her would be kinda weird. “Anyways, just wanted to tell you that I loved you.”

     “Love you too,” she said, and with the arm that was stretched out in front of her, leaned forward a few inches and patted him on the head a few times with a smile. He didn’t love it when she did that since it made him feel like a kid, but he knew she was just being a kid and messing around, so he ignored it and went back to the living room to watch more TV.

====================

Thursday, October 22

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     After taking Jessie to school on Wednesday, Marcus decided he wanted to surprise her again, so he texted her around 7:30 that evening, knowing she’d still be in the midst of her volleyball match. He had let her know that he’d be picking her up from her game, so she wouldn’t need to get a ride from anyone. About 15 minutes after he sent his text, his phone buzzed with a reply: “fr?? low key thank u so much cuz i dont like having to wait around for Sarah and her mom lmao.” A little selfish to be complaining about a free ride, he thought with a chuckle to himself. I bet it beats having to take the bus home. But he didn’t want to scold her; he knew that she was likely exhausted after another long day, so he couldn’t blame her for being candid about her juvenile emotions. 

     Knowing that Jessie’s reply signaled she was over with her game, he hopped in the car and drove over to the school to pick her up. The sun was starting to hide itself behind the trees as he watched the various kids with their parents leave the gym together. Even the youngest, smallest student here is still probably taller than me, the two-and-a-half foot tall man reasoned with himself. So he just sent his daughter a text to let her know that he was outside, hoping she’d simply meet him at the car. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to being so small in public, he thought, watching the crowd start to thin. A few of the people even looked his way, and while they couldn’t see his full size or the modified seat he was sitting in, they could tell from how small his head and torso was that something was up. His condition was common enough in the world that most of the students (and all of the adults) knew about the basics of DSD, and were kind enough not to stare since he was technically disabled. But one of the kids gazed at him in marvel as she walked to his car with her family, before turning to tell her parents and ask how an adult could be so small. 

     Several minutes passed, and Jessie still hadn’t come out to the car yet, but Marcus was starting to feel the urge to leave. A second text hadn’t changed the situation, so he realized that he’d have to just go in and get her himself. She probably thinks I’m gonna come in to get her. Her volleyball shorts obviously don’t have any pockets, so maybe she put her phone in her gym bag or her backpack and didn’t get my texts. He reluctantly opened his car door and hopped out. But just as he walked around the front of the car, he looked up to see Jessie walking towards him, and both of their faces lit up into a smile at seeing each other. “I was beginning to think you wouldn’t come,” he said.

     “Sorry,” she blushed, “I just got your text, my phone was in my backpack.” Aha, so I was right. She squatted down to the ground, and Marcus hesitated as she opened her legs, but he shook aside his caution and stepped forward, wrapping her in as good of a hug as he could manage. She brought her legs together, trapping her dad between her big, toned thighs, still slightly slick with her volleyball game sweat.

     “Oh, uh — can you…” he stuttered as she wrapped her long arms around his tiny torso, cradling his body to hers. “You’re kinda sweaty,” he said, and she glanced down to her thighs that had held her father in place for their hug. 

     “Oh, sorry Daddy,” she apologized, standing back up and scratching her forehead in embarrassment, and hurried past him to get in the car. 

     He chuckled at how sensitive she could be sometimes, but then realized how sensitive he probably seemed as well. “It’s fine,” he said with a sigh, even though she couldn’t hear him, and got in the car with her. She squirmed in her seat as he started up the car, first arching her back, then hunching it over. He glanced at her a few times as they left on their way home. “You OK?” he asked, not wanting to take his eyes off the road, but curious what was up with her. 

     “Yeah, my back just kinda hurts,” she answered, cracking her neck as if that could make a difference. “I think I sprained it trying to dive for a ball.”

     “You dove for a ball?” he asked, admittedly impressed. Diving on a beach court was one thing, but on a wooden gym floor? He wasn’t sure if that was expected for girls her age to do at the level she was at, but he was proud of her nonetheless. “Well I can give you a back rub when we get home.”

     “Really?” she asked, a bright smile lighting up her face. She felt so thankful in that moment to have such a loving dad, who would just offer to help her out without her even asking.

     “Of course,” he said. “You’d do the same for me, right?”

     “I guess so,” she laughed. After all that he had done for her growing up, and especially the things he had continued to do for her after shrinking? She didn’t think there was anything she wouldn’t do for her dad.    

==================

Friday, October 23

==================

     Jessie felt so thankful for all that her dad had done for her over the past few days, including his agreement to now drive her to and from school every day. So she felt that cooking him breakfast on Friday morning was the least she could do. After all, she now had more time to get ready in the mornings since she wouldn’t be taking the bus any longer, so taking some time to cook them something a bit nicer than cereal wouldn’t take any extra time compared to her old schedule. By now, Marcus was waking up later than his daughter, since her morning routine was a lot lengthier than his, so the first thing he noticed in the morning as soon as he woke up was the smell of bacon wafting in from the kitchen. And that got him up faster than coffee ever could.

     “Oh wow, I hope I can get some of that,” he said, wandering his way into the kitchen and looking up to see his daughter cooking at the stove. 

     “Of course you can, I made enough for both of us,” she said, and slid the bacon off onto a plate. “And you have perfect timing too,” she added, picking up one of the smaller slices and putting it on one of the two plates that already had scrambled eggs on them. He was only getting one slice, but she knew that to him a single slice was like eating half a dozen slices, and he likely wouldn’t even finish the one she gave him. “I just figured with you picking me up and taking me to school every day, I could make us breakfast, at least for today. I mean, I’m sure you get tired of trying to eat cereal a lot faster than I do.” 

     He climbed onto the chair opposite Jessie at the table as she set down his plate. “You’re right,” he sighed, “at least they can fit in my mouth easily enough, but I think there’s a reason Cheerio’s aren’t an inch long for normal people. And I don’t wanna even think about trying to eat cornflakes again,” he said, causing Jessie to laugh as she remembered him trying to fit them in his mouth a few weeks ago. “It was like eating a cereal made out of super thick chips. But eggs are good,” he said fondly, and Jessie nodded in agreement, before the two of them dug into their breakfasts together.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     “So, what do you have planned for the weekend now?” Marcus asked Jessie as they drove home from school.

     “Um, I don’t know,” she replied absentmindedly, more focused on her phone than the conversation.

     “Gonna hang out with anyone?” he asked, digging deeper.

     She sighed, “Yeah, probably.” 

     “Well, how about we do some cleaning around the house when we get home?”

     “Kay,” was all she said. Well, that was easier than I was expecting. It’ll be nice to have someone full size who can help me clean up. Maybe I should always ask her to do her chores when she’s busy staring at her phone. Soon enough the two of them pulled into the garage, and they headed inside. Jessie made her way to her room, still absorbed in her phone, and Marcus chuckled to himself as he watched her go. He stood, looking down the hallway, waiting to see if she was just dropping off her backpack and gym bag and would come back out to help him start on their weekend chores. But she never emerged, so he made his way down the hallway to check back in on her.

     “Hey,” he said, wandering into his daughter’s room and looking around. Either she had made a mess of it in the two days since he’d last been in her room, or he simply hadn’t noticed the clutter when she was doing yoga several days ago. But either way, her room was definitely the most untidy area of their house. “Remember I asked you in the car if you’d help me clean up around the house when we got home?” he asked, looking up at her, lying on her bed while continuing to browse her phone.

     He saw her fingers pause, and her eyes looked to the side as she thought about what he had said. It wasn’t even 5 minutes ago, he thought, is it really that hard to remember? “Oh yeah,” she said, sighing and begrudgingly getting up from her bed.

     “Although from the looks of it,” he said, bending over to pick up one of her pairs of shorts off the ground, “your room needs it more than anywhere else.” He tried not to think about his daughter’s hips being twice as big as his head, and tossed the shorts in her hamper. She blushed at his comment as she picked up some clothes of her own. They spent a minute picking up clothes together and tossing them in her hamper, sometimes coming across candy wrappers or old school paperwork that belonged in the trash. At one point, Marcus bent down to pick up another item off the ground that he couldn’t immediately recognize, and as he lifted it up to his face and turned it around, he realized it was one of his Jessie’s bras. It was plain and white, but twice as wide as his torso, and it caught him off guard for a moment. He could tell they were B cups, if not A’s, but they were so big from his perspective that his head could’ve fit in them. Just the fact that there was any depth at all to an item of his young daughter’s femininity was enough to momentarily paralyze him. 

     Jessie noticed what he had picked up, and walked over to him, grabbing it out of his hands. “Oh, that reminds me, I need to buy some new bras,” she said, tossing the one he was holding into the trash. 

     “What’s wrong with that one, looks fine to me,” he commented, glancing back at it.

     The girl looked down at him with a half funny, half confused expression, like the answer was obvious to her and she was surprised her dad couldn’t realize it. “They’re getting too tight now. My boobs are getting bigger.” 

     Marcus blushed; his eyes instinctively wanted to look up to the chest above him, but he knew better than to gawk at his own daughter. “Oh. Yeah, right,” he said, avoiding her eyes and glancing around at the other clothes on the floor.

     Jessie giggled at her dad’s reaction, “I know, you don’t wanna talk about that, but that’s just a part of growing up. I don’t have a mom to help me with this stuff, so some stuff’s gonna slip out,” she laughed.

     “No, it’s fine,” Marcus said, not wanting to admit that his role as a parent would be easier if he weren’t going at it alone. “It’s just your body, it’s a part of maturing, like you said. I’d rather have you bring stuff like that up with me, even if I don’t know exactly how to help you, than to have you do everything alone and just guess. Besides, you have other people besides me that you can reach out to, or that I can ask for you: your grandma, your Aunt Lily.” That was actually how he and Jessie had handled her first training bra. Marcus was talking to his sister at Christmas several years ago, and she had mentioned that Jessie was probably about at that stage in her life. And luckily for Marcus, his sister was kind enough to take Jessie to the store and help give her some advice on growing up and her development, the kind of advice Marcus couldn’t even begin to pretend to know about.

     “Oh yeaaaahh,” Jessie said, remembering the same holiday that Marcus had recalled. “I mean I don’t think I really need their help or anything, like I said, it’s just — I just need a bigger size, that’s all.” The two of them mulled over the situation for a few moments, before Jessie spoke up again. “Soooo… but yeah, so when would be a good day to go then? To the store?” The last time Jessie had needed a new bra, she had gotten some when she was out shopping with some friends, so it had been awhile since her dad had taken her.

     “Well… I guess, we can go right now if you want. I mean, you just threw one of your old ones in the trash, so we mind as well replace it today.”

     “Fine with me,” she smiled, and they both headed back to the garage to get in the car.

     “So, where do you normally buy them from?” Marcus asked, glancing at his daughter but keeping his eyes focused on the road. “Where are we going?”

     “Uh… well I really like the stuff at Victoria’s Secret,” she answered. Marcus shifted in his seat, I was kinda hoping she’d say something like Target or Walmart, he thought. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised though. I actually don’t know if I’ve ever even been in a Victoria’s Secret.

     “Aren’t they kinda like, designer? Like really nice but kinda pricey?”

     “They’re not desiiiiigner,” she whined. “They wouldn’t be so famous if they were too expensive.” 

     Well I don’t know about that. “How many do you need?”

     His daughter took a pause, trying to gauge how she should answer. “Probably more than you’d be willing to get,” she said, laughing somewhat nervously.

     “Well if you need them we should get them, I’m not broke Jess.” Not yet. “I know I like to have about two weeks worth of underwear myself, in case I accidentally put off doing my laundry for a few days.” Jessie couldn’t help but scoff at his reply. She didn’t even have enough bras to last a week, let alone two. “But you’re also young and growing, so I don’t want to buy too many of something that might not fit you in a couple months.” Jessie couldn’t argue with him there, he had a point. “So since you know more about bras than me, as the woman in this scenario, how many do you think is a good idea to get?” 

     “Umm… well, seven?” Marcus nodded approvingly; one for each day of the week, that seemed fair enough. “And how much are they?”

     Jessie’s face turned pale, already anticipating how her dad was about to react. “At Victoria’s Secret?”

     “Well that’s where we’re going, right? Do you know how much they are there?”

     “Like… 60 bucks…”

     Marcus almost stuttered, and he hadn’t even said anything yet. “60 — Jessie, I’m not spending 400 dollars to get you some clothes that won’t fit you in a year! Even if I still had a job, that would be too much.” She bit her lip anxiously. “I know there are cheaper bras out there than 60 bucks, I told you they were expensive. We can just go to Walmart and pick some up.”

     Jessie scrunched up her face, “Ew, no, wait, we don’t need to go to Victoria’s Secret but I don’t wanna get ones from Walmart.”

     “You don’t need expensive bras Jessie, especially not at your age.”

     “Fine, we don’t need to go to Victoria’s Secret like I said, but Walmart’s too cheap, I don’t wanna get a generic brand bra. You’ve gotten ones from there before and they didn’t feel very good.” Her dad sighed. “You don’t have boobs, daddy, you need something that feels comfortable since you’re wearing them all day.” He couldn’t argue with her there. About both things, him being boobless and comfortable things being worth the extra price tag. He didn’t know what having breasts was like, but it probably wasn’t easy, especially at her age.

     “Alright, we won’t go to Walmart then. But you need to find somewhere in the middle. Are there any places that are like, 15 bucks?”

     “That’s probably how much the Walmart ones are,” she said, pulling out her phone to pull up Instagram. She started giggling, “Hey, look at her,” she said, and held her phone out for her dad to see.

     “I’m driving, just tell me what it is.”

     “Just look,” she insisted, and he glanced over at his phone for a quick second. He hadn’t gotten a good enough look at it, but it seemed to just be a selfie that a girl had taken. A girl with a relatively well-endowed chest.

     “What am I supposed to be looking at, is that a celebrity or someone you know?”

     Jessie brought her phone back to look at the picture again, “Yeah, her name’s Veronica. She’s in my class.” Wait, she’s in her class? Marcus’ face reddened as he realized the woman whose picture he had looked at was really just a girl the same age as his daughter. Girls look too old with makeup nowadays, he thought bitterly. How does someone as young as her have boobs that big? Fuck, stop it Marcus, you shouldn’t be thinking about stuff like that. “She just posted that, but I was thinking at least you don’t need to help me buy a bra for that. I mean, hopefully mine get that big someday,” she said wistfully. She held her phone closer to her face, almost as if in disbelief.  “God, I’m so jealous.” 

     Marcus felt uneasy and hoped to change the subject back. “Were you gonna look up someplace cheaper?” he asked.

     “Oh yeah. Aerie’s not that bad.” She found a recent post by them advertising a sale. “What about 25?”

     He scratched his neck, “OK, I guess that’s not that bad. But I don’t know if I wanna get 7, that’s still $200. How about 4? You might need to do laundry twice a week, but it’ll be easier on my wallet. Maybe you can keep one or two old ones as a backup.”

     That seemed fair to Jessie, considering buying 7 would’ve been more than she already had anyways. “Yeah, that’s fair I guess.”

     “Great,” he said, smiling. “I think I still know where Aerie is,” he added, turning the car around to take a different route.

     They arrived a few minutes later, and Jessie hopped out of the car. “Hey, you don’t need me to come in with you, right?” he asked. It sounded like what Jessie would say whenever he did errands and she wanted to stay in the car and play on her phone, except for him it was anxiety about being a 2’7 guy in a lingerie store populated by women twice his height, one of which was his daughter.

     “No, just gimme your credit card and I’ll make sure to get a receipt for you,” she answered, and he pulled out his wallet to hand Jessie his card. “Thanks!” she said, closing the door, and Marcus watched as she headed into the store without him.

     She was taking longer than Marcus had expected, but he figured she was just trying on a few pairs, and around half an hour later he noticed her skipping back to the car with a bag in hand. “Got everything you need?” he asked as she got in the car and handed his credit card back.

     “Yep! And uh… I got five pairs actually, instead of four, just so you know,” she said, looking at him intently in hopes that he wouldn’t be angry. “I can Venmo you for the extra one, or you can take it out of my allowance. I just really wanted to have at least five though.” 

     Marcus looked back at her, and could see her honesty shining through her eyes. He knew she wasn’t trying to take advantage of him, of course there was no reason to be mad. I did tell her that I’d buy as many as she needed. An extra 25 won’t hurt. He took a deep breath, “That’s OK honey, don’t worry about it. You don’t need to pay me back, it’s my treat to you.”

     Jessie’s eyes widened, “Thank you so much daddy!” she exclaimed, and reached over to wrap him in a quick hug. Marcus blushed, and hugged her back. He’d never grow old of the warm feeling he got from making his daughter happy. 

====================

Saturday, October 24

====================

     The weekend had finally arrived, and Jessie ended up sleeping in quite a bit. Marcus walked past her room several times that morning, but each time she was still asleep. I wonder if she was up late on her phone last night? he wondered, as it began to approach 11am, and still she slept. What if she’s sleeping in extra because she’s going through a growth spurt? That thought he didn’t take as kindly to, but he knew it was unavoidable. She still had several more years and therefore several more inches left to grow until she topped off at whatever adult height she was destined to be at. But at his size, it wasn’t like it would make much of a difference anyways. Right now he was hardly as tall as her hips; worst case scenario, he might end up eye level with her thigh given a few more years. Hardly that big of a deal, he told himself. 

     Eventually he passed by her room close to noon after watching some TV, and saw that she was finally awake. Odd that I didn’t hear her, must’ve been because of the TV, he thought. She was doing yoga again, except this time she was looking down to the floor to read guidelines on an app on her phone. Marcus realized he felt almost excited to see her up, an emotion that surprised him. It was like he had been anticipating her getting up all morning, and now was glad to see her back in the waking world. “Morning sweetie,” he said eagerly, smiling up at her.

     She hadn’t heard him walk up to her room, and looked up from her phone. “Good morning Daddy,” she beamed brightly, arching her back now as she assumed her next position.

     “You haven’t had breakfast yet, have you?”

     Jessie shook her head, “No, coach told me the other day that it’s best to do it before I eat breakfast in the morning.”

     “Oh, interesting.” Was this disappointment he was feeling? With Jessie as the only important person in his life, and now with him home all day because of his job loss, he felt slightly bummed out that she’d relegate herself to her bedroom all the time. She IS a teen girl though, she probably wants to feel some kind of independence, he reminded himself. Or is she too young for those feelings yet? Either way, probably isn’t any harm in inviting her outside. “You know, you can do your routine out in the living room if you want,” he told her. “I guess it looks like you’re making it work in here, but there’s more open space out there.”

     “I heard you watching TV though, so I didn’t wanna interrupt you.”

     He shrugged it off, “That’s fine, I shouldn’t be watching TV all day anyways. I can just do some reading on my iPad.”

     “Mmmm, from one screen to the next, tsk tsk tsk,” she replied, with mock disapproval, before breaking out into a giggle as she straightened her back and stood up straight again.

     “Hey, shouldn’t I be the one chastising you?” he asked, a smile on his lips.

     “Not anymore,” she giggled, and strutted past him to accept his invitation to do her stretches in their main area.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus was perched on the couch armrest again, parallel to the cushions as Jessie sat cross-legged in front of him, her hair in her father’s hands. She had asked if he could braid her hair again, and always one to accept something to do for his daughter, he agreed to help her out. Marcus didn’t know why she’d want to do up her hair at the start of a weekend if she didn’t have any plans, it wasn’t like anyone was gonna see it, so she wouldn’t be able to show off her locks. But if she wanted to feel cute, even if just for herself, then he didn’t mind indulging her. If it makes her happy, it makes me happy, he had reminded himself. 

     “So uh, how are you enjoying your new clothes?” he asked after finishing up one of the braids and switching over to the right side of her hair, trying to strike up a conversation by remembering their little shopping trip the day before. He knew they weren’t reeeeally clothes, but it just came out that way, probably because it felt less awkward by phrasing it like he did. Maybe I shouldn’t ask her at all, he wondered. I’m sure most girls don’t discuss how well their underwear works with their fathers, and suddenly he worried that maybe she’d be weirded out be him asking. But I’m her only parent, she should feel comfortable and willing to talk to me about anything. I’m asking because I genuinely care, she knows that.

     “You mean my bras?” Jessie asked. “They’re not just clothes, they have a purpose.”

     “No I know that,” he insisted. “Right, sorry.”

     “I don’t know if I like them or not yet,” she continued. “I’m not wearing one right now.”

     Oh. “Well didn’t you try any on last night after we got home?”

     “Yeah, for a little while,” she sighed. Her phone buzzed, and she glanced down to see who was texting her. “Hey, can I invite some friends over?”

     “Yeah, of course, anyone I know?”

     “Just Paris and a girl from my team, Harper. I don’t think you’ve met her before.” He knew who Paris was though. She was one of Jessie’s best friends actually, and he got along well with the girl’s parents too. Normally she and his daughter seemed to hang out at least once a week, but he realized that he hadn’t seen the girl in almost a month. Paris was aware of his DSD, Jessie had obviously told him right away. So then maybe that’s why she hasn’t been around for awhile. That or Jess didn’t think she should invite her. I’m glad to see Jess starting to hang out with her again though, Paris is a good kid. As he continued to lap bundles of her hair together, one over the other, he realized that that was probably why Jessie had asked him to braid her hair. 

     “Fine with me, do you know when they’re coming over?”

     “Umm…” she trailed off, still focusing on her phone while Marcus fixed up her hair. “Do you think they could stay the night?”

     Now that was something that really hadn’t happened in a while. He had seen some of her friends in the first days of his shrinking, back when the difference was hardly even noticeable. But Jessie hadn’t hosted any sleepovers since before then, back when things were normal. His initial diagnosis had come around the time school had started anyways, so between Jessie and her friends’ lives being busy again, and beginning to understand and prepare for the changes that would be coming in their household, he hadn’t even entertained the idea of having any of her friends sleep over, and neither had Jessie. But as the days went on, the two of them got more used to the new Marcus. With her question to her dad, it was clear that Jessie felt it was time to reintroduce some more of her old social life into their household again.

     “Sure Jess,” he decided. “I guess it’s been awhile since you’ve had a sleepover, I’m sure that’ll be fun for all of you. Does that change when they’ll be coming?” 

     “Yeah, I think the plan is for Harper's dad to pick me up with some other girl, and we’re gonna go over to their house, and Paris’ll meet us there, and then Mrs. Johnson will pick her, me, and Harper up and bring them here on her way home from some kind of event she’s at in downtown which ends tonight around 8 I think.”

     Marcus was confused; TMI. “Wait, so three people are coming here tonight? Who’s the other girl you mentioned?”

     Jessie sighed, exasperated that her dad couldn’t understand her. “No, the other girl’s just hanging out with Harper too, but she can’t come tonight so Paris’ mom is just bringing her and Harper over. And me.” Marcus chuckled and shook her head. Did all teenage girls feel the need to overcomplicate things, or was it just his daughter? He remembered when he was a kid growing up in a small town, so all his friends lived in the same neighborhood. People just came and went to whoever’s house whenever they could, it seemed so much simpler than Jessie’s social life growing up in the city.

     He brushed those thoughts aside, as he had just about finished up with styling her hair and was about to tell her when she sagged her shoulders, and reached her hand under her arm. “Why’s my armpit been itching all morning?” she huffed, impatiently scratching at it.

     “Oh I think I might know how to fix that,” Marcus murmured, and before she could register what he was about to do, he reached his small hands beneath her arms and tickled his tiny fingers against her skin, instantly causing her to contort her body with a smile as she broke out into a fit of giggles.

     “AHHH!” she squealed, and hurled forward on the couch to try and escape his grasp. Marcus was an expert father though, and jerked forward as soon as she did, continuing to assault her with a tickle that was made even more potent due to his smaller hands. She reflexively slammed her arms against her sides, a defense mechanism to quell the attack, trapping her dad’s hands and causing them to be unable to torture her any further. At the same time as her clamping her arms down though, she also stood up, hoping he wouldn’t be able to follow her if she raised herself up beyond his reach. The end product of her simultaneous and automatic trains of thought resulted in Marcus being lifted up off the couch, dangling a foot off the ground, but unable to release himself since his hands were trapped by his daughter’s strong biceps. He was hanging up against the backside of her body, in what almost looked like a helpless, contorted hug, as she realized her arms were holding up a little over a dozen pounds of weight behind her. She tried twisting her neck around, but his head was so small and close to her back that she couldn’t even see him, only feel her dad behind her. “Look who’s got the upper hand now, huh?” she chuckled, as she felt him instinctively kick his little legs against her own, as if it would somehow help his hands squeeze their way out of their tight grip.

     He felt a pang of anxiety over his helpless situation, but couldn’t help but share in her laugh, although his was a bit more awkward and embarrassed. “Can you let me down?” he asked, glancing downwards, longing to be back on the floor. 

     “Oh, you want back on the couch?” she asked with a playfully innocent tone, and backed up towards it, looking behind her as she began to bend her knees downwards as if she was about to sit down.

     “Hold on Jess, wait wait wait,” he said, realizing she was about to sit on him as she teasingly lowered herself closer and closer to the couch. “Stop, Jessie!” he exclaimed, just as she lifted her arms back up, releasing him and letting him fall the several inches down onto the couch.

     “There,” she said, spinning around to see him laying out on the couch, breathing a sigh of relief at his daughter’s mercy. She remembered her braids, and pulled them around to the front of her head to inspect them. “Oh, you’re done, thanks! Sorry about trapping you Daddy,” she added, giggling at her dad sprawled out below her. “Guess you shouldn’t try tickling me like that,” she smirked, and skipped on by to the kitchen to finally make herself some food while Marcus began to regain his composure.

===================

Sunday, October 25

===================

     Paris’ mom ended up staying extra long at her event that night, so her daughter, Jessie, and their friend Harper didn’t get dropped off at the Tilden residence until almost 10. Marcus had fallen asleep on the couch watching a movie that ended up being more boring than he anticipated, so he didn’t hear them come in. He woke up a little over an hour later from his accidental nap, and saw that Jessie’s door was closed, but her light was on, and quiet whispering could be heard inside. At least they got home safe, he thought with a smile, and decided to leave them alone for the night and try to finish his movie again in bed. 

     The next morning, he was up before anyone else. They probably stayed up past midnight, he realized. And they need more sleep than me since they’re still growing up. I probably have a few more hours still to myself. So he spent his time reading a book, a hobby he was trying to take up now that he had so much extra time on his hands while Jessie was at school. After plowing through several chapters while reclining on the couch, he suddenly heard the toilet flush and the bathroom faucet turn on. Realizing they must be awake, he hopped off the couch and went to peer around his couch, just in time to see a bare foot disappearing into Jessie’s room and quietly close the door. Well, it’s good that they’re finally awake. Unless they just went back to bed. He decided he wanted to make breakfast for them, all of them. And if I make a smoothie, then the blender might wake them up too if they’re not already. He knew that if he let them sleep in too late, their body clocks might get messed up and it’d be harder to wake up for school on Monday. But on the other hand, his daughter’s door was closed, possibly for a good reason. And since his knocks didn’t prove to be very loud at his size, Marcus wasn’t particularly keen on the idea of wandering into a room full of sleeping 13-year-old girls who were twice his size without an excuse better than “it’s time to wake up.”

     So he grabbed a hefty bag of frozen strawberries from the freezer, a few bananas, and a quart of milk from the fridge. He’d had to stop buying gallons once he realized he was hardly able to carry them anymore, let alone pour them. But narrow cartons with only two pints were manageable, weighing a bit more than two gallons from his perspective. Oh! And some ice cubes. He almost forgot the key ingredient that would also serve as the loudest. He gathered the food all together into a mixer that was half as high as he was, secured the lid on, and pressed the on button. As the machine roared to life, he instantly winced at how loud he forgot it was, and turned it down a few power levels. One of the few upsides to DSD was that his hearing wasn’t constantly bombarded 24/7. Even though his height had been drastically reduced and things felt like they weighed sometimes hundreds of pounds, he didn’t feel like his eardrums were at a constant threat of being ruptured. He didn’t understand the science behind it, but he assumed it had to do with how much smaller his ears were in the first place. Bugs don’t go crazy even though they’re thousands of times smaller than humans. Then he chided himself, Ugh, I shouldn’t think of myself as a bug though. Sometimes he felt like his smaller brain made him magnitudes stupider too.

     After the smoothie seemed to take on a liquid consistency, he turned the blender off and dipped a finger in to taste it. He was surprised at how good it had turned out without any measurements or instructions. Maybe a bit more ice though to thicken it up. As soon as he tossed in a few more cubes he had grabbed from the freezer, he heard Jessie’s door open, a lot louder and more evident than whoever had closed it before. The slow, soft thumping of freshly-awoken feet against carpet grew steadily louder, before a 5’4 young black girl dressed in sweats and a long-sleeve tee turned the corner, and a smile instantly grew on her face.

     “Hi Mr. Tilden, it’s so nice to see you again!” she said, and Marcus smiled back at the polite friend of Jessie’s that he had watched grow up alongside his daughter over the past few years.

     “Hey, good morning Paris, it’s nice to see you too.”

     She walked over to where Marcus was, and looked down on him standing on his school, but her eyes were more empathetic than they were pitiful, an occurrence which didn’t happen often when people saw Marcus nowadays. “I’m so glad you’re OK, I haven’t seen you since Jessie told me about your diagnosis. I didn’t wanna come over while you were still getting smaller, just cuz I figured it’d be best to give you some space.” She reached her arms out cautiously. “Is it OK if I hug you, or does that make you uncomfortable?” This was why Paris was Marcus’ favorite of Jessie’s friends. Her parents had done such a good job raising her to be polite and considerate, and as a result she had always seemed the most mature of his daughter’s classmates. There were a lot of other people with Marcus’ condition who were insecure about their body sizes, which led to half the population treating them awkwardly and different than everybody else, or shunning them altogether. And the other half of society was too ignorant of the size differences, like constantly forgetting how weight affected them differently, not seeing them on the sidewalk or in hallways and bumping into them, or simply not caring about their requests for special treatment. But Paris was one of the few people who acted towards Marcus the same as when he was normal sized, while still showing thoughtfulness to what he was going through and how he might perceive things differently. Even Jessie was mostly ignorant of DSD’s implications for the first couple weeks that Marcus was shrunken, although she was getting better at coming around. But it warmed his heart to see Paris asking for permission to hug him, aware of how much larger and stronger she was than him, as trivial as it might seem to others.

     “Of course,” Marcus replied with a smile, opening up his arms in return, “and I’m so glad that you asked, I wasn’t very fond of people touching me for a little while.” Paris delicately wrapped her arms around the smaller man, being careful to embrace him without holding him too tightly against her torso. The hug lasted only a second, just long enough as was appropriate for a man and his daughter’s friend, before they let go of each other. So how’s school been going for you?”

     “Really good! I have a B in one of my classes, but so far I’ve been having a great year, I love all my teachers.” 

     “Well that’s good to hear,” he replied, and he noticed as her eyes quickly glanced at the blender behind him. He turned around, “Oh, I was gonna make everyone some fruit smoothies, I just put more ice in. Lemme just finish it up real quick.” Marcus turned it back on, while Paris went and got 3 pairs of cups, plus a fourth smaller one from a section that she could tell was set aside for Marcus.

     He heard more footsteps from the hallway again as soon as he turned the blender off, and he turned to see his daughter ambling into the kitchen, with another girl a few inches shorter than Jessie following behind. She must be… Harper? Was that her name? She had frizzy, dark brown hair, and a pair of black-rimmed glasses. “Morning, Daddy,” Jessie yawned, and tilted her head to the side, pointing to her friend. “This is Harper, sorry we didn’t say hi to you last night, but it looked like you were sleeping so we just went to bed.”

     “That’s OK, I saw your list was on when I woke up so I knew you all got home safe. Hi Harper,” he said, extending out his hand to the new girl, “you can call me Mr. Tilden.”

     Harper's mouth was wide open, and she walked over to Marcus like she was staring at a museum artifact. “Whooaaahhh… I didn’t know your dad had the shrinking disorder,” she said, her eyes ravaging the uneasy man.

     “Harper, jeez, don’t be so weird, there’s plenty of people like him,” Paris butted in, looking at their friend disapprovingly. “And it’s called DSD, ‘shrinking disorder’ is an outdated term, some people are offended by it.”

     “I didn’t know, and I’m not being weird,” she instantly bit back defensively. “I’ve just never seen one this close before.” She took Marcus’ hand, encapsulating the whole of it with her own, and shook it like she was meeting a president.

     “By ‘one,’ do you mean a person?” Marcus joked, and Harper instantly started laughing, stepping back a few feet in surprise.

     “Oh yeah,” she giggled, and turned to Jessie, “your dad’s funny.” She turned back to Marcus, “Sorry, I meant DSD I guess.”

     “That’s OK,” Marcus said. He didn’t really care whether or not people used the term ‘shrinking disorder’ around him, but it was at least nice to see she was apologetic. “It was nice to meet you Harper.” He stepped aside, revealing the smoothie he had made, “I don’t know what you girls have planned for today, but I made some breakfast for everyone.”

     “Thank you so much, Mr. Tilden,” Paris said, and grabbed the pitcher off its power source. “I can pour it for you.”

     “Thanks Daddy,” Jessie chipped in.

     “Yeah, thanks Mr. Tilden,” Harper added, putting on her best display of maturity yet, and the four of them all enjoyed Marcus’ fruity concoction while he caught up on Paris’ life and learned more about Jessie’s new friend.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     The girls left later that afternoon to meet some guys at the neighborhood park. Despite it being a Sunday, Marcus thought he might as well try to be productive and do some more job hunting online while he had the house to himself. He got a few applications in and was able to spend a solid couple of hours doing some “work.” But after getting a notification on his laptop about a developing political story that really caught his attention, he quickly got distracted and started to hatefully binge-read a series of articles on the matter. He didn’t even hear the girls running up to the house until they opened the front door out of breath, from racing the final couple blocks to Jessie’s house. Harper looked around her friend’s house. She couldn’t hear anyone or anything; it seemed as if nobody was even home.

     “Where’s your dad?” she asked, panting hard from having taken the race more seriously than her friends. Marcus smirked from his spot sitting up against the couch armrest. Because of how close the sofa was to the front door, the girls couldn’t see him behind the cushions. His mind raced with ideas; ever since shrinking down, he’d grown accustomed to pranking his daughter by hiding and scaring her every once in awhile. So he sat motionless, quietly closing his laptop and setting it on the floor while he waited to see if they’d notice him.

     “I dunno, he’s always around somewhere,” Jessie shrugged, speaking about her father like others talk about their cat. She slid her shoes off using her heels, then kicked them across the floor, nowhere near the other shoes, a lazy habit she’d developed as a kid. Then she reached down and pried her socks off. “C’mon, let’s just go to my room,” she said, and turned towards the hallway. As soon as they started hurrying off to Jessie’s personal abode, she tossed her socks carelessly behind her. Marcus, unable to see what they were doing, only heard as they scampered away, and realized his opportunity was gone, until suddenly one of his daughter’s dirty graying socks hit him right in the face. He was caught off guard, as her little anklet sock was nearly as wide as his entire face, and blocked out his vision momentarily. The October weather wasn’t too bad, but Jessie had still been fairly active, and it was just the littlest bit moist, just damp and warm enough to remind him how recently she had worn it. And it was musty as hell. Coming to his sense, he swatted it off his face as he realized what she had done, but she herself hadn’t even realized what she had done, and was already in her room with her friends. God, I hate the smell of feet, I wish she wouldn’t always leave her shoes and socks around the house. He wiped his face with his shirt. I’m just glad it’s not a game day, and she’s responsible about doing her laundry. He didn’t even want to think about what one of his daughter’s long, black, unwashed volleyball socks would smell like after she’d been running and jumping around in them for several hours.

     He found the other sock she had thrown, and pinched them precariously between his thumb and pointer finger, then went and grabbed her shoes as well, slightly warm to the touch, marching them to her room. He knocked on the door with the three fingers that weren’t holding his daughter’s socks, and the voices inside didn’t seem to hear him. They were playing music too, kind of loudly actually, that was probably why. He glanced down at the shoes. I don’t even need to be holding these, he realized, and dropped the socks into the holes of her shoes, knocking on the door with more gusto, using his full fist this time. “Jessie!” he yelled, hoping someone would hear him over their music. They didn’t seem to hear him, so he figured it was safe to assume he could enter. He opened the door to see Paris was recording Jessie and Harper as they danced along to Dua Lipa’s newest remix of Levitating. They didn’t even see him come in, and continued sequentially jutting their elbows to the side, switching them downwards, and then curving their backs into a thrust of their hips from side to side, while Paris nodded her head along to the rhythm. Harper's moves were a bit more stunted, but she was still keeping up and clearly had done the dance before. And Jessie’s eyes displayed a keen level of focus that made it clear how intent she was on making sure it was a good video. Marcus sighed and rolled his eyes; he didn’t care that his daughter was on TikTok of course, he wasn’t as paranoid as some of Jessie’s friend’s parents. But I’m not a fan of some of the dance moves, he thought, glancing to Jessie’s swaying hips. The song was suddenly over, and the two girls grinned and began to rush over to Paris to check out their results. “Jessie,” Marcus repeated, now that the music wasn’t so loud, and his daughter looked up before she could see her phone. “Don’t leave your shoes and socks lying around the house please, either keep them by the door or in your room.” He smiled faintly to try and ease the tension, deciding not to mention the embarrassing bit about her stinking socks landing on his face.

     “OK Daddy, sorry about that,” she replied. “What’d you think?” she asked, and the other girls turned to see his reply.

     “Of… the dance?” They all nodded their heads. “It was… it looked pretty well choreographed,” he stammered, not really thinking they wanted honest feedback anyways. 

     The girls broke out into giggles, “Such an official review,” Harper said, and Jessie joined in.

     “Yeah, thanks Daddy.” She turned back to her phone, and the other two girls turned back too. Marcus just tossed the shoes onto the floor, and turned to leave. As the song started back up, he just hoped Jessie might at least remember what he asked.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Harper left later that afternoon, but Paris stayed behind. Marcus had to admit, it was nice to have her around again. It felt like with Jessie’s best friend back in her life, part of his former life had returned as well. Things were back to normal, even if it was a new, 2-and-a-half foot normal.

     The two girls had also persuaded Marcus to let Paris sleep over again, for a second night in a row. Even though it was a Sunday night, she had slept over on plenty of school nights before, and her parents were OK with it, so he digressed. Apparently she had taken her backpack with her when she got dropped off on Saturday night, since she still had to get a tiny bit of homework done still. And with the rest of her overnight gear already there, the only problem was Paris having to wear her Saturday clothes again to school on Monday. But the two girls had had so much fun hanging out for the first time in weeks, she didn’t mind. 

     Actually, the clothes weren’t the only problem. Paris had also woken up with a sore back that morning, which she presumed was a result of sleeping on the floor. She had a sleeping bag, of course, and pillows, but a simply carpet and thin sleeping bag were still considerably less comfortable than a mattress. As a result, Jessie offered to switch places with her friend; Paris could sleep in Jessie’s bed, and Jessie would use Paris’ sleeping bag. Marcus found out about this after checking in on them before bed that night and discovering his daughter wasn’t the one using her own bed. The two girls explained the situation to Marcus, who chuckled and told his daughter she could use his bed, and he could sleep on the couch for the night.

     “No, Daddy, that’s OK. It’s your bed, you should sleep in it,” she insisted.

     “Jess, it’s a full-size mattress.” He had never been married, so he’d never quite needed a Queen or King sized one. And even though it had been awhile since he’d… gotten some action, so to speak… a full-size bed ended up working fine for those matters. “I’m plenty big for it now, it’s got plenty of room. Take it, I don’t mind using the couch for a night, it’s not as small for me as it might look to you.”

     “Well… I’d still rather sleep in the same room as Paris,” she explained. “Unless…” She slowly turned to her friend, “you think we could split it? It’d be like that time we slept over at Madison’s birthday party in 5th grade.”

     Paris shrugged, “Sure, I don’t mind. As long as that’s OK with you, Mr. Tilden.”

     “I guess it doesn’t make a difference to me whether just Jessie uses it or the two of you. I can tell you guys are too big to fit on Jessie’s twin, and you’re almost like family to us Paris. If you’re fine with it, and Jessie’s fine with it, you two can sleep wherever you feel most comfortable,” he said with a reassuring smile.

     “Then you won’t need to sleep on the couch,” Jessie realized excitedly. “So it’s a win-win. For all of us!”

     Marcus didn’t quite understand what she was getting at. “Why wouldn’t I sleep on the couch?”

     “Uh, cuz there would be a free bed in my room? Obviously.” Shit, I didn’t even think about that. “I mean, if I’m sleeping in your bed for the night, you wouldn’t mind sleeping in mine, right?”

     The idea seemed strange to Marcus, but he couldn’t come up with a logical reason to object. “I guess not. Um… yeah, I can do that. For tonight.”

     Paris got out of Jessie’s bed, playfully pushing her on the shoulder with her foot while Jessie unzipped the sleeping bag. “What a good idea, Jess,” she said with a wink. “Thanks for letting us switch Mr. Tilden.” The two girls grabbed their phones and chargers, and brushed past Marcus.

     “And thanks to me for the good idea,” Jessie proudly said as she exited her room, flipping the light switch off. “Goodnight Daddy,” she whispered, and closed the door, leaving him standing alone in the dark in the middle of his daughter’s room. I wasn’t even gonna head to bed yet, Marcus begrudgingly thought, and considered opening the door back up to head out and quietly watch his news show in the living room. But I don’t know when they’re gonna get up, especially Paris, so I should probably head to bed now so I can be out of their room in the morning. With a reluctant sigh, he climbed into his daughter’s bed, the soft smell of his daughter’s clothing and sheets greeting him (along with the ever-so-faint aroma of Paris’ hair), before pulling the covers over himself and quickly drifting off to sleep.

===================

Monday, October 26

===================

     “Time to get up, Daddy.” Marcus’ eyes slowly drifted open as his daughter lightly shook his shoulder. He was wrapped up cozily in her blankets, having been enjoying a peaceful slumber, until Jessie had to wake him. He glanced at the clock, it was hardly even light out. 6:03. Even though he didn’t need as much sleep as Jessie or Paris, and normally went to bed later than 10 (which they all had last night), his wake-up time for the past few days that he had taken Jessie to school had been 7. Even with the extra sleep time, his body seemed to have been committed to waking up at 7, and the difference threw him off. But waking up at unfair hours was the standard for his daughter and her friend.

     “I didn’t think you typically woke up this early, I’m sorry about that,” he said with a yawn, pushing her covers off of him.

     “Well, me and Paris wanted to get up a little earlier since we’d need to share the bathroom when we got ready.”

     “Oh, yeah. That makes sense,” he said, getting to his feet, and he looked up at his daughter, dressed in a plain t-shirt and some blue night shorts. “And it’s ‘Paris and I,’” he corrected her, to which she rolled her eyes.

     “Yeah yeah, whatever,” she sighed, breaking a smile, as Marcus made his way to the open door. Heading to his own room, he turned the corner out of Jessie’s door and ran into Paris, who had been patiently waiting right next to it.

     “Oh, sorry Mr. Tilden. Good morning,” she whispered, even though everyone in the house was awake.

     “Morning, Paris,” he said, and stepped to the side. She nodded thankfully and hustled into Jessie’s room, quietly closing the door behind her so the two girls could change and get ready for school.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Jessie slung her backpack over her shoulder, as Paris calmly waited by the door with hers. “We’re ready to go, Daddy!” Jessie called from the front door, and Marcus set his iPad back down, grabbed his keys, and hopped off his bed to take the girls to school.

     “You guys look good today,” he politely told the two of them as he made his way into the entrance area of the house. “I like your sweater, Paris,” he said. It was a lavender color, and she had light blue jeans on below it.

     “I’m wearing the same clothes I was on Saturday,” she replied, blushing.

     “Oh. Well I think I was sleeping when you guys came home that night, so I wouldn’t know any better.”

     Jessie perked up, “What about my outfit?” She was wearing a peach-colored blouse with black skinny jeans, and had her hair up in a side ponytail.

     “I’m pretty sure I bought you that shirt for your birthday,” Marcus smirked, “so I obviously like it too, since I’m the reason you’re wearing it.” 

     “You’ve got good taste, Mr. Tilden,” Paris told him as she opened the garage door, and they made their way to his car.

     “Well unfortunately I can’t take all the credit. Someone from work helped me pick it out,” he said, his smile immediately faltering as he was reminded of his old job, and one of the many coworkers he’d probably never see again.

     There was an awkward silence as Marcus pulled out of the driveway, the girls having come to the same realization that Marcus did. An awkward silence that didn’t resolve itself on the trip to school, as the trio spent the ride in silence. Suddenly, once they were only a few minutes away from their school, Jessie gasped. “Wait, I just realized I forgot to make a lunch!”

     “Oh no!” Paris exclaimed, genuine sorrow for her friend. “Do you have a lunch pass?”

     Jessie shook her head, throwing her head back as she closed her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. “Do you have any money on you?” she asked, turning to Marcus.

     He glanced over at his daughter, feeling sorry for her. “I left my wallet at home, but don’t worry about it. I can make something for you two when I get home and bring it by later, just text me when you need me to leave.”

     “I can get school lunch, Mr. Tilden, so you don’t need to make any for me. But thanks for offering,” Paris politely told him as they pulled into the parking lot. “And thanks for the ride!” she added, getting out of the car as Jessie did the same.

     “Yeah, thanks Daddy. I’ll see you in a couple hours,” she said with a smile before shutting the door, and ran to catch up with her friend while Marcus drove off with a new objective for when he returned home.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus was doing what he could to clean up around the house on Monday night. Earlier that day, he had made Jessie a sandwich, packed some chips, carrots, and an apple, and bundled it all up in a brown paper bag. He wasn’t sure if she’d like it, but quickly reminded himself it shouldn’t matter; she forgot her lunch, she’ll be grateful that I’m bringing anything to her at all. And it’ll probably taste better and be healthier than whatever the school cafeteria’s serving. And sure enough, she was grateful. When he pulled up to the school around noon, she ran outside and opened the bag, beaming at its contents, before thanking her dad and running back inside. And a few hours later, he stopped by the school for the third time that day to pick her up.

     Plus he had applied to several more job openings. And now he had just finished tidying the house. So all in all, he felt pretty productive; it was a good day, especially for a Monday. He decided to go check in on Jessie and see if she was sharing his upbeat attitude. When he rounded the corner into her room, he found her standing inches away from her full-body mirror. She was barefoot, her hair in a bun, wearing gray yoga pants and had what looked like one of her new sports bras on. He assumed from what she was wearing that she had just finished doing some more yoga. Or she was about to start. But upon walking closer, he realized that she had a worrisome expression on her face, and seemed to be inspecting various areas of the skin on her face. “Hey, you look like something’s wrong,” he said softly, slowly approaching her. 

     She took a step back, turning to look to him, as if she had been caught. “I’m fine, I just—“

     “Jess, I can tell that you’re obviously not,” he said, and she sighed, looking down.

     “It’s just… body issues, and insecurity. I sorta, like… I don’t know,” she said, rubbing her stomach now as she looked at it. “I just wish I wasn’t so pale, I feel like all my friends are hot or tan, or both. Like, I’m the whitest girl in my class I’m pretty sure.” She chuckled uneasily at how open she was being, and Marcus both grimaced and smiled at the same time.

     “Well, I have no idea what it’s like to be a girl, especially nowadays with the internet and social media. I’m sure body positivity is probably a lot harder on girls your age now compared to when I grew up. But Jessie… you shouldn’t worry about what you look like. The color of your skin doesn’t have any effect on how beautiful you are. I know that I’ve told you that a hundred times before, but that’s because it’s true. I’ve met plenty of women who have light skin complexions like yours, and I never thought any less of them because of it. And if you happen to have a friend who does think that, then they’re not a real friend anyways.” Jessie’s lips turned slightly upwards, a faint sign of hope, as she continued looking at her body in the mirror. “And besides, you’ve got my genes, so you shouldn’t have to worry about the looks department,” he smirked, and she giggled in response. “You should treasure these years too, you can probably eat whatever you want and your metabolism will keep you skinny,” he joked. “I have to actually be careful about what I eat so I don’t end up with a beer belly.”

     Jessie laughed at her dad’s jokes. “OK, OK, I get it. I guess we all just have random bad days, and today was one of them for me. I guess I normally agree with you, I don’t think I’m ugly or anything,” she said turning her body at an angle as she checked herself out. Even despite her light colored skin, she actually thought she was quite a bit better looking than simply “not ugly,” but she wasn’t about to be so brazen in front of her dad. 

     “Well then good. People will always wish for something they don’t have, or want to improve something about themselves, no matter how good they are. If your worst problem is just that you’re not very tan, then I’d say you’re pretty lucky.”

     “Yeah, although, I mean like, it’s not just the tan I guess. Like, I think there’s a couple guys at school that like me, but none of them have actually said anything to me. I mean like, about if they like me or anything.”

     Marcus sighed and shook his head, “Well I can’t control what goes on at school, but you don’t need to start dating until high school.”

     Jessie rolled her eyes, “You’re right, you can’t control what I do at school. And I didn’t even say anything about dating, I’d be content if one of them could just tell me they like me. Like, I know they already do,” she said, blushing. “I just wish they could come out and say it.”

     “I’m a guy!” Marcus exclaimed with a smirk. “And I like you!”

     Jessie groaned loudly, causing Marcus to only grin even harder at his successfully bad joke. “Yeah, I know, but I don’t wanna make out with you Daddy, so it doesn’t count.

     “You shouldn’t be making out with anyone yet,” he chided, reminding her of his restrictive view on dating.

     “Too late for that,” she muttered under her breath, and started giggling again as Marcus playfully punched her leg.

     “Really? And you didn’t tell me about it?”

     “Well look how you’re reacting, it seems I made the right call not to tell you.”

     Marcus was quiet. She’d got him. “I guess that’s fair.” He didn’t want to be the kind of parent that she didn’t feel like she could talk to openly about things. “I’m sorry, you’re right Jess. I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

     “It’s fine, it’s fine, let’s just move on.”

     “So you feel better then? No more worrying?”

     “Yeah,” she said, checking herself out once last time in the mirror. Just to make sure.

     “Can I get a hug then?” he asked, lifting his arms up, prepared to either wrap them around her thigh like he normally did, or for her to squat down like when he picked her up from her match the other day.

     “Of course you can, Daddy,” she said, but turned to face him, still standing. And right in front him, in the middle of her yoga pants, and staring right back at him, was his young daughter’s camel toe. Surprised, but being careful not to show it, he wondered if he should mention it to her. But Marcus realized that that would be seen as rude, as it obviously wasn’t intentional. Before he could think any further on what to say or do, her hand pressed gently against the back of her head, and he found himself being pulled closer to her body. He only had enough time to turn his head to the side before colliding with her crotch, his arms now wrapped around her hips in his shrunken embrace. He couldn’t quite feel anything (not that he wanted to, obviously), but just the knowledge of it being right there was enough to unnerve him as she held him to her, unaware of any problem.

     Jessie removed her hands from his head, and he immediately recoiled, glancing anxiously at the sign on her crotch that reminded Marcus of his daughter’s sexuality, no matter how natural it was. “OK, so uh…” he started, trying to figure out how to move along.

     Now she was the one who could tell something was off, and looked down at him concerned. “Are you OK, Daddy?” She frowned, her hands on her hips while he cowered nervously beneath her gaze.

     “So, did you do your yoga today?” he asked, blatantly ignoring her question as he tried to change subjects. He hoped she wouldn’t press him any further.

     “No, actually, I just got changed before you came in here because I was about to.” She looked down and lifted the strap of her sports bra off her shoulder, “See? This is one of the new bras you bought for me.” She let go of the strap, and it snapped back against her skin. 

     “Oh, right, I kinda thought it looked familiar when I came in.”

     “Well anyways, if our lil heart-to-heart is done, can I go do my session in the living room again?” 

     “Yeah of course, yeah, I’m not using it,” he told her, shrugging it off like it was no big deal, but still feeling residual awkwardness from moments ago.

     “Great, thanks!” she chimed, and picked up her yoga mat, brushing her way past her dad while he quietly watched her leave.

===================

Tuesday, October 27

===================

     Today was going to be a big day.

     Jessie’s volleyball team was going to be facing their rivals, the Baxter Middle School Ravens. Ever since she was a kid, Marcus had normally been pretty good about attending her sporting events, especially important games like tonight’s. It was pretty easy to prioritize supporting his daughter since she was his only family. But ever since shrinking beyond normal size, Marcus hadn’t felt as comfortable going to her matches. The last time he attended one was only a couple weeks after receiving his diagnosis. He had shrunken to just over 5 feet tall at the time, but going out to support her was more nerve-wracking than he was expecting. He hadn’t been too small to cause anyone to stare or suspect he might have a growth disorder, but the only people in the auditorium who had been shorter than him were babies and young children. He recalled seeing one of his old co-worker’s family at the game, and even their 4th grade son was as tall as Marcus. And then to realize that almost all of Jessie’s teammates were taller than him? That was the final nail in the coffin. He knew he couldn’t swear off public appearances forever, but at the time he had decided to abstain from attending Jessie’s games until he was more comfortable in his body. And luckily, his loving and supportive daughter had completely understood.

     He sat back now, watching her stuff Cheerios in her mouth while an apple and pear stood waiting nearby. “I still feel bad about not going though. And you wouldn’t even let me make you breakfast!” he chuckled.

     “Coach said that I—“ she started, but milk started spilling from the sides of her lips and Marcus interrupted her.

     “Hey, don’t talk with your mouth full,” he sternly noted, and she giggled at her accident, waiting to finish chewing her food before swallowing and speaking up again.

     “Coach said we should load up on carbs and fruits,” she explained, before spooning some more cereal in her mouth. “It was either this or a bagel,” she added, tilting her head back slightly this time so nothing would spill out from her mouth as she talked. Marcus rolled his eyes at her attempt to bypass his parenting, but still smiled at her stubbornness anyhow.

     “Yeah, I guess your coach would know more about that than me. Sounds like the same advice I got before games when I was in school.” He continued to sit, alternating between watching Jessie eat and glancing at the morning news that he had running on the TV in the background. Eventually she finished eating, and sat back, mirroring his posture. She let out a burp, satisfied with all she had eaten. He gave her a look that seemed to say Seriously? which made her blush and bite her lip. 

     Then she started to look her father up and down, and it was obvious to Marcus that she was thinking about his size for some reason. “Do you think you’ll ever wanna come to one of my games again? Like not just for the rest of the season, but next year too, or when I start playing in high school.”

     “It’s not that I don’t want to come,” he sighed. “You know how much I used to go before this year.” She nodded understandingly. “I just get uncomfortable with the way people look at me in public. I’m clearly too small to be normal sized for someone my age. Ironically, if I was super small, like some of the extreme cases out there, I’d probably be more OK with going. I’d be a lot less obvious if I was only a couple inches tall, so there might not be as many people staring. I could just perch myself in the shirt pocket of someone there.”

     “Like who?”

     Marcus shrugged, “I don’t know, it doesn’t really matter. One of your friends or your teammates’ parents.”

     “I don’t think being supervised by my friends would be a good idea,” she said with a smirk, thinking of how some of her friends liked to act. “Most of them would probably pass you around or try to show you off.”

     He took a deep breath in and loudly exhaled, “Well, I’m glad I’m not that tiny anyways, life would be a lot more difficult.”

     “Or I could sneak you into my gym bag and you could watch from there,” she continued, ignoring his attempt to change subjects. “Except you’d have to spend the whole day with me at school.” She was right about that. Past a certain height, people with DSD weren’t allowed to drive by themselves for safety reasons. They needed a second person in the car in case of emergencies, like when first-time drivers have an instruction permit. And since Jessie wasn’t old enough to drive and they were a two-person household, that likely meant he’d have to stay with her throughout the day just to see one of her evening matches. He crinkled his nose at the idea, I love her, but I don’t know if I’d be fine with spending almost 10 hours in a backpack just to watch her play volleyball. Maybe just once a month or something. “But I could cut out a little hole in the side, and then glue like, plastic over the top,” she went on, starting to really get lost in the fantasy now. “Then you could have your own little compartment and be able to see out of it and watch me play. Cuz if you were just sitting on the top of my bag without anyone watching you, someone might just try and take you. But if you were actually in the bag, people could only see you from the side if they got up really close. You’d be like a hidden camera or something.”

     What would be worse, actually? Being in her backpack, but having to spend almost the whole day in there, or having to only spend a couple hours in her gym bag, but then I could be surrounded by all her dirty clothes? “Yeah, I don’t know how much I’d like that,” he admitted. “I know you wash your clothes a lot, but still… I can’t imagine a gym bag having a particularly pleasant smell.” He remembered when she came back from the park on Sunday and accidentally threw her socks on his face. And that was from a day that she had spent mostly indoors. God, he hated the smell of feet.

     She stood up now, shrugging her shoulders. “Well, like you said, it doesn’t really matter. Luckily you’re not that tiny so we don’t have to worry about that.”

     He sighed and stood up too, “You’re right. And to answer your original question… yes. I do think I’ll want to come to one of your games again. But I’m still at a point where a lot of stuff just feels new. Like when you had some friends over this weekend; that was the first time you’ve had several people over in awhile. And it was fine, I’m glad you had fun, it’s just about taking it slow.”

     She smiled down to him, “I understand.” She turned and started heading back to her room to finish getting ready for school. “I’m not superstitious,” she called back, “I know our team won’t do better or worse depending on if you come.” And as she turned the corner into her room and shut the door, Marcus went back to watching the morning news, glad that he had raised his daughter to be sensible and understanding of him.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Jessie and her dad were about to arrive at school to drop her off when Marcus got another idea, still feeling tinges of guilt over not attending her game tonight. It wasn’t even the first match of hers he’d missed since shrinking, but it was still the biggest game of the season. And he wouldn’t be there. “How’d you like it if I brought you a lunch again today?” She was biting her nails while scrolling through Instagram, but looked up and over at her dad now upon hearing his offer.

     “I already made a lunch this morning,” she laughed. “I mean I’m glad you offered, but like you should’ve offered before we left or before I made anything.” Wait, duh. Of course she already made a lunch, why would she expect me to make one for her? “Buuuuuut… if you wanna make lunch for me every daaayyy…” she practically sang, looking over at him with big, puppy dog eyes. 

     “Sure!” he enthusiastically replied, glancing at her with a grin. Her face took on a more serious look, her mouth slightly open in shock.

     “Wait, are… you being sarcastic?” she asked.

     “No, I’m serious,” he smiled. “It was good to have a little task break in the middle of my day yesterday,” he answered. “And then it won’t have to sit in your backpack for a couple hours. I don’t really think a couple hours would really change how it tastes anyways, but still. I’d be glad to do it for you.”

     Her heart lit up at the amount of sheer affection her dad displayed for her. When he first started shrinking, and especially after he got let go from his job, she had really expected his mood to take a turn for the worst, possibly for several months. But over the last couple of weeks, he seemed to really be feeling better. She remembered the day he lost his job, when she’d come home to find him passed out after having drank too much. Seeing her dad like that broke her heart, and Jessie became legitimately worried he might develop some kind of alcohol addiction. Which is why she did her best to spend more time with him over the next few days and give him things to do. But between taking her to and from school, braiding her hair occasionally, or that one time he helped her clean her room; he seemed to be getting better compared to where his emotional state used to be. And of course, she didn’t mind the extra time he was dedicating to her now because of it, most of his productivity throughout the day was in some way related to helping her out as well. “Can you bring me some trail mix though for after school? I usually don’t remember to pack snacks, and I hate mooching off of other people before the game.”

     “Yeah, of course,” he said as they pulled up to the drop-off zone. “I’ll bring some by plus some more fruit around lunch and drop it off again like yesterday.”

     “Perfect! Thank you so much,” she said, leaning over and giving him a quick peck on the cheek.

     “Make sure to remind Sarah’s mom again that I’m picking you up from now on,” he told her, and she nodded as she got out of the car. “Good luck tonight, I’ll be here to pick you up around 7:45.”

     “Thanks, see ya!” she said, closing the car door, and ran off as he drove away.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus was waiting outside the school as the games finished up for the night. Normally the last matches would end a little after 7:30, but he knew that Jessie usually liked to help clean up and hang out with her friends for a little while before leaving. He had texted her that he was here, but hadn’t received any messages back yet, and as he watched families begin to leave the gym, he knew the games were over. Maybe she just forgot to check her phone again like when I picked her up last week, he wondered, but stayed staring at the doors either way. He noticed some of the girls from the other team were beginning to leave, and a few too many of them were talking excitedly with their families or donning smiles on their face. I hope that’s not a bad sign, he thought. Suddenly he saw Jessie make her way out of the gym, her head held down, heading straight for the car. Uh-oh. With a grimace on his face, he hopped out and made his way around to the front of the car, hoping he’d be able to at least give her a hug like they had last week and hopefully make her feel better. But as she approached the vehicle, she didn’t even look up at him, and silently walked right by his hopeful, smiling face. He watched her throw her backpack and gym bag into the back seat, slamming the door closed. It even made him jump a little as he heard it. He walked back around to his driver’s side door and got back in just as Jessie angrily shut the her passenger door too. 

     Jessie was a bright, happy kid. She didn’t usually get angry. It was so rare growing up, in fact, that he didn’t quite know how to handle when she was mad. Maybe one of those teen parenting books would’ve been useful to read in the last couple years. Usually his solution was to just give her space, knowing her attitude would often fix itself with enough time. And that pretty much always worked. It was pretty rare that he felt inclined to punish her because of her behavior, but it wasn’t uncommon. She had never quite had a long-term “rebellious phase” as other people put it, but she was still young enough that he still expected it might come in the future. And it was a fear of his that only grew after shrinking down to half his daughter’s height. As he started the car up, he watched as she pried her shoes off with her heels, then dug her toes into her long, black athletic socks and slipped those off too. Then she whipped her legs up on the dash, crossing her legs and her arms as she started out her passenger window. He noticed the shimmer of her sweat was still fresh along her calves, her calves that were now resting on his leather dashboard and getting some of her perspirant on it.

     “I know you’re mad Jess,” he said quietly, “but you know I don’t like you putting your legs up there like that. It’s dangerous.”

     “I don’t care, let’s just go home,” she muttered, not even turning to look at him. He didn’t want to argue with her here in the car, and knew she probably just needed some time to cool down. So he decided to just let her be for the moment and address it later when they got home. But as he glanced at her reddened, sweaty bare feet pressing against the windshield, and realized the glass surrounding her toes was starting to fog up from their heat, he got a sickly feeling that he was gonna have a tough night ahead of him.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus pulled into the garage, and Jessie got out of the car before it had even pulled to a full stop. He pursed his lips, feeling bad about the obvious outcome of her game as she stomped her way inside the house. But he couldn’t help but feel a tinge of guilt as well. I know that me attending doesn’t have any impact on whether they win or lose. I know that. But she was still alone out there tonight. And the only reason is because I don’t have the confidence to show up. He made his way inside, and spotted his daughter in the kitchen looking in the fridge. Then she backed away, and he heard her set a glass down on the counter and close the door. She was probably parched after hours of playing. She had a tendency to use up all of the water in her water bottle relatively early on in the evening and then forget to fill it up, so on her rides home she’d never have anything to drink. And hours of aggressive running, jumping, and diving had really heated her up. 

     The garage door closed behind Marcus, and she glanced back at him, taking the glass over to the sink now and filling it up with water. He could hear her hungrily gulp the water down, needing to refill it immediately. But she took this second glass with her and walked over to her dad, her slick bare feet slapping against the wooden floor. She lifted the glass up again to her mouth and began gulping the water so much he could hear her throat as the liquid sloshed its way down. She stopped directly in front of her dad, so that he had to crane his neck up to look at her, just as she finished drinking her water. Her skin still looked a bit damp, the car ride home not providing enough time for her pores to cool off. “Do you wanna take a shower?” he asked, noticing the the smell of sweat she was emitting from standing so close. He was hoping she’d say yes, but he knew she probably didn’t walk over to him just to tell him that.

     Jessie shook her head, “I’ll take one later, but I wanted to know if you’d—“ BURRRP “—rub my back again like you did last week?” He knew her back would be significantly sweatier than last Thursday when he’d rubbed it after her game, but he wanted to improve her mood. Although he would’ve given her a back rub even if she hadn’t lost or if she hadn’t even played a game, because he loved her.

     “Yeah, of course honey,” he said, and she smiled at him. It was a weak smile, still sore from her loss, but appreciative nonetheless for his willingness to help. She put her glass down on the counter and led the way to their couch, and sat down with her back to the side of the couch, just like the week before. Then her dad climbed up behind her and sat down on the armrest, so he could reach her upper back easier. He gingerly reached his hands out and set them on her shoulders, instantly registering the warm dampness of her shirt. It wasn’t all the way wet, at least; it was warm but it wasn’t quite hot. He was glad that enough time had lapsed since her game that he wasn’t being completely grossed out by the sweat (and faint smell). 

     But without wasting any more time, he dug his thumbs into her shoulder blades, squeezing his hands around the curves of her shoulders. “Auughh, thank you,” Jessie murmured, enjoying her pampering. Marcus could feel her relax her tensed up muscles, as if her body was melting under the skin beneath his fingers. It still was a bit surprising to him that his daughter was able to feel his tiny fingers, but it was still another reason for him to be glad that he hadn’t shrunk any more than he already had. Jessie didn’t even feel inclined to pull out her phone while Marcus worked; his hands were so relaxing that she simply didn’t feel the urge to do anything else.

     After the two of them spent a silent, solid couple of minutes together while Jessie’s mini father untensed her aching back, she started yearning for a massage on another area of her body that hurt a bit more, but she knew would be a harder ask. But first, she was thirsty again. “I’m gonna go get something to drink real quick,” she said, suddenly bouncing up and heading to the kitchen. At least she seems to be in a bit of a better mood, he thought as she jumped up. Definitely not as mopey anymore. She picked her glass up from the counter and glanced back to see what her dad was doing. His head was down, examining his fingers as he patiently waited for her to return. Smiling, Jessie headed to the fridge again, and returned a minute later with an apple in her hand. 

     He glanced to the cold fruit that he figured she got from the fridge, “I thought you were getting something to drink?” 

     “I did,” she replied, taking a giant bite out of the Honeycrisp. Oh, must not’ve heard the faucet, he thought, and watched as his daughter collapsed onto her back on the couch, her legs still hanging off the side. She lulled her head back and forth against the pillow behind her head, clearly feeling a lot more relaxed and lackadaisical.

     “No more back rub? Do you feel better now?” he asked, and she shook her head, then paused, and shrugged. 

     “Well, my back does, yeah. But my feet are sore still.” Uh-oh. He knew where this conversation was headed, and what she was about to ask. And he really, really hoped she wouldn’t. He hated the smell of feet, and several hours of his teenage daughter’s volleyball game certainly wouldn’t improve their aroma. 

     “I already know what you’re gonna ask,” he started, rubbing his temples and chuckling to himself. He didn’t outright say No, I won’t like he wanted to, but he wasn’t agreeing with the prior enthusiasm he had shown towards massing her back just a few minutes ago.

     “Pleeeeease,” she pouted, “I’ve been on my feet for like, almost 12 hours. Not to mention my game obviously. And practice.” She paused in thought for a second, “And, technically, I had gym today too.” He laughed at her attempt to pile on all the evidence of wear and tear on her poor feet, and she perked up, thinking she might have won him over. But he sighed, giving her a look that said Seriously? He wasn’t convinced just yet. “I don’t get why you’d be like, 100% fine with rubbing my back, but this other, completely normal, fine, like, regular part of my body is suddenly a no. Is it because they might smell bad?”

     Marcus’ eyes went wide as if he was surprised she really had to ask that, and he chuckled again, “Yeah Jess, they—“

     “Cuz I can keep my socks on for you,” she interrupted. “Or take them off, whichever you prefer.” Her big, puppy dog eyes, filled with genuine wanting and hope, stared directly at him from across the couch. 

     He sighed, glancing down at her feet that she was still keeping on the floor out of respect, her legs contorted at a weird angle to keep them out of his vicinity while still lying on the couch. Marcus looked back at her, and her eyes hadn’t moved, still intently gazing at him. He bit his lip, “Alright, fine, just for a little bit,” he relented, and she beamed happily, leaning up momentarily before resting back down.

     “I was gonna hug you, but I’ll wait til after my shower to do that,” she giggled. But we can’t wait til after your shower for me to give you a massage? her dad wondered, but elected not to point it out. She lifted her feet onto the couch now, the heel of her right foot going in between her dad’s legs on the armrest her was still perched on, while she bent her other knee and rested the foot on her straightened leg. “I can still take my socks off or keep them on, it’s up to you,” she politely reminded him, curling the toes of her right foot so that her joints cracked and popped just below Marcus’ field of view. Her feet weren’t anything special in terms of size, neither noticeably petite or extraordinarily big. But that obviously didn’t make a difference to Marcus. To the shrunken man, her socked foot was just barely longer than his entire torso. Even with it resting on the sloped armrest between his parted legs, her toes still were as tall as his chin. If he held his legs together and Jessie rested her foot on his lap, they might even be able to reach his lips. But it wasn’t the size that bothered him as much as the smell. Mere inches from his nose, the stench from her sweaty, black-and-blue athletic socks was unmissable. Even Jessie was able to notice from several feet away. It was a musty, sour smell, although not quite stale thanks to how recently (and how long) she had been using them. Fuck, I hate them so much, he bitterly thought. But I know Jessie’s not trying to antagonize me. It’s not her fault. I mean, it is, of course, but she didn’t go out of her way to make them smell. And sometimes love isn’t always clean and pretty, remembering the far grosser things he’d done for her growing up when she was a kid. “So…?” she started, breaking his train of thoughts as she started to pull the socks down her lower shin for the foot resting on her leg. “Off?”

     “No no, sorry, I was lost in thought,” he said, scooting back a bit farther on the armrest to give himself a bit more space between her giant, gray sole and his body. “On is probably better.” As much as his daughter’s feet undeniably stank, he made a safe bet that her bare soles would likely smell worse. And maybe even be more clammy.

     “Works for me!” she said cheerily, with a hiccup too, before pulling the tube tightly back up her ankles and letting go so they slapped against her skin. Then she brought her left foot forward and sat it next to her right one, forcing her dad’s legs further apart to make room for her spacious heels. The sudden rush forward from her foot forced a second dose of her damp-smelling socks to waft towards Marcus again, reminding him of the task at hand. For the second time that night, his hands slowly reached out toward’s his daughter’s sweaty body, except now she was able to watch him, looking curiously from the space between her big toes. His hands settled on the ball of her foot, and he gulped, admitting to himself that he was the slightest bit anxious. Not out of any kind of fear, but from a mix of disgust and incredulousness. Much like her shirt from when he was rubbing her shoulders and back, the fabric that clung to her curvaceous foot was damp and moist, and he knew he’d be thoroughly washing his hands as soon as he was done. As his thumbs pressed down intently just below the ball of her foot, he was glad she hadn’t sweated even more than she already had, imagining if his pressing against her foot caused more sweat to leak out, like squeezing a sponge. He continued to work steadily and faithfully against her foot, rubbing in circles against her muscles while his palms started to accumulate some of their perspiration. Marcus watched as his daughter closed her eyes blissfully, rolling her head back with a smile. “Mmmmm, that feels really good, Daddy,” she cooed, sighing with total contentment. As much as her feet utterly stank, and as much as he didn’t like having to touch her sweaty feet, Marcus was still glad to see he could make her happy. I could never do this for her if I was smaller, he thought. What a blessing that I stopped at this size. Even though she couldn’t see him anymore through her closed eyes, he smiled back at Jessie. It made Marcus feel really good, to know that just 15 minutes ago she had been in a sour mood, her day ruined from such a humiliating upset on the court. But now, because of him, Jessie was back to her regular, happy self once again.

     He had finished working on her heel after several more minutes had passed. Unlike his own heels, or what he expected out of most heels really, he was surprised at how malleable the skin on the bottom of her foot was. Even with it harder to press against it because of his weaker strength, and even with her affinity for sports and always being on her feet, he could still tell through her socks that her heel was rather doughy and easy to press against, likely because of how young she still was. Regardless, he finished up with her left foot and moved on to her right. But she opened her eyes, realizing he was moving on to the second half of the massage, and retracted her feet from him, standing up. She almost lost balance from how quickly she stood up, and he noticed she seemed almost flushed for some reason. I guess the massage felt really good, he figured, feeling encouraged if that were true, considering he didn’t really know what he was doing in the first place. “I’m gonna go get something to drink again,” she said, and headed towards the kitchen again. She grabbed the glass off the counter once again and watched as she headed to the fridge, forgetting to look back at him this time. Wait, why isn’t she going to faucet? he wondered. Their fridge didn’t have a water dispenser. But she opened the door, and soon enough he heard the splashing of some kind of liquid make its way into her cup. Is she drinking milk? I didn’t see her grab the carton. And I thought we ran out of juice. His curiosity overtaking him, he swiveled his legs around and got off the couch, coming around to the kitchen. Despite the quiet patter of his feet, she heard him coming, and hurriedly turned slightly with her back to her approaching father as she threw her head back with more gusto to down whatever it was she was drinking. He noticed this odd, sudden behavior and became suspicious now, and arrived at the fridge just as she closed it and turned around with an empty glass. “Oh, Daddy,” she said, acting surprised as she almost ran into him. “Did you— are— did you want something to eat?” she asked frantically. She was obviously hiding something. He opened up the fridge door and gazed around while she watched helplessly behind him, knowing he was seconds away from figuring out her secret. He knew he hadn’t seen her grab the milk jug since it was on the inside door’s top shelf, and sure enough, their was no more juice carton either since Jessie had thrown it away that morning. As he scanned the contents of their fridge like he was reading a book, his eyes stopped on a red and gold colored container in the bottom left corner, with a little tap attached to the side. A container he was plenty familiar with. 

     It was his box of wine.

     He slowly closed the door and turned to look up at Jessie, whose face had suddenly lost its former blush. And then, unable to fight the urge, a long and loud BUURRRRP escaped from her mouth. She tried to smile, but her father wasn’t buying it this time. Jessie had been caught.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     "Jessie, have you been drinking my wine?" Marcus asked. Suddenly their time together ever since they came home made a bit more sense. Her flushed face from before, her hiccups and burps, how easily her mood improved.

     The young girl glanced away and bit the inside of her cheek, knowing there was absolutely no way she’d be able to lie or wiggle her way out of this one. “Yeah…” she quietly admitted. But she still felt like it was unfair. She didn’t even feel like she was that drunk. Not to mention her dad had “fallen asleep” (or had he passed out, she wondered) after several drinks of hard liquor just a few weeks ago when he had been fired. 

     “So… three cups then?” he asked, trying to remember all the times she had visited the fridge that evening.

     She solemnly nodded again. “Yeah.”

     He tried to do the math in his head. Does being younger make you get drunk quicker? No, he didn’t think that was true. But being young does make you skinnier, which makes you drunk quicker. He quickly glanced over his daughter’s athletic but still slim body while her eyes were cast downwards in shame. He was sure that most girls her age would be under a hundred pounds still, but she was almost 5 and a half feet, and had some muscles on her. 110, 120 pounds? Still a lot less than I used to weigh. Normally if he was at a friend’s house or special event, he’d limit himself to 2 glasses of wine for the night, just to be safe for the drive home. Or maybe 3 if he was gonna be there for a few hours. There was no way his teenage daughter, who even now weighed a good 50 or 60 pounds less than he used to, wasn’t over the legal driving limit. Not that it mattered, technically, since she wasn’t even old enough to drive anyway and they didn’t have anywhere to go that evening. And that’s the legal limit for adults, he realized too. She’s a fucking 13 year old girl! 

     “It would’ve been one thing if you had just snuck a small glass because you wanted a taste,” he said. “I would’ve still been upset, but at least it wouldn’t have been as bad, you just being curious. But three glasses Jess?” Her eyes still downwards, the girl let out a hiccup, as if on cue. He rolled his eyes, and she couldn’t suppress herself from giggling at how poetically timed her disruption was. And then she hiccuped again. “AND tomorrow’s a school day. You have to be in bed in less than an hour.”

     “I’m sorry,” she said now, looking up from the floor now and into his eyes so he could see she meant it. “I just remembered how you had had something to drink after you got laid off, and since I was in a bad mood, I just like, I dunno, I had the idea.” She sniffled, and her voice started to crack as a tear slipped down her cheek. “And I remember learning a couple years ago in school that they drank beer on the Mayflower because they didn’t have any water, and I figured those kids turned out fine so I was gonna just drink like some kind of beer, but then I realized it’d be—“ she interrupted herself with some coughs, several more tears starting to drip down her face now, and Marcus’ expression softened as he could tell she evidently felt genuine remorse after what she did. And obviously, he never liked to see his daughter cry. No father did. “I realized it’d be easier to just drink your wine cuz it was like right there, and then I figured it wouldn’t be as strong as your liquor so it might not get me as drunk, but then after the first time I had some I barely felt anything and I was like ‘well why did I even drink it in the first place’ which is why I went back a second time and I still feel like I didn’t really feel it so I got up a third time but that time I could definitely feel it as I stood up but I also felt so much more relaxed at the same time and I didn’t wanna seem suspicious so I thought I should just keep doing what I was doing so then I—“

     “Shhh, shhh,” Marcus cooed, stepping forward now to wrap his arms around Jessie’s thigh and do his best to hug her in reassurance. The tears were flowing a lot more freely now and she was sniffing more as she tried to keep her nose from running. But as her dad wrapped her in a hug, she stopped babbling and broke out into a full on hard cry, breaking off her dad’s hug as her knees bent while she slumped down on the ground against the kitchen cabinets with her legs stretched out. Marcus knew she had probably sat down so she could be on the same level as him, but before he could hug her again, her own arms wrapped tightly around his and squeezed him against her. As his head was pushed into her hair next to her ear, he did his best to wrap his arms around her neck, just above her collarbone. Thankful for her dad’s always caring nature, she squeezed him harder, pulling him slightly closer into her embrace, and just enough that his feet left the floor and were draped against her slouched hips. But he didn’t even notice. He was too intent on trying to soothe Jessie, stroking the back of her neck with his hands and rubbing behind her shoulder. “It’s OK, at least you know what you did was wrong. That’s good.” She softened her grip, his feet finding the floor again, and he took a few steps back. “First off, for what it’s worth, yes, the kids did drink beer on the Mayflower,” he chuckled, and Jessie chuckled too as she was reminded how goofy her excuse sounded. “But it was a LOT less alcoholic than modern alcohol. Way, way more watered down than anything you’d buy from a store. And they didn’t drink it because they wanted to, they had to because of how long the journey was.” Jessie sniffed again and wiped some of the tear stains off her face. “And they lived hundreds of years ago, so we don’t really know if they turned out fine.”

     He stepped closer again. “I don’t enforce those kinds of rules because I just like the feeling of power or control. I want you to grow up to be the best you can possibly be, and drinking at a young age can stunt your growth, or turn you into an alcoholic when you’re older. Which obviously, neither of us want. I know most other countries have a drinking age of 18, and I think a couple might even be lower. So maybe when you’re in high school I’ll let you have a small glass every once in awhile. But I think you had a bit more than just a few ounces,” he laughed. She blushed, knowing he was right. “And someone as young as you shouldn’t even be having a little bit.” He paused, a worrying possibility in his head. “Was that your first time having any? Either from our fridge, or anywhere else?” She nodded, taking on a more serious face now, and he could tell she was being honest, so he breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good at least. The third glass won’t have kicked in yet, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you end up feeling nauseous in a little bit. You might even need to throw up.”

     Jessie looked down again, not looking forward to that possibility. “Are you still gonna punish me?” Marcus sighed; punishing Jessie had always been the worst part of being a father. He never looked forward to it, but knew it had to be done.

     “Well I have to do something,” he said. “Your actions should have consequences, even if you realize you messed up. But you did realize that you messed up, which is good. And this is the first time this has happened too, which is also good.” He crossed his arms and stroked his chin, thinking of something that would feel suitable.

     She watched him think, but hated the not-knowing. She already felt a mountain of guilt, and was beyond glad that he had gone so easy on her already. “I hate feeling this way,” she pouted, “I just wanna get it over with.” But then her drunken mind had an idea of her own, and she stood up, almost falling back over in the process. The alcohol was definitely starting to kick in, and her sense of normalcy and ethics became murky as her inhibitions lowered. “Can you just spank me, Daddy? So we can get this over with?” She leaned over the counter with her ass in front of her dad’s face now, recognizing nothing wrong or odd about her behavior. Her black, spandex volleyball shorts stretched tight over her butt, contrasting with the milky whiteness of her thighs. Little was left to the imagination as the shorts slowly rode higher and closer to the cusp of her cheeks while she waited for what her increasingly intoxicated brain assumed was an ample and fit punishment.

     Marcus recoiled and looked away from his daughter, shocked at how nonchalant she was being in her inebriated state. He knew she wasn’t intentionally being sexual about it, but she wasn’t a child anymore and was past the age of being spanked. So with how tight Jessie’s shorts were and how large her ass loomed in front of his face, the notion of being prompted to spank her scared him straight. Besides, she was the one in trouble; she shouldn’t be choosing her punishment! “No, Jess,” he stuttered, still too taken aback to be properly stern. “You’re 13, you’re too old for spankings, I’m just gonna pick something out.”

     “But I’d just rather get it out of the way,” she protested, squirming on the counter with impatience and frustration. “It’ll be harsh and quick and then I won’t need to think about it ever again.”

     “I already said no, Jess. I don’t think it’s a proper punishment for a parent to use anyways.“

     “Pleeeeease, Daddy?” she whined, jutting her ass further out. He could actually hear the spandex as it stretched over her soft skin. It was the final straw for the disrespected father. “It’ll be so—“

     “Jessie Tilden!” he yelled, moving his head aside so he could look past her butt and towards her drooping, pouty face on the counter. He almost never used her full name, so he was hoping that it would send a message and finally get through to her drunken head. She pulled her butt back towards her and stood up straight again, turning slowly back around. Guess that finally worked. Suddenly, she spun back around and vomited into the sink, the strong, acidic remnants of her drink bursting back out of her. 

     She groaned, her hands on both sides of the sink as they propped her slumped over form up that hung over the drain, ready but not eager for the second round she felt coming. Marcus sighed, reaching his hand up to her lower back to try and comfort her. “I think however you feel for the next couple hours will probably be a pretty good discipline in itself.” Jessie nodded, sober enough to agree with him. She was the only one to blame for how she was feeling right now. “So I won’t ground you or take your phone or anything,” he continued, “but I won’t be taking you to or from school for at least a few days. That was a privilege.” She nodded again. It’ll be just like how things were a few weeks ago, so hardly even that bad of a punishment anyways. I’d say that’s fair, given the circumstances. “Here, why don’t you head to the bathroom so you can puke in the toilet if you need to again, and I’ll wash the sink out,” he suggested, patting her on the back as she slowly backed away.

     “OK,” she mumbled, slowly trudging towards the hallway. What a wild chain of events over the last half hour, Marcus thought as he watched her leave. 

     He turned back towards the sink and scooted his stool over so he could reach it. As gross as it was, he chuckled as he saw her vomit splashed around the sink, reminded of the first time he had tried alcohol too, and how nauseous he had gotten after drinking too much. “Like father, like daughter,” he quietly remarked, and grabbed the sprayer to wash away the evidence of Jessie’s unfortunate turn of events.

======================

Wednesday, October 28

======================

     Marcus had a rough night sleeping, so he ended up waking around 8am instead of his usual 7. He checked Jessie’s room and saw that it was empty, and after peeking through the rest of the house it seemed that he was all alone. Good, I guess. She should be starting school right about now, he thought, glancing at the clock on the wall. Although I wouldn’t have blamed her if she felt too sick to head in this morning. He headed back to his room and picked up his phone to send her a text. “Hey, I see you made it school this morning, that’s good. Did you sleep well? Are you hungover? Love you b29;” Besides a quick message to see if she felt fine, he figured the best approach would be to just move past what happened last night. 

     Luckily she was only in the first few minutes of class, so she was able to reply right away. “tossed and turned a lot but slept ok, almost missed the bus. idk if im hungover tho, whats it feel like? also love u too 🥰” 

     “Aha!” he blurted out, chuckling at her reply. He couldn’t tell if she was serious or just kidding around. “You would know if you’re hungover lol, guess you’re fine. That’s good! See you when you get home,” he wrote back, lightly giving her a reminder that he wouldn’t be picking her up. 

     She just sent back two “OK” emojis, and he put his phone back down, glad to see she was seemingly back to her regular self.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     It was almost 5:30 when Jessie came home from school. He half-expected her to be in somewhat of an upset mood that he hadn’t picked her up from practice, but as she practically skipped through the front door and headed to the kitchen to find a snack, he could see no signs of a lingering bad mood. Everything that had happened yesterday — her sour attitude after her game, her revelation that she had been sneakily sipping his alcohol (and was drunk), and her uncomfortable proposition that Marcus could ‘spank’ her — there was no evidence that any of it had ever happened.

     After finishing an apple while she was sitting quietly at the table, not looking at her phone like usual and just watching her dad cook dinner, she felt there was something important she had to tell him. “Hey Daddy?” she said, and he turned away from the stove to see what she needed.

     “What’s up?”

     She swallowed her last bite of apple and took in a deep breath. “I just wanted to say sorry about yesterday. For getting… drunk,” she winced, “and stealing some of your wine and stuff.” She looked down and frowned. “I just figured I should like, say something. Cuz I felt bad.” She didn’t even want to mention the part where she asked him to spank her. With a clear, sober head, she was every bit as aware now as her father was last night of how awkward and weird that moment was. The thought of acting like that around her dad again scared her away from alcohol far more than just getting nauseous or vomiting again. Jessie was glad that he hadn’t mentioned it all day either.

