Joseph (Joe) Zurek

Age:21

-Main Protagonist: suffers from a rare genetic mutation that causes him to shrink down to two inches tall when he experiences pain, but grows back to normal once it has subsided and he finds his, “Happy Place.” Despite his unfortunate condition, Joe is extremely adventurous and ,although he tries to be cautious, has gotten into trouble on more than one occasion. Due to the condition, he has taken it upon himself to build up as much strength, stamina, and agility as he can, so that he is as independent in his shrunken state as possible.

Michelle Bines

Age: 21

-Loving Girlfriend to Joe: Does everything she can to support Joe once she learns of his rare condition. Tries to be as gentle as possible around Joe, though that doesn’t mean she can’t let loose and have a little fun every once and a while. She is not a great liar, but she will do everything she can to keep Joe’s condition a secret.

Stacy Connors

Age: 23

-Michelle’s best friend and a bit of a party girl. At first, she is freaked out by Joe’s condition, but quickly grows more comfortable with it as time goes on, which may or may not be a good thing.

Jake Sullivan

Age: 21

-Joe’s best friend, and all around ladies man. The two were anything but friends until one fateful adventure in which Jake saved Joe’s life and helped him get back to normal. Ever since then, Jake has felt a sort of responsibility towards his friend, and went from juvenile delinquent to loyal friend. He would do anything to protect his little buddy.

Dr. Beverly Cale

Age: 45

-Top researcher at MuGenTek, and overall “Scary Lady.” If it were up to her, Joe would be forced to stay at the facility so she could keep him safe. But she understands the importance of freedom, and let’s “boys be boys.” However, she doesn’t appreciate Joe’s reckless behavior, and chastises him any time he gets into trouble. She sees Joe as more of a son then a patient at times, but she’d never tell him that.

Dr. Royce Fisher

Age: 50

-Dr. Cale’s second in command (For a very specific reason, hint hint). He’s like a conscience to Dr. Cale, and usually backs Joe up, but also wouldn’t mind if Joe stayed and lived at the lab.

Rita Chase

Age: 33

-Works the front desk at the MuGenTek branch Joe goes to, and a good friend to Joe and Jake. She sees Joe and Jake as little siblings, although she knows Jake sees her differently, but knows it’s nothing more than harmless flattery. First met the two when she was hired as Joe’s tutor through the company, than came and worked directly for MuGenTek.

Agent Freeman

Age: 35

-Works for the government, but is based at the MuGenTek lab Joe goes to. A bit rough around the edges, his job is to make sure Joe stays safe from other agencies that may want to use his genes for more sinister uses then MuGenTek. A bit like an Uncle to Joe, he does all the necessary background checks on people Joe comes in contact with.

“Please, Michelle, you don’t understand, I HAVE get out there!” Joe was beyond the point of reasoning now, and was pleading for her to understand. He liked Michelle, he really did, and their relationship meant a lot to him. More than he could ever describe with words. But at that moment, his every instinct told him he needed to get to his car. Immediately.

“No Joe, you’re staying RIGHT HERE!” screamed Michelle, putting herself between Joe and the door. He long brown hair was a tangled mess, and she wore only a long t-shirt, bra and panties. Her make up was a tad bit smeared from the night before, and her bloodshot eyes glared at Joe from behind her glasses.

Joe, himself, was in the process of dressing himself in his clothes from the night before, hopping on his left leg while putting his right leg in his pants. His black and gray striped over shirt was unbuttoned and the collar wasn’t straight, and he only had one shoe on, while the other one lay on the ground who knew where. Michelle’s room was a mess. But he didn’t care; he just needed to get to his car.

“Michelle, please, just listen to me!” he said, zipping up his pants and looking around frantically. His car keys! Where were his care keys?! He patted his pockets as he spoke, but couldn’t feel them.

“Looking for these?” said Michelle, and Joe looked up to see her jingling the keys in front of her face. Joe stood wide-eyed. Man, she was good.

“Sweety, please, I’m not going anywhere I just have to go grab-,” he started, but she stopped him.

“No! No more pills, Joe. You have an addiction! You’re in denial!” she said. Joe’s eyebrows furrowed and he ran his hands through his short, thick dirty blonde hair. He let out a deep breath and glared at his girlfriend.

“You know I don’t do well with alcohol. Why did I even let you convince me to go to the stupid party,” he said, feeling the side affects of last nights party in his head.

“It was the only way I could get you away from you’re pills, Joe,” she said, and Joe started yelling.

“You don’t understand, Michelle! They’re medically prescribed! I need those pills so I can stay healthy!” he could feel the heat rising in his face. Michelle glared back.

“That’s not what your medical records say,” she said flatly. Joe was taken aback. He felt like he had just been shot in the chest.

“You- you looked at my medical records? Without my permission?!” Joe couldn’t believe it.

“I was getting curious about this so called ‘medical disorder’ you were referring to, yet never told me about. So I did a little research, and other then allergies, they showed no such disorder that required any need for pills what so ever!” she said. Joe couldn’t believe it.

“Michelle… how could you? That was personal! And you went behind my back and…” Joe trailed off.

“Oh don’t play the trust card, you’ve been lying to me this whole time about those stupid pills! And I didn’t stop at the records by the way. I grabbed one of your pills and had Mary take a look at it. You know, tell me what the stuff was made up of. And you know what we found?” she said, and Joe could feel the blood drain from his face. This was going very badly.

“Michelle, please, calm down,” he said in a shaky voice.

“Vicodin?! Joe, You’re addicted to pain killers!”

Joe was a mix of emotions now; fear, anger, anxiety, sadness, betrayal and it just ended up making him feel sick to his stomach. He had been so careful before. He made sure that if he and Michelle ever hooked up, it was always at his place, where his pills were right there when he woke up.

And if he ever did end up at her place, he made sure to wake up extra early to get them from his car before he started the day. But this time, another factor had been added. Booze. Beer. Whisky. Fucking alcohol. Joe mentally punched himself for letting it get this serious.

He made a few steps toward Michelle. She stood at a height of 5’8, while Joe just barely reached 5’3. But even with her added height advantage, he was sure she wouldn’t be able to overpower him. He just had to make sure not to get hurt.

“Michelle, if you let me get my pills, I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Just please, you HAVE to trust me!” he said, slowly making his way towards her. His head was spinning, and he was starting to sweat. It didn’t take much, he knew. One bloody scrape, one paper cut, anything that caused him pain, and he was screwed.

Michelle backed away as her shorter, yet much stronger, boyfriend inched his way towards her. She wasn’t letting him get away that easy. They had been together for six months, and she never saw him go a day without popping those pills. At first, she had believed him about the medical disorder. It didn’t even bother her all that much at first. But when she had asked him to elaborate, he told her it was too complicated to describe.

Finally, curiosity got the best of her and she did some research. At the time, she felt bad doing it. Joe was private about his medical life. She was aware of the many Doctors appointments he attended, each one alone and each one hours long. But she had to know. And after seeing that he had no such medical disorder that required pills, she began to fear the worse.

“No Joe, I want answers now!” she said, her back now against the door. Joe had not increased the rate of his approach, but he was now getting much closer. His shoulders were tense, and she could see the sweat forming on his forehead.

“Those so-called ‘appointments’, they’re drug deals aren’t they?” she screamed, trying to stall for time until she thought of a plan.

“What? No, of course not! Michelle please, I don’t have a problem!” he said.

“Fine then, prove it. Go the whole day without any pills. Please Joe. Do it for me,” she said, lowering her voice to that of a plea. Joe sighed. He wanted to do what she asked. But he couldn’t. Not without risking his secret getting out. He put his hands up, getting ready to make a grab at the keys, yet to Michelle, it looked like he was surrendering. He kept his eyes focused both on Michelle and the keys in her hands, making him unaware of the sock that lay in his path.

“Michelle, I can’t. Trust me, I want to, but I can’t. It’s just not an option,” said Joe. Michelle gave a huff.

“Joe, don’t you hear yourself? That’s EXACTLY what someone with a DRUG problem would say,” she said, throwing her hands down in anger.

That’s when Joe made his move. He made a lunge for her right arm, which held the keys. His right foot flew forward, landing perfectly on the sock. It all happened in a matter of seconds, but to Joe, it seemed to take minutes. His feet fell from beneath him, and the speed of his lunge caused his body to do a 180 in the air. He saw the ceiling above him, and felt the immense pain as his head hit the sharp corner of a small table that lay next to the door.

Joe’s blood went cold. The immense pain from the hit had already sent him into shock, and the pain only increased when he fell to the ground. He heard Michelle scream. He turned onto his stomach to see everything was spinning.

‘It’s already starting,’ thought Joe, fear gripping his heart, which was pumping so fast, he thought it would blow right out oh his chest.

“Joe? JOE!? Are you ok? Say something! Joe!” Michelle was petrified at this point, frantic and in total panic mode. Joe’s head was now bleeding profusely, and he was struggling to his feet. She bent down and helped him up. She tried to get some sort of reaction out of him, but he was completely unresponsive.

“Joe! Joe look at me, are you ok?” she repeated, spinning Joe around so they were eye to eye. He looked terrified, which made Michelle panic even more.

Joe heard Michelle, but he was so terrified at this point, that his mouth wouldn’t move or allow any words to form. He backed away from her and ran for the bathroom.

‘She can’t see it. Not yet, NOT YET!’ he screamed in his mind. Michelle followed slowly, than broke into a run after him. Joe was faster, though, and beat her to the bathroom, where he slammed the door shut and locked it.

“Joe! Joe don’t, let’s just talk about this! Tell me you’re ok, please, just tell me!” she screamed. Joe made a mad dash across the bathroom and threw open the window. He was in full flight mode.

‘If I can just make it to my car, I’ll break in and grab the pills. I just have-,’ he didn’t finish the thought before everything blacked out.

“JOE! Open the door!” screamed Michelle, pounding on the door. Tears streaked her face. What had she done? For all she knew, Joe could have passed out and was now bleeding to death on the floor. In one last ditch effort, she backed away from the door and rammed her shoulder into it. It budged, but didn’t open. This time, she backed away, got a running start, and burst through the door, wooden splinters from the doorway flying everywhere.

“Joe!” she said, and was shocked to see him… gone.

“Joe?” she said, peering into the shower, thinking he was hiding or something. She felt a slight breeze, and she looked to see that the door was open.

“Oh no,” she said, and ran up to the window. She popped her head out and looked around. He wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“This is bad,” she said. Nothing had gone according to plan. She backed away from the window, and almost tripped on something lying on the floor. She looked down to see it was a pile of clothes. They were Joe’s.

“Oh god, he’s running around naked too!” she said. Running from the bathroom, she ran around her house grabbing her shoes, pants, keys, phone, and anything else she needed as quickly as she could. She ran out the door and out to her car, which was parked next to Joe’s. Before she left, though, she went into his car and rummaged around until she came out with his bottle of pills.

“Just in case he comes back,” she said. She then jumped into her car and sped down the street, looking everywhere for her maniac, drug withdrawn, boyfriend.

Joe woke to the sound of the front door slamming shut, followed by the squeal of tires on asphalt as, he assumed Michelle, sped away.

“Where is she going?” he said to himself, sitting up and rubbing his head. His hand felt wet, and when he looked at it, blood coated his fingers and palm.

“Fuck,” he hissed, and the pounding in his head began. This morning had been a disaster. He looked at his surrounding and immediately knew what surround him; his boxers. He saw a light nearby and crawled towards it, holding his hand to his bloody wound.

“This is not good,” he told himself. This was by far one of the worst wounds he’d received in a long time. And to have gotten it while off his pills only added to the severity of the situation. The first question on his mind was where had Michelle gone off to? When he had reached the light, he came out to find himself on a bath mat, which was shag like in feel. The small strands of fiber that covered the carpet came past his ankles. But hey, that’s what happens when you’re only two inches tall.

“Firsts first, I have to get Michelle,” he said. He looked around and realized that he had left the window open. The only reason should would have left would be because she had seen the open window and assumed he had made a mad dash for the car. When he wasn’t there, she must have thought he was running around like a lunatic.

“Probably thinks I’m running around naked too,” he chuckled to himself, and then winced at the pain. It hurt him to laugh. This was definitely not good.

“Ok, time for the bandages,” he said. He looked around and saw that his pants had fallen in such a way that the back pockets were facing up.

“Lucky break,” he told himself, making his way over to his right back pocket. A brown leather wallet was popping out the back ever so slightly. He grabbed hold of the edge, and with all his strength, pulled the massive piece of leather out of the pocket. It took a minute, considering just how small he was and how large the wallet seemed to him, but he managed it.

Sweating and panting, he made his way over to the mouth of the wallet, pushed up and opened the whole thing. He crawled across it towards a smaller pocket, and opened it. Inside was a first aid kit, made perfectly for him.

“Thanks Doc,” smiled Joe, opening it up and pulling out the bandages.

The floor of Michelle’s dorm was a worst nightmare situation for Joe. Between him and her bedside table lay mounds of clothing, trash, unmentionables, and other clutter that was going to make this a hard trek.

He looked towards her bedside table, which was directly across the room from him. He couldn’t see it, but he knew what was up their; his cellphone.

“Time to make a call,” he said, trying to sound bad ass. He was naked, bandaged, and had now acquired a piece of weaponry. Inside his wallet, along with the first aid kit, he kept a small metal staff that had pointed ends. In a place this big, who knew what was lurking underneath every sock and pair of panties. Though it may not be of much use to, let’s say a cat, he could at least hold off his ground, if not kill, other insects that might be interested in making him their meal.

Taking a deep breath, he began his long journey towards his phone, and ultimately a way out of this mess, Michelle. He shuddered at the thought of the conversation that lay ahead of them, and how awkward it was going to be. On top of that, he couldn’t shake off the fear that he held deep in his heart. The fear that had kept him from telling Michelle about his condition for all these months.

“Look, Michelle, you need to understand why I couldn’t just tell you about this,” said Joe, going over ideas of how he was going to confront his lovely, and now goddess of a girlfriend, about why he had been lying to her for all this time.

While he talked, he climbed over a now mountain like pair of jeans. He knew it would have taken too long to go around them, so he had decided climbing them was the only solution. And having grown up with this condition, he had plenty of experience with climbing. With practiced movements, he scaled the mountainous pair of skinny jeans with ease, and slid down the other side.