     “I’m glad you said that. And you know I completely forgive you. I’m sure it won’t happen again, but just so you know, if you ever get drunk again when you’re at someone else’s house, or high, or God forbid anything worse, it’s important for you to know that you can call me, and I’ll pick you up and take you home, no questions asked. When you’re older and you and your friends start to drive, I don’t want you risking your life because you didn’t feel like you could trust me to come get you.” She nodded solemnly, smiling with reassurance. She really did have such a great dad. “You don’t even need to be in any immediate trouble, if there’s just a guy at some party who’s creeping you out, I’ll still come get you,” he joked, and she laughed, glad that he could lighten the mood. “Come gimme a hug,” he added last, and opened up his arms on top of his stool while she got up and came around to embrace him. “I love you, Jess,” he said, squeezing her tight to let her know that he’d do everything in his power to keep her safe for as long as he lived.

     She squeezed him back, feeling the same protective way about her father because of his shrunken size. “I love you too.”

====================

Thursday, October 29

====================

     Because of how apologetic his daughter had been the day before (and because he knew she didn’t exactly love her old carpooling arrangement), Marcus decided to pick her up on Thursday after her game. He had texted her that afternoon to let her know of his decision, and the string of smiley faces and cartoon hearts that had come back to him put a smile on his face. Now he sat in his car outside of the school gym, watching as she bounded towards his car. She definitely didn’t lose today, he thought with a smile. “Hey Daddy!” she beamed as she opened the car’s side door, tossing in her gym bag and backpack. She shut it again and opened up the passenger door, hopping into the seat beside her dad. “Thanks for picking me up,” she said, clicking in her seatbelt.

     “No problem,” he replied, starting up the car. “It sounds like you won?” he asked, maneuvering his way out of the school parking lot and onto the road.

     “Yep! Each of our teams won their games, and our team won all 3 sets,” she stated proudly, to which Marcus smiled and nodded approvingly.

     “That’s great, Jess!” he replied, and the two continued talking about their days for the rest of the ride home.

     Arriving back at the house, Marcus pulled into the driveway and started to speak as he peered around the garage. “Hey sweetie, I’ve been waiting for you to get home for a few hours cuz I need you to reach something from one of the top cabinets, I can’t get it even with my stools,” he explained, getting out of the car and pointing to the row of cupboards along the top of their garage. “We’ll probably need to move everything out of those cabinets anyways so I won’t keep going to you for help, but we can leave that for a weekend activity.”

     “Sure,” Jessie replied, grabbing her things out of the back seat. “Lemme just bring my stuff inside real quick.” Marcus watched as she headed in with her gym bag and backpack slung around each shoulder. As the garage door closed shut behind her, the garage was totally silent as Marcus waited for her to come back out. What if she tries sneaking some wine again, should I head in too? he was beginning to wonder, just as the door opened back up and she came back out. He internally breathed a sigh of relief, before catching himself: Do I not trust Jessie anymore? “So, what’d you need me to get?” she asked, hands on her hips as she looked up at the cabinets.

     “Oh, the leftmost one,” he instructed, and Jessie grabbed a stepping stool nearby and positioned it at the bottom of the cupboard. “There should be a folder with a bunch of papers in it.” As she stepped up to the top of the stool, he became eye level with the back of her knees. People being taller than him while on stools had obviously never been intimidating when he was full size, but he didn’t feel as neutral about it at two-and-a-half feet. 

     “Oh! I forgot we kept some of our games up here,” she exclaimed, pulling out a white box instead of what Marcus had asked for. “We haven’t played Twister in years!” she said, tilting the box sideways and slightly upside down to show her dad, just in case he had forgotten the classic living room game. 

     “That’s true, but are the files up there?”

     Jessie tucked the box of Twister under her arm and turned back to the cabinet, “Yeah, don’t worry,” she said, grabbing it with her other hand, and leaned back carefully to maneuver her head behind the cabinet door and close it with her forehead. She stepped back down to the ground and handed the folder to her dad. He took it, and realized the size and weight made it feel like carrying a messenger bag but without a handle.

     “Thanks,” he said, but Jessie didn’t turn to head inside, and he glanced at the box of Twister under her arm. “I’m gonna bet you don’t wanna play by yourself,” he noted, and she giggled, shaking her head from side to side.

     “Nope! I just figured it’d be fun to play. What do you think?”

     He actually wasn’t opposed to the idea. He had been valuing the extra time he and Jessie were spending together, and a board game (or whatever kind of game Twister was) seemed like a great way to do that. But… “As much as I’d love to, I don’t know how well it would work for me at my size,” he admitted.

     But Jessie couldn’t be dissuaded. “I know, that’s what’ll make it so much fun,” she smirked, jabbing a finger into his chest and spinning on her heel to bring it inside.

     He followed in after her. “Again, I’d love to play something with you, but why don’t you pick a different game?”

     “Nope!” she said again. “I already picked this one, and like I said, we haven’t played it in years.” She could tell he looked upset, gauging in his head how unfair the game would really be. It’s literally the only board game we have that I’d be disadvantaged at. “Look, if you really don’t wanna play, we don’t have to,” she said, setting the box down on the couch. “I was kinda joking earlier. But I do think it’ll be fun.”

     He did want to play, since it was still spending time with his daughter. He just knew there was also a 99% chance he would lose, and going in with those odds was disheartening. “I’ll be honest, I’m surprised you wanna play a board game at all, I figured you’d want another foot rub after your game like you had on Tuesday.”

     “Well I do,” she smiled. “There’s no reason we can’t do both, Twister doesn’t take that long and neither should a massage. I didn’t like, think you were doing that anymore because of you not taking me to school or bringing me lunch or stuff like that, but since you seem to be offering, mind as well!” she giggled. Fuck, walked right into that one. 

     “Alright fine, we’ll play Twister, and I’ll think about the foot rub,” he replied, and Jessie squealed with excitement, clasping her hands together. “But if we’re gonna be contorting our bodies all around each other, you need to take a shower first.”

     “OK!” Not wasting any time, she dashed off towards the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her and quickly undressing so she could wash up. 

     Meanwhile, from the living room, Marcus was a little astounded with all the energy she still seemed to have after her game. “Didn’t know she wanted to play that badly,” he chuckled, and settled into the couch as he heard the shower turn on from down the hall.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Jessie’s front door swung open, and she came barreling down the hall, sliding across the wood for the last stretch on her fresh, white ankle socks. She was wearing pink pajama shorts and a matching gray t-shirt, accented with the same subtle pattern of the shorts. She froze, seeing her dad lying in wait on the couch, still dressed in slim cut jeans and a soft, black sweater. “You’re still dressed in your normal clothes?” she asked, judging his outfit for the game. Even the decision to not change clothes was a choice in itself, and even besides her size and flexibility, she’d be getting a third advantage now since her pajamas were much lighter and breezier. She marched over to the couch, and pulled him off the cushions. “Go change, Daddy. We’re not playing til you do,” she stated, crossing her arms. “You’ll thank me later.”

     Marcus held up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, I didn’t know you’d take it so seriously,” he laughed, heading to his room to put on some shorts and a tee like his daughter. He emerged back outside a minute later to find Jessie rolling out the game mat, except it was a 4x4 set of circles instead of the 4x6 that he thought was typical. “Isn’t it supposed to be longer?” he asked, eyebrow raised at its conspicuous size.

     She leaned over to one of the corners and stuck her finger underneath the mat, tugging some of it out from under itself. She had folded the last two rows underneath. “Normally yeah, but normally we’d also be playing with more than two people.”

     “Twister can be a two person game, that’s how we usually played when you were a kid.”

     “Yeah, two full-sized people, and even then it’s not that hard. The whole aim of the game is to not fall over, or force your opponents to, which would be too hard with all the space they normally give. So I decided to make it smaller to help the game go faster,” she clarified.

     “But what if all 4 circles of a certain color are taken and then we roll that color again?”

     “Same as if we had 3 or 4 people playing,” she answered, and leaped through the air towards her dad, landing expertly on his feet so that her large, arched soles were sideways covering his own, smaller feet. An example of what she’d do if the need arose. Her body was right up against his, but he felt like he couldn’t even lean back if he wanted to since her feet had anchored him beneath her own. Marcus looked straight upwards, towards his daughter’s large, smiling face as she opened her lips to answer his question: “We’ll share.” Then in one fluid motion, she twisted back around and hopped off her dad, giving him the freedom to move about again. “Since it can be hard to spin the spinner sometimes as a player and we only have two people, we’re gonna use an app instead,” she explained, showing her dad her phone screen. “Ready?” she asked, and he nodded his head, twisting his back and cracking his neck in anticipation. “Spin!” she instructed, and they both watched as the app’s virtual spinner started whirling around on her phone. 

     “Left foot, green,” announced a robotic, feminine voice, as a cartoon image of a foot appeared against a solid green backdrop. Green being right in front of Marcus, he put his left foot down on the circle second from the left. Jessie set the phone upright against the couch cushions so they’d be able to see the screen still, before walking over to her dad, proudly stomping her foot onto the leftmost square, right next to her dad’s. I guess 2 out of 3 of her options would’ve been next to mine, he reasoned, feeling a bit crowded already. 

     Jessie beamed down at him, ready for round two. “Spin!”

     The phone lit back up, and transitioned back to the spinner as the dial starting rotating again. “Right foot, green.” Marcus picked the easiest option for himself, and put his other foot on the circle next to his first. With her dad occupying the middle two circles, that left Jessie’s only option as the circle on the far right. 

     She bit her lip as she looked at the mat, deciding her best move. “OK, there’s like, literally only one way I can do this,” she told herself.

     “You’re gonna have to lean around me,” Marcus commented.

     She frowned, not wanting her dad to pick her strategy for her. “Why shouldn’t you have to lean around me,” she said, and began to lift her leg up, rising fast in front of her dad. Bringing her foot all the way up to waist level, she brought it forward now, and teasingly patted him on the head with the ball of her foot. “I don’t have to lean around anything I don’t wanna lean around,” she explained, and continued to carry her foot forward, her leg passing over her surprised father.

     “Jess, wait,” he started to say, but she was already in motion, and she began to bring her foot downwards now, so that her leg landed atop Marcus’ head and began sliding across it as the rest of her leg’s momentum brought it back down towards the floor. As her right foot landed on the floor, her crotch fell onto the top of her dad’s head, pushing it downwards as it demanded room in his place. 

     “Oops, sorry,” she smirked. “I thought you were shorter than that.” That first might’ve been a joke, but she was honest about forgetting to account for his height. Regardless, he was ducked down now, eclipsed on both sides by his daughter’s long, tall legs. Even though she was wearing shorts, he was scared to look up, and wanted to quickly move on.

     “Spin!” he yelled out, taking the reins for the next round. They continued to play a few more rounds, and besides his issue with the first round, Marcus was surprised how well he was able to play. He was generally able to reach a circle before Jessie was, meaning there was more contortion and twisting required on her part. He had to stretch more, but he was still young and limber enough that he could manage. Their left feet never moved from their spots on green, but several more minutes into the game, Marcus wound up with his right foot on the top row yellow, northeast of his left foot on second row green, both in the second row; his left hand was stretched out behind him, on the bottom row blue; and their right hand had yet to be called yet. Meanwhile, Jessie’s left foot was still on the first row green from round one; her right foot was above her dad’s and next to her left, top row yellow; and her left hand was on the third row blue, also above her dad’s. While her dad was having to stretch himself, she was slightly more comfortable, her left foot and hand making a kind of triangle shape as she held herself sideways over the mat. 

     “Right hand, red,” the game announced next. Tired of carrying so much of his weight on his left arm, Marcus quickly took the third row red, able to finally balance himself on all four limbs. They weren’t doing yoga, of course, but his body resembled the purvottanasana pose, except with his limbs slightly more splayed due to his size, and his arms reaching a little bit further back behind him.

     “That’s what I was gonna pick,” Jessie pouted, her head turned behind her to see his choice. He shrugged his shoulders with a smile, while she scoured the mat. “Aha!” she announced, finding her next move. Except while her dad had to stretch himself out to fit across the length of the mat, Jessie was twice his height, and therefore twice his length. So since she didn’t need to take on the same form as Marcus, her legs began to lower to the ground, closer to her dad’s body. His head was upright but looking upwards as he watched, while she reached her right arm out above and behind him towards the bottom red spot. But her torso was upright, her legs able to reach most of the distance, meaning that she was effectively positioning herself into a kind of L-sit pose. Her long, bare legs stretched over the entirety of Marcus’ body, and he knew that if he looked up, he’d see her butt, clad in her cute, pink pajama shorts as it descended down over his head. With a resounding THUMP, her hand reached the mat, her ass landing on his head and pushing him down for the second time that game. In doing so, Marcus found his arms forcibly bent, like he was in the middle of a backwards push-up, except his elbows contorted uncomfortably outwards. He tried straightening them, but as his dome pushed up against his young daughter’s squishy butt, he knew he wouldn’t be able to move her much larger, heavier body. As his arms started to shake from discomfort, he realized the only option if he wanted to lift the rest of his body, would be to tilt his head backwards so it wasn’t in the way of Jessie’s butt anymore. But as he slid it backwards and raised his body back up, it forced his face to look upwards, gazing directly into his daughter’s giant butt. He tried to glance in other directions, but its presence was so vast that it couldn’t be ignored, a mere inch above his petrified face. Above him, Jessie could only partially tell what was going on. She knew that her butt had landed on her dad’s head, but there wasn’t anything she could do. Once again, she had overestimated how short he was, but this was just how Twister was. Uncomfortable and awkward positions, one after the other. “You good down there Daddy?” she asked, as his head tilted even further back, forcing his chin and mouth to brush against the fabric of her shorts, although at least his eyes gained some distance from her. If she lowered herself any further though, her butt would begin to press against his chin, and not just the fabric of her shorts. 

     “Yeah,” he managed to say. The top of his face had some room now in between him and Jessie’s butt, but it still occupied his whole field of view. 

     “Good, cuz I kinda need to fart,” she confessed, and his eyes went wide with fear, before she burst out snickering. Her entire body shook with how hard she was laughing at having scared her father with the possibility of passing gas in his face, but he wasn’t taking any chances.

     “Spin, spin!” he yelled out, causing her to laugh even harder since she knew he had just confirmed how nervous he had been. Left hand yellow was called and he quickly got his way out from underneath her body while she continued giggling at his misfortune. And so the game continued.

     Several turns later, the two of them found themselves in a similar position, except facing towards the floor instead of the ceiling. Jessie’s was in a push-up position looking down, while her father had just maneuvered into a similar position below her, but with his legs crossed. “This game’s been going on kind of a while,” Jessie remarked, not wanting to lose, but aware that her bad time was fast approaching, and she still hadn’t had her foot rub yet. 

     “What, you wanna give up?” Marcus teased. Despite enduring several compromising positions with his daughter, he was still determined to win.

     “No, but one of us needs to start playing more aggressively,” she remarked. “Hey Daddy?”

     “Yeah?”

     “Can you turn around?” She had devised an idea. Marcus did his best to twist his torso to the side, thanks to his crossed legs, and turned the rest of the way with his neck to see what she wanted. Out of the bottom of his peripheral vision, he could see that her t-shirt’s hung down from her chest, and her neck hole showed inside. For the third time that evening, he dared not to look, knowing there was a straight line of sight down the center of her chest since she wasn’t wearing a bra, and the slopes of her growing breasts started to curve downwards from the valley in the middle “Hey Daddy?” she repeated, her ominous face smiling directly above him, as he tried his best to ignore the display that his daughter was unawarely putting on.

     “What?” he demanded, a hint of impatience in his tone now.

     “I love youuuu,” she sang, and puckered her lips while closing her eyes, bringing her head down and pecking him on the tip of his nose. She retreated back up and opened her eyes, smiling again to gauge his reaction.

     “I love you too, honey,” he said, pursing his lips at her weird antics. She closed her eyes again and brought her lips back down. His tiny nose nestled a little bit deeper into her lips as she held it for slightly longer. 

     “Mmmmmwah!” she said, bringing her head back up again. He sighed, This is her plan, really?

     “Thanks Jess,” he said, rolling his eyes at her behavior. But she wasn’t done. A third time, her lips descended on the tip of his nose, except this time her eyes were open and as soon as she reached his nose, she continued to lower her head, forcefully kissing him downwards. “Mmmmmmmmmmm…” she hummed, her soft lips enveloping slightly more of his nose as he fought back to keep from being squished downwards. But he couldn’t fight back. His arms began to bend again and started to buckle, and he realized she had dawned a smile upon seeing he was about to touch the floor and lose. With one last effort, he desperately reached his left arm skywards, and found Jessie’s armpit. 

     “Gotcha,” he whispered triumphantly as her smile faltered and eyes widened. Just then, he danced his little fingers into her armpit, and she shrieked out a high-pitched whimper, instantly spasming her armpit shut and crumpling to the ground from surprise. She landed on her dad, but he was already laughing heartily, knowing he had won. “I didn’t think I’d actually win,” he admitted.

     “You didn’t win,” she said defiantly, but her bubbling giggles gave away her true feelings of agreement. “Technically since you hit the ground first, I won.” Marcus scoffed and rolled his eyes. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, he counted that as a win in his book. He had won, against his giant, Amazonian daughter. Against all odds. He was proud of himself. But his pride was about to be short-lived as Jessie leapt to her feet, and reminded him of the last thing they had planned for the night. “I don’t have that much time before bed, but you told me you’d give me a foot rub afterwards.” She hopped onto the couch and stretched her feet out to the other end. “Plus I just showered, and my socks are clean, so I smell good and I’m nice and clean and fresh.” 

     Marcus got up too and chuckled, “Alright, alright, you don’t need to convince me, I already agreed to it accidentally.” She giggled and lifted her feet up so he could scooch in under them with his back against the armrest. She dropped her socked peds back down on his lap as he glanced at the clock. “OK, you can have 7 minutes, then you need to go brush your teeth and head to bed.”

     “That’s enough time for me,” she said, leaning back onto a pillow and closing her eyes as Marcus got to work massaging her soles. After only 5 minutes of rubbing her feet, Marcus had noticed that Jessie’s breathing had slowed somewhat, her eyes still closed. Was she falling asleep? He gingerly removed his hands from her feet to see if she’d notice. For a few moments, all was still. Nothing was said. And nobody moved. 

     Wow, she passed out pretty— he began to think, before she shifted further into her seat, stretching her legs outwards. Her foot was raised in her slumber and it pushed against his face, her soft, fuzzy socks caressing his cheek while her heel dug into his sternum, pressing his body somewhat painfully against the cushioned corner of the armrest. He was at least glad that she had showered and put on some fresh clothes like she mentioned a few minutes ago; he still didn’t like her unconscious assault, but at least it didn’t smell bad. “Agh! Stop it, Jess” he grumbled frustratedly while he pushed against her foot to get it off. Still asleep, he pinched her ankle, “Jessie, wake up!” he yelled out, much louder now, and her eyes shot open, darting down to see she had accidentally trapped her father against the couch.

     “Shit, sorry,” she said, quickly removing her feet and bundling them back up against her body while blushing. “How long was I asleep?”

     “It’s been 5 minutes, Jess,” he answered, still somewhat annoyed. 

     She glanced at the clock. “Oh,” she chuckled nervously. “Well, thanks for the… massage, I guess” she stammered, and got up, brushing her hair back as she recomposed herself from her prior embarrassment. “’Night,” she said, rushing off to the bathroom to brush her teeth, while Marcus sat back in bewilderment at all the ridiculousness over the last hour.

==================

Friday, October 30

==================

     Marcus was in the middle of reading a book on Friday when his phone vibrated, and after turning it on he saw he had gotten a text from Jessie. “AHHHHHHHH” was all it read, and Marcus chuckled, wondering if her freakout was one of celebration or fear from something. Either way, if that was her first reaction, it must not be too serious. Then he got the follow up: “i just remembered that i forgot to do my laundry yesterday, but i cant do it after school cuz im going over to paris’s, but im ALSO going to a party tomorrow for halloween and i need clean clothes for my costume.”

     “You’re going to a halloween party tomorrow?”

     “oh yeaaaaaa 😬 forgot to tell u… but yea”

     “Would’ve been nice to get a heads up.”

     “why, can i not go? and yes like i honestly just forgot, i was only invited a couple days ago anyways”

     “No that’s fine, you can go. Did you need a ride?”

     “idk yet”

     “OK, well what was your original text for? About your laundry. Did you want me to do it for you?”

     “… 😊”

     “Lol alright, sure I can put your stuff in the wash. But you have to remember to put them in the dryer tonight if you want it ready for tomorrow.”

     “DEAL omg thank uuuu and ill see u when i get home practice is about to start cya”

     Marcus sighed, knowing this was far from the first time that Jessie had asked him to do something for her while she was at school or practice or a friend’s, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last. But that was OK with him, he did those things because he loved her. Making his way to her room, he realized he wasn’t sure if she needed all of her laundry done, or just whites or colors. He pulled his phone back out to ask her, but saw her last text and realized she was in class. It’ll be at least an hour and a half before she answers anyways, and I’ll be making dinner by then so I might not see her text. Or I can just do everything. As he rounded the corner into her room, he saw that there was almost nothing on the floor, but her hamper was mostly full. Well, I guess that answers that, he mused. There were still a few socks and a discarded t-shirt lying around, so he picked those up and tossed them in with everything else. Grabbing the tops of the laundry basket, he was surprised by how heavy all her clothes were. Or rather, how heavy just a week of her clothes are. He didn’t want to haul the entire basket, which was nearly as tall as him, down outside, through the hallway and the house, and out to the garage. “Two trips it is,” he told himself with a sigh. He didn’t want to handle her delicates if he didn’t need to, so he decided he’d take out all her regular clothes and leave her underwear and bras and lighter clothes to be taken as the first wash, then come back later for a second load with her dark colored clothing. He couldn’t remember how she liked to sort her laundry - Should I put her whites in with her lights but keep them separate from her delicates? Marcus shook his head, deciding she could figure out how to finish her laundry when she got home. At the least, he knew to wash her lingerie separate from her regular clothes, and those were probably the most important.

     Since he didn’t want to have to go get one of his stools from the kitchen or the garage, he grabbed an empty box from nearby and stood on it so he could reach into Jessie’s hamper easier. Rifling through the first few clothes, he pulled out some shirts, jeans, and a hoodie, tossing them on the floor for the next batch. Then he leaned in further, teetering on the edge of the box as he tried to grab at a blue halter top on the opposite side of the basket. As much as the box helped him in seeing over the edge of the hamper, he still had relatively short arms for reaching into them. He kept leaning, further and further at the waist into the basket, until he felt the box under his feet suddenly tip over, and without a foothold anymore he fell forward into his daughter’s pile of dirty clothes. Groaning, but glad that nobody had been around to see his mishap, he tried standing up. The floor of discarded clothing was uneven and easily sank beneath his feet, but he managed to get upright again. At least I’m not any smaller, he thought, looking back out at her room. If I was half my size, I probably wouldn’t be able to climb back out, and I’d just have to wait here for however many hours until Jess came home and found me. But he wasn’t that small; he could still do some things on his own. 

     Marcus knew he wouldn’t be able to hop over because the laundry flooring wasn’t firm enough, but the hamper itself was also made out of too bendy and stretchy of a material for him to firmly grab onto. So he hoped momentum would be enough for him, and leaned his body slowly further and further outwards, hoping to fall back out from his daughter’s laundry prison just as he had fallen in. He grinned as he felt his body start to gravitate towards his torso instead of his legs, and eventually his body tipped back out of the basket, but not before his foot snagged on the handle of the hamper. Successfully, the man fell out of the basket and onto the floor, but his foot dragged the top of the basket with it, which in turn yanked the entire hamper to its side. He couldn’t stop it from tipping over in his direction. It followed him in falling  all the way down on its side, on top of his legs, and Jessie’s dirty clothes spilled out on top of him. God, I cannot catch a break! He pulled various articles of clothing off of him as he stood up, not quite disgusted, but still frustrated by how needlessly long this whole ordeal was. Just to wash some clothes. With almost everything off of him, he felt one last thing still around his neck, hanging down behind him. He pulled it up over his head and out in front of him. Surprised at what it was, he gasped slightly and quickly let go. 

     It was a thong.

     If he wasn’t grossed out before, he definitely was now, realizing a pair of his young daughter’s skimpy underwear had just been hanging around him like a necklace. It wasn’t a g-string, but it was still considerably skimpier than the boyshorts and briefs she typically wore for underwear. Was she hiding this from me? Is this her only one? After Jessie’s fiasco with sneaking drinks of wine the other night, was this a secret she had been holding onto for much longer? She must’ve bought it for herself, because I certainly never got it for her. Is this normal? Did she buy it for a boy? He had so many questions, but he knew he couldn’t ask her any of them right now. He recognized as a single father to a young daughter, there were bound to be instances that were outside his realm of knowledge. He had done his best to educate himself on women’s issues as he raised Jessie, but there were inevitable circumstances that he simply could not prepare for. And wondering whether or not it’s OK for my 13-year-old to be wearing thongs is one of those unforeseen circumstances. With a reluctant sigh, he picked it up and tossed it back into the hamper, along with her other delicates that needed to be washed. I’ll just wait til she’s home to talk to her about it, he concluded, and grabbed the laundry basket handles to haul it out towards the washing machine.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     The front door opened while Marcus was seated at the table eating dinner, and in came Jessie, her backpack and sports bag slung over her shoulders. “Paris’ mom had another meeting thing tonight,” she explained, “so she couldn’t hang out tonight.” She slung her things off by the door since it was now officially the weekend, and went to the kitchen to grab a plate. “You’re eating pretty early,” she commented; it wasn’t even 5:30 yet.

     “I figured I’d be eating alone, and I got hungry so there was no need for me to wait. Who brought you home?” he asked, watching as she scooped some mashed potatoes, pot roast, and green beans onto her plate.

     “Harper's dad,” she replied, bringing her dinner to the table opposite her dad. “I didn’t text you that Paris had to cancel, right? This is a pretty big dinner for someone who was gonna eat alone,” she noticed. “But I’m not complaining,” she said gleefully, and kicked her feet up onto the table. 

     “Jessie,” her dad scoffed, amazed at her brazenly casual attitude. “No feet on the dinner table, I shouldn’t even need to tell you that.”

     “But I just got back from practice,” she whined, thinking that that would help her case.

     “Exactly, so they probably stink,” he laughed. “It’s basic manners, Jess.” She rolled her eyes, but did as her dad said and took them off anyways. 

     The two of them continued to eat, with Marcus occasionally asking about how things were going at school. Jessie had just finished up her plate when she remembered her texts from earlier that afternoon. “Oh, were you able to do my laundry?” she asked.

     Marcus nodded, unfondly remembering his ordeal from a few hours ago. “Yeah, your underwear and bras should be in the wash,” he said. “I didn’t start a second load since you came home earlier when I was expecting.”

     “Oh, that’s OK. Thanks for starting on them though, at least I’ll be able to dry them so I have something clean to wear tomorrow.” Her mood brightened upon hearing about the favor he’d done for her. But that wasn’t all.

     “Also…” he began, thinking how best to bring up the topic, “when I was doing your laundry earlier, I noticed you have a… a thong?”

     Jessie sat looking at him, her face unchanging. She doesn’t look ‘caught’ like when she was drinking wine. Although she’s also not drunk this time around. “OK. Was it… dirty? Like did you not want to touch it or anything cuz there was something on it?” She didn’t really like talking about her underwear with her dad, but she failed to see the issue.

     “No, it was clean. I mean, it was in the laundry, so it was dirty, I’m assuming, but it wasn’t like…” he paused, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “That’s not why I brought it up. The issue was what it was. It’s a thong, Jess, you’re 13. I… know you’re growing up, but I think you’re too young to be wearing stuff like that.”

     His daughter bit her lip and tilted her head, understanding what he was saying but both surprised and confused that he was taking an issue with it. She didn’t think he was that conservative-minded. “Daddy… it’s just a thong. It’s not like, one of those really tiny little string ones, I forget what they're called, but like it’s just a bit shorter than my other stuff. I…” She trailed off, slightly uncomfortable with bringing up this next bit. “I know you might think they’re sexual, like, I get it, a girl in a thong is like, a thing or whatever. But a lot of other girls in my class wear one, and we’re not, like, showing it off. It’s underwear, it’s always under my clothes, right? So it shouldn’t make a difference.” Marcus had a hard time arguing with that last point she made. At the least, she seemed too genuine to have been caught.

     “That’s true, but…” He couldn’t explain it, but it still felt wrong to him.

     Jessie reached out her arm and settled her hand on his own, looking into his eyes to reassure him. “There’s nothing wrong with me wearing a two-piece bikini when I go swimming, right?” She already knew his answer for this one. Some parents might still say yes, but Marcus had never taken issue with her choice of swimwear before. “It’s just like that,” she stated matter-of-factly, withdrawing her hand and smiling. “Except it’s under my clothes, so people can’t even tell what I’m wearing. But I can, since I’m the one wearing it, and sometimes it just feels more comfortable than my other stuff.” She shrugged, “I just got it a couple weeks ago, only one, cuz I wasn’t sure if I’d like it or not. But hopefully I’ll be able to get more with my allowance in the future.” Marcus looked down and sighed; she could tell he was still uneasy. “You can look it up on Google if you want, I’m sure there’s a lot of like, blogs and articles that agree with me. I get that it might’ve been, like, weird or taboo for someone my age to wear one when you were growing up, but luckily women’s rights have progressed a lot more since the 80’s.”

     He looked up at her and smiled. “No no, that’s OK. You’ve convinced me,” he chuckled. “Hey, how about we watch another movie tonight?”

     “That sounds cool, but maybe in a couple hours,” she countered politely, and stood up so she could head to her room and change while Marcus finished his dinner.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus was sound asleep in his bed later that night when his bedroom door slowly creaked open, the silhouette of a young girl standing meekly at the entrance. Jessie tiptoed inside, carefully shaking her dad awake so as not to scared him. “Daddy…” she whispered as she saw his eyes flutter open and eventually focus on her solemn, scared face. “I had a really bad nightmare…” she whispered, and her father frowned and reached out to console her.

      “Awww, I’m sorry sweetie. Do you feel better now?”

     She nodded her head a couple times, before lightly shrugging and tilting it back and forth, unsure if she really was. “I don’t really know. I just… can I stay in your bed for tonight?”

     It had been at least a year, maybe two since Jessie had asked to sleep in her dad’s bed after a bad dream, but it had happened so much when she was a child that Marcus had gotten used to it, even if it had been a little while. Maybe it’s learned behavior, he sleepily wondered, but he scooted his body over on the queen size mattress that was much too large for him at this size anyways. “Of course,” he whispered, and she faintly smiled gratefully as she peeled the covers back and quietly slipped underneath. “Let me know if you feel bad again, OK?” he said softly, turning his back to her and readjusting himself on one of his other pillows. “Goodnight.”

     She turned her back to him too, but felt safe and warm beneath his big, heavy covers. “‘Night, Daddy,” she cooed, and the two of them slowly drifted back to sleep.

====================

Saturday, October 31

====================

     Saturday came around, and with it came Halloween. Jessie’s classmate was throwing a party that was supposed to start around 7, but Paris was supposed to come over around 6 so the two girls could have around an hour to go trick-or-treating before Marcus took them to the party. Jessie was in her room, changing into her costume, while Marcus waited out in the living room. He didn’t know what it was, but Jessie had told him that she’d made it herself, and wanted to get his opinion on it. He didn’t know what to expect; since she was going to be heading to a party he figured she’d go with something simple. But when she opened her door and stepped out into the hallway, he nearly gasped at what she was wearing.

     A white, spaghetti strap crop top adorned her chest, and it was just low cut enough that Marcus noticed that her budding breasts just barely peeking over the top. Wrapped around her hips was a pleated, floral mini skirt, also in white, the edges of which flowed against her upper thighs as she walked towards her dad. Translucent white nylons with a pretty, laced trim ascended up her long legs, ending just above her knee, and silver heels decorated her feet, slowly clacking on the wooden floor as she came closer. She had styled her shining brown hair, with it straightened near the top but keeping it wavy past her shoulders. And of course, to complete the look, she had on a quaint pair of feathery wings behind her, with a golden halo crowning her head. Stopping several feet in front of her dad, who was beyond stunned at how all-out she had gone, she posed for him with a charming grin. “So Daddy, what do you think I am?” she asked.

     “An… angel,” he answered softly. “Are… you’re an angel, right? I’m assuming it’s not a trick question,” he said, laughing nervously as the man took in how much skin his young, teenage daughter was showing off. The clear, pale surface of her body matched the bright and immaculate colors of her costume.

     “You got it!” she exclaimed. “I’m glad you like it,” she said, and hurried forward to hug her dad against her thighs, his face pressing against her flowery skirt. Well, I didn’t actually say that I liked it, he told himself.

     “Yeah, well… are you sure it isn’t… a bit much?” But as soon as he had asked her, he immediately regretted it.

     Jessie frowned and took a step back. “What do you mean ‘a bit much,’ Daddy?” She looked down at herself and twisted from side to side, examining her slender body. “You mean like slutty? Are you body-shaming your own daughter?” She wasn’t sure if she should cry or get angry. “This is a crop top, Daddy, not a bra. And I got this skirt at H&M!”

     “Whoah whoah, OK, slow down,” Marcus cautioned. He had meant that he thought she was showing off a bit too much, but clearly that had upset her. Maybe I’m overreacting? It’s just surprising is all, he mused, scanning up and down her body. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her dress like this before. “I meant, like… it’s just very elaborate,” he lied, hoping she’d buy his new story. “I don’t want you to go to all that trouble just to get your white clothes dirty outside when you go trick or treating. Or for any expensive fabrics to get ruined at the party.”

     Jessie relaxed, believing his reversal and assuming he was just being a little dumb again. “It’ll be fine, Daddy. I’m going trick or treating, not mud-wrestling. This stuff isn’t even that expensive.”

     “Oh yeah, right,” he laughed nervously, “OK. I mean, yeah, as long as you’re fine with it, I guess, they’re your clothes.”

     She anxiously laughed as well. “For a second I really thought you were trying to like body-shame me though. Like, after everything you said last week about me being beautiful in my own skin? And then I was just like, ‘wait, I should be an angel for Halloween. I could probably look so good in white.’ And then boom!” She motioned her hands along her body, “I do!”

     Wait, so she tailored her outfit around what I said about it being OK that she’s pale? “So you did try and factor your… skin into it then?” he asked.

     She raised her eyebrow suspiciously, “I mean, yeah… I think I look really cute in this, Daddy. What was I supposed to wear, a baggy white hoodie and white sweatpants? Sometimes you have to show a little bit of ‘skin’ or whatever, it’s not like—I mean, the way that… it’s just fashion, showing off your body is a part of it sometimes, that doesn’t make it bad or gross or weird or sexual or anything. And you just said it was fine what I was wearing?” She crossed her arms, and he could feel her judgmental, somewhat hurt tone in her voice.

     Shit, she’s right. He might’ve lied about what he meant just a minute ago, but now with his new truth out in the open, he couldn’t just change it back to what he originally meant and get upset over her clothing choices again. She’d realize that he had lied to her, and he couldn’t do that so blatantly as her parent. He had chosen to change his mind to calm her down, thinking that she meant something else, and now he had to stick with it. “Yeah, it is honey.” He managed a smile up at her, and gave her another hug around her legs, “You look great.” He turned around to the kitchen, wanting to move past the subject now. “Anyways, I’m gonna eat some dinner before Paris gets here and you two leave, you want some leftovers?” He scooped some of last night’s dinner onto a plate and put it in the microwave.

     She shook her head, “No, I was planning on eating at the party. I’ll sit with you til Paris gets here though.” The microwave beeped, and Marcus took the warmed up meal out and went over to the table to sit down. No sooner had he started eating than Jessie came to join him at the seat next to her dad. They sat in silence for a few minutes while Jessie checked her phone, browsing through her Instagram feed to check up on her friends’ activities and parties of their own so far. Impatient as she waited for Paris, she set her phone on the table and looked down at her shoes. “How cool are these stilettos though?” she asked, raising them up and setting her feet on her dad’s lap while he was still eating. She rolled her ankles back and forth, drawing attention to the gleaming, two-inch heels. “They were only like 15 bucks too. But I am not looking forward to wearing them all night,” she chuckled. 

     Jess sure is getting comfy with her feet around me lately, he thought. I know she’s always been a pretty touchy feely person, but jeez. “Well you don’t have to wear them,” he told her. “Or have them on my lap while I’m eating,” he said, looking at her more sternly now, and she giggled and removed them for the time being.

     “Just wanted you to see them. And yes, I do have to wear them. They complete the look. However my ankles feel at the end of the night will have been worth it!” she proudly boasted. Just then, the doorbell rang, and she quickly got up and hurried to the door as best she could in her new shoes. She threw the door open, where her best friend was waiting by the door. Paris was dressed a bit more conservatively, but still looked cute in her pink and blue mermaid outfit, fabric scales running all around her body. 

     “Oh my god, you look even better in person,” Paris exclaimed, eyes wide as she took in Jessie’s outfit while her best friend posed for her. 

     “Ugh, but you look just as good too,” Jessie whined, stroking her hand along the side of Paris’ costume to feel her sparkling scales.

     “Sorry I’m a little late,” Paris sighed, “but it’s already past 6, we should head out right away if we still wanna get some candy before heading to the party.” She took this moment to look past Jessie to her friend’s dad who was still seated at the table, finishing his dinner. “Hi Mr. Tilden!” she called, waving at him. He waved back, his mouth full. “Your dad’s still taking us, right?” she whispered.

     “Yeah yeah, of course.” She turned back around to Marcus. “Daddy, we need to go, it’s 6:07!”

     Her dad swallowed his last bit of food and stood up to take his plate and silverware to the sink. “I thought the party was at 7, how far away is this place?”

     Jessie’s eyes went wide, and her head darted back and forth between her dad and her friend. “Wait, shit, I almost forgot.” She started to run towards the hallway to head to her room, but forgot she was in heels and landed funnily, almost stumbling over before catching herself. “Aaaahh!” she squealed, giggling as the excitement started to coarse through her body and almost cause her to slip. She kicked off the heels, and her feet pounded anxiously along the floor as she eagerly ran to her room. Marcus and Paris listened as Jessie rummaged through a few things in her room, before the feverish pitter patter of her feet came thumping back down the hallway. “Daddy Daddy Daddy Daddy,” she said, her voice growing louder, before she emerged back out into the living room, holding up some kind of red and yellow clothes within a package. “It’s your costume, I got it for you,” she said matter-of-factly, and handed a store-bought outfit to her father. It was an Iron Man suit, complete with a cotton mask even. And right there on the plastic cover: For Babies: 1-2 years old. “I looked up the measurements on the back, it’ll fit you perfectly.” Marcus was speechless. Both because he didn’t know why his daughter had bought him a costume, but also because he really, really didn’t want to wear clothes that were practically designed for infants. “You kept talking about how much you like to spend time with me, especially after you got laid off, so I figured you could come with us.”

     “…to, you mean, you want me to go trick-or-treating with you guys?” he asked. That wasn’t so weird in itself, he figured Jessie would’ve felt a bit old for that now, but plenty of parents tagged along with their kids while traversing the neighborhoods for candy.

     Jessie shook her head. “I mean, yeah, kind of. But I got this costume specifically because it has a mask to cover your face, so nobody has to see who you really are, or realize you’re like, twenty-something years older than me and everyone else. Then you can sneak along with us to Veronica’s party tonight with all the other kids in our class!”

     Originally, Marcus walked hand-in-hand between the two teenage girls, and the trio looked no different than the various other trick-or-treaters who seemed to be forced to take a younger sibling or relative along for the annual candy hunt. Nobody knew that it was actually the two younger ones escorting the older one, and not the other way around. At first, Marcus wore the mask that came as a part of the costume, since Jessie and Paris both thought he looked ‘sooooo cute’ wearing the full set. But every time he would go up to houses with the two girls, everyone who answered would d’aw at him and tell him in a singsongy voice that he looked adorable. For the first few houses, he’d correct them by taking off the mask, and let them know he was ‘the parent,’ which led to a few apologetic or awkward encounters. But eventually he just gave up and took a candy, not saying anything, and dumping it into Jessie’s or Paris’ bags as soon as they turned around to leave. From there on out, he decided he’d carry the mask until they were done. At least his condition was common enough that adults wouldn’t make any comments anymore after seeing his adult face, and were able to put two and two together with Marcus in the context of the two teenage girls. But adults weren’t the only ones answering the door. The final straw came for the shrunken man when a front door was opened by a little girl who couldn’t have been older than 7, struggling to carry her family’s bowl of candy for guests. Seeing he was barely as tall as the young girl’s shoulders, Marcus was immediately taken aback by the reminder of just how diminutive his size really was in the world. But as soon as she laid eyes on little two-and-a-half foot Marcus wearing what looked like the same attire from the movies her older brother liked to watch, she cooed at how sweet he was through her chocolate-stained, toothless grin, despite her being the child and him being the full grown one. After that encounter, Marcus said his feet were tired and they should start to loop back home anyways so they could head to their friend’s, not wanting to reveal the real truth of him being consistently embarrassed time and time again that night. “Well we were planning on being a little late anyways,” Jessie said. “But if your feet are getting sore, you can ride on my shoulders like I used to do with you when I was a kid.”

     So as they crossed over to the other side of the road and began to head back in the other direction, except now with Jessie’s dad straddling her neck while he rode atop her. And he was fully aware of how much that only made him look like a kid even further, so he kept his mask off for the remainder of their trick or treating. Jessie had to take her halo off too, which she had her dad carry in his hand along with his mask, and instructed him to be mindful of not messing up her hair. His other arm rested atop her head, and he soon slouched forward, resting his chain on her head too. The faint smell of lilac shampoo wafted into his nose, surprisingly pleasant, as she and Paris debated about Halloween in between their stops at houses. As much as he didn’t like being small, or feeling like a child… he took a mental snapshot of this moment. The pleasant smells, the laughter and hollers of children with their treats, getting to go out on a kind of adventure with his daughter. 

     But eventually they arrived back at the house, and Jessie squatted on the ground outside their driveway so he could hop off her shoulders. “I’ll get in the car,” he told them, “while you guys can go and put your candy away til we get back and use the bathroom if you need to.” The two girls said OK and headed in while he climbed into the front seat of his car. “And make sure to lock the front door on your way out!” he called after them, and shut the car door.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     “I’ve gotta admit, I’m a little nervous,” Marcus confessed, both hands on the steering wheel as he drove the three of them towards the middle school party that he was so hesitantly attending. “I still don’t get why you wanted me to come, Jess. I mean, I said yes since you said you wanted to spend some time with me and thought it’d be fun, and you even went to the trouble of actually getting me a costume.” He gestured down at the toddler-sized superhero getup he still had on. “But really, what am I gonna do? I can’t take my mask off, I probably can’t even talk to anyone. There’s a reason you got something with a mask, you didn’t want anyone to know you brought your dad to the party, right?”

     “Yeah, but that’s what’ll make it fun,” Jessie replied, not even having to pause to think of her answer. “It’s like, risky.”

     “Did you say risqué?” he asked, unable to hear her fully over the sound of the road. He certainly hoped that’s not what she said.

     “Risky, Daddy, it’s risky having you come along, that’s what’ll make it exciting. It’ll be like, a game to keep your identity a secret.”

     “You could tell everyone he’s your little cousin who you had to watch for the night,” Paris chimed in. She wasn’t usually as prone to mischief and pranks like Jessie was, but she would tag along with her friend’s ideas when they were together. “And you can say that he gets really shy around large crowds too.”

     Jessie’s eyes widened and she gasped, looking back at her friend excitedly, “Paris, oh my god! That’s perfect, that’s literally like the best possible alibi.” She turned back to her dad, “I like Paris’ idea, I think she’s right. You can just hang out around me the whole time if you want.”

     I hardly even want to be going in the first place. “It still feels a bit strange though,” he grimaced. “An adult like me, hanging out around a bunch of people your age?”

     Jessie rolled her eyes, “God, Daddy, why do you need to make everything so weird all the time. First off, you’re my guest, and I should be able to bring whoever I want. If you were a stranger then maybe it’d be a different story, but I’m inviting you, so it’s not. And second, her parents are probably gonna be there anyways, so like, it’s almost like you’re a chaperone or something. Basically: it’s only weird if you make it weird. So just like, please don’t make it weird, mkay?”

     He thought about what she said for a little bit. “Actually, yeah, maybe I can just spend the night with the parents and talk with them.”

     Jessie let out a thunderous groan, “UUGHH! Why do you have to be so impossible!” Paris giggled in the backseat, having witnessed plenty of stupid little arguments between Jessie and her dad before. But Marcus decided to drop the subject altogether. They were already on their way to the house anyways, so there wasn’t any point in continuing to talk about it.

     The house in question was nearly half an hour away from the Tilden’s residence. While Jessie and her dad lived in a modest, one-story house in the suburbs, her friend lived in a nice, upper class neighbor in the city’s hills. Why the hell is a girl whose parents can afford to live in an area like this going to a public school? Marcus wondered as he glanced out the window at the gorgeous views of downtown. There were almost no cars parked along the streets, since most of the houses either had large garages or large driveways, but Marcus pulled up alongside the curb a few houses away from their destination. “If you don’t want anyone to know I’m your dad, then I can’t park in their driveway, since I’m assuming all the other parents are just dropping their kids off. And you also don’t want anyone seeing me getting out of the driver’s seat.”

     “Good thinking, Daddy,” his daughter said, and got out of the car, with Paris and Marcus following suit. It was already starting to get chilly out, a combination of the fall evenings get darker sooner, as well as the heightened elevation they were at. “Shit, we should get inside,” Jessie said, rubbing her bare elbows to try and warm them up as goosebumps began to appear on her skin. She glanced jealously at her dad’s Ironman costume, which was conveniently insulating him from the cold air.

     “I hope nobody can tell this was made for babies,” Marcus mumbled to himself as he slipped the mask down over his face, preparing to go incognito for the next several hours.

     “Daddy! Stop complaining, seriously,” Jessie pouted, stomping her heels in frustration as she turned around to confront her dad. “That’s why I got you an Ironman costume and not like, Peppa the Pig or something.” Her dad stopped in his tracks to keep from running into her legs.

     He didn’t look up at her, but knew she was right about how much he had been complaining ever since they left. Here he was, the parent, the adult. He was supposed to be the mature one. “Sorry, you’re right,” he replied, waited for her to turn back around and continue heading towards the house. But his daughter stood firm. Clearly she wasn’t done making her point. 

     “You’re supposed to be my shy little cousin, right? Because we can’t risk you talking and people thinking you sound like an adult, remember? Daddy? Can you look at me?” He looked up at her to see her with her eyebrows furrowed, looking down to him disapprovingly with her hands on her hips. But what also caught his eye was her shirt. Her soft, white crop top was now accompanied by two hardened nipples, poking through the thin fabric above him, growing steadily more prominent as they reacted to the cold. Why isn’t she wearing a bra? he wondered, but Jessie kept speaking. “Thank you.” Her expression softened now that he was returning her gaze. “So can you just like, keep quiet until the party’s over? Like I’m not trying to tell you what to do or anything, but just like—“ she steadied her hands in front of her, fingers splayed, making a kind of ‘chill out’ motion. She was almost regretting bringing her dad in the first place if he was going to be this much of an issue. He opened his mouth, intent to make a comment about her shirt’s lack of modesty, but she quickly bent down and rushed her pointer finger to his lips, shushing him. “Whatever it is, it can probably wait til after the party. Unless it’s an emergency?” She stood up straight again, hands back on her hips as she cocked her head expectantly, waiting to see if he’d speak up or not. Should I still say something? She’ll probably just complain again about how nosy I’m being, and we already came all the way here, I don’t wanna turn all the way around and drive her home. And Paris too, who’s been a delight all night and hasn’t done anything wrong. Besides, maybe she is wearing a bra. Can nipples poke through them? He didn’t know, of course, since he’d never worn one. I guess it doesn’t—

     “Great,” Jessie concluded, interrupting his thoughts and turning back around to head back to the party. Paris had been clasping her hands awkwardly in front of her, her lips pursed while she watched their minor kerfuffle. She didn’t think Jessie was being mean, but she was certainly being brash. If Paris talked to her own parents like that, she wouldn’t be surprised if she got in trouble. But clearly Jessie’s relationship with her dad was a lot more casual than she had remembered. So Marcus followed dutifully behind his daughter, obediently staying quiet while she clacked her way along the sidewalk in her heels, her hips swaying faintly from side to side in front of him.

     The three of them arrived at the house, although simply calling it a ‘house’ was downplaying just how massive the mansion was, and the property it was on. It took several minutes to get there from where Marcus parked because of how far apart the properties were on the gorgeous, hill-top neighborhood. There were lights on outside the house and in the yard, with a few boys running around dressed as zombies or other monsters. Various colored lights lit up the windows inside the house, and he could even hear music playing from the outdoor speakers. If this is how someone throws a party as a middle schooler, I can’t imagine what this place will be like when she’s a senior in high school, Marcus thought as they walked down the driveway towards the house. In reality, the host’s mom had been throwing massive, elaborate parties for her kids ever since they were barely old enough to talk. But that didn’t diminish from how impressive of a celebration was being put on. There was even a giant, inflatable spider on the roof, that must’ve been at least twenty feet long, staring down at incoming guests. And only for Halloween too. It’s not even someone’s birthday. Or New Year’s. “Jeez, does she throw parties like this all the time?” Paris asked, echoing Marcus’ thoughts. Jessie swung open the front door with an excited smile on her face, revealing a crowd of dozens of kids in costumes, dancing and eating and drinking while Blinding Lights played in the background. Or really, it played everywhere. There must’ve been speakers in every room echoing the music. Fake cobwebs were strung along the ceilings and doors, while skeletons with glow-up lights stood posed at various intervals throughout the expansive residence. Marcus felt a little jealous even. Shit, I wish people in my class threw parties like this when I was 13. I didn’t even go to anything this cool when I was in college. But as he scoured the house, taking it all in, his eyes came to stop on a head that stood above the rest. A girl, standing in the kitchen, looking out over the party like he was, but with more confidence than curiosity. She must be the host. And that was when he recognized her: it was the same girl that Jessie had shown him on her phone last week. The girl whose tens of thousands of followers made Marcus assume she was a celebrity, and not just a classmate of Jessie’s. The girl whose selfie showed off her large chest and made Marcus feel uneasy when he realized how young she was. The girl who Marcus’ daughter had said she was jealous of, and wished her own boobs could be as large as one day. Veronica.

     As her eyes continued to scan the crowd while Marcus watched, they stopped suddenly on the front door, where he and Jessie and Paris had just entered. Her mouth opened slightly, her cool demeanor breaking as a subtle look of surprise overcame her. Marcus gulped, a sense of uneasiness creeping into his stomach. Because from across the crowd of people, she was staring unmistakably, right, exactly at him. And she smiled.

==========================

Saturday, October 31 (cont.)

==========================

     Veronica was attending her party as a vampire, and as such was dressed in total contrast to Jessie’s angelic aura. And it looked like a real costume from some store too, unlike Jessie’s which was pretty, but couldn’t match her classmate’s level of detail. Whereas pale-skinned Jessie had on a white crop top and skirt with white stockings, the much tanner Veronica was wearing an intricately designed red and black corset with a long cape and black fishnet tights. Jessie’s wings were made of white feathers, and the other girl had spiky wings that seemed made out of a black leathery material. Silver, two-inch heels adorned one pair of feet, vs glossy black 4 inch stilettos on the other’s. Even their modesty rivaled one another. While Jessie’s top was still relatively humble and only showed a small peek of her developing cleavage, Veronica’s outfit was very clearly made to exhibit the wearer’s breasts, the ones that Marcus’ daughter had said just a few days ago that she was jealous of because of how big they were. As the host sauntered over to the three recent arrivals, everything about Veronica’s physique, from her fully formed, curvaceous figure, to her slow, hip-swaying gait, seemed to indicate that she was twice her age. Yet her youthful face made it abundantly clear what the rest of her body did not: she was just as young as Jessie. For a brief few seconds, when Marcus could only see her from across the house, he wondered if maybe the girl was an older sister of Jessie’s classmate, or some other adult who had gone overboard in attending with their kid (like he was doing). But as Veronica stopped in front of the newcomers, Marcus realized there was no mistaking it. She was a teenager. A mere seventh-grader, just like his daughter. And that realization sent a chill through his body.

     “Welcome to my party!” the young Japanese girl exclaimed, looking to Jessie, Paris, and Marcus. But she had a special look in her eye when she looked at Jessie’s dad. It seemed like curiosity to him, but still made him uneasy. She’s probably just suspicious of someone as short as me, even most kids would be a few inches taller than I am, he thought, remembering just a few hours ago when he had encountered the little girl while trick-or-treating. But he was also taken aback by how tall Veronica was. In addition to her wide hips and impressive bust, she sported the height of a fully grown woman as well. Normally she was 5’9, but with her heels she now stood at just over 6 feet, which was even taller than Marcus had been when he was fully grown. He couldn’t make the connection for himself, since from down where he stood, everyone was pretty much at least twice his height. But he could tell Jessie was only about as tall as Veronica’s nose.

     “Well thanks for inviting us,” Paris responded politely, still looking around in awe at how decorated everything was. “This is so cool! How long did it take you to set up?”

     “My parents hired a couple people to set up stuff like the giant spider or the lights and fog machines yesterday, and then we did all the smaller stuff today like the food and cobwebs,” Veronica proudly explained. “You guys didn’t come last year, right?” The two girls shook their heads. Everyone in the class had been invited, and even kids from other schools showed up, but Jessie and Paris had chosen to go out with a couple of their other friends. “I’m glad you decided to come this year then,” she smiled, feeling as if she had won them over. Even the juvenile intricacies of their middle school’s social scene was a competition to be played for Veronica. “I’ve always felt that since people have to miss out on trick-or-treating all night or going to haunted houses in order to come, that the parties have to be extra incredible to make up for it. So there’s some candy gift baskets for everyone in the dining room.” She pointed behind her to a room with dozens of generously-sized bags of goodies on a table. Not that it was her money being spent on all these extravagances anyways, but Veronica felt a kind of high every time someone new walked through her doorway on Halloween. It meant they had heard about how epic her parties were and how fun the experiences were. It was practically like a business, except instead of climbing to the top of the stock market charts, she was climbing to the top of the social ladder. As a seventh grader.

     “Honestly, I kinda feel stupid for not coming last year,” Jessie said. “I remember you showed us pictures in class of your house being set up a few days before Halloween, and I was still like ‘eh, I’ll think about it.’ Like, how did I not immediately want to come, this is ten times cooler in person.”

     “Tch, don’t feel bad,” Veronica purred. “You two are here now, that’s what matters, right?” she said, and gave a quick hug to both her classmates. She glanced at Marcus besides them after withdrawing from Paris, and Jessie stepped in to clarify who the baby-sized Iron Man was after realizing she hadn’t introduced him yet.

     “OH! Sorry, I forgot to introduce you,” Jessie said, squatting down beside her dad and putting her arm around his shoulders like he really was a kid. “This is my cousin Noah, my aunt and uncle have been out of town for a few days so we’ve been babysitting him. Luckily this isn’t a college party or anything too mature for him,” she added, laughing awkwardly. “He’s a little shy though so he might not talk very much… or take off his mask.” The more she talked, the worse her lies were starting to sound. Both father and daughter were beginning to worry for different reasons over how well she was handling this.

     “If he’s shy, why’d you bring him? Couldn’t he just stay home with your parents?” Veronica asked, sounding genuinely confused. Does she not know Jessie’s mom is out of the picture? Marcus wondered. I guess she’s never come over to our house before, and it’s not like Jessie’s classmates are all aware of each other’s family lives anyways.

     “Well my dad suggested he come so he could get out of the house,” Jessie explained, then froze as she thought about what she said. “Noah, not my dad I mean. He suggested Noah come.” You’ve really gotta pull it together, Jess. There wasn’t even anything wrong about how you worded it the first time. Paris bit her lip, keying in on how close her friend was to fumbling their secret.

     “Oh, OK,” she replied, seeming to be buying their shtick. “Well yeah, I guess it’s fine if he’s here, there’s nothing like, inappropriate for him or anything, like you said.” But as soon as she said that, she leaned over and placed her hands on her knees, talking down to him like the child he was supposed to be portraying. As she did that, he noticed she also had on fake extended nails: several inches long, matte black, and pointed on the ends. But as he looked up just a little bit higher, he was met with an alarming display of her cleavage. She couldn’t see his eyes anyways beneath the mask, but he quickly darted them upwards to keep himself from ogling. Nothing inappropriate? Yeah right, how do her parents let her dress like that? And how the hell does someone so young look like such an adult? It shouldn’t matter though, I shouldn’t stare anyways, regardless of her age. “Hey Noah, I’m Veronica,” she said, and held out her hand to introduce herself. He didn’t say anything, but took her hand and let her slowly shake it up and down. Her hand dwarfed his, of course, and she had a strong grip. Then she let go, and stood back up to full height. “Well Noah, Jessie said you’re a little shy, and it sounds like it wasn’t really your idea to come to this party in the first place. Am I right?” She beamed down at him with twinkling eyes, as if she completely understood his supposed feelings of shyness and introversion, despite being the total opposite. Keeping his mouth shut again, he simply nodded up and down. It definitely wasn’t my idea to come, at least that part was never a lie. But I’ll just agree with whatever story Jessie wants to make up about me. “Aww, that’s OK bud, I totally get it,” she added, tilting her head and pursing her lips sympathetically. “Well the party is only on the first two floors, but we have a guest room on the third floor that’s secluded from everyone else. It’s nice and quiet up there, and there’s a TV with a Playstation. I think some coloring books too if that’s your thing, my cousins came to visit recently too. Do you think you’d like that?” Marcus was frozen for a second. The plan was for me to stick with Jessie all night, but if I’m supposedly shy then wouldn’t it make sense to hang out alone until the party’s over? He turned to look up at his daughter, what did she think? Veronica picked up on his hesitation. “Oh yeah, as long as Jessie’s fine with it of course,” Veronica said, and turned back to face her. 

     Jessie was biting her lip, thinking the same thing as her dad, but leaning on the side of the two of them sticking together so she could keep an eye on him at all times. “I don’t know if—“

     “I mean, if he’s so shy that he doesn’t even feel comfortable talking with strangers,” Veronica interjected, cutting Jessie off, “then I really don’t think a big, loud party with over a hundred people running around would really be a lot of fun for him. Might even be stressful. The guest room would be perfect for him though, and you could just come up and check on him from time to time too.” Jessie still hesitated, although Veronica could tell she was definitely close to changing her mind. She squatted back down in front of Marcus, and placed her hands back on her bent knees with a big, friendly smile on her face. “What do you want though? You wanna stay down here with your cousin, or head up to the guest room?” Marcus glanced at Jessie, who was now looking at her dad, her finger on her lips, unsure of what to do next. He was familiar with that expression on her face; she was looking to him for guidance. Guess that’s why I’m the parent, still gotta make the tough decisions. Well, Jessie’s not the best at lying, I don’t know how Veronica even still believes her. And I didn’t even wanna come here to begin with. How do I tell her upstairs without saying anything though… He nodded, and Veronica’s eyes widened, “Yeah? You wanna head upstairs?” He nodded again, more enthusiastically this time. The giant girl stood back up and looked to Jessie, who felt relief at her father’s decision. Maybe her idea was too risky after all, but it might not matter if he can just hide upstairs the whole night.

     Jessie smiled faintly at Veronica, “Yeah, I think you were right. That’s probably a good idea. Can I come with you guys so I know where he’ll be though?”

     “Of course! You should totally know where he is, he’s your little cousin, right? Yeah, come with us.” She turned to Paris, who hadn’t said anything in several minutes. “Do you wanna come too, Paris?” 

     Jessie’s friend shook her head, “Oh, no, that’s OK. I think I’ll go get something to eat and check out the place some more.”

     “Definitely, yeah!” Veronica answered. “There’s a ton of stuff in the kitchen, we had to rent a couple pizza heaters just to keep all of the food warm. Help yourself!” 

     “Oh, wow,” Paris said, seeing the large, 6 foot tall heaters Veronica was talking about. There were two of them, and they looked like vending machines, except with big glass doors on the front and racks filled with pizza and wing boxes. “Thanks,” she added, and drifted off towards the food. 

     Veronica looked back down to the little Iron Man in her foyer. “Shall we?” she asked, and reached out her hand. Marcus grabbed onto her finger, partly because he knew that that was how a lot of kids held hands, but also because of how small his was anyways. Then she turned back around and led him and his daughter through the sea of people towards her staircase, several kids getting out of the way as they saw the 6 foot girl approach. 

     She began to head up the steps when another girl from their class called out Jessie’s name, and his daughter turned, her face lighting up to greet one of her friends as they hugged each other. Jessie remembered where she had been going and turned to her dad and Veronica, who had heard Jessie’s name called and stopped to see if she was still coming. “Oh uh, I guess you guys can go on without me. I’ll be up to check on him later,” she said, and turned back to catch up with her classmate. As Marcus looked back towards his daughter, he suddenly felt uneasy about heading upstairs alone with Veronica. But he knew he couldn’t say anything or else the party’s host would hear his deep and obviously adult-sounding voice. He had to let Jessie go, and venture on without her. 

     He turned back to face the stairs, and the young girl who was leading him up them. “It’s OK, buddy. You can see your daughter later… Sorry, wait, I mean your cousin,” she said sarcastically and rolled her eyes, then smirked at him with a mischievous look in her eyes before grabbing his hand and leading him up to the third floor.

     Marcus felt like he should be paralyzed in fear, except his limbs were moving, ascending the long staircase of Veronica’s scarily large house. Had she known the entire time that I’m really Jessie’s dad? Her ignorance had been more than convincing just a few minutes ago, but he remembered back to the first few seconds of their arrival. When Veronica’s eyes had landed on him, their was an unmistakable look of recognition that washed over her. So her whole act had been a ruse from the start. It had to have been. It made sense now why she had pressed Jessie to let her bring him upstairs. And now his daughter had ditched him, unaware that her classmate knew more than she was letting on…

     He contemplated his options. He couldn’t run back downstairs, since Veronica had grabbed his entire hand and held it firmly within his own. And he couldn’t call out for help, since everyone would hear his voice. There were several people on the second floor, and a few of them glanced at Veronica and Marcus coming up the stairs. I can’t run or call for help, but I can struggle and thrash about, that’d grab people’s attention. But it would result in the same outcome as yelling. He didn’t know if Veronica was just pulling some kind of prank, or if she had some kind of worse plans in mind. But if he tried anything, she could easily play dumb and say she thought he was just Jessie’s cousin. And then unmask him and demand to know why Jessie had brought her father. And she didn’t just bring me, she clearly dressed me in such a way to hide my identity. That just makes us even more suspicious. Ironically, the presence of so many people around the two of them was what made him unable to escape. He was trapped.

     Arriving to the second floor, Veronica turned the corner and walked along the bannister, passing several other classmates of hers (and a few outsiders who didn’t go to their school but came anyways). The second floor was more chilled and relaxed, with people talking or taking a break from the downstairs commotion. Most of them didn’t pay attention to Veronica or her two and a half foot friend, but a few whispered to each other or tried to subtly nod in his direction to their friends. “I think someone brought their little brother,” he heard someone whisper quietly behind him, snickering at the little Iron Man being led away from the crowd by the party’s host. Nope, but they did bring their little father with them, he thought to himself. In a weird way, he felt like he was about to get in trouble, even though he was the adult in this whole scenario. They ducked under some tape that said the party was only supposed to be on the first two floors, and started climbing up the second set of steps towards the empty and mysterious third story. Where are her parents in all of this? he wondered, unable to escape her grasp as she pulled him up along with her, past all the onlookers, until they disappeared from sight into the final floor of the house.

     It’s noticeably quieter up here, he thought. He was still able to hear sounds from the party, but the house seemed to have thick floors that trapped most of the commotion down below. And there weren’t any lights on, since nobody was allowed up here anyways, so the only thing illuminating the hallway as they walked down towards the end was the moonlight coming in through the skylights and windows. Veronica stopped halfway down the corridor next to a door, and pointed towards two more on opposite sides at the end of the hall. “Those are the guest rooms, you can wait in either one if you still want. I wasn’t lying about that. But first…” she said, and opened the door to her left, “we’re gonna have a little chat.” She pulled Marcus inside as she flipped on the lights and closed the door again. They were in an intricately decorated bedroom, which from the dark purple and gray decor (along with the fact that Veronica took him here alone) seemed to obviously belong to the young girl. The room was huge, easily bigger than Marcus and Jessie’s combined. There was a king-sized bed, with a 60 inch flatscreen hanging on the wall across from it; several chairs for guests, and a couch that transformed into a sitting area beneath a large, circular window; there was a smooth, wooden desk with a Mac and several of Veronica’s homework papers laying on it, along with another table filled with makeup and hair accessories on the other end of the room. And in the corner, next to the door to her personal bathroom, was another set of sliding doors that led to her walk-in closet. Marcus knew there were a lot of fortunate people who were wealthy enough to live so lavishly, but the fact that a middle school girl was going to sleep in a room that was nearly as nice as his entire house? Jessie would’ve simply felt jealous if she got to see Veronica’s bedroom, but Marcus felt… embarrassed, inadequate. Like he didn’t belong.

     Although there was another reason why Marcus didn’t belong up here.

     “You can take off the mask now,” Veronica said, slowly pacing around her room as she looked at the tiny man she had hauled in with her. Marcus knew there no point in delaying the inevitable. She obviously already knew his secret. With the shame of being called out by someone twenty years his junior, he reached up and pulled off the superhero disguise. Veronica inhaled sharply, feeling confident in her assumption but still surprised and glad to see it confirmed now in front of her. ‘Noah’ was no child, he wasn’t Jessie’s cousin. He was an adult man, someone she had never met, but knew of nonetheless. The young girl regained her composure, and spoke softly to Marcus, who wanted to look downwards but managed to keep eye contact with his daughter’s schoolmate. “I can’t believe Jessie brought you here, like I just invited her because she’s in my class like everyone else, I honestly didn’t even expect this to happen,” she said, her child-like giddiness breaking through her facade. “But then I saw her come in, with someone so little trailing behind her. And I don’t know what everyone else here is thinking,” she scoffed, “but the fact that you got DSD isn’t a secret. She’s mentioned that her dad was shrinking multiple times ever since school started. So when I saw someone half her height, and a lot leaner than most little kids are supposed to be, wearing a full-body costume? And then when she introduced you and said you were why and didn’t like to talk…” Veronica laughed and crossed her arms, “It was pretty obvious at that point.” She turned to face him directly, and strutted over to him, her long, tanned legs soon towering directly in front of him. “So why’d you come, huh? Did you just wanna supervise her, or is there like some kind of medical reason?”

     He felt intimidated by how forward the girl was. The only time Jessie had been this direct with him was when she had lost her volleyball game and come home in a huff. Or, for a fleeting moment, earlier on in the night when she’d told him how she wanted him to act before they headed inside. But normally, she was a lot more relaxed and easy to talk to, and the same went for her friends: Paris, Harper, even Camila, their neighbor who he’d met a couple times. But this girl’s attitude, her minor scheme to bring him up here, and obviously the clearly-made-for-adults outfit she was wearing; they all made him more nervous than he’d been ever since before he shrank.

     “It…” he started, but was quieter than he was expecting, and cleared his throat to make himself feel more authoritative. “It was Jessie’s idea. I wasn’t planning on coming, but she really wanted me to, for… reasons I still don’t even really understand. I’m a single father to her, it’s just been us ever since she was born. So we spend a lot of time together, and I think… I think she just got a really wild idea and got carried away.” There was silence between the two of them for a few moments. Veronica wasn’t expecting that much openness from someone she’d just met, and Marcus hadn’t expected to give it. “So why’d you bring me up here then? Why do you care?”

     Veronica took a deep breath, glad that he was moving on from their brief moment of realness. “Well for one, I was curious if you really were her dad. There was a chance you could’ve taken off that mask and really been a little boy,” she laughed. “I don’t know, maybe it runs in your family or something. But besides that, I have been… a little curious, I guess.” She bit her lip and turned away from him for a moment; now she was the one being open. “I’ve never actually met a shrunken person before,” she admitted. “Like, obviously I’ve seen them in public before, every once in awhile, but I’ve never actually known one, I’ve never had someone like actually in my life who’s little.” Her eyes flared now with fascination and imagination as she turned to Marcus. “But I’ve always wanted to. I just…” She bit her lip, surprised at how candid she was being, “I’ve always wanted to… date someone little, just to see—“

     “WHOAH!” Marcus was already on edge, but now alarm bells were really going off in his head. “Whoah whoah, hold on, that’s— I don’t— you’re…” he stuttered back and forth, scared of where the young girl was going with this conversation. “I knew I had a bad feeling about coming up here alone,” he frantically declared. “This is getting way too dangerous, I’m gonna go get Jessie and Paris so we can leave right away.” He spun on his heels toward the door, but Veronica ran right past him, and stood in between him and the exit.

     “Wait wait wait, just lemme finish!” she said, holding out her hands for him to stop.

     Marcus gazed up at her, heaving in a deep, angry breath. “I’m old enough and smart enough to see where you were going with that train of thought,” he bit back. “But I’m 36 years old, and you’re a fucking teenager. I don’t—“

     “I’m not a teenager,” she interrupted, a calm expression on her face. Wait… she’s not… Marcus felt like a wave of calm washed over him. He had been so nervous just being in the same room as her, despite the fact that neither of them had done anything, but her statement made him feel like a burden was just lifted off her back. So… is she not really Veronica then? When he first arrived, he thought that the girl standing across the house from him might be an older sister of the party’s host. Was that the case? Is this some kind of prank or something? But then Veronica smirked, and that uneasy feeling just crept right back up. “I mean, I’m not a teenager… yet. I’m still 12 for a couple more months.” She giggled at herself for having tricked him, if only for a few seconds. “I saw the way your face changed though,” she insisted, pointing to him accusingly. “You really believed I was an adult for a second, huh? I mean obviously I’m in your daughter’s class, I just had a conversation with her like 10 minutes ago! But when I said I wasn’t a teenager, your first thought was that I was 20 or older, not that I could be 12.” Then she stood up straight, proudly crossing her arms in front of her chest and slightly squeezing her boobs together in the process. “I wonder why,” she smirked, and Marcus gritted his teeth now, even angrier than before. This was twice tonight now that he had been tricked.

     “That’s it, I’m done here,” he stated, and tried to maneuver past her. But she was more than twice his height and size, so when he tried to doge right, she countered right back and stood in his way, and when he then tried to go left, there she was again.

     “OK OK, I’m kidding, obviously, god, old people don’t know how to take a joke,” she huffed, rolling her eyes. “I was teasing you before, I mean like I wasn’t lying about wanting to meet someone with DSD but obviously I’m not gonna try and date you.” Marcus stopped trying to get past her now, and looked back up at her. She seemed to be telling the truth again, although she’d been a pretty convincing liar back with Jessie. “I didn’t even say I wanted to, it’s just like as soon as I said the word you freaked out and thought I was crazy or something.” She looked up, trying to gather her thoughts, and took a deep breath. “Just let me say what I wanted to say, OK?” 

     Marcus glared up at her, having every right to be plenty upset in his mind. But she was right, he had freaked out and tried to leave before she was done talking. And it’s not like she’s gonna let me get past her anyways. If I could I’d ignore her and just leave right now, it doesn’t matter what she has to say, she’s already violated my trust twice. But since I can’t really escape without a fight, I mind as well keep some dignity and pretend it was my decision to hear her out. “Alright. Fine.”

     She smiled softly, perhaps the first heartfelt gesture she’d made all night. “Thank you… Mr. Tilden,” she added suddenly, figuring it couldn’t hurt to be a little polite. “OK. So. Yeah, like I said, I’d never met a shrunken person until tonight, but I’ve always been kinda… interested in them. Like…” she rubbed her thumb around in her palm, nervously trying to articulate her thoughts in a way that wouldn’t seem weird. “Like I dunno how to put it really, I just really like the idea of people that are as small as you. Guys and girls. It’s just… I guess cuz I’m so tall for my age, maybe that has something to do with it. Anyways, ever since Jessie told me in class one day that you were shrinking because of DSD, I got like, super interested. But we’re not really friends, I mean like, we get along, but like we’ve never hung out, you know? Like I had no idea who you were, she just mentioned that her dad was shrinking. And that you stopped a couple weeks ago at like, 2 and a half feet, right?”

     “Two foot seven,” he muttered, clearly caring about that extra inch. 

     “Yeah, anyways. When I heard that, I was like ‘oh, I really wanna meet him,’ but like I didn’t know how, you know? Since me and Jessie aren’t really friends, I couldn’t just like pop on over to her house one day to see you and meet you. Or like, I guess I could, I just thought that might sound suspicious.”

     “OK, so what’s your point then?” he sighed. Her age was a lot more believable now after how much she was babbling.

     “Alright, so like, I just wanna repeat, since you freaked out a ton before, I don’t wanna date you, or… like, do anything else. Obviously that’d be illegal. At least for you. I mean, dating probably isn’t illegal but like people who date eventually do other stuff and that’s definitely illegal so— Nevermind.“ She shook her head, she was getting sidetracked again. The girl who had seemed so cool and collected when they had first met was now an almost incoherent mess when she was being open about something important to her. “So I don’t like, wanna do anything with you, but… I’ll… admit that like, I kinda think you’re cute.” Her lips pursed together. There it was, her confession. That was the other reason she wanted to get him alone tonight, was so she could see what he actually looked like. And since he was only in his mid-thirties, and had lived (up until he shrunk) a fairly active and healthy lifestyle, he was pretty good looking. Especially compared to some of her other classmates’ dads.

     Marcus shifted uncomfortably, but he could tell that she wasn’t done talking yet, and he knew he still couldn’t get by her. So he continued to listen. “Which I don’t think you should like, freak out over necessarily. I mean, I know tons of other people in our class who have crushes on some of our teachers, and like, I know that some of the teachers probably suspect something, you know? Like, if some of my friends have crushes on a couple of the teachers, that probably means some of the teachers were the same way when they were young, right?” She wasn’t wrong. Marcus had had a crush on his math teacher in 6th grade, a blonde woman named Ms. Jacobs who had been in her first year of teaching and was only 24. “Even like with you,” she continued, “like, me and Jessie have a couple mutual friends, and I don’t know about all of them obviously but there’s at least one who’s told me before that she thought you were hot.” Marcus blushed, and felt a bit worried about that. “Don’t worry, it’s not Paris,” she laughed, “she would never say anything like that, at least to me.” Well that’s somewhat of a relief, at least Jess’ best friend is in the clear. “But like, you’re not just gonna stop letting her bring friends over just because one of them has a kind of crush on you, right? Like even if you knew who it was, you wouldn’t just like, ban her from your house, right? I might! I definitely wouldn’t encourage them to come over… “Or like, you shouldn’t, I guess you could, maybe you’re kind of a crazy parent whose super strict, I don’t know, but you definitely shouldn’t I don’t think. Like I’m assuming she hasn’t done or said anything yet, cuz obviously she knows better, just like I also know better, like I said. And you’re an adult anyways, like you know not to let anything come from it, just like you tried not to let anything happen a few minutes ago.” She took another deep breath, almost done with her speech, and tried to gauge his reaction. “So anyways… my point is: yes, I kinda like the idea of shrunken people and you’re shrunken and kinda hot so I kinda like you, but obviously I don’t wanna do anything with that or like take it anywhere, but just like I’m sure you were like when you were my age or maybe you even still are now with other women, I dunno, but whenever I have a crush on someone I’m always looking for excuses to hang out with them cuz I like being around them. Even if like, they’re in a relationship or don’t wanna date or whatever reason, like I still like being around on them, right? Cuz like, that’s how like… crushes work, right?” She sighed, finally rounding the corner to get to her point. “So all of this to say, I like, I kinda wanna be Jessie’s friend now just so we can hang out more often cuz I’ve never met anyone shrunken before and I probably never will for like years and years again so like I just really really wanna be able to hang out with her… because of that. And I also know that you lost your job recently, but my dad’s an executive at a big company, so I help you get a new job if you wanted to too. And you could probably get paid pretty well too, I mean I don’t know what your old job was and how much you made, but like, I just figured I should mention it.”

     “Are you bribing me?” This was not at all how he expected the night to go. It wasn’t even how he had expected the conversation to go just a few minutes ago.

     Veronica sighed, “No, I’m not bribing you, like you don’t even have to accept the offer. But like, I’ve helped another one of my friend’s mom get a job with my dad’s company before, and I didn’t ask for anything in return of course, I just did it cuz she was my friend. So… if me and Jessie became friends, then you’d be like a family friend so I could help you out too.”

     Marcus thought about what she was saying. It had been a couple weeks since he got laid off. He would only be able to last so long living off his savings, and even with the disability benefits that companies would get from hiring him, there weren’t super prospective odds of him getting a job anytime soon because of how limiting his condition was, and especially his lack of experience in any other field of work. But also, just the entire idea of Veronica’s proposal… to be his daughter’s friend? Isn’t that the plot of a movie? Or maybe a couple… a guy befriending someone just so he could hang out around his friend’s mom a lot. Or was it a music video? Maybe a TV show… Either way, that seems to be the case here, and I never thought badly of the kid, but the key difference is the kid in that movie—or music video or show or whatever—he never told anyone. It was just his little secret. But she didn’t keep it a secret with me. “That seems kind of mean to Jessie, like you’d just be using her, to… get to be around me or whatever,” he said, crinkling his face at how weird it sounded out loud. 

     Veronica thought about his rebuttal, but shrugged. “I can see why you’d think that, but I don’t dislike her or anything. I mean, there’s hundreds of kids in our grade and we only have a couple classes together, we don’t play any of the same sports. We just haven’t really had the chance to get to become friends anyways. But I do like her, it’s not like we’re strangers, we’ve hung out a couple times with mutual friends.” Marcus was silent, continuing to think about what she said. Was this all just another trick? She was a good liar before, but that doesn’t mean she’s evil, everyone lies sometimes, and her demeanor definitely seemed to change when she opened up to me. I kinda believe her about that. It’s still just weird. But what if she’s trying to trap me? “Look, I know I probably fucked myself over by joking with you earlier, but I never tried to like seduce you or anything, I just wanted to see what you looked like without your mask on and I didn’t know how else to do it other than bringing you up here, or if I’d even get another chance. And then one thing just led to another and I ended up opening up to you a ton like a therapist or something. But I told you before we came in here that you could wait out the night in the guest rooms after we talked, which you can. I’m just… now you know my secret. And hopefully you don’t hate me because of it and tell Jessie we’re never allowed to hang out and I can never come over, although like I’d totally get it if you do, because I don’t think I’m really any different than her other friend who has a crush on you too, who you obviously don’t have a problem letting come over. Even now that you know, you probably still don’t, cuz like I said you’re an adult so everyone knows nothing’s gonna happen. But I’m just like… a kid, who probably had a stupid idea I guess. So… sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable. This isn’t how I expected my night to go and everything happened so fast.” Yeah, it’s not how I expected my night to go either. But besides that, Marcus realized that that was the first time she’d apologized all night. And who was he kidding, she’s only 12 years old. Just because she was smart enough to think on the spot when they first met and bring him upstairs, doesn’t make her a criminal mastermind. It’s way, way, WAY more likely that she really is just an awkward kid. Everyone gets awkward when they talk about stuff that’s personal to them. If it hadn’t been for her bad first impression, how would I react? If she was already Jess’ friend and accidentally let out her secret to me just now, I wouldn’t suddenly say she can never hang out with Jessie again. But I’d definitely be more cautious. I’d probably say maybe she couldn’t come over for a little while, at least until she develops a crush on someone her own age and moves on like everyone does at her age.

     Even if she doesn’t have any kind of ulterior motives… all of this is just too weird. I can’t in good conscience listen to a middle schooler who I don’t know tell me they have a crush on me and then say it’s totally fine and dandy for her to come over to my house. As much as having a leg up on the job search would be… there’s nothing good that can happen by giving her the go-ahead. Either nothing will happen, or something bad will happen. But… I don’t think she’s a bad person anymore.

     Veronica let out a big sigh. “Anyways, that was everything,” she said, standing up straight again to try and recollect her composure. “You can still go stay in the guest rooms if you want now, I just wanted to be able to fully explain myself first. So thanks for letting me do that.” She smiled down at him, and opened up the door behind her, stepping aside to let him past. He looked up at her, but didn’t smile back, still on edge from the whole ordeal, and put his mask back on. He took several steps towards the exit, and true to her word, she let him by, and exit the room back into the dimly lit hallway. 

     But then he turned to look at her, as she was looking down to the floor in disappointment, assuming she’d screwed up and said too much. “Alright,” he said quietly, from beneath his mask. “I forgive you.” Her head snapped up, and she gasped in surprise and happiness. She was wrong, she hadn’t scared him off after all. “BUT. I disagree with you. I think in any other case, if someone your age confessed they had feelings for someone like me, any other parent my age would put up boundaries. Which is what I’m now doing too. I understand you have a lot of feelings at your age, I felt the same way. But we shouldn’t be encouraging behavior like that. You should find someone your own age that you like, and I know you will. And then you can ask them out, maybe even go on a date, but you shouldn’t and you can’t do that kind of stuff with someone like me. And if I ever find out who the other girl is, I might limit her from coming by our place for a little while too. If you think that makes me a strict parent, so be it. I’m just doing what’s in the best interest for everyone.” Veronica’s face fell sad again, but she had a look of understanding in her eye. As soon as she started talking, she pretty much couldn’t stop. But she knew how it was going to end.

     “But despite all that, I do forgive you. I’m sure it was weird and awkward for you to admit something like that. It’s not wrong for you to feel those kinds of things, it’s natural and I was the same thing when I was your age. You just shouldn’t take action on them. And to be frank, at my size, it’s a lot easier to physically get taken advantage of, and sometimes people forget just how old or human I really am.” That part hurt for him to admit, and Veronica looked away, as it hurt for her to hear it too. “So as the adult, I’m putting a stop to it here. I don’t go to school with you guys, I guess if you really want to be friends with her, then I think that’s great, and I probably can’t stop you guys anyways. But for now, it’ll have to stay at school. Fair?”

     The young girl smiled softly, glad to be forgiven, but sad nonetheless. It was a stark contrast from the rest of her dark, vampire outfit. “Yeah.” She breathed a sigh of solemnness and closed her door behind her, then turned to head away from him and back towards the stairs to return to the party. “I’ll let Jessie know which room you’re in for when you guys wanna go,” she added, and started heading down the stairs as he nodded in understanding. “Bye Mr. Tilden,” she whispered, before disappearing down the steps, while he took a few moments in the hallway to make sense out of everything that had just happened.

     Marcus was surrounded in darkness, in a completely empty void. He couldn’t see anything, hear anything, smell anything, or even feel anything. He was just floating, encapsulated in a great valley of nothingness.

     But suddenly a bright light burst out of the nothingness, almost blinding him. His eyes struggled to adjust, but as they managed to pry themselves open, he saw a great, shining figure standing before him. And he realized he was in a field now, with pretty yellow flowers speckled all around, and great, endless mountain ranges surrounding the beautiful meadow, a cool breeze along his back. He didn’t feel small though; the flora that surrounded him were regularly sized, a familiar proportion to the rest of his body. He felt like he was back to his old height of just under 6 feet tall. But as he looked to the cloudless blue sky, he was unable to see the face of that which stood before him, towering hundreds of feet in the air, as the bright sun kept him from looking too close at who it was that stood with him. Until he saw the figure start to bend down, and their head moved to block the sun, eclipsing it as a giant face cast a shadow over him. And they were smiling, a radiant expression of love and joy on their face. It was his daughter.

     As he looked beyond her giant, towering face, he noticed she was dressed in all white, with a sparkling halo hovering above her long, glimmering hair, and a pair of majestic, radiant wings at her back. He recognized it was the same outfit that she had worn to the party, but this one wasn’t made of cheap home materials; it was real. The cloth that adorned her body looked like they were made out of an extravagant silk, the wings at her back seemed to breathe in a life of their own, and even the halo floated independently above her, not bound by any sticks or plastic. Her skin was still milky white, but not it was glowing, as if there was some covered in some kind of aura. She wasn’t just dressed as an angel anymore; she had truly become one.

     He watched as her fingers reached out to pick him up, but he felt no fear as he was deposited into the palm of her hand, and lifted up high off the ground and in front of her luminous, heavenly face. “Jessie?” he asked, transfixed by the sight of the being that he had thought was his daughter.

     She slowly shook her head. “Yes, that is my name, but I am not your child,” she spoke, her voice still familiar and youthful, but filled with a kind of confidence he had never heard before. “I am your guardian angel, Marcus. Sent to keep you safe, and to wake you up.”

     He was only filled with more confusion. “What?”

     “Sent to wake you up,” the being repeated, still smiling. “Wake up. Wake up.” Her voice started to lose its confidence, although her face didn’t move, staring directly at him as her lips uttered the same thing again and again. “Wake up. Wake up. Daddy, wake, UP!”

====================

Sunday, November 1

====================

     Marcus jolted awake and gasped for breath, his eyes flashing open as he returned to reality. Jessie had been kneeling in the middle of his bed, lightly prodding his shoulder and telling him to get up, but she leaned back suddenly as he jerked forward. “Daddy, are you OK?” she asked, her face suddenly filled with worry for her father. “Did you have a bad dream?”

     His breathing slowed as his mind settled down, and realized that everything had all been in his head. “Yeah. I mean, no, it was just weird.” He couldn’t take his eyes away from his daughter’s concerned face. What a weird, crazy dream. In the moment, he had felt completely serene, albeit confused, but now he was a bit uncomfortable. His own flesh and blood having just moments ago been a heavenly being, but now in actuality, was back to being his normal, teenage daughter. 

     “Daddy?” she repeated, her head tilting to the side. “Are you sure you’re OK? You’re kinda looking at me weird.”

     “Yeah, sorry.” He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, shaking his head to clear his thoughts. “What time is it?” He glanced towards the clock on his dresser: 10:13. What the hell? It’s been awhile since I’ve slept in that much, and I wasn’t even up that late last night.

     Jessie looked to the clock too, “Yeah, that’s why I came to wake you up. We both went to bed at the same time last night, but I figured maybe you just didn’t sleep very well.”