“I mean, come on, you have to admit, you wouldn’t have believed me if I told you! No, no, that’s not it,” Joe sighed to himself, walking along one of Michelle’s T-shirts. He looked down to see it had a rather large coffee stain on it, which had at this point completely dried, yet the smell of it had stayed.

“Why don’t we grab some coffee and talk about this!” he tried out, then stopped walking. He looked down at himself, then straight ahead.

“Um, no, that’s not it,” said Joe, realizing just how stupid that sounded. This was going to be harder than he thought.

Joe’s small and trained ears heard the sound of skittering before he saw it. It was a rather silent sound, but unmistakeable to Joe. He gripped his metal spear and turned his attention towards the source of the sound. A large spider was skittering towards him, most likely with a rather gruesome agenda in mind.

“Hello there, Mrs. Grass Spider,” said Joe. Gauging from it’s size, he assumed to it be female, considering how much smaller males usually were. The spider’s body was half his size, and the large legs only added to the size. To Joe, it appeared to be the size of a large dog, but he did not take this lightly.

He braced himself, and when the spider was close enough, he thrust his spear at it, aiming for the eyes. The spider reared back in pain, and Joe used this opportunity to get behind it. Once it looked to be regaining it’s composure, he jumped up on it’s back, thrusting the spear into it’s lower abdomen. The Spider began to squirm for a minute, then dropped to the ground, dead.

Panting, Joe hopped away from the spider and wiped his forehead. Quick movements and right in the abdomen, that was the way to kill a spider. Joe had years of practice with these things, and his fear of them was not as evident as it used to be.

“Alright, no, where was I,” he said to himself, returning to his journey towards the table.

Twenty minutes later, Joe’s hand reached for the top of the bedside table. His other hand followed, and with a mighty pull, he hoisted himself onto the table, a mass of blood, sweat, and tears.

“Whatever happens, I am going to have a SERIOUS discussion with that woman about spring cleaning!” he said, panting heavily. He had a bandage tied across his chest and shoulder, pinning his metal spear to his back, which he had done to allow himself to climb up the wire that plugged Michelle’s alarm clock into the wall. It had been a bit out of his reach, but he had managed to jump up, grab hold, and shimmy his way up the cord to the tabletop above.

He scanned the cluttered table until his eyes fell upon the treasure he was seeking. He dashed across the table with renewed vigor until he reached his cell phone. He hopped on top, and made his way over to the home button. Pushing down, the phone lit up, and he looked across the expanse of his phone.

He couldn’t help but smile a little when he saw Michelle’s face light up the screen. He stood there for a moment, before remembering his current predicament. He sucked in a deep breath as he was reminded of the massive throbbing that filled his brain at the moment. It was bad, and it didn’t seem to be getting any better.

With little difficulty, he managed to slide the touch screen across until the apps to the phone were showing. Using his hands, feet, and arms, he tirelessly worked and worked until finally, he opened up contacts and jumped down on Michelle’s name. The phone began to call, and Joe nearly jumped up into the air for joy. The phone rang, and Joe made a mad dash for the speaker button.

“Hello? Joe?” he heard, and his heart beat quicker.

“Michelle? Michelle can you hear me?” he said, knowing full well she could. He had his phone modified long ago for such occasions, knowing that a time may come when he would need to use the phone when he was not at full height.

“Yeah, I can hear you. Where are you?” she asked, curious and nervousness filling her voice.

“I’m still at your place. Just come back and we can talk this over,” he said, trying not to let his exhaustion be heard. It didn’t work.

“You ok, hun? You sound like you ran a marathon or something,” she said, and Joe chuckled.

“It’ll all make sense when you get here. Just hurry up, ok?” he said. She was silent for a moment, and Joe was about to make sure she was still there, when he heard her voice.

“I’ll be there in a few. And… put your clothes back on please,” she said, and Joe laughed.

“Come on, Michelle, it’s not anything you haven’t seen before,” he said. Michelle hung up and Joe sighed.

“I love you,” he said, and made himself comfortable on his hard phone.

Michelle hadn’t been too far when she got the call from Joe, and now found herself walking up the walkway towards her house. It was close to the college she and Joe both attended, and she shared the rent with a friend of hers. She had thought Stacy would be home by now, but Joe’s car was the only one other than hers that sat in the driveway.

“He better have a good excuse for all of this,” she said, reaching into her pocket and fishing out her keys.

She was still trying to figure out how he had been able to lie about it for this long. Did his family know about his drug problem? Did any of his friends? Should she try and get them together for some sort of intervention? All these questions and more flooded her mind.

“I can make some calls later,” she said, pushing her key into the lock. The door clicked, and she opened the door.

“Joe? Joe you in here?” she called out. Suddenly, she felt her phone ringing, and she looked to see it was from Joe.

“Joe? Where are you? I thought you said you were back at my place. I’m here, so where are you?” Silence, followed by Joe’s nervous answer.

“Head… head into your room,” he said, and Michelle looked around.

“Joe, what’s going on?” she asked, her voice shaky. What WAS going on? Joe sounded strange on the phone.

“Just go into your room,” he said again. Michelle hesitated, than made her way through the small house, ending up in the doorway to her empty room.

“Ok, I’m in my room,” she said. Silence again. Then Joe spoke up.

“L-Look at your bedside table,” he said, and Michelle thought she could hear Joe crying.

“What? Joe your not-,” she started to say, then froze. On her bedside table, it looked like there was a small mouse standing next to Joe’s phone. But it was standing upright, and had dirty blond hair and a bandaged head. Her phone fell from her hands as she realized she was staring at her now pocket-sized boyfriend.

Neither said anything at first. They just stared at each other, Michelle with total surprised and Joe with a look of sadness that border lined on crying. Joe’s head was still in throbbing pain, and his body ached after the long trek across the room, but he stood still, staring up into the giant and bewildered eyes of his now enormous girlfriend. Finally, he couldn’t stand the silence and spoke up.

“Um, hey,” he said sheepishly, finding it a little harder to hold the awkward stare. Michelle said nothing, just stared at Joe, her hand still up against the side of her head where her phone had been moments ago.

“Ah, Michelle?” said Joe, waving his hand to make sure she saw him. Finally, she broke out of her stunned silence and began to blink. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eye, even cleaned them off before putting them back on. They were not deceiving her, there he stood, her two-inch tall boyfriend.

“J-Joe?” she finally managed to say. Joe sighed. He had been afraid that she was going to pass out.

“Yeah… yeah it’s me,” he said. Michelle began to walk towards him, keeping her eyes on him the whole time, as if she thought that he would just disappear if she looked away. Joe’s every muscle told him to get the fuck out of there, to run in the opposite direction of this immanent threat. But he held his ground, his body shaking in anticipation for what would come.

Once she had reached the table, Michelle bent down to get a better look at Joe, her eyes studying him up and down. At first, she noticed that he was naked, other than the bandage that covered his head and the one that held some sort of metal tooth pick to his back. His hair was matted and soaked in dried blood and sweat, and his face looked none the better.

Joe peered up at Michelle, his legs shaking. He would never get used to this. He hoped he never HAD to. Every part of Michelle had been blown up in front of him, like he was staring at some sort of billboard, except instead of a car insurance ad, it held the face of his beautiful girlfriend. Finally, Michelle spoke, her warm breath washing over him like a summer breeze. He smelled a hint of alcohol, but for the most part, it didn’t smell too bad.

 “Ho-How did this happen?” she stuttered, not being able to get her head around just how small Joe now was. He flinched a little at the sound of her voice. It was so much louder now, and so much scarier. He swallowed hard, getting the feeling of cotton out of his mouth.

“It was the bump to my head,” he said, pointing to the bandage. He tapped it and winced, regretting the decision immediately. It still hurt a lot.

“But… how?” she asked, still not quite sure what he meant by that. She had bumped her heads loads of times, yet SHE never so much as shrank down an inch. What was different in his case?

“It’s… it’s a long story,” said Joe. His legs ached to the point where, as he spoke, he made his way over towards his phone and sat down on it, using it as a bench. It was hard and uncomfortable, but it was better than standing.

Michelle watched Joe’s every movements, amazed at the fluidity of it all. It was all perfectly proportional as far as she could tell. He sat down on the edge of his phone, adjusting himself until it seemed he was happy with his position, than turned his attention back on her.

“Well, are you… are you stuck like this?” she asked, and Joe looked down at his feet.

“For the time being. I haven’t sustained an injury of this degree for quite some time, especially without my pills. I should be fine though, just need to wait it out,” said Joe. The news hit Michelle like a ton of bricks, and the guilt she felt made her feel smaller than Joe looked.

That’s why he had been so secretive about his medication! That’s why he took it all the time! He was doing it so he wouldn’t become… well, what he now was. Michelle saw that sadness in Joe’s eyes, and she felt tears well up in her own. It was her fault, she had done this too him. It was all her fault, and the guilt she felt began to grow and grow until it felt like a dam near ready to burst.

“This is all my fault. Joe, I had no idea, I’m so sorry,” said Michelle, on the verge of tears. Joe looked up from his feet, and saw Michelle’s face. Her glasses were beginning to fog up from the tears behind them, and she pulled them away to wipe her eyes. Joe quickly stood up, ignoring his aching muscles, not wanting to see Michelle like this.

“Hey, hey, no, Michelle, relax, it’s not your fault,” he said. She had one hand on the edge of the desk near him, the other wiping tears out of her eyes. Joe quickly made his way over towards her hand. If he had been normal sized, he would have been able to wrap his arms around her shoulders to comfort her. He would have rocked her back and forth until she had settled down, probably planting a kiss or two on her cheek.

But his current situation would not allow any such movements. For the time being, shoulder hugging and rocking would be out of the question. So he did the next best thing he could think of. Walking over towards her hand, he took her ring finger in both his hands, and using all his remaining strength, lifted the finger into the air as best he could. Thankfully, she didn’t have a grip on the table, so he didn’t have to work all that hard to lift her finger. Taking it into his hands, he kissed it as best he could, at least trying to take her mind off of her emotions.

Michelle felt Joe’s tiny lips on the tip of her finger and she looked down at him through her tears. There he stood, having injured his head to the point of bleeding and possibly receiving a serious concussion, shrunken down to the size of a mouse, yet he was comforting HER. She mentally slapped herself. Joe looked up towards her face, tears beginning to form in his eyes. How useless he must feel to not be able to properly comfort her. Michelle sniffed and laughed. She took her other hand and scooped Joe up with it, catching him by surprise.

He fell backwards into Michelle’s right hand, almost hitting his head for a second time. Thankfully, he managed to catch himself. He felt himself rise in the air, and soon found himself looking into the face of his beautiful goddess. She smiled down at him, her eyes red and puffy from her fit.

“Look at me, being all emotional,” she laughed, and Joe couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s ok, Michelle. This is a lot to take in,” he said. He shifted into a sitting posting in the palm of her hand, thankful to have a soft place to sit.

“Yeah but still, you’re the one who has every right to be an emotional wreck,” she said, and Joe felt a lump form in his throat. He wiped a few tears from his eyes. While kissing her finger, he had let a few get past him, but now, he had to stay strong. He couldn’t cry, no matter how much he wanted to. His chin was trembling, but he took a deep breath. Then Michelle spoke, whispering so as not to cause him to flinch.

“Why didn’t you just tell me, Joe? This all could have been avoided if you had just told me,” she said. It felt so weird to have him literally in the palm of her hands. It was surreal to say the least, and she could only imagine what it felt like on Joe’s end. Joe didn’t speak right away, but Michelle kept staring, waiting for an answer. Finally, he gave in.

“I-I didn’t think you’d believe me,” he said finally. He was half telling the truth. But Michelle could tell there was something else eating at him.

“Is that the only reason, Joe?” she said, raising an eyebrow. Joe averted his eyes.

“Uh, yeah,” he said. She could see right through him, and he knew it. The only secret he had ever managed to keep from her was his condition, and that was because he had years of practice keeping that lie. And she had eventually found out. With his mix of emotions and his terrible poker face, he knew he would have to tell her eventually.

“Come on, Joe,” she said, and her eyes softening. Joe’s eyes met hers, and he couldn’t hold them back anymore. Maybe it was exhaustion, of the pressure from holding back the secret for so long. Whatever the reason, Joe could feel the tears streaming down his face.

“I-I thought I’d lose you if you found out,” said Joe, turning his back on Michelle to try and hide his tears. He knew perfectly well that she could hear him crying, but he turned anyways. Michelle looked at Joe’s quivering figure and her heart melted. That explained it. Joe continued.

“I’m a freak, Michelle, a straight up road-side attraction. I thought… I thought if you ever found out, you wouldn’t love me anymore,” he said, his voice shaking. Michelle could feel the tears forming in her eyes now too. All this time, she thought he had been some crazy drug addict college kid. But in reality, he was just some poor soul with a secret that tore at him day and night. She turned Joe around and brought him further into the air. Joe looked into her eyes as best he could. At this point, everything was blurry, either from the tears or the head wound or both.

“You’re a fool, you know that, Joe? A straight up fool,” she said, and Joe wiped his face. Did she just call him a fool?

“Michelle, what-,” he started, but she cut him off.

“Joe, you really thing something like this would make me leave you?” she said, and Joe sat up, his tears having stopped. Michelle continued.

“This doesn’t change anything, Joe. Ok, well maybe it does a little, but it sure as hell doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I don’t care if you come travel sized, you’re still the Joe I fell for all those months ago, and whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me, mister. Through thick and thin,” she said, smiling broadly.

The lump in Joe’s throat had gone away, and the pain he had felt at keeping his secret from Michelle for so long was finally fading away. Michelle brought her other hand up and gently stroked Joe’s back, like someone would a small mouse or hamster. Joe was about to protest, but it felt so good, and he sighed, feeling the tension melt away. Michelle allowed herself a slight chuckle and sniffed, he tears finally having stopped.

“I-I don’t know what to say,” Joe finally said, and Michelle smiled even more.

“We’ll talk more in a bit. You look a little dirty, so why don’t we get you cleaned up,” she said, standing up slowly. Joe felt himself being lifted into the air, but he didn’t care. Michelle had accepted him, and he felt at peace.

“Michelle?” said Joe, leaning up against her slightly curled hands. He felt like he was sitting in the world’s comfiest armchair.

“Hmm?” said Michelle, and Joe smiled up at her.

“I love you,” he said, and Michelle felt like squealing. On top of the fact she loved it when he said that, the fact he was now a teeny tiny cutie just made her all giddy. She giggled happily and held herself back, but not after planting a big kiss on him, engulfing the entire front of his body.