     “Eleven, right?” he asked, turning to look at her again. She nodded and pursed her lips. Guess she’s right, maybe I just didn’t sleep well last night. After his encounter with Veronica last night, he spent several hours watching TV in one of the guest rooms, until Jessie and Paris came up to get them around 10:30 and said they were ready to go. Then Marcus had dropped Paris off at her house before taking Jessie and himself home. I guess the upside to middle school parties is there’s no alcohol, so there’s no way to get so blackout drunk that I wake up the next day and forget what happened. His memory still felt a bit foggy, but it was starting to come back to him. “Yeah, I had a bit of a hard time falling asleep,” he admitted. The encounter with Veronica had been on his mind the whole time. Had he done the right thing, allowing her to be friends with his daughter after admitting she had a crush on him? Maybe my first instinct was right, maybe I should’ve just said no, and been the adult in the room and said she’s not allowed to come over to our house. I could’ve been polite and respectful and still said that. But… I do need a job. It wasn’t merely that his daughter’s classmate had admitted she liked him, he was sure lots of parents had had a friend of their child’s admit to something like that before. And the parents probably just explained that feelings are natural, but there should be boundaries, and right and wrong. But this felt different, since they were starting off that way, instead of it just coming out after some time. And the fact that half the reason she likes me is because of my size. That doesn’t help. But he wasn’t completely helpless at his size; like any responsible adult, he knew to set boundaries, like he had last night when they first spoke to each other. He wasn’t even sure when he’d see Veronica again, but if he just always made sure that his daughter was nearby when her friend was around too, then there shouldn’t be anything to worry about.

     “Well I made you some eggs, but they’re probably kinda cold by now,” she said, interrupting his thoughts and bringing him back to the new day. She hopped off her bed and reached out her hand to pull him out of bed, but as he sat up more, his covers fell off his torso and she glanced down at his bare chest. “Wait, you… should get dressed first,” she giggled awkwardly, and retracted her hand as she turned back around and scurried out his bedroom door, softly closing it behind her.

     Marcus emerged a few minutes later dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, headed to the kitchen to eat his breakfast. Jessie sat down at the table, holding her head in her hands and happily watched him as he microwaved the breakfast she made for him before sitting down across from her. “So what’s on the agenda for today?” she asked, her eyes sparkling with interest and curiosity. “We have a whole Sunday to do whatever we want,” she gleamed, chipper as ever. 

     Marcus paused his eating for a moment. Wait, it’s not her birthday today… and it’s not mine… “Is there something special I’m not thinking of?” he asked, and continued eating again. “It’s just a regular Sunday, isn’t it?”

     Jessie sighed, rolling her eyes with a giggle at how ordinary and unimaginative her dad could sometimes be. “Yeah, Daddy, it’s just a normal Sunday, I’m just trying to be in a good mood.” She rapped her knuckles down on the table, and bit her lip as she started to make a beat with her knockings. “So what is it? What are we gonna do?” 

     He scratched his temple awkwardly, “Well since we didn’t get to them yesterday or last week, there’s some chores around the house we have to do.” He glanced outside to their backyard; the grass was getting dangerously tall. “And you need to cut the grass.” Jessie groaned, her face falling to the table as the little beat she was making with her knuckles stopped.

     “Nice going, now you’ve killed all my enthusiasm,” she droned into the table, and Marcus chuckled.

     “Jess, all of that shouldn’t take that long, and then you’ll still have the rest of the day to do whatever you want.” He looked to the clock again. “We might even finish with everything well before noon.”

     Jessie didn’t say anything for a few moments, then sighed and lifted her head back up. “Yeah. Alright.” She stood up, figuring she mind as well get it over with and just mow the lawn now. But she still wasn’t happy. “You killed the vibe, man!” she jokingly told him, although it wasn’t a lie. “Killed it, Daddy!” She smirked at herself as he chuckled, then stomped slightly as she headed towards the back door. She wasn’t angry with her dad for making her mow the lawn; she knew that he was physically incapable of doing it himself because of his size. She was just a bit frustrated that after thinking she’d have the whole day to relax and do absolutely whatever she want, with endless possibilities, her dad had to come along and remind her that there were still chores she had to do. Just a part of growing up. But Marcus saw her heading outside barefoot, and spoke up before she could make her way out the sliding glass door. “Hey hey hey, wait,” he yelled out of concern, pointing down to her feet. “Why aren’t you wearing any shoes or socks?”

    Jessie looked back to him, a completely innocent look on her face as she glanced down to her bare toes and then back up to her dad. “What do you mean? Do I have to?”

     Marcus scoffed, “Well yeah, I don’t want you coming through the house when you’re done with dirty feet.” Isn’t that obvious? 

     Jessie crossed her arms, upset that her dad had scoffed at her. “Well obviously I’m gonna wash them off with the hose after I finish, I’m not stupid. But it’s a nice day out, doesn’t everyone like the feeling of grass between their toes? It’s like you’re one with nature!” She beamed at him, trying to infect him with her upbeat and positive attitude, but her father retained his stoic expression and didn’t budge on the matter.

     “I know you’re not stupid sweetie, it’s not that I don’t believe you or trust you. But wet grass stains really easily. Even if you wash all the dirt off and everything, it’s still gonna stink up the house. You might not even smell it yourself, but I’m a lot closer to the ground now so I’m closer to the source.” Then he tapped his nose a few times with his finger, “Plus my sense of smell is stronger.”

     “So I can’t cut the grass barefoot, not because they’d get dirty, but because they’d get smelly?” 

     Marcus looked away, then tilted his head back and forth as if weighing what she said. “Yeah, I sort of see it as the same thing, but I guess they’re technically different.”

     Jessie huffed in annoyance at his demands. This was her chore, she was the only one who could do it and she offered to start doing it for him when he first shrunk. And now he wouldn’t even let her do it her own way. It wasn’t like it affected how good of a job she did or how long it took. She looked to the ground, and subsequently her feet, clenching her jaw and curling her toes against the rug as the tried to think of how else to argue with him. “Everyone’s feet stink, that’s normal like that’s just life,” she mumbled, but didn’t say it very loudly since she knew it wasn’t a real comeback and wouldn’t change his mind.

     “What?” he asked, unable to hear her.

     “Well I don’t want my shoes to get dirty,” she protested, a little louder this time. It was a better excuse, but as soon as she said it she already knew it still wouldn’t change his mind.

     “You can use my old ones,” he offered. “Since I don’t use them anymore, I don’t really care what happens to them.” She continued to look at the ground, moping about her situation and refusing to make eye contact with her dad. Typical teenage angst, he thought. But I’m not without good reason, I don’t think. “Do you not think I’m being fair?” he asked softly. “I don’t want to be controlling, and I don’t think what I’m asking is too harsh. Sometimes people just have to compromise though.”

     “No, I get it,” she muttered. “It’s fine.” She heaved in a big sigh, not missing the opportunity to be a bit dramatic, as she went to her room to put on some socks, before heading towards the garage where most of her dad’s old clothes were and find his shoes. 

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus was sitting in his armchair responding to emails on his iPad when he heard the door to the garage open behind him, and Jessie silently came back inside, finished with the lawn. “How’d it go?” he asked without turning around, hoping for the best.

     “Fine,” she muttered, and he heard her walking by behind him, her footfalls padding against the wood floor as she made her way to the kitchen. 

     As she passed by behind him, he realized he could smell something funky, and he crinkled his nose as he turned now to look to Jessie. She was grabbing a glass of water from the sink… and she was barefoot. Did she disobey me? he wondered. She could’ve just taken her socks off already, although she didn’t go to her room. He looked around, and didn’t see any bundled up socks lying around. And she didn’t just ball them into a wad and toss them aside like she’s done before. “Jess, can you come over here?” he asked.

     She finished gulping down her water before sighing and turning to strut back towards her dad, crossing her arms as she looked down at him with a bored expression on her face. “What?”

     Now that she came closer, he could definitely smell it again. That distinct, gross, wet grass smell. The very one he had specifically wanted her to avoid. He pointed down to her feet with his head. “Jessie, you’re barefoot, and I didn’t see you take any socks back to your room just now when you came in. And now just like I told you would happen, your feet got dirty and even though it looks like you might’ve washed them, I can still smell them around the house!” Jessie looked at him with incredulousness. She didn’t look guilty, or like she’d been caught, she instead seemed amazed that he would even accuse her of defying his instructions. Her eyebrows narrowed, and she opened her mouth to respond, before catching herself and closing it again so she could stomp back towards the garage and head back outside. Now the way her feet pounded against the ground made it abundantly clear she was irritated with her dad. More than that really, she was angry. Marcus was confused at her reaction, but looked to the door in await of her return. She came hurling back inside only a few seconds later, clutching a pair of limp socks by her side as she stamped back towards her dad. The socks seemed to be damp, and were clearly soiled on the bottom, a mix of gray and brown and green coloring the once-fresh pieces of footwear. He realized what had happened, but it was too late. He had already hurt her with his accusation.

     “My feet weren’t the only thing that got dirty,” she yelled, holding up the pair of socks. “I did wear shoes, and socks, I did just what you asked, and even after doing exactly what you told me to do, I guess stuff still got through your worn out tennis shoes, and now you thought that I just disobeyed you and went out barefoot. Now I almost wish I would’ve though, because clearly it would’ve received the same reaction from you!” She stooped down lower, her eyes filled with resentfulness as she continued berating her dad. “If you wanna complain about how my feet smell, then just imagine what my socks are like! Anything from my feet had to go through them first, they were like, fresh and clean and a nice light blue and now they look like shit!” She held them back up in front of her face and examined them, quickly biting her lip in anger as her fists curled into balls and she squeezed her eyes shut. “AARGHHH!” she screamed furiously at the ceiling. “I can’t believe I did exactly what you made me do and now I’m even worse than I would’ve been!”

     She jumped onto his recliner with bent knees, both of her legs easily fitting on either side of his body that was simply too small to fill out the chair it sat in. “Look at how ruined they are, see?!” She stretched out one of the socks, showcasing how stained they were all along the soles, just hopelessly covered in green and brown. “This is your fault, Daddy!” she added, then bunched them back up and shoved them into his face. He immediately tried to recoil, except he was already sitting against the chair, so he couldn’t move back any further. Plus his daughter’s strong thighs bordered his own legs, with her knees hugging up against his torso, so he was trapped beneath her. She was right, the socks stank far worse than the faint scent of her dirty feet did. He wished he could just be smelling her feet again, he wished that the vague stains on her feet were all he had to endure, instead of being forcibly subjected to the rotten stench that had accumulated from her outside work. It was a disgusting and revolting smell, the unnatural mixture of grass and dirt with mustiness and dried sweat. Plus the socks were damp, and lifelessly cold. She made sure to hold them right up against his nose, while still leaving room above so she could look him in the eye. “I couldn’t even use any of your old socks since you don’t have them anymore, I had to use my own, and now look at them! Smell them!” she yelled again, keeping the nauseating stench pressed to his little face. He couldn’t even open his mouth to try and reply or defend himself, because he was too scared to get anything sickening onto his lips or in his mouth. “You know these were a gift to me from Auntie Emma? She got me them for my birthday last year. And I kinda liked them! They were a nice color, and they had a little white frilly thing around the ankle, aaaaaand I don’t even know where she got them! I know you’ll probably just be like ‘oh Jess I can just buy you a new pair,’” she said, mockery dripping from her voice, “but they were a gift, that’s not the point. They have sentimental value, that’s something that money can’t buy!” She was obviously letting her emotions get the best of her and not thinking logically, but he had no way to fight or even argue back. He was just along for the ride, and hoped that her frustration wouldn’t amount to anything more. “But now I’m gonna have to scrub them a bunch with like OxiClean or something, which might not even work, I don’t know. But none of this would’ve happened if you just would’ve let me go barefoot! I mean, my body is a lot easier to clean than my clothes, it’s not like my skin can really absorb stuff like how socks can. You could’ve just asked me to take a shower afterwards, what was wrong with that? Why didn’t you suggest that? But now my feet are apparently still annoying to you and my socks are ruined.” Her tirade had lasted so long that Marcus hadn’t been able to hold his breath beneath her smelly, thoroughly dirty socks. The initial smell was worse when she rushed them towards his face, but it had only worsened after his lungs had forced him to take several deep breaths, with her caked socks acting as a filter for his tainted oxygen. She continued glaring at him, and an uncomfortable several seconds passed as he coughed a few times breathing in her socks’ odious and grassy scent, before she realized she had said everything she wanted to, and finally pulled the socks off his face, climbing off the chair in the process.

     He gasped for air, closing his eyes in silent thankfulness for her mercy, as he savored the sweet smell of clean air once more. The grassy aroma was still noticeable, but compared to what he had just undergone, it paled in comparison. He set aside his tablet that had still been on his lap, which Jessie now noticed and pointed to accusingly. “And you were on your iPad while I was mowing the lawn? What happened to doing chores, what happened to finishing everything by noon?”

     Marcus calmly wiped his face—particularly his nose—from the dampness that had seeped onto it. “I was checking my LinkedIn and emails to see if there were any new updates for any jobs,” he quietly explained. The entire mood of the room immediately shifted. Her jaw unclenched a little, feeling awkward, and she glanced down.

     “Was there any news?” she asked, significantly more somber now, but still with some leftover angst in her voice. Even if she was still on edge, she still cared about her dad and him finding a new job. His discouraging reminder, which she had basically made him tell, definitely helped to settle the mood. 

     “No,” he sighed, and stood up out of his chair to face her as best he could. “Jessie…” he started, but looked down at the socks she was still holding and scoffed out of disbelief for what just happened. Where do I even start?

     His daughter moaned, and collapsed on the couch behind him, her head falling backwards as she stared at the ceiling. Now that her outburst had faded, she realized how incredibly rude what she had just done was. Even putting it like that was a bit of an understatement. “That was… beyond disrespectful of me,” she groaned, bringing her hands up to her eyes to rub them, like she was trying to forget what she had just done. “I’m so sorry Daddy. I… just got caught up in the moment,” she said, taking her hands away now so she could address him properly. “I wasn’t trying to be mean, honestly. I was just… really upset.” Her eyes started to water, and he watched as a tear fell its way down her cheek, and she sniffed and looked away in embarrassment, wiping them away. “It was just… very frustrating.”

     Compassion filled Marcus’ heart now, and he came over beside her to console her. He hated having to smell her socks’ worn-out grass stains, but he would’ve done it a dozen more times if it meant not having to see his daughter cry. “Yeah, that’s… life. Sometimes it’s just unfair, and people are wrong. I know you know that I wouldn’t have made you do that if I had known that was gonna be the outcome. And your shower idea was great, honey! I’m sorry I didn’t think of that myself, we can do that next time. But what you did, was also very wrong too,” he added sternly. “I forgive you, I know it was just an outburst. But it can never happen again.” She nodded earnestly, feeling truly remorseful for her actions. He took a deep breath. As much as she’s sorry, which I know she sincerely is, there still need to be consequences for her actions. “Jess, I think—“

     Three tiny, meager knocks rang out from their front door before Marcus could lay out her punishment. Jessie looked at her dad, who returned her look of puzzlement right back, causing Jessie to shrug. They both stood back up, and Jessie headed to the door to investigate. She opened it a crack to see who it was, but then smiled and swung it all the way open. On the other end was a small hispanic girl. Where have I seen… Oh that’s right, she’s Jessie’s friend from school. He recalled her coming over a couple times a few weeks ago to work on a school project together, and Jessie saying that she lived nearby so she hadn’t needed a ride home. 

     “Hey Camila,” Jessie greeted her, wiping her eyes again to make sure there was no evidence of her former tears. “What’s up?”

     The shy girl glanced from her friend over to Marcus still sitting on the couch. “Um, I— my um, parents are both working today,” she softly explained, “so uh, they thought… I told them a few weeks ago that I had come here after school, and so, um, they thought that maybe I could come over today while they were working, cuz they’re not supposed to be back til pretty late, and my brothers are hanging with friends, so…”

     Jessie instantly recognized what Camila was trying to say, even if she was too reluctant to say it. Without breaking her smile, she invited her in. “Oh, do you wanna hang out? I was just… talking with my dad…” she said, as Camila slowly stepped past her into their house. Behind her back, Jessie pointed to Camila, mouthing “can she stay?” to her dad while the other girl was looking around at their house. Marcus was overtaken with a look of concern and quickly nodded his head and gave a thumbs up, indicating she had done the right thing by inviting her in. “We didn’t really have anything to do today, so you’re free to just like, chill with us and do whatever.”

     “Yeah, have you had lunch yet?” he asked, jogging around the couch to greet her. “Do you want anything to eat?” Is that being too forward? Am I being presumptuous by assuming she hasn’t had anything to eat yet? Her parents are just at work, that doesn’t mean they starve her for Christ’s sake.

     “Yeah, I had a PB&J before coming here,” she answered. Oh, good then. “I can go home for dinner too, there’s some leftovers in the fridge that my older brother made. I just… didn’t wanna hang out by myself all day,” she said awkwardly, tracing circles on the floor with her foot. Marcus scolded himself even further. Why’d I just assume she was from a broken home, it sounds like her parents are just busy a lot.

     “Oh no, there’s no need for you to go home, you can eat dinner with us,” he told her. “You can stay as long as you want.”

     “Thanks,” she said, making eye contact for the first time as she scratched her ear, then quickly darted her eyes away. “Um, can I use your bathroom though?” 

     “Of course, it’s right down the hall,” he said, pointing her in the right direction. She faintly smiled again, and mumbled a thanks before heading to use the toilet. 

     Jessie turned back to her dad, “So, I… I’m still in trouble right? Should we wait til after she heads home to talk more about it?”

     Marcus sighed, “Just forget about it, I don’t wanna dwell on it any longer. I already forgive you, you know that, and I know you’re not gonna do anything like that again, right?” She nodded. “Yeah, so… I guess your friend kinda saved you,” he chuckled. 

     She grinned, feeling unworthy of how lenient he had been on her, and stooped down to give her dad a hug. “Thanks, Daddy.” Then she stood back up and headed towards her room, before spinning back around. “Oh yeah, what about the chores we were supposed to do?” she whispered.

     Marcus shrugged, “Just go have fun with your friend, I can do the other stuff. Mowing lawn was literally more than I could ever do myself, anyways.”

     She giggled at his comment, “Alright, thanks Daddy.” Then turned back around as Camila came out of the bathroom so they could head to her room together. Marcus sighed at the surprising chain of events, a double surprise, and soon got to work on cleaning up around the house while his daughter was left to play with her friend for the rest of the day.

====================

Monday, November 2

====================

     Monday morning signaled a return back to the regular schedule for Marcus and Jessie. The young girl’s father had all but forgotten about what had happened on Tuesday just under a week ago, when Jessie had gotten drunk and initially tried to hide it from him. But they had seemingly moved on, forgiven and forgotten. And after letting Jessie take him trick-or-treating on Saturday night, and then eventually bring him along to Veronica’s party, it seemed fairly evident that she pretty much was no longer grounded.

     So when he mentioned that he was going to be taking her to school again today (which was a good excuse for him to wake up early anyways), she took it a step further and asked if he could take her to Starbucks on the way. “Sure, if you’re gonna pay for it, right?” was his response as they pulled out of their driveway.

     “Yeah, of course Daddy, but what if in addition to me paying for it, you also raise my allowance by 4 bucks too?” she asked with a smirk, and he chuckled at her comeback.

     “Well you already get 15 dollars a week, so an extra 4 dollars would be like a 30% raise. Which is a lot more than I ever got at my old job!” he said with a laugh. Obviously 4 dollars wasn’t a lot, but considering this was basically free money she was getting just so she could practice basic financial literacy and spending money wisely, it wasn’t bad for someone her age.

     “Yeaaaaah, Daddy, but like… OK, what if, instead of you raising my allowance, you just bought the coffee for me,” she said with a cheesy grin, trying to appeal to him with her puppy dog demeanor instead. “I’m not old enough to get a job even if I wanted to, but I do help out around the house with things you can’t do.”

     “Those are called chores, Jess. You don’t get a reward for doing what you’re supposed to as a part of the family.”

     “Why not?” she challenged. He glanced over to her, and he could tell she honestly wanted to know, and wasn’t just arguing with him for the sake of rebelliousness. And admittedly, he couldn’t think of an immediate answer. Because ‘that’s the way it’s always been’ isn’t a really good response. And ‘because I said so’ isn’t any better. “We learned about something like that in science class last week when they were talking about experiments they did on rats and stuff,” she continued. “It’s called positive reinforcement I think. Or positive… something. Anyway, anytime the rats did something good, they would give them a little bit of cheese, and then the rats learned to step on the button or whatever and they’d get their food. But Ms. Yao was saying there are all these like, real world applications, like how being paid at a job is a kind of positive reinforcement because you do a good, and then they pay you, and if you do bad then they fire you so you wanna do a good job so you keep making money. Or when a crowd cheers at a football game, it helps motivate the team to play better. I mean, if you think about it, you already do it with me, kinda like her example with someone’s job. Because I get my allowance every week, right? But if I get grounded or do something wrong and you have to punish me, then you take it away. So I’m encouraged to have a good behavior because I know that I’ll like, keep phone privileges and get my allowance and stuff like that every week.” She looked to him to see what he thought of her little speech, and he glanced at her again, but with his eyebrows raised this time. He was impressed. Shit, she’s starting to get pretty smart. I’ve gotta admit, I think she’s right.

     “So you’re saying you wanna be a rat then?” he finally said, and broke out into laughter as his daughter facepalmed and groaned at him purposefully having skipped over the point entirely. They pulled into the Starbucks drive-thru as Jessie looked back up with a more serious face, although with the hint of a smile on the edge of her lips.

     “If it means getting a free coffee, then sure, I’d love to be a rat.” Now Marcus was the one rolling his eyes as she giggled, but went on with her point. “You already buy my clothes and toiletries and other stuff. This is just coffee, it’s not like you’re actually paying me like a salary or anything for helping out around the house, that wasn’t what I meant.” The car ahead of them moved forward, so Marcus rolled down his window as he pulled up to the sign so she could order. The barista greeted her though the speaker, but Marcus interjected before she could make her order.

     “OK, fine, I’ll get you your coffee,” he whispered, and she silently cheered to herself her fists before giving her dad a quick hug.

     “Thank you thank you thank you!” she quietly squealed.

     “But remember, this is a privilege,” he replied. “Your clothes are necessary, but this something you’ve earned, so I’ll take it away if I need to. Sound good?” She nodded up and down approvingly; it sounded fair to her. “And I’m only paying for a tall, anything bigger you can buy yourself.” More nods of agreement. “Alright, you can order now,” he said, and her joyful spirit returned, putting a smile on his face at seeing her so giddy already before her caffeine.

     “Hi, can I get a tall matcha green tea latte,” she proudly proclaimed.

     “Sure, anything else?” the man on the other end replied.

     “That’s it!”

     “Great, that’ll be $4.24 at the next window.”

     “Thanks!” With a content smile on her face, Jessie sat back as Marcus pulled ahead. She always got a satisfying feeling whenever she was able to convince her dad to buy her things.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Later that day, Marcus was waiting in the parking lot of her school, as he had also agreed to picking her up since he had plenty of free time. So after her practice, she came up to his car and shrugged off her gym bag and backpack in the backseat. But looking at her in the rear view mirror, it seemed like something was off. Not in the way she was acting, she seemed to be in a good mood, so practice must’ve gone well. But it looked like something was on her neck…

     “Hi Daddy,” she chirped, hopping into the passenger seat as he started up the car, “thanks for picking me up.”

     “Hey hun…” He was practically staring at her neck as she got in though, and she hadn’t even buckled in her seatbelt by the time she noticed he was looking at her funny.

     “Uh… everything OK?” she asked, and he furrowed his eyebrows.

     “Everything’s fine with me Jess, is everything OK with you though?” He was pretty confident he knew what he was looking at, but he didn’t want to accuse her of anything again without asking some questions first. “Did practice go okay, did you get injured at all?”

     She shrugged, “No. I mean, yeah, it went fine and no I didn’t get hurt.” She returned his quizzical look. “Daddy, it’s obvious something’s wrong, what is it? Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

     Marcus sighed, “Well, I don’t wanna accuse you of anything, but there’s some kind of bruise on your neck, and it looks like a hickey.”

     Her eyes immediately grew to the size of saucepans, with panic overtaking her expression. “Oh my god, are you serious? Wait, really?” She quickly fumbled for her phone and opened up the camera, but couldn’t see anything right away. So then she folded the sun visor down to see herself in the mirror, while leaning forward and holding up the camera behind her neck. Now it was visible. Seeing her screen in the mirror’s reflection, she could make out red and purple discoloring on the are where her shoulder met the backside of her neck. “FUCK! I can’t believe that’s been there all practice, oh my god, why did nobody mention it to me!” She slid further into her seat and practically curled up into a ball, hiding her face between her legs in embarrassment.

     “So… it is a hickey?” Marcus asked. She silently nodded, still keeping her head buried between her legs that were wrapped up in her arms. “I was… UGH, I can’t believe I’m about to tell you this… but I was like, flirting with one of the boys at Veronica’s party on Halloween, and then we were texting some of yesterday but I don’t have any classes with him this semester. But then I saw him after school and he like…” she sighed out of exasperation. “I don’t even wanna— this is so awkward, Daddy… I literally, just like…” She let out a muffled scream into her hands. “AHH, and I can’t believe nobody told me!”

     He had to keep himself from laughing at how much his daughter was freaking out over a hickey. He felt bad for her, of course, but he knew she was good at makeup, and would be able to hide it until it went away in a few days. That’s what his girlfriend did in high school when he gave her one, and back then she seemed more annoyed than embarrassed. “Jess, I’m not mad at you if that’s what you were thinking, I just wanted to make sure you were OK. You don’t have to tell me the details, I don’t need to know. And tomorrow morning I can help you put some concealer on it if you can’t reach behind there yourself, it doesn’t look that dark.” He wasn’t mad, but he was still surprised. He had had “the talk” with Jessie before, but he didn’t know when she’d start growing into that part of herself, or if she had already.

     His daughter sighed, but collapsed her little ball of shame and sagged in her seat, reluctantly putting on her seatbelt. “Whatever. I guess.” He grimaced with a tinge of a smile as he pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the main roads. She stared out the window, and he wished he was still big enough to be able to reach over and rub her back. I guess she’s getting to that point though. I’m surprised at how quickly she’s grown up. Here was his daughter, starting to kiss and lightly mess around with boys, and after over a decade of dozens of hopeless dates and short-stinted relationships, he was still single himself. It put a pang of hurt in his heart, especially knowing how much harder it would be to find someone at his size. What if I never find someone? That thought scared him, and he glanced over at his daughter again, memories of her growing up over the years flashing by in his head. But I’ll always have her though. And I wouldn’t trade anything in the world to have it any other way.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     “You know, Claire asked me something kinda like, interesting today before practice,” Jessie mentioned as she tossed her backpack and gym bag into her room, referring to one of her volleyball teammates. Marcus had picked her up from school again today, and they’d just gotten home. “She wanted to know if we’ve ever wrestled before,” she said, grabbing a carton of juice from the fridge and pouring herself a cup, hungrily gulping it down while she looked to gauge her dad’s reaction.

     “Uh… wrestled? You mean like after I shrunk?” Jessie nodded and set down her glass while Marcus mulled over the question. “Well, does she know how short I am?” he chuckled. Most people with DSD lost less than a foot of their height, but he’d lost more than half. It made him a minority case in an already minority population.

     “Yeah yeah, I told her,” she shrugged with a smile. “Apparently one of her cousins developed it as a baby, so at family reunions all the other kids would wrestle with him. Like even though he was smaller than them, apparently he won a couple times because he was older so he had like, strategy and was a bit smarter and stuff. Like David and Goliath.” 

     “I can only imagine why you’d be bringing this up,” he smirked, knowing plenty well where this conversation was about to end up.

     “She was the one who asked me!” Jessie insisted, defending herself. But after a few moments, continued, “Yeah though, it kinda made me curious.” 

     Marcus tilted his head to the side like an amped up TV wrestler, widening his eyes with faux craziness as he approached his daughter with an exaggerated strut. “Oh, so you think you can take me then?” he asked, lowering his voice while staring up at his daughter, putting on an animated personality while she bit her lip to keep herself from laughing at her dad. “You think you… can take me?!” he repeated, and shoved his arms against her thighs, attempting to shove her backwards. But she didn’t even budge, and the look on his face fell as he realized what he was up against. To him, she weighed as much as an 800 pound monster, but bundled up in the appearance of a teenage girl. But it was too late for him to back out now; he had already instigated a rivalry with his daughter, and she dawned a coy smile, cracking her knuckles as she slowly stepped toward him. “Oh… crap. Now that I already committed, I have to go through with this, right?” She giggled and silently nodded her head up and down. “And I can’t back out now and change my mind?” A head shake from the young giantess.

     “Hey, you could win,” she said. “I dunno how, but you’re not that small.”

     Marcus rolled his eyes, Oh yeah, I’m ‘only’ two and a half feet tall, big whoop. “You really believe I could take you down? Your friend’s cousin was probably playing against kids, and even then you said they didn’t win all the time. And you’re probably better at wrestling than a child.” 

     “Technically I am a child,” she said, and ushered him towards the living room, where the floor was carpeted and there was more space. 

     He sighed and followed her guiding hands to the other room. “You know what I mean, no need to make this any more humiliating for me.” 

     “And no,” Jessie continued, “I think I can beat you pretty easily. So I guess this is like more for me to see how fast I can win, instead of just if I can. But how about, to make it a bit more fair, I can only use one arm.” She tucked her left arm behind her back and got onto her knees. “And I have to play on my knees.”

     “And I only have to knock you over. But you still have to fully pin me down.” Marcus thought that his additions would make it more fair. “Even with all that, you’ll still probably beat me, but at least it’ll be a little more fair.”

     Jessie shrugged her shoulders, “You’re right, I probably will still beat you.” She grinned and widened her legs apart, solidifying her knees’ stance, and held her arm out as menacingly as a single arm can be. Which, to her miniature father, was pretty menacing. “You ready?” Marcus nodded, bending his own knees so he was in a ready position. 

     They just sort of stood there for a few moments, each waiting for the other to make the first move. “You know, the longer you wait to attack, the longer I can say I lasted against you,” he said. Jessie grumbled and stomped forward on her knees, swiping towards his body with her free arm. But he dodged out of the way, towards the left side of her body where her other arm was held against her back. Unable to reach him with her other arm, she started to turn around, but not before Marcus charged forward and slammed into her side. And to both of their surprise, it was with enough force that she began falling to her side—until she whipped her hand towards the floor and steadied herself before fully toppling over. Shit, he thought. But at least I know I can do it. That was probably my best chance though. Taking their match more seriously now, Jessie suddenly lifted her left leg into the air and spun on her right kneecap, pivoting her body around so her leg flew over her dad’s head. Then she bent her knee 90 degrees and boomeranged it back towards her dad, her calf catching against his backside and send him falling forward towards the ground. Glancing behind her to make sure she could see what she was doing, she rolled onto her side and shimmied back more, aiming to catch his head in a leg lock. “Wait…” he began to say, before her leg wrapped behind him again and pushed him closer to her, knocking him over once more. But this time he fell into one of his daughter’s thighs. Wasting no time, she positioned each of them around his neck. Well, that was her goal anyways. Because of how small he was, the end result was more of his neck and his head being suddenly squeezed together by Jessie’s bare legs, as one of them bent behind his head to ensure he was properly locked in. The only thing that took up his view was his daughter’s upper legs and butt, with their living room in his peripheral, except angled sideways from the two wrestling on their sides on the floor. Because his neck wasn’t long enough, his daughter couldn’t actually cut off his oxygen supply with her legs since they couldn’t fit in the half-sized nook between his shoulders and his head, which was the only thing keeping him breathing. But as her soft, pale thighs pressed against the sides of his face nonetheless, he was hopelessly trapped in. 

     If she’s flexible enough with her back legs, she’d be able to keep tightening her lock and maybe even push me up against her butt. She was supposed to be standing on her knees though, this sideways-wrestling isn’t fair because it’s physically impossible for me to do anything to her, that was why I just had to knock her over. He scowled, Why do kids always forget the rules? “I said wait…” he managed to say. “You were… supposed to be… on your knees…” He could breathe mostly fine, but all the squirming around he was doing to try and escape his daughter’s vice-like leg lock was making it hard to talk straight. “This wasn’t what… we agreed… to…” He knew Jessie was strong, but the years and years of playing sports had really made her impressively strong. He didn’t want to call his daughter ‘thick,’ but it was clear from the muscles flexing within the trunk-like thighs on his face that she was incredibly fit to say the least. If she’s this much stronger than me at only 13… His mind started to imagine what she’d look like in college, after a possible decade of playing volleyball and continuing to grow taller and bigger while he stayed merely two and a half feet tall.

     But she heeded his complaints, and released her dad from the bind of her legs. “You’re right, sorry Daddy, I forgot.” She took a deep breath and sat upright again, but this time on her butt, so her legs were stretched out in front of her instead of behind. “It kinda hurts to play on my knees, can I do it this way instead?” 

     Initially Marcus thought she might be giving herself an advantage, before he thought a little more about it. If I just have to knock over her torso instead of her torso and the top half of her legs, that means a lot less weight to have to topple. Plus I only came up to her upper chest before, but now we’re more eye level. So I can tackle her from higher up, which helps me out momentum wise because it’s further from her center of gravity…

     Right? He didn’t actually know if his science was adding up, but it sounded about right to him. The first part, of him needing to knock down less weight, was definitely true at least. He was confident of that much. “Alright, sure. I think that’d still be fair, yeah.” He walked back around to his starting position and assumed his former stance. “Ready?”

     “I’m not charging first when I have to hop everywhere on my butt now,” she laughed, looking down at her predicament. 

     Marcus smiled but rolled his eyes, “Fine.” Skirting to the right, and then the left, his daughter’s gaze followed him, her arm always at the ready. Deciding he had come pretty close last round and it was worth trying that strategy again, he ran towards her left side, where she wasn’t able to use her arm. But Jessie had figured he’d try that move again because of his near success, and suddenly pushed with her feet and spun clockwise, expecting him to maybe try pushing her over from behind. Reaching behind her with her right arm, she was able to twist herself and catch him in his tracks. He attempted to duck out of the way from her arm swinging overhead, but it just swooped down along with him, and as her body continued to contort towards his direction, she caught him under her arm. Once again his head fell prey to one of her limbs, as she gripped it between her side and upper arm. Then her hand was able to grab at one of his legs and push it upwards, sending his face into her armpit. He was immediately greeted with the leftover stench from her recent practice that day. “Ugh, mmmph” he mumbled, struggling to push himself out from her armpit’s grip. But much like with her leg lock, escaping his daughter’s grasp was hopeless once she got a secure hold over him. She giggled at his attempts for freedom, and pushed upwards with her hand again, sliding his face so deep into her pit that it almost felt like his head was able to fit right into it’s little cave-shaped nook. He was just glad that she hadn’t grown any hair yet, so at least there wasn’t anything rough rubbing against him, but that hardly mattered since her dried pit sweat was the first thing on her mind. After a bit more struggling, he was able to slowly slide his body down just far enough so that his mouth wasn’t pressed up against her smelly skin any more, and manage to say something again. “This isn’t…” he panted, “pinning me down…” He began to chuckle despite the situation he was in, knowing she would never be able to truly “win” under the current circumstances. “I might be stuck,” he huffed again, “but I’m not pinned… like real wrestling.” Jessie grumbled, understanding the point her dad was trying to make. 

     “But this can last forever, I don’t have to let you go anytime soon,” she said. “I’ll… let you win if you take me to the store tonight,” she said, squishing her dad’s face into her armpit again to remind him of its sour stink. But as much as it was a pungent smell, Marcus wouldn’t give up that easily.

     “No,” he defiantly mumbled, like a kid too stubborn to know when they were finished.

     “Fine, you want me to make you lose?” she asked, a grin growing on her face as an idea formed in her mind, giving her the faint taste of a possible victory. Without waiting to see if he’d respond, she tightened her grip on his leg and pulled him out from under her pits, holding him upside down. As soon as he realized how she had been holding back, he stopped flailing, knowing it was about to be over. From his upside down point of view, he felt like a toy being held by a kid at playtime—and the truth wasn’t far off. She swung him outwards towards her leg, and his body flopped against the floor, before her giant, pale thigh immediately crashed down on top of him, making sure he wouldn’t go anywhere. Her butt hopped to the side a few times, towards the rest of his body, as her outstretched leg twisted with her to make sure her dad was always kept beneath its hefty weight. Until finally, one more bounce from his daughter crashed her weighty behind right onto his hips, silencing his legs’ thrashes. With her father now completely beneath her weight, she bent her legs towards her, bringing her bare feet inwards and raising them just a few inches above her dad’s face.

     If it hadn’t been obvious when she held him upside down, without her needing to even stand up to keep him suspended over the ground, his loss was plenty obvious now. Like he had just moments ago complained about her not doing, she had truly “pinned” him now. Maybe not in “normal” wrestling terms, but it was close enough, and what they had agreed upon. From the space between her bare soles, he looked up to her face, that was looking back down at him with expectant eyes and a raised eyebrow, as if taunting him and asking ‘is this good enough for you?’ She had clearly won. He sighed, “Alright, y—“

     Before he was even able to get a second word out, she slammed her pinkish, pale bare feet against his face, cutting him off before he could finish talking. Just like her armpits, her feet still smelled from her long day at school and her several hours of volleyball practice. They had had some time to air out since coming home, but were still plenty warm, and almost 10 hours of being cooped up in her socks and shoes had given his daughter’s feet a musky, sweaty stench that he had hoped to avoid. His head, only 4 inches tall, easily fit right into her arch, as her sole practically curved around the contour of his head, as if they were made for each other. His arms quickly came up to try and push her ankles off his face, and Jessie let him try to budge them for a few moments, knowing he wouldn’t be able to. Every time he tried pushing them off, she just pushed her feet down even harder on top of his head, pressing his face even further against her smelly, dough-like skin in order to anchor herself better. But eventually Jessie effortlessly reached forward with her single free arm, and grabbed both of his wrists using only her right hand, and held them up tightly above him. Now she was pretty much able to pull his shoulders up, as if her dad’s face could be driven any deeper into her young, victorious feet. 

     “Have I won yet?” she asked. “Does this count as pinning you down?” Beneath her smelly feet, he managed a slight nod to indicate a ‘yes.’ “So does that mean you’ll take me to the store now Daddy?” she repeated, and it sounded like she giggled afterwards, tugging up on his arms a couple more times while the balls of her feet mockingly rubbed his forehead to remind him of his current situation. He paused to think about it. Does she mean I have to pick one or the other? Surely not, right? Obviously she’ll let me go even if I say no. I am her father after all… right? Her phone started vibrating from nearby on the floor, and reached over with her left hand go grab it, figuring she didn’t need to keep her arm behind her back anymore. “Hold that thought, I’ll let you think about it,” she told him. “Paris is trying to FaceTime me, let me know what you decide in a couple minutes.” A couple minutes?! He tried to say something to protest, but his daughter simply pulled up on his arms again, mashing his mouth into the soft skin above her heel and reminding him to be quiet while she was on the phone with her friend. “Hey!” she exclaimed, greeting her friend. “No, I’m not too busy right now, what’s up?”

     I lost, fine, I guess this is my ‘reward’ for being the loser, he inwardly grumbled, unable to fight back. So he stopped fighting, and simply lay beneath the 800 pound girl, while his 13-year-old daughter’s smelly feet rubbed against his face as she talked to her friend.

==========================

Monday, November 2 (cont.)

==========================

     Marcus held Jessie’s hand as she happily waltzed through the store, browsing the aisles of clothes and looking for something to buy. From far away, the two of them might’ve looked like any other parent shopping with their kid, but upon coming closer and seeing their faces, it became clearer that the roles were reversed. A fully grown adult man being pulled along by someone who was just a teenage girl.

     Clearly, Marcus had agreed to take her after suffering a humiliating defeat from their wrestling match. Since he had stubbornly insisted that he hadn’t technically lost despite being smothered against his daughter’s smelly armpits, she figured that completely sitting on her dad would be the most indisputable method of declaring her victory. Being driven to the store to get some new clothes was just a little bonus on top that she had asked for, since all real wrestling matches came with some kind of monetary prize, right? It was just unfortunate luck for the man that his daughter’s best friend had decided to FaceTime her as soon as Jessie had covered him with her feet to mock his idea of ‘being completely pinned down.’ And he had had plenty of time to think in those six and half minutes that her pink and pale soles rested against his little face.

     Maybe it made him a bad parent, but there were times—even before he shrunk—that he sometimes felt like it was just easier to give up and give in. He was careful not to do it too much when Jessie was really young, like rewarding her temper tantrums with exactly what she wanted, since he knew that that would just teach her that crying and screaming would give her what she wanted. But after an unusual session of physically draining wrestling that had sapped all his energy, he had just decided that yeah, sure, he’d take her to the store. He didn’t know what she would’ve done if he’d said no—would she continue to keep her dad under her feet until he relented, or be the good daughter she’d always been and let him up like she was supposed to? Because if it had been the first, he wouldn’t have had the energy to get mad at her and punish her later for how she treated him. And as the weeks went on, he was starting to realize that parenting a child who was twice his size, and especially one entering their teenage years of life, would require a bit more finesse and careful thinking on his part. Continuing to do things and act as if he was fully grown would just be stubborn and foolish on his part; there were real world effects of his size, such as losing his job (or being powerless while his daughter sat on him). But the opposite of that, being completely passive and too scared to enact his authority, would mean neglecting his duties as a father. It was times like this that he really wished he had a partner, obviously a full sized one now, to help him out. But for now, the wrestling had left him too drained to spend the night arguing with her or even worse. So in the back of his head, a little voice told him that the best decision as soon as she got off of FaceTime was to just agree that her prize for having won their spontaneous wrestling bout was to just take her to the store and let her get some new clothes. He cooked up a quick dinner for the two of them since it had been almost 6, and then they left.

     So he was pulled along with her as she browsed through the aisles of Altar’d State, a southern-themed store that had just opened up in her area. One of her friends from school had gotten some clothes from there that Jessie thought were cute, so she decided to check the place out for herself. And while she was milling around the store, another idea came to her mind. In her head, this whole trip to the mall was just another fun day of hanging out with her dad, so she figured it could be fun to keep doing stuff together. Her dad didn’t seem to be in as good of a mood as he normally was, he was more quiet than usual, so she suspected that the fact that he still hadn’t found a job might be on his mind. Even though the reality was just that he couldn’t shake the memory of his humiliating defeat from less than an hour ago; he couldn’t glance at the floor without seeing his daughter’s sandaled feet and instantly being reminded of the feeling of them on his face while the giddy adolescent girl declared her victory. But Jessie didn’t know that, so she had an idea for a way to cheer him up.

     “Hey, since we’re already hanging out tonight and stuff, we should go see a movie,” she suggested excitedly. “There’s a new Marvel movie that was released a few weeks ago, and then like some kind of Kevin Hart comedy that I think just came out too.” Marcus sighed and hesitated to show support for her idea. I’m already pretty tired, but another two hours? Since her dad hadn’t immediately responded to her proposal, she decided to sweeten the deal a little bit. “Aaaaand I’ll buy your ticket since you’re buying my clothes,” she cooed, hoping he’d agree. 

     I do like the Marvel movies, he admitted to himself. And actually a movie is probably the perfect way to get my mind off of everything. Escape for a few hours and just have fun. Although he didn’t actually remember agreeing to buy her any new clothes, only take her to the store in the first place. Maybe he had misunderstood when she asked him, but it was kind of her to offer to buy their tickets in return, splitting the cost of the night out. That definitely isn’t a kind of behavior I want to discourage though. “OK, I guess that sounds like it could be fun,” he relented, and she grinned happily, pulling him towards the side of her leg for a hug.

     But unknown to Marcus was that Jessie had also expected to have to pay for whatever she picked out at the mall, initially just wanting her dad to give her a ride. That was why it was taking her so long to shop around the store. She’d secretly snuck in the idea that he’d buy some clothes for her when she offered to buy the movie tickets, knowing full well that their tickets would be cheaper anyways. So half of her excitement was from the fact that she’d just covertly roped her dad into buying her more stuff! 

     She pulled out her phone and Googled the showtimes for the Marvel movie. “Oh, there’s one playing in like 5 minutes!” she exclaimed, showing the screen to her dad. 

     “That’s pretty soon,” he replied, “we’d miss the beginning of the movie, when’s the next one?”

     “In like an hour and a half,” she said, typing away at her phone. “The start times are never accurate though, I think that’s just when the trailers start or something so we have more like 15 minutes I think. But we’d need to leave pretty soon.” Lucky for them, the theater was at the same mall they were already shopping at, so it was only a few minutes of a walk away. “I’m already buying our tickets,” she told him, glad that her phone had her debit card info memorized. Barely 60 seconds had passed before she was already done. “Boom!” she announced. “I forgot this theater had reserved seating so it was kinda crowded already, but I found us a spot in one of the middle rows.” Just one, not plural, spots? He brushed it off, but he’d soon find out that she hadn’t misspoken, and had already concocted another plan for the night.

     “I guess I gotta pick out something to buy pretty quick now,” she stated, slipping her phone into her back pocket and returning her attention to the store’s wares. Knowing that her dad would be buying whatever she picked though changed things; now that she could essentially pick whatever she wanted and not have to worry about her modest bank account, she knew just what she wanted. Obviously she wouldn’t be crazy and pick out the most expensive thing in the store, since her dad could easily change his mind or say no. But there was something she’d seen earlier that she liked…

     Grabbing her short daddy’s hand once more, she pulled him along through the rows of women’s clothing towards the shorts, arriving in front of the jean versions. She grabbed a pair that she had seen earlier, and proudly held them up for her dad to see. They were high-waisted white jean shorts, with golden buttons in place of a zipper, and frilled on the bottom edges. They weren’t anything fancy or especially unique, but she really liked the buttons and thought they set the clothes apart a little bit. Besides, they didn’t have time to go shopping at another store anyways. The important thing was they were cute, and her dad would be buying them for her. “These are what I’m getting then,” she declared, while her dad eyed them doubtfully.

     “They look a little… short,” he mused. He knew some shorts could be a bit too revealing, and was hesitant to buy anything for his daughter that showed too much.

     She giggled at his little comment, “Well then good, cuz they’re shorts. Like, you know, literally; they’re supposed to be short.” She looked inside the waistline at the tag. “And they’re 12 inches long, I don’t think that’s too revealing if that’s what you mean.”

     “Well most of that’s probably above the waist,” he noted, “normally when people say how—“ 

     She interrupted his technical argument with a loud groan, “Ugh, whatever, if you don’t want to get them then fine, we have to leave for the movie soon though so I just picked out something I saw earlier. And I feel like we already talked about modesty a few days ago anyways.”

     He still wasn’t sure about buying the clothes for her, but they definitely weren’t overboard in how much they showed off. And besides, she was right, they had to leave soon, and he didn’t want to wait for her to find something else to buy when ideally he would’ve already left for the theater. “Alright, fine, I guess they’re not that bad,” he sighed, reigniting the spark that lit up his daughter’s face in a joyful smile again. 

     “Great!” By now, he knew the drill, as she eagerly wrapped up his tiny hand within hers and dragged him towards the front of the store so he could make the purchase for her.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus was riding piggyback on his daughter’s back as she walked quickly towards the movie. He had casually mentioned how he was a bit tired, so she offered to let him ride on her back on the way there. It was yet another activity that seemed like something for a parent and their child, not a child and their parent. But Jessie had convinced him nonetheless, so there he was, bobbing up and down slightly as his legs gripped her waist with his arms around her neck. 

     She had taken her sweatshirt off in the store, but on their way across the mall, she’d decided to put it back on while her dad was still riding piggyback. He had been confused as he watched her put it on and slowly slide the warm, thick fabric over the top of her body, enclosing him inside as well, but he hadn’t let go. His daughter could be weird sometimes, but he didn’t see the harm for the time being. He certainly liked riding on her back more than having to walk across the entire plaza, a distance twice as long for him because of his shorter legs.

     “Wait… I have an idea,” Jessie giggled as they approached the theater. The only part of her dad that could be seen from the outside observer was his head popping up behind hers, looking over her shoulder. His arms and knees were too skinny to be noticeable through the thick material of the hoodie. “I kinda wanna see if I can sneak you in without anyone noticing,” she whispered.

     “I don’t know if you should do that, Jess,” he warned, unsure of what would happen if she was caught or he was discovered.

     “Don’t worry, I paid for the tickets and stuff,” she answered. “Here, get under my hair,” she told him, and scooped her hand beneath her hair and lifted it up and behind him. It briefly brushed against his face, and he was greeted with the familiar scent of her pleasant smelling, fragrant shampoo, before he found his head shadowed beneath her locks, hunched directly behind her neck and under the back of her head. And as an extra layer of security, she grabbed the hood of her sweatshirt and pulled it over her head, darkening his world even more. “Hold on tight!” she whispered with an excited giggle, knowing that if he lost his grip or let go, he’d fall out from under her clothes and the two of them would be caught. Which wouldn’t have been a big problem if she’d bought both of them tickets like she had implied. But there was only one good seat in the mostly sold-out theater, and since she’d save 12 bucks by not having to actually buy her dad his own ticket, sneaking him in beneath her clothes had been her plan since the beginning. She was just passing it off as an impromptu idea. And she’d saved a couple bucks for herself too, by buying a “12 and under” ticket even though she was technically a year older.

     After waiting for a few other people in front of her, she got to the employee who was scanning and checking everyone’s tickets. With a friendly smile to the man, she pulled out her phone and showed him her ticket’s bar code. BEEP! “Theater number three on your left, enjoy the movie,” the employee told her.

     “Thanks!” she replied, her heart racing from excitement as she felt her dad clutching on her back, completely silent and going along with her plan. 

     “So, can I get off now?” her dad asked from within the confines of her hoodie. He could hear the theater worker and knew they were past the ticket scan, but couldn’t see anything, keeping his head hidden behind her neck just in case.

     “Uhhh… not yet, I still see some employees walking around,” she told him, continuing to head towards their destination. She opened the door to their theater, and now he could definitely tell from the sudden dimness of lighting and sound of a trailer playing just around the corner that they’d arrived. She didn’t stop to let him down though, so he continued holding on as she walked up the ramp and made her way towards their seat. He finally felt her stop, and just as he thought she might take off her hoodie or crouch down to let him hop off from underneath, he felt her turn, and then a sudden backwards momentum, before being slammed against a soft cushion behind him. Did she just sit down?! The question was rhetorical, as it was obvious from being pinned between his daughter’s body in front of him and the leather seat behind him that she’d just sat down while he was still riding on her back.

     “Jessie, augh, what the hell?!” he clamored from behind her. His voice was just muffled enough, and the trailer music was so loud, that nobody had even heard him, other than his mischievous daughter.

     “Oh yeah, sorry, I almost forgot,” she giggled, leaning forward and relieving the pressure. She unzipped the front of her hoodie and lifted up the back of it, allowing him to climb off as she leaned slightly to the side to allow him to climb around and in front of the seat. 

     “What was that for?!” he coarsely whispered up at her, and she was biting down hard on her lip to keep herself from cracking up. A few of the people seated beside them had seen the small man climb out from behind her, and looked at the two of them with confused expressions. 

     “Jeez Daddy, relax, I was just playing around,” she whispered, rolling her eyes and settling back into the chair.

     Marcus looked to either side of them, and noticed that all the seats in their aisle were occupied. “Where’s my seat?” he asked.

     “Well technically, it’s in the second row at the front,” she lied, “because this was the only untaken one with a good view. I think I said, like, it’s reserved seating and most of the good ones were taken, like it’s a Marvel movie you know, what do you expect?” She shrugged, “So you can sit up there if you want, I just figured it’d be more fun if we sat together.”

     “As in, you want me to sit on your lap?” he asked.

     She nodded and half-shrugged again, “I mean it’s up to you, but this was the best case scenario, and the only way we’d be able to sit together,” she said. “Come on, my lap can be comfy,” she said, grabbing him under his shoulders and hoisting him up onto her lap while turning him around so he was facing the screen. He stayed sitting upright though, and turned to look behind him, hesitantly looked at the chest of hers that was being proposed as his backrest of the evening. He took note of the fact that if he leaned back against her like she was suggesting, his head would be nestled against her breasts. They weren’t that big, since she was just about a B-cup, but it made him pause nonetheless. She seemed to read his mind though, and brushed off the situation. “Come on, my boobs aren’t that big yet,” she giggled, “so it shouldn’t be that weird.” Marcus sighed, deciding she was mostly right and realizing that he’d eventually forget about them as soon as the movie started anyways. So he turned back around gingerly leaned back against his daughter’s chest. Because she had unzipped her hoodie, there was only her t-shirt behind him, meaning he could feel the warmth of her body a lot easier. And just like he had suspected, his head rested right between the small but noticeable mounds on her chest, a reminder of his daughter’s developing maturity. The final trailer ended, and the lights dimmed, signifying that the movie was finally about to begin. Having one last idea, Jessie grabbed the sides of her hoodie and brought them back up to her lap, hooking the bottom stop of the left zipper into the slider on the right, and slowly zipped the sweatshirt back up, covering her dad like a blanket with the soft material. She stopped it right along his chest, taking care to make sure he still had plenty of room to see of course, and patted him gently on the stomach with a smile. She thought he looked so cute there, sitting on her lap and tucked into her hoodie, making her feel like her dad’s protector and safekeeper. And while he didn’t tell her, he admitted to himself that the warm radiating off her body, along with the soft, blanket-like qualities of her hoodie, made him feel a bit cozy. I might even doze off, he thought with a pleasant smile, snuggling a little deeper into her spot as the Marvel logo appeared and they settled in to watch the film.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus was sleeping peacefully in his bed again that night when Jessie peeked through the door again and tiptoed towards his bed. She rustled him awake, and his eyes drifted open to see his daughter standing over him, just like a few nights ago. “I had a bad dream again and now I can’t go back to sleep,” she mumbled, a hint of sadness in her voice. And she had school tomorrow too, so her sleep was even more important than the last time she’d had a nightmare last week.

     “Oh, Jess, I’m sorry,” he whispered, “did you want to sleep in my bed again?”

     “Well, yeah but, I have to get up tomorrow for school,” she replied with a somber tone, “and I have that special alarm clock instead of my phone, so, could… can you come sleep in my room like you did when I was a kid?” 

     Oh, that requires me actually getting up. But if it helped Jessie get to sleep better, it was hardly even worth a second thought. “Sure, I guess I can do that,” he said, and climbed out of bed while she smiled softly.

     “Thank you so much Daddy,” she said, and turned around to lead him back towards her room. 

     Jessie stopped in front of her bed and pulled back the covers, motioning for him to get in. “Oh, I thought you just wanted me to sleep on the floor nearby,” he said.

     “Did you want to? I can get my sleeping bag,” she replied earnestly, but still notably tired. I’m always impressed with how generous she can be sometimes, he thought.

     “No, it’s fine,” he told her, and climbed into her bed, already familiar with having slept in it from when Paris had slept over at their place before. “It’s no different than when you slept in mine, right?” His legs dipped below the covers, and he was grateful with how warm it already was.

     “Yeah, that’s what I figured too,” she said, and joined him under the covers with a loving smile. “Thanks Daddy, goodnight.”

     He turned on his side so his back was facing her, and already started to feel his body relax. “Goodnight.”

====================

Tuesday, November 3

====================

     Tuesday marked another happy and successful day for the Tilden family. After they had made breakfast together side by side, Marcus drove Jessie to school, taking her by Starbucks for her morning pick-me-up like the day before. After he came home, he finished tailoring several more resumes to send out for more job applications, watched some TV, and even started listening to an audio book while sitting outside and just enjoying the sunny day with the colorful autumn scenery. Then it was back to Jessie’s school that evening a little before 8 so he could pick her up from volleyball and bring her home. “Did you have a good game?” he asked with an upbeat tone as she hopped into the car.

     “Yep! It was close, but we won,” she stated proudly, and he reached over to congratulate her and pat her on the back. “You seem to be in a good mood today Daddy,” she commented, feeding off of his positive vibes.

     “Yeah, I think I am,” he responded, turning the car on. “It’s just been a good day, nothing went wrong or anything, and I got a lot done at home. It’s just one of those days that I feel really productive and I have no idea why. You ever get like that?”

     She shrugged, “Sometimes. Not today, but every now and then yeah.” They continued on to drive home, talking about Jessie’s day at school and all the latest middle school gossip and drama that had taken place over a single day. And luckily for her when she got home, her dad had already had dinner before picking her up, so there were plenty of still-warm leftovers for her to eat when she got home. Which was just what she was craving after a long day at school that had culminated in a strenuous game that her team had barely won.

     “So since you already ate, do you think you could rub my feet while I eat dinner?” Jessie asked her dad as she loaded up a serving of grilled chicken and broccoli onto her plate. “Or after dinner, if it makes a difference to you.” Normally the idea might gross Marcus out a little bit, especially considering she’d just gotten home from a game and probably didn’t smell too great yet. But he had been riding on such a high from the rest of his day, that that detail was a minor inconvenience to him, so he had no problem with helping her out. He’d always given her back massages and foot massages and even scalp massages over the years. It was just one of his occasional roles as a father.

     “It doesn’t make a difference to me, sure,” he said, sitting on the chair to her left and slapping his knees a few times to signify that he was ready. With a gleeful smile, she swung her legs up onto his lap as she took another bite out of the savory chicken he’d cooked for her. Her feet looked to be in fact around a foot and a half tall from his perspective, and one of them alone was almost enough to cover his chest. Except there were two of them, each resting heavily on his kneecaps. He dutifully unscrolled her black and blue athletic sock from off her left foot, then scrunched it into a ball and threw it at her. She squealed in surprise, dodging to make sure it didn’t bounce off her face.

     “Daddy, I’m eating!” she giggled, putting her fork and knife down just for good measure. She held her hands up in a kind of martial arts pose, as if ready for his attack, as he slid her other sock off and balled that one up too. An expertly timed throw between her arms had him convinced that he was going to hit her, until her hand quickly flung down and batted the sock away towards the floor. “Hi-yah!” she exclaimed in a comical voice. The two of them laughed together before she picked her fork and knife back up to continue eating as he got to work on rubbing her feet. They weren’t as damp as he was expecting, more sticky actually, but he could still smell them from just a few feet away. His only saving grace was that as a 7th grader, her games were usually from 5:30 to 6:30, she just had to stay an extra hour because the whole middle school was a team so she had to support the 8th graders. So it’d been around an hour and a half since she’d been active with them, resulting in most of the sweat drying up into her socks, but plenty of the salty sweaty smell sticking around. But he ignored it nonetheless. It’s funny how just 24 hours ago Jess had beaten me and subjected my head to being under her feet as a result of losing… but now that that’s over, and life is normal again and I’m in control, I don’t have a problem with giving her a foot rub. He continued reflecting on the situation, digging his thumbs into her sole in circles while she munched on her food and browsed Instagram.

     Eventually she finished her dinner, and leaned back with a full belly to watch her dad, who had switched to her other foot and was about done. “Thanks for massaging them, Daddy. Hopefully they didn’t smell too bad,” she said, raising the foot he had already finished with, and playfully tapped him on the tip of his nose with her big toe. 

     “Well I’m willing to put up with it because I know you had a long day, and you need to relax,” he explained, ignoring her childish antics and pushing away her foot. 

     “Because if you wanna take a shot at wrestling again and see if you can beat me, I’m down to go for a round 2,” she smirked, and maneuvered the foot around his hand, back in front of his face. She didn’t try touching it again, but she wagged it back and forth in front of him, taunting him with the threat of a losing scenario similar to yesterday’s. 

     “No, you’re clearly much better suited to win those types of things than I am,” he chuckled, and then leaned back himself as he finished with rubbing her feet for the night. “But I think I’m done with the massage.” He glanced at the clock on the wall as Jessie lowered her raised foot and crossed them in his lap. “Now there’s only an hour til your bedtime,” Marcus reminded her, and she sighed from how fast the day had gone by. “Did you sleep better last night, after you had me switch beds?” 

     “Actually yeah, I did,” she replied, then shifted in her seat uncomfortably. “I think I just don’t like sleeping in a room all alone, I know I always sleep like super well whenever me and Paris have sleepovers. But the house is so, like, empty and quiet at night, I don’t like it,” she grimaced,  shivering at the thought. “Does it make me seem like I’m still a kid for wanting my parents nearby when I sleep?”

     Marcus sighed, “I don’t know, actually. But I do know that you're growing up just fine, so you shouldn’t worry about it,” he reassured her. “Especially with me being… smaller, and you needing to take up more responsibilities in the household.”

     “So, would it be OK if you slept in my bed again tonight?” she asked, biting the inside of her cheek nervously. The previous times had just been separate occasions, but now she was trying to turn it into a regular thing.

     “Well I guess I wouldn’t mind it again if it helps you sleep at night,” he said. But 13 is a bit old for that kind of behavior. Maybe she’s just going through a weird phase or something, who am I to judge? “It sounds like you’re wanting this to become a regular thing, Jess. And we can’t realistically do it forever, no matter how much it helps you sleep. Eventually I’ll get a job and we’ll be on different time schedules again, and eventually you’ll grow up and be an adult and will need to get used to sleeping on your own.”

     “I know,” she mumbled, looking down. “I just think it’s cuz like… I’m… the biggest person in the house now. Like you used to make noise when you walked around at night and stuff,” she laughed somberly, “but you just don’t do that anymore. Like I said, the house feels so empty at night, so it’s like, I already feel like I’m on my own. But… I’m not ready to be yet.”

     Marcus could tell she was feeling especially vulnerable opening up to him like this. He obviously couldn’t have foreseen this as being a side effect of his shrinking. Of course it wasn’t normal for someone as old as she was to feel like they need to be nearby their parents when they sleep, but it also wasn’t normal for someone as young as she was to feel as independent as she did. She was out and about throughout the day more than he was, she could finish household chores faster than he could, and she really truly was by far the biggest in their two-person household. “Of course you’re not ready yet sweetie, but that’s OK, that’s perfectly normal,” he reassured her, rubbing her leg with a hopeful smile. “You’re an only-child, and I’m a single parent, and I have a growth disorder now that doesn’t make me ‘seem’ like a typical parent. It’s a pretty abnormal circumstance, so it shouldn’t be surprising that you’re emotionally reacting to it in unusual ways. But that’s OK Jess, because nobody’s perfectly normal. Given everything that’s happened, I’d say that if needing someone nearby to sleep well is the worst thing you have going on, then you’re not doing that bad.”

     She smiled, feeling warm inside again and more relaxed about the whole thing. “So this means I can stay up extra late now since you always go to bed way after me, right?” she giggled, knowing there was 0 chance of that being the case.

     Marcus rolled his eyes, “No, it wouldn’t do you much good to cut back on your 8 or 9 hours a night by heading to bed at midnight. I can just readjust my schedule and go to bed the same time as you though. Now go take a shower, you need one,” he said, slapping the side of her ankles to try and get her to get up.

     “Oh really, I do? Why don’t you just plug your nose so you can’t smell anything?” she asked, crossing her arms.

     “Because I don’t want to have to plug my nose, silly.”

     “Well I can plug them for you Daddy, it’s no problem.” Jessie uncrossed her legs and lifted her feet, sticking each big toe right up against his nostrils, completely covering the tiny holes and plugging them from getting any air flow. Then bit her lip at her audacious behavior. He chuckled and pushed them away, but she just lifted them up and over his arms and plugged his nose right back up. “Why are you pushing them away?” she teasingly asked, as he swatted them again but she simply ducked under and plugged his nose right back up with her toes.

     “Jess, come on,” he laughed, and she finally gave in and obeyed her dad, by just barely unplugging his nose but still keeping her toes just inches below it.

     “Fine, there, you happy now?” She wiggled them back and forth, knowing that their smell was unavoidable at such close range.

     “Alright Jessie, seriously, go take a shower,” he scolded, unfazed by her actions and giving her a look that signified it was time to stop messing around. She got the message and sighed, swinging her legs back over and jumping back onto her feet. 

     “OK, I’ll stop playing around, but I don’t have time to take a shower.” He arched his eyebrow, expecting a good excuse. “Coach wants us to keep doing yoga so we can stay limber, and I’ve kinda been slacking on that and I didn’t wanna lie to her today. And Google said doing it before bed was like, the best time of day.” She glanced at her phone, checking the time. 8:36, and her bedtime was 9:30. 

     “So you can take a shower, do your yoga, and then finish getting ready for bed. There’s enough time to do all that.”

     “Aaaaaaaand—” she added, shaking her head with attitude, “I wasn’t done talking yet Daddy—And I have to finish my math homework before tomorrow. And there’s kinda a lot. Actually I don’t even know if I’ll have time to do the yoga either.” Marcus waited to make sure she was done, and just as he opened his mouth to speak again Jessie had one more thing to add: “And I might need to go to bed late. Maybe.”

     “Why didn’t you get it done yesterday, or over the weekend? Was it assigned today?”

     “Yeah, she always assigns homework for the next day, I don’t know why she gave more than usual today. And I also got like, more homework than usual in science, we’re learning about cell structure and stuff so that’s what I did between after school and my game. But math isn’t like, one of my strong suits, cuz it’s pre-algebra so it’s kinda confusing so like I just know from how long it usually takes.” 

     “Well why don’t you go get your backpack, I can help you with some of it,” Marcus offered. “I was pretty good at math in high school.” Jessie perked up upon hearing that her dad was willing to help her, so she went to fetch her papers and calculator. Marcus got down from his chair and pushed it over next to Jessie’s as she skipped back to the table and set her stuff down. She hopped into the chair next to her dad’s and sat criss cross as he climbed onto his own chair and stood on the seat so he could properly see her assignment. But standing right next to his daughter put him closer than he’d been all night, and he could smell more than just the sweat on her feet now. “Oh, OK, you know what, you really do need a shower,” he laughed. “I thought it might just be your feet or something but clearly you played quite the game out there tonight.”

     “Thank you, I did play well,” she proudly proclaimed, smiling triumphantly with her head held high. 

     Marcus rubbed his chin as he looked over Jessie’s work. “How much is there?” She flipped the page to show the other side, plus the second sheet of paper underneath it; four sides total. And she had already done the first few problems from the first page. It might take her awhile… but I know I’d be able to finish this quicker than her. He didn’t want to outright ask ‘really, this is gonna take you over an hour?’ and embarrass his daughter. “You know what Jess, how about for tonight, since I don’t wanna have to smell you for the next hour—no offense,” he stated, and she laughed, understanding completely what he meant, “then you can go and take your shower, and do your yoga like your coach wants, and I’ll work on this just for tonight.”

     Jessie’s eyes practically bugged out. “Seriously Daddy, you’ll do my homework for me? Are you, like... seriously?” A bright grin began to light up her face as some of the stress of the night was being relieved. 

     He laughed at her reaction, and got that excited, tingly feeling inside that he always got when he could make his daughter super excited or happy. “Just. For. Tonight. But yes, I don’t know why your teacher gave you this much in the first place either, especially knowing how many of the kids there are in the sports programs and other extracurriculars.” Jessie practically lurched forward, before remembering that her dad probably wouldn’t want to be hugged while she still didn’t smell very good. 

     “Thank you thank you thank you, I’ll go take a shower right now!” she exclaimed, and practically exploded out of her chair and sprinted towards the bathroom. He laughed to himself as he watched her go, and then turned his attention back to the equations on the table. And I get to keep up my productive streak for the day, he smugly thought to himself as he grabbed her pencil and started on his daughter’s homework.

=======================

Wednesday, November 4

=======================

     Marcus was up bright and early the next day since he had to go to bed at the same time as his daughter now, 9:30. But since his body required a lot less sleep than hers, he’d woken up around 4am. It hadn’t even been light out, but he woke up and felt fully rested already. But Jessie wasn’t supposed to be up for almost two and a half more hours, so he’d tried to fall back asleep at least. It had gotten another half hour, and then another 20 minutes, but eventually he realized his body just couldn’t physically fall into a deep sleep for several more hours, so he mind as well just wake up early, even if there wasn’t anything to do. It resembled his schedule from when he was working for the news station, except at least then he’d had a reason to get up. But now he didn’t. So it felt a bit more odd for him.

     He did his best to slowly crawl out from under Jessie’s covers, noticing that she was facing away from him as he body slowly heaved with the rhythm of her peaceful slumber. Since the bed was against the wall, and she liked to get in after him, he had to try and climb over her snoozing body and try not to to bump into her too hard, which proved to be more difficult than he was expecting because of how fluffy her sheets were and how relatively short his legs were. He ended up misjudging how close to the edge of the bed she slept, and accidentally slipped on the edge of her mattress and tumbled over her, onto her bedroom floor. He looked back at her though, and she didn’t seem to wake up, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

     Since he had so much free time before Jessie was up, he figured he mind as well make breakfast for the two of them. But even after he had cooked up some scrambled eggs, bell peppers, ground beef, and cheese all into a tasty morning meal, there was still time leftover. He tried watching the news, but the first channel he turned on the TV had been where he’d used to work, which instantly put him off from wanting to watch it or any other of the channels. He was reminded of his first couple days after getting laid off, and how he had still woken up extra early after years of needing to be at work by 5am.

     But eventually 6:30 rolled around, and since Jessie was normally up by then he headed back into her bedroom to see if she was awake. She was laying in bed on her phone, eyes squinting from the brightness of the screen. “Should I assume you’re up?” he asked, and she rolled back over and collapsed on her mattress. 

     “I totally forgot, there’s a Professional Development Day today. So there’s no school til tomorrow,” she grumbled. She was glad to have a day off of course, but upset that she’d forgotten. If she remembered yesterday, she could’ve stayed up late, or turned off her alarm for today. Marcus was a bit frustrated too, since he’d finished all of Jessie’s homework for her with the expectation that she didn’t have the time to do it herself. And, like her, gone to bed way earlier than he needed to.

     “Well, since nobody told me that and I had to get up, then you do too,” he said, walking over and pulling back her sheets and opening the blinds to let the first glimpses of the sunrise in. “You’ve had plenty of time to sleep, and it’ll be good for you to maintain your schedule. Come on,” he said, patting her legs a few times in encouragement. She groaned out of annoyance, but did as she was told anyway, swinging her legs over the side of the bed so she could start the day.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Jessie and Paris had decided to hang out together, and since Paris’ parents still had to go to work like any other day, that left Marcus in charge of driving his daughter to her best friend’s house to hang out for awhile. And when he got there, Paris had been so hospitable, offering him drinks and food and all, that he didn’t leave to head home quite yet. He hadn’t intended to stay, but Paris assumed that he was planning on it since her own parents usually wanted her to have ‘an adult present’ whenever she was hung out at other peoples’ homes. So she told him that they had HBO Max in their TV room upstairs, and since Marcus and Jessie only got Netflix, he was intrigued to say the least. I mind as well try and find a movie to watch that isn’t already on Netflix, he figured. If I headed home right now, I’d probably just watch a movie anyways. At least here I get some new choices. He didn’t usually ‘chaperone’ Jessie, since she had a phone and he trusted her enough to hang out alone with her friends. But he and Jessie were so close with Paris’ family anyways that he knew they wouldn’t mind if he stayed. So while Paris and Jessie hung out downstairs, Marcus stayed in the upper lounge area watching a Superman movie from that had come out when he was a kid and hadn’t seen in awhile. At some point through the movie, he heard the front door open, and it sounded like a couple more of their friends had come over, but Marcus didn’t feel any need to check in on the girls, so he stayed upstairs. 

     Eventually the movie finished, so Marcus got up from the couch and started wandering around upstairs. If he was being honest with himself, he didn’t exactly want to head downstairs and hang out around 3 or 4 middle schoolers who would all be twice his size. The feeling reminded him of when he was a kid, and he didn’t usually leave his room whenever his sister, who had been in high school, would have her friends over and were always a lot bigger than him. Except now instead of his older sister’s friends, it was his teenage daughter’s. And the size difference was far more noticeable.

     As he strolled along the hallway, he saw Paris’ and her little brother’s doors were both ajar. Since he wasn’t in middle school yet, he didn’t have a day off like Paris and Jessie did, so he wasn’t home. Marcus peeked through the opening into Paris’ room, feeling impressed with how much neater it was than his daughter’s. Jessie’s was already pretty clean to begin with, but Paris’ was so well-kept it almost seemed like a model home, as if it was surprising that someone lived there. Turning around and taking a peek into her brother’s room too, which wasn’t nearly as tidy, he spotted something familiar on the ground. “Huh,” he laughed to himself, “I haven’t seen one of these in ages.” He pushes his way into the room and knelt on the floor, picking up a Nerf gun. He loved playing and shooting with them when he was a kid, but ever since growing up a few decades ago, he couldn’t remember the last time he saw one. The gun was supposed to be just a simple pistol, but in Marcus’ two and a half foot arms, it felt like some kind of over powered mega blaster from the future. He held it like a shotgun, and it felt like it weighed at least 10 pounds, but he twisted around the room with an eye closed as if he was a kid again. It was a newer model than he was used to, so he couldn’t tell right away how to check to see if it was loaded, but it looked like it was cocked. Pretending like he was in a sci-fi movie, he straightened his back and acted casual, waltzing around the room, before suddenly pivoting 180 degrees and quickly pulling the trigger while mouthing “boom!” Sure enough, it had been loaded, and a long, orange dart flew from the chamber and out the boy’s room. “Oops,” he muttered with a chuckle, watching it cross the hallway and fly into Paris’ room as well. He considered just leaving it; it was only one bullet, and Paris would find it eventually and give it back to her brother. But he remembered how often he lost his own Nerf bullets as a kid. They were like pencils, he’d stock up every once in awhile but one by one they’d slowly disappear somehow. So he sighed and set the gun back down on the ground as he headed out of the bedroom to make his way into the other to try and find it.

     He hadn’t really been paying attention when he fired the gun since he wasn’t sure if it was loaded, but he was pretty sure he saw it arc across the two rooms and land on Paris’ bed. He couldn’t see anything orange stand out against the girl’s violet bed covers, but then he wondered if it might’ve landed around the bed’s perimeter. Like Jessie, her bed was up against the wall, so he had to climb on top and crawl across to look down into the crack formed between the bed and the wall. Sure enough, there was the dart, lying on the floor against the room’s wall beneath her bed. Shit, I don’t know if my arms will be able to reach. He got down on his stomach and scooted up as close to the wall as he could, extending his hand as far down into the crack as he could. No luck. He couldn’t even feel the dart, let alone grab it. Sitting back up and scratching his head, he sighed as he realized he’d have to crawl under her bed to get to it. 

     Clambering back off the bed, he straightened the sheets back out that he’d accidentally ruffled, and got onto his hands and knees to peer under the bed. The area beneath her mattress only seemed to be about 6 inches high, but luckily Marcus was pretty sure he’d be able to fit (because the only other option without getting anyone else would be moving the bed, which he definitely wasn’t strong enough to do). He got onto his stomach now, and then army crawled beneath the giant, wooden frame, towards the lone orange toy piece on the other side. For once, being small is actually coming in handy, he smugly realized as he snatched up the bullet. Then he tried backing out, but crawling backwards with a “ceiling” right above his head turned out to be too much work, so he started turning around with his under-bed movements right as he heard some voices grow louder outside the room. Just as his head was able to turn far enough around to see the door, he watched as it flung open, and two pairs of legs came walking through before closing the door again.

     Of the two people talking, he recognized one as Paris, but the other was some other girl’s voice who he didn’t recognize. He couldn’t tell what she looked like, other than that her skin was lighter than Paris’ and she wore black stockings. He went through the slew of Jessie’s friends who he knew. Gabby, Ava, Caroline, Rosa… I don’t think it’s any of them. Who else of her friends did I meet recently though. Harlow I think was her name? The voice isn’t that high pitched. It’s not our neighbor’s girl. Or Veronica… thankfully. Jessie had a dozen other friends who he’d probably never met before though, or couldn’t remember what they sounded like. The point was that Jessie hadn’t come through that door though, just Paris and some anonymous girl. And despite his normal intentions, he was now hiding under the young girl’s bed. 

     He knew he had to speak up right away, to establish his presence, since every additional moment that passed would come off as creepy if he was discovered. And he was holding the Nerf dart in his hand, so he had an “excuse” of sorts. But just as he breathed in and opened his mouth to speak, he heard Paris speak up. “Stop, that tickles,” she giggled, and then was barely able to make out the sound of a soft smooching sound. Marcus froze, his eyes alert and staring at the legs in the center of the room. Whoever the mystery girl was, her feet were pointed right at Paris’ a few inches away, and he could tell she was leaning forward somewhat. Are they… kissing? He hadn’t even known Paris was gay, or at least bisexual. But suddenly, the creepiness level that would be placed on him if he made himself known now had just multiplied tenfold. 

     Paris backed up and sat on the edge of her bed, while it looked like the other pair of legs sat sideways on her lap, her feet rubbing against Paris’ calves as they continued to kiss above the secretly trapped man. For the longest minute of his life, nobody in the room talked, and all that he could hear was the sound of the two young girls quietly making out, while he hoped that it wouldn’t lead to anything more. With every heart-pounding second that passed, he felt dirtier and dirtier for not having spoken up sooner when they came in. But they practically jumped right into it—what else could he have done?

     Suddenly the sounds slowly, and he heard their bodies rustle above him. “Not now,” Paris whispered, slowly shifting out from under her lover’s lap so that they were both standing again.

     “Come on, your parents aren’t home,” the other voice gleefully reminded. “And they always wanna make sure my mom’s home whenever you come over, when else are we gonna get a chance to be alone together?” 

     “Yeah, but Jessie’s dad is here.”

     The other pair of legs took a step back in surprise, “What? Like in the house?”

     “He dropped Jessie off and then I told him he could watch something in the lounge. He’s pretty chill, I just forgot to tell you and Brandon. But I haven’t even come out to the rest of my family yet so I definitely don’t want him to know before them if he happened to walk in on us or something. It’s just… too big of a risk.” She was the one to take a step back now. “I’m sorry.” Nobody said anything, although Marcus’ heart was racing so fast he was nearly worried that one of the two girls would hear it. The more this went on, the more secretive information he seemed to find out, just piling on to his guilt.

     “That’s OK, I understand. I don’t wanna make you uncomfortable,” the other girl replied, and she stepped forward to give Paris another quick peck on the lips. “Let’s head back down.” Their feet turned towards the door, and with a sigh of relief he watched as they headed back into the hall, before bounding down the stairs to join the others.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus made sure to wait a bit before heading downstairs again. He didn’t want to head down immediately after the two girls, since he thought that that might seem a bit suspicious. But accidentally being stuck under Paris’ bed while she was with her secret girlfriend had given him enough adrenaline for a day. Plus it was nearing 5 o’clock, so he just wanted to head home now and start on dinner before Paris’ parents got home from work. He wasn’t sure if he’d even be able to look them in the eye, knowing such an important detail about their daughter that they weren’t even aware of yet.

     As he descended down the stairs, he heard Sicko Mode by Travis Scott playing from a speaker in the living room, as Jessie and a boy he’d never met before were dancing in the center of the room. And Jessie was really getting into it. Paris and the anonymous other girl were snuggling on the couch together, laughing and watching them. Now that he could see the mystery girl, who had black hair, freckles, and a pair of round glasses that resembled Harry Potter’s, he faintly recognized, although was unable to remember her name. Not that it really mattered though. His light footsteps didn’t make a noise coming down the stairs, but Paris saw him out of the corner of her eye and immediately scooted away from her girlfriend, a surprised expression on her face. “Oh uh, hey Mr. Tilden,” she called out, and the other kids turned their heads too. 

     “Heyyy, Dahhh-deeee!” Jessie sang to the beat of the song, an overly enthusiastic smile on her face. 

     “Watch anything good? Do you want some food? We made some food,” Paris added, seeming anxious and standing up to show Marcus the snacks they made on the kitchen counter. If I hadn’t known they were ‘together,’ I would’ve never suspected she was gay just because she’s cuddling with her friend, Marcus thought, noticing the girl’s nerves. I guess that’s pretty normal for people her age though, feeling like they got caught for the smallest details. “Oh and, this is, uh, this is Brandon, and this is Amy,” she said, pointing to the two newcomers he hadn’t met yet. She made sure to introduce her girlfriend second, thinking it would make the two of them seem less suspicious. The boy grinned at Marcus and waved politely, seeming not to even take heed of the man’s obvious height difference, while Amy sat up and eyed him with surprise.

     “Do you have shrinking disorder?” she asked, one of the other common names for his disability. Technically DSD was supposed to stand for Diminutive Size Disorder, but not everyone was aware of what the acronym stood for and thought the “S” stood for “shrinking.” And even fewer (usually young people who didn’t know any better, or non-native English speakers) just called it “shrinking disorder” as a result. Marcus didn’t mind as much people getting the name wrong, but Jessie had often rushed to his defense in the months since his diagnosis. 

     “It’s not shrinking disorder, it’s D. S. Deeeeeee!” Jessie said, singing the letters along to the song again. “Or hypo-co-po-ploh-bloh-blah-blah-blah-blah,” she giggled, completely butchering the medical pronunciation. She had always been a giddy child, but definitely seemed off today. Maybe she drank too much sugar.

     “Um,” he chuckled at his daughter, “it’s fine, and yes I do. Nice to meet you. Jess seems to be in a pretty good mood,” he pointed out. 

     “Yeah, we’ve been drinking some soda,” the boy explained, “but she’s had, like, 3 cans or something.” From the way he presented himself, Marcus assumed the boy might be gay. It’d make sense why Paris would invite him over if he was, she probably already came out to Jess since they’re best friends. And if he’s gay too it’d make sense for her to invite him over so she can be comfortable being with her girlfriend.

     “FOUR!” Jessie exclaimed, biting her lip and suddenly switching up her body movements as the beat changed, and her head started nodding along as she danced her way over to Marcus. “Daddy look, Brandon taught me how to twerk while you were upstairs,” she said, turning around. He noticed now that she was wearing the same shorts that he’d bought for her yesterday—and they definitely didn’t look like what he’d expected. They were super high waisted, so while they might’ve looked as long as regular jean shorts when she first showed them to him, they only came down to right below her butt, leaving the entirety of her thighs exposed with just a hint of the cusp of her butt.

     “Hold on Jess,” Brandon laughed awkwardly, “that was like, a joke, you shouldn’t show your dad, please, oh my God.”

     “Why not?” she huffed, seemingly out of breath from dancing too much, and then hunched over with her hands on her knees and began bucking her hips right in front of her dad’s face. The clear, pale skin around her thighs started wobbling, and Marcus looked away out of surprise and aversion as his daughter’s round posterior started quaking within her overly tight pair of jean shorts. Jessie wasn’t even looking to see if her dad was paying attention, as she did her best to shake her ass with the bass of the song just like her friend had taught her. 

     “Jess, noooo,” Brandon whispered with wide eyes as his hand covered his mouth, while Amy looked equally as horrified with the show Jessie was putting on for her dad. 

     “Jessie!” Marcus yelled, holding his hands up to block the spectacle while keeping his head turned and eyes closed.

     “Oh my god, Jess!” Paris shouted, rushed over and pushing the girl away from her dad. “Don’t do that for your dad, Jess, he’s like, eye level with your butt, oh my god.” Jessie stumbled to the side, but kept twerking with a grin on her face, feeling proud of her accomplishment with having learned how to best perform the dance move. 

     Marcus almost didn’t know what to say. “Clearly way too much sugar,” he muttered, as Brandon’s eyes darted back and forth between the girl and her dad, trying not to laugh now as he nodded slowly in agreement. Marcus looked around the living room to see what they were drinking, and spotted some tall white cans laying around. Clearly not any Coke or Pepsi. He walked over and picked one up to examine the nutrition contents on the back and see how much sugar was in them, but saw a label on the front that stopped him dead in his tracks. “Hard seltzer?!” he shouted, holding them up for the others to see. “These are what you’ve been drinking, ‘Truly?’”

     “Wait, what…” Brandon muttered, stifling a gasp and peering down at the can. “I didn’t even notice, holy shit.”

     “Why is that bad?” Paris asked, turning around to confront them. “I asked if you guys wanted seltzers.”

     “Hard seltzer, Paris. That means there’s alcohol in them,” Brandon said. 

     “Well I don’t feel anything,” Amy said, seeming just as surprised as the others. Apparently none of them could even tell the drinks didn’t taste like normal soda or soda water. Which might’ve been a good thing, except his daughter had had four. That’d be why her inhibitions are so low. I can’t believe this happened again.

     “That’s because there’s only 5%, that’s not very much,” Marcus answered, still stern. “But your guys’ tolerance is pretty low, and four cans in a few hours starts to add up.” He glared at Jessie, who stopped twerking and stood up, giggling and biting her lip.

     “Wait, does that mean I’m drunk?”

     “Yes, you idiot!” Brandon yelled, a bit harsher than was maybe deserved.

     “Oh my god, ohhhh my god, my parents are gonna kill me,” Paris squealed, clutching her head as she imagined how strictly her mom and dad might punish her.

     “Hold on a second, calm down,” Marcus said, trying to ease everyone’s nerves. “How many did you all have?”

     “Just one,” Paris blurted out.

     “One,” from Brandon.

     “Two?” according to Amy.

     Marcus sighed, then scratched his forehead as he considered his options. He had always had a great relationship with Paris’ parents and trusted them, and they trusted him. He didn’t want to break that now. But he also knew they would sometimes overreact to situations. It was clear to Marcus that Paris had given her friends alcohol on accident. So letting her be punished—which he knew she would be, and probably pretty severely—didn’t seem all that fair. She was one of the best, most well-behaved friends that Jessie had, and he didn’t want her to suffer for a mistake that was only caused by her understandable ignorance.

     “Look, I think it’ll be best if I just take everyone home, OK? Your parents probably won’t notice just from one drink. And hopefully not from two,” he said, nodding towards Amy. She was skinny enough and small enough, relative to the others, that he assumed she might seem a bit tipsy at least. “It was clearly an accident, I know you didn’t know any better, alright?” He put his hand on Paris to reassure her that he was on her side. “So just… I’ll drop you guys off wherever you live, and you can head to your room and settle down or something, OK? There’s nothing to worry about, one drink won’t kill you guys and nobody will probably notice anyways if someone does happen to talk to you, alright?” He turned to Paris and ushered her towards the stairs. “You seem the most on edge, so just go ahead and take a nap or something, everything will be fine, I won’t tell your parents, OK?” 