“I love you too,” she said. Joe felt Michelle’s warm, pink lips completely cover the upper part of his body. Now this part of being tiny, this part he COULD get used to.

“I should smash my head in more often,” he laughed, and Michelle laughed too.

“Please don’t,” she said, turning around to head towards the bathroom, and right into the shocked figure of her roommate, Stacy.

“Gah! Stacy, when did- sorry I didn’t hear you come in,” stuttered Michelle, quickly covering Joe up in both her hands. She was careful not to hit his head, a gesture that Joe was ever grateful for.

“I… just got here,” said Stacy, looking around the room. Her bleach blonde hair came to about her shoulders, and her bright blue eyes scanned the room.

“Who were you talking too? And why were you kneeling in front of your bed table?” she asked. Michelle broke into a cold sweat, and she could feel Joe squirming nervously in her hands.

“Hmm? What? No I was just, ah, I dropped something and- well I was on the phone too, so-,” Michelle sputtered on.

Joe put his head in his hands. This was just getting worse. Not only was Michelle a terrible lier, but she worked terribly under pressure.

‘Dr. Cale is gonna have my head,’ he thought. Back on the outside, Stacy was giving Michelle a weird look.

“You alright, hun? You don’t look too good,” she said, and her eyes came to a rest at Michelle’s hands, which looked to be holding something.

“What are you holding?” she asked.

“Nothing!” said Michelle, a little too quickly, and brought her hands behind her back. She mentally apologized to Joe, who was probably about to puke after her quick and rough movements.

Joe held on as best he could as his whole world moved by at incredible speed. Michelle had unclenched her hands to put them behind her back. Once behind her, they came together again, only this time, her hands did not clench around him, giving Joe a better view. She held him at waist level, and Joe got a nice and up-close meeting with Michelle’s rear end.

“God I hope she doesn’t fart,” he said, chuckling a little despite the position he currently found himself in.

“I don’t believe you. Come on, show me your hands,” said Stacy, standing in front of Michelle. Joe’s ears perked up. Shit. She must have seen him.

“M-my hands? Oh, um…” Michelle was starting to run out of ideas. Joe knew it was up to him. He had to think fast.

“Come on, use your head. You’ve been in stickier situations. Come on, come on!” Joe said, racking his brains. He looked back at Michelle’s butt, and realized he was pretty close to her back pocket. The pants she wore were in no way baggy, but Joe didn’t see another solution.

“This had better work,” he said. Standing up, he backed up a bit, got a running start, and leapt from Michelle’s hand, reaching forward as far as he could. Success! His hands grabbed hold of Michelle’s back right pocket, and he quickly pulled himself up and into it. He kept his head out, not wanting to mess with his injury anymore than necessary.

Michelle’s heart nearly stopped when she felt Joe’s tiny feet leave her palm, but almost sighed in relief when she felt him crawl into her back pocket. Smiling, she brought her hands up and showed Stacy her empty hands.

“See? Told you, nothing in my hands,” Michelle laughed, nervously. Stacy raised an eyebrow, than shrugged.

“You sure are acting weird. So, where’s Joe?  I saw his car out front,” she said, and smiled suddenly, as if she understood it all.

“Ah, I see. Did you two have a little fun last night?” she said, winking, and Michelle blushed.

“Stacy, cut it out,” she said, trying to side step Stacy. But she wasn’t quick enough.

“Ah come on, I’m just playing. But seriously, where is he?” she asked, looking around the room, still not letting Michelle pass by.

“Oh he’s… around,” said Michelle, not totally lying. Stacy smiled and glanced down the hall.

“What, is he running around naked or something?” laughed Stacy. Michelle laughed nervously.

“What? No, of course not just let me-,” then they heard a sound; The un-mistakable sound of a sneeze. It was neither from Stacy, nor Michelle, but from Joe. He had done everything in his power to not let it out, but in the end, he lost it, and let out a violently loud sneeze.

The worst part of it was that Michelle’s room was small, and it was incredibly obvious where the sneeze had come from. Stacy looked at Michelle.

“Did… did your ass just sneeze?” she said. Michelle just froze, not knowing what to say. Joe was done. This was too much, and knowing Michelle and Stacy’s relationship, coupled with the fact they LIVED together, he might as well come clean.

“For god’s sake, Michelle, bring me up please,” shouted Joe. Michelle hesitated, than reached back for him, gingerly taking him out of her pocket.

“Was that Joe?” asked Stacy, looking around the room, then out into the hallway. He was nowhere to be seen.

“Michelle, what’s-,” started Stacy, then froze, mid sentence, her mouth hanging slightly ajar as she stared at a two inch Joe, standing in the palm of a nervous Michelle.

“You were bound to find out sooner or later,” said Joe, arms across his chest. He stared at Stacy with a slightly amused grin on his face. At a time like this, all he could think to do was smile. After all, things had gone so badly up till now, they couldn’t possible get worse.

It turned out to be too much for Stacy. Her mind could not take what she was seeing, and everything started to get blurry.

“Oh… well then,” she said, before her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground with a thud. Michelle and Joe glanced down at her. Joe looked back at Michelle.

“Well… that could have gone better,” he said, and Michelle nodded in agreement.

Jake walked up the front walkway of Michelle and Stacy’s house, as a buddy of his pulled away down the street. He had gone to the party the night before with Joe and Michelle, but ended up getting separated from them some time during the night. One thing led to another, and he woke up that morning with his pants off in an empty bathtub still at the house.

Not having a car, he had called his friend Barry to ask for a ride over to Michelle’s house, where he knew almost for sure they were at. He wanted to make sure they had ended up at home ok, and seeing both their cars in the driveway made him feel a little better. He made his way up to the door, and without knocking, walked in.

“Hey, guys, thanks for leaving me last… night?” called out Jake. He saw Michelle sitting in a chair next to the couch where Stacy lay, seeming to be asleep. Michelle’s eyes went wide and she got up immediately, shielding Jake from Stacy’s head.

“Jake! Hey, what’s up?” she said, nervously. Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Well, other then a sore back from spending the night in a bath tub, I’m fine. Is, ah, Stacy ok?” he asked.

“Yeah, she’d fine, just tired is all,” said Michelle, still standing awkwardly. Suddenly, Jake heard Joe’s voice.

“Relax, Michelle, he knows,” said Joe. And Michelle looked back towards Stacy’s head.

“Wait really? Oh, um ok,” said Michelle, sitting back down. Jake took one look at the couch arm and saw Joe sitting atop, near Stacy’s head, the size of an action figure. Jake sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

“You really are a piece of work, you know that Joe?” he said, walking over towards his shrunken best friend.

“I try,” said Joe, as Jake kneeled down. Joe had a bandage around his head. It looked fresh, but a small blotch of red had formed in the center of it. Joe was almost completely naked, save for the bandage underwear he had fashioned around his waist. He looked like he was in pain, but seemed to be in high spirits. He sat Indian style between Michelle and the sleeping Stacy.

“You guys have had a busy morning,” he said, looking down at Joe.

“You have no idea,” sighed Joe. Jake put his chin in his hand.

“Let me guess, you didn’t take your meds this morning, bonked your head, shrank, and Stacy passed out when she saw you,” he said, and Joe glared at him.

“Basically. And you and I both know this never lasts,” said Joe, gesturing to himself. He took a sharp intake of breath, and Jake’s smile vanished.

“How bad is it?” he asked, and Joe’s face grew solemn.

“Don’t know. It’s been almost an hour. I think I might need to go see Dr. Cale. At least to go check and make sure I don’t have a concussion,” he said, and Jake nodded.

“Not a bad idea. What about sleeping beauty here?” he said, looking at Stacy.

“We have to wait until she wakes up. I’m pretty sure she’s gonna have some questions,” said Joe, looking over at Michelle.

“How are you doing?” he asked, and Michelle smiled.

“I’m doing just fine, stop worrying. You’re the one with the head wound,” she said, and she scooped Joe up from his little spot, cuddling him. Jake stifled a laugh.

“Funny, Joe never let ME do that to him,” he snickered, receiving a middle finger from the diminutive man in Michelle’s hands.

“Seriously, though, you’re usually more careful than this, Joe,” said Jake, and Michelle stopped, setting her palm down and upright so Joe could get a better look around. He looked up at Jake as he continued.

“There’s more to this than a simple fall. What happened?” he asked, and Michelle bit her lip. Before she could say anything, Joe answered first.

“It is what it is, Jake. I got careless, it happens. I had too much to drink last night, and was making my way outside to my car when I slipped and hit my head on the table. Simple as that,” he said, and glanced up at Michelle, who smiled down on him.

“If it hadn’t been for Michelle, here, I don’t know where I’d be right now,” he said, and Michelle brought him up to her lips for another almost full body kiss.

“You are just too cute you know that?” she squealed, and Joe laughed. Now that Michelle knew, and he didn’t have to hide his condition from her anymore, he found being this small all the more bearable, if not a pleasure.

Jake wasn’t fully convinced, but he didn’t press for answers. Joe would tell him eventually. For now, they had to get him back to normal, and that meant getting him to Dr. Cale.

Just then, Stacy began to stir, and everyone turned his or her attention to her as she groggily sat up.

“Ugh, my head,” she said, and Joe laughed.

“You think your head hurts?” he shouted, loud enough for Stacy to hear.

“Wha,” she said, and looked towards the source of the voice. She took one look at the two inch Joe, and it all came flooding back to her. Stacy’s eyes grew wide and she sat up straight, staring at Joe like a deer caught in headlights.

“So you’re actually…” she couldn’t finish the rest as Joe nodded his head.

“Yeah, Stacey, it’s really me,” he said, and stood up. Michelle put her hand on the couch arm and Joe hopped off, standing tall so that Stacy could get a good look at him. After a few seconds, she managed to find her voice.

“But… how?” she asked, and Joe sighed.

“I got hit in the head. And before you ask how that did it, it’s a long story,” he said, holding his hands up to silence her. Stacy was still shocked when she heard Jake laughing. She looked at him and glared.

“What’s so funny? And why aren’t you freaking out?” she asked, and Jake laughed even harder.

“It never ceases to amaze me the reactions Joe get’s,” he said, and Stacy looked back at Joe. He looked up at her and smiled.

“Now Stacy, we need you to come with us. We need to take a little trip,” he said, and Stacy inched closer apprehensively, still not totally sure if this was real or not.

“A-a trip? To where?” she asked, and Joe pointed at his head.

“Doctors. I’m in the need of a bit of medical attention,” he said, pointing at his bandage.

“So how did Jake find out?” asked Michelle, cupping Joe protectively in her hands. Stacy sat in the back seat, staring out the window, and occasionally looking back at Joe. She had so many questions for him, but held back from asking at his request.

“Once I’m normal sized and this whole mess is done and over with, I’ll explain everything,” he had said. Stacy looked back out the window at the passing cars and other objects. She had wanted to stay back, but the others had convinced her to come along. Joe said it was important that they all come. Jake laughed, and she turned her attention over to the conversation up front.

“Ha, now there’s a story. If it weren’t for me, Tom Thumb here would be nothing more than a smear on the floor,” said Jake, taking a right turn, being careful not to shift the car around too much, for Joe’s sake.

“First off, I told you to stop calling me that!” he shouted, fists down at his sides, glaring at Jake, who held an amused grin on his face.

“And secondly,” Joe continued, “He’s right, it is one hell of a story.”

“You want me to tell it, or should you?” he asked, and Joe sat down in a huff.

“Let’s just tell it together, that way I’LL be sure to add anything you miss or take out what you add,” said Joe, and Jake rolled his eyes.

“Fine, whatever,” he said.

********************************************************************************

“JAKE! Office! Now!” screamed Mrs. Dawson, and Jake walked into the hallway, concealing a smile. Seventh grade had just begun, and he was already getting sent to the office. Most kids would probably be petrified at the thought, but he took pride in his work. Today had been some simple stuff, a few spitballs, and even a paper airplane or two. But his teacher had been in a bad mood to begin with, and he knew it wouldn’t take much to get her riled up.

And besides, English was boring. He didn’t really like reading all that much and preferred his time in the hallways. Today, he made sure to take the longest route possible to get to the office, stopping multiple times to take a drink of water from multiple water fountains, as well as kick a stray pencil or two.

“That’s the fourth time this week, Jake,” he said, mimicking his parents, who hated the fact he spent more time in the office than he did in class. He sighed, just imagining the note he would be going home with today.

Joe sprinted through the halls to get to his locker before it was too late. He had forgotten his pills! He never forgot his pills! But somehow, today, he had managed to leave them in his locker, which was a very bad thing. He had been in the middle of gym class, when the alarm on his watch had gone off, letting him know it was time for his daily dose of painkillers. Excusing himself from class, he made his way into the locker room to grab his pills, and not finding them where they should have been, was now sprinting down the hallway to his locker, which held the bottle his pill were in.

“Don’t get hurt, don’t get hurt, don’t get hurt!” he kept telling himself. He was only a hallway away now. Not too far. He picked up the pace and rounded the next corner running smack dab into Jake. Literally.

Jake hadn’t heard Joe coming from around the corner, and was caught completely off guard when a kid he didn’t even knew knocked him onto his back. They were in the same grade and had a few classes together, but other than that, they didn’t so much as talk to one another.

“Watch it shrimp!” said Jake, picking himself up off the ground to glare at the kid. Joe was already on his feet, and he didn’t look too good.

“Uh, you ok man?” asked Jake, standing up as well. He may have been pissed off for being knocked to the ground, but he wasn’t a mean kid, just a bit pissed he’d been knocked over.

“Yeah, I’m- I just need to get to a bathroom,” said Joe. He could already feel the affects coming. If he could just get to the bathroom, he could wait it out, and if necessary, make a call to his parents. He looked around frantically and saw a bathroom nearby. He sprinted for it, ignoring the yells that came from Jake.

“Hey, wait! Where are you going?” Jake shouted, but Joe ignored him as he stumbled towards the nearby bathroom. The door swung open, and Joe disappeared inside.

“Dude, stop, that’s the girls bathroom!”

Joe immediately regretted the decision of entering the bathroom. For starters, he took one look around, and not seeing any urinals, his blood went cold. He was in the girl’s bathroom!

“Oh shit,” he said, before he felt his stomach twist. He heard a toilet flush, and looked to see each stall held a pair of legs.