     “OK… thanks…” Paris whispered, turning away from them to head upstairs.

     “Jessie,” Marcus continued, more sternly now out of agitation. “Go and grab and cans you already threw away and take them to the car. Same with you guys,” he said to Brandon and Amy. “I’ll get Paris’ drink.” Everyone nodded along with the plan and went to fetch their drinks, so they could bring them to Marcus’ car for him to hide the evidence. Jessie still seemed the most unfazed by any of this, but did as she was told. 

     “Bye you guys,” Paris called out from the stairwell. “S…sorry, I’ll see you tomorrow,” she added, and the others waved up to her as she left for her room, while everyone else, empty cans in their arms, made their way out to the car.

=====================

Thursday, November 5

=====================

     The moon shone through the windows of Jessie’s bedroom as Marcus woke up early the next day, a little after 4:30am. Now that his daughter was having him go to bed with her, he figured there was no use in trying to squeeze in several hours of extra sleep every single morning just to match Jessie’s sleep clock. He didn’t exactly want to be waking up as early as he was, it almost felt unnatural since it was still dark out and he didn’t have work to go to or another good reason for being up so early. In fact, as he climbed over her to get out of her bed, he looked back at her peacefully sleeping, knowing she’d be in her deep slumber for a good few more hours, and felt the tiniest bit of annoyance that his body just didn’t need as much sleep as hers. Or that she couldn’t wake up early because she needed as little as him. But he could recognize that Jessie had been in a better mood the last couple days, and she definitely seemed to be sleeping well. I mean, I should know, she’s making me sleep right next to her. So he easily brushed aside his slight feeling of annoyance since he knew it was for her benefit.

     He reflected on last night’s debacle, with Jessie and her friends accidentally getting tipsy at Paris’ house. Was it an accident though? Yeah, it definitely seemed like it was. He’d known Paris since she was just a little kid, and only a few times before had he ever seen her act as scared to get in trouble as she was last night—and each time it was because she really did end up getting in hot water for something. But he hadn’t gotten a call from her parents last night, which meant she must not have said anything to them about him and the other teens sneaking out all the cans of hard seltzer into the trunk of his car to throw away at his house. Never before had he ever neglected to inform another parent of something as serious as what had happened. But ever since he shrunk, there seemed to be a lot of things he was doing for the first time.

     Because Thursday was one of Jessie’s game days, Marcus made sure to cook his daughter a hearty omelette with ham, bell peppers, and cheese that was ready for her within minutes of waking up. They got to talking at the dinner table about the day she had ahead of her, and Jessie decided that she missed having her dad come to support her at her matches. “You used to come like, all the time before you shrunk,” she reminded him, her voice taking on a melancholy spirit. “Like, I get why you haven’t been in awhile, it’s probably kinda embarrassing being so small. But… and like I don’t want you to take this the wrong way or anything Daddy but… you should at least try to, you know, return to your old lifestyle or whatever as best you can. Do you know what I mean?” Marcus was looking off to the side, out the window to the great outdoors as the world slowly woke up to another sunny day. “Like I remember when I was your size, and how adults were kinda scary cuz they were so much bigger than me and stuff, but I wasn’t like, shy or anything, I still went out in public and socialized and stuff.” I understand the point she’s trying to make, he thought, but it’s kind of a stretch. ‘Going out in public’ sounds like talking about adults, but she was literally a toddler the last time she was close to my height, and even then it wasn’t as small as I am. It wasn’t just that people around her were bigger, it’s that they were a lot older too. The fact that me going out in public a lot of times means being around people younger than me kind of makes things worse. Despite him feeling like it was an unfair comparison though, he knew his daughter was right. Both of them seemed to understand that his problem wasn’t that he didn’t go out in public, because he did. Just the other day he’d taken her to get new clothes at the mall. But those kind of days together where a lot less frequent than they used to be; it felt like Marcus only did the bare minimum, only going out when she needed to go out. But going to one of her volleyball matches would be a first. He had absolutely no obligation to go (besides being a supportive father, of course), but it would also mean being around a lot of giant people. More than the clothing store and movie theater had when they went on Monday, and she literally dragged him to those places. Her volleyball match tonight, if he went, would be the boldest step he’d taken yet. But that also meant he had the most to gain in terms of his confidence.

     “I can’t tell you what to do obviously,” Jessie continued, “I just think like, I’m suggesting that you try and go out in public more often. Because it might help you get used to being around bigger people. Just my idea, you know? But like yeah I’m also gonna be in school for a few more years, aaaaand it’d be cool if my only family member could show up to one of my games a few more times.” Her last statement was dripping with sass, but he smiled at her since he knew she was just being cheeky. 

     Marcus took a deep breath, and nodded slowly to show his agreement with everything she’d said. “You’re right, Jess. I’m sorry I haven’t come out to support you yet. I know a lot of the other kids’ parents go, so I’m sure you haven’t been able to ignore having me gone. But it’s been almost a month now, and you’re totally, 100% right, I should start trying to acclimate myself back into society now.” He reached out across the table and grabbed ahold of two of her fingers as he smiled warmly. “So I’ll be there tonight, it’ll be great.” She blushed, glad that she’d been able to convince him to come back and spectate her, as he let go and leaned back into his chair. “But now you won’t be able to slack off anymore since I’ll be there watching, so you’d better win!” She rolled her eyes as he laughed at his joke, as they continued eating their breakfast together.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus was sitting in his car in his daughter’s school parking lot, taking a deep breath. I’m not gonna feel any better just sitting out here trying to get myself amped up. Part of his issue, he had realized on the drive over, was that going to watch her play would feel like a solo experience. She’d be there too of course, but every single other time he’d ventured out of the house in the past month since shrinking, he’d had Jessie there right by his side. Despite her being twice as tall as him, she gave him comfort and a sense of calmness and familiarity wherever he went. Jessie would obviously still be nearby now, but she wouldn’t truly be with him. He’d be sitting alone, surrounded by a hundred super tall strangers. 

     That shouldn’t matter though, he reminded himself. Being in public without her is part of why Jessie thought I should come tonight. He shook his head and opened up his car door to hop out, attempting to clear his head. He held his head up high as he locked the car and walked confidently towards the gymnasium doors. He wasn’t an outcast, or a freak of nature; he was just a little small is all. I can do this, he told himself, pushing the doors open with all his strength to get in. 

     “Hi, welcome!” said a woman in her mid 40’s, sitting next to one of the students at the ticketing table. He had half-expected the gymnasium to be roaring with the sound of hundreds of excited fans, until he remembered that this was a middle school volleyball match and not high school football. Not to mention the fact that he’d attended dozens of these things before—it had just been so long that his expectations had been messed with. The squeaks on the courts and callouts from the players were louder than the collective audience, which seemed to have around 60 people at best scattered among the stands, not counting the team members sitting in front. It was a good sized crowd; not a disappointing number, but not too overwhelming for Marcus’ first time back. 

     The mother smiled down at him kindly as he walked up and dug a 5 dollar bill out of his pocket, while the girl next to her looked a bit shocked to see someone of his size. She clearly didn’t know how to act as polite as the mom running the cash box. “Are you Jessie’s dad?” she asked, looking him up and down somewhat incredulously. He hated when people did that, like he was some kind of oddity, and people her age seemed to do it a lot more often than adults.

     He forced a polite smile to the girl and nodded as he handed the older woman money for a ticket. “Yeah, I guess words gotten around.” He actually wasn’t that upset that Jessie had a tendency of telling people about him. He knew she didn’t tell everyone, but it was the kind of news that was bound to get passed around and gossiped about if only a few people knew. And he was her dad, it wasn’t like she could hide his existence anyways.

     “Oh, was I not supposed to know? Sorry, Derek told me like a week ago,” the girl apologized.

     “It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” he chuckled. I don’t even know who Derek is. Or who she is.

     “Here’s your ticket, enjoy the game,” the woman told him, handing Marcus a red stub. He thanked them and turned back to the match as he walked around to the front side of the bleachers. The first set seemed to have just started, but he couldn’t see Jessie out on the floor yet. She was probably sitting in the front row with the rest of her teammates. In fact, he couldn’t really see anyone in the crowd from how close he was to the people sitting on the far edge of the seating, but evidently someone was able to see him. A hand shot straight up from the crowd before a young black girl stood and excitedly gestured for him to come over: Paris. Her attendance at the match tonight and ever radiant grin on her face pretty much confirmed to Marcus his assumption that her parents never found out what happened last night. And upon seeing a familiar face, his heart seemed to skip a beat out of both surprise and relief. He marched up the stairs with a bit more hop in his step, before reaching her middle row and scooting on by several pairs of oversized legs to reach her as she sat back down. He could feel pairs of eyes on him as a few crowd members and a couple students noticed the shrunken man joining the stands; it wasn’t everyday that someone with Marcus’ condition showed up. But he just ignored them, knowing they meant no harm.

     “I can’t believe you’re here Mr. Tilden, Jessie didn’t tell me you were gonna come to a game!” Paris exclaimed. “Oh, um, you can— you should sit between us,” she said, turning beside her to look at Amy, her secret girlfriend, seated next to her. She still seemed to be nervous about people finding out they were a couple for some reason, but she scooted over anyways to make room for his small body to sit between theirs. “Do you remember Amy, from yesterday?”

     “Of course, it’s nice to see you again,” he told her politely, climbing onto the seat between the two giant teens.

     “By the way, thank you sooooo much for saving us last night,” Amy said in a hushed tone, but not quite whispering. Paris blushed and looked around, paranoid as always that someone would hear what they’re saying and have any reason to think they were talking about something nefarious. The only surrounding people were too focused on whichever daughter, niece, or cousin of theirs was on the floor though.

     “Oh, yeah, no problem,” he replied. “I know it was just a mistake.”

     “Can you see OK by the way?” Paris asked, always one to look out for others. “Here, you can sit on my backpack,” she offered, grabbing it from beside her as he hopped back off so she could place it on the seat for him.

      “Yeah, that’s better now, thanks Paris.” Even sitting on the makeshift booster seat though, he wasn’t even as tall as the two young girls’ shoulders. But he could see the gym better now, and he scanned the backs of the heads of all the teammates that were lined up. Just as he spotted his daughter’s hair tied up in a ponytail, she turned to look at the crowd behind her, not for the first time that evening. Her eyes instantly spotted him, and an electric wave of joy seemed to sweep over her face as she energetically waved at him. After the game had started and he still hadn’t shown, Jessie began to lose hope, but seeing her dad now reinvigorated her spirits, and she couldn’t wait until she was called on to join the court and show off how her skills had improved since he last came to a game. Seeing Jessie light up just from his appearance warmed Marcus’ heart as well, and reminded him why he came tonight.

     “Awww, you guys are so cute,” Amy commented, seeing her classmate’s reaction. “Did she know you were coming?”

     “Technically she did, but I don’t know if she really believed I would show up,” he chuckled as Jessie turned back around, and they continued watching the game.

     The team was in the middle of the second set, the first one having been won by Jessie’s team. He’d even seen Harper play a little, the friend of Jessie’s that he’d met a few weeks ago, having totally forgotten that she was even on his daughter’s team. But now Paris and Amy had gone off, having needed to use the bathroom for a few minutes, leaving Marcus to watch their stuff momentarily. Throughout the first set, he’d cheered and called out approving ‘good jobs!’ and ‘nice ones!’ here and there alongside Paris and Amy when their team had scored a point. But his voice didn’t carry like it used to, and he found himself a bit quieter now that he was alone again. Jessie was in the rotation now, and with eyes like a hawk, he watched her on the court, following her every move with a smile on her face. He couldn’t tell if it was from her having improved since he last watched, or if she was just playing better because he was there, but regardless of the reason she was playing like a star on the court!

     A trio of middle school boys who Marcus didn’t notice at first made their way up the bleacher steps, off to the left and a few rows behind where Marcus had been sitting. Nobody was really sitting near them, but his smaller ears gave him somewhat sharper hearing, and he started tuning in on their conversation without even realizing it. They were talking about which of the girls they thought was hottest, and Marcus couldn’t help but smirk upon their tribal-like debating over his daughter’s peers. He didn’t necessarily approve of it, but he remembered doing the same thing when he was their age, going to the volleyball games specifically because the uniforms would show more than the basketball and soccer ones. But then his smirk started faltering as they talked about a certain player who he didn’t exactly want to hear about.

     “Whatever, I still think Jessie’s ass is fucking insane dude,” one of the boys said.

     “Yeah but her tits aren’t that big,” another replied. “I’m telling you guys, boobs are underrated as shit.”

     “The fuck Connor? Dude Devon’s right, her ass is easily the best on the team. And most of them are still like, growing or whatever. Just wait til we’re in high school, I proooomise she’s gonna have big mommy milkers.” He broke out into an snicker, and one of the friends slapped him on his head.

     “Shut the fuck up bro, stop saying that, holy shit.”

     “He’s right though, literally nobody in our class except Veronica has nice boobs yet.”

     “Did you see her story last night? I can’t believe her parents never like, say anything about it, I wonder if they know.”

     “Who gives a fuck dude.”

     “Yeah, just enjoy it while it lasts.” They were quiet for a few moments, and clearly nobody else either heard them talking, or seemed to care. Marcus was just glad they were done talking about his daughter… or so he thought.

     Jessie dove for the the ball, bumping it in the nick of time but falling on the floor in the process. He would’ve cheered for her initiative, but her butt, tightly restrained by her short shorts, jiggled upon her hitting the gym floor and set off the boys behind him again.

     “Holy shit, I wanna eat her ass so bad,” one of the boys muttered again, causing the other butt-appreciator of the three to snicker.

     “You literally sound like the biggest fucking virgin when you say shit like that, Kyle.”

     “He’s kinda right though, I mean I literally wouldn’t have even come with you guys if she wasn’t playing. She’s the only ass I look at. Like the whole time. I can’t believe she switched out of gym 2 for fucking racket sports. It’s got shape, it’s got size…” Jessie leaned over with her hands on her knees as she waited for the next serve, inevitable sticking her butt out in the process. “Uugggh, yes,” the boy moaned, causing the other two to break out into laughter at how horny their friend was acting. But Marcus couldn’t take it anymore. Too nervous to confront the boys who were no doubt twice his size, and probably impossible to argue with, he simply stood up in a huff and walked along the row away from them, back down the steps, and headed to the bathroom to get a break.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     The passenger door to their car slammed shut as Jessie got in following another exciting night of volleyball. Marcus started up the car as she leaned back in the seat with a worn out but toothy smile on her face. “I played so well tonight,” she said, her eyes seemingly lost in a trance as she remembered all the various dives and spikes and other plays that she’d performed.

     “You were great, honey,” Marcus answered, equally impressed by her athleticism on the court that evening. The only lowlight of the night had been overhearing the boys that sat near by, disgustingly commenting on their classmates’ bodies. But worst of all, seeming to focus the most on Jessie, giving Marcus the painful reminder that Jessie wasn’t just his little girl anymore; she was blossoming into a woman. That obviously didn’t mean she deserved to be objectified though. It almost made him feel like a hypocrite. When I was their age, I said pretty similar things, he remembered, but now that I’m a parent, that kind of language disgusts me. It probably would’ve disgusted Jessie too though, and she doesn’t need to be an adult to recognize that. 

     The boys might’ve only been remarking about the volleyball team for a few minutes, but Marcus clearly remembered what they had said, and it was difficult for him to simply brush it off in his mind. Like his daughter, he zoned out, staring ahead as he was lost in thought, remembering the events of the evening. Except while Jessie’s were exciting and positive, Marcus’ were the total opposite. She snapped out of the trance first though, realizing they’d been sitting silently in the parked car for almost 30 seconds. “Daddy? Are we gonna go?” she asked, waving a big hand in front of his face to try and capture his attention. 

     He too snapped out of it, shaking his head and rubbing his forehead. “Sorry Jess, yeah, we can go now.”

     “Are you OK?” she asked sympathetically. “You looked like you were thinking about something important.”

     Marcus didn’t have the courage to tell her what he’d heard her classmates saying about her and the other girls. She doesn’t need to know anyways, it’s not like it can help her. He just felt bad that he hadn’t had the willpower to face the boys himself. He’d just fled the scene instead of standing up to them, worried that they’d ignore him, or even make fun of him because of his size. “Nah, it’s nothing,” he lied, turning on the car as he smiled at her reassuringly. And Jessie believed her dad, so she leaned back more comfortably in her seat while prying off her shoes, crossing her feet on the dashboard for the ride home. 

     The two of them soon arrived back at the house, where they had dinner and talked about the night’s match. Which mostly meant Jessie excitedly recalling all her favorite moments, with Marcus merely nodding along and agreeing with how great everyone had played. Jessie also thought that it was great that Paris and Amy had come to watch her that day, so her dad could have someone to sit with. And he agreed; it definitely was less unnerving for him to attend when he was there with a familiar face.

     After they finished eating, Jessie asked her dad if he could rub her back. He’d been reluctant to at first, since he wanted her to take a shower before doing anything, but she convinced him that sooner was better than later, since the longer she had to wait, the less loose her muscles would be because of how recently she played. And instead of sitting like last time, sideways on their couch while Marcus was perched on the armrest so he could reach her shoulders, she simply collapsed on the floor with a tired groan, sprawled out on her stomach. “Kind of an… unorthodox way to get your back massaged, isn’t it?” her dad asked, kneeling down beside her and starting to work his fists into the muscles along her shoulders.

     “Well you can do it like that if you want, I just figured it’d be easier for you if you like sat on my back and worked from there,” she explained, her eyes closing, tired from the long day. “I’m just trying to help you.”

     “Oh, well maybe you’re right,” he said, stopping what he was doing and climbing onto her back. Her body was still noticeably warm as he sat criss cross on her lower back, and the longer his legs rested on her jersey, the clammier he could feel himself getting from her perspiration seeping through. He tried to ignore it though, and leaned over her upper back, digging his fingers into her malleable muscles and skin.

     “Ohhhhh,” Jessie moaned, a grin brought to her face, “that feels so good Daddy. Thank you.”

     He winced at her choice of phrasing right after hearing her moan, but continued working, “No problem.” Working his way downwards after a few minutes, he reached the area under her shoulder blades, which had been tried and tested from hours of swinging her arms up and down to bump the ball, with the occasional spike here and there. The only problem was that his little hands didn’t have the same strength on her giant body that a normal sized pair of hands did, and Jessie could feel the difference.

     “Can you get any deeper?” she asked. “I don’t wanna be like rude or seem ungrateful, but it’s a little hard to feel.” Marcus was a little let down, but tried to push even further in with his knuckles. “Mmmm, it’s still not really deep enough,” she mused. He tried a third time, practically letting his weight fall into her muscle mass. But at only 14 pounds, there wasn’t a lot of strength to give. “C’mon Daddy, you can do it. Deeper!”

     Cringing at her wording again, he got frustrated of trying his hardest and still not being enough to satisfy his daughter, and stood up in a huff. “Alright, I don’t think—“

     “Oooooh, wait! That’s such a good idea, you standing up like that!” she cheered. “Like you’re not too heavy to hurt me, but I can still feel it. Try walking around.” He had been ready to give up, but seeing Jessie respond to his accidentally better message technique inspired him again, and he walked back and forth on her back like she told him to do. “Yeah, just like that,” she cooed, seeming to melt beneath the feeling of his tiny steps along her spine. “See if you can like, stomp down on me though, I might be able to feel it even better.”

     The idea confused Marcus a bit. “…Stomp? On you? Like this?” He lifted his leg up, and crashed it down onto her back.

     She grunted in response, but nodded enthusiastically. “Oh my god, that’s perfect, just like that. But don’t hold back.” I wasn’t trying to, he thought, somewhat offended, I had stomped as hard as I could. Her back isn’t the most even surface, it’s hard to stay balanced when I lift my leg. So instead he decided to jump up instead, crashing his feet into her back with hopes that that might register better with her. “OH!” she exclaimed, caught off guard, but it felt like he had just cracked her back (in a good way), and she longed for that feeling again. “Do that again!” A second jump, and a second stomp. “Yes! God, that actually feels so good. See if you can do it even harder.” Whatever weird kind of massage this was, she seemed to be addicted to it and just wanted more and more of it. A third jump and a stomp, his little legs getting as close as possible to the strong biceps of a normal man. Then a fourth and a fifth, alternating pounds between her upper and lower back. But somehow, he was giving her the best massage she’d felt in ages. “Pound me harder!” she squealed enthusiastically, “Don’t stop Daddy!” It was all too much for him now, the way she was reacting, and he stepped off her back. She opened her eyes in confusion, completely oblivious to how she was sounding and confused why he had stopped. “Daddy, what’s wrong?” she asked, concern on her face. “Did you hurt yourself or something?” 

     Yeah, my pride. “Yeah uh, I think I landed funny and twisted my ankle or something,” he lied. “It doesn’t hurt, I just, I wanna take a break is all.” 

     “Oh, OK,” she replied despondently. “Sorry about your ankle.”

     “Don’t worry about it, really, it’s fine. I just don’t wanna risk getting it sprained or anything.” Luckily, she seemed to believe his lie, and stood up, realizing massage time was over. “I think now might be a good time for you to take a shower though, I could kinda smell you when I was rubbing your back.”

     “Ugh,” Jessie groaned, “I guess you’re right.” She sighed and made her way towards the hallway, grabbing some towels from the closet, before heading into the bathroom. Marcus turned to the kitchen, figuring he’d try and clean up the kitchen while she washed up. But he heard the bathroom door open suddenly, and he turned to see Jessie stick her head out. “Oh by the way, I have some more math homework that I was kinda having trouble figuring out today, so if you could work on it for me while I take a shower, that’d be great. Thanks!” Before he could even think of what to say back, she pulled her head back into the bathroom and shut the door again, and he heard the shower head turn on a few seconds later. 

     Rolling his eyes at her request, he was at least curious about what kind of problems she was getting stuck on. Unzipping her backpack, he pulled out her math assignments, and looked to the top of the page: “Quadratics - Practice #11.” He was a bit surprised, expecting it would just be something about the Pythagorean Theory or something a little simpler. Isn’t she in Pre-Algebra? This is a bit more advanced than I was expecting, he thought, browsing over the problems. He was at least able to remember enough about his math days in school to remember how difficult he thought quadratic functions and equations were. He took a few minutes to look over the couple of questions she had already answered, and was proud to see that she’d gotten them right. Well at least she knows what she’s doing, I wouldn’t wanna do her homework if she doesn’t understand it, then she’d just fail on the test, and sat down as he grabbed a pencil out of her backpack. So I guess I can help her out with a couple, he told himself, and began working on the next few problems.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     “I’m all clean!” Jessie proudly proclaimed, her voice ringing throughout their small house. With one towel wrapped around her body and a second wrapped around her head, she came to check in on her dad, her bare feet pattering against the wooden floor as she walked into the kitchen. 

     “Oh, good timing,” Marcus said, looking over his shoulder just as she came up behind him and leaned over to see how much work he’d gotten done. He had only intended to do a couple problems to help her out, but he got caught up in a flow and ended up finishing the whole thing. He looked back at the papers, realizing he’d finished all of his daughter’s homework for her while she took a shower. “Sorry, I guess I got a little carried away.”

     Her eyes widened and she grinned happily as she saw that her dad had finished all her work for her. “You don’t need to apologize Daddy,” she said as she grabbed the papers off the table and stuffed them back in her backpack so she could turn them in tomorrow.

     “Hey, so do I smell better now?” she asked, lifting up one of her bare feet onto his leg, completely covering it, and wiggling her clear, natural toes invitingly in his lap. 

     “Yeah, as long as you got all the sweat off,” he replied, not even looking down.

     “Did I?”

     “I don’t know, did you?”

     “You tell me,” she smirked, and lifted her foot up even higher, clutching her dad’s little nose between her pale toes, slightly pink and warm still from the heat of the shower. She had lifted her leg so high that it lifted the bottom edge of her towel she had wrapped around her, and Marcus suddenly realized that if she lifted it only a few inches higher, she might accidentally expose herself. Wanting her to lower her leg as quickly as possible, he grabbed ahold of Jessie’s foot with both his hands and took a deep breath in. Sure enough, any hint of her previous sweat was gone, as a strong wave of apple-scented body wash invaded his nostrils. He hoped that his strong, loud inhale would satisfy her playful attitude, and sure enough, she lowered her foot back down, causing Marcus to breathe a silent sigh of relief. “So?”

     “Oh yeah, they uh, they smell good. Or fine, I mean. You smell fine,” he said, smiling up at her reassuringly.

     “Great!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands together. “Now I won’t stink up our bed tonight.” Our? he thought initially, before remembering how they had started to sleep in the same bed together to keep her sleeplessness and nightmares at bay. “By the way, I forgot to thank you for doing all my homework for me,” she added, and leaned over to give him a kiss on the top of his head.

     “No problem,” he chuckled, telling himself that he’d have to remember to not finish everything for her next time.

     “She turned to leave, but pivoted on her foot before she went anywhere. “You know, that kinda makes me realize…”

     “What does?”

     “Me giving you a kiss on your head. I realized that like, I don’t even remember the last time you gave me a kiss. Which you used to do like every night before bed, or whenever else, but now I feel like it’s been a one-way street.”

     “Well that’s cuz I can’t reach your forehead anymore, doofus,” he laughed, laughing up at her. But he already knew where she was going with her point. “I think I know where you’re going with this though. You’re gonna say that just because I can’t reach your forehead or cheek or wherever, doesn’t mean I can’t still give you kisses, right?”

     “Yep! I just kinda miss it is all, since you’re like my own family and stuff… I’ve just noticed the difference is all.”

     “Well,” Marcus replied, looking down from her face to what was in front of him: her towel-covered hips. The only real estate that was really available for him to reach was her pelvic area and her legs. So he kneeled down so he could reach beyond her towel, and gently gave her a kiss on her thigh. Jessie smiled, glad to see her dad taking well to her idea. “Does this mean we’re saying goodnight?” he asked, standing before looking up at her again.

     “Oh yeah, I guess we should head to bed now. Let me just get changed and then brush my teeth first, mkay? And you can go get your PJ’s on too.” Then she turned and headed towards her room, while Marcus made his way to his own so he could get his t-shirt and shorts on.

     When he emerged a few minutes later, he saw that Jessie’s door was open again, so he headed inside to find her standing by her dresser with her back to him, looking down at her phone. She was dressed in a tank top and pajama bottoms, but her bottoms seemed to be getting a bit small for her. If he was remembering correctly, they used to be pretty loose, like most sweatpants, but now they were hugging her hips and butt more than he previously remembered. The comments made by the boys from her class flashed in his mind again. Jeez, am I ever gonna be able to forget what they said about her? Just then, Jessie put her phone down for the night on her dresser and turned around.

     “Oh, I didn’t even hear you—“ she started to say, but stopped herself and started to frown in concern. “Hey, there’s that look again.”

     “Huh?”

     “Ever since my match ended today, I’ve noticed you get like this look on your face anytime you’re by yourself.”

     He blushed, “Oh, it’s nothing, I dunno, it’s—“

     “No, I can definitely tell that it’s something. You get like… fidgety, whenever I bring it up. Like, it’s obvious you’re not telling me something Daddy.”

     He sighed, knowing there was no use in lying to her anymore if he couldn’t get away with it. “It’s just something I overheard someone say at your volleyball game, you don’t need to worry about it. It’s not a problem.”

     She was silent for a few seconds before speaking. “Does it have to do with me?” she asked quietly. He went back and forth in his brain, trying to decide whether he should lie to her or tell the truth. If I lie and say no, she might realize I’m lying again, but if I admit that it was about her then there’s no way she’d let it go, and she’d wanna know what it was about. But he had already taken too long to think about his answer, and Jessie had caught on. “I guess that’s a yes.” Marcus hung his head, rubbing his forehead, angry at himself for letting the truth out without even trying to. “Who was it? What’d they say?” she asked, taking a step closer to him, holding her hands nervously in front of her. 

     “It was just some boys from your class, and… I don’t think it’s something you should hear. I don’t feel comfortable repeating it. As your father. I mean, I… I just don’t think I should.”

     Jessie took another small step forward, closing the gap between them even further and forcing Marcus to crane his head just a little bit further up. “‘As my father?’ That gives me a little bit of an idea what it must’ve been about.” Shit! It was as if everything he said just pushed him further and further towards revealing the truth, and nothing he was able to say or do could reverse the path they were on. It felt like her finding out was inevitable now, but he didn’t want to admit it. Because the only way she’d find out was if he told her himself, and he didn’t want to have to say it. “Daddy?”

     “Jessie, I’m not telling you, OK? It’s not—“

     She cut him off, ignoring his resistance. “I wanna know, Daddy. I deserve to know.” She took one last step towards him, now standing as close as possible. His head was craned all the way up, her face casting him in shadow, as she looked down at him disapprovingly for holding back so much. He gulped nervously, and realized there was no way out.

     “They were talking about your… butt. They just… they’re middle school boys, you know? They were talking about all the girls on the team, and you were just one of them.”

     “But they singled mine out?” she asked curiously. He nodded. “What exactly did they say?”

     “That… Jessie, I don’t wanna repeat it, I’m your—“

     “Tell me,” she replied sternly.

     He took a deep breath, gulping again as he continued to stare up at her. “That your… your butt was b-big. I mean, they said it was ‘insane’ or like ‘the best on the team’ or something,” he admitted, the truth spilling out of him, unable to hold back from telling her what he’d heard.

     She giggled, her first reaction so far at what he’d told her. “That’s not bad, Daddy. Why wouldn’t I wanna hear that?” She glanced at herself in the mirror for a second while he answered her.

     “Because, Jess, no father should be saying that about their daughter, I didn’t wanna repeat that.”

     She looked back down at him, “So that was it? Just that they thought I had a cute butt?”

     He rolled his eyes, “I… yeah, that’s— yeah, that’s pretty much it.”

     “I can tell you’re lying again Daddy,” she cooed, frowning again that he wasn’t telling her the whole truth. “What else did they say?”

     “Jessie, please, I don’t—“

     “Why do you keep trying to hold back?” she asked, starting to get a bit angry now. “I know it’s not you saying those things, you’re just repeating them. I’m not gonna get mad, I just wanna know. People shouldn’t talk behind others’ backs, right? So just tell me already,” she demanded impatiently. “I can tell when you’re lying, just tell the truth.”

     He was a bit taken aback from her sudden change in demeanor, and didn’t want to frustrate her any further. “Th-they said that… I mean, one of them said that… he w-wanted to, to e-eat your ass out, um, really badly,” he confessed, looking down at the floor, embarrassed for even having to repeat it.

     “Oh, ew,” she said, crinkling her nose in disgust. “Do you know who it was?”

     He continued looking down at the floor, her large, pale feet peeking out from under her pajamas and eclipsing his own little ones. “No, I didn’t recognize their voices, and I didn’t even try to see what they looked like.”

     “So that was it? That’s everything? Did they say anything mean?” He shook his head, figuring that he’d be able to get away with lying easier if he continued looking down with her unable to see his face. But she didn’t respond, and her feet stayed rooted in front of him, a silence hanging between them for several seconds. He finally looked up at her to see if she was thinking, or why else she was just standing there, and saw that she was still looking down at him sternly with her hands on her hips. Clearly she hadn’t believed him.

     He glanced to the side again, feeling like a little boy confessing to his mother. Except she was his daughter, and he was supposed to be the parent. “That your… your b-boobs, I mean your breasts, that they’re not… they didn’t think they were that big, but maybe, they thought that maybe when you guys were in high school, that they’d be a lot bigger, or just bigger, I mean.” He looked up at her again as she thought about what he had repeated back to her. “But that’s it, or at least all I can remember, I promise Jess. Everything else they said was about other girls.”

     Surprisingly, Jessie smiled, then ruffled his hair. “I know, I can tell your telling the truth now. I believe you. Thanks for telling me though.” She walked over to her mirror, examining her body. She turned to the side and stuck her fingers under her butt, lifting it up a little and examining its shape underneath her pajama pants. Then she turned back around and cupped her hands under her boobs, feeling their size and shape as well. “Do you think they were right?” she asked.

     Marcus hadn’t been paying attention to her, and turned to see her examining herself in the mirror. “What?”

     “About my boobs,” she explained, turning to her dad now as she looked down at herself. “Do you think the guys you heard were right that they’d get bigger by high school?”

     “OK, now these questions are starting to go too far,” he said, shaking his head and backing up. But she persisted, and stepped forward, intent on getting an answer.

     “Daddy, I literally don’t have anyone else I can ask. You want me to ask mom? You think she’d know?” He winced at this, knowing that it likely hurt his daughter to have spent her life growing up without a female role model in her life. “It’s just like, a scientific thing, that’s all I’m asking. Cuz you’ve grown up before and I haven’t, and you’ve seen other girls grow up and see how they turned out, so I just wanna know, like, in your experience, when you remember your like, classmates or whatever from when you were my age, do you think, like…” she trailed off, not knowing how else to phrase the question, but upset that her father couldn’t just answer it for her. She knew that he couldn’t predict the future and wouldn’t really know the answer; she was just looking for some kind of reassurance. She spent hours every day on Instagram and TikTok, and a little bit of YouTube, and saw other girls her age with millions of followers and fans. It was pretty much a regular occurrence for her to feel insecure about some element of herself, whether it was her hair or her skin or her clothes or her voice. Or like now, her boobs. She felt like she was always in a competition, and other girls like Veronica and her body, or Paris’ personality, or Harper’s intelligence, could sometimes make her feel like she wasn’t… enough. 

     Marcus came to this realization as he saw the look on Jessie’s face, one of genuine concern and worry that she wouldn’t be ‘pretty enough’ when she grew older. And while he didn’t think that smaller boobs were anything to be ashamed about, he also recognized that now wasn’t the time for a lesson about self confidence, and that there ultimately wasn’t anything wrong with what Jessie wanted when she grew up.

     “I don’t know what you’ll look like when you get older,” he told her, stepping forward and placing a hand on her thigh reassuringly. “But given your age, I think... you’ll… yeah, you’ll continue to grow. It just takes time, don’t worry about it.” Her somber expression turned to one of quiet gratitude, before she suddenly reached down and picked her dad up under his arms and squeezed him in one of the tightest hugs he’d ever been given. 

     “Thanks,” she whispered, holding him steadfast within her embrace.

    Marcus found himself once again in a giant space filled only with pitch black. Another dream, it seemed. But unlike his previous one, he felt a mass beneath his feet this time, like he was standing on something. As his vision continued to focus, he realized that the darkness was actually night, and he could just barely make out the silhouettes of mountains in the distance. The dim light behind them continued to glow brighter and brighter, before a blinding light pierced the tip of the great cascades, causing Marcus to shutter his eyes momentarily in surprise before returning to look back on the distant brightness. It still blinded him to look directly at it, but it more clearly illuminated the world he was in, an orange field of wheat that he suddenly felt brushing against his skin as the wind softly rustled by. He realized too that the light in the distance was the sun, peeking back up into the world to signify a new day.

     “Hello again, little one,” a great voice boomed from all around him, and he spun around to see Jessie standing hundreds of feet away in the distance, yet looming hundreds of feet in the air at the same time. Except he knew now that this great being wasn’t Jessie, at least not the Jessie he knew as his daughter. He recalled her saying last time that she was his guardian angel, or at least in this confusing, ethereal dream world she was. Just like last time, she still donned her extravagant, silky white mini dress, with beautiful, fluttering wings spread mightily on her back and a shimmering halo above her head. She stepped forward, easily covering dozens of feet in a single stride, and continued to make her way across the meadow towards him. As she came closer with every step, he realized just how large she really was, dwarfing his body far more than his daughter’s ever did back in the real world. Once more, she reached down and plucked him off the ground, setting his body down carefully within her soft, white palm. She smiled at him lovingly, her teeth shining almost as much as the ring around her head, and his heart seemed to melt just like whenever the Jessie back on Earth would smile at him the same way, the way that only a daughter can to a father. Or apparently, an angel can to a mortal.

     But as she smiled, he noticed her face seem to change ever so slightly. She wasn’t moving, and yet her features began to become more defined, and he looked on confusingly as he wondered what was happening. Her hair seemed to grow more full and volumous, her lips grew more red and took on a more prominent shape, and her nose seemed to vaguely shift, although he couldn’t tell if it was growing or shrinking or something else. He noticed the edges of her jaw were becoming more defined, as her bone structure appeared to take on a more evident shape on her face. “You’re getting… older,” he said aloud, realizing what the changes materialized to be, and she nodded slowly and gently in response.

     Marcus crawled forward on her hand so he could catch a better view of her chin, but in doing so he noticed the rest of Jessie’s body seemed to be changing as well. The dress she wore appeared to grow along with her body, as he watched the figure of his daughter’s bust grow outward, increasing more and more in size, past that of any of her classmates. Further down even still, her hips gained size and shape, as they transformed from looking like a teenager’s to looking like a grown woman’s. And the ground itself, beneath her sandaled feet, flew farther and farther away from him; she was growing in size too. He lifted his head back up to meet her eyes, still fixed on him with unflinching tenderness, as her body seemed to slow back down its transformation. Where once before him stood the vast body of his 13-year-old daughter in angelic form, now stood an even larger body of the beautiful, grown woman she would one day turn into, unmistakably older yet impossibly youthful. “You’re… bigger too,” he gasped, his eyes marveling at the sight of his daughter.

     The great being nodded and laughed, just like his daughter always had, but seemingly more regal now. “Of course I’m bigger, Marcus, I grew up. Just like your daughter will, with time.” As she spoke, he noticed that her voice was deeper now too. “But you are not meant to grow any more, Marcus. That part of your life already happened. Your genetics determined the size you were meant to be throughout your whole life before you were even born, and now that size will never change.”

     “It won’t?” Marcus asked, hints of sadness and fear creeping into his mind for the first time since he arrived here. He already knew that he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. But having the image of his daughter confirm it for him made it feel like he was learning the news for the first time.

     “How could it? Your condition is permanent, and adults like you don’t grow up anyways. They stay the same size. Unless of course, they get unlucky, as you did, and then they get smaller, and smaller, and smaller…” Marcus collapsed onto his knees and hung his head, knowing that everything she was saying was true, yet feeling hopelessly lost because of it. His angel took notice of his sadness though, and reached her other hand up to gently stroke his back with her finger. “Oh, don’t cry little one, I did not mean to bring you such feelings. There will be no need for worry anymore, because your daughter is extraordinary and special, and you’ll always be safe with her.”

     Marcus lifted his head up, once more gazing upon the comforting smile of his angel. “Huh? Wh-what do you mean, I’ll ‘always be safe?’”

     “Just as you were always meant to shrink one day, so too was your daughter always meant to be your protector, watching over you until the end of your days,” she explained. Yet this notion only served to scare Marcus even further, and the angel took on a look of pity towards the small father as she saw that he was still worried. “Here, I’ll show you,” she said, and suddenly he felt her hand pull out from under him, sending him falling towards the ground. But he landed painlessly, miraculously unhurt from falling hundreds of feet at once. 

     He watched as the angel stepped backwards, her body mutated once again into the 13-year-old girl that he always knew, as the world around them transformed into a familiar scene: their living room. And there, sitting in the kitchen, was Marcus, all two feet and seven inches of him. He looked back at Jessie and saw that she was standing by the door, wearing regular clothes again and a backpack. She waved across the house and mouthed out a goodbye, as Marcus’ body double smiled and waved back. Except their voices sounded as if they were thousands of feet away, and echoed all around him with a dreamlike resonance. It was clear to Marcus that they couldn’t see him, and he was having some kind of out of body experience, but was this a memory, or a depiction of the near future? Suddenly his guardian angel’s familiar, bold voice echoed all around him, evidently no longer being spoken by the girl she was embodied. “As time goes on in your lives, you never end up finding a new job at your size,” she explained, and he watched as Jessie headed out the front door, apparently on her way to school, as the door slammed shut and its boom echoed throughout their void. Marcus turned to see his clone on his phone, and then transport to the couch where he was watched the news, and then transport once more to lying asleep on the couch, lazily sprawled out on the cushions. “But there’s no cause for concern, because your daughter’s love for you never diminishes one bit.”

     The front door exploded open again, but instead of the familiar image of his daughter walking through, he watched as an older, taller, and much curvier version of Jessie sauntered through the door. Much like the angel’s preview transformation, her hips were much wider, and her breasts had grown considerably, with long, flowing hair cascading down behind her. But unlike the angel’s figure, who seemed to be an angelic soul merely possessing the body of his daughter, this person before him was the real thing. The way she smiled, the way she walked and carried herself; it was definitely the true Jessie, which made him even more awestruck at how much she had grown. “Here she is, years later,” the angel said, completely unheard by the two people Marcus was watching. “She’s just entered her sophomore year.”

     “My little girl is in college?” Marcus asked, although there was nothing little about her anymore. He somehow felt overcome with emotion in this dream, full of pride for Jessie’s accomplishments.

     “Not yet. It’s her second year of high school by this time,” the angel explained. Marcus’ sense of pride was overtaken with one of astonishment, that this… woman… could somehow be his daughter. If she had just started 10th grade, that meant she was only 15 years old, yet she looked like she could pass as someone in their 20’s. He remembered his encounter with Veronica, but it seemed that his daughter wasn’t far behind in her footsteps.

     “Daaaaaaddy, guess who’s hooooooome!” she exclaimed, as full of life as ever. Marcus’ other self woke up startled from the couch, before relaxing as he realized it was just Jessie.

     “Hey sweetie,” he said, smiling at her as she bounced her way to the front of the couch, always so full of energy. She opened her arms up wide, and Marcus stood up on the couch in response, before Jessie swooped in and wrapped him in a tight hug that seemed to squash his body within her giant breasts. He didn’t seem to be as reluctant or weirded out as the real Marcus was just from watching, and it occurred to him that years of such behavior between the two of them must have made his future self grown accustomed to being handled that way.

     “You know, I had the most random memory today in class, back from when I was still in middle school,” Jessie said, releasing Marcus’ double from their bear hug and setting him back down on the couch, “It was from just around when you first shrunk. I’d been feeling self conscious about my body, but you had reassured me that I was still young so I had nothing to worry about. And that one day when I grew up, the rest of me would too,” she giggled. “And you were right!” She reached out her hand for a high five, and Marcus—completely undeterred by what she had just said—slapped his little palm right against hers.

     “I don’t even remember that, to be honest,” he laughed, and jumped down off the couch. Jessie took his place, turning around and crashing into the couch with so much force that it budged backwards by an inch. “How was practice?” Marcus asked, as he walked to the front of their ottoman as Jessie pried off her shoes and socks, swinging them up onto the footrest.

     “It was fine I guess,” she sighed, crossing her bare feet as Marcus grabbed the top one, immediately getting to work with rubbing at her soles and massaging her tired muscles. A second thought occurred to the Marcus who was watching all this unfold, that the years that had passed had cultivated their routine to the point where her foot rubs had become a regular, daily occurrence, that both of them treated with normalcy and indifference. Without a job of his own to occupy his day, it seemed that the least his future self could do was tend to his daughter after her long, hard day at school.

     But as Marcus held Jessie’s feet in his hands, his other self observed as Jessie continued to change again, growing older, bigger, and bustier even still. The hair on Marcus’ head started to thin slightly, and a few of his black hairs turned to gray as he reached his 40’s. The space around them changed too, morphing into that of a dormitory. Now she really was in college, it seemed. And Marcus was still by her feet, giving them a thorough massage while she relaxed on her bed, busy scrolling through her phone. “Even with your disability checks, your finances were growing thin by the time Jessie started university,” the angel’s voice boomed out, returning to explain this new chapter in the Tilden’s lives. “So you ended up selling your home and moving into her dorm room with her, using some of the sale from the house to pay for her tuition. It’s a good thing you paid off the loan on your house before you shrunk, because even with her scholarships, you’re paying almost $100,000 for her to go to school.”

     Jessie looks up from her phone now, pulling her feet away from her dad’s hands and smiling down at him. “Hey Daddy, I’m gonna be going out with Tyler later today again,” she says. “Do you think you could clean up a bit around here before we get back?”

     “Of course, Jess,” he answered, seeming to be just as eager as ever to help her out. The Marcus of the past watched as the two of them teleport again, signifying some time has passed, and Marcus is alone in the dorm room, picking up his daughter’s clothes off the floor while she’s nowhere to be seen. Another time skip by a few hours, and Marcus is climbing into bed just as laughter is heard in the hallway outside, and the door creaks open, a second voice accompanying his daughter’s. Once more, the scene skips time, but only by a little, and suddenly there’s a bundle of motion underneath the covers on Jessie’s bed. A flurry of whispers and giggles, with someone’s body rising up and down beneath the sheets, as future Marcus lays in his small bed with his eyes open, nowhere else to go. A piercing shriek lets loose from Jessie’s bed, as his grown up daughter is unable to contain her feeling of ecstasy. But Marcus only winces; this isn’t the first time, but he knows that neither him nor his daughter have anywhere else to sleep, and it’s just something he has to put up with.

     His daughter’s howl echoes through the night as the scene once again shapeshifts, traveling further into the future than ever before. Jessie and her boyfriend disappear, along with the rest of the room, but Marcus stays resting in his bed, its 3 foot frame built especially for his meager body. The grays of his hair multiply even more, and the Marcus of the present can only stand by and watch as his other self develops several wrinkles, and his skin starts to sag, the signs of him becoming an old man. But a third setting takes form around Marcus in bed. It looks like he’s in a room of some kind, and there’s a dresser fit for his size off to the side, yet it also seems too small to be a bedroom. Initially he thinks it’s still night time, until he realizes there aren’t any windows, and the only lightbulb in the room, far above his reach, is turned off. On one side of the wall is a great wooden door, with a handle that seems too high for him to reach. And there’s a light peeking through beneath the crack under the door. “And finally…” the angel calls out, revealing the final stage of their journey.

     “Good morning dad,” he hears a voice saying from behind the doorway: his daughter. The door slowly opens, and the first thing he notices is her face, smiling as joyfully as ever, happy to see him. Except while he seems to have aged by 10 or 15 years, his daughter seems only a few years older than when he last saw her in college. But the next thing he knows, the door slams open the rest of the way, and a little boy and girl come barreling through.

     “Happy birthday, grandpa!” they yell out in unison, pulling him forcefully out of bed. As Marcus is able to see outside of the door now, he realizes that the outside is a bedroom, and his other self seems to have been sleeping in his daughter’s closet. The boy, who Marcus seems to only be as tall as his chest, grabs ahold of his arm and runs back out into Jessie’s room, dragging him along before Marcus can even get to his feet.

     “Hey, be careful with grandpa now, he’s not a toy,” Jessie scolds, and the two kids giggle.

     “Morning, Mark,” a man says, stepping into view and throwing his hand around Jessie’s shoulder with a cup of coffee in his hand.

     Marcus sighs but laughs at his predicament from his spot on the floor, his leg still held within his grandson’s grasp. “Hey Ty,” he says, rolling his eyes from another day of playing with his grandkids.

     “Can we go play with grandpa in our room?” the little girl asks enthusiastically, and the two adults laugh at how eager their children seem to be to play with their grandfather.

     “Sure honey, just don’t be too rough with him again,” Jessie laughs, and the kids squeal in excitement as they run out of the bedroom with Marcus’ body trailing behind them.

     Still watching from his closet, now with fear and unwillingness on his face, the normal Marcus shakes his head, unable to comprehend the future and what it will turn him into. “No... no!” he whimpers. “Is this my life? Is this all it will be?” he asks. “Always living in Jessie’s shadow?”

     “C’mere, you,” Jessie’s husband murmurs, grabbing her butt as she squeals, and they lock lips in a passionate affair as the closet door slams shut, trapping Marcus back into the darkness again.

     “This is… what I’ll become?” he asks, as the door drifts further and further away from him, sending him back into the endless, black void.

     “Yes, Marcus,” the angel’s voice replied, her face suddenly emerging from the misty darkness to look down on him with pity and care. “But there is no reason that you should worry. As you saw, the years will go on, and the decades will pass, but Jessie will always stay right by your side,” his guardian said, smiling at him as if it was a beautiful, hopeful future that he should be excited for. “And you, little one, will always stay right by hers.”

===================

Friday, November 6 

===================

     Marcus’ eyes flashed awake, staring at the ceiling above him. He was finally awake. His first dream involving Jessie from a few days ago had been nothing more than just that: a weird dream. But he hated this second one. It had been a nightmare, and he was glad that he had finally awoken from it. Although the nightmare wasn’t entirely over; his “guardian angel” had been right about one thing. I’m never getting bigger, he thought with despair. I will be two and a half feet tall for the rest of my life.

     But that didn’t mean that his future was decided. The vision he saw presented before him, one where he gradually became more and more subservient to his daughter, was not definitive. His life didn’t have to play out like that. Marcus remembered how his angel had said it all started, with him never finding a new job after his post-shrink layoff. So that was the first thing he realized he’d have to prioritize with his life. If he was honest with himself, he had been slacking lately with sending in applications to various job opportunities online, but that was about to change now. He was determined to take his job hunting while Jessie was at school more vigilantly than ever. Looking for a job should become a job in itself, he reasoned.

     The second major point that he remembered from his dream was how he had followed Jessie along in life, even after she graduated high school and move on like most people do. There were people who continued to live with their parents after they turned 18, but it was clear to Marcus that in his dystopian view of the future, it was him who continued to live with his child. And there was a difference. Jessie had been Marcus’ number one priority in life ever since she was born, but he’d also been single for the entirety of the past 13 years. That wasn’t to say that he hadn’t had sex or gone out on any dates in that period of time. But he found it hard to find single women around his age that were willing to start a relationship with a single parent. The majority of his dates had been with other single mothers; they understood his predicament more than anyone else. He’d just never clicked with any of them. Jessie just took up so much of his joy in life though, that he had never really felt a need to find someone to marry. His mentality was simply, “if I happen to meet someone, then great, but I won’t go out of my way to make it happen.” But he knew now that that would have to change too. He really, truly needed someone else to love and be a part of his life, or else he’d cling to Jessie until the day he died. Also, I’ve barely seen any of my friends since losing my job. So it wouldn’t hurt to try and find some more of those too.

     To his right, he heard the sound of his daughter shifting in her sleep, a soft sigh escaping her lips, and he remembered that he was still in bed with her. So he scooted out from under the covers and hopped over her body, deftly landing on her bedroom floor so he could sneak out the door. There were still a few hours until she’d wake up, so he didn’t bother making breakfast yet. Instead, he found his laptop, and decided to get to work. Instead of applying half-heartedly to dozens of random jobs, he was going to find one job opening, and focus in on it by writing a terrific cover letter and tailoring his resume specifically for that one place. Then, after however long that took, whether it was a couple hours or the rest of the day, he’d move on to the second one. And I won’t stop until I finally get a job again. I can’t stop.

     “Boo!” whispered a voice behind him, and he practically jumped out of his sofa, whirling his head around. But who else would it be except his daughter, who started cracking up at seeing his reaction to her little prank. The house itself showcased a peek of the morning sun as a new dawn arose, and he realized that he had been so focused on his work, the time had completely flown by. That wasn’t to say that he hadn’t gotten anything done though—he’d found an office job there in the city that felt like a perfect fit to him, and he’d been writing and rewriting a cover letter for them ever since waking up. He’d just been in such a state of zen, he hadn’t realized as the sun slowly lit the room, or heard his giant daughter tiptoe up behind him before she pranked him back out of his concentration. “Oh my God, that’s easily like, the best I’ve gotten you in so long,” Jessie laughed, and he shook his head with a smile before rubbing his eyes and taking a deep breath to recalibrate himself. Jessie came around to the front of the couch and collapsed next to her dad. Tilting her head sideways, she rested her head on his own smaller one, and looked over the document he had been working on. “Whatcha doin’?” she asked, not being familiar with the job application process herself.

     “Good morning to you too,” he remarked, looking over his laptop with her. “I was working on a new application for this media company downtown. They have special offices here and in New York that are made for people like me with DSD. Apparently areas like southern California and the Tri-State area, where there’s tens of millions of people, become these sort of hubs for people with my condition.”

     “What’s the Tri-State area?” she asked.

     “It’s like, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania I think. Or New York, New Jersey, and some other state. Either way, there’s all those big cities out on the east coast, right? And a lot of them are up in that area; that’s what people mean when they say that. Anyways, if you shrink out in, I don’t know… Montana, for example, where there’s more mountain goats than people around, you’re not gonna have a lot of luck.” Jessie chuckled at her dad’s joke, and he continued. “But if you’re in a big city, then you’ve got a little more going for you. There’s support groups, right? And better facilities for you, et cetera. So according to this website, they were saying how a lot of people who shrink down move out here, and because of that, they have this kind of, branch of their company I guess, that exclusively employs people like me. According to them, the co-founder’s wife shrunk down too, and they were surprised at how much harder it was for her to find companies that would hire her, so he started one of his own.”

     “So it’s like a charity?” Jessie asked, generally following along but a bit confused.

     “Well, not exactly. I guess you could look at it like that, but they don’t get donations or anything or do work for free. People who work there have regular jobs, and they get paid a regular amount. Remember that grocery store we went to when you were younger, that had a bunch of people with learning disabilities working there? But it was just a regular store.” Jessie nodded, remembering what her dad was talking about. “It’s sorta like that.”

     “Ohhhhhhh.” A smile slowly started to form on her face, glad to hear her dad sounding interested in work again. There was a part of her that had been enjoying the last few weeks and the new kind of lifestyle they’d developed, but she also recognized that it’d be important for him to start working again. Obviously they’d need money again soon, and she was still years away from being able to get a job herself. “Well at least you have a good excuse for not cooking me breakfast this morning,” she joked, standing back up while Marcus rolled his eyes.

     “What, you don’t know how to make yourself cereal anymore?” he responded, evoking a giggle out of his daughter as he stood up himself so he could join her for breakfast.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus was ready to leave and waiting in the kitchen to take his daughter to school, but Jessie was still in her room, although the door was open. He’d been thinking about his dream—or really, his nightmare—from last night again, and the idea that he’d just become practically a sidekick to Jessie. Right now, he was the head of their small, 2-person family. But what if decades of being no taller than Jessie’s waist eventually turned his daughter into the head, and he became the one she looked after? I’m not that small, my life shouldn’t turn into that. I need to get that job, so I can get my life back on track. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was 7:38, which meant school started in 22 minutes. And she’ll probably still wanna stop by Starbucks on the way there. He hopped off his chair and wandered down the hallway to her room, knocking on the wall before peeking his head in to make sure she was decent. She was just standing next to her mirror, fully dressed and with her makeup on, looking down at her phone and seemingly texting someone. “Hey angel, ready to—“ he started to say, before stopping himself when he realized what he had called her.

     Evidently Jessie had noticed it too, and she looked up from her phone, tilting her head curiously at her dad’s new nickname for her, something he’d never used before. “Angel?” she asked. “That’s a new one.” Obviously his dream from last night was still stuck in his head. He just couldn’t seem to get it out, and now it had slipped out into the real world. He blushed, feeling flustered, and hoping he wouldn’t have to tell her the full truth. If he behaved awkwardly, it would just make the whole situation more awkward. “Why the new nickname all of a sudden?”

     “Oh, I… I had a dream about you last night,” he admitted, revealing the truth after he had just told himself to lie about it.

     “Awwww,” she cooed, hustling over to him and displaying puppy dog eyes. “And I was an angel in it?”

     Marcus nodded tentatively, “Yeah, and it was… well, I don’t really remember that much from it actually. I’m always forgetting my dreams,” he lied. “But yeah, you were in it for a little bit as an angel.” He scratched his head nervously, hoping she’d buy his half-truth, and was relieved when she didn’t press him for any further details. “So I guess my brain was still associating you with it or whatever and it slipped out.” 

     “Well that’s kinda sweet, Daddy. I’d rather be an angel than a demon,” she said, sticking her tongue out between a toothy smile. She turned to grab her backpack from beside her bed. “Anyways, I’m ready to go now.”

     “Sounds good,” he said, glad that they could move on, and they headed out to the car together.

     During the drive to the coffee shop, Jessie mentioned how she didn’t mind the nickname he’d given her, although Marcus had no plans to ever use it again. He only hoped that the dreams like he had last night wouldn’t become a regular occurrence. “I feel like ‘sweetie’ is pretty normal, like a lot of guys call their daughters or girlfriends that,” she had said. “But ‘angel’ is like, I’ve only heard people get called that in the movie and stuff. I kinda like it.” 

     Eventually they pulled into the school’s drop-off zone, and Jessie hopped out of the car. Marcus looked out the open passenger door as she swung her backpack over her shoulders. She was wearing tight, black leather pants, and a white crop top hoodie, with all-white sneakers and her hair up in a ponytail. He knew the clothes she was wearing weren’t anything new, but for some reason he still felt like she was dressing up. “Is there something going on today? You just seem like you’re…” he trailed off, gesturing his hand around in an ambiguous motion, “I don’t know, decked out or something.”

     Jessie raised her eyebrow. “What, like a skater or something?” She looked down at her pants—was it the leather that made him say that? Because she definitely wasn’t trying to look punky today, and she’d worn the pants before without him saying anything.

     “No no no,” he laughed. “I just mean, you look nice today. I thought you dressed up or something.”

     “Ohhh,” she sighed with relief. “Well thanks for the compliment. It’s just a normal day though.” He shrugged, turning his attention back in front of him. “Actually, I almost forgot,” she added, shrugging her backpack onto the car seat and unzipping it. “There was, um… some homework last night that we didn’t finish.” She fished some papers out of her backpack, and set them onto the seat, zipping her backpack up again and slinging it around her shoulders again. “I’m supposed to turn it in for fourth period, but there’s like, there’s literally no possible way I’d be able to finish it in time, cuz first period I have Mr. Matthews, and he doesn’t let us work on stuff for other classes or else he’ll take it away, and second period we have a test, and third period I have P.E. But if you did it for me and got it to me during lunch, which is from 10:40 to like, 11:15 I think, or 11:20, then I’d be able to turn it in on time.”

     Marcus gave Jessie a stern look. “Jess, really? I can’t keep doing your homework for you. For one, I’ve never heard of a parent doing that for their child, so you should be lucky that I did it for you at all, and two, you’re not gonna learn if you have me doing all your work,” he laughed. “I mean, Jessie, you’re in seventh grade, you’re plenty old enough to be doing this for yourself.”

     “I know I know I know I know,” she said, teetering up and down on her feet, and she looked behind her as the crowd around her had started to die down. School was minutes away from starting and she couldn’t stay out here and argue with her dad forever. “If you can’t do it, then… fine, I guess, I’ll do it when I get home and I guess I can turn it in late,” she grumbled, closing the car door, and it slammed shut with a bit more gusto than usual.

     He reached over to the seat and picked up the papers, holding them up for her and speaking to her out the car window. “Jess, at least take them back, maybe you’ll—“

     “Daddy, I already told you, there’s literally like, I literally wouldn’t even have time to start it,” she said, backing away from his car. “I have to go anyways, I’m almost late.”

     Marcus dropped the papers back down. “OK, well have a good day. I love you,” he yelled, waving at her as she turned to head towards the entrance. She grimaced, waving half-heartedly back at him, and turned to head inside.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     The car halted to a stop, and Marcus gazed out the windshield thoughtfully, pondering the decision he made. He hadn’t just arrived home though; it was several hours later, and he’d just pulled into the parking lot of Jessie’s school. And there was only one reason why he would come back here today while she was at lunch.

     “Hey, I gotta talk to you about something important,” he texted her. “I’m here in the parking lot. Can you come out?”

     A few moments later, his phone buzzed and he read the reply. “if i try to leave thru the cafeteria entrance, the vice principal will stop me and ask what im doing.” Marcus bit his lip; he hadn’t actually thought about that. He shouldn’t be surprised that her middle school wasn’t quite as lenient as a high school, where the students had more freedom to go anywhere during lunch. But she followed up her text with a solution: “theres an exit next to the water fountains, but it doesnt have a handle on the outside so id still need to come thru the front again and mrs jacobs would still see me but if YOU come to the side exit then i could open it for you. its on the east side of the parking lot.” Marcus hesitated; he hadn’t really wanted to intrude on Jessie’s time with her classmates. But he’d already come all the way here, and he’d already texted her and told her it was important. A third text, just a few question marks from her, as she awaited a reply.

     “Alright, I’ll meet you there,” he wrote back, and she quickly responded by liking his reply. Pulling the keys out of the ignition, he gathered his things and hopped out of the car, slamming the door shut. There was nobody around as he made his way along the sidewalk to the edge of the building, spotting a gray door without any handles on it. And just as he approached the secret entryway, it cracked open about a foot, and out stuck Jessie’s head, looking around before her eyes settled on her dad.

     “Hey, what’d you need?” she asked, propping the door open enough so she could lean against the framing, crossing her arms. She’d just gotten out of P.E., so she was eager to get back to her food, and she had a science class in half an hour that she wasn’t looking forward to not being able to turn her homework in for. That is, until her dad revealed the papers behind his back: last night’s homework that she hadn’t finished.

     “I ended up doing it for you after all,” he grinned, and Jessie’s eyes went wide as she squealed with excitement and snatched her homework out of his hands.

     “Really?! Oh my god, Daddy, thank youuuuu!” she chirped, looking the papers over and seeing that sure enough, all the questions were filled out. Marcus felt a surge of energy at seeing how giddy she became from her surprise gift. It was like the feeling someone gets when they’re on a sports team and help someone else score some points. She lowered the papers and looked back down at his proud, smiling face, and without warning, bent over and scooped him up into a hug. He reciprocated by wrapping his arms around her neck, while she squeezed his little body tightly against her own. “I thought you weren’t gonna do it, I literally can’t describe how thankful I feel right now, AH! I love you so much.” She lowered him back to the ground, just as someone else came walking up behind them. The door was hidden in a kind of nook that jutted out from the rest of the cafeteria, so most people weren’t able to see who Jessie was talking to, but her friend Harper had seen her leave their table and came to investigate what she was up to.

     “Hi Mr. Tilden!” the girl exclaimed, and Jessie turned, hearing the voice behind her and instinctively thinking she got caught, before seeing it was just her friend. “What are you doing here?”

     “Oh, um… Harper, right?” Marcus stuttered, feeling just as caught as his daughter had at first, before he settled down and realized there was nothing to worry about with Jessie’s friend. “Jessie just left some of her homework at school, so I came by to give it to her.” Just then, Jessie lurched forward, grabbing ahold of her dad’s arm and yanking him inside, quickly shutting the door behind them.

     “I just saw Mr. Davis heading out to his car,” she explained, her eyes closed with relief, hoping they wouldn’t hear a knock on the door any minute and get found out. It wasn’t technically against school rules for a parent to come by and drop off their homework, but evidently Jessie was in a nervous enough state that she wasn’t thinking clearly, and was seeming extra suspicious because of it.

     Marcus looked up at the two, giant teenagers in front of him, one of them still a little on edge, and the other one eying him inquisitively. It was only his second time meeting the young girl, but the way she looked him up and down wasn’t easy to forget. It wasn’t a sexual look, like Veronica had given him, or a dominant one; it was a look of curiosity. The only other times he was looked at that way was by little kids who were half her age, but coming from someone as old as her, it made him feel uneasy. And somehow even smaller. “Hey, you know what? You should meet me and Jessie’s friends!” she suggested enthusiastically. You guys are at lunch, at school, he thought nervously. I don’t even think I’d be up for meeting them normally, but especially now, this just doesn’t feel like the place. “C’mon!” she insisted, and grabbed ahold of his hand to pull him along. Clearly her sense of boundaries wasn’t quite fully matured yet, and her overt enthusiasm without much regard to what he wanted reminded him of his nightmare last night when his grandkids pulled him along to their room to play, with him simply trailing helplessly behind them.

     But before Harper could haul him back to their table, Jessie held out her hand to halt her friend. For a brief moment, Marcus was glad she had stopped them, until she spoke up. “Wait, we don’t wanna get him kicked out, so he should walk behind us so we can block any of the adults from seeing him.”

     “Oh you’re riiiiight,” Harper agreed. “Tch, I bet if Mrs. Jacobs saw him she’d be like ‘What the hell is your dad doing here during school hours,’ wah wah wah wah,” she mocked, causing both of them to laugh at Harper’s impression.

     “God, she’s so strict,” Jessie commented.

     “Wait, I don’t wanna risk you guys getting in trouble,” Marcus said, taking a step back and holding his hands up defensively. Both of the giant girls turned to face him, confused at his lack of willingness for Harper’s idea. Well, Harper was confused at least. From Jessie’s perspective, her dad’s reluctance made perfect sense. It was the very attitude she and her dad had been trying to coax out of him ever since he shrunk, like when he came to her match last night.

     “It’s fine, Daddy, she’s not really gonna notice you unless she like, actually sees you. Otherwise she just sits at her little table for most of lunch and ignores whatever we do unless she has to get involved like if there’s a fight. But you’re probably not even taller than the lunch tables.” Harper bit her lip to keep from giggling at this last comment, which Jessie didn’t even mean as a joke. But his daughter could still sense his hesitance, and she bent over with her hands on her knees so she could get closer to him. “I thought we talked about getting you out of the house more and around bigger people,” she softly reminded him. He felt like he was being talked down to like a child, by his own daughter no less. And she wasn’t even aware of what she was doing!

     “I know Jess, but we just did that yesterday. It doesn’t need to happen all at once,” he reasoned. 

     Frowning at his stubbornness, she crossed her arms and stood upright again, so that the loving face in front of him was replaced by a view of her crotch, clothed in her tight, black leather pants which seemed to match with the persistent attitude she was assuming. “Would you rather me invite a bunch of people over to our house then? Cuz lunch is like, half an hour, but whenever I hang out with friends it lasts a lot longer. Even something like yesterday, at the match, there were more people than there are at our lunch table. I just don’t get it Daddy I feel like you’re making it seem like a bigger deal than it is.” Her hunger was feeding her impatience too, only having eaten a little bit of her lunch before her dad had texted.

     Marcus thought about what Jessie was saying. Technically she’s right, it probably wouldn’t be any more embarrassing than when she has friends over, or being around all those people last night. I’m sure I know most of the people she sits with anyways. “Alright,” he mumbled. “I guess you have some good points,” he admitted. The two girls smiled, glad that he could come around to see it from their point of view.

     “Good,” Jessie replied with satisfaction. “Then just make sure to follow behind me then or else our vice principal might see you.” With that, she pivoted back around, and Marcus’ field of view was replaced with his daughter’s toned, muscular butt right in front of him. Harper turned around too, staying close beside Jessie so as to offer additional obstruction from anyone seeing her friend’s father, and the two began walking around the corner, heading back to their lunch table. Marcus followed obediently behind the two girls, trying not to look at his young daughter’s perky, leather-clad butt as it wagged back and forth in front of him, leading him along.

     Lucky for Marcus, Jessie and her friends sat at a table in the corner of the cafeteria, so he didn’t have to worry about being paraded through a crowd of curious middle schoolers, who would all probably swarm Jessie to get a better look at his two-and-a-half foot self. They approached the table, and Harper and Jessie took a seat as half a dozen sets of eyes immediately took notice of the shrunken man who had followed the two girls back to their table. Sitting around the table with Jessie and Harper was Paris, of course; Amy, Paris’ secret girlfriend; Brandon, the boy from Paris’ house who Marcus assumed was gay; along with two other girls and a boy, none of whom Marcus knew the names of. “Hey Mr. Tilden!” Paris smiled, surprised to see him but always the kindest of the bunch, and the first to greet her best friend’s dad.

     “Oh my god, you brought you dad to school?” Brandon asked, his mouth agape with incredulousness.

     “That’s your dad?” one of the unknown girls asked, a small Korean girl with long, black hair and thin, circular glasses.

     “I thought he was your little brother at first,” the second boy commented, chuckling at how small the man was. He was wearing a generic, blue sweatshirt with his hood up, and a peach fuzz mustache that he apparently thought looked better unshaved. Paris lightly backhand slapped the boy’s arm, but that just made him grin for having gotten a rise out of someone.

     “Yeah, we’ve been trying to get him to come out in public more so he can be more comfortable around people,” Jessie explained. Marcus remembered when his family had had a dog growing up, and the way his mother had described the process of socializing a baby puppy around humans reminded him an awful lot of how Jessie was describing him now. But that just encouraged him to speak up and introduce himself to everyone.

     “Hey, it’s nice to meet you guys,” he said, grimacing slightly at his introduction and waving at some of the familiar faces. “I know I know some of you, but I don’t think I’ve met you guys before,” he added, looking in the direction of the three kids who he hadn’t met before. 

     “I’m Elijah,” the boy stated.

     “Anna,” the Korean girl politely added.

     “I’m Willow,” the third girl said, spinning out of her seat and coming around to kneel in front of Marcus, offering her hands out for him to shake. “It’s nice to meet you, Jessie told us you’d shrunk,” she remarked, as he reached out his arm. She accepted his hand with both of hers, and gently shook it up and down, like she was careful that she didn’t want to break it.

     “Will, go sit down, someone’s gonna notice you,” Jessie said, pushing her hair behind her ear and nodding her head back in the direction of her friend’s seat. Willow roller her eyes, but stood back up and went back to her spot. “He’s gotta stay, like, right there, or else someone might see him,” his daughter explained.

     “Why’s he even here?” Brandon asked.

     “I forgot some of my homework at home and he came back to give it to me, and then Harper thought he should meet you guys.” Several of them nodded along, and nobody objected to her reasoning. A few of them went back to eating their lunch. Elijah pulled up something on his phone and nudged Anna, showing her a meme he saw on Twitter, and they began making comments to each other about it. Everyone’s behavior was actually putting Marcus at ease; these group of kids weren’t too many to deal with, and half of them seemed disinterested in him anyways. I guess Jessie was right, he thought, taking a deep breath and soothing his prior nerves, this wasn’t too bad. Just gotta get used to it. Jessie eyed her dad’s body language as she bit into a carrot, and thought that he seemed to be taking it pretty well, although she didn’t say anything. But she felt right about agreeing with Harper to introduce him to her friends.

     “So how was your day so far?” Paris asked, munching into the second half of her sandwich and looking down at Marcus. 

     “It’s been pretty normal, I’ve been working on a job application this morning for a place that only hires people with DSD.”

     “Ohhh, that’s cool!” Paris responded, somehow seeming even more excited than his own daughter had been. “Well good luck, I hope you get it!”

     “Well my day sucked,” Jessie announced, leaning back in her seat as she took another sharp bite out of a carrot. “I’m pretty sure I got like, a D or something on the Geography test. And then in P.E. we just did laps the whole time because Ms. Felix had to go to the office so Mr. Davis took over, and we were supposed to start with racket sports today but he just had us run around for 40 minutes.” Another crunch as she popped a carrot in her mouth.

     “Seriously?” came from Amy. Jessie nodded, stewing at the thought of the memory.

     “Run around or walk around?” Harper asked.

     “Well, almost everyone else had to run. But because Mr. Davis knows me and Madison are on the volleyball team, he kept being like ‘oh, you guys should be running.’” She rolled her eyes, unhappy about the unequal treatment.

     “I’m sorry to hear that, that doesn’t sound fair,” Marcus offered. Jessie glanced at her dad, and then got an idea.

     “Hey, you could give me a foot rub if you wanted,” she casually mentioned. “That’d make me feel better.”

     “Oh… a massage?” he repeated, making sure he heard her right. He’d never had a problem with them over the last few weeks, but now he was surrounded by her friends. He would never consider a foot rub as intimate, and yet now, surrounded by all of Jessie’s teenage friends, he was giving it second thoughts.

     Jessie shrugged, “Yeah, why not?” She pressed the tip of her left shoe against the heel of her right, prying it off her foot, and then did the same with her other. “When was the last time you ran three or four miles in the middle of a school day? Cuz it was way more boring than playing badminton or tennis would’ve been.” She wiggled her socked toes as the sneakers dropped to the ground, and reached out with one of them, thrusting it against her dad’s chest expectantly.  “Like, volleyball practice is obviously a workout too, but at least that’s fun,” she went on. He’d never actually said he would rub them, but she’d gotten so used to her massages lately that apparently she just assumed he would agree to it anyways. Her giant foot instantly felt warm against him as her rough, fuzzy sole easily covered more than the length of his torso. It was clear that the socks she’d worn during P.E. were the same ones she had on now, which meant a lot of his daughter’s body heat was a result of having run around for so long less than an hour ago, and they’d only left her shoes for a few seconds when she’d changed after class. Which meant this was the first time she was really able to air them out. He had to reach out with his hands and steady himself against her foot, giving himself a few inches of distance, since her toes had been right under his chin and were giving his nose more of a preview of the 13-year-old’s musty, sweat-laden socks than he would’ve preferred. 

     “Eugh, I can smell them from up here,” Paris commented, crinkling her nose in disgust and shifting slightly away. But the smell was obviously even more worse and more potent for Marcus, who was right at the source. Jessie giggled at her friend’s reaction, but was glad that her dad was holding steady and hadn’t objected despite how stinky she knew they were.

     “Yeah, what’s that smell?” Anna asked. She couldn’t even see Jessie’s feet and was on the other end of the table, but apparently the stench had still reached her sensitive nose too.

     “Jessie wanted her dad to give her a foot massage because of how much she had to run today in P.E. class,” Harper answered, prompting Jessie to stick her tongue out at the rest of her friends, giddy that she was gonna get a special treatment the rest of them wouldn’t.

     “Gross, ew,” Elijah scoffed.

     “Aw, I kinda wish I’d had P.E. too,” Willow giggled; she couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten a massage of any kind, let alone one for her feet.

     Marcus glanced around at everyone’s various reactions, still holding Jessie’s foot, before his eyes landed on his daughter. She looked like she had frozen, her eyes looking back at his, before looking down to her foot and back up at his face. “Soooo… are you gonna rub it?”

     “Oh. Right, yeah,” he said, and started on her massage, pressing his thumbs deep into the rough, moist fabric of her sock and circling them around in little patterns. 

     Her body relaxed as she felt his tiny fingers begin to ease the soreness out of her muscles, and she smiled. “Yeah, there we go,” she encouraged, a soft smile forming on her lips. She crossed her legs while he still held onto her foot, and began bobbing her other one up and down. The other kids soon forgot about the odor and went back to talking and eating their lunches. Although for Marcus, it wasn’t so easy to ignore the stink, and he simply had to put up with the seventh-grader’s smelly feet while she eventually ignored her dad and returned to her friends’ conversation while he stood below her, dutifully servicing her soles.

     A little while later, after Marcus had alternated between her feet a few times while she enjoyed eating lunch with the others, the lunch bell ran, signaling that everyone had 5 minutes to get to class. The table had already mostly cleaned up their stuff, but Marcus was just glad that this meant he could be done with Jessie’s massage, as she stuffed her feet back into her shoes and slung her backpack around her shoulder. “See, you went on in public today,” Jessie stated, leaning down to speak to her dad, “you didn’t have any problem rubbing my feet for a little bit while I was with my friends. It’s like I’m fixing you!” she declared, happy to see so much progress made with her dad and his anxiety with being around bigger people.

     “Yeah, I guess so,” he sighed.

     “Anyways, I invited some friends over to have a sleepover at our place tonight, so I need you to clean my room for me before you pick me up again later. Thanks.” She bent over even more, giving him a kiss on the top of his head before standing up straight again. “I gotta get to class now, so I’ll see you after practice. Bye Daddy, love you,” she said, and turned to catch up with her friends, leaving Marcus standing alone at the edge of the table. As he noticed the bustle of other kids start to empty out the cafeteria, he realized that she’d forgotten to escort him back to the door, and he turned to hurry back to the exit so he could get out before anyone else noticed him.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus arrived back at the school for the third time that day, a little after 5 o’clock. Jessie and Paris were just coming out of the gym when his car pulled up to the side walk, and they opened the trunk to toss their stuff in as his car pulled to a stop. This obviously wasn’t the first time that the two of them had had a sleepover on a Friday, and Paris’ parents were used to bringing their daughter’s overnight bag to school and dropping it off for her before she went home with the Tildens. Marcus felt like a chauffeur as they opened up the back seat doors and hopped in, greeting him in the process, since the passenger seat up front was empty, but he didn’t blame the two girls for wanting to sit together. 

     “So, did you clean my room for me?” Jessie asked right away, and Marcus nodded as he pulled away from the curb.

     “Yep, I took care of your laundry for you too and started a load with the stuff in your hamper,” he stated, and Jessie smiled at the good news. 

     “Ooooh, perfect. Thank you!” She soon went back to focusing on her phone, before she remembered something that popped into her head. “Ohhhhh, oh oh oh! I almost forgot, Coach told me before practice today that I did such a good job yesterday, that he referred me to this local, like, talent scout or something for volleyball.” 

     Marcus was impressed, and a bit surprised if he was honest. “Really? That’s great, Jess.”

     “Yeah, apparently they try to get volleyball players like me when we’re still in middle school, so they can give us like, extra specialized training. Like they have this whole private club and stuff, and have meets all over California, and a lot of the girls go on to compete in nationals and even the Olympics and stuff.”

     “Jessie that’s wonderful!” he exclaimed. “I’m so proud of you.”

     “Well I’ve got you to thank too,” she boasted. “I played so well last night because you came to watch me and I wanted to show off. So I guess you’ll have to come to more matches from now on.”

     Marcus shrugged, “I guess so. Glad I could help.”

     They pulled into the garage after arriving back home later, and Marcus opened up the trunk for them to bring their things into the house. He glanced at Paris’ sleeping bag as they all shuffled into the house, and remembered what Jessie had said earlier at lunch about wanting to invite ‘a couple friends.’ Presumably, more than just Paris. He figured it’d be Harper, or maybe Camila was coming over later. “Hey, were you gonna invite anyone else here tonight?” he asked. “I thought you had said it’d be more than just the two of you.”

     “Yeah, I think—“ Jessie started to say, before she was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. “Oh, that’s probably her!” She threw her bag down and ran over to the front door, swinging it wide open to greet her other guest for the evening. Except it wasn’t the neighborhood girl, or her quirky little friend from lunch. The girl at the door smiled, greeting Marcus’ daughter and giving her a hug. And then she looked his way, and her smile lit up even more after seeing his shocked expression.

     It was Veronica.  

=========================

Friday, November 6 (cont.)

=========================

     The two girls hugged each other, and Paris set her things down so she could come to the door and greet Veronica as well. Marcus was still transfixed, vividly remember that night from only a week ago when she had walked him up to her room and confessed her feelings for him. That brief feeling of relief when she’d said she wasn’t a teenager, only to follow it up with saying it was because she was still 12. He had hated that whole encounter, and was angry (and a little scared) by the fact that the only reason it had been able to happen was because he was barely taller than two and a half feet. He might’ve been an adult, and Veronica obviously had known that, but clearly she didn’t seem to view him as one. “I wasn’t actually sure if you were gonna make it,” Jessie commented, stepping aside and inviting the girl into their home.

     “Of course!” Veronica replied, smiling kindly back at Marcus’ daughter and giving Paris a hug. “I was actually kinda surprised you invited me at all, I don’t think I’ve ever even been to your house before. It’s just you and your dad, right?” 

     Jessie nodded, “Yeah.” Then she turned to her dad, who was still standing over by the door to the garage. “Hey Daddy, do you remember Veronica from the party we went to last week? You should come and say hi! I already told her at school about bringing you along, so she knows you were the spider-man.”

     “Right, yeah, I remember you a little bit,” he answered carefully, trying to downplay his memory of the whole evening a lot more casually, while also pretending that he’d never been taken up to her room in the first place. Veronica took off her shoes by the door as Jessie shut the door, and Marcus made his way over.

     “Hey Mr. Tilden, nice to formally you,” Veronica said, turning back around after setting her shoes down, and extended down her hand to shake his. She didn’t bend down like most people tended to do, but he wasn’t sure if he was appreciative of that or not. On one hand, it often made him feel like a child to have someone bend down to talk to him, but on the other hand, it could be intimidating to interact with people who didn’t make any effort to alleviate their difference in height. He couldn’t help but gulp reflexively upon looking up at the tall tween; even without her shoes, or obviously the 4-inch stilettos she had on the first night they met, she was still so tall that the top of his head didn’t even come up to the crotch of her pants. She was dressed in a scarlet-colored sweater, and wore pale-blue jeans that popped against the Japanese girl’s tan skin. It was a modest outfit, even by conservative standards; nothing form-fitting or revealing. And yet the young girl’s body was still so developed that it was impossible not to notice her curves slightly visible through the looser clothing. He slowly reached up his hand in response, and she quickly took ahold and firmly shook it, polite but confident. She had remembered that night just as vividly as he did. And now she’d come back for a second chance.

     Veronica wasn’t used to not getting what she wanted, so it wasn’t often that she needed second chances at all. It wasn’t that she was spoiled, although her millionaire parents’ money certainly played a part. She’d just grown up with the perfect blend of looks, wits, and genuine kindness, that allowed her to easily persuade and convince other people in her life to get her what she wanted, even if she wasn’t aware of it. But she’d only recently become cognizant of her influence in the past few years. After her Halloween party, she didn’t want to just accept Marcus’ rejection, no matter how much logical and ethical sense he made. So she’d started talking with Jessie a lot more at school in the week that had followed. It wasn’t even a fake friendship either; Veronica legitimately enjoyed Jessie’s company, but she’d just never really gotten a good chance to hang out with her until her party. Going to watch one of Jessie’s games on Tuesday had helped out a lot too. So when Jessie invited her over for a sleepover earlier that day, Veronica had been giddy with excitement. It had only taken her a week to grow their bond, and now she’d already gotten a chance to come over to Jessie’s house. Like anyone else her age, she’d had plenty of celebrity crushes before, but this was the first time she’d felt attracted to an adult that she actually knew in real life, and it was her friend’s dad! Obviously they could never ‘be together,’ Veronica was smart enough to know that… But still getting to hang out at his house was satisfying and exciting enough.

     She let go of his hand, and he smiled uneasily up at her before turning to face Jessie. “Hey, can I speak to you for a minute before you hang out with your friends?”

     “OK, sure,” she nodded. “I’ll be right back,” she told Veronica and Paris. “You guys can take your sleeping bags and stuff to my room.” Marcus led Jessie down the hallway as the other girls went to grab their things while the father and daughter had their discussion. Jessie had to be careful to take tiny steps so as not to bump or run into her dad, since his walking speed was obviously a lot slower compared to hers.

     Marcus’ room was at the end of the hall, which is where he led Jessie into, stepping aside so he could close the door after she entered. “Actually, let’s head into my bathroom so they can’t hear us,” he said quietly, and she obediently turned to head towards the furthest room in the house as her perky, wagging butt once again led her dad for the second time that day towards the room he requested. Once they reached his bathroom, he closed this door as well, before turning back to see his daughter already facing him with her hands on her hips, and a camel toe formed by her tight leather pants directly in front of his face. He tried to take a step backwards to give himself some space, but his heel rammed into the door and he realized he couldn’t go back and further. So he just ignored it and took a deep breath, looking up at her.

     “So what’s wrong?” she asked.

     “Is Veronica gonna be staying the night?”

     Jessie glanced to to the side, like the answer was obvious. “Well, she brought her sleeping bag, so I’m assuming she is.”

     “Did you invite her for a sleepover? I thought it was just gonna be you and Paris.” He didn’t, but he was being honest about not expecting Veronica to get an invite.

     “Well, yeah. I told you at school today, I was gonna invite some friends over which is why I wanted you to clean my room for me. Which, thanks by the way,” she smiled, shimmying her shoulders.

     “But you don’t really know Veronica that well, right? I mean, isn’t this your guys’ first time hanging out together?”

     Jessie shrugged, “So?” Just the one word put a stop in Marcus’ tracks. If he was being honest, he didn’t fully know why he wanted to speak to her in private, since he couldn’t reveal his and Veronica’s conversation from a week ago anyways. And that was really the only ammo that he’d be able to use to get the girl to leave. So instead, all he was able to do was voice a half-assed mix of confusion and disapproval, but neither of which would realistically change his daughter’s plans with her friends for the evening. Marcus bit his lip, looking aside. What else can I say? Am I just gonna have to power through with that girl in my house all night?

     “Aww, Daddy,” Jessie cooed. “Look at me,” she added, then leaned over and gently took Marcus’ head in her soft hands, and directed his face to look back up at hers. “I know today was a big day for you, coming to school and meeting my friends. And that we—“

     “That’s not what—“ he started to say, but was silenced as her thumbs pressed up against his jaw and closed his mouth for him.

     “Don’t interrupt,” she instructed, keeping her thumbs firmly pressed to keep him from cutting her off again. “Like I was saying, I know we haven’t had anyone new in the house since you shrunk—well, except for Camila. And Harper. But I’ve gotten to know Veronica a lot better since her party, and she’s really nice and super fun. I know she’s pretty tall but I think you’ll like her. Mkay?” He didn’t know if she was still intentionally keeping his mouth closed, or if she’d merely forgotten that her thumbs were even keeping his jaw shut, but all he could do was nod in response. Technically, he could’ve shaken his head if he’d disagreed, but he’d already come to the conclusion before Jessie had even said anything that there was nothing he’d be able to say to get Veronica to leave without exposing her confession. “Good,” his daughter replied contentedly, leaning down even further and accidentally giving Marcus a peek down his daughter’s hoodie before she kissed him on the top of his head and stood back up. “Now let’s head back out there.”

     “Sorry about that,” Jessie announced as the two of them emerged from Marcus’ bedroom. Veronica and Paris were sitting on the couch in the living room, trying to find something to watch on TV. Marcus stayed behind in his bedroom as Jessie walked ahead, figuring that if he couldn’t get Veronica to leave, he could at least spend the evening getting some work done and leave the girls to have fun. But Jessie stopped and looked behind her as she realized he wasn’t following her. “Wait, are you staying in your room?” she asked.

     “Yeah, I was just gonna get some work done.”

     “Well you might’ve been done with me, but I wasn’t done with you,” she said simply, beckoning him to come follow her. He didn’t know what she was talking about, but he did as he was told anyways and followed her once more as she headed into the living room to join her friends. “My dad’s been giving me foot massages every once in awhile after matches, and sometimes practice,” she explained nonchalantly to Paris and Veronica, taking a seat in the middle of them. Veronica offered Jessie a stick of gum, who happily accepted and popped it in her mouth.

     “Ohhhh, that’s so sweet!” Paris exclaimed. “I figured the one at school was just a one-time thing.”

     “Yeah that’s pretty nice of you,” Veronica agreed, looking at him adoringly. Not only was her secret crush pretty cute, but apparently her friend’s dad was quite the gentleman as well.

     “Oh. Did you… want me to rub them now?” Marcus asked. It felt unexpected considering she was with her friends, but after earlier today at lunch it technically wouldn’t be the first time he’d massaged his daughter’s feet while her friends were around.

     “Well we did just get back from practice like, 5 minutes ago,” she laughed. The smacking of her gum made a cracking sound as she pulled off her shoes and tossing them behind her without looking. She knew they’d land somewhere close to the door. Good enough.

     “You can have my seat Mr. Tilden,” Paris offered, quickly standing up to make room for her friend’s dad, but Jessie coerced her back down, speaking for Marcus.

     “No no, it’s fine, you can sit down,” she told her friend, and Paris slowly returned to her spot on the couch. “You don’t mind sitting on the floor so my friends can have the couch, right?” she asked her dad. “How bout you get the ottoman actually, and then you can sit against that while they use it.”

     “Sounds like a plan,” he said, trying to feel like he was an equal part of his daughter’s suggestion. The footrest had been shoved aside to make room in the center of the floor for Jessie’s yoga sessions, but he pushed it back into position now, surprised that he was barely even able to move in the first place. He was promptly greeted by Veronica’s white ankle socks and Paris’ fuzzy green ones as the two other girls lifted their feet up onto the ottoman in front of him.

     “Thanks, Mr. Tilden!” Paris cheered, as warmhearted as ever. Then he made his way around to the front of the couch and ducked under Veronica’s legs, before awkwardly sitting down in the narrow space between the ottoman and the couch, resting his back against the footrest for support. Seeing that he was ready now, Jessie pried off her black and blue athletic socks and deposited the warm, slightly sweaty foot into her dad’s lap below her. Her skin was still spongey and pink from the several hours of activity, and the smell wasn’t any less noticeable than it had been at lunch. Her other leg joined her friends’ on the ottoman behind him, and he looked up to realize he was sitting under a ceiling of legs, both from Jessie’s and her friends’. He accepted Jessie’s foot into his hands though as the girls started up an episode of Sabrina on Netflix, and began tenderly rubbing at her sole just like any other day, trying to forget that her friends were there too. It shouldn’t even matter that they’re nearby, he told himself. Paris is the sweetest girl in the world anyways, and Veronica…? He glanced upwards, and his eyes caught Veronica’s as she happened to look downwards too, and she gave him a wave with her fingers.

     “Is he a pretty good masseuse?” Veronica asked Jessie, chewing her own gum as well, although a bit more quietly than Marcus’ daughter. “Like does he only rub yours or does he ever do your friends’ too when they come over for sleepovers and stuff like this?”

     “Umm… well I guess he’s really only ever rubbed mine before, but I don’t see why he wouldn’t be able to do yours too,” she offered. “Right Daddy? You wouldn’t mind?” She blew a bubble as she leaned forward to look down at him, awaiting his answer as Veronica gazed at him too.

     “Oh, well I thought this was just a thing we did, like between you and me,” he said, not wanting to add Veronica into the mix and taint his view of their new little father-daughter tradition.

     “No I know that,” Jessie replied softly, revering the activity with as much specialty as Marcus did. “But it’s like, your gift to me pretty much, and now I wanna give the gift to them too.” Marcus hesitated, but didn’t say anything back, looking back down at her foot in his hands and continuing to rub at it gently. He wasn’t excited about the idea, so that was pretty much the best ‘OK’ he was gonna give. “I guess the answer is yes!” she announced triumphantly, sitting back in her seat. 

     “Should we keep our socks on or take them off like you?” Paris asked, biting her lip. Nobody had ever given her a foot rub before, so she wasn’t sure which was the more polite avenue to take.

     “Socks on or off Daddy?” Jessie asked, leaning over again to ask him and smacking her gum noisily with her mouth.

     “I guess… they can keep them on,” he answered.

     “He says on!” I’m pretty sure they can hear me, he thought to himself, but didn’t bother saying anything as Jessie leaned back again.

     “Why do you take yours off then?” Veronica asked, looking down at Jessie’s pale foot being tended to by Marcus’ dutiful hands.

     “Ummm… I dunno,” Jessie shrugged, glancing down at her dad. “I guess cuz it feels a little bit better, cuz he doesn’t have to rub through the socks or anything. But that’s cuz it’s my volleyball socks though, so they’re pretty thick.”

     “But don’t they smell worse that way?” Paris asked. “I remember being able to smell them when you took your shoes off at lunch.”

     “I meeeean… probably? But they’re not, like, that bad.” Without warning, the young girl suddenly lifted her foot out of Marcus’ grasp, and then pressed it forward against her dad’s head. Her toes covered his eyes as the ball of her foot brushed up against his mouth, but most importantly, his nose was sent right into the gap between the ends of her toes and the top of her sole. He reflexively wanted to jerk his head back, but because he was sitting against the ottoman he had nowhere to go, meaning he couldn’t escape as the 13-year-old’s pungent sweat invaded his nostrils and reminded him of how long and active her day had been thus far. “And I’m pretty sure you’re used to it by now, right?” she asked, before retreating her foot and setting it back down into her dad’s lap. The whole moment had only lasted a couple seconds, but it left Marcus blushing out of surprise, as Veronica raised her eyebrow at Jessie’s audacity and Paris’ mouth opened, holding back a full gasp.

     “Jess,” he remarked, cringing in disgust. “I might be used to the smell, but I’m not used to… that.” The trio of girls burst out into laughter at the man’s response; even Paris found it a bit funny.

     “OK, fair,” Jessie chuckled. “Maybe that was too far. I basically did that a couple days ago though and you didn’t freak out, but maybe I shouldn’t have done it again with friends here.”

     Marcus rolled his eyes. “Ya think?”

     “Well, unlike your daughter, I actually care about how I smell,” Veronica mentioned, causing Jessie to shove her new friend playfully for the not-so-subtle dig. She bent her leg towards her and slipped off her clean, white sock, laying her ankle on its side on her other leg to show off her foot to everyone. Her well-trimmed toenails were painted an ocean blue, and her skin was so clear, it was clear that she had the softest soles in the room. “I put lotion on them every night before bed,” she explained proudly. Jessie and Paris looked on with admiration rather than jealousy, and even from his spot on the floor Marcus could tell she took care of herself. “I won’t shove them in your face to prove it though, unlike some people who apparently have no manners,” she smirked, eliciting another lighthearted shove from Jessie. “But I’ll still keep my socks on if that’s what you want,” Veronica concluded, sliding the dainty sock back onto her foot.

     “Thanks,” Marcus said, grateful that she wasn’t trying to match Jessie’s ‘playful’ behavior this afternoon. Maybe tonight won’t be as bad as I was expecting. Shortly after Marcus finished with giving his daughter’s feet a massage, he moved on to Paris’ feet. She had initially felt odd about having her friend’s dad—a man she’d known since she was just a child—down at her feet and giving her a massage. But his little hands and fingers felt better than she was expecting, so she soon forgot about her prior reluctance. And then after her, he scooted over to the third and final girl, Veronica. And to his surprise, she hadn’t been any different than Jessie or Paris; he expected some kind of teasing along the lines of how she acted with him in her room a week ago, but no such interaction occurred, much to Marcus’ delight.

     After everyone got their feet rubbed, they had Jessie’s dad comb and braid their hair next. Paris’ hair was already up in a bun, but Jessie and Veronica were still willing (it was Jessie’s idea after all). Marcus was plenty acquainted with Jessie’s light brown, wavy hair, and weaving together strands of hair together into an intricate, patterned bundle was a skill he had learned almost a decade ago at a class for single fathers who were raising children. Luckily, her sitting down on the couch put her head at a perfect level for him, so she draped her hair over the back of the couch where he went around and did the braiding. He was even able to bring over a stool, allowing his head to reach just high enough over the back of the couch that he could sort of watch TV with them. It wasn’t often that he braided Jessie’s hair, but he treasured the bonding experience and was glad that she had asked him.

     And he didn’t mind combing Veronica’s hair either. She liked her long, straight black hair just the way it was, so she didn’t need it braided. But Jessie still told her that her dad could comb it for her, which she took him up on. He was unsurprised to find her hair incredibly soft and volumous once he had started working with it. She murmured how soothing it was to have someone comb her hair; even though he wasn’t touching her scalp, the slight tugs and pulls caused by the hairbrush turned the session into a kind of massage in itself. So far, the night was going better than he was expecting. After the foot massages and hair treatments for the girls, he would’ve expected to want to retire back to his room like he had originally planned. But when Jessie invited him back to the front of the couch and pulled him up onto her lap, he decided that maybe a night of hanging out with his daughter and her friends would be more fun than he previously assumed.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     After Marcus and the girls had watched Sabrina for a bit, the doorbell rang, and Jessie turned towards the door, exclaiming “Pizzas here!” excitedly. “Can you go get it for us Daddy?” she asked, lifting him off her lap and setting him back down on the floor.

     “When did you order pizza?” he asked, turning to look up at her instead of heading for the door. 

     “During when you were brushing our hair,” she answered, her eyes focused on the show instead of addressing him directly. “We always get pizza when I have sleepovers,” she reminded him. Not that night from a few weeks ago when Harper and Paris stayed over. But I’m pretty sure I remember them coming home late, and I had fallen asleep on the couch by then. Other than that night though, she was right. The key difference though was that Marcus would usually drive to the local pizza restaurant to pick them up, and would only have it delivered if he was feeling especially lazy. But it seemed that Jessie had taken the initiative for him and gone ahead with ordering a delivery on her phone. 

     The doorbell ringing a second time snapped Marcus out of his thoughts, and Jessie glanced down at him, still standing in front of the couch between hers and Paris’ legs. “Right, I’m just not used to getting it delivered,” he said, ducking under Paris’ legs to head to the kitchen and grab his credit card from his wallet. Then he hurried over to the front door and reached up to the handle, gradually pulling it open. A lanky teen boy who looked around 16 or 17 was standing on the other end, holding 2 pizza boxes and a 2 liter of Sprite. He looked a bit surprised initially to see a two and a half foot man answer the door, but he quickly regained his composure as Marcus held up the credit card.

     “Um, do you wanna…” the boy started to say, not sure if the smaller man would be able to carry the large, 16 inch boxes and the big bottle of soda by himself. Before he’d opened the door, Marcus had assumed he’d carry the boxes over his head. But he hadn’t known they’d gotten a drink too, so he figured he’d have to take two trips in order to safely carry everything. Maybe even three. 

     “Oh… you can just put them down for now,” he replied, and the boy put down the boxes and the soda bottle so he could take the card from Marcus. 

     From his pocket, the boy pulled out a phone with a card reader attached, and swiped Marcus’ credit card to confirm his payment. Then he handed the card back to Marcus, and stood awkwardly for a moment, looking between the boxes and soda on the ground and Marcus. “I can, uh… do you want me to bring them in for you?” he asked.

     From across the house, Veronica turned towards the door, and spotted the two of them standing there just as Marcus got his card back. “Oh! Do you need help carrying them Mr. Tilden?” Veronica called out from across the house, and sprung up from the couch. He heard the patter of her feet running across the floor, and just as he shook his head, about to call back that it wasn’t necessary, he heard her feet approach right up behind him before stepping right over him. The crotch of her jeans flew less than an inch over his head, and her inner thighs brushed the sides of his head, as she was just barely able to get her legs around his body. The boy stood with his mouth open, wondering if what he had just seen was technically appropriate. Especially considering the girl looked even younger than his 16-year-old self, whereas the man was obviously older than both of them combined. Plus she’d called him by his last name, implying that they weren’t even family at least.

     “I can bring them in,” Veronica told the delivery driver with a smile. “Thanks!”

     “Yeah…” he stuttered, thinking about how emasculated he’d feel if a girl had done that to him. “Have a good day,” he said, and turned to leave.

     Glad that the pizza had arrived, Veronica stooped down to pick it up off their porch. She wasn’t even thinking of the little man behind her, who suddenly got an up close view of the girl’s wide hips as her jeans stretched over her butt while bending over right in front of him. She placed the soda bottle on top of the pizza boxes and effortlessly picked them up before standing again, and turned to head back inside. But holding the boxes prevented her from seeing the floor below, and she accidentally walked right into Marcus with her legs, nearly tripping and jumping back in surprise. “Oh!” she exclaimed, holding the boxes to the side so she could see him again. “Sorry, I thought you went back inside, I didn’t know you were still there.” She grimaced, feeling apologetic considering she had legitimately forgotten about him and assumed he’d headed to the kitchen after she offered to bring in the pizza.

     “It’s fine,” he muttered, side-stepping around her and closing the front door. As much as she seemed like the kind of girl to mess with him, he actually believed her this time.

     “Perfect timing you guys,” Paris said, as the episode’s credits started on screen. Jessie exited the show, and joined Paris in heading to the kitchen with Veronica and her dad. 

     While Jessie’s friends headed to the table, Jessie went to grab plates and napkins for everyone before joining her friends. Marcus headed to the fridge and opened it up, grabbing a bag of carrots from the vegetable drawer. “I can’t force our guests to eat anything they don’t want to,” he noted, carrying the bag over to the table and setting it down next to his daughter’s plate. “But I still want my kid to have some veggies.” He rubbed Jessie’s head, and she rolled her eyes. “And you two are obviously welcome to have some too if you want,” he added, taking the seat next to Jessie’s.

      “Thanks Mr. Tilden,” Paris said, grabbing some carrots of her own and crunching into them before she’d even started on her pizza. Veronica opened the boxes, and everyone grabbed a slice of pepperoni.

     “Technically you can’t ‘force’ me to eat any carrots either,” Jessie joked, smirking at her dad. “But I will because I’m such a good and obedient daughter,” she cheesed, grinning at him sarcastically.

     “I could force you if you wanna keep getting rides to and from school every day,” he replied. “And an allowance every week.” She was right, he couldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to. But that would’ve been true even if he was still his full size.

     “Okay, okay,” she blushed. “I already said I would.” Paris laughed at the two of them, and Veronica smiled too, quietly watching the dynamic between shrunken father and giant daughter as she ate her pizza.

     Marcus grabbed a slice of his own, and looked a bit intimidated by the idea of eating the whole slice. He was sure the girls would each have 2 or 3 slices, but the 8 inch slice looked a foot and a half long in his eyes. At least that was one of the advantages to smaller size: There’s always plenty of food.

     Jessie was browsing through TikTok on her phone when she came upon a video that piqued her interest. “Oooooh, we should do the Mirrors Challenge since we have multiple people here! The one from that Justin Timberlake song.”

     “Yeyeyeyeyeah!” Veronica exclaimed, excited by the idea, and put down her pizza to go stand out in the open.

      “Here Daddy, you can record us,” Jessie said, handing Marcus her phone after setting up the sound. It wasn’t the first time she’d asked him to record a TikTok for her, so he knew what he was doing for the most part. Then she and Paris got up so they could join Veronica. “OK, so I’ll be in the middle, and we’ll turn this way, and then the other way, and then you two turn around and I’ll slap you guys, and then we’ll switch and you guys can slap me.” Marcus knew that Jessie liked making videos, and it was clear that this wasn’t the first time she’d orchestrated one with her friends. He didn’t know what particular trend they were planning on doing, but he liked Justin Timberlake so his interest was somewhat keen too. “OK, ready?” Jessie asked Marcus, and they all turned to face the camera, with Paris on the left, Veronica on the right, and Jessie in the middle, as Marcus held his daughter’s oversized phone up with both his hands and pressed the record button.

     The song started to play from the chorus and the girls all turned to their left, and then right as Justin’s first line from the clip ended, Veronica and Jessie swung their palms forward and lightly slapped them the butt cheeks of the girl in front of them on time with the beat. Marcus raised his eyebrows; he was expecting some kind of group dance like most of the other challenges, and was surprised at what it was instead. The three girls pivoted 180 degrees, synced up as if they’d already rehearsed it before, and then in the middle of Justin’s second line, Paris and Jessie once again smacked the asses of the friend in front of them. They were all giggling already, as Jessie turned to face the camera and the girls on the outside both turned with their backs to the camera in anticipation of the third hit. Except Jessie brought her hands up high, biting her lip mischievously, before slamming them down on her friend’s butts on the third beat, causing their cheeks to jiggle far more than the first two times, and eliciting gasps from her surprised friends. For the fourth and final one, Jessie spun around with her back to the camera, squeezing her eyes shut for what she knew was coming, as Paris and Veronica turned back to face forwards again. They each lifted their hands that were closest to Jessie, and with even more gusto, crashed their palms firmly against Jessie’s butt cheeks. Even despite the tight leather material she was wearing, his daughter’s ass wobbled the most of them all, and she shrieked out in a mixture of pain and laughter. Marcus quit recording, speechless at what he’d just recorded for the group of middle schoolers. But before he could decide if he should make the parental decision to delete it, Jessie had run back to her dad and snatched the phone out of his hands.

     “Thanks!” she smiled, still giggling from the whole thing. Every time she made a video she’d get excited but ultimately underestimate how much she enjoyed it, until actually doing it and having more fun than she was expecting, every time. Paris and Veronica gathered around to check out the final product, although Marcus was too short to see for himself very well. After they watched it all the way through, they all laughed at the finished version again, and Jessie wasted no time in adding the caption “s/o to my dad for filming lol” before posting it.

     Everyone took a seat again, and the girls all started talking about some of the videos they’d seen recently as Marcus quietly ate some more of his pizza. Are all of Jessie’s videos like that? he wondered. He didn’t have TikTok on his phone, so he’d only seen her page whenever she showed it to him. But from what he remembered, most of her videos were pretty normal, harmless dancing videos.

     Veronica had been scrolling through her own page, when she found the video she’d been looking for, something she’d made a few weeks ago. “Oh, I found it! Did you guys see the one I did that went kinda viral? It’s almost at 5 million views!”

     “The ‘small waist’ one?” Jessie sang, remembering the lyrics in her head. 

     Veronica nodded, “Yeah, and 700 thousand likes so far.” She turned the phone around so her friends could see, as Jessie and Paris leaned over the table so they could see closer. Marcus had a view of the phone too, and he glanced at it to see what dance this 12 year old could’ve done that was worth going viral. “Small waist, pretty face,” the girl from the song sang, and Veronica, dressed in a white t-shirt and yoga pants, pointed to her tanned, exposed belly first for the first part, and then reached her hands up and laid them flat under her chin as she smiled for the second part. Then she hopped up in the air and spun halfway around, landing with her bubbly butt facing right at the camera, causing it to jiggle up and down a bunch from the vibrations as the singer added “with a big bank!” Marcus nearly choked on his pizza out of shock, quickly looking away as the TikTok ended with Veronica jumping again and landing at a slightly different angle, causing her tween ass to jiggle all over again for the singer’s second verse as she mouthed along with the lyrics. 

     “Jeez, you look so good Veronica,” Jessie said in awe, sitting back down in her seat. “None of mine are even close to a million.”

     “Yeah, me neither,” Paris agreed. They each had a few thousand followers, but Veronica was closing in on almost 600,000. Not to mention her 90,000 on Instagram too. Marcus just ignored them as he continued eating his food, trying not to think about the video he’d just seen. 

     Veronica noticed he wasn’t paying attention to them, and had an idea for another TikTok they could make. “Hey, I have an idea for another video,” she told them. “I wanna play a sound and see if you know the choreography without having to look it up.”

     Paris shook her head and took a bite out of some more carrots. “Oh, I have such a bad memory, I’d be so bad at that,” she said, staying in her seat.

     But Jessie was game. “Alright, bet,” she mumbled through a mouthful of pizza, quickly taking a swig of soda to wash it down before hopping out of her seat again. “But nothing obscure, right? Like it’s gotta be something I recognize.”

     “No no don’t worry, you’ve definitely seen these ones before,” Veronica assured her, using her own phone this time to record the video. “Hit her in a Benz, we fuckin all in the street,” the song started, and Jessie obviously knew it right away, gasping in recognition and nodding along to Veronica’s idea. “She told me to recline so I had to let back the seat,” the song continued, and Jessie turned to the side, moving her fist in a cranking motion as she arched her back behind her while keeping her legs planted on the ground. Marcus was paying attention now, wondering if this was going to be another song that ended up being inappropriate. Jessie’s hips grooved along with the beat, as the song finished off with “Pull out and she sucked it, I nut all over her meat,” while his daughter brought her splayed fingers up to her face and slowly draped them down her body and over her breasts. As soon as the clip ended, Veronica quickly switched to her camera app and started recording on that too, but as Jessie was laughing from having fun with another challenge, Veronica quickly panned over to Marcus and got his reaction. His jaw was open, even more shocked than he had been with the last one.

     “Did he just say what I think he said?” Marcus asked incredulously, and suddenly Jessie and Veronica broke out into cackling, hysterical laughter at the reaction from Jessie’s dad. Even Paris was nervously laughing along with the other two. Marcus turned to Veronica, and found himself staring into her camera’s lens, his eyes going wide as he realized he was being recorded. Veronica put the phone down and ended the video, but she was still wheezing with laughter at catching Marcus’ reaction to his daughter’s dance on video. “Were you recording me?” Marcus asked rhetorically, as Veronica quickly went back to TikTok, saved the first video, and spliced the two together. Without looking up, she nodded in response to Marcus’ question, and then added some text saying “HER DAD” that appeared as soon as Marcus showed up in the video. It all took less than 15 seconds for her to do, and then she tagged Jessie in the caption and pressed the post button. “Wait, I don’t know if I wanna be out on the internet like that,” Marcus said, and Jessie came back over to her seat and shrugged.

     “It’s not a big deal, Daddy, it’s not like anybody knows who you are anyways.” He was about to say something back, but his daughter spoke up again in defense of Veronica before he could get a word in. “Also, it’s her account, and you’re my dad, not hers. So it’s not like you can really tell her to remove it anyways.” He didn’t have much of a response to that, knowing that she was right. He could obviously ask her to take it down, but it seemed clear that the girls thought his reaction was hilarious and wanted to share his embarrassment with her hundreds of thousands of fans. His best hope was to just move on. It’s just a video, it’s not like it really matters that much anyways, he told himself.

     “I trust your parents wouldn’t let you make a video like that on your TikTok, right Paris?” he said, turning to Jessie’s best friend, always the moral center of the group.

     She chuckled and shook her head, “Probably not. They usually don’t have a problem with the stuff I post though.”

     “Do you have any viral videos?” he asked.

     “I made one for this trend that was like ‘We’re wolves, we own the night,’” she sang. “It’s got like, 20 thousand views I think, which isn’t like, viral viral but it’s a lot more than most of my videos.”

     “Twenty thousand, that’s kinda impressive,” he mused. “What’s the challenge?”

     Paris shrugged, “You pretty much just get on your hands and knees and howl and pretend to be a dog. It sounds stupid when you say it out loud,” she giggled. “But a lot of the trends are and they’re still fun.”

     “Like this,” Jessie said, pouncing on the floor and howling up at the ceiling. “Here, you should try it!”

     Marcus shook his head, glancing at Veronica and back to his daughter. “No thanks, I don’t want someone to record me doing it badly or something.” 

     Jessie shot Veronica a look, who put her phone on the table away from her, holding her hands up in surrender to show her willingness to cooperate. “There,” Jessie said, turning back to look at her dad. “Nobody’s gonna film you. Now will you try it?” She tilted her head to the side, looking up at him with pleading eyes that matched the rest of her puppy dog demeanor.

     “Okay, okay,” he sighed, and slowly got off his chair and onto his hands and knees in front of Jessie. 

     “You just howl, AWOOOO,” she demonstrated again, “and then you paw at the ground like this.” She scraped her hands across the floor back and forth, just like how in the videos. Marcus repeated what she did, causing Jessie and the other girls, who had gathered around to watch, to clap and cheer him on. “There you go, Daddy, you just learned a TikTok dance! Kinda. Does it qualify as a dance?” she asked, sitting up onto her ankles and turning to her friends, who shrugged. “Can you do a good bark?” she asked, turning back to her dad.

     “A bark? You want me to bark?” he asked, and she nodded enthusiastically.

     “Yeah! What’s your most convincing bark?”

     “Uh…”

     “C’mon, bark for us! Bark, Daddy, come on!”

     “Alright alright… ARF!” He laughed at his own bark, and the other girls laughed too, but not in a mocking way, they were all just having fun. Jessie certainly likes to be weird. “Arf arf, ARF!” he barked again, pretending to be a puppy for his daughter. 

     She reached up onto her plate and grabbed one of her carrots, still sitting on her ankles but holding the carrot high above the ground. “See if you can reach your treat now,” she encouraged, eager to keep up the charade.

     Marcus frowned and looked at Jessie with a dull expression, “OK, now this is getting to be humiliating.”

     “Wow, Puppy can talk?!” Veronica exclaimed, joining Jessie’s side. “I didn’t know dogs knew English.”

     “Yeah, that was so weird,” Jessie agreed sarcastically. Rolling his eyes at the girls’ antics, he decided to just play along and readied himself on his hands and knees, before jumping up into the air towards the carrot. He was far too short to reach it, but Jessie decided it was a good attempt anyways and dropped it into his mouth. The three girls all broke out into cheers and claps, which made Marcus smile and actually feel a bit good about himself. 

     “Good boy,” Jessie teased, patting her dad on the head. She stood back back up too her full height, putting her hands on her hips as she looked down at him with a smile. “You’ll always kinda be my pet,” she cooed adoringly. “A princess and her pet!”

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Friday, November 6 (cont.)

=========================

     After eating dinner, Jessie decided they should all play Twister next. She’d had a lot of fun playing with her dad a few weeks ago, but now that she had friends over, she figured it’d be twice as fun. And they could finally play with the full-sized, 4x6 mat, instead of having to turn it into a 4x4 to accommodate Marcus’ shrunken body. 

     “I’m gonna go change real quick; there is no way I'd be able to win wearing leather pants,” Jessie giggled. “I think you’ll be fine though, Paris,” she said, looking over her best friend’s clothes she was still wearing from school, a coral pink t-shirt and baby blue skirt that would give her legs plenty of room to move around. Paris looked over her clothing, agreeing with her friend’s assessment and slipping off her socks, already ready to play. “You could probably play in that,” Jessie said, turning to Veronica, “but if you wanna change into your pajamas or something, you can use our bathroom.”

     “I think I’ll be fine,” Veronica laughed, surprised with how seriously Jessie seemed to take this game. Marcus looked over the girl’s sweater and jeans—it wasn’t much different from what he had worn when he had played with Jessie and she forced him to change. But apparently that wasn’t a problem for her classmate.

     “And Daddy?” Jessie finished off with, biting her lip as she looked her father up and down, judging his choice of apparel he’d picked for the day: a blue & white polo shirt and some loose-fit chinos. “That’ll probably work too,” she decided.

     “Great, glad I have your approval,” he replied sarcastically, and she stuck her tongue out at him before dashing off to her room to put on some new pants. He and Veronica both took off their socks as well as Paris unpacked the box, and no more than 30 seconds later Jessie had come back out to meet them, wearing black yoga pants now.

     “OK, so the way me and my dad play is with an app on my phone,” Jessie explained, taking charge of the situation. “All you have to do is say ‘spin,’ and it’ll choose for us so we don’t have to try and spin the actual board while staying on the mat.” She opened up the app and set her phone on the couch, propped up against the cushion so everyone would be able to see it. “Since my dad’s the one that bought it for me, he gets to go first,” she proclaimed, stepping back and gesturing towards the open floor with her hand, inviting him to start the game.

     “Thank you, we should play with that rule more often,” he joked, stepping onto the white, polka-dotted sheet of plastic. From left to right, the colors were 6 rows of green, yellow, blue, then red. “Spin!” he shouted, and the game begun.

     “Left foot, yellow,” the robotic voice announced, and Marcus proudly put his foot down accordingly, right in one of the middle dots.

     “Since you’re our guest,” Jessie said, turning to Veronica, “I mean like, so is Paris, but you’ve never been here before. So you can go next.”

     “Spin!” Veronica said.

     “Right foot, green.” Veronica walked over to the green column and set her foot down a row behind where Marcus was, so that they were back to back. Jessie nodded to Paris, indicating that she wanted her other friend to go next.

     “Spin please,” Paris said.

     The phone cycled through the sixteen combinations of colors and body parts before stopping on its decision: “Right foot, blue.” Paris took a stance perpendicular to the other two players already on the mat, both of her feet on a middle dot that was next to Marcus’. She smiled down at him, and he was already starting to feel a bit crowded with how close Paris was, so he shifted his position to face an open corner so he wouldn’t need to look at her or Veronica. Normally players tended to gravitate towards a corner and claim it for themselves, but it seemed the common strategy this time around was to go for the middle and branch out instead.

     “Aaaaand best for last, spin!” Jessie exclaimed.

     “Right foot, yellow.” Jessie leapt through the air and landed firmly with her foot on a yellow spot, right in front of where her dad was looking. Her butt wobbled from the impact as it suddenly appeared right in front of him, and he instinctively leaned back in surprise, but found himself brushing against Paris’ skirt. And if he turned the other direction, he’d be facing Veronica’s butt as well.

     “Wow, round one and you girls are already boxing the little guy in, huh?” Paris stifled a giggle as she looked at his predicament, and Veronica hadn’t even been aware as she looked over her shoulder at the two-and-a-half foot man trapped between the 3 teenage girls.

     “That’s literally the whole point of the game,” Jessie laughed. “Also, what are the odds that we’d all get a foot but nobody got a hand?”

     “Mmmm, 1 in 16, I think,” Paris answered. 

     “Spin,” Marcus instructed, eager to somehow get away from his cramped space in the midst of the girls.

     “Right hand, blue.” Marcus looked at the 5 open blue dots, deciding which route would be easier for him. He could maneuver between her and Jessie to the two on Paris’ left, or to to three on her right and maneuver between her and Veronica. Veronica still put him a bit on edge, but he remembered how Jessie had played when it was just the two of them, and realized she was worth being cautious around too. So he stretched out to a spot two rows down from Paris, his body in a kind of pushup-like position between her and Veronica.

     “Spin!” Veronica went next, and she had to put her left hand on a green spot that she picked next to the circle where her foot was. Next came Paris, who got ‘right foot blue’ again and proudly stayed standing right where she was. And lastly  came Jessie, whose left foot got green, and she picked the dot diagonal to her yellow, still standing easily in the corner. Round two was over, and nobody had still gotten red yet. 

     “Left hand, yellow,” the phone ordered as round 3 began for Marcus. Initially he tried crossing his arm under his torso to reach one of the yellow spots to the right of him, but he didn’t want to hold a contorted position like that for too long. He realized that with one of his legs still free, he’d just be able to twist his body around so he was facing upwards instead of towards the ground. So that’s what he did, ending up in a kind of crab walk position where his head relaxed and faced towards the ceiling. 

     Veronica got yet another green for her other hand, so she crossed her right arm over in her squat position to take the open one next to her left hand, leaving the only open green spots now the two in the corners. And as fate would have it, that was just what Paris got next. “Left foot, green.”

     “Man, all these greens and no reds yet,” Jessie mused, glancing behind her at her opponents. Because of how she was standing, her body was obstructing access to the open green in her corner. Which meant Paris would either have to maneuver under Jessie’s legs with her foot, or just stretch over to the green on the other side, which posed far less of a challenge. So that’s what she did, lifting her foot up and over Marcus’ body and planting it firmly on the corner green. Marcus watched as the young girl’s legs stretched apart above his head, and his skyward gaze made him stare directly up Paris’ skirt, giving him a clear, unobstructed view of her plain white panties on the end of her long, dark legs. He quickly lowered his head and looked ahead of him instead, blushing from having caught a glimpse of his daughter’s best friend.

     Paris seemed to realize a few seconds after he had, and her eyes went wide with shock. “Oh my God! I forgot I was even wearing a skirt, please don’t look up Mr. Tilden. This is so embarrassing…” She bent forward so she could look under her, feeling relieved to see her friend’s dad respectfully looking ahead instead of up her exposed skirt. “Everyone else hurry up so I don’t have to stand like this forever.”

     “Spin,” Jessie said: it was left foot red. “Finally, someone got red,” she remarked, pivoting around stretching over to one of the red spots.

     “Spin!” Marcus shouted, almost too loudly, as he was eager to get into a new position. 

     “Left foot, green.”

     “What the hell?” Marcus muttered under his breath. Why do people keep getting green?

     “That’s the… 13th roll so far,” Jessie noted, “but only 3 have been hands and 10 have been feet. I wonder if it’s broken.” 

     Marcus was hoping for something that would allow him to get away from Paris, or at least turn back over again, but with the only open green spots being in the corner away from him, he had to stretch his body out as far as possible, with his hands shifting to the edges of their circles, so that his toe was just barely able to reach the green circle that Jessie had just been occupying. “This is almost unfair at my size,” he grumbled, glancing at how easily everyone else had it so far; he felt like the only person really living up to the name of the game so far.

     “Look, you still reached it though!” Jessie chirped encouragingly. “So it’s fine. Veronica, you’re up!”

     “Spin.” The phone animated through its cycle, before landing on the game’s second red for her left hand, a unique combination. Veronica, still squatting on the ground from how close together her three greens were, twisted around to survey the play area. “I think I gotta reach over you,” she told Marcus, whose positioning across the length of the mat was in the way of her access to the red column.

     Marcus shrugged it off; everyone’s bodies getting mixed up eventually was the point of the game. “Yeah, do what you have to.”

     With his permission given, she stepped her left foot over his body, which still hadn’t been picked yet and was free to move about, so that she could steady herself before reaching across. Then her left hand followed suit, reaching over Marcus’ body but under Paris’ leg to the red dot in the same row as her right hand. It was the easiest solution, but the end result was her body practically splayed out directly over Marcus. He had been staring ahead of him in order to not have to look up at Paris’ panties above him, but now the view in front of him was a clear view down Veronica’s sweater instead. She’d worn the relatively loose garment for both comfort and modesty, but the result was it now hanging down from her chest a lot further than a typical shirt would and accidentally exposing herself to Marcus. She was wearing a bra of course, but the tops of her boobs, hanging from her torso, were still in full view as Marcus’ eyes were given a front row ticket down her neck hole. He once again found himself having to hurriedly look away from another one of his young daughter’s friends, as he was reminded of how developed the 12 year old’s body somehow was. With Veronica’s head above his own though, her long, black hair draped down and fell onto Marcus’ face too. She giggled at his cute reactions, jerking his head to and fro to try and get the silky, vanilla-scented strands away from his face. Just when he found himself free of their embrace, she shook her head, swishing her locks around and causing it to start all over again and incite a second round of giggles from her.

     But the game continued on, with Paris getting a right hand blue. With Marcus still somewhat under her skirt, she was careful as she leaned forward and arced her arm over Veronica’s to plant her palm in the spot between her foot and Marcus’ right hand. 

     After Jessie got a left foot blue, it was finally back to Marcus again, who got a left hand yellow. Technically he already had his left hand on a yellow, but now that he got it again he was able to change it, moving it up a row and getting out from his crab walk position. It brought him closer to Veronica’s opened sweater, but at least he was able to twist the top half of his body to the side now, which was less stressful than how far his limbs had previously been stretching. It also allowed Paris to squat lower to the ground now that Marcus wasn’t under her, making her feel like she could maintain her decency again. 

     “Spin!” Veronica exclaimed for her turn.

     “Left foot, yellow.” Her first time putting down her left foot. And she was easily able to just put it down on the yellow spot between Jessie’s and Marcus’ feet, pretty much maintaining her posture.

     Paris got a left foot blue, which made it easier for her as she brought her leg closer to the rest of herself, taking up the spot on the bottom row, and Jessie’s “right foot yellow” decree meant she could keep hers exactly where it was. The only blue circle that remained at the end of the round was the one second from the top, between Paris and Jessie’s feet. And that’s exactly what Marcus got next. 

     “Left hand, blue.” Marcus sighed as he saw that there was only one dot available, so he reached over to claim it, glad for the mat’s plastic texture that kept his hand from sliding. 

     At least now I’m facing down again, better than having to look up, he thought, in a kind of push-up position once more with his arms out in front and his legs slightly tilted to his right. His head was brushing up against Paris’ skirt since she was squatting over her right foot, but she was able to switch to squatting over her left and give him some more space. “Thanks,” he quietly told her, and she smiled kindly back at him. Even in a game like this, she’d rather try to outlast everyone else than try to intentionally get them out. Veronica and Paris came next, although their reception of “right hand yellow” and “left hand red” didn’t change the game too much. But then came Jessie, and with both of her hands still free somehow, yet another blue was chosen, this time for the right foot of hers that hadn’t moved since round one. 

     “Interesting…” she said in contemplation, gazing down at all the occupied blue areas. Everyone else was in various contorted positions below her, but she still had the ability to look down on everyone while she stood. “Looks like I’ll have to share.” She smirked at the notion as an idea formed in her mind. She lifted her foot up high, and the other three players all looked up to see what she would choose. “I think I’ll pick the circle closest to mine,” she decided, slowly starting to descend her foot over Marcus’ spot, “since that will be easiest.” 

     “Wouldn’t it be easier for you to just share with your other foot?” Marcus asked, watching as the pale, milky sole of his daughter’s bare foot slowly lowered over his hand. 

     “Nope!” she answered triumphantly, not stopping in her agonizingly slow movement downwards.

     “Do you want me to move mine?” he asked desperately, trying to shuffle his hand even further out, towards the edge of the circle, but it did nothing to halter Jessie’s decision.

     “Oh, that’s not necessary,” she teased, as the gap’s final few inches drew to a close, before her foot finally reached the floor and victoriously smushed itself against the top of his little hand. Because his wrist was at an angle, his fingers had been pointing outwards from him, towards where she was standing. So as her foot reached the ground, it was able to completely and fully cover his hand. The front of her arch molded nicely around where the tips of his fingers were, the ball of her foot ground against his knuckle bones in the middle, and her toes settled happily right above the end of his hand, clawing eagerly at his wrist and encouraging him to falter. Her skin was warm as his hand seemed to just sink right in, completely immobilizing him. “Your turn!” she reminded him from high above, a mischievous grin on her face as she slowly leaned forward, allowing more and more of her weight onto her foot, and consequentially her dad’s hand.

     “Spin,” he grumbled, wondering how they’d gotten this far into the game, yet only him and Veronica seemed to be the ones needing to put in effort.

     “Right foot, green.” Not too bad, at least it wasn’t anything red. His leg shifted diagonally over a spot, two rows down from his other foot.

     Veronica got a left foot blue, and for a split second Marcus wondered in fear if she’d somehow step on Jessie’s foot just to add insult to injury to how stuck his hand was. But he was surprised to see her snap it over to where Jessie’s left foot was too, knocking against her ankle as it demanded half the area, causing Jessie to throw her arms out to regain her balance.

     “There, I tried helping a little bit,” Veronica whispered to Marcus, who felt a tad grateful for her attempted contribution at attacking the player who was clearly in the lead. 

     “Right hand, blue,” was Paris’ order, so she was able to just stay exactly how she was. Back to Jessie again.

     “Spin!” she shouted excitedly, wondering how she’d be able to mess with her dad next. As if reading her mind, the phone ended up on a left foot over a blue background. 

     “OK, this game’s gotta be broken or something,” Marcus huffed. “There’s been way too many blues for some reason, next time we’re using the actual spinner that game with the box.”

     “Daddy, daddy, daddy,” Jessie chided, “always complaining. First, I’m gonna take my foot off this spot so Veronica can stop hogging it, thank you very much.” She lifted her foot up high again as Veronica rolled her eyes, and slowly twisted around with the foot that was settled on her dad’s hand, rubbing the squishy sole against him. “And then I think you know where I’m gonna choose next,” Jessie told him. Since all of the spots were occupied already, that technically meant she could pick any one she wanted. Marcus feared she’d double her weight on his hand and make it utterly hopeless for him to ever budge it, but she ended up doing the only thing worse. “Bam!” she yelled, stomping down on his free hand and squishing it beneath her sole. He winced in surprise as his teenage daughter rendered his other hand completely helpless under her powerful foot. The width of her sole alone was enough to cover the entire length of his hand, and then some. He slowly raised his head, his eyes traveling up her tight yoga pants, past her torso, and up to her face that grinned down at him, knowing he wouldn’t be able to move. “Looks like you’re not going anywhere, Daddy,” she teased, wiggling her toes atop his hands while she gazed down at him between her legs.

     “Spin!” he exclaimed, wondering how he’d be able to get out of this one. 

     “Right hand, yellow.” Jessie immediately laughed as she saw the predicament he was in, and he didn’t even bother asking if she’d move her foot since he knew she wouldn’t. He hung his head in frustration; that was just part of the game, trapping other players. She squatted down, closer to her dad, her knees bending and opening into a V-like position, and he lifted his head, noticing her thighs on either side of him while the top of her high-waisted yoga pants swayed in front of him as she bounced victoriously on his hands, thinking she’d won.

     “Badda, bap-bap, baddap, bap bap,” she sang, suddenly using the top of his head like a bongo and lightly drumming her hands on his dome, knowing he was powerless to stop her. “Youuuu. Haaaave. To go, Dah, Deeee,” she continued to sing, bouncing back and forth between squatting over her left foot and her right foot, each bounce adding a fresh wave of weight over his hands as she ridiculed him. “Or looooose, theeeee, gaaaaame.” There’s only one thing that might work, he thought, ignoring his daughter’s hands as they kept on using his head as a miniature victory drum. He watched her patterned bouncing from back to right, noticing that whenever she would squat over one side, the weight distributed on the other side was significantly reduced. “Ten, nine, eight” she said, beginning to count down as she waited for him to give up. “Seven, six, fiaaAHHH!” She squealed out in surprise as Marcus suddenly ripped his hand out from under her foot at the perfect moment, catching her off guard and causing her foot to slip as its floor was jerked away, toppling her backwards. Just like that, Jessie went from having the easiest, clearest lead of the game, to becoming the first one out.

     Veronica and Paris laughed at their friend’s misfortune, congratulating Marcus on his victory. “Even at 2’7, I’m still able to beat you,” he said, doing the teasing now as she frowned and crawled over to the couch, upset at letting her ego get the best of her. “That’s twice now, actually, I beat her on our last game too,” he proudly told the others.

     “It was a tie…” Jessie grumbled under her breath, crossing her arms as she sat on the couch in a fit. Three players left.

     Several more rounds passed, as the players tangled and untangled their bodies in various positions around each other. Eventually, Veronica found herself on the left side of the mat, with right left hand on the yellow second from the bottom, her feet on blue and green spots at the top, and she’d just gotten a “left hand green” instruction which she completed by reaching around behind her. Because she needed to stretch all the way down for her foot to stay on blue, she wasn’t able to turn her body to face upwards, and instead ended up in a kind of contorted twist, her torso facing to the side. It wasn’t super comfortable for her, but she was managing.

     Marcus was doing okay, although compared to the predicament he was in earlier he was doing a lot better. Like Veronica, his body was angled towards the bottom of the mat’s layout. His legs were criss-crossed, with his left foot on yellow and his right foot on blue, while his left hand was on blue and his right hand on yellow.

     And Paris was somewhat intertwined with both of them: her right foot was on the green spot above where Veronica just placed her hand, and her left foot was all the way across on red; she had just put it there after Veronica went. Her right hand was on the yellow across from both of Veronica’s hand, but she had had to tuck it around and under Marcus’ torso, next to Veronica, and her left hand was on a red spot a few dots down from her foot.

     Marcus told the phone to spin next, and the phone chimed back: “Right hand, green.” His best bet would be to move it diagonally from the yellow spot it was at. It brought his head a lot closer to Veronica’s chest, but at least it wasn’t as far a reach as the green in the corner. 

     Veronica got left foot red, and she groaned as she had to stretch her legs even further apart, reaching over a column to her new spot. But the slight movement brought her covered boobs a few inches closer to Marcus’s head, who stared directly downwards to respectfully avoid looking at the seventh grader’s curves just to his right.

     “Left hand, green,” came for Paris’ turn. There were two open spots: one in the corner next to where Marcus had just placed his hand, and one on the other end between Paris’ and Veronica’s feet. The second one would be virtually impossible for her to reach from her angle, so her only option was to swing her hand over to the one in the corner. But doing pressed her own chest into the other side of Marcus’ head, and she had to lean so far to the green side to reach her spots that there wasn’t any room for her to shy away, even if he wanted to. Marcus nearly gasped in shock as Paris’ budding breasts pushed his head over, right into Veronica’s much more developed ones. Nobody could see his face, but his cheeks flushed a deep red as his little head became squished between the 12 and 13 year old girls’ chests. The fact that they were fully clothed did nothing to lessen his embarrassment, as he could still easily feel their shape, especially Veronica’s. They were gigantic, especially at his shrunken state, and it felt as though a single one of her round mammaries was larger than his entire head. It was easy to measure considering how much it was pressing up against the side of his face through her sweater.

     “Ooooh, sorry about that Mr. Tilden,” Paris winced. “You know I couldn’t go anywhere else, right?”

     “Yeah,” he croaked. “Spin please!”

     “Right hand, red.”

     “Oh, thank God,” he sighed, glad that the game’s decree meant he could get out from being squished by the two girls’ chests. He eagerly pulled his head as his hand detached itself from the floor, and crouched backwards so he could get around their bodies. Then he raised himself up over Paris’ long, dark brown thigh; any further back and he wouldn’t be able to reach where his other hand was on blue. It meant contorting his body again, but with his left arm sneaking under her, he tried his best to reach his right arm over her, but ended up collapsing on top of her leg. 

     “AH! Mr. Tilden!” Paris exclaimed, surprised by the sudden 13 pounds that fell on top of her leg, causing it to buckle under his weight. At his shrunken size, his weight alone wouldn’t have been enough to defeat her, but she was starting to tire from having played so long and not having the best stamina to begin with. The leg eventually gave out, and her knee hit the floor while Marcus maintained his position, securing his spot in the final two.

     “Sorry Paris, it was the only way I could reach,” he told her, which was the truth.

     She sighed, but crawled out from under the mess of bodies. “It’s OK, I know. I guess your size kinda put you at an advantage for that one.”

     “Yeah,” he smiled, realizing she was right. It was against the rules to purposefully try and push or shove someone out, but technically collapsing onto her thigh was the only way his body would be able to reach where he was going for.

     “Spin,” Veronica huffed, feeling pretty strained herself and eager to get the game over with. It was left foot yellow. “Thank God…” she muttered, pulling her foot clear over Marcus’ body and into one of the middle spots that allowed her to much more comfortably support her body’s weight.

     Marcus told the phone to spin next. “Left hand, yellow,” the robot announced. His pick was a blessing as well, as it allowed him to untwist his body, rolling over so he was facing upwards, once again in the posture that resembled a crab walk.

     “Someone hurry up and end the game,” Jessie groaned, impatient for the game to end. She wasn’t normally a bad sport, but she was still feeling the effects from having gotten out so shamefully. And she couldn’t even use her phone, since her dad and Veronica were already using it for the game.

     “Spin,” Veronica declared, motivated to finish because of how tired and strained she was feeling.

     “Right foot, red.” Marcus had the feeling that if she needed to stretch to the other side of the mat again, while his body was facing upwards, it wouldn’t pose good news for him. And he was right. He watched as her leg lifted up and soared over her left foot, over his own legs, and landed on the spot above his right hand. Now she too was in a crab-walk position, except she was the one on top, and at an angle compared to him. Directly in front and above him was the faded pattern of Veronica’s jeans hugging her thigh, and he knew that behind him was another thigh just as close, large, and imposing. He looked over at her to his left, and felt awkward from having to look in between her legs to see the young girl’s face. She wasn’t even looking at him though, since her head was lulled back from exhaustion, tired of holding it upright. Her body slowly started to descend now, and he watched fearfully as her crotch started to loom closer and closer to his upper right. 

     “Veronica,” he said, hoping to get her attention.

     “What?” she answered flatly. “It’s your turn.”

     “Stop lowering yourself,” he said, the intersection of her legs continuing to creep closer to him, and he himself had to bend his arms to keep from being bumped into. “You’re gonna run into me.”

     “There’s nothing wrong with that, as long as I don’t push you over I can lower my body as much as I want to make it easiest for me.” He knew she was right, but his arms started to buckle from bending at such an uncomfortable angle beneath him as her crotch came within inches of his cheekbone. He was too scared to touch it, even if she was the one moving closer he would feel too wrong if it made contact with his face.

     “Go, Daddy,” Jessie said.

     “It’s your turn,” Veronica repeated, not stopping herself. He couldn’t take it anymore; his body was tired, his arms were about to give out, and Veronica was still edging nearer. In a final gasp of relief, his arms collapsed beneath him and he fell to the ground. He was out. Veronica had won.

     Her head snapped up as she heard the impact of his body hit the floor, and a smile washed over her face as she too slumped down now that she’d won. “I won?” she asked excitedly.

     “You won!” Paris exclaimed, having closely watched the ending.

     “Congrats,” Marcus panted, his eyes closed as he got his breath and relaxed his muscles for the first time in 20 minutes. 

     “Jeez, I just realized I’m super thirsty,” Veronica laughed, climbing to her feet to head to the kitchen.

     “Yeah, me too actually,” Jessie agreed, as her and Paris got off the couch and followed after the victor to quench their thirst, while Marcus remained lying on the ground, wondering what else would be in store for him that night.

=========================

Friday, November 6 (cont.)

=========================

     After their game of Twister, the girls had decided to get ready for bed. It wasn’t even 8 o’clock yet, but they’d wanted to at least put on their pajamas. Marcus still felt comfortable wearing his day clothes for the time being though, so he checked up on his emails in the living room while everyone else got changed.

     “You can come in now!” Jessie yelled from down the hallway, and he looked up to see her door swing open. 

     “That’s OK honey, you guys should have some girl time to yourselves,” he shouted back, returning to his phone.

     “Daaaaddyyyyyyy,” she called out, “just c’mere!” Marcus sighed and put down his phone. I would’ve expected a bunch of teenage girls to wanna spend some time hanging out without someone like me around, he thought, walking down the hallway. Maybe she needs something though?

     “What’s up?” he asked, peeking in through her doorway. Paris and Veronica were sitting on the floor, and he saw that his daughter had changed into a black sports bra and satin pajama shorts, also black, and was lazily sprawled out on her bed browsing through Twitter on her phone. She’d put on socks too, since her feet were starting to get cold. His face contorted in a mixture of surprise and confusion, “How many times have you changed today?” First she had wore her regular clothes to school, and then had been in her volleyball uniform for practice, and then changed back to her regular clothes, and then put on yoga pants for the Twister game before changing into this. “I figured you would’ve just gone to bed with what you’d been wearing.”

     “What, my yoga pants?” she asked, and he nodded. “They aren’t pajamas; I can’t sleep in those.”

     “Aren’t you always going on about how comfy they are to wear all the time?”

     “Yeah,” she laughed, “but that doesn’t make them good for sleeping in.”

     “If you say so.” He sighed, resigning that he just didn’t know enough about what girls wore and that she’d know better on the subject than him. “So, why’d you want me to come in?”

     “Because! You’re part of the gang now, Daddy!” She bit her lip excitedly and patted the area next to her on her bed, inviting him to sit down with them. “You don’t have to hide away the whole night.”

     He reluctantly made his way over to his daughter’s bed. “I watched TV with you guys, filmed some TikToks, and played Twister. I wouldn’t say that qualifies as ‘hiding the whole night.’” He obviously liked spending time with Jessie, but it wasn’t one-on-one, father/daughter time when her friends were around. But I guess I don’t really have anything better to do anyways, he thought as he took a seat on her bed. I should probably spend as much time with her while I still can though, in a few years she’s gonna be itching for independence and won’t be so inviting all the time.

     Paris spoke up next, “Why aren’t you wearing your pajamas Mr. Tilden?” Her nighttime outfit consisted of a purple middle school band t-shirt and a pair of shorts that were so short, it didn’t look like she was was wearing any pants at all since they were covered by the t-shirt. And Veronica had on a spaghetti strap top with red and black checkered sweat pants.

     Marcus shrugged in response to Paris’ question, “I usually don’t change until right before bed.” 

     Their conversation had given Veronica an idea. He didn’t see it, but she looked him up and down, wondering if she’d be able to pull her idea off. “Hey Jessie, do you keep your old clothes that you grow out of? Like from when you were younger?” Jessie looked over at Veronica, then thought about what she’d asked. “Or Mr. Tilden, maybe you kept some of them. Like the kind of stuff you keep to remember her by when she’s old and moves out. My parents did that for me and my siblings, I dunno if other families do that kind of thing though.”

     Jessie scratched her neck. “I think so. Don’t we keep that kinda stuff in the garage?” she asked, turning to her dad.

     He nodded, both of them completely oblivious and unsuspecting of what Veronica might be up to. “Yeah, it’s in one of the upper cupboards, on the right side. You might need to use the step stool to reach it.”

     “Ooooh! I’ll go see if I can find it,” she exclaimed with a smile, hopping off her bed and dashing out to see if she could go find it.

     “What makes you ask?” Paris inquired as they waited for her to return.

     “I was just curious if other people did it or if it was just like a unique thing that my family did. I didn’t expect her to show me, but if she wants to…” She shrugged, pretending she was indifferent. Veronica wasn’t entirely lying—she was curious, and her parents did do that with her and her siblings. But she had hoped that Jessie would want to bring out her past life’s souvenirs. 

     “Yeah, my mom and dad do the same thing,” Paris said. “I think it’s pretty common actually, parents like that kinda stuff, right?” They turned to Marcus, the only parent in the room.

     He nodded, “I never saw any point in getting rid of it, and it’s always nice to bring back memories of when Jessie was just a kid whenever I look at that kind of stuff.”

     They heard the door to the garage open again, and the flurry of foot steps as Jessie came running back to her room. She was carrying a box in her hands, and she set it down on the ground so everyone could see inside as she knelt down beside it. “There were actually a few boxes, but since I could only carry one I picked the oldest stuff,” she said, and pulled out some of the items on top. On top was the mobile for her crib, with pink and white plush animals that hung from it when she picked it up.

     “Awwww, that’s kinda cute,” Paris said, and Marcus smiled at seeing the girls sift through Jessie’s old baby memorabilia. He got off her bed and went over to stand next to Jessie, looking down into the box as she pulled out more stuff. 

     “It looks like it’s mostly clothes and toys,” Jessie commented, pulling out some alphabet books, a farm animal puzzle, and a cute summer dress with cartoon dolphins and beach balls on it.

     “This stuff is adorable,” Veronica remarked, genuinely smiling. Just because she had a plan in the back of her mind didn’t mean that she didn’t still think her friend’s baby things were cute. Jessie blushed, vaguely remembering bits and pieces of her early childhood.

     But then at the bottom of the box was a large ziplock bag with ‘EMERGENCY’ written on it. “Oh yeah, I remember that,” Marcus said. “I used to always keep that in the car.” Inside was a first-aid kit, a miniature blanket, some sunscreen, a small pack of wipes, and a few diapers. Veronica unzipped the bag, and pulled out the diapers with gleaming eyes. 

     “Do those even still work?” Paris asked with a laugh. 

     “Well they’re not food, I don’t see why they wouldn’t,” Marcus answered, but wondered the same thing. 

     Veronica held them up, and then her eyes shifted to Marcus who was standing on the other side of the box, and her eyes went wide. “Wait, I wonder if they’d fit you Mr. Tilden! You’re probably pretty close to the same size Jessie was when she was a baby.” 

     Marcus’ smile faltered and his face went pale, but Jessie grinned at the notion and grabbed one of the diapers from the bag. She turned to her dad and thrust the diaper against his pelvis to see how it compared. “Oh my God, I think it might actually fit you Daddy.”

     Marcus shook his head and started to back away. “I don’t think I like where you guys are headed with this,” he said, laughing nervously. 

     “Oh come on,” Jessie said, scooting forward and tilting her head endearingly. “Obviously we’re not gonna make you take all your clothes off, we just wanna see if it fits you. It’ll be cute,” she encouraged.

     “We should give him some privacy so he can change,” Veronica offered, and stood up to head out of the room, with Jessie agreeing following suit. 

     Paris was a bit uneasy about the whole thing given how reluctant Mr. Tilden had seemed. “Are you sure you wanna do it?” she asked him quietly. “You don’t have to, you know.” He was grateful for Paris’ endless kindness, but at the same time he felt as if she spoke to him like an adult comforting a kid, when he was the adult and she was supposed to be the kid.

     He sighed and smiled at her, but decided that maybe it wouldn’t actually be that bad. “It’s fine Paris, I know they’re just trying to have fun. Thank you for asking though,” he added, putting his hand on her shoulder. She faintly returned his smile, thinking that the whole idea was weird and taking his side more than her friends. But ultimately, as long as he said he was fine with it, she didn’t feel like they were peer pressuring him to do anything, so she stood up and joined the other two girls outside in the hallway, shutting the door behind her.

     Well first off, Marcus thought to himself as he began to take off his pants, I am not taking off my underwear. I don’t need my dick touching that thing, and just cuz I’m gonna wear it for a few minutes doesn’t mean I’ll be using it. That’d be a line he wouldn’t cross, no matter what anyone said. But he knew it’d never come to that, Jessie was old enough and smart enough to know that that was too far. Standing in Jessie’s room in his underwear, but with his shirt still on, he looked over at one of the diapers and held it up. As much as he hated to admit it, it definitely looked like it would fit him. He turned it around in his hands, inspecting it from a few angles to try and figure out which end was supposed to be the front—it had been so long since Jessie was a baby herself. I think the more padded side is supposed to be for the butt, he realized, and turned it so that that end was facing down and the thinner strip was facing up. Then with a deep breath, he reached around with one of his arms as he slipped the bottom through his legs, grabbing it from behind and pulling it up. So he had one hand holding the front of the diaper up, and his other hand was holding the back of it up. But no way to tape the straps at the side to bind the whole thing together. “Shit…” he muttered. Should I call the whole thing off?

     Just then, there was a knock on the bedroom door. “Daddy? Is everything OK in there, are you having trouble?”

     “Yeah, it’s just a little harder to do myself than I was expecting, but I’ll figure it out. Don’t let everyone back in yet.” 

     The door slowly inched open, and Jessie’s head snuck through. “It’s just me,” she assured him, not letting anyone else get a look inside. She saw him struggling to hold the diaper up with his elbows so that his hands would be free to strap the sides, and decided he wouldn’t be able to do it alone. “Here, lemme help you,” she said softly, squeezing through the door to keep it from opening too far before firmly closing it behind her again.

     “Jessie, I don’t need your help,” her dad persisted, but they both knew that wasn’t true. She calmly knelt down in front of her dad and took hold of the straps at the side, but his shirt kept getting in the way.

     “Well first, we should just take this off,” she murmured, grabbing the hem of his shirt instead and lifting it up to try and take it off of him. 

     “Jessie, wait, there’s no need for that,” he said, refusing to lift his arms. “I don’t think I should be shirtless around your friends anyways.”

     “If you were a girl and we were all boys, I could see your point. But there’s nothing weird about a guy being shirtless. It’s not like you haven’t gone to the pool with me and Paris a hundred times before anyways.” Marcus knew she kind of had a point, so he relented and lifted his arms above his head so his daughter could pull his shirt off. But you and Paris don’t look at me the same way Veronica does, he thought. It’s her that I’m worried about. With his shirt off now, she instructed him to hold the back of the diaper up and she’d hold up the front with one hand so that her other could attach the strap. She easily taped the left side together; all he’d needed was three hands instead of two. With a satisfying pat on it a few times, she fastened the right side as well, before cautiously pulling her hands away and leaning back, inspecting her work. “OK, let go now,” she told him, and he lifted his hands just like she did. He could tell from the bright smile appearing on her face (and the fact that the diaper wasn’t falling down) that it was a success, and Marcus looked down at himself, feeling ridiculous with how heavy and baggy the diaper was. He didn’t like how the center of the garment forced his legs apart so he couldn’t stand normally, and the extra padding at the back readjusted his center of gravity. “You guys can come in now!” Jessie yelled, and Veronica immediately burst through the door, with Paris slowly following in after her.

     “Oh my God, he’s adorable!” Veronica exclaimed, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the shrunken man wrapped up in nothing but a diaper. It really was a perfect fit for the two and a half foot Marcus. At first glance, he looked like a baby waddling around, until the leanness of his limbs and definition of his face made it clear that he was in fact an adult man and not a pudgy toddler. Her gaze quickly diverted to his chest, and she unconsciously bit her lip, admiring her crush’s shirtless torso. He didn’t work out enough to have a clear-cut six pack, but he was still clearly fit, and her new knowledge of what he looked like underneath his shirt only made him seem hotter in her eyes. Putting him into a diaper hadn’t actually been her original plan, but it still worked to get him shirtless which was what she’d wanted all along. Although the juxtaposition of the infantile swaddling around his man parts were more of a buzzkill than she was expecting. 

     “OK, so it clearly fits,” Marcus said, “you guys all got to see me wear it. Now can I take it off? I’m getting kind of cold without anything else on.” Jessie turned back to the assortment of clothing strewn out on the ground, and picked up a pink onesie sleepsuit.

     “Here! You can put this on,” she giggled, and scampered over behind him to help him put it on. He felt her right up against his back, her arms coming around the sides of him, as she laid out the footies to the costume in front of him. “Left leg up,” she murmured softly, her head hovering over his shoulder, and he hesitantly complied with her directions and inserted his foot into the left leg hole of the outfit. “Now the riiiiight,” she cooed, and he stepped forward into the other hole. “And the arms.” His hands entered the onesie’s sleeves, and with his limbs in place she eagerly zipped up the back of the outfit, contentedly patting it several times before scurrying back around with the others to check him out from the front. “That’s perfect!” she laughed, finding the depiction of her shrunken father in her baby girl outfit to be funnier than anything she’d seen in weeks. 

     “How old were you when that was yours?” asked Paris, trying to stifle a giggle at how funny Mr. Tilden looked in his daughter’s pajamas. “Like 3 or 4 years old?”

     “Not even half that, all this stuff was labeled 0 to 2 years!” Jessie exclaimed, giddily snatching her height and weight chart from the box. “My dad’s 2’7, which is 31 inches, and this says here at my 18 month milestone I was… 24 pounds and 32 inches.” Her head snapped up as the others gasped. “You’re not even as tall as I was at a year-and-a-half, Daddy!” She burst out laughing again, almost falling backwards onto the floor as Marcus waddled his way over to her mirror to get a look at himself. She crawled up behind him as the other girls walked over to look at him in the mirror too, as Jessie placed her hands on her dad’s shoulders, her head still several inches above his own even when she was on her knees. “You’re at the size that babies are when they’re not even measured in years yet,” she told him as he looked at how ridiculous he looked in his daughter’s old baby outfit, his diaper still wrapped around his loins inside. “Imagine what I looked like when I was a year and a half old, that was over a decade ago, I obviously don’t even remember,” she continued. “So tiny and with thin hair and a cute smile, and baby fat everywhere. Probably barely able to walk on my own. But even at that size I still would’ve been a giant compared to you!”

     “Not a giant, you just would’ve been taller is all,” he mumbled, and she rolled her eyes but continued giggling.

     “Same difference, the point is I would’ve been bigger!” She reached her fingers up against his armpits and started tickling him. “Coochie-coochie-coo, Daddy!” she teased, continuing to dance her fingertips under his arms, and he couldn’t fight his body’s reflexes that caused a smile to form on his face. “There you go, you should be laughing along with us, lighten up.” She ruffled the hair on his head and turned back around to the box as he wondered if maybe Jessie was right, maybe he should just be having fun along with her. He had to admit, if he was full-sized and it was someone else in his position, he probably would’ve thought it was funny for them too. Jessie spun back around. “Okay, open wide Daddy,” she cooed, and lightly grabbed ahold of his chin so she could pull it down without waiting for him to do it for her. With everyone staring at him in the mirror, he watched as his daughter inserted her old pacifier into his mouth and pushed his chin closed again around it. All three of the girls, including Paris, broke out into a new round of laughter at seeing the man with his daughter’s old binky in his mouth, suckling at the same rubber nipple that she used to when she was an infant.

     Shaking his head and feeling like they’d all gone too far, he ripped the pacifier out and turning around to face them again. “Alright, I can put up with some of your guys’ games but that was too much,” he frowned, indignantly throwing the pacifier back with the other stuff.

     “Awwww, looks like wittle baby is cwanky today,” Veronica mockingly pouted with a layer of baby-talk applied over her words. She took a few steps towards Marcus, and he backed up as the giant girl approached, scared of whatever unknown idea she inevitably plan. Unused to trying to walk with a diaper on, he stumbled backwards, falling onto his butt and rolling onto his back from the momentum. Seizing the opportunity, Veronica quickly knelt down and rushed her hand forward. His mouth was already open in surprise, and she quickly stuck her thumb into it. “Do you need a new pacifier?” she teased, wriggling her thumb around in his mouth. Veronica’s finger was more than twice as big as one of his own thumbs, so his jaw got pushed open almost all the way as she slid her thumb inside as if it was a new binky for the older man to suck on.

     “Hey, you might choke him!” Paris warned, rushing over and gently pulling Veronica off of her friend’s dad. 

     “Okay, okay, I was just messing around,” Veronica said, holding her hands up in surrender as Marcus got back onto his feet. “I didn’t choke you, right Mr. Tilden?” she asked. “I was just goofing off.”

     He wearily scratched his back, feeling uncomfortable from having her thumb stuck down his mouth. But he half-expected her to pull something worse. “It’s fine, let’s just move on.”

     “I think that’s a great idea,” Jessie nodded with approval, and tossed all of her old baby stuff back into the box. “I think you’re kinda cute wearing the onesie, and I bet it’s pretty cozy,” she told her dad with a smile, “so I’ll leave it out and put everything else away.” At least I got them to not make me keep the pacifier, he thought begrudgingly, and watched as Jessie skipped out of the room to return her baby items while leaving her dad to keep wearing her toddler-sized jumper.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     After cooling down, the four of them continued to spend time in Jessie’s room, mostly talking about school, boys (and girls), movies, and whatever else came to their mind. Marcus wasn’t interested in half of it, but with Jessie’s arm around him, it was clear that she wanted him to be a part of their little group. So he stayed, chiming in every now and then with his own comments and questions, getting to know the other girls a bit better. Learning so much about Veronica really started to humanize her in Marcus’ eyes, as he learned more about her personality, family, and background. Becoming more to him than just the unnervingly large 12 year old who cornered him in her room a few weeks ago.

     “I still can’t get over how funny you look in my old onesie,” Jessie mentioned, turning to her dad, who rolled his eyes but was feeling less agitated than earlier. “It’s kinda baggy on you since you’re not as chubby as a baby,” she said, lightly poking him in the gut, “but it looks pretty snug. I’m actually kinda jealous honestly, maybe you should get me an adult onesie for Christmas.”

     “Ohhh yeah,” Veronica agreed, “I have a grown-up one that I wear from time to time, they’re kinda underrated.” They were all quiet for a moment, admiring the baby-fied Marcus, before Paris spoke up. 

     “It was kinda cute when you were tickling him earlier,” she said, remembering when Jessie had gotten him to smile when he was checking himself out in the mirror.

     “Yeah it kinda was,” Jessie murmured in agreement, eying her dad’s armpits again, before quickly shoving her fingers under them and tickling him again and causing him to start laughing as he pinched his arms close to try and get her to stop.

     “You guys are so sweet together,” Veronica laughed as she watched the two of them, apparently having been infected by the laughter without even being touched.

     “Here Paris, help me get him,” Jessie giggled excitedly, effortlessly picking her dad up by his arms and swooping him off her bed, laying him out onto the floor. His eyes went wide as he realized how easily his daughter was able to handle him, and that he wouldn’t be able to fight back whatever tickle assault she was undoubtedly about to unleash on him. “Go on, stand on his arms and I’ll get his legs!” she encouraged, forcing his arms apart as Paris ran forward with a giddy smile to help her friend. And then as soon as his limbs were out, all she had to do was step forward and stand on his arms. And at the same time, Jessie took it upon herself to sit on her dad’s legs. So while Marcus’ legs were smothered by his daughter’s big butt, his little one-inch wrists also got smushed by Paris’ cushy flat feet, rendering him completely immovable.

     “I don’t think this is totally fair,” he complained, as Jessie leaned forward with her splayed fingers, wiggling them in a taunting manner as they neared closer to his armpits.

     “You always tickled me when I was a kid,” she reminded him. “And it’s just tickling, right? It’s not like it hurts or anything. If it was fine for you to tickle me when I was a kid, there shouldn’t be anything wrong with me tickling you as an adult!” With that, her hands leapt towards his arms and began prodding and poking right underneath them. He couldn’t help himself, as he burst out in a fit of laughter, unable to contain his automatic reaction. His body convulsed and squirmed from the infantile torment delivered at the hands of his daughter, but with both her and Paris making sure he was unable to go anywhere, his efforts proved useless. Veronica sat idly by, watching with a grin on her face, thinking that it was cute how much fun Jessie and her dad seemed to be having.

     “OK, OK, I get it,” he laughed, his face red as his head tossed and turned. “You can stop now,” he pleaded, but Jessie began moving down his body instead, tickling at his sides and on his stomach as well.

     “Veronica, come help me out here,” she said excitedly, and her friend wasted no time in shuffling over beside the shrunken man and joining in. Marcus hadn’t been tickled since he was a kid, and even then he’d never been subjected to two peoples’ hands at the same time. A new, stronger bout of laughter filled Jessie’s bedroom as his body convulsed in a new wave of spasms from a tickling experience unlike any he’d ever experienced in his life. The two teenage girls were determined to make him laugh harder than he ever had before, with Paris looked down triumphantly at the giggling man who lay at her legs. 

     Finally, Jessie retracted her arms and motioned for Veronica to do the same, climbing off his legs along with Paris and restoring his freedom. Even with his body free now, he still lay for a few moments on the ground, panting from the experience before sitting up on his elbows. The ordeal had only lasted a minute, but it had felt like one of the longest minutes of his life, and he’d wriggled around so much that his body was starting to heat up inside Jessie’s thick onesie. He took in several deep breaths, raising his eyebrows at Jessie. “Geez, you guys go all out,” he said.

     “I’m surprised you could even feel it that bad underneath the pajamas,” Jessie said, and Marcus nodded in agreement.

     “Yeah, me too.” The four of them sat in silence for a moment, as Jessie studied Marcus scheming expression.

     His daughter scoffed, “It looks like you’re trying to think of a way to get me back.” She crossed her arms defiantly and sat against her bed.

     “Well I think it’s only fair to try and get payback of some kind,” he admitted. “But since I’m not all that big anymore, I’d only be able to pull it off with the help of your friends.” He glanced at Paris and Veronica, hoping they’d get the hint. With a giddy smile at playing both sides, Paris sprung onto Jessie’s bed behind her and grabbed her arms, lifting her hands up behind her head. At the same time, Veronica hopped over and sat on Jessie’s outstretched legs. With a surprised giggle, Jessie tried to buck her way out of her captor’s binds, and it took significantly more strength and effort from the other girls to keep her down. But they were able to manage her, and Marcus walked over to Jessie with his splayed, wiggling fingers held out menacingly in front of him like how she had done to him.

     “Wait, hold on a— AHHH, HAHAHAHAHA!” she squealed, as Marcus cut her off by digging his tiny hands into her armpits and began tickling her back. He almost got scared off by how much the giant girl was resisting, trying to whip her legs and arms out from those that bound them. But Veronica and Paris did their part, allowing Marcus to tickle his daughter back in retribution from just how mercilessly her own hands had teased him before. And there were several advantages that he actually had in doling out his payback. For one, because she was wearing a sports bra, her armpits were barren and not covered like his had been. Secondly, the fact that his fingers were extra tiny made the stimulation all the more worse and impactful for her. But most importantly at all, having raised Jessie for the past 13 years had given him a hundred opportunities to already tickle her, so he knew exactly where and how to dig into her sides, where to prod and brush with his fingertips, to make her laugh the hardest. “Stop, Daddy STOP!” she pleaded, despite laugh so loud that Marcus wondered if the neighbors might hear. Tears began to form in her eyes, something she hadn’t even been able to muster out of her dad. Just when Marcus began to wonder if he could tantalize her any further, her arms ripped free from Paris’ clutches, and she shoved Veronica off her legs to free herself. Looking shocked, and a little bit scared, Marcus immediately stopped and took a step backwards. Before he could go anywhere though, Jessie had pounced on top of him once again and toppled him over. Then she straddled his hips to keep him from going anywhere. “Now it’s time for my payback to your payback,” she told him, and turned around so her back was facing him, while keeping her butt planted on Marcus to keep him from going anywhere.

     “So, I’ll forgive you guys for siding with the enemy if you can help me come up with a way to get him back,” she told her friends, crossing her arms and looking at the two of them while keeping her dad trapped beneath her.

     Paris hesitated, “How many times is this gonna go back and forth?”

     “Well he was only able to get me back because you guys helped him!” Jessie insisted.

     “We should just call it even,” Marcus announced calmly, unable to see them with Jessie’s back in the way. “We both each got each other, so—mmmm, mm-mm, mmmmph!“ Jessie had scooted back even further so that her wide hips were seated right on top of his chest, and had reached her hand out behind her to muffle her dad’s mouth without even needing to look back. The entirety of her hand was easily able to cover his little face, from several inches below his chin until her fingers wrapped all the way around the top of his head and the sides of his face. Her palm pressed forcefully against his mouth, and while his voice could still be heard, it was unintelligible since she kept him from saying anything specific.

     “So, we already tried tickling him,” Jessie continued, “but we need something that’ll really kick it up a notch and show him who’s boss. So, any ideas?” Marcus continued trying to mumble through his daughter’s hand, but her strong grip kept him from getting a word out without her even needing to pay him any further attention. The three teens looked at each other, but Paris was the one to break the silence.

     “Well, when me and my brother were younger,” she slowly started to say, as Veronica and Jessie paid her close attention, “we used to fight all the time. I mean, we still fight, but like it’s not as bad. Anyways, a couple years ago, when our parents were both gone, I caught him playing on his Switch after school when he was supposed to be grounded. I guess he found out where our mom hid it or something. Anyways, he said he was super sorry or whatever and please not to tell our parents, but he’d just spilled mustard all over my clothes on ‘accident’ a few days earlier, so I wanted to make him do something in return.”

     “Ooooh, Paris has a secret side to her,” Jessie gasped teasingly, and Paris blushed at the comment. She tried to be a good person, and she generally was, but her brother had tendencies to get on her nerves more than anyone else she knew. So she’d slipped up her goody-little-two-shoes act with him a few times. Even Marcus had stopped trying to argue with them, and was silent as he listened to the young girl’s story.

     “Anyways, we had just been watching some kind of medieval, like, king and queen show on TV around that time, where they always make like peasants kiss the hand of the queen or whatever. And since Jack would always comment on how my feet smell bad, well… I basically made him get down and kiss my feet like I was a queen.” She smiled timidly at the memory, pulling her legs in to her chest and scrunching her toes as she remembered that day. “I barely even thought it was that big of a deal, but he was so embarrassed and I guess it ended up being pretty humiliating.” Veronica’s eyes sparkled with inspiration from hearing the nicest girl in their class reveal a secret that nobody else had known until now. Paris buried her face in her hands, “Oh my God, I can’t believe I just told you guys that. We can’t do that on your dad though, I changed my mind.”

     But it was too late; everyone in the room had already heard her story. “AH! I can’t just un-hear that, Paris,” Jessie said, but her smile gave away that she wasn’t at all disappointed. “And unless you can come up with something better, we have to go with that now. Being treated like queens, what’s so bad about that? You were right, it’s not a super big deal, they’re just little kisses and they’re not like inappropriate ones or anything. Like we obviously shouldn’t choose anything too mean or weird or anything. But it’s also juuuuust funny enough to actually be like, fun, and a good idea.” Veronica sure seemed to be into the plan, and Paris didn’t want to risk suggesting anything further, since she was already starting to feel regret at having mentioned it. “Hear that, Daddy?” Jessie said, turning to address her father for the first time since sitting on him. “Just a couple kisses on a couple feet to say you’re sorry, and then we can call it a truce. Or I can go find that pacifier again, maybe we can rock you off to sleep for the night and swaddle you up in a crib. After tickling you back, again, of course.” She lifted her hand off his mouth, giving him the freedom to speak once more. He rolled his eyes as the three pairs of giant eyes gazed down at him, awaiting his decision.

     “Fine,” he decided, giving in to their idea. I wasn’t even the one to start it, Jessie was, she just jumped me. But then he recalled her bringing up all the times he’d tickled her as a child. Or maybe I really was the one to start it. Frankly, it didn’t matter whether this punishment of his was deserved or not, since he’d agreed to do it anyways. A bit humiliating, sure, but it wasn’t anything compared to the idea of being treated like a literal baby some more. Satisfied to hear her dad agree to her demands, Jessie got off his chest and took a seat over by her friends. “Alright, let’s just get it over with,” he sighed, shaking his head and chuckling at the absurdity of it all. He turned towards Jessie, but she raised her eyebrows and held up a hand to keep him from going through with it.

     “Wait, you’re not starting with me,” she told him.

     “Huh?” he asked, confused. “What do you mean ‘starting?’”

     “It was Paris’ idea, so you should do her first. Then Veronica, and then me.”

     “I thought it was just gonna be you!” he retorted.

     “What do you think I meant when I said ‘a couple kisses’ Daddy? They’re on my side now, so you have to pay your respects to each of us.” Marcus groaned at his own foolishness; I thought I was just agreeing to kiss Jessie’s feet since she’s the only one I tickled. But all three of them is a different story. It still beat the pacifier-route though. 

     “Fine, fine,” he grumbled, and turned to face Paris, who was looking even more nervous than he was. She was already barefoot, and was sitting huddled with her knees to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs, so her feet were flat on the ground out in front of her. Her toes were painted a bright pink that contrasted with her dark colored skin, and he got down on his hands and knees in front of them, like a kind of pushup position over her feet. Even Paris, the shortest of the trio, still had large feet when compared to Marcus’ shrunken stature, but he tried not to think about that as his head slowly leaned down while the other girls watched. Finally, with his lips puckered enough so that nobody could claim he wasn’t really trying, he pressed his mouth against the top of her foot, held it for a solid second against her cool, soft skin, and then pushed his way back up. “Do I have to do both?” he asked.

     “Might as well,” he heard Jessie say, and he rolled his eyes for even bothering to ask. He lowered his head back down to Paris’ foot and planted another solid kiss on top of her other one, a soft smooching sound escaping from his lips after he broke off contact a second time. Standing back up, he avoided eye contact with Paris, not expecting to feel as awkward as he did now. He’d known the young girl since she was a child, and now he’d just kissed her feet like she was some kind of royalty. Paris couldn’t look at him either, and shuffled backwards from the semicircle now that her role was finished.

     Marcus turned to face Veronica now, who was beaming down at him after having just witnessed the older man kiss her classmate’s feet. She never would’ve expected the night to get as exciting as it was now. And Jessie appeared to be elated too, half-expecting her dad to take the ‘mature’ route and just bow out for the night. But she was glad that he was keeping up with their games and continuing to hang out with them, even if her and her friends got a little weird. “One down, two go go,” she reminded him. At least it’s going by pretty fast, Marcus thought. It’s not painful or gross or anything, just embarrassing. I can handle this.

     But Veronica was about to challenge that thought. “I think I want you to do a little something extra,” she told him, smirking down at the little man as she crossed her arms. “Just kissing my feet would be too easy. Or at least too similar, I want you to do something different for me.” Marcus was unsurprised to hear Veronica say that, but the least he could do was at least see what she’d propose. “I think instead, you should kiss me… on the lips!” She closed her eyes, puckered her mouth up, and extended her neck forward while trying to keep herself from laughing. Marcus’ face paled, and Jessie playfully shoved her friend with a giggle, knowing she was just joking.

     “Shut up, you’re so embarrassing,” Jessie laughed, but nervously glanced at her dad.

     “OK OK OK, I’m just joking,” Veronica said, readjusting herself. “But I do want you to do something different for me, as long as it’s cool with Jessie.”

     Jessie rolled her eyes, “Yeah, just don’t ask for anything weird again like that. Just keep it to your feet or something.”

     Veronica nodded, “Fine, then I have an idea that you can stay standing for. And you only have to do it once.” She lifted her foot off the ground, the sole still facing downwards, and declared, “I think you should suck on my toe, Mr. Tilden.” Marcus’ mouth dropped in surprise; unlike her first joke of a suggestion, he could tell she was serious about this one, but it was a far step up from just giving them a kiss like he’d done with Paris. He looked over to his daughter, who merely shrugged, not thinking it was that big of a deal. 

     “I’ve had to do that before, twice actually. Both because of Truth or Dare. Once to Molly Porter over the summer, and another time with Peter Donaldson in 5th grade.” Her face crinkled up in disgust at the memory. “They were like, just starting to get hairy, and his toenails were dirty and he hadn’t cut them in weeks.” Veronica made a pretend hurling sound and fell over in exasperation.

     “Ewww…” Paris murmured, agreeing with the other girls at how gross the idea was.

     “Yeah, exactly,” Jessie nodded, eying her friends’ reactions. “So if I could go through that, you can definitely handle it too Daddy,” she said, turning to Marcus. With a story like that, she’s practically guilt-tripping me into doing it now, he thought, as Veronica sat back up and lifted her foot into position again. She wrinkled her plump, tan toes, painted with a red nail polish, and inched her foot closer to his face.

     “I dunno if you even know who Peter Donaldson is,” Veronica told Marcus, “but I can literally promise you that sucking one of my toes is nothing compared to what Jessie probably went through. Jessie nodded in agreement, her expression still wry as she remembered that afternoon.

     He held his hands up defensively, “Alright, I’ll do it, don’t worry.” He looked dead ahead at Veronica’s big toe, the rest of the world blurring out as he mentally prepared himself to stick it in his mouth. Because of his size, he’d have to open his jaw all the way just to fit it in. So with a deep breath, he opened his mouth, stepped forward, and wrapped his lips around the appendage, fully inserting the 12 year old girl’s toe deep into his little mouth. Veronica squealed with excitement as she felt his saliva start to coat her skin. His tongue had nowhere to hide considering how much space the toe took up, and the girl wiggled it up and down, forcing Marcus to get an involuntary taste. Even the tip of her nail scratched against the roof of his little mouth, and her second toe brushed against his outer cheek. Realizing that her toe had a decent amount of leverage from its position within the man’s mouth, Veronica wondered if she’d be able to lift him up, so she slowly started to raise her foot. Marcus’ eyes bulged as he was forced onto the tips of his toes, straining to keep them on the floor, until they left the ground entirely as the young girl successfully lifted his shrunken body off the floor with just the strength of her toe. Before she could go any higher, Marcus grabbed her foot and pushed it away, unsliding his mouth from around her toe and landing back on the ground. Everyone else in the room laughed, even Paris a little bit, as Marcus took a deep breath and was thankful he’d been able to stop her from lifting him any further. A little bit of his spit still clung to the middle schooler’s toe, and a tiny dollop dripped down off the appendage and onto the carpet, reminding Veronica to clean herself off. She rubbed the tip of her foot into the carpet to get rid of the saliva, but bit her lip with excitement from having been able to pull it off, even if only for a moment.

     “See? That didn’t look that hard either,” Jessie said proudly. “Just one left,” she said, lifting her hands up to her chin and framing her face as she grinned like she was posing for a photo. “And you definitely can’t just kiss my feet after what you did for Veronica, that’d be like a downgrade. Since it was actually me you tickle-tortured, you should obviously give me the most pampering of all.” Marcus took a deep breath and sighed.

     “Alright, what does the final queen request?” he asked, half-sarcastically maintaining the theme of Paris’ original suggestion.

     “Hmmmmm. Bigger than kissing my feet, and bigger than sucking my toe…” She definitely seemed to be enjoying herself, tantalizing Marcus as she deliberated over the possibilities. “I think there’s only one way to up the ante,” she said with a smirk, and as soon as she said that, looking at him, he immediately knew what she was about to suggest.

     “I want you to lick my feet, Daddy.” 

     Paris gasped and Veronica fought back a giggle, while Marcus’ heart dropped. “You’ve come so far, you’re almost at the finish line,” Jessie continued. “If you do this, then we can call it a truce. And maybe go watch a movie, actually, I’m kinda tired of hanging out in here. Otherwise you owe me at least one selfie with you and the binky. I mean honestly you were just too cute Daddy, you used to take pictures with me all the time and then when you finally have something worth actually taking a photo of, you wanna bail?”

     “Hey hey hey,” he cautioned, not wanting his daughter to change her mind. “I’ll… do the licking, OK? And then the truce.” Jessie nodded contentedly, and extended her legs out in front of her. She was still wearing socks, since her feet had been cold. “Uh… do you want me to do it with your socks on or something?”

     She raised an eyebrow and shook her head, “No, that’s why I pushed my feet towards you, so you could take them off.” He rolled his eyes again, She’s really gonna make me do everything? Grabbing the top of her socks with one hand, and the tip of her left sock with the other hand, he pulled on the first bit until he got it past her heels, and then tugged upwards to unsheathe the treasure inside. He flung it aside, and then did the same with her other sock. With her feet barren now, he got onto his hands and knees again as she wrinkled her feet in anticipation. “Make sure to go aaaaaall the way from the heel to the toes, just in case you weren’t aware. And hurry up, my feet are already starting to get cold,” she said, and he heard Veronica stifle another giggle off to the side. The other girl was clearly enjoying seeing the banter between Jessie and her dad. 