“This is bad,” he mumbled, and he looked around to see everything starting to spin. He leaned against the wall to support himself, and then it happened. Joe had been through this process multiple times before, yet he could never get used to it. It felt like he was falling from super high up, yet his feet were staying in the same place. His clothes became baggy until the fell off completely, leaving Joe in a small circle of giants clothing. In a matter of seconds, Joe had gone from a slightly shorter than average twelve year old to Joe the action figure. And to make matters worse, there were girls coming out of the stalls.

“Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!” shouted Joe, looking around to find a place to hide. The only place that seemed useable was a nearby trash barrel. Joe tripped and tumbled over his clothing to try and make it over there, but he wasn’t fast enough. A girl stepped out of one of the stalls, the one closest to him, took one look at Joe and the pile of clothes, and screamed.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEH!” she screamed, and Joe covered his ears in agony. The echo affect from being in the bathroom amplified the scream, and Joe thought his ears were gonna explode.

“Too loud!” Joe moaned, his hands covering his ears. He had safely made it through the pile of clothing and behind the trashcan, but at this point, it may have been too late.

“Oh, this outta be good,” laughed Jake, leaning against the wall. The kid had just walked right into the girls bathroom, and if his hunch was correct, there were some girls in there right now who would be getting quite a shock. He laughed to himself and waited for the inevitable scream.

It came, and Jake laughed out loud, but his amusement didn’t last for long. One of the girls came running out of the bathroom, screaming her head off.

“There’s a mouse in there! There’s a mouse in there!” she squealed, running from the bathroom and down the hall. Soon after, three other girls came running out as well, saying the same exact thing. Jake raised an eyebrow in confusion.

“Mouse?” he said. That kid was short, but why were they calling him mouse? Eventually, curiosity got the better of him, and he made his way to the bathroom. He creaked open the door and looked around. There didn’t appear to be a mouse, just some stray paper towels here and there as well as a pile of clothes laying…

Jake stared at the pile of clothes. They looked like the ones that kid had been wearing. But he wasn’t anywhere to be seen, and yet he hadn’t seen him come out of the bathroom.

“Uh, dude, you in here?” he whispered, looking around. He turned back to look outside to see if any girls were coming. When the he saw the coast was clear, he stepped inside. He made his way over towards the pile of clothing. He picked them up and inspected them, and his suspicions were correct. These were that kids clothes.

“But where did he go?” he asked himself aloud, glancing around the room. He made his way over towards the stalls, all of which were wide open. He wasn’t in a single one of them. That’s when something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He looked back to see that a paper towel had moved slightly. It was folded up a bit like a tent.

“Hmm,” he said. It was motionless now, yet he could have sworn it moved. He turned his head, and again, in the corner of his eye, he saw movement. He quickly turned his head back around, and the towel stopped moving. Squinting his eyes, he walked over to the towel and picked it up, revealing a small trembling figure underneath.

“What the-,” he started, as he looked to see the shaking tiny figure of a small boy, the same boy that had run into him not to long before. But now, for some unknown reason, was smaller than Jake’s finger. The boy took off running in the opposite direction, but Jake was too quick. Kneeling down, he put his hand out and blocked the boy’s path. Without missing a beat, the boy jumped up, grabbing the top of Jake’s hand that was closest to the ground, and hopped over, landing on the other side running.

“Woah, hang on,” said Jake, genuinely impressed by the athleticism. That was a high jump and couldn’t have been easy for him to make. Reaching out with his other hand, he grabbed hold of the tiny figure, hearing him yelp. Finally, the boy spoke, fear evident in his voice.

“Please, don’t hurt me! I’m sorry I ran into you, earlier, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going!” he pleaded, covering his head with his arms. Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Hurt you? Why would I want to hurt you?” he asked. The boy didn’t answer at first, and just kept his head down. Jake lifted his hand so that he could get a better look at the kid.

“Hello? You still there?” he joked, and the boy peaked from beneath his arms.

“Y-you’re not gonna hurt me?” he asked, his question muffled by his arms. Jake shook his head.

“No, I think you’ve been through enough already,” he said, and the boy uncovered his head, looking at Jake a little less scared.

“Oh. Um ok,” he said, and Jake smiled.

“That was some serious skill right there, by the way. The way you just jumped over my hand like it wasn’t even an obstacles,” he said, and the boy smiled.

“Wow, thanks,” he said, than he frowned.

“Wait, you’re not weirded out by this?” he asked, gesturing to himself and around the room. Jake shrugged.

“A little, I guess. For the most part, I just want to know how you got like this,” he said, and Joe looked around.

“Maybe we can talk about this somewhere else. You know, before those girls come back to kill me,” he said, and Jake nodded in agreement. He stood up, and Joe closed his eyes.

“Not so fast, please,” he said, and Jake slowed down.

“Whoops, sorry,” he said, and Joe opened his eyes again.

“Oh, and do you mind maybe letting me sit in you hand? You’re kind of crushing my lungs,” he said, and Jake loosened his grip and let Joe slip from his grasp and into his other hand. Joe landed on his butt and took a deep breath.

“Oh yeah, much better,” he sighed, and Jake laughed.

“Ok, yeah this is really weird,” he said, and he grabbed Joe’s clothes and headed for the door.

“I said 30! Not 13!” said Joe, frustration in his voice, as Jake struggled with the lock.

“Well sorry, you’re a little hard to hear, Joe!” he said, spinning the lock around to start over. Joe sat atop Jake’s shoulder and gave him directions on how to open the locker so he could get to the pills. Jake turned the lock a few more times, then gave it a pull. It didn’t unlock.

“Oh come on!” he said, and punched the locker.

“Hey, not so loud! Someone might hear you!” said Joe, and Jake glared at him.

“Well I’m sorry, but your lock is being stupid!” he said, and he took it in his grip again to give it another go.

“Well it’s not MY fault you don’t know the difference between 13 and 30!” shouted Joe, and Jake sighed.

“I’m beginning to regret helping you out,” he said. Finally, after a few more tries, the lock came off.

“Yes!” said both boys at the same time, and Jake opened the locker. On the top shelf of Joe’s locker sat his bottle of pills, and Jake grabbed it.

“Awesome! Now come on, back to the bathrooms!” said Joe, and Jake nodded. He shoved the bottle into his pocket and closed the locker, and locked it back up.

“Let’s make sure it’s the right one this time,” he said, and Joe laughed. Jake headed down the hallway back to the bathrooms, and stopped when he saw the girls from before in front of the bathroom with the Janitor and a teacher. A very specific teacher to be exact.

“Oh great,” grumbled Jake. It was Mrs. Dawson.

“What’s wrong?” asked Joe, trying to get a better look from his vantage point on Jake’s shoulder, while at the same time trying not to fall off.

“Ugh, it’s Mrs. Dawson,” he said, and Joe raised an eyebrow.

“So? She’s not going into the boy’s bathroom jus the girls. Just go past her and into the bathroom,” said Joe.

“Oh great idea! And when she asks why I’m not in the office, what should I do than, hmm?” Jake asked.

“Oh, right. Well then… try another bathroom?” he asked, and Jake shook his head.

“No, it’d take too long, and somewhat might see you,” he said, and Joe agreed.

“Do you think they’ll be long?” he asked, and Jake shrugged, causing Joe to shift a little.

“Can’t tell. Oh wait, look!” he said, and they watched as Mrs. Dawson, the girls, and the Janitor all walked into the bathroom.

“Go, now’s your chance!” shouted Joe, and Jake nodded, running for the bathroom at full speed. Joe hung on for dear life as Jake ran towards the bathroom, a bundle of clothes under his arm. He reached for the door to the bathroom, and rushed right in, just as Mrs. Dawson and the others came out of the bathroom.

“But I swear, I saw it! It was pink, small, and creepy looking!” shouted one of the girls, and Joe recognized her as the one that had seen him first.

“Well, if it was there, it isn’t anymore,” sighed Mrs. Dawson.

“Now, you three, back to class! Mr. Pots, I suggest maybe investing in some rodent traps for the school,” she said, and the Janitor muttered something incoherent under his breath. Jake and Joe listened for a little while longer, until they were sure everyone had left. Jake slumped up against the wall, and he and Joe sighed in relief.

“That was a close one,” said Joe, and Jake nodded.

Joe stood in the middle of the floor, eyes clothes, and taking in slow deep breaths. His clothes sat in a pile on the ground next to him, and Jake stood by the door, a little ways away. He was watching Joe with interest, as well as keeping look out for any possible interruptions. He opened the door a crack then glanced back at Joe.

“Come on, dude, and hurry up. Somewhat might come by soon,” he said.

“Almost there,” said Joe. He took one final deep breath, and he felt the familiar feeling wash over him. This feeling was similar to the one he got when he shrank, but this one felt a little different. As he grew, he felt his skin stretch, and the pain was almost pleasant, yet still somewhat sore. He grew and grew, and in a few seconds, stood at his full height once again.

“Woah,” said Jake, eyes wide in amazement. Joe wasted no time in taking a few pills out of the bottle and popping them into his mouth, swallowing them as quickly as he could. He sighed in relief and immediately started putting his clothes on.

“Well this has been quite a day,” he said, and he looked over at Jake, who still held a look of amazement on his face.

“Not something you see everyday, huh?” he asked, sitting on the sink countertop and putting his shoes on. Jake shook his head and walked over to Joe, looking him up and down.

“It’s crazy! Just minutes ago I could put you in my pocket. And now your normal sized,” said Jake, and Joe smiled, tying his shoes and jumping back onto the ground.

“Yeah, even I still find it crazy, and I’m the one it happens too!” he said, laughing. Jake couldn’t help but smile too, then Joe stopped, looking Jake right in the eyes.

“I owe you big time, Jake. Without you, I don’t think I could have made it out of that bathroom, let alone get the pills from my locker,” he said, and reached his hand out. Jake took it and shook it.

 “Don’t sweat it, Tom Thumb,” he joked, and Joe glared at him.

“Please don’t call me that,” he said.

********************************************************************************

“We’re here!” said Jake, just as Joe was finishing up the story.

“Aw, that’s so cute! I didn’t know Jake was such a softy. So you guys have been friends ever since?” asked Michelle, and Jake nodded.

“Something about saving someone’s life kind of makes it hard to just stay acquaintances afterwards. And who you calling softy?,” he said, parking the car and turning the ignition off.

“Well, I think you were really nice to help little Joe out,” said Stacy from the back seat. She was finally starting to grasp the situation, and a little of her old self was coming back.

“Ehem, ‘little’ Joe?’ said Joe, looking at Stacy with a raised eyebrow.

“Fine, small Joe, whatever,” she said, and stepped out of the car before he could say another word. Michelle laughed and wrapped her fingers around Joe, creating a small cage so she could get out of the car without dropping him.

“Thanks for all the help, Michelle,” said Joe, and she smiled down on him.

“You know I’d do anything for you, Joe,” she smiled, and she stroked Joe’s back. Normally, it made him feel a bit insignificant when people did this too him, and he usually asked them to stop. But when Michelle did it, he couldn’t help but just enjoy it.

“And besides, I feel responsible for all this,” she whispered, so Stacy and Jake wouldn’t be able to hear her. Joe sighed and turned around, grabbing Michelle’s finger and kissing it.

“Michelle, stop it, ok? Look, what happened, happened. We can’t go back in time and change it. Yeah, I would have liked you to find out about my condition under more favorable circumstances, and yeah, I could have done without the whole head smashing part. But I’ve been through crazier shit, and I have great friends and a beautiful and capable girlfriend to help me out. As far as I’m concerned, I’m one lucky guy.” Joe smiled up at Michelle, and she could see he meant every word he said. Before she could say anything in response, she was interrupted.

“Hey, you two love birds done whispering?” asked Jake from the other side of the car.

“Last time I checked, we had a patient to check in.”

Rita, sitting at the front desk of the large building, saw the three people, two of them women and one a man, walk in through the front door. She immediately recognized the man, and smiled at him.

“Hey Jake, long time no see,” she said, turning her chair to face the group.

“Rita, a pleasure to see you as always,” he winked, and Rita laughed. Always the charmer, Jake was, even from the day she first met him when he was only thirteen, and she just twenty-five. She frowned a bit when she noticed someone missing from the little group.

“Where’s Joe? And who are your new friends here?” she asked curiously, and she glanced at the two woman. Upon noticing the one with long brown hair and glasses, she saw a familiar looking figure in her hands.

“Hey Rita,” Joe waved from his position in Michelle’s palms. Rita took one look at Joe and reached for the phone.

“Dr. Cale? Mr. Joe Zurek is here to see you,” she said, than hung up the phone. She wasn’t smiling anymore, and she looked at them almost in pity.

“For all your sakes, I hope you all have a good reason for this,” she said, and motioned to the chairs nearby.

“Have a seat, the doctor will be with you shortly.”

“Oh my god, she’s gonna kill me!” said Joe, pacing across the chair, not being able to keep calm. Michelle sat in the chair to the right, Jake in the left, and Stacy next to Michelle. Joe stopped and glared up at Jake.

“Why did you bring me here? You know what’s gonna happen when Dr. Cale see’s me like this!” said Joe, pointing frantically at his bandaged head.

“Well, what was I supposed to do Joe? You NEED medical attention, you said it yourself,” said Jake, and Joe waved his arms around frantically.

“I say lots of things! Oh god, we’re in deep shit,” said Joe, and Jake sighed. He hated to admit it, but Joe was right. Dr. Cale was relatively nice, but she was also a bit of a hard ass, and super protective over Joe. If it were up to her, Joe would be living here at the facility under lock and key. He’d be well cared for, but his freedom would be almost non-existent.

It was Jake who was responsible for making sure Joe stayed out of trouble, a job he started even before he knew about MuGenTek, when he and Joe had there first (of many) “little” adventures. He began to feel just as nervous as Joe when it dawned on him how much trouble HE was gonna be in too.

“Well at least you’re already hurt. Dr. Cale wouldn’t dare touch you. Me on the other hand,” Jake shifted nervously in his seat.

Michelle couldn’t help but crack an amused smile at Joe and Jake’s reactions. They seemed like two little kids waiting outside the principles office.

“Oh come on, you two,” she said, grabbing Joe and Jake’s attention.

“Don’t you think you guys are being a little melodramatic? I mean, come on, how bad can this Dr. Cale really be?”

“I’m gonna kill those two,” said Dr. Cale, creepily calm and with a matter-of-fact tone. Her fists were clenched and she spoke through her teeth. Dr. Fisher sighed and ran a hand through his graying hair.