     Marcus got low enough to the ground that his chin was almost touching the floor, and he gazed up at the two giant feet resting in front of him. The only time he’d been this close to them before was when she rested them on his face a few days ago, and he was still taken aback by their size. From his perspective, his daughter’s feet seemed to be several feet tall, making them even more intimidating. And since she hadn’t showered yet today, but still had volleyball practice, he could already smell the somewhat sour aroma that wafted from her soles and into his nose. It just made him want to get the whole thing over with quicker, so he didn’t bother wasting any more time. Sticking his tongue out carefully, he pressed it delicately against Jessie’s heel, almost as if he was scared to do so. The 13-year-old’s skin was warm here, and was noticeably pinker than the rest of her foot. Proceeding with his task though, he pushed himself upwards, his little, slobbery muscle coating the surface of his young daughter’s foot and taking in its flavor. It was salty, obviously, but he could taste a hint of her body wash too, a thought that he hated to have. He wished his mind could just be empty through the ordeal, but instead it was running especially fast as he continued with the degrading task. By the time he reached the middle of her foot, her skin was pale again, almost ghostly so, and her tremendous sole took up the entirety of his vision thanks to how close his face was. But his tongue continued upwards, and he could tell it was starting to dry out from leaving behind a long trail of his saliva. Almost done now, he reached the ball of her foot; the taste was saltiest here, and he tried not to think about the hours of hot, sweaty practice she had earlier that day, or the fact that she hadn’t showered since. Finally he reached the end, trailing his tongue over the bridge of her toes before ending on their tips, just like she’d instructed. In the final moments, he looked upwards, his tongue still on his daughter’s feet, and blushed as he saw her gazing down at him with a victorious smile on her face. The fact that he had kneeled down to reach her feet, still supported by his hands on either side, made him feel like he really, truly was kneeling before a queen, and he remembered his dream from last night where his daughter had once again visited him as a kind of ethereal angel. But it was over now, and he pulled his tongue back into his mouth, as Jessie opened her mouth for the last time. “Now the other one.”

     I’m so, so close to being done, he told himself, not bothering to argue. He didn’t want to kneel on the ground again though; that had been humiliating enough. So he grabbed her ankle and lifted it up, her foot cutting off their view of each other once more, and lowered his head to her heel. Once more he pressed his tongue against her smooth skin, and started to trace it upwards along the contours of her foot. Just a few short months ago, he never would have been able to imagine the situation he was in, but here was, licking his daughter’s foot while her friends sat around and watched them. Around the ball of Jessie’s second foot, Marcus ran into a piece of sock lint that he hadn’t even noticed that was there before, but it was too late now, and the tiny remnant of her gym sock settled onto the top of his taste buds. Finally about to reach the end of her foot, the end of his task for her, and ultimately the end of being teased by these middle schoolers altogether, his tongue made its way into the crevice under her toes. But having her dad’s little tongue in such a spot tickled Jessie, and she squirmed around uncomfortably, with a wrinkled smile on her face. “Euuughh, that tickles,” she said, before yelping as he touched a particularly sensitive spot. Her toes reflexively clamped down to squash the foreign intruder, but that meant squeezing Marcus’ tongue in the process. For a quick moment, his tongue was squeezed by his daughter’s toes, pressing their sweaty, salty tang into his mouth, before she quickly let go. “Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,” she apologized, and Marcus hastily retreated, letting her foot fall back down to the carpet. 

     “There, so I’m done now, right?” he asked, and Jessie nodded with a gigantic smile on her face.

     “Yeah, that was a good job,” she said. “We’re now officially truced.” The craziness of it all was finally over; he felt like Jessie had treated him like her little brother, even though he was supposed to be her father. But at least it didn’t matter now. He’d always wanted to spend more time with his daughter, and it seemed like this was the price he’d had to pay, putting up with her quirky behavior with her friends sometimes. 

     “So…” Veronica said, and the two Tildens turned to see what she had to say about the matter. “How did it taste to lick your daughter’s feet?” Marcus shook his head and turned away, as Jessie rolled her eyes, scrubbing her wet soles against the carpet to dry them of her dad’s saliva and put her socks back on. But he couldn’t shake the question from his mind, as best as he might try to ignore Veronica. The evening had escalated far quicker than he ever would have expected. In the span of only 5 minutes, he’d kissed the feet of a girl he’d known since she was a child, sucked the toe of her 12 year old classmate, and fully licked the soles of his own young daughter. The slow realization set in that for the rest of his life, he’d never be able to forget what had happened tonight.

=========================

Friday, November 6 (cont.)

=========================

     To end the night off, Marcus and the three girls decided to watch a movie. Jessie’s dad had already hung out with them through so much tonight, that he had a feeling the night was drawing to a close. If the girls had decided to ramp up their idea of “fun” even further than what he’d just experienced in Jessie’s room, than he would’ve had to officially call it quits. But when Paris suggested they watch something, he knew that that would likely be the last thing everyone did together before heading to bed, and he felt like he could use the relaxation that a film could provide.

     Jessie had taken the floor, lying on her stomach with her head propped up in her hand while she browsed through various streaming apps to see what was new. Marcus was behind her on the couch, with Veronica sitting to his left and Paris to his right. He didn’t like having to take the middle spot, between the two giant teenagers, but Veronica needed to use the couch side table to put her drink on, and Paris was planning on eventually using the armrest to relax her head on. They came across a movie with a woman on the poster who had a shocked expression on her face and was using her arms to cover her breasts, with a bunch of pervy looking guys behind her. Jessie continued scrolling, not wanting to watch something that felt like it objectified her, but she still sighed as she thought about the well-endowed actress on the cover. “God, I can’t wait to like… grow up,” she murmured.

     Paris shifted in her seat, the movie’s poster evoking a similar feeling out of her. She nuzzled her head into the cushion, “Yeah, I know what you mean.” After so many years of Jessie and her being best friends, they had started to think along the same wavelength a lot of the time. “I’ve thought about deleting Instagram a few times, just cuz of all the, you know, overload and stuff.” There was a few moments of silence, before Paris suddenly turned to Veronica. “Which wasn’t directed at you, by the way,” she added. “Just like, the culture in general, and trying to get likes and followers and stuff.”

     “It’s OK, I wasn’t offended,” Veronica said. “I’m the same way. Sometimes I’ve even posted stuff in the morning, but then it doesn’t get a lot of likes and I’m like ahhhh did I make the wrong outfit choice or something? It’s definitely toxic for your mindset.”

     “Yeah, but it’s probably like, a liiiiitle easier for you,” Jessie remarked, partially jealous of how popular her friend was online, and turned her head around. “Especially cuz of…” she glanced down at Veronica’s chest, “you know.”

     “It’s not like I post anything inappropriate, my page pretty much looks just like everyone else’s in our class,” Veronica replied defensively. “Like I know what you mean, but it’s not like when I was born I chose to have big boobs when I grew up.” 

     “No I know,” Jessie said. “Sorry if what I said came across kinda jealous. I mean… I am kinda jealous though,” she laughed.

     “Yeah, honestly,” Paris chimed in.

     “But you haven’t done anything bad, obviously,” Jessie continued. 

     “My mom keeps warning me I’m gonna have a ton of back pain as I get older,” Veronica said, “so it’s not like my life’s perfect. I even went to the doctor a few weeks ago and was like ‘Hey, so are they gonna get bigger?’ And she said it was pretty rare for girls to stop growing at my age, even if they’re already pretty developed or whatever. Soooooo yeah. They’re probably just gonna keep getting even bigger.” Marcus felt like slinking into his seat. He knew it was normal for his daughter and their classmates to have these kinds of conversations, but he didn’t want to be around to hear them. I just wanted to watch a movie. “But if my back is supposed to be hurting, I haven’t really felt it yet,” Veronica went on. “So I’m kinda just vibing with them for now.” She looked down at herself with a smile, pushing her arms against the sides of her boobs and causing them to jut out from her chest a bit more as they got squeezed between her elbows.

     “Yeah, I feel that,” Paris said.

     Jessie mulled over Veronica’s experience at the doctor’s. “That’s kinda a relief to hear actually, cuz I was wondering the same thing but never asked a doctor about it which I guess I should’ve.” She sat up and spun around, addressing Veronica. “Like I know my boobs don’t look bad,” she said, looking down at herself like Veronica had and putting her hands against her breasts, feeling their weight and size and shape through her sports bra. “But I still wish they were bigger, you know?”

     “Oh yeah, don’t worry about it,” Veronica laughed, also glancing over at Paris reassuringly since she knew Paris felt the same way. “They’ll definitely keep getting bigger, we’re still growing.”

     “Yeah! That’s pretty what much my dad said,” Jessie stated, turning to look right at Marcus. “I was feeling kinda self-conscious last night so I asked him what he thought, and he told me there was nothing to worry about and that my boobs would definitely be getting bigger,” she said, never breaking eye contact with her father. “Remember Daddy?”

     He nodded a little bit, scratching his head and avoiding her eyes. “Yeah, um… that’s true, I think. You guys are all still… growing up. But you don’t need to drag me into this,” he awkwardly laughed, hoping to move on. “Pick a movie already before I fall asleep watching you choose.” Jessie giggled and turned back onto her stomach, kicking her feet up behind her and continuing to browse the selection. But finally she decided on a comedy that looked interesting enough, so Marcus settled further into his seat as everyone started watching together.

     Paris had already been starting to feel sleepy before the movie started, so by the time Jessie finally had picked something out, Paris could feel herself nodding off. She turned onto her side, laying her head on the armrest with her legs curled up and feet dangling off the couch. Now in a more relaxed position than before, her eyes already started drooping again within seconds. Marcus noticed her shifting beside him, and glanced over at her, before realizing that her butt was now on its side, facing him. And because of his size, he wasn’t any taller than than the width of her hips, and the dark, smooth underside of her upper thighs and lower butt sat only a few feet from his face. In fact the only bit of clothing he could see that covered any part of her bare legs was the narrow crotch of her short shorts covering her nether region. But even that was partially obscured by the fat of her thighs slightly bulging over the material.

     Veronica followed suit a few minutes later, although unbeknownst to Marcus, Veronica was only turning onto her side so she could mess with him. He noticed the shape of Veronica’s butt become more evident as her sweatpants became taut from her movements. Being the responsible father he was though, he focused his attention on the TV, ignoring the fact that he was bordered on either side by the butts of his daughter’s young friends. But while Paris had her feet draped off the edge of her cushion, Veronica set hers on the couch instead, between her butt and Marcus. He heard a yawn from his left as Veronica pretended to be sleepy, and then asked, “Hey Mr. Tilden? Do you mind if I stretch out a little bit?”

     “Actually I would mind Veronica, sorry,” he replied, faking a polite smile in her direction.

     Jessie looked behind her and assessed the situation, seeing that there was lots of space on both sides of her dad, while Veronica was curled up on the end of the couch. “You have plenty of room, Daddy, let her stretch her legs.” Then she turned back to focus on the movie, twirling her feet in the air behind her with blissful ignorance of her friend’s schemes. 

     Now that Veronica felt like she’d gotten permission from Jessie, she smiled mischievously and extended her legs towards Marcus. But she didn’t want to just take up some of his personal space; her feet made contact with Marcus’ body and continued moving outwards, pushing the man closer to Paris’ sleeping figure. He couldn’t stop her soles, stacked one on top of the other, as they pressed against the left side of his body and forced his meager frame to go where she wanted. Until finally he hit a roadblock in the form of Paris’ giant legs. With Veronica’s bare feet pressing against the left side of his body, and his daughter’s other friend’s thighs against the right side, he essentially became squeezed between the two young girl’s bodies. And his daughter was completely unaware. Veronica continued, lifting her foot slightly so she could press it against Marcus’ face and force it against the underside of Paris’ lower butt, teasing his head with the sleeping 13-year-old’s soft, black skin. He heard Veronica try to stifle a giggle, and decided the best course of action would be to just remove himself from the situation.

     “Alright, I’m gonna go make you guys some dessert, or see if there’s some ice cream,” he announced, pushing Veronica’s feet away, giving her a stern glare, before hopping off the couch to head towards the kitchen.

     “Thanks Daddy!” he heard Jessie say, her eyes still glued to the TV.

     Marcus headed to the freezer and found a tub of ice cream on the bottom shelf, pulling it out and climbing up his stool to put it on the counter. Next, he grabbed some bowls from the cabinet (assuming Paris wasn’t going to have any since she was sleeping). Then he got a spoon from the silverware drawer and tried to scoop some of the dessert into the bowls, but found that it was still too frozen to be able to easily scoop. He sighed, crossing his arms and staring at the food, as if his gaze might be able to melt it a little bit faster.

     He heard a noise behind him, and turned to see Veronica slowly meandering into the kitchen, hopping onto the counter behind Marcus as he waited by the ice cream. He glanced at his daughter still watching the movie, easily within his line of sight, and decided there wouldn’t be anything to worry about. Even though they were technically alone in the kitchen together, his daughter was still close by, which reassured him. “You know, if you ever wanna suck on my toes again Mr. Tilden, I’d totally let you,” she giggled, causing him to blush as he remembered the embarrassing moment form earlier. “It felt kinda cool, like in a weird way.” Marcus breathed in deeply, reminding himself to stay patient and not give in to Veronica, who was clearly trying to get a rise out of him. She knew by now that he’d never agree to anything she suggested, but seeing his reactions to her comments and questions was fun enough to give her a reason to keep asking them. So the best thing he could do on his end was to just ignore her antics.

     “No thanks, I—“ he started to say, turning around to confront her, but in doing so his hand knocked the spoon over onto the floor.

     “Oh! I’ll get that,” she piped up, hopping off the counter before he could get off his stool. But instead of kneeling down to grab it, she bent over a full 90 degrees, giving her friend’s dad a clear view right down her thin tank top as her boobs momentarily hung from her chest. He turned back around, refusing to be a part of her games. But then she stood back up, a smile on her face as if she was completely unaware of what she’d just done to the man. 

     “Did you need help scooping the ice cream out?” she asked, keeping the spoon for herself as she took a step towards Marcus. “Cuz I’m guessing it’s a lot harder for you at your size,” she smirked. He suddenly felt her body at his back, trapping him against the counter, and thanks to the couple extra feet of height he had because of his stool, his head was at the exact level of her breasts, as she leaned into him and dug the spoon into the creamy dessert. Marcus gasped as the 12-year-old’s giant boobs pressed against the back of his head, straining against her tank top to envelope him while she spooned out several scoops of ice cream into the bowls. 

     “Veroni—ca, you c-can’t…” he sputtered, squirming uncomfortably as she bent her head down, closer to the head that she had squashed between her squishy, preteen tits. She reached her free hand around to his mouth, easily covering it with her palm and keeping him quiet while she spoke.

     “One of my friends told me she thinks I could be a “big titty goth gf” when I get older,” she whispered, her muscles slightly flexing in front of him as she dished out the frozen treat. “You know, like the meme?” She giggled softly at how cringey the statement was. “But I don’t see the point in waiting a few years, I think I already make a pretty good one right now. What do you think, Mr. Tilden?” she asked seductively, and he gulped nervously, trying even harder to worm his way out. But doing so just smushed his head further against her breasts, and her legs were blocking him on both sides. “Maybe that’s what I’ll be for Halloween next year,” she cooed, reminding him how revealing her outfit had already been this year. “You haven’t answered me,” she continued to softly whisper. “Are they big enough now? Or should I wait a couple years until I’m in high school, when they’ll be even bigger!” To emphasize her last point, she squeezed her elbows together, smushing Marcus’ little head even harder between her boobs. He refused to answer her, or engage with her in any way other than fight back. As she finished serving up the ice cream, she sighed, frustrated at his unwillingness to cooperate or submit to her, and rotated the hand she had on his mouth so it covered his entire face instead. With her lower palm still shutting him up, her thumb and pinky finger grabbed at the sides of his head and he felt a strong pressure against his skull as she grabbed his head, pulling him out from between her boobs by lifting his entire body up using just her hand. She turned her wrist around so her hand was facing outwards, and through the slits between her fingers she looked straight into his anxious eyes, holding him several feet above the ground so they could be at eye level with one another. “Does forbidden love not interest you, Mr. Tilden? Because I feel like that’s what makes it so exciting.” He shook his head furiously—or at least tried his best to, considering her hand was holding his head like an oversized baseball. He just wouldn’t cave. She rolled her eyes and glanced back at Jessie, still focused on the movie in the other room and completely unaware of her dad and Veronica. “Fine, I’ll just wait until I’m a little older to come back and try again,” she told him, frowning. “But until then, something to remember me by…” she added, carrying Marcus to the fridge and pinning him against its door. With her other hand, she grabbed his neck, being careful not to choke him but still applying enough pressure to keep him pinned. Then she leaned forward, puckering her lips as his eyes widened, violently squirming to no avail, and suddenly her palm left his face as her mouth rushed forward and pressed against his own. The young girl’s soft, red lips encapsulated Marcus’ for a brief second, and his heart rate spiked as he realized he was so weak, he couldn’t even keep a seventh grader from kissing him. But with one final burst of energy, he brought his feet up and pushed violently against her torso, catching her off guard and successfully ripping her lips away from his own, giving him just enough time to yell.

     “Jessie!” he shouted desperately, and Veronica instantly let go of her grip around his neck, taking a quick step backwards as her head whipped around to look towards the living room. Jessie simply turned to look towards the kitchen, thinking nothing of her dad and Veronica awkwardly standing next to each other by the fridge.

     “Yeah?” she asked.

     Marcus glanced up at Veronica, then back to his daughter. “Um… the ice cream is ready,” he said, scratching his forehead as his heart rate began to slow again. “You wanna pick out what bowl you want?”

     She shrugged, “I don’t really care, whatever one you guys don’t want. Thanks for asking though,” she smiled, and turned back to face the TV. Marcus hastily grabbed one of the bowls off the counter and briskly walked into the living room, delivering it to his daughter. “Thanks!” she said, taking it from him and setting it on the floor, immediately scooping some of it into her mouth. “I’d give you a hug if I wasn’t lying on my stomach,” she gargled through a full mouth, and he chuckled at her goofiness.

     “That’s OK,” he said, feeling relaxed now that he was around her again. He looked behind him, and saw that Veronica was sitting back down on the couch with her own bowl, avoiding his eyes but looking upset. With her clear of the kitchen, he ventured back in to grab his own bowl, but this time he took a seat next to his daughter instead of heading back to the couch.

     Jessie turned and looked at him, then looked back at the empty spot where he’d been sitting before. “I thought you were sitting on the couch,” she noticed.

     Yeah, but I think I’d rather sit next to you,” he replied, a loving smile on his lips from how much calmer he felt with his daughter compared to her friend. 

     “Well here, you can take my pillow then,” she said, reaching for the cushion she’d had her legs on, and set it down behind Marcus. He got down on the floor and rested his head against it, then took the bowl of ice cream into his hands, feeling warm inside from the compassion she showed him. As much as she might be a lot to handle sometimes, or tease him, he knew that ultimately she still loved him. And it was the real, genuine love a person will always have for their family, not whatever temporary infatuation Veronica felt towards him was supposed to be called. It was then that Marcus realized how fortunate he was to have a daughter who still cared for him just as much as when he was normal, in a world where so many shrunken people didn’t have that kind of support. 

     “Love you,” she interrupted his thoughts to say. 

     Filled with a sense of contentment, he snuggled further into his spot as he thanked God for the blessing that Jessie was. “Love you too.”

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus’ eyes blinked open as he felt someone softly shaking him. His giant daughter was standing over him, still dressed in her sports bra and yoga shorts, and was nudging his leg with her foot. “You fell asleep during the movie,” she whispered, trying to disturb him as little as possible. “C’mon, it’s time for bed.” He stood up, and she  reached her hand out, signaling for him to take ahold of it. He rubbed his eyes sleepily but grabbed ahold of it, and she turned to lead him towards the hallway. He looked like a kid being led by their mother, as Jessie patiently led him through their house. “Veronica and Paris are splitting your bed,” she explained, as Paris walked out of the bathroom and headed towards Marcus’ room. 

     “Goodnight Mr. Tilden,” she said, before closing his bedroom door. He was too tired to protest, although he didn’t have much of a problem with it anyways, as Jessie turned towards her room and ushered him inside before closing the door behind them. She pulled back the covers of her bed, motioning for him to climb in first. Just like as had been tradition for a few nights now, Jessie still wanted her dad with her while she slept. He followed along and slipped under the covers, as Jessie smiled at how cute he looked still dressed in her old baby outfit. And then she got in the bed, tugging her blankets back over their bodies. But unlike all the other nights before, she reached out and slipped her arm around his stomach, before pulling him in her closer to her as she shuffled closer as well. Marcus was so tired, he didn’t bother to object, as his giant daughter snuggled up to him and held him close inside her warm bed.

     “Mmmm… night…” he mumbled.

     “Goodnight Daddy,” she whispered, cuddling his little body within her own, as the two of them slowly drifted off to sleep.

-    +   -    +    -    +    -

THE END

-    +   -    +    -    +    -

   for now...

Now that version 1 of HTTYD is over with, that means that it’s time to move on to version 2! A smaller size for Marcus, new characters and friends of Jessie, and more fun interactions and scenarios all around :) The first couple chapters are going to look pretty similar since the general arc of the story is the same—except with altered descriptions and details because of Marcus’ new size—but the new scenes and side plots should start up by day 3 or 4.

And yes, eventually there will be a version 3, at an even smaller size. But there’s stuff that characters can’t do when they’re only an inch tall, just like there was stuff Marcus could only do at a few feet tall. So this version is in the middle, exploring what happens when someone’s less than a foot tall but not ridiculously tiny yet. Hope you all enjoy!

Story Note: I'm in college now, but because of when I started writing this story (before I even posted here), there are characters between 13 to 18, so if you'd rather read a version where they're all 18 and up, there's an adaption on my DeviantArt where everyone's a senior in high school.

====================

Thursday, October 15 

====================

     Marcus Tilden drove home silently on Thursday morning. For the first time in his life, he had lost his job.

     The local news agency where he had previously worked as a camera operator had let him go. But it wasn’t because of a workplace dispute, or another round of layoffs; it was because over the last several weeks, Marcus had shrunk to a height of only 9 inches. 

     The size change had occurred because of Hypocorpoplasia, also known colloquially as DSD (short for Diminutive Size Disorder). The disorder had three main differences to Achondroplasia, the genetic disorder that was responsible for most cases of dwarfism. Firstly, dwarfism usually resulted in people having shorter arms and legs, but maintaining an average sized head or torso, whereas DSD caused a size diminishment across the whole body. Because of this, people with the disorder might look smaller than a dwarf of the same height, because their body had less mass. Secondly, DSD was almost never present at birth, and didn’t typically appear in individuals until adulthood. Some people would go their whole lives knowing they had it, but would die of natural causes before it ever even took effect. But lastly, and to some the most important and noticeable difference, DSD would result in a lot more broad results in regards to its effects on those who developed it. Some people would shrink by less than an inch, and hardly even care since it didn’t noticeably affect their lives. But some would reduce to only several inches tall, far smaller than the world’s shortest person with dwarfism, and more dangerous to the individual. 

     After Marcus had already lost several inches in the first few days, he’d hoped like any reasonable person that it would at least stop when he was still several feet tall. Most people wouldn’t shrink any smaller than the size of a young child, which was obviously embarrassing, but not unmanageable. With some work and adjustment, they could still live mostly normal lives. So he’d told his employers that he needed to take sick leave until things evened out for him, and see where that left him. After he shrunk past the 5 foot mark, he wondered just how small he would be able to get while keeping his job. Obviously someone a few inches tall couldn’t operate a studio camera, but someone who was 5 feet tall still could. But then he hit the 4 foot mark. And then 3 feet. The shrinking still didn’t show any signs of slowing down. As he continued to lose his size, he soon realized his job as a cameraman was lost. By 2 feet tall, he couldn’t even head outside anymore without feeling like he was constantly in danger of a world that was three times larger than it used to be. If he had returned to work at that point, he wouldn’t even be able to reach the handles for the camera rigs, let alone see through the viewfinder. Eventually, his height reached only 12 inches. No more would he be able to measure himself in feet; for the rest of his life, he’d be comparable to the length of a ruler.

     So when Marcus finally showed up to work again after the shrinking had finally stopped, he hadn’t been anywhere close to surprised to find out he’d been laid off. Coming in had really just been a formality. He felt like a monster as he walked through his old workplace, and every single person stared at their former coworker, timidly strolling by their ankles. He had to rely on other people to open doors for him, or press the buttons on the elevator. The entire experience was one of the most awkward and humiliating experiences of his life. After years of building up a career and working in an environment that he enjoyed, it was over. He wouldn’t even be able to get another job in his field, whether it was with another news agency, or any media companies that needed camera operators. It was a job that simply didn’t work for people of his size, so he’d had to file for unemployment. He had already applied for disabilities from the state, but the monthly stipends were different for everyone with a serious case of DSD because everyone’s situation was different. California wasn’t cheap, and he was worried he wouldn’t be able to keep paying the mortgage on the house and maintain a relatively comfortable lifestyle for him and his daughter. 

     Shit. His daughter, Jessie. At 13 years old, she was his only child, and he was her only parent. Her mother had skipped out on Marcus days after their daughter was born, leaving him to raise her solo since nearly day 1. Her mother’s absence wasn’t something that he dwelled on a lot. Being a single parent was a hard job, but it was the only way he’d ever known how to be a parent. And being a parent would’ve been a hard job already even if he had had a helping hand, so he didn’t really feel like he was able to know how much harder he had it compared to most couples he knew with children. 

     If Marcus was being honest, he actually thought that Jessie was handling the situation pretty well. She had little to no problem accommodating most of his needs (which they were learning every day was an increasingly large list). Marcus had had to spend a lot of money buying new things to accommodate his size, from cooking utensils to toilets to clothes, and a dozen other things. There were specially designed ladders and stools throughout the house, so he was still able to make some of his own meals, fold laundry (just his own, obviously), use the bathroom. Whatever typical everyday chores and parts of life that needed to be done. There were some things, like taking out the trash, that were utterly impossible for him to do now. He had a couple of his own trash cans that Jessie had custom made for him out of cardboard, but she still needed to be the one to empty it into the large bin every week and take it to the curb. He had worried that her attitude might change for the worse, and that the chores would get too tiresome for her, or that she’d stop respecting him as a father now that he was only as tall as her calf. Marcus was aware that most teenagers had rebellious streaks or phases, and while she seemed to have maintained a normal, bubbly personality for as long as he’d raised her, he wondered what life would be like trying to parent a child that was 7x taller than him. Would he even be able to punish her? He hoped that it was just paranoia that clouded his mind, but his imagination still ran wild as he realized that there wasn’t a single thing he’d be able to do to her if she didn’t want him to. If he tried to take away her phone, there was nowhere he could put it that she wouldn’t be able to just take it right back. If he tried to ground her, she could just leave the house anyways and he’d be physically incapable of stopping her. Jessie was a good daughter, a great one, and thus far she wasn’t the kind of person to behave the way he feared. But it was something he kept in the back of his mind. He was still in charge of the finances for the household, and she was still a few years from being able to drive a car. So there were still a few things that gave him leverage. Hopefully, it was leverage he’d never need. 

     As Marcus was gently lifted out of the Uber that had taken him home from his work, he wasted no time in heading inside to his liquor cabinet and pouring himself a glass of beer from one of his special, tiny containers into one of his special, tiny cups. A definite upside to shrinking was that his portion sizes were magnitudes smaller, meaning he and Jessie would be saving thousands every year in reduced grocery costs. Although the downside was that it took a lot less alcohol to get him drunk now. His years of drinking beers solely to party with his friends and get plastered had ended over a decade ago. After Jessie had been born, drinking turned into a leisurely activity, a rare time to unwind with friends instead of go crazy with them. But now he could get pretty tipsy just from a few drops. As he swirled his drink around and headed to his recliner that felt like a giant’s throne when he sat in it, he reckoned he’d be pretty wasted within the hour. And for the first time in awhile, being drunk was just what he wanted. 

*     *     *     *     *     *

     “Daddy?” 

     Marcus jolted awake, his empty glass getting knocked over on the cushion and rolling into the crack. His daughter, unnervingly huge, was towering over him, a mixture of confusion and concern on her massive face. At 5’5, his daughter was a couple inches taller than the average girl in her class, but far from being a standout height. Although to Marcus, that obviously didn’t make a difference. Everyone was a standout. And he already felt tired of having to look up at everyone he talked to. What I wouldn’t give to just look someone in the eyes, face to face, at a normal height, he thought miserably. One last time. And without someone having to carry me for me to do it. Jessie’s hair was a straight, golden brown, and she was wearing an off shoulder blouse with ripped blue jeans and checkered red Vans. He blushed a little, embarrassed at having been caught. But if she was home, then several hours must have passed since he fell asleep. “Did you pass out? Are you... drunk?” She said that last word like she was scared of it. 

     He laughed nervously. I’m not drunk now, but I definitely was this morning. “No, no, I only had like, a couple shots. My size shots, it’d just be a few drops to you.” He hoped she wouldn’t make the realization that alcohol was hundreds of times stronger to his body because of his size. But those couple drops sure went a ways... 

     “In the middle of the day? Why?” Man, why's my kid always so curious? 

     “Well, yeah, but I...” He trailed off, biting his lip as he worried about how to break the news. She waited patiently, still looking confused and with bated breath, as he wallowed in her shadow. “I got laid off today.” 

     Jessie gasped, then bent forward, nearly falling onto her dad as she picked him up and held his body against hers. It was what they’d decided would constitute as a huge between the two of them. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry Daddy. Were you fired?” 

     He rubbed his temples as she set him back down on the recliner, sitting criss cross in front of it so they could talk on the same level. “No, people get fired if they did something wrong, being laid off just means they don’t have work for you anymore. I’ll get a few weeks pay at least, and I can get on unemployment, but...” He breathed in slowly and sighed, collapsing onto the cushion and staring at the ceiling. “Honestly, I’m surprised that you’re surprised. I can’t just get another job at some other news company, I’m too small. I’ll need to find a new career, and finding a new job is hard enough, I don’t even wanna know how hard it’ll be when I’m like... this.” He motioned his hands along his body, bringing attention to his size. Jessie assumed a sorrowful look on her face, unhappy to see her dad distraught. 

     “Ohhh, Daddy,” she whispered, picking him up for a second hug, this one with him against her shoulder, near her collarbone. She teared up at seeing her dad so miserable and depressed. In just a few weeks, he had gone from the chipper, loving father she loved more than anything in the world, to a despondent wreck that was too discouraged to even get out of bed some days. He couldn’t even hug her without her help. She didn’t know how to soothe her father and her father didn’t know either, but Jessie still wanted to make sure her dad knew that he was loved, and that she’d be here for him to help him through. After a tender moment together, Jessie released him from her bind, and he withdrew his head from her shoulder as she set him back down on the recliner. “Let’s do something together,” she said as he held her fingers with his hands, blinking her tears away and forcing a smile.

     As Jessie displayed her signature grin at such close proximity to Marcus, he felt a bit uneasy about her shining white teeth and her shining blue braces. Whenever he saw them close up, he couldn’t help but be reminded of how small he was—small enough to fit inside someone’s mouth, a mind-boggling realization. But he did his best to return the smile, truly thankful for a loving daughter like Jessie who was trying her best to help and cheer him up. “I appreciate the gesture, honey, but I don’t feel much like going anywhere today.” He glanced longingly at the bottle of beer in the kitchen, seemingly hundreds of feet away from his perspective. “OK, then we’ll stay in,” she replied cheerily, not losing a beat. “How about watching some movies together?” 

     Marcus wrinkled his face at the idea. Didn’t she just come home? “At what,” he said, turning to look at the clock on the oven, “5:15 on a week night?” 

     Jessie shrugged, “I’m just trying to get your mind off of things. We can have a marathon. What’s your favorite movie?” 

     “Jurassic Park,” he answered, fondly remembering his dad taking him to see it when he was a kid. 

     “Great! That’s a series, how many are there?” 

     “Well, five I guess, but I mostly only liked the first three.” He paused, remembering what day it was. “And it’s a school night, I don’t want you staying up. And don’t you have homework?” 

     Jessie sighed, she felt like even when she was trying to help her dad, he would fight back without even realizing it. “Yeah, just math. I can do it while we watch. And if we’re only watching three movies, I’ll still be in bed by 9.” 

     “I don’t know, the movies are kinda long...”

     Jessie rolled her eyes, beginning to grow impatient but trying to keep her cool. All this back-and-forth was at least distracting her dad from his troubles. She’d rather see him be uptight and a bit annoying than moping around though. “Three movies aren’t gonna last til midnight Daddy. I can handle going to bed at 10 or something for one night.” She shuffled forward, dawning a caring expression, and made sure to fight her urges to pet his head or fondle it like he was a child. It was something he was very vocal about disliking as he was shrinking. “I know losing your job sucks.” How could she know, she’s never even been old enough to have a job, he thought stubbornly. “But there are plenty of people with DSD who are still able to work. You’ll find something else. And having DSD sucks, but you’ll always have me, Daddy. You’ll get used to it. Maybe we can get you to see a therapist. But for today, let’s just have a relaxing movie night. Normally when I have a bad day, I just go to sleep and honestly, a lot of the time my mood’s better in the morning.” 

     They looked at each other for a few seconds, as Marcus thought about what she had said, before turning away to gaze around the house in thought. She’s right. I’ll feel better in time. And I need to be better for her. If I’m a mess, she’ll eventually be a mess, and she doesn’t deserve that. “OK,” he conceded, “you’re right.” He looked back up at her and did his best to smile again. “There’s a frozen pizza in the freezer, we can have that for dinner later.” Her eyes sparkled with excitement, and just seeing her light up was already improving his mood. “I’ll see if I can rent it on this weird new phone, and then we can play it on the TV,” he said, heading to the couch in the living room. “Oh, and go get your book bag and homework. I’m not gonna let you forget about that,” he told her, and she smiled and spun around to fetch her backpack before settling in for a night with her dad. 

=================

Friday, October 16

=================

     Marcus slept in the next day, and didn’t wake up until after Jessie had left for school. I should appreciate the feeling of sleeping in on a weekday, he thought, but it’s too hard. I know I should be working right now. Instead I’m just gonna sit around all day and do nothing. The stress alone is gonna give me a headache. In truth, he wanted to just head back down to his liquor cabinet and start the day by taking a load off. But he knew he couldn’t repeat what he did yesterday. Even if he still felt discouraged and borderline hopeless in his situation, Jessie was right last night in saying that he’d feel less depressed today. It was a marginal difference, but he did feel slightly better. If I can keep myself from getting drunk as a way to solve my emotions, then at least that’s a step in the right direction, he told himself.

     He reached out to grab his special, mini-sized phone that sat nearby on his mattress. He still slept in the same bed he slept in when he was normal sized, since it was still comfortable and he saw no reason to change. But since the bed-side table was too far away he had started using the large expanse of mattress to put things down on since it was way more room than he needed to sleep on. Turning it on revealed that he’d gotten a text from Jessie while he was still sleeping, sent right around the time she normally left for her bus. “i know looking for a job is stressful, but at least u get to wake up whenever u want! my school counselor said that sometimes doing chores can be relaxing for some people, so maybe theres something simple and easy that u can do at your size. idk, just a thought. but maybe itll help u think of something. but at least that way u can still be active and get something accomplished which would be good for ur motivation 😊 either way, love u, hope u have a good day!” And below that text was another one sent a minute later: “sheesh sry that was kinda long lol.” Marcus smiled at his daughter’s relentless positive spirit. Her upbeat vibes rubbing off on him every day when she was home had been the best medicine for him so far, and he knew that without her, he’d be in a far worse state emotionally. Whenever he felt like he wouldn’t be able to get through the next few weeks, or months, or however long it took for him to get accustomed to his new size, he’d just picture his loving daughter, and be glad that he at least had her by his side. I’ll love her more than she’ll ever know.

     He realized that she was right though. Smart for her age. Distracting myself for the next couple days would probably be good for me. I have some time. Especially with these disability payments. Yeah. I’ll be fine. After getting up and getting dressed, Marcus headed to the kitchen to make breakfast while watching the morning news. Even though he was a lot smaller and his morning routine looked different from the outside, at its core it was still the same. He wasn’t so small that he couldn’t still do the things he was used to doing every morning, albeit with a bit of extra work. As he was getting some egg from his mini fridge, a mixture of the yolk and whites that had been proportioned by his daughter ahead of time, he took a look around at his roomy house. It had never felt cramped, but before his shrinking, it could feel small sometimes. But that was such a trivial concern now, since he practically felt like he was living in a mansion. Jessie really suggested that I find a chore I can do in this place? he wondered, pouring some of the blend into a pan before putting the container back in the fridge. He could sweep the floor, although that seemed like it’d take hours to do. Technically he had a ladder to climb up to the counters that were far above his head, but many of the normal kitchen items were too big to be put away. Actually, that was one beneficial outcome from their family’s new living situation, was that it was teaching Jessie independence at a faster rate. Since Marcus couldn’t use almost anything normal sized and had his own set of specially sized items, the only person who could ever be responsible for the house’s messes was Jessie. And the only person who was ever responsible for the little things occasionally lying about was Marcus. And her messes never felt cluttered to him when there was so much space everywhere, while his messes never bothered her since they were so small. All in all, that aspect of their home life had really worked out great, and had never been an issue thus far.

     But he still wanted to do something. Even if the floors would take awhile to clean, Jessie had practice after school, so she wouldn’t be home for another 7 or 8 hours. And he wouldn’t need to use the kind of broom that most people use to tidy up, and have to maneuver around all the corners and crevices of his house. He could pull out one of those wide sweepers, like the kind people use to sweep gymnasiums (except made for someone a foot tall, which was still relatively easy enough for Marcus to use), and just walk the length of his house. I could even put on a podcast or something, or an audiobook. And taking a bit longer to sweep the house would be a good little cardio workout for him too. He began feeling more upbeat as he began realizing that his plan wasn’t half bad. The longer he thought about it, the more the pros outweighed the cons. 

     As he finished cooking up his scrambled eggs and slid them onto a plate, he imagined Jessie’s reaction when she came home. Even if Marcus made his own meals, he could never realistically make enough for his giant daughter, so she’d had to take up the task of cooking for herself every night now. And coming home to a clean, tidy house was the kind of thing that the cook of the household would appreciate. So that’ll be my job for the day, he thought proudly. One step at a time.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     “Wait, did you clean the floors? They look so good!” beamed Jessie as she shrugged off her backpack and gym bag on the kitchen table. Marcus grinned at her reaction, which had been exactly what he was hoping for. “I guess you got my message this morning, you never texted you love me back.” 

     Her dad chuckled nervously, “Sorry, I’m not great at remembering to text back, but I’m glad you noticed the floors. They obviously look way different to me but I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to tell. You were right, it felt good to have a task to do for the day,” he smiled.

     “Well maybe we should think of something for you to do every day,” Jessie responded, heading to the pantry to pick out a snack to eat.

     “I don’t know if there’s really enough stuff to keep me occupied though. Like this,” he said, his arms out as he motioned around at the shining wooden floorboards, “took me at least an hour, probably more. But most chores that aren’t at my level are just impossible to do. I might need to get creative.”

     “That’s OK, I can help you be creative,” Jessie reassured him. “Tomorrow’s a Saturday anyways, so I’ll be home all day. Maybe you can help me with something instead and by Monday you’ll think of something new. Like you could help me with homework, I never feel good about the essays I have to write for English.”

     “What about Sunday though?”

     Jessie sighed at her dad’s stubborn sense of worry, but kept her smiling demeanor. She tried picking some food out of her braces, a habit she’d developed when she was thinking about something. “We’ll worry about Sunday when it’s Sunday, OK?” she decided upon. “We don’t even need to worry about tomorrow yet, it’s still today. And today, you did this,” she said, looking around at the floor. Her phone buzzed, and she saw that her friend had texted her. “Anyways, I’m gonna go to my room, let me know if you need anything,” she said cheerily. He could feel the slight tremor of her footfalls as she turned to head to the door, slipping off her shoes before disappearing into her room. Marcus stood there, and looked around the floor of the kitchen one last time. He had barely any idea how clean the counters were since he couldn’t even see them, but at least from his point of view it looked fairly clean. He had been productive for the day, that was good. Now he just wondered what kind of work Jessie would suggest he do tomorrow.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     The wind blasted in Marcus’ face as he flew down the sidewalk, tightly clutched by Jessie’s hand as she biked to the neighborhood park. He’d been wary not just about being handled by her, but of even going to the park in the first place. All the giant strangers that milled around outside the comfort of his home made him nervous, but Jessie insisted that it would be good for his mental health. Not just because he’d be getting some fresh air by being out of the house, but because he’d get an opportunity to be around other people, as giant as they may be. As much as he wasn’t immediately keen to the idea, he knew that she was right; being around others would be good for him to get used to. But since his car was still at the auto shop having its interior refitted for someone his size to drive, and her clothes didn’t have any pockets, she just had to hold onto her dad super tight while gripping the handlebars of her bike. The rough, textured rubber of the bike’s handle was uncomfortable against his back, but luckily his daughter’s hands were soft and malleable, so the front of his body was a lot more snug in her gentle grasp.

     After they’d arrived at the park, Jessie sat down on one of the benches and carefully placed her dad on her shoulder for him to sit on. I gotta admit, this is actually pretty nice, he thought, gazing at the setting sun and listening to the chirping birds as he felt the cool breeze against his body. All while relaxing with his daughter. They made light conversation about her day at school, enjoying each other’s company, until Marcus suddenly had an idea.

     “I just thought of another thing I can do with all this free time I have now. How about I take you to school in the mornings?” he said, and her face instantly lit up. He couldn’t see it directly, but from his side point of view he was able to see her eyes widen and her cheekbones raise.

     “You mean like, every day?” she asked excitedly, turning to look at him. She had to extend her neck back as far as she could towards her other shoulder to give him some space, since his body was so close to her giant face. He could faintly smell her breath wash over him from how close she was with him sitting on her shoulder.

     “Well, at least until I get the car back from the shop, and at least until I get a new job—if I ever do. But otherwise yeah, every day. I obviously have the time to now, and if you didn’t have to take the bus, you could leave, what, half an hour later?”

     Jessie shrugged, “Yeah, something like that. It takes about twenty minutes, but the bus drivers try to get there super early.”

     “Well then, if I start taking you, then you’ll be able to wake up half an hour later, which means going to bed at 9:30 instead of 9. I know you usually don’t have a lot of time on volleyball nights since you need to take a shower but you come home so late, so hopefully that should give you a little more peace of mind and let you relax for a while longer.”

     Jessie was bursting with joy, her dad’s new rules sent a surge of energy throughout her tired body, and she tensed her body as if she was about to jump up excitedly, but held herself back so that Marcus wouldn’t fall off. But Marcus could still sense the change in her body language, especially with how close he was, and smiled warmly at her reaction; it always made him feel good to see her so happy, especially if he knew it was because of something he said or did. “Thank you so much, daddy!” she squealed, and turned her face forwards again with her head angled down in his direction. She gently brought her hand up to his side and pressed his body into her cheek, one of her newest ways of giving him a hug. Since she couldn’t move too erratically, her shoulders alternated in moving up and down, giving her dad a bit of a bumpy ride as she serenaded him with her gratitude. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you,” she repeated, over and over with each shrug of her shoulders.

     “OK, OK,” he laughed, trying to push away from her cheek. But she was much too strong in comparison for him to stop her, and she didn’t even realize at first that he was even trying to push away. “I knew you’d be appreciative but didn’t think it would mean this much.” But she eventually noticed the small nudges of his hands against her dimples, and released him from her hug. 

     “It’s the little things, Daddy. An extra half hour each night is a lot when I normally only get 10 or 15 minutes to myself.” 

     “That’s true,” he mused, and turned back towards the setting sun while reflecting on how proud he was of his parenting skills.

====================

Saturday, October 17

====================

     It didn’t quite make sense to Marcus initially, but having Jessie home with him on Saturday put his mind at ease. Friday, the first full day after his layoff, had been an improvement over the day before, although he still retained a strong sense of hopelessness and depression as he went about his day. And while those feelings continued into his third day of official unemployment, they were alleviated by the fact that his daughter was around to keep him company.

     “I just wanted to let you know I really appreciate all that you’ve done for me these past few weeks,” he told her that morning, sitting across from her at the table while they ate breakfast. His spot at the table now consisted of a mini-chair and mini-table that were made for his size, in place of where his dishes used to reside when he was normal sized. And behind him, in the area where his chair used to be, was now a small U-shaped staircase, that allowed him to independently make his way to the surface of the table while holding his food. For a few days, Marcus had been worried about the idea of shrinking down so small that he’d have to eat at ankle level to everyone else, if he wasn’t picked up and carried down by someone for every single meal. But luckily Jessie had been able to find the stair solution online that let her dad eat at a more respectable level whenever he wanted to.

     She smiled down at him, sitting on the furniture that she’d found herself, as she scooped some cereal into her mouth, “Well thanks, Daddy, but—” She cut herself off as milk spilled out of the corners of her mouth, and she giggled.

     “But what?”

     “But I haven’t really done that much for you,” she replied after swallowing, taking the route of modesty. “Like you said like, ‘all that I’ve done for you,’ but you only got fired a couple days ago and I don’t really feel like I’ve done anything out of the ordinary.” 

     Marcus sighed as she mistook how he lost his job again, “I wasn’t fired, Jess, I was laid off.” It was important to him that she made the distinction. “And you might not feel like you’ve done anything out of the ordinary the last few days, but ‘ordinary’ lately means something totally different than what ordinary would’ve meant several months ago.” He smiled at her, “I wasn’t sure how my shrinking was going to affect you, like if you’d seem more stressed out and bothered by me, but you’re just the same girl that you were from before.” 

     Jessie blushed and looked down at her cereal, trying to hide her smile as she spun her spoon around the bowl. In the days after first learning about his diagnosis, her mind and imagination went wild. She wasn’t sure if her dad would only shrink by an inch or shrink all the way down to an inch. She didn’t know if he’d have to live in some kind of medical facility and lose custody of her. She was even worried for a little while that he could die somehow. But none of that happened. And as much as life changed for him in a million different ways, a lot of her life was still mostly the same. She was surprised by how quickly she forgot about his situation in the first place and had simply become accustomed to having him only be as tall as her calves. As if her dad had always been 9 inches tall.

     I probably should be looking for a job right now, or some other way to make money, Marcus thought as he leaned back in his chair, done with his breakfast but not wanting to make the trek back to his sink. But I think I’d rather just relax for the day. I don’t need to rush into the job search immediately, I have enough in savings to last a few months. Spending the day with Jessie sounded like a fun idea, but he didn’t know what to do. He and his daughter spent time together fairly regularly, especially since they were the only family they each had (in their household anyways; there was extended family, and Marcus’ sister was present enough in his life, but nobody who lived anywhere near them). I used to love going to Disneyland with her, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to have fun there again. He cringed as he imagined Jessie squeezing him in her hand while they rushed down a roller coaster, before something jolted the ride and he flew out of her hand to an untimely death. “How about we watch a movie again?” he thought out loud all of a sudden.

     “Clueless!” she exclaimed, smile wide.

     “What?”

     “Maybe that’s not the right name.” Her smile faltered a bit, seeing that her dad didn’t understand. “Amy said it was a movie on Netflix about a popular girl in high school during the 90s. She didn’t say who the girl was, but apparently Paul Rudd is her brother. She said it’s really good.”

     Marcus laughed, knowing just what she was talking about after giving more detail than just a single word suddenly blurted out. “I know what movie you’re talking about, it came out when I was a freshman in high school. My first girlfriend took me to see it in theaters,” he said, fondly remembering his 14 year old self.

     Jessie got excited, “Did you like it?”

     “Well, I think it had been out for a few weeks when we went to see it, because I remember the theater was totally empty. And I, uh…” he trailed off, not wanting to mention the rest of what they did in that theater. “I don’t really remember much.” He scratched his neck and avoided her eyes, hoping she wouldn’t spot his lie.

     “Ewwww!” Jessie twisted her face in a mixture of laughter and disgust. It wasn’t hard for her to spot when her dad was lying, even as small as his face was; she knew exactly what he was trying to hide. “You lost your virginity in a movie theater?” She tried to stifle her laugh, but couldn’t help but giggle at the situation. A movie theater? It seemed kind of lame to her.

     “Jessie!” he shouted, although his voice wasn’t very disruptive because of how small he was. His cheeks were searing red at his daughter having asked such an intimate question. “We didn’t… we just made out, it wasn’t anything like that.” Although Rebecca definitely kissed me in a few places that weren’t my mouth… “And don’t talk about stuff like that with me.”

     Jessie rolled her eyes at her dad’s antiquated behavior. “Jeez, we already had ‘the talk’ a couple years ago, it’s not a big deal.”

     “No, I…” he paused and sighed, trying to think of how to say what he wanted to say. It was times like these that he really wished he had a mother for Jessie to help ease the hurdles of parenthood. “What I mean is that I don’t want you asking about my sex life. Just like I’d imagine you wouldn’t want me prying you about all the boys you hang out with, right?” Jessie looked away, her dad was right. She obviously didn’t want to discuss the kisses she’d had with a few boys so far, let alone divulge the details of going further with anyone, whenever that time came. “You can always ask me anything you want to,” he continued, “I’d rather you ask me than just assume something. That’s how accidents happen. But that’s different than bringing it up casually, like for no reason. Do you see what I’m saying?”

     Jessie bit her lip, still feeling awkward. “OK yeah, I guess, can we change the subject now?” She hated this feeling. It was like she was in trouble even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.

     Marcus grimaced, hopeful that she was being honest. And he really did hope she could trust him to come to him about anything. Hopefully this interaction won’t change that. But was I wrong? Was I being hypocritical, or is there a difference like I thought there was? Never mind, she wanted to move on. “Yes. Anyways, Clueless. Your friend was right, it’s a pretty good movie. I haven’t seen it since back then but I think it’s a bit of a cult classic now.” He wasn’t thrilled about watching something that he deemed was just a chick flick, but if it made Jessie excited, then he’d do it for her.

     Jessie perked up hearing her dad’s review of the film. “OK, well did you wanna watch the movie tonight then?”

     “Who says we have to watch movies at night?”

     Jessie paused for a moment. “But it’s like, 10am.”

     “So?” Jessie didn’t know what to say again, then erupted into a fit of giggles; the idea seemed so absurd to her, and yet he was right. Her laughter was contagious and Marcus started chuckling too as he looked up at her, “What?”

     “I guess we can have movie night in the morning then!” she replied, a few more giggles bubbling up from her. Since she knew her dad preferred to get around on his own, she grabbed his plate along with her bowl to take them to their respective sinks for later washing, and then hurried over to the couch while he descended down his stairs to make his way into the living room. Jessie bundled up a blanket on her lap and turned on the TV to find the movie as her dad climbed up another set of stairs next to the couch. Thinking up an idea, he climbed from the armrest onto the backbone of the couch, then carefully balanced himself along the narrow top as he walked towards Jessie. As she was focused on the TV, he leapt over her shoulder, falling for a brief second before crashing into the soft and safe blanket on his daughter’s lap. She was caught off guard at first and yelped, almost jumping out of her seat until she realized what was on her lap. Marcus was sprawled out on the comfortable folds of their blanket, his head turned skyward as he grinned up at her. She looked behind her, realizing what he’d done, and then smiled back down at him. “That was probably fun,” she noted, and he nodded excitedly, feeling like a kid who’d jumped into a play pit. The sound of a movie studio’s logo boomed from their TV, and he changed his attention to the massive screen far in front of him, so big that he felt like he was at an actual movie theater, as the two of them began watching.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     The rest of the day went by mostly uneventfully for the two of them, with Jessie spending a lot of time in her room on her phone, and Marcus lounging around in the main area of the house. He got the idea to start reading books again, starting with The Woman in the Window. A couple of his old coworkers had recommended it back when the movie came out, saying the book was better than the movie. So now, with all his new free time, he figured a book might be a perfect way to fill in the gaps. The time practically flew by, and before he knew it, his daughter’s finger was gently shaking his shoulder, her face peering down at him from high above as she stood behind him.

     “Hey, what are we doing for dinner?” she asked, the shadow of just her head surrounding him. “It’s almost 6.”

     Marcus glanced at the clock on the wall: 5:47. Shit, the time really does slip away when you’re reading. And he was more than halfway through the book; he’d have to find something new to read (or something new to do) in the coming days. He sighed and gazed out the window, thinking of what they should cook, and the darkening skyline gave him an idea. “You know, I’m not really in the mood to cook something tonight, and I’m sure you aren’t either.”

     “I’m never in the mood to cook,” she smirked. But then her eyes began to widen as she realized what ‘not wanting to cook’ would mean for dinner.

     “Let’s get something on Uber Eats,” he suggested, and Jessie’s eyes shrunk a little. She thought he was going to suggest they go out to eat, like a sit-down restaurant. Takeout wasn’t bad, it was easier than cooking and sometimes better too, but she liked eating the food as soon as it was ready, not having a boxed up meal that wasn’t as fresh.

     “I thought you were gonna suggest we go eat somewhere,” she said. “Like sitting down and getting served.”

     Marcus chuckled, “It’s the same food, Jessie, it’s just given to you differently.” I’m also not in the mood to head out in public, especially somewhere as busy as a restaurant on a Saturday night.

     “Well I really wanted to go to Red Robin, and then we could eat outside,” she reasoned. “It’s really nice out tonight.” Jessie’s dad hesitated, not wanting to give in. He liked Red Robin too, but he still didn’t like the idea of eating around so many people. “Come awwwwnn,” she protested, turning to the window he’d been gazing out of, and perked up. “If we leave now, we can sit down in time to watch the sunset!” He still felt like holding out, but he couldn’t deny that an evening watching the sunset with his daughter sounded like a nice way to end the day. Besides, he still had years of life left, decades. Getting used to being out in public was just something he was going to have to get used to, it was a necessary step if he ever wanted to get used to living with his condition. 

     He cracked a smile and looked back up at her, and she smiled as she could tell before he even said anything that she had won him over. “Alright, you convinced me. Red Robin it is.”

     “Yes!” she shouted triumphantly, and ran to her room to get her phone while Marcus waited for her. As she came back to the front of the couch, she held out her hand for him to step on.

     “Oh, I keep forgetting… we’d have to bike there, right?”

     She nodded up and down, “Yeah, why?”

     He hesitated to step onto her hand yet. “Well, being held sideways isn’t super comfortable and gets kinda disorienting,” he said, recalling their trip to the park yesterday, when she had to hold him against the handlebars because her clothes didn’t have any pockets. “Plus you squeeze really hard, which I understand, you don’t want me to fall and I don’t wanna fall either.”

     “What if I put you in a purse? Or a fanny pack or something?” she offered up as a solution.

     The idea of being zipped up into a dark, cramped space that I can barely fit into and doesn’t have any extra air to breathe… He didn’t think it was the most enticing option. “I think I’d get claustrophobic with how little room I’d have.” Jessie scratched her head, thinking over the problem for a better proposal. “What if you strapped me to the tubes? Like one of those water bottle holders or the holder you use for your phone, except instead of those it’d be a Dad holder.”

     Jessie smiled at his joke and shrugged, “Sounds good to me I guess, if that’s what you’d rather do. I don’t know what we could use to fasten you to the bike though. Do you think tape could work?”

     Marcus shook his head, “At my size the adhesive might be extra strong and it could tear my clothes off if you weren’t careful,” he chuckled. “Plus it wouldn’t be reusable so you’d need to always bring tape everywhere.”

     “Oh yeah, that’s true,” she mused. They both stood in silence for a few more moments, Jessie towering over her diminutive father while brainstorming how to best keep him safe for her bike rides. “I feel like string is the only other option then,” she said.

     “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing,” he agreed.

     “OK, I’ll go grab some from my arts and crafts kit,” she exclaimed, hurrying back to her room. Marcus jumped off the couch and headed towards their front door. It was new, since it now had a smaller, Marcus-sized entrance built into it. He fell just within the 9-18 inch size range, so the handle was level with his head, but at least it was a door he could operate and allow him to head in and out of their house whenever he wanted. 

     Just as he was closing it behind him, he heard the excited stomps of Jessie inside the house, running from the couch to the door after realizing he was outside. The much larger point of entry swung open as he turned around, and he was met with the gargantuan form of his daughter standing before him, grinning down at him as she slipped on her shoes. “I was scared you might run into me for a second,” he yelled up at her, and she laughed as she walked around him and closed the door before squatting down.

     “Maybe a couple weeks ago, but I’ve gotten pretty good about watching where I step,” she said cheerfully. “Can I pick you up?” He nodded, giving her the okay, and she gently wrapped her fingers around his torso before standing back up and walking over to her bike, propped up against the garage door. She knelt back down and was careful to lay him on top of the center tube, between the handlebars and the seat. “You wanna be on your back right? Or your stomach?” she asked.

     “Definitely back,” he nodded, his arms reaching to his sides to hold onto the spherical metal he was resting on. His body was about the same width as the frame, so he didn’t feel like he’d be in too precarious of a position once Jessie fastened the string around him. “I think if I was face down I’d get nervous staring at the pavement cuz from my perspective it’d seem like you’re going a hundred miles an hour.” 

     “I guess that’s true,” she giggled, slowly releasing her hand except for her pointer finger, keeping it planted on his chest as an extra safeguard. With her other hand, she grabbed the first bit of string that she’d cut and wrapped it underneath him, and then brought it back up to join its other end, twisting them together above his ankles. “I gotta use both hands now, are you holding on?” He nodded, and she gingerly took her finger off of his chest, but between his own hands holding onto the bar under his back, and the bit of twisted string, he was fairly secure. She tied the string like she would her shoelaces, and slowly pulled the loops further apart, tightening the knot until he gave the thumbs up. Tight enough to keep his legs from going anywhere, but not too tight to hurt. Then she grabbed the other string and looped it around his chest, just under his armpits. Marcus watched curiously as the array of fingers danced above him, each appendage seemingly several inches wide, tying the string that felt like rope to the shrunken man. But finally the fingers retreated, and her eyes glistened as they examined her work. “OK, try and wiggle around now,” she instructed, cupping her hands underneath him in case he fell. He shook his body about, but could barely move. With more exertion, he squirmed about, as if he actually wanted to get out of the binds this time, but the giant knots held fast and kept him safely secured to her bike. 

     He stopped wiggling and grinned up at her. “You did a great job, Jess, thanks.” She clapped excitedly and grabbed ahold of the handlebars, slowly walking her bike to the curb. 

     “Just let me know if you need me to stop, mkay?” she told him. “Cuz you can still wave your arms in case I don’t hear you.” He nodded, his heart racing quicker, like he was on some amusement park ride that was just about to start. He watched as her foot soared over him, planting her legs on either side of him, just over the seat. Cast in the shadow of his young daughter’s hips, he glanced nervously at the wide thighs on either side of him. But then she sat back into the bike’s seat and put her right foot on the pedal, all set to take off. “Ready?” she asked, looking down at her dad’s little body, snugly strapped to her bike. He nodded and gave her a double thumbs up, although was too nervous to be smiling anymore. And then she pushed off, slowly gaining speed on the sidewalk as she raced towards their favorite burger joint in the neighborhood.

     The bike rattled a little bit as it raced along the streets, the wind whipping against the top of his head. Even though he fully believed the strings were tight, he was unable to relax, intensely aware of the vast open air on either side of him and the rough concrete beneath the bike’s wheels. He could turn his head, but not without hurting his neck since his shoulders couldn’t move. So he was resigned to just staring upwards at the sky… and the 13-year-old giant that partially blocked it from his vision. Whichever way he looked, Jessie was always there, whether it was her long arms holding the handles, the kneecaps that popped up as she pedaled along, or her carefree face as she enjoyed the breeze flying through her hair. Every 20 to 30 seconds she’d glance down at him to make sure he was still OK, and then revert her eyes back to the path ahead. But eventually they arrived at Red Robin, and Marcus breathed a sigh of relief that they’d made it to their destination safely as Jessie walked the bike to the bike rack and began untying her father from its frame.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Eating dinner at such a busy restaurant had been nerve-racking for Marcus at first, but it helped that they were seated outside, so he could sit with his back to the crowd and not pay the other diners any attention. “If it all starts to become too much, just focus on my eyes and try to talk to me,” Jessie had told him reassuringly. She had no idea if it would actually help her dad to calm down, but she figured it would be better than nothing. And at one point, after the loud environment surrounding him began to be too much, he ended up taking her advice after all. He simply turned to look at her, gazing deep into her sparkling blue eyes, as they darted between him, the sunset, and random other things that would distract her vision. She had been telling him about some kind of online drama she’d read about that day, talking with her mouth full while chewing her burger. Even though he didn’t particularly care about the lives of her favorite YouTube celebrities, he liked hearing her talk about things with passion and intrigue. So she ended up being right: when the noise around him began to overload his senses, focusing on her helped to ground him and calm his nerves. And she didn’t even realize it.

     It wasn’t common to find a restaurant that catered to people with DSD by providing them with smaller sets of eating utensils and plates. But since it wasn’t a very costly expense for the owners, there were still a good number of places around that did. And the Tildens already knew from experience that their local Red Robin was one of them. They still only served normal-sized burgers and sides, but Marcus didn’t mind eating whatever portion of food Jessie would cut off for him. The only real downside was he couldn’t get his own meals, since it’d be a waste of money, but neither Jessie or her dad were picky, so they were always able to find compromises.

     After the two of them had eaten, Jessie ordered a strawberry milkshake, along with a stirring straw for her dad. Normal straws were obviously far too wide for him to use, but luckily the little 1mm-wide ones used in coffee shops were perfect for him (and there were a lot more places that had them since they were commonly used by regular-sized people too). When she got her dessert, it was topped with whipped cream and sprinkles and a cherry, just like any classic shake, but it also came with a big metal cup with all the leftovers that couldn’t fit in the fancy glassware. This was what Marcus planned to drink out of. Jessie turned over one of the spare plastic cups and set her dad on top of it, and then handed him his straw. So the two of them happily ate their dessert together, with her spooning in the ice cream mixture while he did his best to suck it down. 

     The main problem with Marcus’ straw though was that it wasn’t very long, and just barely reached beyond the surface of the excess shake. He literally had made a dent in his food, since he’d run out of milkshake from the area right below him, while the surrounding shake was still too cold and thick to trickle down and fill the gap he’d made. He could’ve just asked for Jessie to rotate the cup for him, but wanting to do things on his own, he opted to lean over and reach out with his straw towards the other end of the cup, where there was still some reachable slurry. For a brief moment, his straw plunged into the ice cream and he thought he’d found victory as he started to suck up some more. But with just enough of his weight on the straw, it began pushing deeper into the drink. He lost his balance, and his eyes locked onto Jessie’s for a brief moment before he fell headfirst into the freezing, mushy shake.

     Jessie gasped in surprise, quickly reaching into the cup and grabbing ahold of her dad’s frantic legs, pulling him out and turning him right side up again. “Oh my God, are you okay Daddy?” she asked with concern, as he used his hands to push the milkshake out of his face so he could see and breathe again. A couple surrounding diners glanced over, having heard Jessie’s remark, and one of them stifled a giggle after realizing what had happened.

     “Yeah, I’m fine. That was kinda my fault anyways,” he sighed, shaking his head furiously like someone getting water out of their hair. But the frozen treat was practically glued to his head, too thick to unstick itself. “Can you help me out? But don’t shake me off,” he warned, imagining the kind of headache he’d get if someone as huge as his daughter shook his little body back and forth. 

     “Do you want me to pour water on you?” she asked, an innocent ignorance over what would and wouldn’t help him, but wanting to help him nonetheless.

     “Ehhh, that sounds like a bad idea, I don’t wanna have it get up my nose and get waterboarded,” he grumbled, starting to shiver as the cold blanket of ice cream covering his head and torso began to chill him. But then Jessie got an idea, and bit her lip since she knew her dad probably wouldn’t like it. She turned him around in her hand, and then stuck her tongue out and licked from his waist all the way up to his head, completely clearing his backside of all the milkshake that had just been clinging to it. His shirt became disheveled as it got slightly lifted upwards by the slimy muscle. “I— did you…” he stammered, realizing what had just dragged its way up his body. She spun him back around; “Jessie! That was—“ was all he got out, as he watched her lean over again with a playful smile and stick her tongue out, touching base with his stomach and slobbering its way straight up his entire body, before cutting him off from speaking as she finished licking up all the milkshake off his face. He’d had to close his mouth at the last minute to prevent any of her spit from getting in, but it still coated the rest of his face, and the strong smell of strawberry, milk, and saliva invaded his nostrils as he watched her swallow the load of ice cream in a single gulp. His eyebrows narrowed angrily, but he couldn’t open his mouth since his lips had the prankful teenager’s spit on them. But she didn’t waste time in lowering him towards her lap, grabbing a bundle of her shirt to wipe away the saliva she’d just covered him with. She was careful as she dabbed at his face, not wanting to press too hard and hurt him, but still wanting to properly clean up all the curves and accentuations of his little face. But then he was dry, and clean of both her saliva and the milkshake, so she set him back down on the table, preparing for the outburst she knew she was about to get (and probably deserved).

     “Jessie, what the hell were you—“ he started to yell, but even though his voice didn’t carry as much as it once did, he still noticed several people at surrounding tables look in his direction as he was about to berate his daughter. He regained his composure and calmed himself down as Jessie blushed and glanced away from him. 

     Before he could continue though, Jessie spoke up. “It seemed like a good prank in the, like, spur of the moment or whatever it’s called. But yeah, now that it’s all over and everything I kinda realize, like…” She looked away again and scratched behind her ear, now feeling embarrassed about herself. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, daring to look back at him.

     He took a deep breath, an irate expression still planted on his face, but somewhat softened by the fact that she had at least recognized her wrongdoing instead of trying to argue about it. “OK, well… good.” He didn’t really know what else to say since she’d already fessed up before he could get his lecture out. And he didn’t want to attract any more attention from the crowd anyways, so he kept it short. “You… just can’t treat me like that. It’s humiliating, Jessie, and there definitely wasn’t any need to… lick my face…” he said, struggling to get the last few words out. “God, that was just, really disgusting Jess. That can never happen again, okay?” She continued looking down, feeling even worse about herself. 

     She gently nodded. “It won’t. I’m sorry,” she mumbled, scratching at her finger, a nervous tick she had.

     He sighed and sat against the pepper grinder, his head turned towards the sky. How quickly a nice night out can turn sour. It didn’t even take a minute. He could still faintly smell the strawberry on his skin. “Let’s just get the check and we can head home,” he said, and she hailed for their waiter, an awkward silence between them. Neither of them had much of an appetite to finish their dessert anymore.

     As Marcus lay down for bed that night, he couldn’t stop thinking about the milkshake debacle. He couldn’t believe his daughter had just licked him like that. Even if it was just a prank and even though she was just messing around, it was so… humiliating. One of the many things that could only be experienced by being as small as he was. He knew his daughter felt sorry and he fully believed her when she said she felt bad about it; just another juvenile action that someone quickly regrets. But even though they might have moved on outwardly, and even though he forgave her… his mind hadn’t moved on. As he drifted off to sleep, he just couldn’t shake the experience out of his head…

     Marcus was back at the restaurant with Jessie, eating the milkshake just like he had last night. It seems like he was reliving the experience all over again. Once again, he tried sipping on his straw to slurp up some more of his share of the milkshake, and fell into the cold, metallic cup. Except this time, Jessie didn’t pluck him back out. He was able to right himself so he wasn’t face down in the slushy anymore, but when he looked up, out of the cup, he just saw Jessie staring into the distance, not noticing his predicament. He tried yelling up at her, but nothing would come out of his mouth; he couldn’t say anything or scream anything or even whisper. For some reason, he was completely voiceless. A smile rushed to his face as he saw her reach down, suddenly filled with hope and relief that he’d be saved. But instead, her hand grabbed the cup, instead of rescuing him. “I wonder where Daddy went…” she wondered out loud, looking around, everywhere except the cup, as she lifted it up to her mouth. He tried yelling again for her attention, but he couldn’t. He tried swimming to the edge of the cup, but he couldn’t. His muscles were as useless as his voice. But the cup kept raising up, and up, and his heart skipped a beat as she opened her mouth and he felt the cup start to tip forward. He was useless to fight the onslaught of the ice cream as it rushed from behind him, forcing him down the length of the cup as Jessie continued to tip it towards her mouth. Her giant, pink lips settled on the edge of the cup, with her lower lip under the brim and her top lip stretching across the length of the cup’s edge. Soon enough, all he could see was the cute milkshake mustache under her nose, and the gaping, dark cavern of his young daughter’s mouth. Down, down, down, the cup continued to tip, as he slid forward without any way to stop himself still or cry for help. His daughter continued to lift her head backwards and turn the cup so it was almost upside down, and Marcus could only cry out of fear as he fell out of her milkshake chalice and into her waiting maw. He didn’t even land on her tongue, instead rushing right by it and falling into her throat, a throat that seemed to grow wider and wider as he continued falling down it, for far longer than seemed possible. As the space around him turned completely dark, he looked up, seeing the dim light from his daughter’s mouth far above him, seemingly thousands of feet and even further with every second. “Daddy, where are you?” he heard her say, detecting a sense of worry in her voice, as she echoed all around him, before closing her mouth and extinguishing the only light he had, leaving him in an empty, pitch black void, falling forever in her depths.

==================

Sunday, October 18

==================

     Marcus’ first few days of unemployment were going better than he initially thought they would. The presence of his daughter had really been helping his emotional well being; he almost felt like he was on a vacation, getting to spend so much time with her. And he was lucky that due to his disabled status, the checks he’d continue getting from the government would help stave off his need for a job by a little extra time, meaning more time that he could spend with Jessie. But he also knew he couldn’t keep putting things off forever. Eventually, he’d need to find a new way to make money, one way or the other.

     He didn’t even have a copy of his resume, since it had been so many years since he’d needed one. His job at the television station had lasted years, a position he got before the modern job application ecosystem became a mostly-online process. He planned to worry about his resume and his formal recommendations on another day though; for Sunday, he just planned on taking a few hours to research possible jobs at his new size, and look for openings that he could begin tailoring applications for over the next week.

     The first thing he did was simply google ‘good jobs for people with DSD.’ There didn’t seem to be many relevant results, but there was one article title that caught his attention. Although a quick scroll through it revealed the list was actually about standout cases, and not things suggestible for the everyday person. An F1 driver with a specially modified car, an actor who’s starred in some major movies. Cool. Great. Thanks BuzzFeed. As if those are careers I can just hop right into. The only thing he’d been able to think of on his own was answering phones for customer service, or some other kind of desk job. Customer service didn’t require any special knowledge, but a lot of desk jobs like accounting or coding or journalism, they all required a formal knowledge that he just didn’t have. So it was either answer phones for the rest of his life, or spending tens of thousands of dollars getting a degree so that he could re-enter the job market and risk not even getting hired anywhere.

     It was all so demoralizing, but he returned back to the search results anyways in hopes that he might come up with more ideas.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus had fallen asleep at his miniature laptop, slouched on his miniature couch, when Jessie came into the kitchen and spotted her dad over on the side table in the living room. She came around to where he was and knelt down behind the table, looking over his shoulder at what he was doing. “Applying for jobs? Already?”

     He awoke with a jump, the sound of her voice sounding like a speaker over his head, and she giggled at her dad’s reaction. “Oh, hey. Um… yeah well, I’m not really applying yet, just looking for what’s out there. Trying to get an idea for some of the kinds of jobs I’d still be good at at my new size.” She nodded understandingly, trying to read his mini screen, before standing back up to grab herself a cup of water. “But yeah, I’ll be applying to things pretty soon,” he continued. “Looking for a new job can take people months sometimes, and it’s definitely gonna be harder now that I’m less than a foot tall.” He sighed as he said the last few words. He’d have to get used to it eventually, but it tired him out just as much then as it did when he first got the news. “Not to mention all the companies that wouldn’t want to hire me.”

     “Isn’t that illegal though? Wouldn’t that be discrimination?” she asked, coming back around to the living room and sitting criss cross on the floor in front of him, so that she could be eye level with him on the his table. Oh Jess, he thought with a chuckle, you’ve still got a lot to learn about the world.

     “Yeah, it’s technically illegal. But it still happens all the time. Discrimination is what people think about you, and it’s hard to prove in a court of law what was going on in someone’s head. Unless there’s a clear pattern of evidence, or if the person hiring you explicitly told a coworker why you were being rejected. And most people are smart enough not to do that.” He leaned back in his chair, and crossed his arms. Saying it out loud, it was really starting to get to him. He knew it’d be an uphill battle, but there just wasn’t anything he’d be able to do to make it easier on himself.

     “Oh.” Jessie saw her dad’s change in demeanor and felt bad about asking. Meanwhile, Marcus saw his daughter look guilty after broaching the subject, and figured they switch topics.

     “Hey, remember when I used to french braid your hair when you were little?” he asked, sitting up again with renewed spirit.

     “Yeah,” she said cautiously, a smile creeping onto her lips, giving Marcus more encouragement.

     “Well… if it’s even possible for me to do at my size,” he chuckled, “then I can try braiding it for you again, if you’d like. I don’t know if you still—“

     “Sure!” she exclaimed, clasping her hands together in excitement. “Of course I still like getting my hair braided. I could even wear it to school tomorrow."

     “Well, I don’t know if it’ll look that good,” he said, as she turned around and scooted back to the side table his couch was on. “I’ll probably have to use my whole arms instead of just my fingers, and it’ll take a while.”

     “That’s OK Daddy! If you can’t do it, you can’t do it, but if you can then that’d be pretty cool of you,” she responded excitedly. She shook her hair in preparation, running her fingers through the long strands as he gazed upon the wall of golden brown in front of him. Her hair was a little wavy, but not technically curly, and it came down to around her midsection. Probably three times as long as I am, at least, he figured. He couldn’t help it, nearly everything he looked at down was a comparison to his own height and size. But at least I’m not too small to braid it, he thought confidently, grabbing ahold of a section of her hair. He was glad that it wasn’t too heavy; all her strands felt like thousands of lengths of string. They were still thin enough compared to him that he could weave his little fingers through her long, silk-like hair. So he began overlapping bunches of strands, one over the other, doing his best to interlace her gorgeous locks and raise both of their spirits.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Marcus was proud of the fact that he’d been successfully able to give his daughter french braids, and Jessie was even more excited that her dad was still able to too. In a world where he needed help with so many things now, or flat out couldn’t do them at all, they’d been able to find an activity that he could still do all on his own, which would be great for his confidence and self esteem.

     Another activity they’d realized a few weeks ago could be done just as easily at Marcus’ new size was playing video games. Marcus had gotten his daughter a Nintendo Switch for Christmas last year so she could play Animal Crossing and a few other games with her friends, and being the angel that she was, Jessie had found a pair of specially designed controllers on Etsy that her dad could use. So after their hair braiding session, the two of them found themselves on the couch, yelling back and forth as they leaned in towards the TV, racing against each other in Mario Kart. Marcus was in his usual position whenever they sat together on the couch, nestled in a blanket that Jessie had set up on her lap. There were four races in a cup, and they’d just started the fourth race. Jessie was leading Marcus by several points on the scoreboard, but he was close enough behind that a 1st place victory could secure him the win over her. Neither of them played video games enough to be really good at them, but it still piqued their interest enough that they’d get fairly competitive whenever they did play. 

     The beginning of their final race was hectic for both of them, as the computer-controlled players barraged the father daughter duo with banana peels and red shells that kept tripping them up. Towards the end of the first lap, Jessie threw a green shell at her dad, but not only did she miss him by a matter of inches, the shell ended up bouncing off the wall and hitting her instead. “NAAA!” she screamed, a mixture of surprise, frustration, and laughter. She practically jumped up in her seat, causing her legs to spread apart, and the blanket that Marcus had been sitting on on her lap sunk down a few inches. Marcus was vaguely aware that his blanket had fallen a little bit, but it hadn’t affected his ability to keep playing, and without any immediate danger to interrupt his one-track mind, he ignored his minor change in positioning. And Jessie was so intensely focused on the game and trying to close the gap with her dad, that she hadn’t even realized anything had happened in the first place. So they continued racing, both dangerously quiet as they focused. 

     By the start of the third lap, Jessie was only a few seconds behind her dad—and gaining closer with every second. Her dad just kept getting bananas from the item boxes, while Jessie had gotten a few mushrooms, helping her speed ever closer to her dad. They slammed into some more item boxes as they turned onto a straight section of the track near the end of the course, and since Jessie’s top speed was better than her dad’s the two of them watched as she slowly gained on him, with nothing he could do to stop her. She was practically bouncing in her seat from the anticipation, while Marcus just ignored her and stayed focused on the screen, knowing it wasn’t over for him yet. But then their item wheels stopped, and Jessie saw she’d been given a green shell. Knowing she had almost no time to use it, but wanting to restore her honor after completely blowing it in the second lap, she let loose the shell. Marcus saw what she’d picked up, but there wasn’t enough time for him to react because of how close he was. He tried veering away, but the shell slammed into him before he could escape in time. “YES!” Jessie exclaimed as her character zoomed past her dad’s, as she slammed her legs together in excitement, almost jumping up out of her seat. 

     In a second, Marcus went from realizing that he hadn’t dodged the shell in time, to being squished by his daughter’s legs. The texture of her jeans felt less than stellar as they rubbed against the side of his face, although at least his other side was cushioned by the soft familiarity of the fuzzy blanket. “Uhnnn… Jess!” he managed to yell out, but she couldn’t hear him over the mix of her cheers and the sound from the TV.

     “C’mon c’mon c’mon c’mon coooome oooooon,” she chanted to herself, urging herself to win. Marcus’ character was still going forward although he kept bumping into obstacles, so nothing out of the ordinary registered with the excited young girl as she sped towards the finish line unopposed. “YEAAAHHH!” she squealed, throwing her arms up in the air and collapsing backwards onto the couch, a wide grin on her face.

     “Jessie!” Marcus yelled again, except this time she actually heard him and looked down. The expression fell from her face as she saw him pressed between her thighs, only the top of his head visible as her denim rubbed against his arm and cheek. She immediately stretched her legs wide open, allowing him to collapse on the couch cushion, and a look of fear and worry overcame her.

     “Daddy, are you OK?” she asked, her big blue eyes reigning overhead. Her instincts wanting to just scoop him right up and hold him up close to her so she could inspect him and make sure he was fine, but she knew he didn’t like being grabbed. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t even feel you. Did I hurt you?” The truth was he was completely fine; getting squished had obviously been annoying, but his body was a bit more resilient so it hadn’t actually hurt. But he could tell there was a significant amount of concern in her voice.

     “Yeah, I’m pretty hurt,” he lied, rubbing his neck like it was sore. He could hear her sharply breathe in, and for a few moments she felt like the worst daughter in the world. “Pretty hurt that you beat me at the Last. Second!”

     She rolled her eyes and collapsed back against the couch again, deeply inhaling as she let her heart rate calm down. “Oh my GOD, I was so scared there for a second,” she groaned, as he laughed heartily at her reaction. His best way of getting payback for making him lose at the very end. “I was literally like about to cry honestly,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. She sat back up and looked down at him, smirking in respect to how good he’d fooled her. “That was pretty good though. I guess we’re even.”

     He climbed on top of the mound of blanket and hoisted himself up onto her leg, before jumping off the other side onto the couch so he could make his way over to the side table. “I think I’m all gamed out for today though,” he said. “I don’t think my heart would be able to handle another loss like that.”

     She shrugged, accepting that at least she was able to say they went out on a high note. “That’s fine,” she said, looking down at her thighs as she thought about what had happened. She stuck out her pointer finger and poked the top of her thigh; her jeans created some resistance, but she was still able to indent the fatty area of her body. She poked around at various parts of her legs, like a curious kid who’d never seen one before, as she imagined what it was like for her dad to be trapped between something that seemed so big from his perspective, but was still kind of squishy at least. Then she flexed her quads, years of playing volleyball having toned them more than most girls her age, and poked at the front of her thighs again to feel the difference; a lot more firm this time.

     Marcus noticed what she was doing. “Thinking about what it might’ve felt like?”

     “Yeah actually,” she replied, unflexing, then poke. Flex again, poke some more. Unflex. Flex. “I feel like my muscles are pretty firm, I know you said it didn’t hurt but I wonder if it might’ve if I had been flexing my legs or something, cuz then there’s not as much like, leg for you to get squished into or whatever.”

     “I probably would’ve still been alright,” he said, turning back to his computer.

     All the thinking about muscles and her tiny dad gave Jessie an idea. “You know that actually reminds me of something,” she said, grabbing her phone from beside her and heading to her photos. 10 seconds of scrolling and she’d found what she was looking for, opening up a picture. She turned to her dad and fell onto her stomach, kicking her feet up behind her as she held out the phone for him to see, resting her head onto the armrest. She wanted to be a bit closer so she could study his reaction. “These are from one of the guys in my class, he went through like this major like, body change or whatever, I guess just puberty really hit him over the summer or something. But anyways this is from the end of last school year,” she said, glancing sideways at her phone to make sure it was the right picture. It was a picture of her classmate’s arm, held in a bicep curl position.

     Marcus could tell the boy was flexing, although his arm was rather skinny and his muscles didn’t look very developed, to be frank. “OK, and… I’m assuming you wanna show me what they look like now?” he asked. 

     Jessie turned the phone back around to her and swiped to the next picture, zooming into the arm area again, just showing the boy’s muscles against the plain backdrop, and turned the screen back around to show her dad. “Yeah, so that was like 6 months ago give or take, and then this is a few weeks ago.” The arm in the second picture looked so different, Marcus would’ve believed if Jessie said they weren’t the same person. Now, the boy’s muscles were much more pronounced. Their biceps and triceps were a lot bigger; the top side of their arm looked like two large hills, leading to a forearm that was surprisingly thick, all ending in the curled fist. “What do you think?” Jessie asked, glancing back and forth between the picture and her dad’s reaction.

     She tended to do this a lot: ask her dad for opinions on seemingly random things, or see what he thought about various songs or pictures or even memes. She was just a curious soul, and with her dad being the closest person in her life, she relied on him for a lot of validation of some of her feelings on things. So even though Marcus had no idea why she was bringing it up or what she wanted him to say, he was used to it, and did his best to just speak his mind. “Well, I’m definitely surprised,” he said, and she could tell from his initial reaction that he was telling the truth too. “And he’s your age right?” he asked, and she nodded. “I know kids your age get a lot of super fast growth spurts, but even with that in mind it’s like looking at a normal teenager vs the arm of an adult athlete or something.”

     “Really?” Jessie asked, smirking with how candid he was being, but also how flattering his comments were.

     “Yeah, definitely. Definitely got some big muscles.” He paused, thinking about what the arm would look like in person: unsettling, disconcerting even. “Honestly it’d be pretty unnerving being around someone that strong. Even though everyone’s bigger than me anyways, it’s not like I need to be reminded of it,” he laughed, scratching his neck.

     “Really…” she whispered now, sounding fascinated with his reply, as if his response alone was some kind of verbal zoo exhibit.

     “Yeah, for sure. He’d be pretty, uh… intimidating, I guess.” He looked from the phone to his daughter, her giant, luminous face as tall as he was, her unwavering eyes intensely focused on what he had to say. “Is he on some kind of special diet or workout program that you wanna follow, why’d you want my opinion?” he asked.

     “Because…” She looked to her phone’s screen, reaching across with her other hand to zoom out of the picture. “He is a she, and she is a me!” she exclaimed with a giggle, expanding the photo to full size. Sure enough, the arm had never belonged to any sort of boy from her class. It was a picture of Jessie in her school’s locker room, dressed in her volleyball uniform, as she flexed both of her arms with a bold and confident smile on her face. “So I’m intimidating huh?” she teased, and the arm that she’d used to reach over to her phone suddenly flared to life in front of her dad, her muscles bursting out.

     He rolled his eyes, but took a step backwards as Jessie smiled with a smug look, sitting up on her knees and curling her arms on either side, showing off the muscles that she’d developed so quickly over the last few months, the ones that apparently were ‘unnerving’ to her dad. “What was that you said Daddy? Big muscles, huh?” she asked, and turned to kiss one of her biceps. He crossed his arms but looked up at her towering figure, as she flexed her arms back and forth, showering them in kisses as she admired the strength and musculature of her own body.

     “You’re such a goofball,” he sighed, shaking his head with a smile, as turned back to his laptop while she continued to flex and tease her dad about how strong and scary he said she was.

*    *    *    *    *    *

     Before the day drew to a close, there was a chore that Jessie had to do that she’d forgotten to do all weekend but was fairly important: mowing the lawn. Marcus was obviously nowhere close to being able to cut their yard anymore, so Jessie had had to take up the mantle, cutting it for the first time in her life a few weeks ago, and now for the second time today. After Jessie had had her fun gloating about how strong she was, Marcus told her that it shouldn’t be a problem then for her to mow the lawn. She dropped her act and groaned, but knew that he had a point, it had to get done and she had to be the one to do it.

     After watching her first few passes on the backyard, Marcus decided she was doing a good job and wouldn’t have to worry, so he went and continued about his day while the motor hummed outside. Eventually the sound stopped, and after a few minutes, the door to the garage swung open as Jessie trudged inside. Marcus was in his bedroom and had just stepped out of his room to head to the kitchen when he saw her come inside, her head bobbing along to some music she was listening to through her earphones. She slipped her black working shoes off and left them by the door, before starting to walk across the house on her way towards her room. As she walked along, she realized her socks had gotten way dirtier than she’d expected; they were tinted green all over from the recent grass stains. And she could feel they were soggy too as she walked along, from all the dew on the grass seeping through her cheap shoes and soaking the socks. 

     Realizing she was probably heading to her room, Marcus had moved to the side of the hall as he continued making his way along, at his much slower, 9 inch speed. Jessie had become pretty good with watching where she was going to make sure she didn’t accidentally kick or step on her dad while she was walking. But him being shrunken was still a relatively new dynamic in their family, so her tendencies weren’t quite habitual yet. So for his own safety, Marcus would walk along the sides of a hallway if she was ever around, just for the sake of safety.

     Feeling grossed out by her socks, Jessie stood on one foot while she bent her leg up and pried one of the socks off her foot, and then clumsily switched her balance to her bare foot so she could remove the other one. After taking them off, she continued walking towards the hallway, but hadn’t yet noticed her dad along the side of the wall. Feeling morbidly curious, the teenager slowly lifted the socks up, around 6 inches from her face, and lightly sniffed the air. Even with them being held a few inches back, she immediately wrinkled her nose in disgust at the foul smell, feeling stupid for even wanting to know in the first place. “Ugh,” she muttered, instinctively turning her head away as she recoiled her arm, before dropping the soiled garments so she wouldn’t have to deal with them any further.

     Always being conscious of his surroundings, Marcus watched it all unfold: her taking her shoes off to her taking her socks off, as she entered into the hallway. For a moment, he chuckled as he saw her get grossed out by the smell of her socks, but then the color drained from his face as he watched the arm far above him move outwards before letting go of the nasty pair. The conjunction of her shooing her arm away at the same time she dropped them caused the socks to have a bit of diagonal momentum. In other words, instead of just falling straight downwards, they flew slightly forward and to the side. Right in his direction.

     He yelled out to get her attention, but she couldn’t hear him because of the music playing in her ears, and completely ignored his quick cry for help. Just like the green shell she’d thrown that he hadn’t been able to dodge, he was too late in dodging the pair of green and graying socks. They were simply too big, each one both wider than his body and longer too, and they struck him, taking him down with them. Because of his size, everything in his life now weighed around 400 times as much as it used to. With everything being seven and a half times as tall and seven and a half times as wide and seven and a half times as long, the resultant burden of every single object was magnitudes bigger for him. So what would normally just be a pair of socks, that weighed maybe more than a quarter pound because of their dampness, now felt like a 150 pounds slamming into him from above.

     Luckily for him, and everyone else with his condition, his body was a lot tougher at his small size. And he could lift more relative weight compared to what he used to be able to, like an ant or other bug. But a hundred and fifty pounds was still a hundred and fifty pounds, so his daughter’s pair of post-lawn mowing attire knocked him right off his feet. Not only that, but it knocked the wind out of him too since he was caught by surprise. 

     He fell against the carpeted floor, her dirty socks on top of him like some kind of demented blanket. The toe section of her left one had landed right around his upper body, so the very tip of it was around where his face was. With his breath taken away by the sudden impact, his first priority was getting his breathing back to normal, so his breaths were spaced out and sporadic. But every gasp of breath sent a miasma of grassy grime right into his mouth, filling his lungs with the young girl’s potent mixture of sweat and dirt. It was a horrid, revolting stench, and for a moment the thought crossed his mind that maybe he hadn’t had his breath knocked out of him, maybe his daughter’s socks were simply so putrid that his body wouldn’t let him breathe. But slowly his diaphragm returned to normal, and his heart rate slowed as he found himself able to breathe again. Except the air was still moist, humid, and foul; they were still slightly warm from having been worn for the past half hour, so he also started to sweat himself from the warm and damp layers of cotton that held him down like a weighted blanket. Adding insult to injury, he heard the sound of his daughter’s door closing, reminding him that she hadn’t even realized what she’d just done, and was completely unavailable to help him. He’d have to get out of this one himself.

     With his strength returning, he tried dragging his body out from under the stinking pair of socks, but with them resting on so much of his body, it just caused the socks to get dragged along with him, seemingly anchored to him. Deciding upon a new solution, he tried to push the socks off his body, and he cringed as his hands sunk into the wet fabric, staining his hands with its grassy remains. But he was able to make progress, aided by his heightened sense of strength, and slowly shoved the garment off of his chest. Now he was able to sit up at least, causing the process to go faster, and he panted as he got each leg out from underneath. Breathing a sight of relief, he stood up all the way, backing up from the discolored pile of filth like he’d discovered a dead body, horrified but unable to look away out of amazement from what just happened. The smell from the socks faded, and he turned to finish heading towards the kitchen.

     But as he took a deep breath to soothe himself, glad that he hadn’t gotten stuck under Jessie’s socks for hours until she found him, he could still smell the mixture of grass and dirt and cotton and sweat. It had rubbed onto his clothes and body, so while it wasn’t as strong, it was still unmistakable, no matter how far away he continued to walk. He grumbled and hung his head low, simply having to accept that he’d probably have the putrid smell of the 13-year-old’s dirty socks follow him wherever he went for the rest of the night. And she wouldn’t even know.

===================

Monday, October 19 

===================

     Marcus and Jessie were sitting at the table eating breakfast on Monday morning, when Jessie’s phone buzzed. “Who’s that?” Marcus asked as she picked it up.

     She stared at the text for a few seconds, biting her lip as she thought about what it said. “Ummm, just a friend from school asking me something. I don’t think you’ve met them before.”

     “About what, anything interesting?” he pried. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want, just making conversation.”

     She glanced at him, a faint smile on her face, then looked back to her phone and typed out a reply. “No it’s fine, I don’t care. We basically have a career day at school today, or at least the seventh graders do. And…” She looked off to the side, rolling her shoulders around as she thought about how to put it. “People… pretty much know about you, right? Like I told people when you first got DSD, so now it’s like… people at school pretty much know that you’re, you know, like a foot tall now. So my friend was asking if you were gonna come in for career day too since a lot of people’s parents are coming to talk about their jobs and stuff.” She scratched her ear nervously, “But I’m pretty sure they just wanna, like… see you, you know?” Marcus nodded and looked back at his plate, thinking about what she said as he took another bite of food. “Not in a weird way! Or anything,” she quickly added, not wanting to stir up any awkwardness. “Like most of the people in my class are pretty cool and all. But I think just some people are curious cuz you’re… rare.”

     Her dad chuckled at how defensive she was being. “It’s fine, I understand Jess. I’d probably be pretty curious too if I was their age. It’s definitely an interesting condition,” he said, looking around his kitchen at how much bigger everything was before eating another bite. Even with his reassurance, she still felt the need to justify herself.

     “It’s fine like, obviously you having DSD isn’t a career or anything. I mean, I’m sure the teacher would’ve still let you talk about when you were a cameraman, but… whatever,” she shook her head; she was getting off track. “I told my friend to chill out and that you weren’t coming since you’re still… getting used to being around people.” That’s a polite way of calling me antisocial, he thought. He didn’t want other people thinking he got anxious from being in close proximity to strangers since they were all so much bigger than him. It was true, but he didn’t want people to know. So the fact that his daughter had assumed he’d be too scared to show up was bothering him.

     “I’m surprised your teacher’s having kids bring in their parents though. I’d think most of them wouldn’t be able to show up because they have to go to work,” he mused.

     “Well, she’s giving extra credit to people if they could get their parents to sign up, or some other family member. Jackie’s bringing in her uncle I think.”

     “That doesn’t seem very fair to people who can’t get time off work. What about single parents like me? You get half the chance of people with two parents.”

     Jessie shrugged, “That’s what Edward Sandoval told Miss Shepard. Cuz his mom works downtown and always leaves early in the morning. But then he told me that she just gave him the extra credit anyways cuz she figured he was right. I guess she didn’t wanna take away the incentive though so it’s like, if you bring it up with her and can prove you tried but your parent can’t do it, then she’ll give you points for trying anyways, but for everyone else, most people probably didn’t realize that or don’t really care or something.”

     “So is that what you did?”

     “Well… I didn’t really wanna ask you or guilt trip you into doing it or anything since I knew you were still getting used to people.” Jeez, she’s making it sound like I have agoraphobia or something. “And besides, I have a B- anyways so I didn’t feel too bad about missing out on it.”

     Marcus hesitated for a moment, before speaking up. “Well it looks like you were wrong then,” he said proudly. She looked at him with a confused expression. “I don’t think a classroom’s too crowded, I could handle a few hours. Especially after Saturday evening at the restaurant, it was good to get some exposure like that.” He ignored the memory of having fallen into Jessie’s milkshake. And then licking him afterwards.

     Jessie looked surprised for a moment; she’d never planned on telling him about the school event until he asked her this morning, so she hadn’t even imagined that he might volunteer himself. But a smile slowly grew on her face, happy not only for the extra credit she’d get, but for the implication that her dad was starting to become accustomed to being around people besides her. “OK!” she said enthusiastically, picking up her phone to text her friend, before deciding against it and putting it back down. But then picking it up again; she wanted to at least share the news with Paris, her best friend. “Hey! I just realized too,” she said, looking down at him with excitement. “Instead of talking about when you worked at the news station, I mean you can still do that if you want to, but I just thought that you could talk about what your life’s been like ever since you shrunk. Kinda like a PSA or something. Like you could talk about how people should treat you or talk to you too, cuz I feel like a lot of people can be awkward about it or they feel like they don’t know what to do, you know? Obviously it’s not technically a career, but a lot of people look at stay-at-home parenting as being a kind of job in itself, and you’re doing that too but with a growth condition.” It was a bit of a stretch to call him hanging around most of the day by himself a “job.” And jobs are something that people choose; he didn’t choose to shrink down to 9 inches.

     He shrugged, not having faith that he’d be allowed to talk about life as a shrunken person for a special day that was designed to introduce students to prospective career possibilities. But he did admit, a kind of lesson about shrunken individuals could be beneficial for a lot of people. “If your teacher’s fine with it, I guess that sounds like it could be a good idea. And if she isn’t then yeah, I could talk about my old job.”

     Jessie’s upper teeth bit her lower lip as she crinkled her nose in an excited smile, drumming the table excitedly. “Yes! Great attitude Daddy!” she cheered, dashing around to his side of the table and kneeling down so he could hug her shoulder affectionately. “Wait… but since your car’s still at the mechanic getting refitted…”

     “But you normally take the bus anyways, so what’s the issue?”

     “Well we’re supposed to get 15 minutes earlier than usual today since the schedule’s kinda shifted around. And since the bus only comes once an hour, I would’ve had to already left for the bus stop already and I didn’t wanna have to get to school that early. So I was just gonna bike there.” 

     He recalled their last few excursions on her bike; they weren’t as nice as riding peacefully on a bus would’ve been, but the trips weren’t uncomfortable enough to make him change his mind. “Well I’ve ridden with you on your bike a couple times already, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world,” he said, trying to keep her positive. “Besides, last I checked we were still trying to find the best way for me to ride along with you. All we’ve tried so far is on the handlebars and the center bar thing, whatever it’s called.”

     “I should honestly just get a basket or something by now,” she laughed. “But I’m always too lazy to go to the store.”

     “And I’m too cheap to get a roundtrip Uber there, so we’re both to blame,” he chuckled. 

     “So you wouldn’t wanna ride along using one of the ways we already tried, right?” she asked, and he shook his head. “Well I can always just stick you in my backpack,” she offered nonchalantly. “Actually, since I’m not taking the bus today I didn’t wanna have to take my volleyball bag with me on the bike since I’d already be wearing my backpack, so I was just gonna stuff my clothes into—“

     “No, it’s fine,” he said, cutting her off. He was already wary of having to be stowed away in his daughter’s backpack, but if she was gonna be sticking all her volleyball gear in it as well, it’d be way too claustrophobic for his comfort. “We should find a way for me to ride along with you anyways; you won’t always be wearing your backpack whenever we head somewhere, and for all I know it could be anywhere from a couple days to a month before the mechanic’s done with my car.”

     “I guess…” she sighed, laying her arms on the table with her hands overlapping, and set her chin down on them while she tried to think of a solution.

     “I didn’t mind being strapped to the bar, like I didn’t feel unsafe or anything. My only problem was how it felt on my back,” he said, walking around the table to stand in front of her face. It was weird being only as tall as his daughter’s head, but at least he could speak to her without looking up like he always had to now. “I don’t know if there’s really any part of the bike that would be more comfortable than that area though, it seems to be the widest bar.”

     Jessie glanced away, then looked down, pursing her lips together as she thought about whether she should mention an idea she’d just had. He glanced at her and recognized the look on her face, and could tell she was thinking about something. She looked back up, realizing her dad had noticed her get lost in thought. “Weeeeeeell… teeeeechnically you could lie down on one of the peeeedals,” she cautiously suggested, seeing her dad look down, obviously unreceptive to the idea. “Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait! I know I know I know… Obviously I wouldn’t step down on it or anything. I have no problem pedaling with just one leg,” she insisted, sitting upright with her head off the table again. “Like… yeah, it’d be weird and stuff if, you know, I had to like… yeah, I can just not pedal with it. It wouldn’t be a problem.” Marcus was surprised with how quickly his internal reaction went from thinking ‘obviously not’ to actually considering it… “I’ve made it this far without stepping on you yet, and I’m not about to break that streak anytime soon,” she joked, her chin held high.

     “Would you really be able to make it all the way to school though?” he asked as he imagined the route, thinking of someone having to bike all that way. It wasn’t necessarily that far, but biking could be an intense workout.

     She scoffed. “It’s mostly flat, are you doubting how fit I am?” she asked, crossing her arms with a pretend angry expression. “All these years of playing volleyball, staying after school for practice, all for nothing,” she moped as Marcus rolled his eyes. “Just for my dad to think I’m not any good at cycling…”

     “Alright, alright,” he smiled.

     Jessie ignored him and continued on with her pretend sulking. “Do you even know what machine I always use in the gym whenever it’s leg day? I have my routine down to a T, but apparently my legs still have haters in this household.” She stood up all the way and slapped her thighs, which, in fairness, were clearly muscular for her age. “Doubters who don’t think my legs are strong enough!”

     “OK, I get it!” he laughed. “Fine, you won me over, we can try it out for today I guess.” Marcus still felt a bit nervous about the idea in general, but he trusted his daughter enough to know she’d keep him safe. She grinned down at her dad, proud to have successfully convinced him. She couldn’t wait to take him to school today.

*   *   *   *   *   *

     After Jessie had finished putting some padding on her bike pedal, she picked Marcus up and held him in front of it so she could show off her work. “Ta-da! Now it should hopefully be more comfortable on your back,” she announced proudly, pressing her finger against her workmanship to show how cushy it was. She’d cut up one of his old sweatshirts and layered the squares of cloth a few times, hoping it’d be comfortable enough for her dad. “Here, lemme know if it’s good enough,” she said, holding the pedal steady with one hand while she carefully set him down on it with the other.

     Marcus wasn’t picky and would’ve been fine with just a single layer to protect him from the cold, hard medals of the pedal, but he was thankful nonetheless that she loved him enough to put in the extra effort. “It’s fine, Jess. More than fine, actually, like a lot more,” he laughed. “We should probably leave in a few minutes anyways.” She nodded in agreement and gently covered his torso with her palm, keeping him in place while she reached to grab the string. She carefully removed her hand, but kept her thumb on his chest as a safeguard, as he laid back. 9 inches was a lot longer than the pedal was of course, so his feet would have to dangle while his upper shoulders and head went without something to rest on. But the rest of his back would have something flat, comfortable, and sturdy to rest on, and that was what was most important.

     “The string I’ve been using isn’t too uncomfortable either, is it?” she asked after having finished strapping his upper chest to the pedal, and had moved on to tie down his waist. 

     “Yes, honey, it’s fine,” he answered exasperatedly, causing her to giggle in embarrassment. Better to be overly concerned than not concerned enough, he reasoned, watching her giant fingers nimbly tie the knot that would keep him in place. 

     “OK, I think it’s good,” she said, biting her lip and leaning back to make sure she wasn’t forgetting any safety precautions. Marcus looked down at his body, testing out his binds by trying to squirm out of them. But sure enough, he wasn’t going anywhere; they were loose enough that they didn’t hurt, but tight enough that there was no way he’d be able to fall off the pedal. His daughter reached out with her hand and tapped a few fingers down on the corner of the pedal, and suddenly his world turned upside down as the entire platform he was stuck to spun in response. It was like he was on some kind of amusement park ride, spinning in circles on the bike pedal, but luckily unable to fall off. It was still disorienting though.

     “Ohhhhh, wait wait wait, Jess,” he groaned, feeling the blood in his body swirl around as he got turned upside down again. “Please stop it.” He felt the spinning suddenly stop, and quickly correct itself to the proper positioning, where he saw his daughter fighting to hold back a smile

      “Sorry,” she said. “I had to check if the pedals were locked or not,” she explained, leaning forward and tightening the mechanism on the end of the pedal that controlled how freely they were able to spin. “There, now you should be good again.” She tapped the edge of the pedal once more, and Marcus was relieved to see that the motion didn’t do anything. She’d have to loosen the lock again if she wanted to set it back to normal, like how the other pedal would be. But since she wasn’t going to be putting her foot on her dad, his could stay locked in. “I think that’s everything then,” Jessie announced, standing up and heading in to grab her backpack. She reemerged a few seconds later with her backpack around her shoulders, and lifted the kickstand of the bike as she grabbed ahold of the handlebars, and began slowly walking it out of the garage. “You ready?” she asked down to him as she punched in the code, closing the garage door behind them.

     “Yep!” he yelled back up at her, a confident (but slightly nervous) smile on his face. He watched her giant leg lift over the bike seat, her foot landing on the pedal opposite of him before she sat down on the seat. Wish a light push from her foot, she rolled along the driveway, lifting her free foot over her dad so she could rest it on the narrow ledge that forked out from the main tube. And then she turned onto the sidewalk, beginning to pedal so they could pick up speed. She was in high gear, so that she could travel a further distance while not having to pedal as much. It was harder to do, especially with only one leg instead of two, but because they were traveling on flat ground, Jessie wasn’t struggling too much with it. And as a result, Marcus didn’t have to spin around too quickly. If she hadn’t tightened that pedal, I don’t even wanna imagine how nauseating it would be for the pedal to be spinning one way while the arm spun in the opposite direction. Then it really would’ve been like some kind of amusement park ride. But instead, it was just like being on a ferris wheel. A really fast wheel, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He was actually having a bit of fun traveling around on the bike. As he looked up at his daughter though, he almost felt guilty. Based off how quickly everything was flying by, he figured they were traveling around 15mph. She didn’t look like she was exerting herself too much, but she was still having to put the work in to get them to school while he got to just joyride beneath her with the wind in his hair and the peaceful neighborhood flying by. He glanced over at the leg that was pedaling, watching it work its wonder. Even though she was wearing jeans and he couldn’t see her legs, it wasn’t hard for him to imagine her strong muscles like the ones she previewed to him last night. Her hamstrings and calf muscles bulging through her skin, in and out, as they worked to execute what should’ve been the duty of two legs. And growing the tiniest bit bigger every day as Jessie grew bigger too. He had a sobering thought as he considered the possibility that Jessie might very well have half a decade of growth ahead of her. Obviously she wouldn't be getting taller by her early 20's, but if she kept up with volleyball, her muscles would continue to get stronger and leaner and more defined. He remembered the saying ‘Today is the oldest you’ve ever been,’ and realized that today is the strongest she’d ever been. And tomorrow she’d be even stronger. And the day after that, and the day after that... all while he stayed at a measly 9 inches tall, probably weaker than the force behind a single one of her thumbs.

     After they’d been riding for a while, he felt Jessie brake to a stop at the corner of a street, and then the bike tilted to the side slightly as she rested on her free foot. She wasn’t panting, but he noticed her breathing pattern had deepened, as her lungs began requiring more oxygen to keep her going. She unzipped her backpack and grabbed the water bottle on top of all her stuff, unscrewing the lid as she looked down at her dad to make sure he was still doing okay. Their eyes locked onto each other for a moment as she hungrily gulped down a third of the bottle, the refreshing agua getting cascading down her throat in loud gulps that reminded him of his dream a few nights ago. She broke free of her bottle, roughly wiping her lips with her wrist. “Just needed a break for a second,” she explained, closing the lid and putting it back in her sac. “So, the fastest way is up the hill, which I kinda forgot about. But there isn’t any sidewalk, it’s just like, road, and then boom, a wall of hedges, you know?”

     She was waiting for him to speak, partly because she wasn’t sure exactly what to do. As much as she liked flexing her independence where she could, there were still things that she relied on her dad to figure out for her. “So you’d have to drive in the street?” he asked, and she nodded in response. “Well I mean, it’s totally legal for people to ride a bike in the street, especially if there isn’t a sidewalk or anywhere that you can ride it.”

     “I know,” she sighed, “I’ve just never done it before. But also I wanted the break because going up the hill is gonna be a bit harder. I mean, it’s not too steep, but still.” She cranked the gears down a few notches, anticipating the need for an easier cycling experience.

     “Are you scared?” 

     She paused for a moment, but ultimately shook her head. “No. I know it’ll be fine.”

     “OK well, I’m ready when you are. Not much I can do to help,” he chuckled, and she smiled back at him, appreciating his lighthearted attitude and willingness to try out such a quirky mode of transportation this morning.

     She took a deep breath, and then pushed off again, looking behind her quickly before steering her bike into the road. She was able to get back to her former speed right before the road started to gradually slope upwards. For the first 30 seconds or so, she was doing pretty well. She was sticking close to the right side of the road, not wanting to come off as a nuisance to any drivers. Occasionally a car would come up behind her, wait for the other side of the road to be clear, and then drive around her to get out in front and pick back up to a normal speed. It made her feel a bit bad, but she knew it was normal, and she was doing everything right. But it didn’t take long for Jessie’s pace to slow down. Already, Marcus could see her skin redden, and now she really was panting, her eyes dead set in front of her, hyper-focused making it up the hill with only one leg to pedal. The worst part about biking with a single leg was having to move the pedal back up, from the bottom to the top of its circular path. Normally only one leg had to worry about half of a rotation at a time, but without her other leg to press down with to move the other pedal up, she was really struggling. The only solution she had was to pedal downwards with as much strength as she could muster, just so that the pedal would have enough momentum to make it back up, and then repeat.

     But then, just to make matters worse, the center of the road turned into a kind of curbed divider, with shrubbery lining the edge. So now the cars behind her weren’t able to get around her anymore. “Why is it… so important… to make this… town look… pretty,” she panted, internally cursing at the whole predicament. She looked behind her for a split second, and saw two cars driving gradually behind her, and then turned back around and gazed up at the rest of the hill. She wasn’t even halfway up, and was getting a tiny bit slower with each new pedal. She didn’t want to injure her leg, because then she wouldn’t be able to go to practice today, but it was the only way up the hill. One of the cars behind her finally honked, and she grit her teeth, staring intently at the road ahead as she desperately tried to pedal up it. Why did I think this was a good idea!? she screamed at herself over and over inside, tears starting to form now, from a mix of exertion and embarrassment. Marcus felt bad, watching her high above, struggling just to reach half the speed she’d been going at before. He berated himself for letting her go through with this idea; he should’ve realized this could happen. 

     The car honked again, and her teary eyes flared up with anger. “There’s no fucking sidewalk, what the fuck do you expect me to do!” she yelled. Geez... that’s more than she usually curses in a week, Marcus thought. And he was starting to feel embarrassed too. With every loop around on his pedal, he was comfortable and well-rested, while his daughter had to push herself just to get them up the hill. And he knew it was his fault too; he could’ve just told his daughter to strap him to the center tube again, or the handlebars, uncomfortable as those spots might’ve been. But at least she’d be able to use both feet. Another honk, and the two of them could tell it was from a different car this time. Jessie squeezed her handlebars with so much force that it hurt her hands. They couldn’t go around her, and even if she crossed over to the other side of the road and road back down, she’d have to travel several blocks before she’d get to a road that was either flat, or had a sidewalk (or both), and would result in her being late for school. Not to mention the fact that she would’ve wasted all her energy getting up to this point—and she hated wasting her energy.

     “Get to the side of the road!” the driver behind her yelled, followed by another honk somewhere behind him. There were half a dozen cars lined up at this point, all waiting on the teenage girl who was closer to a standstill than she was the speed limit. Fucking whatever, fine, she grumbled, and veered over to the hedges, pressing herself as close to them as she could. The people behind her finally sped up, whizzing by her with only a few inches of room to spare. With each passing car, the wind sprayed through her hair, and even caused the bike to wobble. And Marcus didn’t feel any better, watching the gigantic metal beasts that looked like castles, weighing millions of pounds to him, racing right by him. 

     “This is too dangerous,” he yelled up at her. “We can’t—“ WOOOSH “—stay here while people pass us.” She looked down at him, and then flinched as another car soared past, inches from clipping her bike. But as her eyes locked onto her dad’s again, she could tell from his expression exactly what he was going to say before he said it. “It’s okay,” he said. He didn’t want it to be fine, but it had to be. “I know you have to do it.” For only a few seconds, she smiled faintly at him in a way that communicated a sense of pity and gratitude. She reached behind her to quickly pull off her shoe. “Just try to—“

     He hadn’t even finished his sentence before a soft, white ceiling slammed into him; his daughter had just stepped on him, covering his entire body with only her foot. “S… sorry,” she mumbled, realizing she’d cut him off, but she had to just move on and head back out onto the road. With both her legs able to pedal now, she set off, back up the hill, holding both her shoe and the handlebar with one of her hands. Heading back up the hill made her feel like her energy was lopsided, because while one of her legs was hot and sore, the other one was completely fine. But at least her spirit felt invigorated as well. She wasn’t quite going the speed she was on flat ground, which was already slower than a normal car, but at least she was making steady progress. The two cars behind her weren’t angry at least, so she wasn’t feeling burdensome anymore.

     But below the young girl was her tiny passenger, and Marcus on the other hand wasn’t doing as well as Jessie. One moment he was talking up to his daughter, and just a few seconds later her sock was rubbing up against his entire body as her foot landed on him. His initial reaction was that it didn’t actually hurt as much as he was expecting, but that feeling was quickly overturned once she put her weight on him. Because his strength didn’t scale as much as his size when he got smaller, and because people with DSD still had durable bodies, he was able to have the giant foot cover him without it actually hurting for him. But once she put her full weight on him, he suddenly didn’t feel as confident about being able to withstand 40,000 pounds of immovable 13-year-old mass. His body, technically, was able to withstand her because her normal weight wouldn’t have been an issue, but his nervous system was still screaming at him that his own daughter was about to smash him flat beneath her foot. It almost felt deceptive, because her feet themselves weren’t what was uncomfortable; they were cushy enough that his body squished into them slightly, and her socks were a fresh, clean pair from this morning. But despite how much the fat of her sole yielded to her body, there still came a point where he just couldn’t get absorbed anymore, and everything past that point accounted for the majority of her weight. Not to mention how hard the surface behind her was; the few layers of his old sweatshirt didn’t do much to help ease the discomfort of a flat, rigid surface. He was just glad that it was his torso that was tied to the pedal instead of his head, because that part of his body was getting the worst of it.

     But then the pain went away, as the pedal swung up, allowing Jessie to momentarily take her weight off of her dad. It only lasted a second though, before he felt the pain return as her weight bore back down on him again. 

     And then off again. 

     And then on.

     Off.

     And on.

     Released.

     Compressed.

     Free.

     Then trapped.

     Over and over, the teenage girl squeezed her dad under her foot again and again and again, all in an effort to make it up to the top of the hill. Marcus hated it, and had no idea how much longer they had left to go, but it didn’t matter—they wouldn’t be done until Jessie said they were done.

     But then finally, after several minutes of intense cycling (and painful squishing), she made it to the top of the hill. The center curb had tapered off too, allowing her to pull over to the side while the cars could pass her more easily. As soon as she’d made it over the hump, she immediately removed her foot from her dad’s body, and once she was off to the side of the road, she slipped her shoe back on and knelt down to inspect him.

     She could tell from his face it had been quite the ordeal; besides his relieved expression, the surface of his skin was red from having been squished so much without being able to flatten itself. “I’m so sorry we had to go through that, I hope it didn’t hurt too much,” she said, dawning a pair of puppy dog eyes as she took pity on her dad’s unfortunate state. “At least it’s over now so the rest of the ride should be easy again. Are you okay? How bad did it hurt?”

     He sighed and nodded his head, closing his eyes to relish the welcome return of normalcy, not being squished or pressed against a warm foot. “It was really more of a mental challenge than anything, cuz I knew that it’d only last a few minutes and then I’d be fine once it was all over.”

     “Yeah, but did it actually hurt, like physically?” she asked, pressing him for the truth.

     “I mean… you just stepped on me over and over Jessie, of course it didn’t feel good,” he answered, but regretted his choice of words once he saw her blush and purse her lips, a wave of guilt washing over her; ultimately, she was the one who made the call to head up the hill. “But it wasn’t as horrible as I was expecting,” he lied, hoping to cheer her back up again. He didn’t wanna sour her mood for the rest of the day.

     She sighed and stood back up, checking her phone to see how much longer until school: 11 minutes, so they’d be able to make it on time. “Well, I’ll believe you if you say so,” she mentioned, and got back onto the bike. “We’re almost there,” she told him, swinging her free foot far away from him again, wanting to give him as much space as possible. And then she headed off down the road again, steering up onto the sidewalk once it reappeared.

     Strapped to the pedal, Marcus could only look up at the giant girl as he reflected on his experience. After he’d stopped shrinking and realized he’d only be 9 inches tall for the rest of his life, he wondered if he was big enough still to keep from ever getting stepped on. But I guess Jessie gave me the answer to that question now, and I’ve only been at this size for a few weeks. He might’ve said it was fine, but at the end of the day, not even taking into consideration how much the experience had hurt… he’d still been stepped on by his own daughter. What kind of father can say something as crazy as that? How can I maintain my dignity and feel like I’m still the head of the household after something like that?

     …And is it ever gonna happen again? 

=========================

Monday, October 19 (cont.)

=========================

     Marcus was riding on Jessie’s shoulder, holding onto her hair for balance, as the two of them entered into her first period class. It was supposed to be Social Studies, but the schedule for the day had been adjusted a bit to give everyone shorter, 30 minute classes, so that the school’s first periods could be extended for the Career Day. “Good morning Jessie,” her teacher said, warmly greeting the two of them. She was a modest but warmhearted woman, somewhere in her early 30s, with curly brown hair and set of thick rimmed glasses. “And Mr. Tilden, nice to see you again. How’ve you been doing?” Jessie’s teachers had all been informed of her dad’s shrinking, just in case the subject ever came up for parent-teacher meetings or other things. A few of Jessie’s friends knew too, but for most people at the school who didn’t know Jessie that well, the fact that her dad had developed his condition was news to them. He could feel most of the eyes in the room as they soon caught sight of the 9 inch man riding on their classmate’s shoulder. And it wasn’t easy not to feel self-conscious with so many kids staring at you curiously.

     “Pretty healthy all things considered,” he replied with a manufactured smile. “I mean, Jess still has her dad and I still have her, so it could’ve been worse.” He wasn’t really that positive about the whole situation, but it was a polite enough answer.

     “That’s a good attitude to have,” the teacher responded, then leaned in slightly and lowered her voice. “I’m a single parent too, and I don’t even wanna imagine what my son would go through if something were to happen to me.” Marcus grimaced at the sudden somberness, but nodded along anyways with an understanding look on his face, as a few moments of silence followed.

     “Um, I know you said our parents were supposed to register with you ahead of time, but—“

     “Oh, don’t worry about it,” Miss Shepard said, shaking off the formality. “I forget what it is that you did though…” she said, scribbling his name into her schedule before glancing up at him cautiously.

     “Well I used to work as a cameraman at KTLA, but,” he gestured down to his body, shrugging.

     “Mmmmm, I’m sorry to hear about that,” she cooed.

     “But I figured I could talk to them about what it’s like to have DSD, some stereotypes that some people have had about people like me, maybe answer some questions if they have any. I know it’s not exactly a career, although I’ve heard there are a lot of jobs as in-home nurses or people who run living facilities for those who have it even worse than me or nobody who can take care of them full time.” Jessie bit her lip and spaced out as she thought about what her dad had said. Taking care of him full time? I guess that’s what I’m doing… she realized. But wouldn’t that mean that he’d need her to watch after him for the rest of his life? It’d be like a parent whose kid has a serious disability, but in reverse. The personal caregivers like he talked about would be expensive, she wouldn’t be able to afford that til way after college, if ever. And the ‘shrunken homes’ as they were called would be like sending him off to a nursing home before he was even 40. He was big enough to look after himself for the most part, but there were still plenty of things that she had to do for them nowadays. He’ll probably never be able to live on his own again. I’ll always need to live with him. Or he’ll always need to live with me. Being a caregiver to a family member wasn’t an easy task, but having that kind of responsibility placed exclusively into the hands of a 13-year-old was an enormous burden. 

     “Jessie, hello? You there?” The girl snapped out of her trance as she realized her teacher was trying to get her attention.

     “I was just saying that you were the one who had that idea,” her dad told her.

     “Huh?” She really had been out of it.

     “To talk about my condition, and what it’s like.”

     “Oh yeah!” She paused, remembering back to their conversation at breakfast. “Yeah, sorry, yes that was me,” she smiled comically.

     “Well why don’t you two go sit down then,” Miss Shepard said, “class is gonna start in a few minutes.”

*     *     *     *     *     *

     “Can everyone give a round of applause to Mr. Field?” Miss Shepard led her students in clapping for the fire fighter as he waved at the kids and headed to the back of the class where the other parents who’d spoken were seated. “And last up we have Jessie’s dad; for those of you who were unaware, Mr. Tilden developed DSD a few months ago, which stands for…” her eyes circled around the room until a girl raised her hand, and Miss Shepard nodded at her.

     “Diminutive Size Disorder,” the student answered, and Miss Shepard nodded, until another student piped in.

     “Also known as, ‘da shrinking disorder,’” a geeky-looking boy remarked with a smirk, eliciting a couple of giggles from nearby kids. 

     Miss Shepard glanced at him for a moment but decided to ignore the comment and move on. “Now, whenever—“

     “Real funny joke Michael,” Jessie interjected with a flat tone. “You turned ‘size’ into ‘shrinking,’ that was super clever dude. No wonder everyone thinks you’re hilarious.” Her reply got even more chuckles from the class, since Michael was the kind of kid who thought they're a lot funnier than they really were. Marcus, still perched on her shoulder, glanced over at her, somewhat surprised. He knew she was outgoing and not afraid to speak up for herself, but he had no idea she was so sassy too. She was never like that at home. It was strange to see a new side to his daughter, although he’d been doing that a lot lately as she grew older and her personality became more developed.

     “Alright guys, how about we move on, okay?” Miss Shepard said. She turned around to her desk and picked up the thin and simple headset that some of the teachers with spacious classrooms used, and offered it to Jessie. “Just in case your voice doesn’t carry,” she explained to Marcus. “Don’t feel bad if they can’t hear you, even I need to use it some days or else I wouldn’t have it.” She turned back to the class as Jessie put the headset over her own head, but turned the microphone around so instead of being in front of her mouth, it faced her dad still sitting on her shoulder. “So! Yes, Clarissa, DSD stands for Diminutive Size Disorder. We’ve actually had a few students with DSD over the years, usually it doesn’t develop until you’re an adult but sometimes kids experience it too. It’s actually a pretty common condition if I remember correctly, you just don’t see people with it as often in public since it’s harder for them to get around on their own. But I’ll pass it off to Mr. Tilden now and he can fill everyone in on the rest.”

     Jessie’s dad thanked her teacher, and then went on to give a backstory of when he was diagnosed, what it felt like for the couple of weeks he was going through the shrinking process, and how life is like now. He mentioned how since it was just him and Jessie, she ended up being the one to take care of him, but that there are lots of jobs for other people to take care of shrunken people, from babysitters to full time caregivers. Then Jessie took over for a few minutes to talk about what that looked like in her life: for the most part, it just meant she had to do all of the chores in the house, but it also meant fixing tiny appliances when they broke, making sure he has food that he’s able to eat on his own. But ultimately it didn’t really feel like a job; there were days she wouldn’t even need to do anything at all.

     After a bit of them talking about their new lives, Marcus told everyone that he could answer some questions, and half the class seemed to raise their hands in response. He felt a bit proud of himself seeing that, because in his mind, it either meant that they were interested to know more about his condition, or at the very least had been interested enough to pay attention. And both sounded good to him. Since Jessie knew everyone’s names, he let her pick the questions to answer, and she began by pointing to a boy in the first row: “Do you always ride on her shoulder, or does Jessie ever carry you around?”

     “That’s a pretty good question, I get around for myself most of the time like I talked about, stairs and ladders and stuff. But yeah, Jessie has to pick me up a lot of the time, and honestly it’s a bit safer sitting on her hand where she can grab me in an emergency than high up on her shoulder.” The boy nodded and Jessie called on another kid.

     “Do you feel weird about like, just anyone being able to hold you, or handle you?” the girl asked. “I dunno if ‘handle’ is an insensitive way to put it.”

     Marcus brushed off her wording, “No, it’s fine. Generally, uh, it’s not a huge deal to me I guess. Obviously as long as they ask me first, or if I tell them. We had Jessie’s grandparents over a few weeks ago, and my mom just scooped me right up out of nowhere while we were talking to get a closer look at me. That was pretty annoying, it kinda feels like getting tackled but without the falling down part.” The girl nodded and then propped her head up with her arm, starting to think about what that was like.

     “Can we meet you up close?” another girl suddenly asked without having raised her hand.

     “Meet me?”

     “I just mean like, see what you’re like up close. I think DSD is kinda interesting, my aunt works at a shrunken living facility.” Marcus was put off by the question initially. My body hasn’t changed in appearance, I’m just smaller. It’s not like I’m some alien species or something, I don’t get what the big deal would be. But the class (and some of the parents in the back) seemed to have gotten pretty invested, and he didn’t want to say no. It’d just make him look shy, and he didn’t want anyone thinking that. 

     “I guess if you guys want to,” he began saying, to which several kids immediately nodded at the chance. Jessie was surprised at his willingness, given how antisocial he’d been just a few days ago, but she didn’t say anything.

     “Since it seems like a few people are interested,” Miss Shepard said, “Jessie, why don’t you let Mariam see him, and then you guys can pass him around so everyone gets a chance to meet him. As long as that sounds good with you Mr. Tilden?”

     Marcus had assumed Jessie might just walk around the room so people could see him closer, which would’ve already been awkward in itself, being showboated to a room full of middle schoolers. But since you’ve already suggested it, I don’t really have an option to say no now. “Sure, that’s fine I suppose. As long as everyone’s careful.”

     Jessie brought him over to the front corner of the glass, and set him on the table of a quiet-looking Asian girl. “Hi, um… nice to meet you,” she said, waving at him awkwardly with a quaint smile since she was unsure how to shake a shrunken guy’s hand. He sighed on the inside, but smiled back at her and gave her a polite nod. Why did the teacher ever think this’d be a good idea…

     “I know there were a lot more people who still had questions,” Miss Shepard announced as the first student to meet Marcus carefully passed him on to the person behind them. “So Jessie why don’t you continue calling on people for your dad.” 

     “Do you ever hang out with other people your size?” a girl asked after Jessie picked her.

     “Not really… but I’ve only had DSD for a few weeks, I’m still kinda adjusting. Definitely something I’d love to do in the future but for now my social circle is just a bunch of people way bigger than me.” As he said this, he got passed into the hands of a gentle giant, the biggest boy from their class but also the most careful with Marcus so far, who explained that one of his cousins had DSD too.

     Jessie chose another boy, who’d been looking at Marcus with slightly squinted eyes most of the presentation, as if he couldn’t believe 9 inch tall humans could really exist despite how many of them there were in the world. “Has anyone ever accidentally stepped on you?” he asked, with an expression that said he found the idea both gross and a little funny.

     Jessie swallowed nervously and blushed, although nobody was paying her much attention, and Marcus took a deep breath before answering. Should’ve expected a 13 year old to ask a question like that sooner or later. “Not yet as a matter of fact, Jessie knows how to watch where she’s going,” he lied. But he was instantly brought back to his experience of barely two hours ago, and the feeling of her socks rubbing against his body, while her sole was literally bigger than his entire body. He was held out to be passed on to the next teen in line, but she was really anxious and shook her head, saying she was too scared of dropping him. Marcus sighed, I’m not gonna break in half if I get dropped. Wouldn’t even get hurt. But he didn’t say anything and just let the girl get skipped to someone else instead.

     Jessie picked on a new person, a girl in the back row. “Have you ever been in like a little kid’s room or something and had them think you were a toy or try to play with you?” Jeez, why these humiliating questions all of a sudden? he thought with disdain. And yet the kids who were posing them seemed to be asking innocently.

     “Oh, God no, that’s never happened,” he quickly answered, visibly repulsed just by the idea of being objectified in such a humiliating manner. “And I definitely hope it never does.” A couple of the students giggled at that last comment, although it was far from a joke for him.

     He continued answering questions from Jessie’s classmates as they all got to observe him up close, like some kind of science experiment. Most of the kids were normal, a couple were nervous and weirdly awkward. And there was one girl who creeped him out, cuz she kept looking him up and down while breathing a bit quickly. He was glad when she finally passed him along.

     But soon afterwards, Career Day came to a close, and the students all had to start school like normal. Marcus was able to get a ride back home from the parent of one of Jessie’s friends, where he proceeded to spend the rest of the day not really getting anything done, since he felt like his one trip to the school had made him feel productive.

     When Jessie got home from practice that afternoon, Marcus asked how the rest of her day went as she was shrugging off her backpack onto the couch. “There were actually a lotta people who were talking about you afterwards,” she said, heading to the kitchen to grab a bag of chips from the cupboard.

     “Talking about me... in a good way? Bad way? Neutral way?”

     “Good way,” she nodded, like she was impressed. “Lotta people were just like, talking to me, like people I never really talk to you know? And some of my friends, like friends I don’t hang out with outside of school but I’m friends with them in class, there were a couple who were suddenly like ‘oh hey we should hang out sometime’ and stuff.” She threw some of the chips in her mouth as she thought about it, while Marcus had a bit more difficulty processing his reaction. On one hand, he was glad he’d done something that seemed to have had a positive impact on her classmates, or at least take part in something educational. But he felt uneasy about what she said too; there was no way that it was merely a coincidence that the day that a shrunken guy shows up to school, suddenly everyone starts acting like they’re friends with that guy’s daughter. He didn’t think there was anything malicious about it; most of the kids seemed to just be really, genuinely curious, so it probably just had something to do with that (although he obviously didn’t want a bunch of kids to only see him as some kind of freak of nature). But there was still that one girl who’d put him on edge… What if she was one of the girls Jessie was talking about? I don’t think I’d feel comfortable having her in my house. 

     “Anyways, I think it’s a pretty good thing,” Jessie continued, as she slipped her shoes off and kicked them over by the door while rolling the bag of chips back up. “We wanted you to get out and around more people, right? So now that you’re seeming to be a bit more comfortable with others, I might invite a few of them over or something.” She put the bag away, and began heading back to her room to relax before dinner. “Maybe I should even throw a party or something,” she suggested nonchalantly without even looking back, closing her bedroom door behind her.

*     *     *     *     *     *

     The front door opened, alerting Marcus to the fact that Jessie was home from school. He had been lying on his couch, but he quickly sat up upon hearing her arrive, switching screens on his miniature laptop to make it look like he was being productive. He sighed and scolded himself internally, It’s just like when I was a kid and my mom came home from the store and I rushed to start working on her chores. Except in this situation he was the parent. Jess probably wouldn’t have even cared if she came home to see me on YouTube. She knows the odds of me finding a new career that’ll allow me to work from home, and she’s been nothing but supportive of me this past week. Hell, she’s the one who’s been telling me to relax more than I’ve wanted to. “Hey Daddy,” Jessie said cheerily as she came into the living room. Marcus smiled back at her, about to greet her, but was startled as he saw another girl enter behind his daughter. She was a slightly chubby, short hispanic girl from Jessie’s class that had been friends with Marcus’ daughter since last school year. Jessie herself wasn’t even very tall, but this new girl was only about as tall as his daughter’s chin, likely several inches under 5 feet by his guess. She had a timid expression on her face as she entered the room, but her eyes grew wide and she froze when she saw Marcus on the couch. 

     “Oh, I didn’t know you were bringing someone over,” he said nervously, fidgeting in his seat as he saw the young girl’s reaction to his shrunken size. This was the first person who wasn’t family who’d been in their home since he shrunk. "Is she one of your teammates?" Normally Marcus would’ve greeted his daughter’s friends, but since mobility wasn’t as easy for a 9 inch human, he didn’t really greet people; they were the ones to greet him. Besides, getting off the couch to go up and meet here would make him feel even smaller. At least up here he was around waist level to a normal person.

     The girl had never seen someone with his condition in person before, or at least not as small as he was. “Hi, I’m Camila,” she quietly said, still looking Marcus’ body up and down. The only people shorter than her were usually children, and while Jessie had mentioned to Camila that her dad had DSD, Camila was still shocked to see him. Finally she could enter a room and not be the smallest person there. She didn’t look excited, or mischievous, but curious more than anything. And that bothered him almost as much as the other two reactions, because it made him feel subhuman. Jessie was the only person who looked at him the same way she always had. 

     “She doesn't play volleyball, we just have some homework we’re gonna work on together for a class project,” Jessie explained. “We can stay in my room and be out of your way, she has to be home in a few hours anyways.”

     Marcus was still surprised to see the newcomer. He’d let his guard down a bit in the past few days, but knowing that Jessie was gonna go back to bringing friends over—aka, being a normal teenager—made him feel defensive again. “Oh, OK. Yeah, that’s fine. Can you uh, text me when you have people coming over though? It’s just good to know.” I could’ve hidden in my room if I had known someone else would be here. Or maybe covered myself with my blanket and pretended to be asleep. 

     “I did,” Jessie replied, not missing a beat. “It’s from our last period class though, so I guess you didn’t see it yet. But Camila’s parents are both still at work right now so I figured it would be better if we came here, in case we needed help with something. What can I help her out with at my size? he thought, a bit cynical about the whole situation. Oh, she probably just means questions.

     “Alright, I guess that’s fine,” he said, sighing as he got more comfortable in his seat. 

     “OK, thanks Daddy,” Jessie said, turning to head towards her room. 

     Camila smiled again. “Bye Mr. Tilden,” she said, politely waving as she followed Jessie. He had never met Camila before, or heard Jessie talk about her, but from the looks of it she was a bit of a shy girl. I suppose if someone has to be the first friend Jessie brings over now that I’m shrunken, it’s better for it to be someone who’s a bit shy instead of some of Jess’ other friend’s. As he closed out his impromptu “productive” tab and went back to wasting time on YouTube and checking emails, he reflected on some of Jessie’s other friends that she had brought over throughout the past few years. Wonder when I’ll feel comfortable with Jess hosting sleepovers again or having a bunch of people over for parties, I can’t restrict her from having a proper childhood just because of my new size anxiety. 

     Unfortunately for Marcus, those days were a lot closer than he expected.

*     *     *     *     *     *

     Shortly after the three of them finished up dinner, during which Marcus got to know Camila a bit better, the young girl left to go home, and Jessie retired to her room while Marcus watched his nightly news show. But after it had finished and he started browsing what else was on, he started to feel lethargic just sitting like a drone in front of his TV mindlessly watching stuff. Here I am all by myself, doing nothing important. This’d be a great chance to spend time with Jess, and I’m just sitting here. She fills my with energy and joy and pride, and I always love spending time with her even if we’re not doing anything… so what the hell am I just sitting around doing nothing for? With a huff that signaled the start to what would hopefully be a changed attitude around the house, he hopped off the couch and headed to his daughter’s room to see what she was up to.

     Her door was open, and soft, melancholy music got progressively louder as he turned the corner into her room to see what she was up to. His daughter was on the ground in front of him, her hands flat on the ground and with arms and elbows straightened, while her torso curved to point towards the sky with her legs extending behind her, the tops of her feet facing the floor. It looked like she was doing yoga. Before he could say anything, her heels rotated away from her til she was perched on her toes, as her butt raised into the air. Eventually her soles were able to stand flat on the ground, and her legs lifted higher into the air, her torso and head moving to face the ground this time. He had never been into yoga, but he at least knew which one this was called: downward facing dog. He glanced between her legs towards her upside-down face, but her eyes were closed. “Hey, just came to see what you were doing” he said, and her eyes popped open, looking at the small man between her legs.

     “Just some yoga,” she smiled.

     “Oh, I didn’t know you liked to do that. Is it for volleyball?”

     “Uh, kinda. Coach never told us we had to do it but he suggested it, I just figured it’d help with my flexibility. I only started doing it last week.”

     “Well it’s about time, I’ve bought how many pairs of yoga pants for you since you were little, and you’re just starting now?” Jessie couldn’t help but giggle and roll her eyes at his dad joke. She couldn’t punch him from her position, so she lifted one of her feet off the ground instead to give him a playful jab. “Whoah,” he laughed, bumbling backwards as he dodged to get out of the way. “So how many positions have you learned then?”

     “Ummm… like five I think? I haven’t really learned any new ones since I started, I’ve just been doing the ones I already knew about. This is downward facing dog, and before that I did upward facing dog, and before that I did a butterfly… Actually I don’t know if that one’s technically a yoga position but it’s still stretching. And then I know there’s the one where like your hands are stretched out on both sides and you turn your body and bend one of your knees, and the one where you stand up straight and have to put your foot on your inner thigh and hold your hands up above you. So that’s… yeah, five.”

     “You don’t even know all the names? What if you’re doing them wrong?”

     “Uhhhh…” she took a few seconds to think about an answer. She hadn’t actually considered that, but they were pretty simple, she didn’t think she was messing them up. “What do you mean?”

     “Do you have to do push-ups when you have practice?”

     “Yeah, sometimes.”

     “OK, so has your coach ever explained the right way and the wrong way to do push-ups?”

     “Ohhh…” She understood now where he was going with this. “Yeah.”

     “Right. You’d think that you’d be working out your arms either way, you’re just moving up and down, but if they’re too far apart or too close together, you can actually hurt your muscles.”

     “Yeah, yeah, I get what you mean now,” she said, standing up and turning her torso to the side while still looking towards her dad. Then she held her arms out flat behind and in front of her, while straightening her legs with them facing the same direction. And then she slowly leaned towards her dad, bending her front knee and holding the pose there. “But I’m not lifting any weights or anything, so why’s it matter?” she continued.

     “Well, you were lifting your body weight just before, on your arms and legs. And with this one, you have more of your weight concentrated on your front legs instead of your back ones.” He looked up at her bent knee, then glanced at the straight one behind her. “I mean this one’s pretty simple and I can’t imagine how you’d be messing it up, but if you learned a new one and then started doing it at practice around everyone else, some of the other kids might know better and make fun of you for doing it wrong.” He narrowed his eyebrows, as if he just made a concerning realization. “Actually, I know you’re doing this one wrong.”

     She seemed surprised, and looking down to make sure her feet were straight. She’d seen this move a hundred times before, and couldn’t imagine how she could be messing up something so simple. “Are you sure?”

     “Definitely,” he replied, squatting down in front of her while peering at her ankles. “It’s mostly right, but the only problem is…” he said, reached his hands out towards her bare feet. “You’ve left yourself vulnerable!” he grinned, and dove his fingers down to tickle the cracks between her toes. 

     She squealed in surprise and curled her toes shut as tightly as possible, rushing them towards her with a laugh. But Marcus persisted and leapt towards her, causing her to back up carefully into the corner of her room. She didn’t want to run around or jump over him though, because she was worried she might accidentally kick him or something since he was so much smaller than her. “Stay back!” she yelled after realizing she couldn’t back up any further. “Or I’ll kick you!”

     But Marcus looked up and saw she was smiling; besides, he knew she’d never do anything like that that could hurt him. He just paused, and then gave her a smirk; “No you won’t.” And then he charged forward, jumping up just as she was raising her foot, and landed on his butt in the top middle of her foot, right next to her ankle. He quickly latched his legs around her ankle and hooked one of his arms around too, using his free hand to tickle all around her lower shin.

     “AHHHHH!” She hopped on her unburdened leg into the center of the room, trying to shake her dad off from her foot, but he held on tight and wouldn’t stop making her laugh. And he’d called her bluff correctly too: she was too scared of shaking so hard that he’d get punted across the room. “Stop!” she giggled, falling to the carpet. She twisted onto her back, and then maneuvered her other foot to her knee. Marcus had been using both hands to tickle her by that point, until he was interrupted as her sole started pushing against him, breaking apart his arms and legs from the hold they had as she shoved him off her body. Before he could respond, she pounced forward and reached out with her arm, forcing him to the ground with her hand on his torso. She was about to relax when he tried wiggling out from under her hand, and she yelped with a laugh, outstretching her other arm to double her hand’s weight on top of him.

     She sighed with relief, and he sighed from defeat, as they both calmed down their laughing. She sat up and sat criss cross in front of him, keeping her hands on him so he couldn’t attack her again. “After so many years, finally it’s an even playing field,” she smirked.

     “Um, I hardly think this should be considered fair,” he rolled his eyes, not even trying to get out from under his daughter’s giant hand. It wasn’t very heavy, but with only a little bit of force from her part, it could certainly feel like it.

     She lifted her top hand off of him and dug her pointer finger into his armpit. But nothing happened. Even Marcus had expected that it’d tickle him, but instead if was just a weird rubbing sensation, since the tip of her finger was about the same size as the inward curve of his armpit. “Well that’s no fun,” she complained. “I’m too big to even get you back! And I can’t think of any body parts that are smaller than finger tips.” She gazed at him for a few moments, keeping her hand on him, but trying to think of another way to get him back. And as soon as her eyes lit up, he knew she’d thought of something.

     Marcus was lifted up and carried close to the smiling face that was pretty much as tall as he was, but she continued lifting him a few inches higher than she normally did whenever talking to him up close. He found himself looking into her forehead as she leaned towards him and lifted the bottom of his shirt with her thumb, and then he felt a light, spider-like sensation all along his stomach. He looked down and realized she was fluttering her eyelashes against him—and it was working! He started laughing as she blinked as fast as she could, over and over against his bare stomach. But his further laughs just caused her to blink even faster, slightly shaking her head just enough to move the flittering around. “OK OK, you can stop,” he chuckled, and she giggled too, slowing down a bit.

     “Are you laughing cuz you think it’s like a funny method?” she asked, lowering him back down in front of her face. “Or because it actually worked?”

     “Both, I think,” he replied, but then yelled out in surprised laughter as she grinned mischievously and raised him back up to finish her payback.

===================

Tuesday, October 20

===================

     Jessie’s volleyball games were typically on Tuesdays and Thursdays, except she’d had a bye on the 15th, which is why she’d been home before dinner the day that Marcus had gotten officially laid off. But Tuesday was back to her regular routine, so she slumped her backpack and gym bag off near the front door after coming home a little after 8pm that night. One of her teammates lived nearby, so Jessie carpooled home with them on game days. Jessie’s team had won tonight, but at the cost of her feeling exhausted. Although she almost always felt exhausted after games, because she always put in 100% effort regardless of who her opponents were. 

     But even besides the actual matches, her schedule in general was tiring. Twice a week, she had to wake up early to go to school for 7 hours, then spend time working on homework between school ending and volleyball practice starting. And then another several hours at practice and eventually the matches. All to come home and have less than an hour to herself before she had to go to bed. Luckily, volleyball was the only sport she played, so her hectic schedule only occurred two days a week. But it was still tiresome.

     Laying on his couch, Marcus felt a bit self-conscious as he saw her come home, and he sat up in his seat a little. Here he was, having done almost nothing productive all day, while his daughter had spent a little over 12 hours learning, studying, playing sports, and more. At least he used to be able to say he provided for the two of them and took care of her. But after shrinking, he was only able to do the former because of his savings, and it was becoming increasingly evident to him how little he was now able to do of the latter. She trudged over to the living room where his mini-sized couch was and crumpled to the floor, sprawling out onto her back.

     Marcus pursed his lips, seeing how miserable she felt after such a long day, even by an adult’s standards. “Looks like your day was harder than mine,” he admitted, and she couldn’t help but smile weakly at his remark, staring up at the ceiling.

     “Yeahhhh…” she sighed, extending her arms and legs out and sliding them back and forth across the floor like she was making snow angels in the carpet. He smiled at her juvenile behavior, while Jessie lay and felt like she was wasting her precious few minutes that she had before she had to take a shower and get ready to go to bed. She lifted one of her legs up, holding her knee straight and pointing her toes right towards the ceiling. She had already stretched after the game, but it still felt good to do again now, feeling her hamstrings flex.

     “I guess you got a good workout in too, huh?” her dad asked, eying the subtle, rhythmic bulges of her leg muscles. This wasn’t her first year playing sports, but it was her first year playing as a part of her school’s team instead of just a neighborhood club. Still feeling relatively new to the more “official” experience, she wasn’t sure yet which she preferred.

     She bent her calf downwards, nearing her foot to her torso, and reached to slip off one of her blue and black athletic socks that had been confined in a shoe for the entire day. “You tell me,” she smirked, and bundled the thick sock into a big, musty ball, throwing it near her dad. It wasn’t even close to hitting him, but he still dodged to the side instinctively, watching it soar past and land in the kitchen. 

     “Hey, if that thing hits me it could really hurt,” he warned her, as her other leg bent down so she could pry the other sock off too.

     “That’s why I made sure not to hit you,” she giggled, and tossed the other sock in the same direction. He didn’t react as abruptly for the second throw, but he still scowled nonetheless. Getting accidentally knocked over and nearly trapped by the 13 year old’s discarded socks had been humiliating, and it wasn’t an easy memory to forget. He knew her socks from today wouldn’t be smelling any better than her grass-stained ones from the weekend.

     “You’ll need to pick those up later too,” he reminded her, to which she rolled her eyes.

     “I knowwww Daddy, I’m just tired and being lazy for a lil bit,” she groaned, sighing again as she rolled over onto her stomach. “I miss when you used to give me back rubs after games,” she added, wistfully remembering how he used to make her feel better whenever she got home from club matches. He missed it too, since he didn’t feel very capable at his current size. But he didn’t think he was so small that he couldn’t do anything. 

     Jumping down from his couch and onto the floor, he made his way over to her spread out figure, stopping next to her torso. “And I miss being able to give them. But I might be able to give you back stomps instead,” he said with a cheeky grin, and jumped onto her back, making sure to straighten his legs as he landed, maximizing his impact against her. She squeaked out in confusion as her dad’s weight suddenly struck her back, but she realized what he was doing as he started walking around, each footstep turning into a stomp through her thin jersey and against her sore muscles. 

     Technically Marcus should’ve weighed barely half a pound, and therefore felt like little more than a half empty water bottle when standing on Jessie. But his mass didn’t scale in the linear way that his height had, so he actually weighed more than just a few pounds because of how dense his body was now. Scientists believed that was part of why people with his condition were more durable than they should be. But in addition to that, his strength hadn’t been diluted as much either. So while he obviously didn’t have the power of a fully-grown, 170 pound man like he used to, he was still able to aggressively tread against his daughter’s back and have it register with her.

     “Ohhhhh my God. Okay nevermind, yeah. I guess maybe I don’t miss them after all,” she said, closing her eyes with a contented smile.

     He paused, “You don’t miss them? Darn, I was really hoping you might be able to feel it,” he teased, pretending to be dejected as he hopped off like he was gonna head back to his couch.

     “Wait wait wait wait wait!” she yelled, swinging her arm around near her side as if she wanted to stop him from leaving. “I meant there’s no reason for me to miss them. It actually feels good. Please keep going,” she asked politely, and he laughed and hopped up onto her back, continuing his parade on Jessie’s back while the two of them talked about her day at school. 

*       *       *       *       *

     After Jessie’s massage, she took a shower to clean herself off after the long day, and then the two of them decided to get ready for bed. Marcus was still planning on staying up for another few hours in his room, but he figured he might as well do his nightly routine alongside her. Except this time, she wanted some help.

     As the two of them stood in the bathroom brushing their teeth, she grumbled with frustration at her inability to floss underneath her braces. “I have this stupid little thing stuck between my teeth,” she explained, her eyes narrowed as she leaned in close to the mirror and bared her teeth, trying to inspect the shiny metal from a dozen various angles. “I think it’s a sesame seed but I can’t even tell. But it’s something, and I can like just barely feel it with my tongue just barely. But I still can’t reach it.” 

     She leaned back in a huff and threw the floss away, biting her lip as she stared at her upper teeth. She glanced at Marcus, who was doing some flossing of his own with a specially sized, ultra thin strip, thinking about how small his hands and arms were now. “Do you think you could help me get it out?” she asked as soon as he threw away his floss too.

     “Um…” He looked up at her reflection in the mirror, looking down at him hopefully. Trying to get bits of food out of her mouth sounded like it could be gross. But at the same time, he knew she brushed and flossed twice a day, so at the very least, there was no reason her breath should smell bad. And honestly, I’ve done a lot grosser things for her before, he recalled. Perks of parenting. “Sure, honey,” he said, walking over to her floss container and unspooling several inches worth before tearing it off at the end. 

     “Oh! Thank you,” she smiled, and scooted in as close as she could to the counter as she got down on her knees. Her head was a few inches above it, putting the top of her mouth at the optimal height for the 9 inch tall man. Then she opened her mouth as wide as she possibly could, wanting to give her dad as much room as possible.

     "Which teeth was it?” he asked, leaning into her mouth just enough to have a look under her braces. He could very faintly feel her slow and steady warmth of her breath against his side, and luckily it didn’t smell bad. “Oh wait, I think I found it,” he said, spotting the black spot between her teeth that must’ve been the seed she was talking about. “Actually, I don’t even know if my fingers are gonna fit.” She lowered her head slightly to try and make it easier for him as he wound the end of the floss around his middle finger of the hand facing away from her. Then he flattened his hand, gripping the other end with his fist, and raised his hands up. 

     There wasn’t a lot of room between the wire of Jessie’s braces and the surface of her teeth, but luckily the space between her teeth had a bit more room because of their slight curvature. With his flattened hand, he was able to insert his hand all the way up to his wrist, and then raise his other other arm even higher than that on the inside of her mouth, pulling the tightened strip of floss between the two teeth. Like a craftsman sanding a piece of wood, he repeatedly raised and lowered his arms, cleaning out the area better than Jessie would’ve ever been able to do. Sure enough, the seed eventually dislodged itself and fell, bouncing off her lip and onto the counter.

     He retracted his hands with a satisfied smile and unwound the floss before tossing it in the trash, as Jessie closed her mouth again. She grinned at herself in the mirror, then to her dad, happy to see her sparkling braces now even cleaner than they were with just her own work. “Thanks Daddy!” she said happily as he nodded at her and washed his hands off. “You’re all done right with everything else right?”

     “Yep, all set,” Marcus confirmed, and she stood back up, holding out her palm so he could climb on. She put her own toothpaste and brush away, and then swiveled out of the bathroom and flipped the lights off before carrying him to his room, setting him down on the edge of his bed. “Thanks Jess,” he said, hopping off her hand and turning to smile up at her, “See you tomorrow.”

     “G’night,” she replied back, and turned to head to her own room, closing his door til it was open just a crack. She decided to get some water before going to bed though, and headed to the kitchen to grab herself a glass. 

     As she turned the faucet on, she turned to look out at their house, thinking about how somber and empty it looked, illuminated only by the moonlight. It’s been feeling empty kind of a lot recently, she thought to herself, sipping on her glass as she imagined how much more spacious it must feel to her dad. It almost felt like she lived by herself. Whenever she came home, even if he was in the kitchen or living room, she never saw him right away. And nowadays any messes around the house were always made by her; anything from him was just too small in comparison to be a nuisance (plus he’d always been a bit tidier than her).

     “Looks like we both had the same idea,” a voice said, causing her to jump in surprise, almost dropping the glass. But of course it was just her dad, and when she turned to look at him, he was standing just outside of the entrance to the hallway, at the edge of the kitchen. He chuckled at how badly he scared her and made his way past her to his own area of the kitchen. And even when he is here, it doesn’t really feel like it, she thought, quietly watching the small man as he grabbed one of his own miniature cups and filled it up.

     “Well,” he said, putting the glass in the sink after having his fill, “goodnight again I guess.” He softly smiled up at her as he made his way past her again, and she looked down at her feet as he simply trotted on by, not a care in the world.

     “Goodnight…” she whispered, watching him disappear behind into the hallway, leaving the kitchen empty again. But even with so many other kids her age striving to feel independent, she didn’t like how lonesome their home felt now. Obviously it wasn’t her dad’s fault, but that didn’t make her feelings bad to have. I should probably invite friends over more often, she decided. That’ll probably help a bit. More hanging out at my house instead of other people’s. Maybe even more sleepovers during the week. She sighed, and opened the dishwasher to put her cup inside, before closing it again and heading back to her room. 

     It’s good that he’s gotten used to being around people again. Camila had to come by again tomorrow so they could keep working on their project for class, but Jessie thought maybe she should try bringing two people home and see how her dad handled all the giants mulling around his home. Paris would probably be good, at least he knows her really well. I don’t even think she’s seen him since he shrunk. But yeah, hopefully he handles it well. Cuz I think I wanna start bringing people over a lot more often.

     This time, Marcus found himself in a white void, but only for the few moments before their bathroom bloomed into reality around him. He was standing on the counter, and turned to see Jessie come in wearing her pajamas. Except something about her immediately seemed off. Her walk was inhumanly smooth, almost like she was a robot, or something was controlling her. It became more apparent when he looked to her face: it was completely blank, devoid of any emotion. It was an expression he’d never seen on her in his life; the total opposite of the lively and animated girl he’d always known. But worst of all, her eyes were pitch black, like she was possessed by some kind of demon or otherworldly entity. She turned to face him, and her cold gaze fell to rest on him, unblinking and unmoving. Just her stare alone—or the stare of whoever this thing was—gave him chills. And then she spoke.

     “It’s time to brush my teeth, Daddy.” Her voice sounded like it was made up of hundreds, all just as cold and unfeeling as the rest of her, and they ranged in tone from a high octave down to a low gurgle. After she said it, she walked right up to the edge of the counter, and once she was staring straight down at him, she bared her teeth. Except they looked unnervingly dirty, as if she actually hadn’t brushed in weeks, maybe even months. Nevermind the single seed he had to dig out from before, now there were dozens of seeds stuck throughout her teeth, plus other bits of food stuck against her braces or up in her gums. “But this time, you’d better do a good job,” she added, and kneeled down so that her chin was level with the counter. He wondered what she meant by ‘this time,’ considering he did a fine job when he’d had to dislodge that single seed from behind her wires. But clearly, in whatever reality this was, history had been a little different.

     “Of course honey,” he felt himself stammer, “I’m so sorry for last time, I’ll make sure it’s perfect.” He wasn’t even conscious of saying what he did, as if he was just experiencing some alternate version of himself from their point of view.

     She didn’t respond, but opened her mouth again and stuck out her tongue—except it rolled out like a carpet, fifty feet long, ending right at his feet. Feeling his body moving again without his conscience behind it, he stepped onto her tongue and walked the full length up to her mouth, except he ducked to fit inside instead of just working from the outside. And as his arms raised up, he realized he was holding brushes in each hand, except they looked more like wire brushes instead of normal toothbrushes.

     He began firmly rubbing the wire brushes against the backside of her teeth, working hard to thoroughly rid her of the gunk that had gotten everywhere. It was a process that was slow and tedious, and suddenly time seemed to fast-forward, like he was experiencing a time lapse of himself working. Time slowed down again, and although he couldn’t tell how long it had been, it seemed like several hours had passed, the whole time scrubbing the backs of her teeth, and then the front, and then flossing in between.

     Her carpet of a tongue hadn’t moved an inch since first rolling out, so he headed out of her mouth and stood in the middle of the wet, bulging muscle, looking up into Jessie’s blackened eyes. “I’m… uh, I’m done, s-sweetie,” he stuttered, hoping he’d done a good job. Her teeth looked completely clean now; it was a night and day difference.

     The floor beneath him shuffled as she tilted her head slightly down to look at him better while keeping her tongue outstretched. And for the first time, her facial expression changed—except it was into a rage, with narrowed eyebrows and eyes that now glowed red with contempt.

     “NOT GOOD ENOUGH!” her voice boomed without even moving her mouth, and fear struck his heart as he wondered how he could’ve messed up. But he wouldn’t get the chance to know, since her tongue quickly rolled back up into her mouth, pulling him along with it.

     “YOU’LL NEVER BE GOOD ENOUGH!” she screamed, and her tongue swept his legs out from under him, pushing the terrified man into the back of her throat. It felt unlike when she’d unawarely swallowed him in her milkshake though, since now he was at his full 9 inches and a lot more cramped in the humid domain. He tried crawling out, desperately, and was even able to get partway out before her lips slammed closed around his torso. Despite how squishy they should’ve normally been, she was squeezing them tight, so much so that he was struggling just to breathe, and his arms were pinned to his sides, unable to move. And then an impossibly strong force began to slowly pull him back inside; she was sucking him in, and her power was so strong he couldn’t fight it.

     More and more of his body slid back into her lips, until the suction stopped. His frightened eyes caught a sight of himself in the mirror: only his tiny head was visible as her lips held tight around his neck, and all the wiggling in the world wouldn’t let him move even an inch. “Please, Jessie,” he sobbed, “I’m sorry, please!” But she didn’t respond, except by raising her finger up in front of her mouth before punching the tip against his face, popping him back inside. 

     Her throat muscles caught ahold of his feet and began pulling him in, and soon enough his entire 9-inch body had somehow been swallowed into the girl’s gullet. He cried for mercy as the passage downwards began to get tighter and more cramped, to the point of suffocation, until eventually she had squeezed the life out of him entirely.

*   *   *   *   *   *

     He sat bolt upright in a sweat, gasping for air with terror still seizing his veins.

     “Daddy?” The voice, softer than from the dream but still scarily familiar, called out from his left, and he turned towards his door to see Jessie in the hallway, dressed in the same pajamas, just having walked out of her room to get ready for the day when she’d heard him wake up. Except unlike the monster from his vision, a surprised look of concern was painted on her face, one which grew even more sympathetic as she saw his own expression, one of confusion, anxiety, and relief.

     She drifted into his room, “Did you just wake up from a nightmare or something?” she asked, and sat down on his bed, looking down at him. She started to reach out so she could scoop him up for a hug, but he leaned away and held his hands up.

     “Wait a sec,” he said, wanting to compose himself first. After just being swallowed whole by a monster who looked just like her, and who loomed just as large, he didn’t want to be brought any closer just yet.

     Jessie was shocked, and quickly pulled the hand back but held it awkwardly in front of her, processing what just happened. In all of her life, he’d never reacted like that when she tried initiating a hug. Not even for his brief time as a shrunken person. At the worst his hug would be lazy or half-assed, but he’d never backed away like her touch was poison. He had clearly been freaked out, so her natural response was to try and soothe her dad or calm him down. But even the notion of intimacy seemed to put him on edge.

     “Was it… about me?” she whispered quakily. “Did I do something to you in your dream?”

     He swallowed nervously. “No, it was… something else,” he lied, not wanting to upset her any further. But she could immediately tell he hadn’t been honest, and he too realized from her face that she saw right through him.

     “Okay…” She slowly stood up, as if some sudden movement from her might  freak him out again. She anxiously twiddled her thumbs, and they stood staring at each other for a moment, both unsure of what to say next. “Well… it’s still kinda early,” she said, “so you could go back to bed.”

     He shook his head, “No, that’s okay. I’ll just wake up now.” She bit her lip, realizing that of course he wouldn’t want to go back to sleep after whatever had just happened.

     She turned to his door, gingerly heading out as she thought about what to do or what to say, so when she reached his doorway she turned one last time. “You know I would never do anything to hurt you Daddy, right? And I’d never let anything happen to you either. I mean, I know you know that, but… maybe you just needed to hear me say it out loud.”

     “I know,” he replied, and smiled gently to reassure her.

     She breathed in slowly, seeming to sigh with a wave of small comfort. Which in turn reassured him that she didn’t feel too guilty. “Okay. Well… I love you Daddy,” she said.

     “Love you more,” he replied, and lay back down on his pillow as she closed the door to give him some privacy.

======================

Wednesday, October 21

======================

     “Daddddyyyyyyy, wake up wake up wake up!” an exuberant Jessie yelled, thundering her palms against his bed and vibrating him back to life. After his nightmare last night, he ended up lying in bed and reflecting on it, but hadn’t even realized he’d fallen back asleep until his daughter’s excitement had woken him up. “Your car’s in the driveway!” she exclaimed, darting out of his room to go get her slippers.

     It took a moment after his sudden burst of consciousness to realize what she was saying, until he remembered how many weeks it had been since he’d had to send his car to the mechanic for a refitting. As soon as his shrinking slowed down and his doctor could confidently say Marcus’ shrinking would stop between 6 and 12 inches, he’d had a mechanic come by to pick up his car so that special modifications for shrunken people could be added to the driver’s seat. He’d taken a loan (in addition to using up some of his savings) just to afford the cost.

     Unfortunately, car manufacturers weren’t allowed to make cars built exclusively for shrinkees, since all automobiles that drove on main roads were legally required to be drivable by normal people in addition to shrunken ones. So even though it was possible to buy cars straight from the dealership that were already ready for people his size to drive, they never looked or cost any different than cars that got shrinkee-designed parts installed at a mechanic. Basically, he couldn’t have saved money by selling his car and buying a new one just for himself.

     And if he didn’t have a car, his only options for getting around would be busses and bikes—the first of which would be tricky (and anxiety inducing) if he ever went anywhere on his own, and the latter of the two had proven itself to be more than a bit uncomfortable. So he was hoping that being able to use his car again might give him a bit more independence; maybe he’d go joyriding while his daughter was at school today.

     Except the thought of cruising around the city for fun made him feel a tad guilty. Here I am lying around all day, but striving for a bit of freedom from our house and wanting to have fun, while Jessie has to be responsible and go to school and do most of the chores. Basically, I’m the one acting like a kid and by comparison she seems like the parent. Marcus didn’t want that to be the case though. She’s 13, she should be the one having fun. I mean I know she does, but she probably deserves even more. I just don’t know what I can do to help out around the house though. But then he remembered cleaning the floors the other day. Maybe I can do that again today, and wipe off the counters… Well, mop up more likely.

     He was still internally debating about what he should spend his day doing when Jessie came speeding back into his room. “You literally just got your car back, and you’re still sitting in bed?!” she exclaimed, swiping him up to carry with her outside. I can’t imagine being comfortable with anyone else doing that to me, he thought, as she scurried back through the hallway with her grip on him both gentle but firm. In just the few weeks since he’d reached his final 9 inch height, she’d already grown accustomed to picking him up in such a way that his arms wouldn’t get pinned to his side whenever her fingers wrapped around his torso. As juvenile as she acted sometimes, it was minor details like that which made it clear that his humanity and feelings were never lost on her, despite being more resemblant of a toy doll than other normal people.

     She dashed out the front door, a grin on both their faces as they took in the familiar sight of his modest hybrid sedan. He’d never seen in-person what a car for shrunken people was like, “Oh wait, we need the keys,” he thought out loud, until he heard the car beep to life and the doors unlock. Jessie raised up her other hand, showing that she’d already thought to grab them before getting him.

     “But you’re supposed to get a new pair that’s your own size, right?” she asked; it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to retrofit a car for shrinkees if they couldn’t even unlock it. “Oh wait! I think I see them on the dashboard.” She lowered him to the ground; “You go over to the driver’s side, and I’ll get them for you,” Jessie instructed, heading to open the passenger side door and grab the key fob for her dad.

     Marcus strolled over to his side of the car and looked up at the door. Driving was already a dangerous enough thing to do at a regular size, but operating the behemoth that stood before him? He was surprised he was still legally allowed.

     He heard the door slam shut on the other side and Jessie practically skipped around to his side, squatting down and opening up a tiny ziplock bag to empty out something even tinier into her palm. It was a minuscule remote, barely more than a quarter inch long. Her dad reached out to take it, smiling at yet another one of the many innovations devised for people like him. It felt just the same as a normal remote car key, except with a couple extra buttons.

     There were lock and unlock buttons of course, but there was also a third one with a symbol of a door on it. When he pressed it, he heard the car make a couple short noises, and then the bottom right corner of his door opened upwards and outwards like an automated flap. He and his daughter both stared in amazement as a narrow strip of hardened plastic extended outwards from the floor of the car, and then the end slowly lowered itself until it reached the driveway, forming a perfectly sized ramp for the 9 inch man to walk up.

     “That’s so cool!” Jessie whined, as if she was jealous that she couldn’t use something like that herself. Marcus scoffed at how incredible it seemed, walking up the ramp and looking around as if he couldn’t believe what he was standing on. He jumped up a few times to test its durability; even Jessie tried pushing against it, but it was clearly fit to carry far more weight than Marcus could ever load onto it.

     The top of the ramp led to the floor in front of the driver’s seat, and Marcus was pleased to see there was plenty of headroom for him to walk under it. After getting inside, he turned to look back out, and then pressed the button again. Sure enough, he heard the hydraulics kick back in, and the ramp raised itself up before sliding back into the car. He jokingly waved goodbye to his daughter, who giggled and waved right back as the door flap closed itself, sealing him off from the outside.

     He heard Jessie scamper back around to the passenger side door and get in the car as he looked at his surroundings. He was standing on the floor of the car, in the area where normal people keep their feet. All the old elements of his car were still intact, but there were a couple new additions. For one, since the front floors of most cars are cast in shadow, there was a light above him that was synced up with the rest of the car lights, so it turned on and off whenever the others did. A ladder was built into the left side of the seat, so he’d be able to climb up to where people generally sat down. The brake and pedal were still in the same spot, but now there was a small bump leading right down the middle of the floor, from below the pedals to the seat. His eyes traced their path, seeing that they led up to a smaller, secondary seat that had been installed on the front of the regular seat. The secondary seat looked like an arcade racing setup but without the screen; it had its own brake and pedal, its own steering wheel, its own gear shift. It even had its own cupholder, just as a bonus. His new seat looked to be just wide enough to fit him comfortably, but slim enough that if a normal sized person wanted to use the car, they’d still be able to fit their legs on either side of it.

     Jessie was leaning over the center console to get a good look at it too, while Marcus climbed up the ladder so he could take a seat. “I wonder why they didn’t just build it into the middle,” Jessie wondered aloud. Her dad didn’t answer her though, walking around on top of his old seat while he checked out his new one. He climbed into it and stored his key fob in a small slot below the steering wheel, put his foot on the brake, and then pressed a button in the center of the steering wheel to turn the car on. He nearly jumped as it roared to life, but then sat back and watched his new setup continue to present itself.

     The main wheel above him rotated upwards, and out from underneath it came a giant screen that stretched across the entire width of the driver’s side. To him, it looked like it was 20 feet wide. “I think that’s why the seats aren’t built into the middle,” he said, nodding to how wide the screen was. “Wouldn’t be room for that.” As soon as it was all the way out, it turned on, showing Marcus a view from right above his windshield. Naturally, because of where the camera was, it looked a bit off, but it wasn’t anything he wouldn’t be able to get used to.

     Jessie rapidly stomped her feet against the ground with a huge smile on her face. It looked like she was nervously excited, but in reality she was just enraptured with how smoothly everything seemed to work. Not to mention how cute her dad looked, sitting all cozy in his little chair with what might as well have been a brand new car for him. “I can’t wait to see you drive around,” she said. “You’re taking me to school today, right?”

     “You can’t wait?” he asked incredulously. “I’m the one who can’t wait! Obviously I’m taking you to school today silly goose, how else am I gonna test drive this thing?”

     She laughed at how enthusiastic he seemed to be. “Can I take some videos of you driving later to put on my story?”

     “Instagram, Snapchat, Tiktok, whatever else you use, you can share it with whoever you want,” he chuckled. “But you’re not ready for school yet, are you?”

     Jessie groaned, slouching back in her seat. “No, I still have to brush my teeth and wash my face. And get dressed. And do my makeup and brush my hair.”

     Marcus laughed at how far along she still had to go; apparently she’d only eaten her breakfast before she saw the car and came to get him. “Well you better hurry up then, if you take too long I might just leave without you,” he teased.

     Her eyes widened and she clenched her jaw, trying not to smile since she knew he was just messing with her. But the fact that he’d even suggest something so ridiculous…

     She bolted out the passenger door, slamming it shut so hard it shook the whole car. He chuckled and sat back in his seat for another few moments so he could take it all in, and then shut the car off with a sigh, grabbing his keys again and pressing the button for his special door. He had to head back inside to get dressed and have breakfast too, but with the thought of getting to drive his daughter to school again, he knew the time would fly by.

*       *       *       *       *

     Half an hour later, the father and daughter duo found themselves back in Marcus’ new car, this time ready to take it for a spin. Jessie was sitting in the passenger seat, holding up her phone with the camera pointed at her dad in his little seat. The car was turned on, the two of them were buckled up, and they were set to drive. “Ready?” he asked, and she nodded up and down with a smile. He threw it into reverse, and the screen in front of him changed to the rear view camera. Taking his foot off the brake, he gently applied some pressure to the gas, and the car slowly started backing out of the driveway.

     Jessie alternated her camera between showing her dad focused on driving, and the giant screen in front of him that allowed him to view his surroundings as he turned himself onto the street. She zoomed in to catch him shifting to drive, before he spun the wheel back to its neutral position as he put on the gas a little bit. The pedals had a bit more resistance than he was used to, but it was fascinating to watch the large pedals on the car floor move on their own to mimic whatever his foot did with his tiny ones.

     Marcus slowly worked his way up to 15mph, and he felt like he was learning to drive all over again. He was antsy and anxious all over again. “I think I’m just gonna stick to neighborhood roads for most of the drive,” he chuckled nervously, which Jessie understood completely. She wondered how it looked from the outside, since her dad wouldn’t be visible to observers, so the car probably looked like it was driving itself.

     “By the way, thanks for taking me to school,” she made sure to say as she stopped her camera, finally settling into her seat so she could review the footage before sharing it online.

     “Not a problem at all, obviously,” he replied. “Honestly I’m gonna have to start driving you every day for a little while.”

     This was definitely the best start to his day that he’d had since first receiving his diagnosis. It was just too much fun.

============================

Wednesday, October 21 (cont.)

============================

True to the idea he had that morning, Marcus decided on cleaning the kitchen counters as his chore that he’d do for the day. And not just his counter and mini-kitchen space; that was easy. He actually got out a bucket, filled it with soapy water, and then carried the bucket and a mop up his little stairs that led all the way up to the main kitchen’s counter. There had been a part of him that wanted Jessie to actually see him do the mopping too, and actually witness his increased productivity that contrasted his depressed state of mind from just a week ago. So he roughly estimated how long it’d take him to clean the counters, and timed it so that when she got home in the late afternoon like usual, she’d walk in on him finishing up the last of the counter. The sound of the front door opening alerted him to his daughter’s return, and he looked up in time to see Jessie coming in—with two other guests behind her.

The first was the Hispanic girl that Jessie had brought over a couple days ago, and the other was Paris, Jessie’s best friend. Marcus had known Paris longer than any of Jessie’s other friends, along with the rest of her family too. Not that Jessie needed it per se, but Paris also was a great influence on his daughter, since she (and the rest of her family) were some of the kindest people Marcus had ever known. About an inch shorter than his daughter, Paris had curly black hair that bounced whenever she got excited, clear dark skin, and an eager set of green eyes that widened along with her smile upon seeing Marcus for the first time in a long while.  

“Mr. Tilden! How are you? It’s so good to see you again!” she said, and Marcus grinned back at the polite young girl.

“It’s great to see you too Paris,” he replied, “I’m actually kinda surprised it took this long for Jessie to bring you around.”

“I was trying to be sensitive!” his daughter defensively remarked as she shrugged off her backpack on the table. “I thought you’d want a bit more space after shrinking and stuff.”

“I know I know, I was just messing with you,” Marcus told her. “Although I do have plenty of space now. I don’t think I need any more of that.” He looked around and gestured to the rest of their house: normal sized for them, but massively spacious for the 9 inch tall man. “I think if I were to grow back again then I’d feel cramped in all the hallways and small rooms.”

Paris walked over to Marcus, her eyes more empathetic than they were pitiful. Nowadays, most people looked at him like the latter. “I’m so glad you’re OK,” she said, “I don’t think we’ve seen each other since like, a couple days after your diagnosis, right? That was kind of awhile ago.” Marcus nodded, thinking back on how long it’d been. He hadn’t wanted Jessie to bring people over while he’d been actively shrinking. “Is it OK if I hug you, or does that make you uncomfortable?” she asked, squatting down so their eyes would be level with each other.

It was thoughtfulness like that that made Paris his favorite of Jessie’s friends. Her parents had done such a good job raising her to be polite and considerate, and as a result she’d always seemed the most mature of his daughter’s classmates. There were a lot of other people with Marcus’ condition who were insecure about their body sizes, which led to seemingly half the population treating them awkwardly and different than everybody else. Or shunning them altogether. And there was another huge chunk of people that was constantly ignorant and naive about the impacts of size differences. Forgetting how weight affected them disproportionately, not seeing them on the sidewalk and bumping into them, or simply not caring about their requests for special treatment.

But Paris was one of the few people who acted the same towards Marcus as when he was normal sized—while still showing thoughtfulness to what he was going through and how he might perceive things differently. Even Jessie had been mostly ignorant of DSD’s implications for the first couple weeks that Marcus was shrunken, and though she was getting better at being cognizant of his differences, she’d still slip up from time to time (like accidentally flinging her sock onto him).

So it warmed Marcus’ heart to see Paris asking for permission to hug him, aware of how much incredibly larger and stronger she was than him. “Of course,” he replied with a smile, opening up his arms as she leaned forward so he could embrace her shoulder, while she reached a hand up to ever-so-gently place against his back in return. The hug lasted only a second, just long enough as was appropriate for a man and his daughter’s friend.

“Thanks for asking too,” he said as they pulled away. “I wasn’t very fond of people touching me for a little while. And a lot of people still don’t know how to… well, handle me.” Jessie blushed, remembering some of the times she’d already mishandled him. “So how’s the new school year been going for you?” he asked.

“Really good!” she replied cheerfully, taking off her backpack and sitting on the kitchen table to face him. “I have a B in one of my classes, but so far I’ve been having a great year. I love all my teachers, and I have like two or three classes with Jessie, that’s pretty cool.”

“That’s good to hear,” he replied, and then noticed her eyes quickly glance at the mop that he’d set aside. He turned around, “Oh, I was just cleaning off the kitchen counters with this thing,” he explained. “Even though it’d probably be a lot faster for Jessie to do it, I like to help out a bit around the house since she’s taken over so many chores. Plus it’s a good to be on my feet a little bit!”

“Aw, that’s really sweet of you Mr. Tilden,” Paris replied, looking between Jessie and her dad.