“Bev, please, you and I both know you’re not. And besides, he’s looked worse,” he said, gesturing to the screen. When the two doctors had received the call from Rita, Dr. Cale had brought up a monitor, which showed a video of the front room. Using the zoom, they searched the room until it fell upon Joe. He had a bandage covering his head, and looked a little worse for ware.

“That’s not the point, Roy! Not only has he gone and hurt himself, but look! Two more outsiders who know his secret! This is just too much, and you know it!” she said, glaring at the older man. Though she was younger then Dr. Fisher, she was head researcher at this specific MuGenTek lab. Roy sighed again, than he glared right back at Dr. Cale.

“Beverly Cale, get a hold of yourself!” he said, and Dr. Cale looked shocked. Roy almost never raised his voice in anger, only to be heard. His face was stern and Dr. Cale looked almost ashamed. Almost, but no quite.

“Roy, please, you can’t tell me you condone this,” said Dr. Cale, and Dr. Fisher shook his head.

“For god’s sake, woman, of course I don’t! I don’t condone this at all, and if it were up to me, Joe would be held in this facility for his own safety. But you have to remember; he’s a human being! If he were a lab rat, or dog, or some other animal, then this would be easy, but he’s not. Joe has a life outside this facility, and you need to keep that in mind. Now look, I’m not saying we should let Joe off the hook, necessarily. But I DO think we should at least hear him out, you know, get his side on all this? Who knows, he might have a good excuse for all this.” Dr. Fisher took a deep breath and looked back at Dr. Cale.

“We are scientists, after all, and we don’t make any concrete conclusions until all the data has been collected,” he said.

Dr. Cale said nothing for a moment. She let the older man’s words sink in, and then sighed.

“You’re right, Roy. As always you’re right,” she said, and sat down in her chair, burying her head in her arms, her face on the table. Roy smiled and walked over towards the distressed doctor and placed a hand on her arm.

“I worry about him, Roy,” she said, her words muffled. Roy smiled and laughed.

“You and me both, Bev. You and me both.” Doctor Cale looked up and into the eyes of Dr. Fisher.

“He’s taken years off my life, that boy. And Jake’s no better,” She said, sitting up and running her hands through her hair long dark hair. It used to be darker, she knew that. But stress and age was taking a toll, and she swore she saw more streaks of gray in her hair everyday. Dr. Fisher shrugged.

“Boys will be boys,” he said simply, and Dr. Cale stood up.

“That’s the excuse you give them all the time,” she said, then looked back at the screen.

“What do we do about the newcomers?” asked Dr. Cale, looking at the screen once again. Dr. Fisher looked at it for a few moments, than smiled.

“Oh, I saw this coming. Bev, that’s Michelle Bines. Joe’s girlfriend,” he laughed, and Beverly looked at the screen. It took her a moment, but she recognized the girls face from the picture on Joe’s phone. She shook her head and looked at Dr. Fisher.

“Well, he was bound to tell her eventually,” sighed Dr.Cale, and looked over at Dr. Fisher.

“I believe we’ve let them wait long enough,” she said, and walked over towards Dr. Fisher. She placed her hand down on the table, palm facing towards the ceiling, and Dr. Fisher smiled up at her.

“I’m leaving my shoes on this time,” he said, stepping into the open palm of Dr. Cale. She smiled and lifted him up, placing him on her shoulder.

“As long as they’re clean,” she said, and headed for the doorway. The two-inch doctor stood on her shoulder, holding a few hairs so as not to fall off.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Joe’s mother said, her distress evident in her voice. Joe sighed as he spoke to her through the phone. It was his, and he sat on the edge of it, his feet barely touching the ground, which in this case was the cushion of the chair.

“For the hundredth time, mom, I’m FINE. It was a just a sma- it was just an accident, that’s all,” Joe said, catching himself before he said the “s” word. Jake snickered and Joe shot him a glare. Jake put his hands up in the air and leaned back in the chair. Joe’s mom was silent for a minute, than she spoke up again.

“Look, your father and I can get a plane ticket within the hour and be home by tomorrow ni-,” she started, but Joe cut her off.

“I said I’m FINE ma! I don’t want you and dad cancelling your Italy trip just because I banged my head. I have Jake here, and now Michelle and Stacy too,” he said, glancing up at the two women. Stacy sat in the chair Michelle was sitting in earlier, and now Michelle sat on the ground, her head in her arms resting on the chair cushion in front of Joe. She smiled at him and stroked his back, Joe’s eyes widening and a smile crossing his face. His eyes fluttered as he felt he skin rub against his, sending a chill down his spine.

“You sure, pal?” came another voice, his dads. Joe snapped out of it and turned his attention back to the phone.

“Yeah, I’m sure. And besides, it’s pretty likely I’ll be back to normal in no time,” he said, more for himself then his parents. There was another long pause, than his mom came on.

“I’m calling your sisters. Giada is with Lisa until we get back, and I’ll just have them stop by and check up on you,” said his mom, and her tone of voice left no room for argument. Joe sighed.

“Fine,” he said, glumly.

“Oh come on, Joe, your sisters love you! And don’t you love them back?” asked his mom, and Joe rubbed his eyes.

“Yeah mom, I do, I love them VERY much,” he said, trying to mask his frustration. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his sisters, they were just… well, they were sisters! Ever since he moved away to college, they all begun seeing less and less of one another, though they stayed in contact through Facebook, twitter, email, text, etc.

Lisa was Joe’s older sister, and had been a major annoyance for Joe, being that she was usually super protective over him, like his parents. She was only a few inches taller than him, and had the same color hair. Her face was young and freckly, and people often thought she looked younger than she was. She was six years older than Joe, and although they were only siblings, she still acted like his mother around him, ESPECIALLY when he was small. But, other then the few sibling fights they had, they got along rather well.

Then there was his little, or more accurately younger, sister. Giada was currently 17 years old, and still in High School. She was “popular” among her peers, being in cheerleading, gymnastics, and even playing on the volleyball team for a while. Now that he was older and out of the house, they got along a little better. Mostly because they didn’t see much of one another. She stood at 5 feet exactly and looked a lot like her sister, though she always had her hair cut down to her shoulders.

However, years ago, when Joe was still living at home, their relationship was anything but pleasant. They were family, and Giada would never do anything to intentionally harm him, that Joe knew (or at least hoped). But that didn’t stop her from annoying the hell out of him, and having a little fun every now and again. Joe shuddered at the memories he had of when Giada would “accidently” hurt him right before he took his pills, causing him to shrink. As they got older, Joe learned to stay away from her when it came time to take his pills, and the “instances” happened less and less.

So it was with reason that Joe was a bit hesitant on seeing his sisters, both the protector and the annoyer, but he realized that if his mom were to be convinced to stay in Italy, he had to agree. So he did, and his mom, content that the matter had been settled, hung up. Joe hopped off the phone and rubbed his temples.

“Ah, come on, Joe, I like your sisters,” Michelle said, and Joe looked at her.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t live with them for eighteen years,” he said, and Stacy giggled. He looked up at her, his right eyebrow raised.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, and Stacy just shook her head.

“Oh, nothing, nothing at all,” she said. Joe held the stare, and finally she gave in.

“I don’t know, it’s just so weird is all. I mean, here you are, the size of my finger, and you’re stressing about doctor’s appointments and family visits. Your just acting so… normal,” said Stacy. Joe shrugged.

“It may be hard for you to believe, but I’m kind of over the initial shock of all this. This IS normal for me. I mean, to an extent,” said Joe, and he looked at Jake.

“Ask him. I’ve been in stickier situations,” and Jake nodded.

“It’s true. Remember that time you broke your leg?” asked Jake, and Joe laughed.

“Oh man, Dr. Cale was so pissed, I thought she was gonna break my other one just so I wouldn’t be able to walk,” Joe laughed.

“Oh, and the time I fell off the skateboard and broke my arm?” continued Joe, and Jake laughed.

“Dude, I thought she was gonna break MY arm for that one,” he laughed. He looked at Joe, who was staring behind him, his face white as a ghost. Jake kept laughing, than stopped all together.

“Sheeeee’s right behind me, isn’t she?” Jake said, and he felt his hands grow clammy and sweat to form on his brow. He turned around and stared into the un-blinking, unamused, and cold eyes of Dr. Cale.

“Sorry to break-up this little trip down memory lane. But I need to have a word with you two,” she said, her eyes small narrow slits. Then she turned her attention to Michelle and Stacy. Her face softened as she saw the worried looks on their faces.

“You two must be Joe’s friends. Pleased the meet you, I’m Dr. Beverly Cale,” she said, completely changing her mood from that of pure anger to warm and friendly. She reached her hand towards Michelle, who was now standing up from her seat on the floor near Joe.

Michelle had been worried about meeting Dr. Cale, but now that she realized that she was out of her line of fire, Dr. Cale seemed to be rather pleasant. As she shook Dr. Cale’s hand, her eyes rested on the small figure standing on her shoulder. Her eyes bulged and if her jaw could of hit the floor, it would have.

“Hello there,” waved the two-inch, middle-aged man that stood upon Dr. Cale’s shoulders. He smiled up at Michelle, fully used to these reactions up to this point.

“Um… hi,” said Michelle, shocked. Another tiny person!

“Oh, sorry, this is Dr. Royce Fisher, my colleague and second in command,” said Dr. Cale, and Dr. Fisher laughed.

“Didn’t imagine seeing another mini-person today, did ya?’ he laughed, and Michelle shook her head, not finding words for the moment. He stuck out his hand, and Michelle hesitantly gave him her pinkie. Smiling, Dr. Fisher grabbed it as best he could, and shook it.

“We’ve heard a lot about you, Michelle. Joe wouldn’t stop talking about you his last few visits,” he said, and Michelle blushed. Dr. Cale and Dr. Fisher then turned their attention towards the other girl.

“And who might you be?” asked Dr. Cale .

“Stacy. I’m a friend of Michelle’s. And of Joe’s,” she said, adding the last part as if it held some weight. Dr. Cale and Dr. Fisher exchanged handshakes with Stacy, than turned their attention back to Joe and Jake.

“And WHERE in the hell do you think you two are going?” asked Dr. Cale, her calm and welcoming demeanor completely gone.

Jake had his hand on the door, just beginning to open it. Joe, riding atop his shoulder, was whispering for him to move it along when they both heard Dr. Cale. The two turned their heads and smiled innocently, but Dr. Cale, as well as Dr. Fisher, were having none of it.

“You two. With us. Now!” said Dr. Fisher, glaring at the two of them, his voice carrying quite well across the room, despite his diminutive height.

“Yes sir,” said Jake and Joe glumly, making their way back over towards the two doctors.

“You two can stay here and wait. Agent Freeman will be along shortly for a quick interview as well as to help deal with some legal matters,” said Dr. Cale, leading Jake and Joe towards a nearby door.

“Wait, who?” asked Stacy.

“That would be me,” said a gruff voice, as a burly man rounded the corner. He wore a suit and tie and looked a lot like a secret agent you’d find in a movie. He looked at Stacy and Michelle, not angrily but certainly not with much excitement either.

“Ms. Michelle Bines and Ms. Stacy Connors? My name is Agent Freeman. If you two will come with me, we have some matters to settle.”

“So, in the end- ow!- in the end, it was really all –ow!- all my fault. Michelle didn’t know what was going- ah jeez, that stings! She didn’t know what was going on. And if she did, well I’m pretty-ow! Pretty sure I wouldn’t be here” said Joe, wincing as Dr. Fisher examined Joe’s head, cleaning it as best he could. Joe had been in the process of telling Dr. Cale and Dr. Fisher the story of how he got his head wound, as well as filling Jake in on a few details he hadn’t mentioned earlier. Dr. Cale sat in a chair, arms folded across her chest, and Jake leaned up against a nearby wall, listening to Joe’s story.

“So there was something else going on,” he muttered, his suspicions confirmed. Dr. Fisher finished cleaning Joe’s wound and stepped back.

“Well, you don’t have a concussion, I cant tell you that, but I do have some good new and some bad news,” he said, and Joe looked at him nervously.

“Bad news first, please,” he said, and Dr. Fisher sighed.

“Bad news is, the wound is too big for it to fully heal all by itself. I’m afraid your going to need stitches Joe,” he said, and Joe’s heart sunk.

The fact that Joe was going to need stitches was bad enough, but what made it worse was that stitches meant no growing back to his full height. If he were to try and grow with stitches in his head, that would be bad, since the stitches would stay tiny and make the wound a whole lot worse. He looked up at Dr. Cale.

Though she was still angry at Joe, Dr. Cale felt sorry for him. She could only imagine what it was like to be so small and helpless. Dr. Cale shifted her gaze over to Dr. Fisher.

“How long would you say he needs until the stitches can be taken out?” she asked, and Joe looked at Dr. Fisher as well, fearing the worst.

“I’d say four days just to be on the safe side,” he said, and Joe sank in the chair he sat in. Four Days! Four days stuck at the size of an action figure. Dr. Fisher smiled and put a hand on Joe’s shoulder.

“Ah come on, Joe lighten up! At least it’s not forever,” he laughed, and Joe perked up.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, looking into Dr. Fisher’s eyes. He was smiling, but Joe saw sadness behind them. Dr. Fisher suffered from the same genetic mutation Joe did, only it wasn’t natural like his, it was accidental, and permanent on top of that. Joe reminded himself of this fact and tried to brush off the four days like they were nothing, since in Dr. Fisher’s case, they were.

“So what’s the good news?” he asked, and Dr. Fisher smiled.

“After hearing your story, I, and I hope Dr. Cale, think that no serious punishments are needed here,” he said, and looked at Dr. Cale, who reluctantly agreed. She was peeved; no doubt about it, but Dr. Fisher had a point. Joe had done the best he could in a rotten situation. Yes, he should have maybe been more careful the night before and taken it down a notch on the drinking, but Dr. Fisher’s conversation from earlier resonated in her mind. He indeed, was, only human. And a young one at that.

“Oh, that’s good news,” said Joe, not all that enthusiastic. Dr. Fisher laughed.

“Oh, that’s not the good news. The good news is, since your not being punished, we have a little gift for you,” he said, and Dr. Cale reached into her pocket and pulled something out. She than placed the small box in front of the two men. Joe picked it up and shook it. It was about the size of a box that a chessboard would come in, only it was plain and white. Joe shook it, but heard nothing, yet the box felt heavy. Curious, he opened the top and his eyes grew wide.

“No way! Oh man, it’s done?!” he said excitedly, feeling the texture of the cloth that lay inside.

“Haha, I thought you’d be excited. It came in a few days ago, and we were gonna give it to you at your next appointment. But, since you’re here,” Dr. Fisher let the moment speak for him, as Joe pulled the cloth out of the box. It turned out to be more than just cloth, but a whole suit.

“Oh man this is sick!” said Joe, staring at the suit with wide eyes.

If it were normal sized, someone would look at it and think it was just some dark gray, almost black, scuba suit. But Joe knew it was more than that. They had been working on a special suit for Joe for some time now, and he had eventually stopped asking them about it, for fear they would just give up on it all together.

See, when Joe shrank down in size, none of his clothes ever shrunk with him, leaving him cold and naked as the day he was born. One of the unfortunate side affects of being tiny was that he couldn’t retain his body heat all that well, leaving him incredibly cold and vulnerable to freezing to death.

But the suit would fix all that. Not only could it change size with him, but it would help him retain body heat better. Not to mention it looked totally BADASS! It was a sleek black color, with white vibrant lines stretching across it. It had been Joe’s design, and they had put it on the suit like he had asked.

“I have to put this on!” said Joe, but Dr. Fisher stopped him.

“Woah there Joe, now hold on a second. First, we need to get your head stitched up, and secondly, it’d be best if we got you somewhere more private, don’t you think?” he asked, and Joe blushed.

“Oh, right, of course,” he said, sitting back in the chair, putting the suit in his lap. He had gotten so excited that he had forgotten about the fact that he couldn’t just strip right then and there. He looked over at Jake and held up the suit.

“I got the suit, dude!” he said, and Jake smiled, giving him the thumbs up.

“You sure did,” he said, genuinely happy for Joe.

“Now, Ms. Bines, if you’d kindly sign here, here, initial here, date here, print here, aaaaaaand initial right here,” said Agent Freeman, indicating all the places for Michelle to sign and initial. In front of her lay a stack of sheets she had skimmed through. To sum it all up, they were legal documents that made it so she could not, under any circumstances, reveal the location of MuGenTek to any outside parties, as well as the nature of Joe’s condition. She reluctantly signed everything she was told to sign, not wanting to disappoint Joe, and certainly not wanting to anger Agent Freeman.

“By the way, his public medical records have been forged for the most part. His main ones are kept under serious lock and key. Let’s stay away from those for the time being, ok Ms. Bines?” asked Agent Freeman, and Michelle’s eyes grew wide.

“How do you know about that?” she asked, and he smiled.

“I know because it’s my job to know. Any time someone does any research on my little buddy, it’s up to me to be sure they’re not up to no good. You weren’t up to no good, so I let you be. Although in hindsight, I probably should have at least warned Joe about it,” he said, rubbing his chin as he thought. Michelle signed the last line and put the pen down.

“There, done,” she said, and Agent Freeman smiled.

“Good. Alright blonde, your up,” he said, picking up Michelle’s stack and thumping down a blank one for Stacy to sign. She sat down and stared at it for a moment, then looked back up at Agent Freeman.

“What if I don’t sign this?” she asked, and Michelle shot her a What-are-you-doing? look. Agent Freeman laughed and shook his head.

“Ah you’re as bad as Sullivan. Always with the question that guy was. You have the right to ask I suppose,” he sighed. As he spoke, he walked over towards a machine and flipped a switch. It looked a bit like a chair you’d find at the dentists; only it held a large helmet over it. The room’s lights dimmed for a moment, then stabilized, as the machine hummed to life.

“You don’t want to sign? No problem! Step up to this machine, I’ll PAINFULLY wipe your mind of all memories of Joe, and you can go. Though you might forget important stuff like your name or how to go to the bathroom, and you’ll lose a hell of a lot of brain cells, but hey, don’t live life without risks, am I right?” he said, patting the machine. Stacy took one look at it and picked up the pen.

“Where do I sign?” she asked, her hand shaking a bit.

“Haha, hell yeah! This thing is awesome!” said Joe, standing in front of a full body mirror. He had dawned the suit and was now admiring it. He had created the design years ago, back when he was fourteen or fifteen, yet he still thought it was the coolest. Dr. Fisher smiled and stood next to Joe.

“It definitely suits you,” he said, and Joe rolled his eyes.

“Ha ha, so punny,” he said, catching on to Dr. Fisher’s rather lame pun.

“Now you really DO look like an action figure,” said Jake, pulling out his cell phone. Joe gave him an amused grin.

“Ah, you’re just jealous,” said Joe, and Jake laughed, scrolling through the apps on his phone until he found the camera icon.

“Smile!” he said, and Joe did, while also giving his friend the middle finger. Jake looked at the photo and burst out laughing, turning it around to show Joe. He and Dr. Fisher started to laugh too, and Joe asked Jake to send it to his phone.

As the men all talked and joked, Dr. Cale cracked a smile from her corner of the room, though she did her best to hide it. She as Dr. Fisher slapped Joe on the back, and Joe returning the favor, and couldn’t help remember back when Joe first shrank, right here in this room, all those years ago.

********************************************************************************

“I’m scared,” cried Joe, his knees huddled up to his chest, tears in his eyes, and his voice no louder than a whisper. Dr. Cale looked down at the poor, and terrified child. How scary it must all be to him. She did her best to move with slow and careful movements, but the child flinched in fright.

“Hey, it’s ok, Joe, I’m not going to hurt you. It’s still me, Dr. Cale,” she said, and Joe continued to hug his legs and whimper. This was the first time Joe had shrunk for her, as during all their previous appointments, he had stayed big. Mostly, it had been because he was still unaware of his condition, thinking that the pills and doctors appointments were all routine and normal. Eventually, though, Joe had an accident causing him to shrink, thus revealing to him his unique genetic disorder. Ever since then, they had been doing the best they could to prepare Joe for the day when he would purposely shrink at MuGenTek so that they could run some tests. Today was that day.

His parent’s had been asked to stay in the waiting room, for the tests that would follow needed to be done without there influence, no matter how subtle. They were very much against it, and fought for a while with Dr. Cale and her staff. Eventually, Dr. Cale convinced them that it needed to be done, for it was all to benefit Joe in the long run.

Joe was only eight years old, and shrinking was still horrifyingly new to him. As far as he could tell, it was even scarier then the monsters under his bed. Everything was so much bigger than him. His mom, dad, sisters, all his favorite toys, and his clothes too. Joe’s eyes filled with more tears, and he hugged his knees up to his chest even more at the thought of it all. He felt so alone. Alone in a world much to big for him.

“I wanna go home, I wanna go home,” he sobbed, rocking himself back and forth, burying his head in his arms, not wanting to see anything. Realizing that Joe was no longer watching her, Dr. Cale, being as slow and gentle as possible, reached her hand towards the crying child and began stroking his back with her index finger. He flinched at first, his instincts telling him to get out of there. But after a few seconds, he began to stop rocking, though he kept his legs tightly against his chest. His crying went from full on sobbing to a slight sniffle.

“There, there, Joe, everything’s gonna be alright,” Dr. Cale said in her softest voice. She glanced at her watch, slightly annoyed. Where was Dr. Fisher? He was a scientist who was the most qualified to deal with patients that had Minonia, the genetic disorder Joe dealt with. She didn’t know much about him, other than he was in his late thirties and a very much-respected scientist. He was being moved to this MuGenTek to personally see to the testing Joe would go through today. He was almost an hour late, and Dr. Cale had been forced to start the tests without him, or at least attempt to.

At this point, Joe had ceased crying, and was now staring straight ahead. As he sat there on the cold hard top, Dr. Cale could tell that he was cold, both from the goose bumps that covered his back and his shaking. She slowed her stroking and spoke to Joe, making her voice as soft as possible.

“If you’re cold, Joe, I could hold you in my hands, like we talked about,” she said, and Joe shook his head from side to side very quickly. He only let his parents and Lisa do that, and although Dr. Cale was very nice, he was still very nervous. But at the same time, he was really cold, and his past experience with being held was that it was very warm.

He stopped shaking his head and looked into Dr. Cale’s young face. He had been seeing her for years now, and she was becoming somewhat of an aunt to Joe. But at his reduced size, she was a towering giant that scared him. However, at that moment, her smile comforted Joe, and his head began to nod slowly. He wiped some tears from his eyes and spoke carefully.

“O-ok,” he said, and Dr. Cale smiled. With very slow movements, she wrapped her fingers around him, feeling him shake even more violently. With the utmost care, she lifted him up and settled him in the palm of her hand, keeping her other one around him.

After Joe’s initial fears of being held vanished, he began to stop shaking and felt his body warm up. With a sigh, he leaned his head against Dr. Cale’s hand and closed his eyes.

“Thank you,” he whispered, and Dr. Cale set he hands on the table carefully. At this point, maybe today wasn’t such a good day for testing. Joe was content now, but there was no way of telling how he’d be once Dr. Fisher arrived.

“Joe, I’ve been thinking-,” she started, than the door burst open. The sound of the door caught both Dr. Cale and her little patient by surprise. Joe’s eyes flew open and he looked around the room in fright. Dr. Cale instinctively held Joe tighter and more protectively, as a young scientist entered the room. She was a woman in her early twenties, and looked nothing like Dr. Cale thought Dr. Fisher would look like. Mostly because Dr. Fisher was supposed to be a man.

“Dr. Fisher?” asked Dr. Cale, confused. The woman, panting, stumbled over to the table and leaned on it, completely out of breath. It took her a moment to catch her breath before she spoke.

“What? No, no I’m not Dr. Fisher, just his assistant. Hold on I’ll grab him,” she said, reaching into her lab coat pocket. She fished around until her hand came up holding what at fist looked like a small doll. Dr. Cale’s eyes grew wide as she realized the doll was a small middle-aged man who was swearing and swinging around wildly in anger.

“What the hell, Jenny?! I said shoulder! Not pocket! SHOULDER! Shoulder I say!” he was red faced and very upset as Jenny set him on the table. He looked up at the gigantic woman, hands crossed across his chest.

“Sorry, Dr. Fisher, but we were running late, and you would have fallen off if I didn’t put you in my pocket,” she said, shifting uneasily. Though the diminutive Doctor was much smaller than her, he still had the authority to fire her on the spot. Dr. Fisher took a deep breath and sighed.

“That’s… a reasonable answer,” he said through his teeth. He was still angry, but at the same time, he realized Jenny was only doing her job. Running his hands over his face he waved a hand.

“Thank you Jenny. You may go now,” he said, and Jenny ran off, relief washing over her. She had been sure Dr. Fisher was going to fire her. She almost felt like jumping in the air as she exited the room. Dr. Fisher turned around to face Dr. Cale.

“Ah, you must be Dr. Beverly Cale. Allow me to properly introduce myself, I’m Dr. Royce Fisher,” he said, and Dr. Cale nodded, still to stunned to answer. As she looked at him now, she realized he looked just like she thought he would, save for the height. His dark brown hair was a bit messy, but his face was clean-shaven and he seemed in good health. He wore a lab coat, kaki’s, and dark brown shoes, all made perfectly for him. Dr. Fisher gave a confused look up at Dr. Cale.

“You ok? You seem surprised. Did Jenny not send you the email telling of my arrival?” he said, regretting letting his assistant leave. Dr. Cale shook her head.

“Oh, ah, no, no, I-I did get it. I’m just, well… I wasn’t expecting…” she trailed on, and Dr. Fisher laughed.

“Oh, I see. They didn’t inform you of the accident, did they?” he said, and Dr. Cale shook her head. The tiny doctor shrugged.

“Genetic experimentation is dangerous, as you very well know. I was working with some genetic splicing equipment, seeing if the mutated gene, Minonia, could be passed on to animals as than humans. Low and behold, there was an accident, and now, here I am,” he said, gesturing to himself. It was a very short and concise version of the story, but he was so late already, he thought he would tell Dr. Cale more about it later.

“Oh, I see… Well, care to explain why you’re running so late?” she asked, taking on a more professional tone. Dr. Fisher rubbed his neck.

“Right sorry about that. There was a serious traffic jam, and both Jenny and I hadn’t charged our phones, so there was no way to call. I sincerely apologize. I see the patient isn’t here yet, though, so that’s-,” he started to say, then stopped when his eyes rested on Dr. Cale’s hands. Joe was poking his head out from her protective grasp, a look of wonder in his eyes.

“Ok, never mind then,” he muttered. Smiling, he walked over towards the small boy, who quickly ducked back down into the fist of Dr. Cale. He stopped walking, looking up at Dr. Cale.

“Ah, a shy one, is he?” he asked, and Dr. Cale smiled.

“Well, not usually. But at this height, he tends to be a little shy… and a bit emotional,” she said, feeling the small child huddle in her grasp. Dr. Fisher laughed and then sat down, cross-legged.

“Well, I can wait as long as he needs,” said Dr. Fisher, making himself comfortable as well as speaking loudly and clearly to be sure Joe heard him. Silence filled the room, and Dr. Cale felt Joe’s small form stop moving. He was still for a moment, than she felt him moving around again, and he popped his little head out and stared at the other Doctor. They were both small, though Dr. Fisher was definitely taller, about twice Joe’s size. But to Joe, that was normal, since he was only eight, and all adults were taller than him. Hesitantly, he nudged Dr. Cale’s fingers, and she let him pass through, until he was sitting on the edge of her palm. He waved his little feet over the edge, gaining courage, then hopped down to the ground and walked towards Dr. Fisher, who smiled warmly at him.

“Hello there,” said Dr. Fisher, giving a friendly wave to the little boy. Dr. Fisher was a bit overwhelmed himself. Though he had dealt multiple times with the Minonia gene, he had not yet met any other human being who was affected by it. Though many people carried it, only a small percentage is truly affected by it, causing them to shrink when dealt with pain.

Joe made his way closer to the tiny Doctor, and Dr. Fisher noticed he was not wearing any shoes or socks, only a red T-shirt and jean shorts. The boy finally arrived in front of the Doctor, eye level with him. Joe looked the man up and down, than spoke, cocking his head slightly to the left.

“Where’s your boo-boo?” he asked, and Dr. Fisher raised an eyebrow, smiling.

“My boo-boo? What boo-boo?” he asked, and Joe kept staring.

“The boo-boo that made you tiny,” he said, moving his feet up and down, from tip toes to flat feet. Dr. Fisher shook his head.

“Oh, I don’t have one. I got my boo-boo a while ago, and now I can’t grow anymore,” he said, and Joe’s eyes grew wide.

“Really? Even in you’re happy place?” he said, and Dr. Fisher nodded.