Yup, the two of us make a great team!” Jessie grinned, pretending to rest her elbow on her dad’s head, like how tall people do with shorter people sometimes. Except she made sure not to actually put any weight on him, of course.

“Aaaaand Camila, right?” Marcus spoke up, turning to the girl who’d been quietly watching the three of them interact. “How was your day at school?”

A smile grew on Camila’s lips from him having remembered her name. She didn’t have a lot of friends, and was too shy to talk to very many people, so people seemed to forget her name a lot when they first met her. It wasn’t a big gesture—he didn’t even consider remembering someone’s name a gesture at all—but it gave her a surprising amount of happiness.

“I had a good day,” she replied quietly with a smile and a bit of a blush. “Thank you for asking.”

“Hey, can Paris and Camila stay for dinner?” Jessie asked her dad, who glanced at the clock and chuckled.

“My mama would probably be glad if she knew she didn’t need to cook for me when she got home,” Camila added earnestly, her smile faltering a bit.

“Well if I said no, I’d be making you girls leave just after getting here,” he joked, looking back and forth between Paris and Camila. “But Jessie’s gonna have to do the cooking!”

His daughter rolled her eyes, “I always do the cooking. If you had to cook for four people you would’ve had to start hours ago,” she said, referencing how much harder it was for someone his size to cook for multiple fully grown people.

“At least it’d give me something to do with my day though,” he shrugged.

Camila tilted her head and wrinkled her nose, “Do you not have a job Mr. Tilden?” She wasn’t sure if shrunken people really had jobs.

Jessie glanced at her dad, knowing it was a bit of a sore subject with him, and he took a deep breath in. “Well… no, actually. Not as of last Thursday.”

Camila looked more shocked than the reply probably warranted. “Oh… I’m sorry I asked,” she said, looking down in embarrassment.

“No, no no no no no,” Marcus laughed, trying to reassure her. “You didn’t know, don’t feel bad. It’s just life, right? I could’ve shrunk down to an inch and then my life would really be crazy, like I can’t even imagine. But there’s still some stuff I can do at my height.” He smiled, as if trying to be optimistic for his own sake rather than convince Camila. “Between our savings, and the disability benefits, and soon the unemployment ones too, I had a pretty good financial safety net. And the one upside, which is a really, really big upside…” he trailed off, reaching his hand out towards Jessie’s arm, who was standing next to him. “…is that I get to spend a lot more time with Jessie. She’s had after-school sports for the last year or so, so she’d get home a while after I did, and sometimes we’d get less than an hour together before I had to go to bed since I woke up so early.”

Saying it out loud, Marcus realized that their situation actually hadn’t changed that much in regards to how much time he and Jessie spent together. Even though he was home way more, she still had school and sports and her social life. It seemed like things should’ve changed, but it felt like they hadn’t. I wish I could spend more time with her, he thought. Especially since she’s only got a few more years before she’ll be old enough to head off to college. And then what’ll I do? I’ll be all alone, and if I could never find a new girlfriend or mother for Jess for the last 13 years, I definitely won’t find one at this height. 

Suddenly he was in a despondent mood again, just from his own words and thoughts. He fantasized about a future where he might live with his daughter beyond her college years, like how some parents did with their children after they became adults. Although most of the time that wouldn’t happen straight out of high school.

He took a deep breath and sighed, telling himself to move on. A lot could change in the next 6 years before she moves out, so no use in worrying about it yet. For now, he’d simply try to spend more time with his daughter.

Unbeknownst to Marcus, his words had also triggered nearly the same kind of guilt with Jessie, but in reverse. She was all that he had, which she figured was an even bigger statement now that he’d shrunken and lost his job. She wasn’t sure what her dad would do after she left for college—or would he have to keep living with her after she moved out?

“Well it was nice catching up with you,” Paris told Marcus, cutting everyone off from their thoughts. “I’m gonna try and finish tomorrow’s homework before dinner,” she told her friends, heading to Jessie’s room

“Oh yeah,” Jessie said, sighing as she thought about all the stuff she still had to do that evening before she could have some free time. “I’ll make some dinner for us later in a little bit, Daddy,” she told her father, who nodded, before she went to go join her friend.

Camila, the last of the three still standing in the kitchen, nervously smiled at Marcus. It was only her second time, but she liked being at Jessie’s house; her dad seemed to be really caring, Jessie was fun, and her best friend Paris was really nice to her too.

“Um… thanks,” she told the man awkwardly, then hurried down the hallway to join her classmates in Jessie’s room.

For what? Marcus wondered, raising an eyebrow in confusion. But he just shrugged, and went back to mopping up the kitchen counter to get it ready for his daughter.

*       *       *       *       *

Camila went home not long after dinner, but Paris stuck around since Jessie hadn’t had her over in awhile. But since it was still a school night, Marcus figured he should ask what Paris’ plan to get home was. He was about to knock on Jessie’s door and ask if her mom was coming to pick her up when the door suddenly opened, with the two girls about to step into the hallway. “Oh!” Paris gasped, immediately seeing her friend’s dad standing at their feet and stopping herself. “Sorry,” she blushed; ‘walking into someone’ took on a different meaning when that someone was less than a foot tall.

“That’s OK,” Marcus chuckled. “I’ve kinda learned to stop worrying about what could happen and just focus on what actually does happen. You didn’t run into me, so neither of us should feel bad.”

Paris smiled, impressed with the man’s positive attitude. “That’s a great way of looking at things!”

“Thanks,” he replied, and turned to his daughter as she spoke up.

“Were you coming to get us for something?” the giant teenager asked, and he nodded, looking back at Paris.

“Yeah, I was just checking up to see when you were planning on going home, Paris. I mean you’re free to stay as late as you want, you know that. But since it’s a school night I just thought I’d check.”

“Oh, my mom was gonna come pick me up,” the girl explained.

“But we were gonna watch a movie before she did,” Jessie added. Marcus glanced over at the clock, seeing that it was a little after 7pm. Is there enough time for them to watch a movie before Jessie has to start getting ready for bed? But his daughter was already one step ahead of him. “Paris said she goes to bed normally at 9, and the movie’s only like an hour and a half, sooooo… I mean we probably should’ve started like 15 minutes ago, but every minute we spend talking about it makes it even worse!” The two girls pretended to freak out in unison and ran past Marcus towards the living room. He was a little hesitant about letting them start the movie, since he knew that that Paris’ parents would probably want her home by 8:45 at the latest, which meant her mom would be there around 8:30. Only getting to watch part of a movie was annoying, but getting to watch 90% of it and then having to leave in the last 10 minutes was even worse. But he also didn’t wanna tell his daughter no, since technically she’d be able to finish it, even if her friend couldn’t. Worst case scenario, they’ll just learn to start a little earlier next time, he decided. Time management skills.

Jessie jumped up from the couch and hustled her way back to where her dad was, still standing by her door. She dropped to the floor all of a sudden, breaking her fall with her hands for a split second before putting her elbows on the ground and resting her head in her hands, her feet kicked up behind her and swaying back and forth. It all happened so quick that Marcus was caught off guard, taken aback by something so massive moving so quickly. Her face had gone from being 50 feet above him to at his eye level in barely two seconds. She was purposefully being goofy though—not that Marcus expected anything less from the 13 year old. It was typical Jessie behavior.

“Paris wanted to know if you wanted to watch the movie with us?” she asked, tilting her head back and forth.

“Depends what you guys were gonna watch,” he answered. He didn’t think it’d be something he’d wanna watch, but at least her movie picks nowadays were a lot more appetizing than they used to be. Even to this day, he still knew every line from “I See the Light” because Tangled was the only movie Jessie picked for family movie night for at least a year when she was a little kid.

“Mmmmm, do you remember that one we watched about the girl who wrote a bunch of letters to her crushes and freaked them out, but then one of them fell in love with her?”

Marcus had to think for a moment, but it sounded familiar. “The one with Noah Centineo?”

Over in the family room, Paris suddenly burst out laughing. “Oh my God, I love that your dad knows who Noah Centineo is.”

Marcus rolled her eyes but Jessie laughed, agreeing with her friend. “Yep! I’ve taught him well,” she giggled, gently patting him on the head. “But anyways yeah, that one. It’s the sequel to that.” Her dad looked hesitant, but Jessie wasn’t buying it. “Oh come on, I know you liked it. You literally told me when it was over that it was better than you were expecting.”

“I was just trying to be polite,” he shrugged with a laugh.

“Yeah, sure,” Jessie said, rolling her eyes and picking her dad up before hopping back onto her feet. “He said he loved the first movie and can’t wait to watch the second with us,” she jokingly lied to Paris, carrying her dad to the family room and sitting to the right of her friend on the couch. She set her dad down between the two of them, and then tucked her feet beneath her on the opposite side. Paris pulled a blanket off the ground and was preparing to drape herself with it when Jessie scooted over suddenly, the side of her leg bumping into her dad as she reached for the other side of the blanket. “Ooooh, we can get all snuggled and cozy too,” she commented, and scooted even closer to Paris, trapping Marcus between their legs. Then she threw the blanket open to its fullest and draped it over her and Paris’ laps, teasing her dad by covering him in the process. “OK, everyone ready now?” Polite as she was, Paris couldn’t keep from laughing along with her friend a little, while they both felt Marcus sandwiched between their legs and trying to push his way up and out. She budged to the side just a tiny amount in order to help him out a bit, and it proved enough for him to climb out. Having successfully escaped being squeezed by the teenage girls, he pulled the blanket down so he could climb on top of it, and then plopped to a seat in the middle.

“OK I changed my mind, I’m not actually cold enough for a blanket,” Jessie declared, and scooted back over to her original position, causing her dad to tumble fall a couple feet onto the couch again as the blanket fell from beneath it. She turned onto her side instead, her legs curled up away from Marcus and Paris, and set her elbow onto the cushion so she could prop her head up.

She glanced down to the side to see her dad marching over to her before taking a seat and using her arm as a backrest. “I don’t care how many times you try to get rid of me, I’m still gonna wanna sit with you,” he stated. She smiled and decided she’d had enough fun, and they all got relaxed as Paris started up the movie.

Marcus didn’t think the movie was as good as the first one (Jessie had been right about him enjoying it), but it wasn’t really that bad. Early on into their watching, Jessie had commented that she’d be content if the movie had “just one scene that’s half as good as the hot tube one from the first.” Marcus couldn’t remember which scene she was talking about, but it wasn’t hard for him to guess what might be so appealing about a “hot tub scene.” Since his seat was a little in front of Jessie’s face, he was able to glance up at her face to gauge her reaction a few times throughout the movie. She seemed moderately interested for most of it, although there was one occasion where he looked up and realized she suddenly looked far more engrossed than at any point before. She was even biting her lip from how entranced she was, and when she shifted her body slightly her eyes stayed glued in place like an owl.

After sitting in the same spot for a while, Paris changed positions too, adopting a similar one to Jessie’s, but instead had her head laying on the pillow against the couch’s armrest. She curled her legs onto the couch like how Jessie was laying, but she forgot that Marcus had been sitting there, so her feet nearly ended up blocking his view of the TV. Having been best friends with Paris for so many years, they were naturally completely comfortable around each other and Jessie didn’t care when Paris’ feet rubbed up against her elbow. But Marcus cared. Even though he could still see the screen, there was now a wall of socked soles bordering his view. Her feet were laying on the side, one on top of the other, and the combined width of them both ended up being taller than Marcus’ height sitting down. Paris was obviously a clean and hygienic girl, so it wasn’t like her feet smelled bad or anything… but he could still smell them. And just the regular smell of faintly used socks was worse than not having to smell them at all. Every once in awhile, his daughter’s friend would wiggle her toes or curl them without even realizing, which were also a tad distracting. But considering how quickly Paris was to apologize for even the most minor inconvenience she might’ve caused, Marcus simply felt too polite to say anything to her.

After the movie ended and Paris had gone home, Jessie didn’t say anything as she carried her dad to the bathroom so they could both brush their teeth. “So… what’d you think of it?” Marcus asked, looking up at her.

Jessie sighed as she set her dad down on the bathroom counter. “They literally made the hot tub scene from the first movie… worse. Like I don’t know if I’ll even wanna rewatch it now,” she grumbled. Marcus didn’t say anything, but he chuckled a little on the inside. At least that means I probably won’t have to watch the third one.

================

Thursday, October 22

================

Thursday was shaping up to be a potentially big day for Marcus, because Jessie had asked if he wanted to come to one of her games today. Honestly, the idea of being around so many people was incredibly nerve-wracking; there would be more people in that gymnasium than he’d ever been around since shrinking. And many of those people would be running around, balls would be flying, call-outs and yelling would fill the air. But if he’d never shrunk in the first place and didn’t have to worry about things like that, then he would’ve loved to go, because he almost always attended anyways. With his prior job having given him empty afternoons and with Jessie being the only person in his life he cared about, there was practically never a good excuse for why he couldn’t come to her games, so he always did. 

He didn’t know if he’d be able to return to that lifestyle of ever-present support for her, but she’d convinced him to at least give today a shot. Visiting her classroom earlier that week had definitely been an eye-opening experience, maybe even therapeutic. So many years of watching overly dramatized movies and seeing horrible news stories about people with his condition had subconsciously planted the idea in his head that having DSD would be horrific, or dangerous, or lonely, or all of the above. And while he’d definitely had a few unique experiences already over the last week—and some incredibly off-putting dreams—visiting his daughter’s school had made him realize that actually, most people saw him as a fellow person and treated him normally. Even teenagers who were progressing into their rebellious phase had treated him with respect… for the most part.

That’s why Marcus had answered with a yes to his daughter’s request. He didn’t even think about it for more than a second before answering; his gut told him to just say OK instead of stressing over what he should do. And now that he’d said he’d be in attendance, there wasn’t any way he’d let himself back down from his commitment now.

“Hey, you ready to go?” he called out to her down the hallway, just in time for her to waltz out of her room. 

Jessie was wearing a pair of black tights underneath some black jean shorts, with a plain white v-neck up top and her hair styled into pigtails. “Whaddya think of my outfit?” she asked, strutting past Marcus on her way to put her shoes on. “And also, before you answer… do you know why they’re called pigtails? Like, they’re a lot more similar to horse’s tails I think.”

“Honestly I have no idea,” her dad answered, “although I don’t think ‘horsetail’ rolls off the tongue as well as ‘pigtail.’ And I think your outfit looks really cute.”

“You know, one of these days I’m gonna come up with something to wear that’s like, a liiiittle ugly,” she said, tying her sneakers on. “Not super ugly, but just like, something where the colors don’t match, or a shirt with a really weird pattern, I dunno. But I just wanna see if you’d still say it was cute, or if you’d be honest.”

Marcus snorted at the idea, “Well, at least you have plenty of clothes to choose from. I’ve only got a few shirts and a few pants. A couple of my clothes aren’t even meant to be worn by humans at all!” Once he realized the final size he’d end up with, he’d been able to buy a few things to wear, but during the shrinking process Marcus had only worn doll clothing that was cheap and simple, since he knew he’d shrink out of them in a few days. And until he knew what he’d do for work, he didn’t exactly feel like spending hundreds of dollars to restock his wardrobe. 

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” she said, mulling his point over. Maybe I can surprise him with some new clothes, she thought. Although she didn’t have a lot of money in her bank account, and didn’t expect to keep getting an allowance from her dad. Still, it was worth keeping in the back of her mind. For now though, she just kept quiet, and once she’d finished putting her shoes on, they headed out to the car together so he could take her to school.

*       *       *

Sitting outside of Jessie’s school gym, Marcus stared at the entrance, watching as people slowly filtered in for the game. He was trying to work up the nerve to just get out of the car and head inside, but he remained frozen. Every year, scores of kids who were new to the school would feel just as anxious as he was, but Marcus was the first adult to feel anxious, the first to feel anxious cuz of his size. He didn’t even feel like he was really watching the people entering the gym; he was just watching his modified car’s giant screen that was relaying what the outer cameras were seeing.

He got an idea, so he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts til he found Paris’ number, calling her and holding the phone up to his ear.

She picked up fairly quick. “Hello?”

“Hey Paris, it’s Mr. Tilden,” he said, silently thanking how reliable he knew she would be to answer.

“Oh hi! How are you?”

“I guess I’m doing fine, hopefully you are too. Listen, I was calling to—actually, are you at Jessie’s game today?”

“Of course, why, what’s up?”

“Well, I’m actually sitting in my car outside the gym right now, and uh…” Marcus trailed off. His initial thought was that Paris could escort him inside, but wouldn’t that just seem even more embarrassing than if he went in on his own? He was a completely mature adult, yet he didn’t have the courage to head inside without the watchful eye of a 13-year-old. His imagined interaction was the opposite of how it seemed the world should work. But this world was still new to him.

“Oh, did you have to park pretty far from the entrance?” she asked. “Is it a bit of a walk, did you need me to come out and get you? It might be dangerous if you had to dodge cars and stuff too.” Marcus wasn’t sure if she hadn’t caught on to what he’d wanted to ask, or if she was just being polite and feigning ignorance. “Wait, I think you’d be able to park in the handicap spots! They’re always closest to the entrance in any parking lot, I think.”

“In the future I’ll be able to, but usually people need a handicap tag to hang from their rearview window, which I don’t have yet.”

“Ohhhh, OK. Well I’ll just come out and get you then,” she offered cheerfully, not at all bothered by the proposition.

He squeezed his eyes shut, cringing and inwardly berating himself for making this girl come out to fetch him. But his mouth said a different story. “That’d be so nice of you, thanks. My car should be on the left side of the lot, same one as usual.”

“Awesome, I’ll be right out—see ya!”

“Bye,” he replied, hanging up the phone and exhaling. Whatever, if it really ends up feeling that embarrassing, it’ll just motivate me to actually walk in myself next time.

As Marcus stepped off the end of the car’s ramp, Paris came around the corner in time to see the installment fold back into the door again. “Whoah, that’s pretty cool, Jessie told me about that.” Dressed in a supportive school hoodie, his daughter’s friend squatted down on the sidewalk and held out her hand. “I’m not sure how you’d prefer to travel; do you want me to carry you, or you could sit on my shoulder or something?” A few days ago, half out of curiosity and half out of preparation for the day she knew would eventually come, Paris had googled the best way to carry shrunken people (in someone’s hand, or sitting on their hand or their shoulder, or tucked in a pocket, or held against their chest, etc) and learned that there were actually several popular options. Everyone with DSD had a preference for which way they liked best. Marcus didn’t really care how Jessie held him though. To him, the who mattered a lot more than the how. For since it’d be Paris’ first time handling him, he figured the safest option would be best.

“You can just grab me around my chest,” he said, lifting up his arms so she could wrap her fingers around his torso, “and then just make sure to hold me steady. Facing outwards, preferably.”

“Got it!” With thoughtful delicateness, she took hold of Marcus and slowly stood back up. Clutching him at chest level, she pivoted on the sidewalk and started heading back to the gym. “So far so good? Too tight, too lose?”

“You’re a natural,” he replied encouragingly.

As they approached the doors to the gym, Paris stopped in her tracks, a sly smile growing on her face. “Wait, I dunno if you brought money for your ticket, but I could probably sneak you in without the women at the front table noticing. I think you’re small enough to fit in my pouch.”

“Well I didn’t bring money since carrying cash would be kind of annoying for someone my size, so I was hoping they’d just let me in for free. But… I mean, I’m willing to try out your idea if you want.”

As he was lowered down to her front pocket, Paris tilted her hand so that Marcus’ body was horizontal, and then she stuck her hand into her pouch, dropping him in. Sure enough, he was the perfect size to fit inside, and there was an inch of depth to the pocket, so he was able to fit comfortably in the bottom without worrying about his head or feet poking out the sides. Marcus even felt a bit snug laying in Paris’ pocket; he wasn’t sure whether that was fine or not, but he at least made a mental note to remember this for whenever Jessie wore a sweatshirt in the future and took him somewhere. Since he weighed a few pounds, there was a visible droopiness to her hoodie’s pocket, but who was gonna suspect she was smuggling in a person? If the PTA ladies even noticed, they’d probably just think it was a water bottle or some food.

As Paris started walking again, Marcus’ position within her hoodie assumed a rhythmic motion, barely tapping against her stomach in stride with her walking. “Hey again Mrs. Stevens,” he heard the girl say above him, and then a middle-aged woman somewhere outside reciprocated the greeting, letting her back into the gym.

When Paris arrived at the bleachers, she walked up to Jessie and reached in to pull her friend’s dad out of her pocket. “Surprise?”

“Daddy, you actually came!” Jessie happily exclaimed, taking her dad and hugging him against her chest.

“I said I was gonna, didn’t I?” he smiled, hugging her back.

“Yeah I know, but like… I wouldn’t have blamed you if you stayed home, you know? But I’m glad you decided to actually come! It’s good that you’re starting to venture out more and get used to the world again.”

“Well, it’s nice to be able to come to one of your games again.” Since their season had already started a few weeks ago, it had been almost a year since he’d seen her play.

“Hey, you wanna meet my teammates?” she asked. “I think you already know most of them already.” It had been a rhetorical question though, and she turned to the other girls sitting down in the first row, letting her dad sit on the edge of her hands as she held them out, showing him off to everyone. “Jaqueline, Sierra, Brooke, Willow, Alisha…” She named all her teammates as she walked down the line, and then pointed out the ones on the court that were warming up. His daughter had been right: a couple girls were totally new to him, but he recognized most of them, some from being Jessie’s friends and some that he remembered from last year’s games. But even those familiar faces felt somewhat new to him, since he was seeing them all from the perspective of being a fraction of their size. As a handful of the curious teenagers crowded around to meet Marcus, he was reminded of that day in Jessie’s homeroom, except at least there everyone had been confined to their seat and he was only meeting one person at a time. But now he was surrounded by half a dozen girls all dissecting him with their eyes.

Luckily though, Jessie decided not to let everyone dwell too long around her dad. “Alright, I think we should give him some space now.” The others disbursed, and Jessie headed over to where Paris was sitting, setting her dad down on the seat next to her, and then she headed back out onto the court to warm up with her teammates.

“Mr. Tilden?”

Marcus turned his head and saw another familiar face had walked up. Standing in her cheer uniform, with hair that seemed impossibly straight and well-kept (considering how much moving around was involved with cheerleading), was another one of Jessie’s friends, Kacey. Having moved here at the beginning of last year, Jessie didn’t know Kacey as well as Paris or some of her other friends, but they’d hung out enough last school year that Marcus knew who she was and had gotten to know her decently well from the times she’d come over to their house. If he was being honest, he was actually a bit surprised that they were friends though. Kacey usually seemed a bit moody whenever she and Jessie hung out, and she had a tendency to act a bit conceited and self-important—all of which were characteristics that Marcus would never ascribe to his daughter, or figure she’d associate with. But she certainly wasn’t bad enough that Marcus didn’t want them hanging out together.

“Oh, Kacey, it’s nice to see you,” he politely greeted. Already though, just from the look in her eyes, Marcus felt as if she was quietly judging him, like it was his fault that he had shrunken as small as he had. “I didn’t know you did cheer.”

“Yeah,” she replied flatly, her gaze remaining constant, until she took a deep breath and sighed. “Sorry… for staring. Um… how have you and Jessie been doing ever since you shrunk?” It was polite to ask, but it didn’t seem like she really cared how he answered.

“We’re doing fine. I think I was a little surprised with how much of an impact it’s had on her though. Like I’m the one who shrunk and obviously getting used to that has taken a lot of work, but in a lot of ways she’s had to step up herself too. She’s been handling it pretty well though.”

“Nice.”

Marcus grimaced, “Well, I won’t keep you from your friends. Nice seeing you though.”

“You too,” she said, and turned to head off towards the other girls.

While Paris would drift in and out of conversations with some of her surrounding classmates, Marcus kept to himself by her side. He felt a bit awkward about the glances or stares he felt himself getting from around the gym, but at least it wasn’t as crowded as basketball or football games. Soon enough, the match started, and before long he was cheering for Jessie, back to rooting for her like he always had.

By the end of the night, Jessie’s team ended up victorious, and Marcus grinned as he watched her circle up with all her teammates for a group cheer. When she came back over to where he was sitting, she was panting and sweating but visibly thrilled by how the night had gone. She shook her head in disbelief as she looked at her dad on the sidelines, grinning in amazement. “I still just can’t believe you actually came,” she said. “Like the last few weeks were so weird cuz I’m so used to you coming to watch, so I just kept feeling so worried that I’d just be like, alone at every match for the rest of the season. And then maybe even the rest of my life, you know? Or that you’d come but you’d feel pressured and on edge the whole time cuz there’s so many people and everything’s so big.”

“Well I’m definitely glad I came out,” he replied. “Watching you play isn’t made any better or worse depending on my size, so it was easy to forget about that stuff and get back to how things used to be a little bit.”

As they bonded over how the evening had gone, a fit-looking man in his late 20s walked up to Jessie. “Hey, you must be Jessie’s dad?” he asked, standing with his hands on his hips.

Jessie piped in to introduce the leader of their team. “Oh, Daddy! This is Coach Kyle, he just joined this year since Ms. Johnson retired.”

“Hey nice to meet you, I’m Marcus,” her dad nodded.

“You as well,” the man replied. “Listen, can the three of us find someplace to talk? I promise, it’s nothing bad.”

“We could go over by the boys locker room?” Jessie offered, letting her dad climb onto her hand.

“That’s perfect,” the coach responded, and followed Jessie to an empty corner of the gym where they could have some privacy. There was a window with a ledge that was a few inches deep, so Jessie set her dad down so the three of them could form a triangle without him standing on the floor.

“First off, I just wanna say that your daughter’s terrific,” he started off, and Jessie blushed while her dad smiled at the good news. “The school only lets me choose one of the 8th graders to be team captain since it’s varsity, but if I could’ve, I would’ve picked your daughter to lead the team even though she’s one of the only 7th graders.”

Marcus raised his eyebrows; now he was really impressed, and Jessie’s eyes lit up at the praise. “Oh my God, I didn’t even know that,” she remarked.

“She’s a great team member,” the coach continued, “she’s confident and decisive on the court, and she doesn’t treat any of the players worse than her just cuz of how they play—including the JV and C teams. And especially at their age, it’s pretty common for some of the kids to let their pride get in the way of how they behave with their teammates, as I’m sure you can imagine.” He crossed his arms, “But I didn’t wanna pull you guys aside just for that.”

“Besides her attitude towards the game, I also think Jessie’s one of the best players I’ve coached for her age. And I don’t just coach for the school as a hobby or side job, I’ve been helping lead girls to national competitions for a few years now, so I’ve seen a lot.” By this point, Jessie was so entranced with what her coach was saying that she wasn’t even smiling anymore. Her heart was racing; she really had had no idea how good he thought she was. 

“For most of the off season, my main job is as an assistant coach for a club team with other girls Jessie’s age. Sometimes we get new players who want to join just from word of mouth, but a lot of the girls on the team are ones that me or the other coaches have recruited by working at schools and scouting for talent. On top of that, I work as a personal trainer for boys and girls of all ages, but for the most part, my main focus is on our club. In the seven years that I’ve helped lead the team—and for many of the years before that, the head coach is really great at what he does—our club has been a finalist at the State Championship every year, and for four of those years we’ve even advanced to Nationals. Coaching obviously plays a large part in that, but we wouldn’t have been able to make it that far if it weren’t for how talented our players already were before they joined the team. That’s what Jessie has, raw talent, and a natural gift for playing the sport. I can give you guys my card, but our tryouts are a week after the school’s season ends, and I’d really love it if Jessie signed up to join us.”

Jessie was speechless, already imagining what it could be like to play the game on a national level. Marcus was excited by the news too, but there were some obvious barriers he could see coming up for them. “How much does it cost?”

“Well the fees for joining are around $800, but there’s a lot of traveling involved, so it generally costs families a couple thousand dollars a year.”

Jessie realized money would be an issue, and she looked at her dad to gauge his reaction. “I’m assuming there aren’t any scholarships to help pay for that stuff, right?”

Coach Kyle looked uneasy, and shook his head. “Unfortunately not, since it’s a private organization. At least, none that I’m aware of anyways.” He paused, “That being said… I have seen players every once in awhile who actually get sponsored, which can be pretty useful financially. But middle school volleyball clubs aren’t exactly something that gets much attention from the public,” he chuckled, “so the sponsorships aren’t based on how famous the teams are, since none of them are. They’re for the players.”

Marcus cocked his head to the side, not quite following along. “What do you mean, what’s the difference?”

“For the most part, sponsorships for the players come in the form of ad deals on social media—I’m sure you know what an ‘influencer’ is, right? To give an example, one of the girls I’m a personal trainer for is someone I used to coach a couple years ago; she’s in high school now. But she has almost a million followers on Instagram, so she does everything from modeling for certain brands to giving shout-outs to companies on her story or trying their products in livestreams. Her family’s pretty well-off so she doesn’t actually need the money to support her athletic ambitions, and I don’t think people need quite that many followers to start making money off social media, but there’s a lot of other girls out there like that. It’s definitely not something most people are able to do, but social media is everywhere nowadays, so I have no idea how many followers your daughter might have, I just figured it’s at least worth mentioning.”

He gave them both a moment to soak in what he’d said, and then took a deep breath before continuing. “I know this is a lot to spring on you guys, but coaching kids like Jessie is what I do for a living, and I don’t think I’d be doing my job to its full potential if I didn’t bring this up with you guys and stress how big of a deal it could be. Another one of the girls I’m a trainer for is actually headed to the Youth Olympics next year, and honestly I think Jessie could be capable of achieving the same thing for the next one—but volleyball can’t just be something she plays casually, it’d have to be a lot more of a commitment.”

“Oh my God, the Olympics?” Jessie stuttered. She was on the verge of crying (happy tears, of course). She hadn’t even gone to the Olympics in her dreams, much less thought about playing in them in real life.

Her coach held a hand up, “Not the Olympics, it’s the Youth Olympics. But they’re both ran by the IOC so it is pretty huge. I’m super proud of her and can’t wait to see how she does.” He hesitated making his next point, but then added, “And of course, the people who play in the actual Olympics had to start somewhere, they don’t just show up out of the blue and qualify without having played in tons of tournaments beforehand.”

“Wow,” Marcus finally spoke up. “That’s incredible. I could tell she was good, but I never would’ve guessed she was that good.”

“I don’t want you guys to get carried away, I’m not saying your daughter’s a future Olympic athlete. But she could be, and that’s not something I’m able to say about the vast majority of the players I coach.”

The man checked his watch and took a step back. “Anyways, that’s all I wanted to tell you guys. Don’t stress if you can’t afford to hire me as a personal trainer, that’s totally understandable. It’s a big cost, I don’t want to pressure people for money. But I hope you guys will at least think about her future, and I’d love to see Jessie try out for the club when the season’s over. I hope I’m not out of line in saying it would be a really great investment.” Then he turned to address Jessie directly. “By the way, I’d prefer it if you don’t mention the Olympic stuff to anyone. I wouldn’t even mention your invite to try out for the club to anyone other than your close friends. Most of the girls here just like playing for fun or for the community aspect of it, which is great. But it might not be good for team morale if they all feel like I’m showing you favoritism, I remember that happening a lot when I played basketball in high school.”

She nodded, “Yeah, no problem, I won’t tell anyone.” But she had such a huge smile on her face that she’d need a minute to cool off her excitement first.

“It was nice meeting you Marcus,” her coach said as he turned to her dad and nodded.

“Yeah, definitely,” the little man responded. “Thanks for telling us.” Coach Kyle turned to leave and get back to helping clean up, leaving Jessie and her dad to stare at each other and envision just how much their worlds might change.

=====================

Thursday, October 22 (cont.)

=====================

After the game, Marcus volunteered to give carpools to some of Jessie’s teammates whose parents hadn’t been able to pick them up. More accurately, though, Jessie had volunteered her dad for him, and he’d been too nice to tell any of them no. So he, his daughter, two of her teammates, and one of her teammates brother all piled into his modest sized sedan, along with half a dozen gym bags and backpacks. There hadn’t even been enough room in the trunk to fit all their stuff, so all the backpacks had to pile up onto one of the back seats. In order to fit everyone comfortably, Jessie sat in the driver’s seat, so that one of the kids could sit passenger while the other two sat next to the bags in the back.

They had all been in awe of Marcus’ little contraption that he used to get into his car, although he didn’t know whether to feel cool and proud or a little bit patronized as he walked up the ramp while they looked down at him in wonder. It hadn’t been necessary for him to show off since Jessie would be riding behind him and could’ve just picked him up, but she wanted to show off the gadgetry to her friends. Once he’d sat down in the driver’s seat, they all piled in as well, including Jessie in the regular seat that Marcus’ had been built upon. He glanced upwards nervously as he saw his daughter’s giant thigh pass just inches over his head, and the resulting micro-quake as she sat down all around him. “Ooh, look, I fit perfectly into the seat!” she cheered, feeling snug in her position with her dad sitting between her legs. “He hasn’t actually had to drive with me sitting behind him yet,” she explained to the others, tussling her dad’s hair with a smile.

“It would’ve been nice if my seat was raised a bit more though,” Marcus commented, feeling moderately claustrophobic with her pale pair of muscley legs on either side of him. Her crotch was right behind him too, and while he obviously didn’t care to look, he felt like he could sense its presence anyways.

“Well you’re the one who OK’ed this version,” his daughter reminded him. “There were others you could’ve picked from.” After a pause, she realized she didn’t want to guilt trip him though, so she added, “But I’ll try my best to keep still and hopefully you won’t notice.”

“Aww, you guys are so cute together,” her teammate in the passenger seat said, taking a snap of the father-daughter duo as Marcus started up the car.

“Oooh, send that to me,” Jessie remarked as she buckled in her seat belt, and her dad soon pulled out of the parking spot while she punched in everyone’s address to the GPS.

*       *       *

“Oh my God,” Jessie exclaimed as they walked through the front door, glad to finally be home. “Ugh, I just wanna collapse,” she sighed, slinging her things to the side of the door and trudging to the family room, where she set her dad down on the coffee table before falling face first onto the couch. Then she rolled off the couch and onto the floor, rolling once more around until she was sprawled out on her stomach, having groaned the whole way. “I don’t know why I feel so tired,” she said, her head resting sideways on the ground as she watched her dad climb down from the table and walk over to her.

“That’s because you played real hard tonight. Maybe I just haven’t been to a game in a while, but you seemed way more fired up than you usually are.”

“Well, that’s cuz I was glad you actually came, I wasn’t sure if you would. Feels good to have people watching and supporting you.”

“And because of what your coach talked to us about too, I’d imagine.” He hopped onto her back and began stomping on it like he had after her last game, a kind of mini massage for the giant teenager.

“Yeah. That was pretty wild.” She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, enjoying the feeling of his little footsteps soothing her muscles.

“Feel good?” he asked with a smile.

She nodded, “Mhm, it’s nice… although my feet are kinda more sore, I think. Actually, I wonder if I need new shoes.” Marcus looked behind him, where a pair of black-socked feet lay at the end of her aching legs. “It would be nice if you could rub them too.” Before he shrunk, her dad used to regularly give her both kinds of massages after her games, although he wasn’t as fond of foot rubs, since her feet always smelled a bit funky after games and practice. “Although that’s OK if you can’t, it’s like you can really walk on them like you do with my back, so I wouldn’t expect you to be able to.” She had said the comment to try and be nice, not wanting to pressure her dad into something he wasn’t easily capable of. But it had sort of the opposite effect, and his stubborn heart suddenly wanted to at least try to massage them now, just to prove to her (and more importantly, himself) that he hadn’t lost his touch at his new size.

She felt him hop off her back, and she tried to look back at him, confused. “Daddy, I literally just said it’s fine. That wasn’t like, me trying to use reverse psychology or anything.”

“I know it wasn’t,” he replied, walking alongside her legs, and paused at her knee. He checked to make sure she wasn’t looking, and then dove his hands towards her legpit in an attempt to tickle her. 

“AHH!” she laughed, his delicate fingers easily tantalizing her nerves, and her lower leg reflexively threw itself backwards, clamping down on itself as a defense mechanism, the same way people clamp their arms when their armpits are tickled too. Marcus had been leaning over her leg though, so he was immediately slammed into the back of her lower thigh, squeezed between the two halves of her legs—except she didn’t release him right away, even once his tickling had stopped. His faced was smushed against her skin, her sweat having only just recently finished evaporating, and the salty smell of her sticky skin wasn’t too pleasant to behold. 

She rolled onto her back, deliberately keeping her leg clamped around her little dad in the process, and giving him one more quick, playful squeeze before letting him go. “Was your little prank worth it?” she asked, leaning back on her elbows.

“Yes it was,” he told her defiantly, straightening himself out. “The more you overreact, the better I’m reminded of just how great a tickler I am at this size.” She rolled her eyes and he laughed, continuing down the length of her legs til he arrived at her feet. Even just walking up to them had surprised Marcus with how strong the smell was. She had worked out to such a hard degree that he could literally feel the heat radiating off of them as he walked between them, with only the chills he felt in his spine cooling him down. He turned to stand in front of one of them, and his heart skipped a beat at seeing how large they were. They’d seemed plenty large a few days ago when she’d stepped on him during her bike ride up the hill, but this was somehow more daunting. Because here, with both him and her feet standing upright and facing one another, he was finally able to see the truth, that her foot alone was taller than his entire body. He was barely nine inches tall, and her foot was a little more than nine and a half (and of course, it’d continue to grow a little bit more over the next few years). He didn’t know why that specific size comparison was such a bother to him; perhaps because normal people got compared to other human beings, but as a shrunken person, his closest comparison was just a foot. And a 13 year old's foot at that.

But regardless of their size, Jessie’s feet smelled like shit. Socks that had become damp with sweat, and then dried, and then soaked with sweat, and then dried again; stale and stuffy, moist and musty. He hated it. Maybe I could try giving her a foot rub sometime after she’s taken a shower, he thought. Cuz there’s no fucking way I’m even gonna touch them as they are now. 

Jessie saw him studying them, seemingly lost in thought, and suddenly darted her foot forward, causing him to jump back with such a fright that he stumbled and fell over backwards. She broke out into a fit of laughter, albeit still feeling a little bad, as he sighed and got back to his feet. “I can take my socks off if they smell too bad,” she teased, “would that make it easier?”

Marcus chuckled and shook his head, “No, it definitely would not.” He walked his way along the side of her body back to her midsection. “I guess you were right, I ain’t rubbing those things, at least not until they’re nice and clean again. But I’ll still finish your back massage if you want.”

She nodded and flipped over to her back, closing her eyes and smiling as she waited for him to climb aboard. “Deal!”

*       *       *

“We might need to do some cleaning up around the house,” Marcus announced as he entered Jessie’s room, gazing around at her clothes strewn all over the floor. “Although from the looks of it, your room needs cleaning before anything else.” His foot nudged a pair of shorts on the ground, and he glanced away, trying not to think about his daughter’s hips being wider than his entire height.

She blushed at his comment and started picking up some of her clothes off the floor, tossing them into the nearby hamper, occasionally coming across candy wrappers or old school paperwork that belonged in the trash. Her dad came upon one long and white item that he didn’t immediately recognize, until  he bent stepped back and realized it was one of Jessie’s bras. He had no idea what her cup size was, but it didn’t matter since any option would’ve been noticeably large compared to him. Her breasts were obviously still growing because of her age, and yet from her dad’s perspective, her bra looked to be at least a foot deep. It wasn’t long ago that Jessie had been a young girl—she still was a young girl—so Marcus felt momentarily paralyzed with the indication of how quickly she was growing.

She noticed what he was looking at, and picked it up to look at for a moment before tossing it in the trash. “That reminds me, I need you to take me to the store to buy some new bras. 

“What’s wrong with that one, looks fine to me,” he commented, glancing back at it.

The girl looked down at him with a half funny, half confused expression, like the answer was obvious to her and she was surprised her dad couldn’t realize it. “It was too tight, a few of them are actually too tight. My boobs are getting bigger, that’s why I need new ones.” 

Marcus blushed, and his eyes instinctively glanced at her chest to assess the accuracy of what she’d said (as if his opinion might matter more than hers, somehow). “Oh. Yeah, right,” he said, glancing back down to the floor.

Jessie giggled at her dad’s reaction. “I know you probably don’t wanna talk about stuff like that, but I gotta grow up eventually. And since I don’t have a mom or some other woman to help me with that kinda stuff, then… you know, I gotta say something,” she awkwardly chuckled.

“No no, it’s fine,” Marcus said, not wanting to admit that his role as a parent would be easier if he weren’t going at it alone. “It’s just your body, it’s a part of maturing, like you said. I’d rather have you bring stuff like that up with me—even if I don’t know exactly how to help you—than to have you do everything alone and just guess. Besides, you have other people besides me that you can reach out to, or that I can ask for you: your grandma, your Aunt Lily, maybe even Samantha.” They were Marcus’ mom, sister, and niece, respectively. That was actually how he and Jessie had handled her first training bra. Marcus had been talking to his sister at Christmas several years ago, and she’d mentioned that Jessie was probably about at that stage in her life. And luckily for Marcus, his sister was kind enough to take Jessie to the store and help give her some advice on growing up and her development, the kind of advice Marcus couldn’t even begin to pretend to fully know about.

“Oh yeaaaahh,” Jessie said, remembering the same holiday that Marcus had recalled. “I mean I don’t think I really need their help or anything, like I said, it’s just… I just need a bigger size, that’s all.” The two of them mulled over the situation for a few moments, before Jessie spoke up again. “Soooo… but yeah, so when would be a good day to go then? To the store I mean.” The last time Jessie had needed a new bra, she had gotten some when she was out shopping with some friends, so it had been awhile since her dad had taken her.

“Well… I guess, we can go right now if you want.” He glanced at his watch; it was a little after 8:30. Some places might still be open.

“Fine with me,” she smiled, and picked him up so they could leave right away. But instead of taking him to the garage, she slipped her slides on and headed out the front door, making her way straight for her bicycle.

“Uh, why aren’t we taking my car?” he asked her, as she picked the bike off the ground and began walking it down the driveway. “The whole reason I got it fixed was so you wouldn’t have to take me everywhere.”

“Well yeah, and you can still drive it wherever you want, I mean it’s your car. But biking’s fun. It’s not like I started using one when you shrank.” As she hopped on the seat, the hand holding her dad grabbed the handlebar, securely keeping him firmly between her hand and the handle. “Don’t worry though, you won’t have to ride under my foot again,” she laughed, and pushed off onto the street to begin the ride to the store.

“Well being held on the handles isn’t much more comfortable,” he complained, trying to readjust himself. But her hand had to grip him tightly so he wouldn’t fall off, and didn’t give him much wiggle room. “It just isn’t as humiliating. And doesn’t smell as bad.” She laughed at his remark, feeling bad about having to step on her dad so many times during Monday morning’s trip up the hill. “Besides, I thought you hated having to bike to school. Isn’t that what you told me the other day?”

Her face contorted as she thought about the point he’d made. She had said that to him, and it had been true. But it wasn’t the same. “I don’t know if this explains it well, but like… I know there’s a lotta people who are into cars, right? Like I know being a car girl or a car guy is a hobby. But I’m assuming they don’t have fun driving to work everyday. Cuz it’s just like the same route over and over, and you’re only doing it cuz you have to, and you gotta get there in time or you’ll be late, et cetera et cetera.” She nodded at her explanation, “So yeah, I think that’s what the difference is.”

They traveled along some more, until Marcus spoke up again, his face looking strained. “Jess, this really is uncomfortable for me, I’m sorry. Why don’t we just turn back and you let me drive you. Aren’t you sore from your game tonight? I’m surprised you even have enough energy to go biking at all.”

“I guess your massage made me feel better,” she grinned. “What if I carried you with one hand though, and then rode with the other? Then you wouldn’t have the metal against your back.”

Marcus didn’t want to imagine what would happen if Jessie suddenly had to swerve out of the way though; what if she accidentally flung me trying to grab onto the handle again? Just in general, there wasn’t any surefire way for him to travel on her bike that would be both comfortable and safe. It didn’t really have any advantage over the car. “I don’t think I’d feel very safe doing it like that,” he answered, and frowned over the fact that he even had to argue at all. He was her father, he shouldn’t have to be the one making compromises. “C’mon Jess, you can go biking some other time, but taking me along just isn’t practical.”

She pursed her lips together and pulled off the sidewalk to stop on a strip of grass, and then lifted him away from the handle. “Daddy, the store closes at 9 o’clock, and it’s like 8:47. So if we turn around now and then have to turn back around again in the car, then we probably won’t even get there before they close.”

Her father sighed, “So we can just go tomorrow then, it’s not the end of the world.”

She was silent for a moment, her eyes narrowed. She wasn’t angry at him; she was sympathetic to how it must feel to be carried the way he was, but she was still annoyed (part of which was at herself for having jumped the gun). But she’d already committed to going tonight, and hated the thought of having to turn around to head home when they were literally just a few minutes away. Luckily though, a third option popped into her mind. “What if I sat on your lap?” she asked, almost laughing at the way she’d phrased it.

Marcus’ initial reaction was imagining his daughter sitting over his entire body, but she was smart enough to have made the same connection to how he took her suggestion at first, and shook her head laughing. “I don’t mean like sitting on you, obviously. That’d be weird. But like…” She scratched her neck and bit her lip, and figured the best idea would be to just show him, so she stood up from her seat and reached around her back to set her dad down on the seat, his head against the back of the cushioned material. Before letting her dad come up with a protest, Jessie sat back down, and Marcus could only watch as the 13 year old’s butt zoomed towards his face, until it felt short with conscious precision that left his lower half covered beneath Jessie’s ass while keeping his top half uncovered.

“See Daddy? Just as safe as my hand holding onto you, if not more so,” she told him, and pedaled back onto the sidewalk to continue towards the store before waiting for her dad’s permission. “Plus it’s probably more comfortable since the seat is all foam and stuff, and my… well… yeah.” He couldn’t see her face, but she blushed, since she’d almost just told her dad that her butt was the other reason why this new spot might be comfortable for him.

“Jess, I didn’t agree to this,” he protested, beating his fists against the teenager’s hips that were keeping him trapped beneath her. “I don’t even know if this is better!” From his position, it was clear that Jessie still hadn’t showered. I thought girls were better than boys about hygiene, he thought begrudgingly, trying to ignore the slightly sweaty smell from her gym shorts.

“Well my shorts don’t have any pockets and I don’t have the materials to tape you to the pedal, so it’s either riding back there or on the handlebars again,” she told him, as if heading back home wasn’t even an option anymore. After a pause, she added, “Or I guess if I can’t tape you to the pedal, I could put you in my slides…” She laughed at the idea of her dad being smushed by her feet again, but this time in an even more claustrophobic environment than the hill ride. “I’m just kidding,” she giggled, then adding, “I’m pretty sure we’re more than halfway there at this point, so we’d just be wasting time if we headed back now.” He wanted to keep arguing, but he decided he probably couldn’t talk her out of it at this point, and resigned to just lying beneath the girl’s butt until they got to the store.

Almost ten minutes later, during which Marcus’ feelings of helplessness and embarrassment for being trapped behind his daughter never ceased to remain strong, they finally arrived at Victoria’s Secret, and Jessie pulled up to a nearby bike rack before dismounting and picking her dad up from the seat. “I’ll be honest, that wasn’t as uncomfortable as I was expecting,” she commented as she locked her bike to the pole.

“Well how comfortable do you think it was for me?” he challenged, still obviously annoyed at her for having made the decision for him.

After the lock snapped shut, the young teenager hopped back to her feet and twisted her lips, teasing her dad by pretending to give his question a lot of thought, and then her eyes snapped back to his and she answered him with a grin. “Very.” He rolled his eyes and grumbled with how little she seemed to care about the whole thing, while she only laughed at his reaction, and carried him inside so they could pick out some new bras for her.

=====================

Thursday, October 22 (cont.)

=====================

“Wait, is this a Victoria’s Secret?” Marcus asked, looking around the store and confirming his suspicion from some of the labels around the store. “Aren’t they kinda designer or something? Like really nice but kinda pricey?”

“I mean did you think I was gonna take us to Walmart?” she giggled. “And Victoria’s Secret isn’t desiiiiigner, they wouldn’t be so famous if everything was super expensive.”

I don’t know about that, he thought. By his daughter’s logic, most people wouldn’t know what Gucci and Balenciaga were. But in fairness, those kinds of brands cost thousands of dollars, and he didn’t expect things here to be anywhere near as costly. “I don’t think we’ve ever been the kind of family who can afford to scoff at Walmart,” he reminded her.

“Well I think some things are just worth spending a little extra on,” she replied. “Like toilet paper. Or shoes. Or actually, cheese, oh my God, I love gourmet cheese.” She sighed dreamily, like she was picturing a handsome prince made out of brie in her head. “But yeah, bras are definitely worth the extra money. The comfort of my boobs is too important to allow something from Walmart to hold them all day.”

She made a decent point, and he declined to push her any further. “So how many do you think you need then?”

She paused, trying to gauge an appropriate answer. “Probably more than you’d be willing to get,” she decided, laughing somewhat nervously.

“Well if you need them we should get them, I’m not broke Jess.” Not yet. His slowly dwindling bank account was definitely something that lingered at the back of his mind, but he didn’t want to let that worry infect Jessie’s attitude. The disappointment and shame from not being able to adequately provide for his daughter was a feeling that scared him. He faintly remembered when he was a kid and his parents were between jobs, and they’d had to go on food stamps for a few months. He felt like his parents weren’t as good as his friends’ parents, and he never wanted Jessie to have to feel the same way about him. 

Jessie became drawn to a mannequin wearing a cute, pink pair of matching underwear, and started browsing the nearby offerings. “I like to have about two weeks worth of underwear myself,” he commented as she perused the aisle, “in case I accidentally put off doing my laundry for a few days.” She couldn’t help but scoff at his reply. She didn’t even have enough bras to last a week, let alone two. “But you’re also young, so you’re still growing, and I don’t want to buy too much of something that might not fit you in a couple months.” Jessie couldn’t argue with him there, he had a point. “So since you know more about bras than me, as the woman in this scenario, how many do you think is a good idea to get?” 

“Umm… well, seven?” Marcus nodded approvingly; one for each day of the week, that seemed fair enough. “And how much are these ones you’re looking at?” he asked, motioning to a pair that Jessie had held up to her chest.

Jessie’s face turned pale as she saw the price, and she swallowed nervously, already anticipating how her dad was about to react. “Well, I was looking at this brand in particular because a friend from school wears them and let me try one of her old ones on, and it was honestly like probably the best one I think I’ve ever worn. But, um… the price is, like… 60 bucks…?”

Marcus almost sputtered, and he hadn’t even said anything yet. “Sixty—for one bra? Jessie, I don’t wanna spend 400 dollars, especially considering what you’d get in return! Even if I still had a job, that would be too much. I know there are cheaper bras out there than 60 bucks, even ones that are probably still comfortable,” he sighed.

“Oh yeah, cuz you know what having breasts is like Daddy,” she groaned, rolling her eyes.

He was taken aback by her statement, and she giggled at his inability to come up with a reply right away. “Jess, I know there’s stuff you’ve experienced that I haven’t, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely ignorant about shopping for new clothes. You might think I’m wrong, and that’s okay, but I guarantee you there are other bras out there that will work just as well and save us some money. And you know how I know?” He pointed to the tag, “Because I don’t see any indication that it’s on sale, so even if it’s not at this store there’s gonna be somewhere around with 25% off, or a buy two get one free. Maybe even for the same brand that you like. But a deal like that could save me a lot of money.”

“Well I’m at least gonna look around a little considering we’re here,” she said. “I already know the brand I want and what size to get. Oooh, actually I should get a C cup one too though, just in case I have a growth spurt, so I can have something that already fits.”

“How’d you hear about this brand again?” he asked. “Since you seem so confident that you’ll love them.”

“I heard about it from…” Jessie mused, pulling out her phone and opened up Instagram, “…her!” She turned the phone around to show her dad the screen. The photo was of a young woman standing in front of a sunset, smiling and posing for the camera. Marcus noticed it had a couple thousand likes, but he also noticed that the collar of her shirt rode a little low, and it was clear that her boobs were bigger than average. “I figured that if anyone’s gonna know which line is the most comfortable, it’d be her, right?”

Marcus raised his eyebrows and nodded, “Sure, I suppose. She certainly seems to be pretty well endowed. I don’t think I recognize her from any movies, is she an online celebrity, what are they called… an influencer? Someone you follow?”

Jessie’s eyes widened and she squeezed her lips shut, before bursting into such an uproarious laughter that a couple on the other side of the store looked her way. “Oh my GOD, Daddy, she’s not an influencer,” she managed to say, giggling almost uncontrollably. “She’s just somebody from my class.”

Marcus’ heart skipped a beat upon realizing that he’d been looking at a picture of someone who was still only in middle school. The shocked expression on his face inspired another round of laughter from his daughter, who gently made fun of his phrasing with a mocking voice, “She’s well endowed, ooh, ah, very well endowed breasts indeed, hmm.” Her giggling died down after a few more seconds, before she added, “Ohhhhh, God that’s so funny. I can’t wait to tell her that my dad thought she was famous and called her breasts ‘well-endowed.’”

“Oh, hold on Jess,” Marcus said anxiously, “I wasn’t trying to say she was, um… I didn’t know she was your age. I was just replying to your comment and making an observation based on what the conversation was about.”

“Daddy relax, I know,” Jessie chuckled. “It’s not like you walked up to her on the street and tried hitting on her, it was just part of the conversation. She won’t be creeped out; she’ll think it’s funny too.” She zoomed in on the picture, peering at her classmate’s chest with envious eyes. “I hope mine are gonna get that big eventually,” she murmured wistfully. “God, I’m so jealous.”

Marcus didn’t know what to say but desperately wanted to change the conversation, and he was lucky enough for a woman’s voice on the intercom to save him. “Good evening shoppers, it is now 9pm so we’ll be closing for the day, we ask that you please finish up your shopping and make your way to the register.”

Jessie inhaled sharply, having forgotten that they’d arrived so close to closing. “Uh, okay, umm…” she mumbled, her eyes quickly darting around the aisle to decide what she’d liked the best, before beginning to grab the seven pairs she liked the most.

“Whoah, what did I say about not wanting to spend a ton of money?” he said, feeling uneasy about how many she was purchasing.

The 13 year old sighed, “We watched this Ted Talk in class today about the way people speak, and how saying ‘I don’t want to do that’ doesn’t mean the same as ‘I can’t do that.’ You said that you’re not broke so I know you can, you just don’t see the point. Because what I’d say isn’t that I want some new bras, it’s that I need them. And it’s not like I’m wearing something designer or anything, this is a regular brand—so like, logically speaking, my need should matter more than your want.” Having picked up the seventh bra, she turned to look down at him in her hand.

“Jess, that’s gonna be $460 after tax. I…” He bit his lip, remembering that feeling from his childhood, that his parents were somehow inadequate and weren’t as good at providing for him as others were for their kids. Being a parent so often means acknowledging a love for one’s child before they’re even born (or adopted); even if the pregnancy is a surprise like it had been for Marcus, he could've persuaded her mom to get an abortion, but instead he'd chosen to go through with being a father. Jessie would never have to vie for his affection, because Marcus’ love for her was natural and automatic as a result of his decision. But it wasn’t the same for the other way around. Nobody ever chooses to be born, to be thrust into the world with the parents they have. Jessie loved him because he was a dad, her dad, not just her father, because he had raised and nurtured her into the person she was today. There was a social (and biological) expectation that came with being a parent, but never one that came with being parented. Jessie could get in trouble at school or start acting moody and it wouldn’t change a thing about how he saw her, but if he got in trouble or he started acting moody, it could more easily tarnish how she saw him.

Jessie was right: he had the money, technically, and his only objection was he didn’t want to spend it. He had a good reason, in his opinion, but that feeling of not wanting to let his daughter down kept nudging him just as much. Taking a deep breath, he was about to propose a compromise when luckily she decided on one for him. “What if I get three from here tonight, to at least last me the next few days, and then we can get the others from somewhere else.”

He sighed with relief, “I was just about to suggest keeping it to four, so that sounds—”

“Four it is!” she exclaimed happily, lifting her hand up to gently kiss the top of his head. “Thanks Daddy!” He rolled his eyes but smiled anyways, as she put three of her choices back and took the rest to the checkout.

The employee at the register rang up Jessie’s picks, and Marcus uneasily eyed the screen as the cost reached triple digits just from the first two scans. “$262.76 is your total,” the worker said once his daughter’s new bras were tallied up, and Jessie hovered her hand near the payment machine so Marcus could hold his credit card up against the tap-to-pay symbol.

“Remind me why I’m spending this much money on you,” he commented.

“Because you loooooove me,” his daughter cooed.

He glanced up at the employee with a smile, nodding back at his daughter. “She’s right, I love her,” he told the woman, who smiled warmheartedly and put the receipt in the bag before handing it to Jessie.

“You two have a great night,” she said, and the two of them thanked her before turning around to leave.

When they got back to Jessie’s bike, her dad looked down at the seat uneasily as she unlocked it from the rack. “Are you gonna have to sit on me again, Jess?”

She frowned, “Well don’t say it like that, that makes it sound weird. It wasn’t like I was on top of your entire body, I just tucked your feet in to make sure you couldn’t fall off.” Just my feet? he thought. More like my entire legs. “And I mean, you can walk home if you want.” She pursed her lips, taking a second to think about what she just said. “OK, I didn’t mean it like the way it came out. I guess we’re both sounding weird tonight. I just meant that you seemed pretty adamant about not liking the other option of me holding you against the handlebars.” Once the bicycle was unlocked, she sat down on the seat and looked at her dad in her hand. “So what’s it gonna be?”

As he looked uneasily between the seat and the handlebars, Jessie got an inkling of an idea. Since she was holding him in her fist, she uncurled part of her hand and shifted her fingers so she was holding him between her thumb and pointer finger instead. “If you feel weird being back there because it’s close to my butt, maybe the front would be better?” She lowered her dad’s body down between her thighs and lifted her hips enough to tuck his lower half beneath her, sitting back down on him and closing her legs in on him to the position they’d be in while riding.

Marcus looked up at his daughter, innocent and unrealizing of the place she’d just put him. She’d placed him right under her crotch, nearly squishing him between her thighs, and didn’t even see right away why that spot would be an awkward choice. Despite his daughter being hundreds of times bigger than him, the 13 year old had naively tested out a position that had her literally riding her dad—I mean, literally riding him, between his position and the fact that they were on a bike, she was pretty much double riding the man—before her brain finally caught up with itself and she quickly pulled him out from underneath her.

“Oh my God wait no, holy shit, I’m so sorry Daddy,” she blurted out, her cheeks reddening out of such intense embarrassment, and avoided looking at him as an emotionally pained expression overtook her face. “I don’t even… I, um…”

“It’s fine Jess,” he told her, even though he knew it most certainly wasn’t fine, and he avoided looking at her too. “How about you just put me in the bag from the store?” he suggested, and she nodded quickly. She hooked the bag’s handles on her handlebars and then dropped her dad inside, where he tumbled onto one of her new bras and came to rest on the inside of its cup.

“Let’s just head home now,” the girl squawked, wanting to erase the memory of putting her dad down beneath her sex, and pushed off to begin the ride home. She inadvertently went over a bump, which shifted the items inside her bag. Her dad became tangled within the pile, trapped under the curve of another one of the bra’s cups, but Jessie didn’t notice, so he rode the rest of the way back to their house in a jungle of expensive lingerie that served as a constant reminder of just how big his daughter’s breasts now were compared to him, and how big they’d continue to grow, whether he liked it or not.

*       *       *

At bedtime, Marcus and Jessie were both in the bathroom together brushing their teeth, and had moved on to flossing when suddenly Jessie threw down her floss in anger, huffing in frustration at the task she was trying to accomplish. “I hate trying to do this every night,” she complained. She bared her teeth at the mirror—in what was definitely not a smile—and glared at the small impenetrable barriers that were her braces. Glancing down at her dad, she remembered his help from a few days ago. “Do you… um, do you think you can help floss for me again Daddy?”

He paused, taking his own floss out and heading over to the trash can to throw it away. When he turned to look up at her, she flashed him a grin, kneeling onto the floor so she could rest her head on the counter. “Pleeeease?”

Marcus cringed at the thought, not too enthused about the idea. “Seriously?” he sighed.

“Yes seriously,” she answered. “What if I cook dinner tomorrow night?”

“You always cook dinner,” he laughed. “Or at least you have ever since I shrank. It’s not like I could cook for you very easily.”

“I don’t always make dinner,” she shrugged. “Not on Tuesdays and Thursdays cuz of when I get home.”

“And is tomorrow a Tuesday or a Thursday?”

She rolled her eyes, “OK, fine. But I don’t have to make enough for you. Maybe I’m really hungry and I eat every single bite.” Her eyes flared, and she chomped her teeth together dramatically with a grin. “You heard what Coach Kyle said, I could be an Olympian one day, maybe from now I need to eat every single scrap of food that I make.

Her dad frowned, although he knew she was mostly joking. “A single one of your bites is always enough to be a meal for me, and in this hypothetical future, you’d never share with me again?” She shook her head no, but giggled at the absurdity that she could ever be so needlessly petty to her dad. “But you have to help take care of me, because I’m shrunken and doing stuff is harder at my size.”

“And you have to help take care of me because I’m your daughter! And doing stuff is harder at my age.”

He paused, and then asked, “Are we still arguing about flossing here?”

She sighed and stood up, not trying to intentionally intimidate her dad, but suddenly towering over his little body nonetheless. “OK, the difference between dinner and flossing though is that you can make your own food when you need to, even if using your own cooking stuff is a little harder, but I literally can’t floss. Or like, I guess I barely can, but you can fit your hand between the wires and do a proper job of it. Do you want my breath to smell? Cuz not flossing and having plaque build up would do that.”

“Your breath already smells,” he chuckled, “why do you think I don’t wanna do it?”

She narrowed her eyes, loudly exhaling and then darting her head forward to try and smell it. “No it doesn’t,” she pouted.

“Maybe not to normal people, but everything smells a lot stronger when you’re my size.”

“OK then plug your nose, or breathe through your mouth, I dunno.” She put her hands on her hips, staring down at him with a focused look, persistent to convince him. He glanced at her belly button that peeked through  the small gap between her pajamas shorts and t-shirt, imagining the bounty of food that such a relatively massive person was able to consume. Looking up at her face, so high above him and with an expression of tense tenacity, he thought back to all the times he’d held Jessie’s hair when she had to throw up, or all the times she’d had the flu and would be too fatigued to clean up a mountain of tissues, and the myriad of other somewhat gross things that he’d had to do in the name of being a parent.

“Alright fine, I’ll at least help you out for tonight, but you have to swig your mouth with Listerine first, deal?”

Her determined look immediately softened into one of joy, which of course made Marcus feel good inside, and she nodded happily, grabbing the nearby mouthwash. “Deal!”

After taking a minute to make her breath smell minty fresh, she lowered her head back down to the counter and opened her mouth as wide as she could. Her dad already had the floss in hand, and stepped right up to her lips, leaning over carefully so as not to fall in. With each of his hands firmly gripping the string like it was rope, he lined it up with the edges of a pair of teeth and pressed downwards, able to reach past the wires of her braces, far further than she was able to, and then pulled it back out. Then he got the next wedge, and the next, and one more, but after that point he stopped and stepped back so he could look her in the eyes. 

“I’m not gonna get your back teeth, by the way. I can’t reach that far.”

“That’s OK, I didn’t expect you to,” she told him. “I’m just glad you’re able to help me at all.” She opened her mouth back up, and he returned to do the other side of her mouth, and then her top row of teeth. Images of her suddenly biting her teeth down and snapping him in half passed through his mind, like his nightmare from a few nights ago, but he just tried to ignore the silly idea and continue with his task.

By the time he finished up a few minutes later, the strip of floss was covered in faintly yellow clumps of plaque, and a few pieces of food that he’d been able to save. “Ugh,” he muttered, almost feeling nauseous from the smell of the young girl’s mouth waste, and whisked his way over to drop it in the trash.

“Mmmm, that feels so much better,” she sang. “See why I needed your help? Look at all that stuff you got!”

“You’re welcome honey,” he sighed, and she lowered her hand so he could step on. “Let’s just get to bed now.”

“Good idea,” she replied, and turned to take him to his room for the night.

Jessie and Marcus were back at Victoria’s Secret, and he was waiting for her on a nearby table while she browsed some of the lingerie, her back turned towards him. But it didn’t feel like it was the night before; something seemed off about Jessie but it was hard for him to say specifically what it was. “OK Daddy, I think I know which one I want,” he heard her say, except her voice sounded lower than usual. Only when she looked over her shoulder to smile at him did he realize that she was older now. He didn’t know how old she was exactly, but he could tell she was still a teenager; late high school or early college was his guess. But when she turned around all the way, he was completely thrown for a loop.

His daughter was wearing a low-cut shirt, which by itself was already stranger than usual. But the worst part was her breasts: they were considerably larger than they used to be, and possibly bigger than any boobs he’d ever seen in his entire life. As she took several steps towards him, they bounced up and down so hypnotically that he couldn’t help but be drawn in, staring at how magnificently they seemed to jump up and down within her shirt. It wasn’t even a sexual stare—they were simply so massive now that their size alone was worthy of drawing in her dad’s attention. And apparently, she had grown so used to Marcus staring at her tits that she didn’t even care when she noticed where his eyes were directed. 

“Just these two,” she told him, holding up a pair of bras whose size was so insane, they might as well have been the size of spherical swimming pools, even for Marcus’ nine inches of height. “This is the biggest cup size they carry in-store though, so pretty soon I’ll have to start ordering ones online,” she sighed.

Her dad could hardly believe his ears, as she picked him up and carried him with her to the front register. As she set him on the counter, Jessie instinctively pulled out her credit card—but wait, actually, he caught sight of his name on it as she gave it to the employee, and realized that it was his credit card. Apparently in this future, however many years away it was, not only was his account still open but it appeared that Jessie now had control over it instead of him, even though it was all his money.

“$174.38,” the woman at the counter said, swiping the card before Marcus even had the chance to object. He felt his phone vibrate at that moment, and he pulled it out to see his banking app had given him an alert: he was close to reaching his credit limit for some account named “Jessie’s Bra Fund.” Evidently, buying bras to support his daughter’s massive new developments had become so expensive that it had already cost him thousands of dollars, and he felt light-headed just thinking about all the other money he’d spent on her that he didn’t even know about.

After returning his card to Jessie, she smiled and thanked the employee, grabbing the bag and picking her dad up so they could head out of the store. When they got outside, he expected to see what her car looked like (was she driving his, or had she used his money to buy a car of her own too?). But instead of heading for any of the cars in the parking lot, she headed towards the same familiar bike rack where her bike was, and began unlocking it with one hand while he watched and waited in the other. “Huh, thought you’d have your own car by now,” he murmured, accidentally voicing his thoughts out loud—that seemed to be annoyingly common in these dreams.

“Uhhh… why?” she asked with a chuckle, confused at his confusion. “I wish I was old enough to have my own car,” she sighed, causing Marcus to freeze.

“Wait, Jessie. What year is it? What’s the date again?” Was this not the future? How could that be?

She turned to look down at him with an expression of concern, and he suddenly became conscious of just how close he was to her boobs. With a bountiful amount of cleavage that she clearly had no qualms about showing, he felt as if he might literally fall in and become squished somewhere in between. “Um, it’s 2024?” she responded; just a couple years after when he thought it was. “And the date is September 1st.” As if reading his worried mind, she then added, “We were just doing some back-to-school shopping, since my first day of high school is on Tuesday… are you OK Daddy?”

Marcus’ head was spinning; this was hardly the years and years into the future that he’d assumed it was. Somehow, despite how much his daughter had grown (in all the places that he didn’t want to think about), she was still only 15 years old. Barely in high school, yet with breasts now large enough that they could literally suffocate him if he became trapped in them somehow. “You look a little pale Daddy,” his daughter told him softly, completely oblivious to why he was freaking out. “When we get home, you should probably head to bed early, mkay?” But instead of moving to hold him on the bike’s handlebars, or put him in the store’s bag, or even set him down on the seat, she instead lifted his body towards her cleavage, and gently pulled back her shirt and bra from her left breast. Still trying to process the revelation from just a few seconds ago, Jessie’s dad didn’t even have time to realize what she was about to do before she did it, and the next thing he knew, his daughter was nestling his shrunken body against the inside of her bra. His body became wedged between it and her breast, which was so squishy that he seemed to just fold right into it. A slightly stubby sensation on his torso made him realize that she had set him against her nipple, which was beginning to unconsciously stiffen as his little body pressed and rubbed against it, accidentally stimulating her. And yet the look on her face was totally neutral; she didn’t look like she felt bad about what she was doing, or like she was being mischievous. It was the kind of look that made Marcus realize that in this world, she had already done this numerous times before, to the point that it was commonplace and unnoteworthy for both of them. But that didn’t stop him from freaking out once he came to his senses.

“Wh…what the fuck?” he yelled, trying to avert his eyes from the pale flesh of the young girl’s body. But Jessie’s breast was so huge compared to him that it was a pointless maneuver, and there was nowhere for him to look that didn’t also include her soft, teenage tits. He tried closing his eyes, but nothing happened. Because this was a dream, so his eyes were already closed, and even though he could feel himself squeezing them shut over and over, it couldn’t stop him from seeing everything around him. “Why’d you put me in here?” he asked desperately. “I thought I’d go on your bike or something!”

She looked at him, seemingly even more confused at why he was acting so strangely that day. “I don’t think I’ve tried keeping you on my bike since I was like, 13 or something,” she said, laughing at the memory of all the different ways they had tried together. “I remember you didn’t like the handlebars, so then you went on one of the middle tubes but you didn’t like that either, and then you didn’t like riding on the pedals, or when I tried keeping you on the seat. And boom, ever since then, you’ve ridden in my bra instead, and never complained—until now, for whatever reason.” Despite her explanation though, he refused to accept such a bizarre and twisted reality; surely he never would’ve agreed to something so intimate and inappropriate. He squirmed wildly to try and maneuver his way out, but doing so rubbed against her nipple even more, and she blushed when she realized it was starting to harden against him. “Daddy, why do we keep having to talk about this: you’re not allowed to squirm,” the 15 year old told him. “It’s awkward for me!” But he wouldn’t stop, like some kind of scared, rabid creature, and she closed her shirt again with a sigh, knowing that the tightness of her bra would at least muffle some of his antics.

Marcus tried crying out one more time, but he was suddenly pressed against his daughter’s breast before he could get a word out, and as she got on her bike, he was cast into a cramped and uncomfortable darkness, made a prisoner of his own daughter’s bra.

*       *       *

The darkness made way to light, as a piece of clothing was pulled off of Marcus, and the light of Jessie’s bedroom blinded him as his eyes adjusted. She seemed to be a little bit older now (although for all he knew, she might’ve still been in high school), and somehow, some way, her boobs were even larger than they had just been moments ago. At this point they were so monstrously massive that they shouldn’t have even been physically possible, at least not in real life. And yet there they stood, jutting out so far from her chest that Marcus could barely even see Jessie’s face. She was completely topless, and as much as Marcus genuinely tried, it was literally impossible for him to look away or close his eyes. “There you are,” she said, sighing with relief as she looked down at him. He tried saying something back, but nothing came out of his mouth. In fact, he couldn’t even feel his mouth. And now that he was taking notice, he realized that the rest of his body didn’t feel normal either. It felt… long? And he couldn’t move a muscle.

His daughter bent down to grab him, and as she lifted him back up, he caught sight of himself in the mirror—only it wasn’t him, or at least it couldn’t be, yet somehow was. Because instead of the nine inch body he’d slowly come to be familiar with, she was instead holding a gargantuan-sized bra. But it was him. He was the bra now. Somehow he had been transformed into a piece of his teenage daughter’s lingerie. Did she even know that she was about to wear her father? Or was he just a mere object to her now?

She began putting him on, and suddenly he was thrust back against her breast, but this time in a way that was more totaling and encompassing. He actually surrounded them now, and supported them, and he felt like his body became strained as he tried to hold however many pounds Jessie’s boobs were loading onto him.

“So foolish of you to freak out over my boobs growing when I was younger,” Jessie said with a laugh, and Marcus then became aware that her boobs were growing again. Slowly at first, but then faster, and all while he remained wrapped all the way around them, his immobile limbs feeling constantly stretched to new limits. Soon enough, Jessie’s breasts were even larger than her entire body—but the growth didn’t stop there. “If only you had known just how large they would really come to be,” he heard her snicker, but her face had become lost somewhere below the squishy, wobbling globes that Marcus was adhered to. He could only watch (and feel) with utter helplessness as her boobs grew hundreds of feet tall, and then thousands, and then so many miles in diameter that they were visible from space. Bigger and fatter and larger, until they were hundreds of thousands of miles wide, and the Earth that they had originated from was just a speck in between them. “And yet no matter how large they get, my Daddy will always be the best bra I could ever ask for.” With that, the planet finally became crushed in between Jessie’s galactic, impossible-to-comprehend cleavage, and Marcus’ body finally snapped, sending him back into the darkness, although at that point he wasn’t sure if the blackness surrounding him was from his position in outer space, or from how deep inside his daughter’s cleavage he had been sent.

==============

Friday, October 23

==============

Marcus needed a vacation, and with the stress of having to care for her dad, Jessie was in need of one too. A vacation had been on Marcus’ mind for several weeks, and though he didn’t have a lot of money to spend, the relief he’d been sent by the government had given him enough leeway to consider a trip to visit some of his family.

Originally, Marcus was from a small town in the central Rocky Mountains, so some of his family still lived there—his mom, who was in her early 60s; his sister Emma, who was also a single parent (although she at least kept in touch with her ex-husband); and Emma’s daughter Morgan, who had recently turned 17. Only his mom knew of his plans to come visit them, although even she wasn’t aware of how soon Marcus planned on visiting. When he woke up on Friday, he had a sudden, strong epiphany that he didn’t want to wait any longer. He didn’t just want to see his family soon. He wanted to go today.

Fortunately for him, one of Marcus’ college buddies had gotten a job at a regional airline several years ago, and had been able to score Marcus a discounted round trip ticket for the weekend. The ticket had been made in Jessie’s name; the friend didn’t know about Marcus’ recent shrinking, and just thought Marcus wanted to give his daughter a gift, but the real plan was for him to accompany Jessie as her… well, not her luggage exactly. A law had been put in place in the early 2010’s that all shrunken people under 12 inches got to fly for free with a guardian, since they wouldn’t need to take up any seat space. Another one of the perks of being small, Marcus thought to himself. I’ll be saving twice as much on tickets if Jessie’s the only passenger from here on out.

Right now, Marcus was still lying in his bed, texting his mom about his plans. “Don’t tell Emma yet. Or Morgan,” he wrote. “I wanna surprise them.”

“you’re surprising me!” she typed back.

“But we can stay for the weekend, right? Won’t be an issue?”

“yes. it will be great to see you 😊”

“The flight lands around 3pm your time. Will you be able to pick us up, or should we get an Uber?”

“not sure yet. i’ll let you know before you leave though.”

Marcus took a deep breath, and a smile slowly crept onto his face. He was already feeling excited. He hadn’t seen his mom (or his sister and niece) in almost two years, and considering how many months he’d been shrunken, he figured a visit was long overdue.

“Hey Daddy?” Jessie’s voice echoed from across the house, and like a little kid, Marcus suddenly hurried under his covers, turning off his phone and doing his best to lay flat and remain unnoticeable on the oversized bed. Her footsteps drew louder and closer, and then he heard a knock on his door. After several seconds of silence, Jessie slowly pushed his door open and peeked her head inside, looking around. “Daddy. Dad. Father. Hellooooo, parent of mine, where are you?” After a few more seconds, she asked, “Are you in the bathroom?” But when she still didn’t hear him answer, she sighed, and retreated back to her bedroom.

Once the coast was clear, Marcus popped out from under his covers, feeling enthused with a sense of giddiness. He’d hidden from her because he wanted to make the announcement a surprise, wherein he’d be standing on the kitchen table holding his miniature suitcase, and then she’d ask why he was holding his suitcase, and he’d say because he’d need it for where they were going, and then she’d get excited and ask where they’re going, and then he’d reveal that she wouldn’t be going to school today because they had a flight to catch instead. It was gimmicky, sure, but Jessie’s smiles looked literally ten times bigger from his new size, so Marcus was getting a kick out of extracting random smiles from her whenever he could. But he had to be quick, because if he took too long, she’d either walk in on him packing his things into his suitcase, or she’d leave for school on her own.

After climbing down from his bed, he selected a light assortment of clothes from his dresser, grabbed his toothpaste and toothbrush, and stuffed the items into his suitcase along with a book to read on the plane. After looking out into the hallway, he saw that the bathroom light was on and could hear music playing from inside. She was probably putting on her makeup, so he rushed down through the hall and hoped that she wouldn’t finish up in the minute that it took him to make his way to the other side.

Arriving in the kitchen, he stopped in his tracks when he saw that Jessie had propped her backpack up against one of the table legs, which also happened to be the same corner where his ladder was, the one he used to climb to the top. “Shit,” he muttered, approaching it slowly and looking up at it from underneath the unzipped front flap. He’d had to remind her before not to leave her things there, because it obstructed him from being able to get to the table’s surface on his own, and apparently he’d need to remind her again. But maneuvering behind the backpack looked like it might be possible, since the bulk of the bag’s weight was freestanding, with only the front flap folded against his ladder. I can probably just climb up right past it, he realized. It might feel a little heavy, and he’d have to use his head to push up against it since his hands would be holding the rungs, but he could do it.

To make the climb easier, he slung his suitcase’s strap over his right shoulder, and then from under the shadow of Jessie’s backpack, started climbing to the top of the table. When he reached the flap, he stopped on the ladder and used his left hand to push it back, hopefully giving him some room. For a moment, it swayed away from him, but once he saw it start to slow down, he realized his momentum hadn’t been enough and it was about to swing back his way, so he quickly tried scrambling up the ladder to clear out of the way before it hit him. Just when he thought he’d made it, the top of the flap thudded against the ladder again and hit Marcus’ ankle, sweeping his foot out from under him and causing the man to lose his grip and fall backwards. Yelling out in surprise, Marcus’ body tumbled down into his daughter’s backpack, until he landed with a soft thud at the bottom, knocking him unconscious.

After Jessie finished getting ready for school, she gathered her things and called out for her dad a second time. When he didn’t respond, she headed into his bedroom again to double check his bed and bathroom. After calling his phone and getting no response, she began to feel a faint sense of worry, but if her dad wasn’t going to take her to school, she’d just have to bike; it was already too late to take the bus. Racking her brain, Jessie couldn’t think of any good reason why her dad wouldn’t answer her and wasn’t anywhere to be found (and he wasn’t even that small; at nine inches, surely she would’ve been able to find his body somewhere if—nevermind, she didn’t want to dwell on that thought). But then again, it was entirely possible he’d simply gone out for an early morning walk and hadn’t taken his phone, or maybe he hadn’t slept well last night, got up, and then fell asleep somewhere else in the house. They were unlikely possibilities, but the rational side of her brain told her that she should just go to school, and if he didn’t text her back by noon, then she could start to worry for real, and maybe the office would let her come home early.

Didn’t he say he’d take me to school from now on? she thought, noticing his car still in the driveway after heading outside. Or did I just expect that he would? Regardless, she obviously wouldn’t be driven to school today, so she slung her gym bag over her shoulder, slid her backpack onto her handlebars, and set off down the road, unaware that she was actually bringing her dad along for the ride.

*       *       *

When Marcus awoke, it took him a few moments to fully realize what had happened. He was in a barely lit space on top of a pile of things he couldn’t make out, and it felt like he was being rushed somewhere at a hundred miles an hour. He’d never been knocked unconscious before, so waking up in something that wasn’t a bed or a couch confused him at first, before he addressed his memory and recalled that he’d fallen off the table’s ladder. So he must still be in Jessie’s backpack, which meant she was now on her way to school. 

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness—the only light came in through the tiny holes and cracks formed by the zippers up above—he found himself amongst books & notebooks, a can of mints, at least seven pencils (so Jessie’s that kind of classmate…), an AirPods case, and her phone charger. He attempted to call her name, but even when he screamed out as loud as he could, it didn’t cause Jessie to stop. Then he went to grab his phone so he could call her, but his pocket was empty. He couldn’t remember if his phone had even been on him when he climbed the ladder; was it somewhere here lying around, or back in his bedroom? He cursed under his breath a few times, but at least he wasn’t hurt, other than a headache that seemed to be fading. She’ll open her backpack eventually and see me. I just have to wait.

When Jessie arrived at school and locked her bike up, Marcus tried again to call her name, but she still couldn’t seem to hear him. Is the bag really muffling my voice that much? It wasn’t; she just had her AirPods in, and she would’ve been able to hear her dad if she’d taken them out. She only stopped listening to her music once she’d sat down in her first period class, but by then, Marcus assumed that calling out for her was useless, so he sat quietly and waited to be discovered.

She didn’t end up needing anything out of her backpack that period, not even one of the many pencils she was permanently borrowing from her classmates, so after almost an hour of lying in wait, the intercom bell rang, and classroom doors across the school exploded open as hundreds of kids milled about on their way to their next classes. Once again, Marcus got flung into the air like he was just another one of his daughter’s school things, and carried through the halls until she arrived at her next class. He wasn’t even paying attention and was lost in the middle of a daydream, when the zipper loudly and suddenly ripped open. 

The sprawled out body of her tiny father was the first thing Jessie laid eyes on, and she felt so relieved that she quietly gasped. He was lucky that her anxious mood had driven her to sit in the back corner of the classroom, and although a couple faces turned for a brief moment, nobody else was actually able to see the little man that Jessie had in her backpack for some reason. She heaved her backpack onto the desk, the back of it facing up, and leaned her head in to try and discreetly talk to her dad. “What are you doing in here?!” she asked quietly, but with a clear tone of incredulity and surprise.

“I accidentally fell in before you left for school,” he told her, having to kneel down on one of her books and duck his head from how little space there was. In the open, nine inches didn’t seem like all that much, but inside a backpack, it left him barely any room to move. “You weren’t even supposed to come to school today,” he chuckled. “You need to get to the office.”

Her mouth hung open, still processing her surprise, when the voice of her teacher called across the classroom to her. “I hope whatever’s got your attention in your backpack isn’t your phone.” Jessie’s mind was fully focused on her dad though, buried inside her bag, and she didn’t even realize that her teacher was looking straight at her. Heels began clacking against the linoleum floor in Jessie’s direction, and her teacher repeated herself sternly. “Miss Tilden?”

Hearing her name being called along with the sound of Mrs. Backwater approaching, Jessie pulled her head out of her backpack, nervously gripping the sides of it tightly and instinctively pulling it close to her possessively (which, she later realized, looked about as suspicious as possible). In doing so, the glossy covers of her books allowed some of them to slide towards her, including the top one that Marcus was on, and he was sent rolling forward several relative feet before toppling off the edge of the book—right into the opening of his daughter’s shirt.

Feeling her dad fall into her shirt made Jessie tense her muscles so tightly they were almost shaking, as his little body tumbled past her boobs (thank God I’m wearing a bra, she thought, even though she always wore one to school), down her chest, and came to stop just below her belly button. She’d tucked the front of her shirt into her jeans for stylistic reasons, but it ended up saving both her and her dad from embarrassment when it stopped Marcus from falling onto the floor for the whole class to see. Still, he was in a more compromised position than earlier, and he felt awkward being pressed against his young daughter’s belly.

Her teacher took ahold of her backpack to look inside, and suddenly half the class was glancing in her direction to see if she was about to get in trouble. Luckily, she remembered what her dad had just said, and she mustered up the gusto to speak. “I was looking for a slip that the office gave me before first period,” she thought of saying. “I had a doctor’s appointment.”

Sure enough, there didn’t seem to be a phone in the girl’s backpack, but the middle-aged woman was still suspicious of her answer. “So you came to class even though you were supposed to go to the office?”

“I… forgot,” she answered nervously.

“Where’s your phone?”

“In my pocket. I mean my waistband, I keep it tucked in my pants.” She reached behind her and pulled her phone out from where she said it was, showing her teacher that she really hadn’t been using it.

“So you can’t find your slip?”

Jessie shook her head.

“Do you want me to call the office for you then?” The teacher was asking to be courteous, but also because she could catch Jessie in a lie if she wasn’t telling the truth.

Jessie nodded, and the teacher headed back to her desk; “Everyone else, keep reading Chapter 4,” she said. 

But then Jessie realized her dad had said she wasn’t even supposed to come to school today, so he might have never called the office in the first place. “Wait, um… actually, I don’t know if my dad’s called them yet to let them know he’s picking me up.”

“They’ll have a record of you from when you got a slip this morning,” the teacher replied, and dialed the code for the receptionist. Jessie didn’t know what her teacher would do if she found out Jessie had lied; there was a chance the woman would take her phone and not let her have it back til the end of the day. “Hey Sylvia,” Mrs. Blackwater said, “one my students, Jessie Tilden, says she had a slip to be excused for a doctor’s appointment, but can’t seem to find it anymore.” Jessie’s heart started beating faster, hating the feeling when you know you’re about to be caught in a lie and just have to wait until you’re found out. Even Marcus could hear his daughter’s heart-rate increase, since part of his face was being held against her torso anyways. “You sure?” The teacher straightened her back, a hint of a smile on her face.

But then her expression changed. “Well, lucky for her. I’ll send her over, thanks.” She sighed and turned to Jessie. “Looks like your dad called at the same time I did. You can go.”

Jessie was shocked. “Oh… okay, cool. Thanks.” She zipped her backpack up, but didn’t know how to grab her dad to hide him again without anybody seeing; he was too big to hide in her hand. So to keep anyone from seeing the oddly shaped lump weighing her shirt down when she stood up, she held her book bag close to her, stood up and pushed her chair in, and then slowly made her way for the door.

“Remember to read chapters 4 through 6 before Monday,” the teacher reminded her.

“Okay. See you next week,” Jessie replied, and then slipped out the classroom door.

Once she was in the hallway, she looked around to make sure nobody was watching, reached under her shirt to grab her dad, and then quickly stowed him in her backpack before heading down to the office with a relieved and victorious grin on her face.