“Yup. Trust me, I already tried. But, it seems I can’t find a happy enough place. Oh well, it’s not so bad being small,” he said, and Joe sat down in front of the Doctor.

“But, aren’t you… aren’t you scared?” he asked, his legs crisscrossed, mimicking Dr. Fisher’s sitting pattern. The Doctor put his finger to his chin and looked up at the ceiling, seeming to think about it.

“Well, a little at first. I mean, everything was all big so suddenly,” he said, and Joe nodded.

“Yeah, it does get big all-a-sudden,” said Joe, and Dr. Cale smiled. Hearing Joe try and say all of a sudden made her almost laugh, though she allowed herself only a smile.

“But, I had friends there to help me,” said Dr. Fisher, and he looked up at Dr. Cale.

“Just like Dr. Cale over there,” he said, pointing up. Joe looked back at Dr. Cale and then back to Dr. Fisher.

“Oh,” he said, and Joe began to think. Dr. Fisher smiled.

“You see, Joe, things get scary sometimes,” he said, and he placed a hand on the small boys shoulder, and Joe looked up at him.

“But you have to remember, as long as you’re with the people who love and care for you, you don’t have any reasons to be scared,” he finished, and Joe nodded his head.

“Are… are you my friend now too?” he asked, and Dr. Fisher thought for a moment.

“Weeeelll, I don’t know, can I be you’re friend?” he asked, and Joe’s eyes lit up. He nodded his head vigorously.

“Oh yeah! You can be my friend!” he said, jumping up to a standing position. He looked over at Dr. Cale and smiled for the first time since being shrunk. He felt something different now. He was still a little nervous, but the fear that had overwhelmed him before was gone, and Dr. Cale saw that.

“We can all be friends! Together!” said Joe, grabbing Dr. Fisher’s arm and pulling him towards Dr. Cale. The two Doctors laughed at Joe’s newfound happiness, and proceeded with the tests.

********************************************************************************

‘You’ve grown up quite a bit since then,’ Dr. Cale thought to herself, as Jake lifted Joe from his position on the table and deposited him onto his shoulder.

“You up for a ride too, Doc?” asked Jake, and Dr. Fisher shook his head.

“Nah, this old timer is all set. You boys get out of here Dr. Cale and I have a few things to put together. Stay in the lobby though, we’ll be out in a minute,” he said, and Jake shrugged.

“Hey, watch it ass hole! You have a passenger, so keep the shoulder wiggling to a minimum!” Joe snapped, and Jake rolled his yes.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he said, moving his shoulder again, causing Joe to almost lose his balance.

“I swear to god, Jake,” said Joe, half angry and half joking, and Jake laughed.

“Relax Joe, I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. I’m your friend, dude,” he said, and Joe smiled.

“Yeah, I know,” he said, and he looked over at Dr. Cale and Dr. Fisher. They smiled at him, and he smiled back.

“And friends look out for you,” he said in a low voice.

“Where is he?!” asked Lisa, bursting into the front room of MuGenTek, and almost through the glass door, followed by her little sister, Giada.

“Jesus, sis, calm down,” said Giada, but Lisa wasn’t listening.  Right after Joe had gotten off the phone with his mother, she had immediately called Joe’s sister, Lisa, and told her what had happened. Joe’s father tried to intervene as his frantic wife retold the story in a much more dramatic way then Joe had described to them, but Lisa never heard her father. Being just like her mother, she freaked out, grabbed Giada, and sped all the way to the MuGenTek lab where Joe was.

Giada had tried to get an idea of what was going on, but Lisa was too freaked out to tell her anything. Knowing her mother and her sister well, she eventually came to terms with the fact that Lisa was, as usual, making a big deal out of nothing. Now, Lisa stood wide-eyed and winded at the front desk, scaring the hell out of Rita.

“Lisa! What is it? What’s going on?” asked Rita, standing up and looking at the panting 27 year old. Lisa tried to speak, but only so much was heard.

“Where… Joe… is… he… ok?” she said, between breaths. Giada sighed and looked at Rita.

“Look, I don’t exactly know what’s going on, but she’s under the impression something bad happened to Joe,” said Giada, and Rita nodded in understanding, as well as biting her lip.

“Well… she may not be completely off. Joe came in a few hours ago, and he wasn’t looking all that great.” Giada’s eyes grew wide, now realizing that maybe her sister did have something to freak out about.

“Where is he?” she asked, and Lisa, finally composing herself, asked the same thing.

“He’s still with Dr. Cale and Dr. Fisher. But I’m sure they’ll be out soon,” said Rita, but Lisa, and now Giada, were still worried.

“Hey Lisa, hey Giada!” came a voice from across the room. The two sisters turned their heads to see Michelle, Joe’s girlfriend, and her friend Stacy round thing corner.

“Michelle! Where’s Joe? Is he ok? Does he have a concussion? How much blood did he lose?!” Lisa began frantically asking questions, and Michelle looked at her, stunned by the barrage of questions.

“Woah, Lisa, take it easy, everything is fine. Joe just had a little accident,” she said, putting her hands on Lisa’s shoulders. Giada, still a little worried, though not as worked up at Lisa, looked at Michelle.

“What’s going on here?” she asked, still trying to figure out what had happened to her brother. Michelle was easing Lisa into a chair, and answered Giada’s question.

“Joe hit his head earlier trying to get to his pills. It… may have been partly my fault,” said Michelle, looking down at the ground.

“But overall, he seemed ok. Stacy and I just finished signing some papers with Agent Freeman, so we don’t know what’s going on at the moment with Joe. But I’m pretty sure everything is ok,” said Michelle, and Giada slumped into the chair next to Lisa, who was finally beginning to calm down.

Suddenly, she heard a small beep, and looked down in the chair next to her to see a cell phone light up. She immediately recognized it as her brothers. Upon picking it up, she saw that a text had been received, and opened it. Rolling her eyes, she showed the picture to her sister, Michelle, and Stacy.

“Yeah, he looks perfectly fine to me,” she said, showing them the picture of Joe, smiling, with his middle finger extended up. Michelle giggled, and Lisa let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m gonna kill mom when she get’s back. I nearly had a heart attack!” she said, and Giada laughed.

“You really are something else,” she said. Suddenly, there were voices from around the corner, and Jake came into view, Joe sitting atop his shoulder, dawned in the suit he was wearing in the picture.

“Man, we got off easy,” said Jake, and Joe was nodding,

“Hell yeah. That could have gone in a whole other direction,” he said, then noticed the others.

“Lisa! Giada! What are you two doing here?’ asked Joe, and his sisters jumped out of their chairs.

“Joe! Oh thank god. Mom told us what happened, and we came over as quick as he could,” said Lisa, and Joe put his face into his hands. Of course.

“Jesus… Lisa, I’m sorry mom put you through that. Don’t worry, I’m fine. No concussion, nothing permanent,” he said, than smiled.

“But I DID get this awesome new suit,” he said, and gestured to it.

“Aw, he looks like a little action figure,” said Giada in a mocking tone, and Joe glared at her.

“Yeah well… Whatever, I think it looks cool,” he said, and Michelle walked over, smiling.

“Look at my wittle handsome man,” she said, and Joe’s face turned red.

“Michelle, come on, be with me on this one,” he said, and Stacy started laughing.

“What accessories he come with? Oh, does he have a little utility belt too?” she said, and the girls burst out laughing. Joe’s face was beet red. Apparently they just through he looked cute. He heard Jake snicker and glared at him.

“Thanks Jake, glad someone has my back,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Oh come on, lighten up Joe. They’re just messing with you,” said Jake, and Joe glanced at his sisters.

“He’s right Joe. I actually think you look nice in it. Like a scuba diver or a skier,” said Michelle, and Joe smiled a little. Maybe they WERE just messing with him.

“Thanks. It’s made so that I can retain my body heat better. And it grows and shrinks with me,” he said, puffing out his chest a little. Lisa smiled and wrapped her fingers around Joe, lifting him off Jake’s shoulder.

“Hey, what-,” he started, before he was pressed up against his enormous sisters right cheek.

“Oh Joe, thank god you’re ok. I was so worried,” she said, and Joe sighed, patting his sister on the cheek and trying to return the hug as best he could.

Lisa was almost as bad as his mom, but it was all out of love, and he knew it. She was his older sister, and she felt responsible for him. It was an older sibling thing, he felt the same way towards Giada… most of the time.

“Don’t worry sis, I’m fine… For the most part,” he said, and Lisa extended her arm, so that she and everyone could get a better look at him.

“What do you mean, ‘For the most part?’” asked Giada, his body now eye level with her. Joe rubbed his neck.

“Well, although I don’t have a concussion, I kind of needed stitches for the wound itself,” he said, and Lisa looked down at her brother knowingly. They had been through this before, a few times when Joe was younger, and she didn’t even need to ask Joe why the stitches were a bad thing.

“How long?” she asked, and Joe stopped smiling.

“Four days,” he said, and Lisa sighed. Four days wasn’t that bad. He’d been through worse.

“Wow, four days as a human doll. Bummer bro,” said Giada, and Lisa shot her a glare. Giada mouthed the word what, but Lisa held the stare. Giada shifted awkwardly and looked at her little older brother.

“I mean, um wow sorry Joe that sucks,” she said, and Lisa nodded her head, mouthing the word better.

“It’s fine, it’s only four days,” said Joe, and he looked over at Michelle and smiled.

“And besides, I’m just glad I don’t have to keep this a secret from you any longer,” he said, and Michelle smiled. Lisa, reading the situation clearly, deposited Joe into Michelle’s awaiting hands and brought him up to her cheek for a hug. Joe embraced and kissed her.

“Thanks Joe,” she said, and Joe hugged tighter.

“Hey, where’s my hug!” said Jake jokingly, and received a punch in the arm from Giada.

“Ow! Hey what kind of hug was that?” he said, and Giada shrugged.

“Hug, punch in the arm, what’s the difference,” she said smiling, and Jake glared at her.

“Nice to see you to, Giada,” he said, and the small girl smiled.

“Well, I guess it’s about time I give you the full explanation on my… mutation,” said Joe. He sat in the center of Michelle’s upturned right hand, her fingers arched around him, creating somewhat of a protective cage. They were back at his and Jake’s place, sitting in the living room. He and Jake had bought the house, which was a modest ranch with two bedrooms, two baths, a living room, kitchen, and basement. Their entire group, Giada and Lisa included, were sitting in various furniture, watching and listening to Joe.

“I don’t exactly know the proper name, but Dr. Cale and Dr. Fisher call it the Minonia mutation,” said Joe. He was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment. It had been quite a while since he’d been this small for this long. Old fears came back to him, and he felt his hands beginning to shake. He distracted himself by continuing the explanation.

“It’s a rare genetic mutation that runs in our family,” said Joe, gesturing to his sisters. Stacy’s eyes grew wide.

“So, wait, does this happen to you guys too?” she asked, looking at Lisa and Giada.

“Oh, no, not to us. It only happens in the males of our family,” said Giada.

“We’re only carriers of the gene,” said Lisa, than looked over at Joe. She was used to holding him when he was that small. She was the only one allowed to do it, other than her parents and even Giada when she got older. She had been so used to taking care of him, that seeing Michelle holding her little brother in her hands made her a bit nervous. She knew she and nothing to worry about, and that Michelle wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt Joe on purpose, but she still felt uneasy.

“And even that doesn’t ensure that a male will have an active minonia gene,” continued Joe.

“It’s actually been quite some time since that last Zurek had an active minonia gener. Usually, it stays pretty dormant. I think it was my Great-great Uncle… something,” said Joe, thinking it over in his head, than shrugging.

“We don’t really know much about him, other than that he had the mutation, and was British,” said Joe. This time, Michelle spoke up, lifting her hand to get a better look at Joe.

“So you shrink when you get hurt? Is that how it works?” she asked, and Joe nodded. Michelle wasn’t done though.

“But still, I’ve seen you stub your toe and hit your head before, and you never shrank then,” she said, and Joe nodded again.

“That’s because of the pills. They’re a special form of pain killers I take that reduce the pain I feel. As long as I take them, I can experience pain, but it won’t cause me to shrink,” he said, and Michelle nodded. She still felt bad for keeping Joe away from his pills. She had thought at the time she was doing the right thing. If only she had listened to Joe…

“So how do you grow back?” asked Stacy, snapping Michelle out of her guilt induced thoughts. Joe smiled.

“Pleasure,” he said, then seeing Stacy’s arched eyebrow, he continued.

“Well, to be more specific, physical and emotional happiness. One or the other, and sometimes both. Usually, though, it’s more emotional. I go into what I call my ‘Happy Place,’ and once there, my body grows back,” said Joe.

“What’s your happy place like?” asked Michelle, but Joe shook his head.

“Sorry, I keep that private,” he said, tapping his head. Michele looked at Giada and Lisa, who shrugged.

“No one knows, not even us,” said Lisa, and Michelle looked down at Joe. She knew if she wanted to, she could get the information out of him. She was small enough to fit in her hand, meaning she could just squeeze him to get the information out. It would be so easy, like squeezing a small mouse.

She mentally chastised herself for thinking such a thought. What was she thinking? This was Joe she was talking about! Her boyfriend! She would never dare hurt him at such a vulnerable state. Why would she have such a heinous thought? And besides, the last time she tried to force a secret out of him was the reason they were all here and Joe was sitting in her hand, looking up at her with his small, sad eyes.

“Wait, what about Dr. Fisher? Why was he small, did he get hurt before we got there?” asked Stacy.

“No… Actually, Dr. Fisher is stuck small forever,” said Joe, and Michelle’s eyes grew wide.

“What? How?” she asked.

“Genetic experimentation. He was experimenting with the active minonia gene, when an accident occurred, reducing him to his current size. See, where as my gene was transferred through me ancestry, his was through experimentation. Something didn’t connect right, and even though he’s tried the ‘Happy thoughts’ method, as well as a few other ways to induce pleasure, he won’t grow,” said Joe. He looked up at the ceiling.

“At least I’m gonna be able to grow back in a few days. I can’t imagine what it must be like to know that he’s stuck that way forever,” said Joe.

“Wow, that’s so sad,” said Michelle. Joe shrugged.

“It happened years and years ago, and although it probably still bugs him, he seems to have come to accept it.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Stacy.

********************************************************************************

“Come on, Joe, it’ll be fun,” said Dr. Fisher, pushing Joe across the table, slowly, since Joe was not making it easy.

“Uh, Dr. Fisher, is this really… professional?” he asked, and Dr. Fisher laughed.

“Come on, Joe, when have I ever acted unprofessionally?” he said.

“Well, there was that time I caught you peaking a look up Dr. Cale’s-,”

“Ah bah bah bah! That was on accident!” he said, and Joe rolled his eyes.

“Sure it was,” he said. They had finally reached the end of the table. There, hanging off the edge, was a large orange platform that had a car large enough for them to sit in. The platform was flat for a little ways, than fell away into a deep incline, which then lead into a complicated mess of swirls and turns.

“I don’t know about this Doc,” said Joe, as Dr. Fisher jumped into the car.

“Oh, come on Joe, live a little! Dr. Cale is always on my ass about ‘being careful’, and we only have another few minutes before she comes back!” he said excitedly. Joe stared at the fifty year old man.

“How’d you even build this anyways?” he asked.

“Long story,” said Dr. Fisher, looking at his watch.

“Come on, Dr. Cale will be back any minute now!” he said, and Joe sighed.

“Fine,” he said, not wanting to chicken out.

“Is this some sort of mid-life-crisis thing?” asked Joe, hopping into the car next to Dr. Fisher.

“Eh, probably,” he said, and grabbed hold of a lever next to the car.

“One… two…,” he started, then pulled the lever before the word three could leave his lips.

********************************************************************************

“Trust me, I’m well acquainted with his acceptance of being small,” said Joe, remembering one of very many incidents.

“Well, this had been fun and all, but I never had breakfast, so I’m gonna grab something to eat,” said Jake, hopping up from his chair and making his way over to the kitchen. He turned back to the group.

“Anyone else hungry?”

Joe sat at the table, a small cheerio in his hand. Well, at least it was small to everyone else. To him, it was almost as big as his head. He glanced at the cup next to him, having to arch his neck back to see the top of it. What had once been small enough for him to pick up was now big enough to trap him. He shuddered, than continued eating.

“So… Now what?” asked Giada, munching on a bagel off to Joe’s right.

“What do you mean by that?” asked Michelle, picking up her cup and taking a drink of Orange juice. She sat in front of Joe, making it so her rather large breasts were about eye level with her tiny boyfriend. Joe had taken to glancing at the massive mounds of flesh as a way to get his mind off of other things. They were so big now!

“Well, I mean, what about Joe? We can’t very well just LEAVE him here with that,” said Giada, pointing over at Jake.

“Hey, whadaya mean by that?” he said, glaring at Giada.

“I mean, he needs someone responsible to look after him,” she said, and Jake huffed.

“I can be responsible! I look out for Joe all the time!” he said, and Giada snorted.

“Jake, no offense but she’s right. I mean, look where your “taking care” of him landed him,” said Lisa, gesturing to her tiny brother, what had started listening to the conversation once he heard his name.

“Um, hey, I’m right here,” said Joe, a bit annoyed. They hadn’t even asked him what he thought about the situation, a problem Joe had been in a multitude of times. No one seemed to hear him, though.

“What about me?” asked Michelle, and Lisa bit her lip.

“Um, Michelle, don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re not exactly… qualified,” she said, and Michelle was speechless..

“Uh, excuse me!” said Joe, a little more irritated now. Again, he was ignored, or not heard. Either way, it pissed him off.

“Oh, come on, he can stay here! I’m great at looking after him. One mistake doesn’t make me who I am!” said Jake, and this time, Lisa rolled her eyes.

“Oh, please, Jake, you’ve screwed up loads of times. Remember last year? The legendary ‘boys night out’,” she asked, using air quotes.

“That was his idea! And I still think it ended ok,” said Jake. Lisa held her head in her hands.

“Do you know how many people Agent Freeman had to memory wipe?” she asked, and Jake shrugged.

“Eh, it could have been worse,” he said.

“See, THAT’S why Joe can’t stay with you! You’re reckless!” said Giada, waving her hands around frantically.

“Hey, everyone?” said Joe again, his voice going from mild irritation to anger. Even Michelle, who was right above him, didn’t seem to be hearing him.

“I still think I can take care of him,” said Michelle, looking at Lisa a little angrily. Qualified? What did she mean by that?

“But why would you have to if I can?” asked Jake, his voice rising in anger. Joe was his best friend, and to be told that he couldn’t be trusted was a real hit on his ego.

“We’ve already established you’re an idiot,” said Giada.

“The only logical conclusion is that I should take him,” said Lisa, sending a challenging glare at everyone in the room. She met resistance by Stacy’s eyes.

“So just because you’re all ‘little miss responsible’ means Michelle can’t handle taking care of Joe?” she asked, starting down Lisa. Michelle was her best friend, and the way she saw it, she had to back Michelle up.

“EVERYONE FUCKING SHUDDUP!” screamed Joe at the top of his lungs. Everyone went silent and stared down at the now furious, red faced, and heavily panting Joe. He was standing in the middle of the table, having run there so that he could have a better time at grabbing everyone’s attention. His screaming did the trick.

“Joe, what-,” started Lisa, but Joe quickly interrupted.

“Stop!... Talking!...” he said, and Lisa closed her mouth.

“I’m right fucking here! Right here!” said Joe, gesturing to himself, and spinning around to look at everyone around him.

“I’m small, granted, but I’m a human being, which I feel you have all forgotten!” said Joe.

“Joe, we-,” started Jake, but Joe interrupted him, just like he had Lisa.

“Jake!.. Please…” he said, and Jake closed his mouth too.

“Has ANYONE even CONSIDERED what my opinion is on this matter?” he asked, and everyone looked away, not being able to meet his gaze. They were now all realizing the mistake they had all made. All their fighting had caused them to forget that Joe should have a say in all this. Joe just glared at everyone in the room, as they all stared at anything but him, an awkward silence filled the room. Finally, Michelle spoke.

“Joe, what is your take on this?” she asked and Joe looked up at her, his face softening. They were starting to get it.

“How about I just take care of myself?” he said, and everyone looked at him, nervous looks on there faces. Lisa was about to speak, but Joe spoke first.

“Kidding, I’m kidding,” said Joe, and everyone began to lighten up. Joe smiled a little, feeling the tension in the air lessen. He turned towards Lisa and looked up at his older sister.

“Lisa, words cannot describe how thankful I am to have such an amazing and thoughtful older sister. Over the years, you’ve done more for me then I thought an older sister could,” he said, and Lisa smiled, holding back her tears. Joe had often thanked her for her help, but never like this.

“However, I think that maybe I’ll let someone else help out this time,” he said, smiling. Lisa grew sad, and began to protest.

“But Joe,” she started, but Joe held up a hand.

“Sorry sis, but I’ve made up my mind. I’m 21 now, yet I still think you have trouble seeing that,” he said, and Lisa looked down at her hands, which were crossed in front of her. Joe was right, she still saw him as the same scared little kid all those years ago, which was only made worse when he was small. Joe smiled and walked towards his sister, putting a hand on hers.

“And besides, you have your hands full with her anyways,” he said, pointing a thumb over at Giada.

“Hey!” she said, and Joe smirked at her.

“Besides, I’m still getting over nightmares about you and your so called ‘pranks’,” said Joe, air quoting. Giada stuck her tongue out at him, and Joe laughed.

“Oh relaz, it’s not like I’m saying good bye. Just that I’m gonna let someone else take care of me,” said Joe, patting Lisa’s hand. She looked at him and smiled.

“Thank you,” she said, and Joe walked over towards Jake.

“So, we doing guys night or what?” said Jake, victory plastered over his face. Joe smiled.

“Well, maybe not tonight. Sorry, dude, but I;m not staying with you either,” he said, and Jake frowned.

“Bro, why not?” asked Jake, a little disheartened. He had been looking forward to get an excuse to hang out with Joe, who had become a lot harder to hang out with ever since Michelle.

“Because, Jake, Giada was right. You are reckless. But so am I! And that’s the problem. If one of us was level headed, then it’s be a good match. But you know neither of us make good deisions when it’s just the two of us,” said Joe, smiling, and Jake sighed.

“Dammit, I hate it when your right,” he said, also smiling. He was sad, but at least Joe had good reasons. Joe held up a fist towards Jake.

“Bro-fist?” he said, and Jake laughed, putting his fist in front of Joe.

“Bro-fist,” he said, and they pounded, though Joe’s was significantly less of a pound then Jake’s.

Joe turned his attention towards Michelle, who was smiling down at him.

“Look’s like you’re the winner, Michelle. I hope- gah!” he didn’t even finish before Joe was swept off his feet and pulled towards his girlfriends awaiting lips. She kissed him, smoothing his entire upper body as well as getting his hair wet, but Joe smiled anyways. He loved these when he was big, and that love only increased when he was small. Her lips were soft and warm, like large pink pillows that were wider then he was tall.

“Oh, Joe, I’d be happy to take care of you! I’m so glad you trust me so much!” she said, finally pulling him away to stare down at him. He was a little dazed by the barrage of kisses, but he quickly regained his composure. He looked up into the billboard face of his girlfriend and smiled.

“I’m sorry if today didn’t go as you thought. But the good news is, you got your wish,” he said with a smirk, and Michelle looked confused.

“Wish? What wish?” she asked.

“I’m off my pills for the rest of the day,” he said, and Michelle laughed.

“See you later Joe,” said Lisa, squishing Joe against her cheek in the best version of a hug she could think of. Joe hugged back as best he could and planted a small kiss on her cheek.

“Love you sis,” he said, and Lisa pulled away to get a good look at her little brother. They had all taken a ride over to Michelle’s house, the exception being Jake, who stayed back to work on a few things. Joe had a feeling that he was still a little bummed Joe had not decided to stay with him, but Joe knew he’d get over it. Lisa and Giada were now just leaving, and saying their goodbyes to Joe.

“You sure you’re ok with this?” she asked, and Joe rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m sure. You have to relax, Lisa, I’m in good hands,” he said, than looked down at himself.

“Like, literally, good hands,” he said, and Lisa laughed.

“I know, I just… If anything ever happened to you I… I couldn’t-,”

“Lisa! Get out of here!” Joe said, half laughing. Lisa sighed and handed Joe off to Giada’s awaiting hands. Joe smiled up at her.

“Try and be slightly less of an annoyance for Lisa than you usually are,” he said, and Giada snorted.

“What are you talking about, I’m always perfect,” she said, fluttering her eyes. Joe laughed and patted her palm.

“Seriously, though, be good for Lisa,” he said, and Giada brought Joe up to her cheek, giving him a hug.

“Oh, when am I not?” she said, and Joe just rolled his eyes. She pulled away and planted a small kiss on his head, not enough to cover him, just enough to ruffle his hair.

“You be careful, lil’ bro,” she said, and Joe frowned.

“Technically, I’m still older then you, even WHEN I’m tiny,” he said, and Giada laguhed.

“Whatever short stuff,” she said, pushing Joe from a standing position into a sitting one in her hand.

“Twerp,” he said, than smiled.

“Oh, by the way, who’s Jared?” he said, and Giada’s eyes grew wide.

“Wha- how did you find out about that?” she said, her face blushing. Joe arched an eyebrow.

“You know, Facebook isn’t exactly the best place to hide stuff from me,” he said, and Giada’s face grew redder.

“He’s just a friend I swear!” she said, and Joe nodded.

“Uh huh, sure, a friend. That’s why you two are ‘In a relationship’,” he said, and Giada started to stutter.

“Well I, um, that is, you see… Oh come on, Joe, give this guy a chance!” she pleaded, and Joe sighed.

“As long as he’s nothing like your LAST one,” said Joe, and Giada shook her head.

“Oh, he’s better! He really is! He really wants to me you, too!” she said, and Joe looked at her.

“Really? Why does he want to meet me?” said Joe.

“Well, he’s met everyone else, so now he wants to meet you,” she said, nervously. Joe raised an eyebrow, and then shrugged.

“Well, that’s obviously going to have to wait. I’m sure as hell not meeting him when I look like THIS,” he said, and Giada nodded.

“Right I know, I know. Maybe when you’re feeling better?” she asked, and Joe nodded.

“Ok, we’ll see,” he said, and Giada smiled. She handed Joe off to Stacy, who was standing close by, positively bewildered by what just occurred, and headed out the door with Lisa. When they were gone, Stacy brought Joe to her eye level, question written all over her face.

“How do you do that?” she asked, and Joe smiled.

“Do what?” he asked, as if he didn’t know what Stacy was talking about.

“You know what. How is Giada so afraid about your opinion on her boyfriends?” she asked, and Joe laughed.

“That’s between her and I. Let’s just say, if I don’t approve of her boyfriends, then a few specific facts that my sister doesn’t want getting out might end up on the internet,” said Joe, casually inspecting his fingernails. Stacy’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re blackmailing her? Oh, you fiend!” she laughed, and Joe’s smile grew wider.

 “But why? Why do you care about who she dates so much?” Stacy asked, sitting down on the couch, keeping her hand as steady as possible. Even doing so, Joe fell onto his butt when she landed on the couch.

“Oops, sorry,” said Stacy, but Joe put a hand up.

“No worries. And to answer your question, it’s because I’m her brother, and her OLDER brother at that,” said Joe, and Stacy stared at him, confusion still on her face. Joe sighed.

“Look, Giada dates boys. I am a boy. I think like a boy, thus, I know how and what boys think,” said Joe, spelling it out for Stacy as clearly as he could.

“Because I THINK like a boy, I KNOW what those dirt bags are thinking when they look at my little sister. I don’t want some hormonal ass hole dating her, and I certainly don’t want them breaking her heart,” he said, and Stacy touched her chest.

“Ah, that’s so sweet! You care so mu-“

“And if one of those mother fuckers even THINKS about breaking her heart or hurting her in any other way, I’ll wring their necks, gut them, and hang them by there entrails!” said Joe, making twisting motions with his hands.

“… Ew,” said Stacy, grossed out and a little creeped out at the same time. Joe sighed and took a deep breath, realizing that he had probably been a little too descriptive.

“It’s a brother thing, you wouldn’t understand,” he said.

Michelle closed her drawer, wiped her forehead and sighed.

“Whew, much better,” she said, glancing around her room. She had spent the better part of an hour cleaning it up to make it “Joe proof.” Joe had told her about the tough trek from the bathroom to her bedside table, and how it was made harder by the mess in her room. Once she had gotten home, she rushed to her room and began cleaning. Walking over to her bedside table, she saw a small silver toothpick. Picking it up, she examined it and remembered seeing Joe with it.

“It’s like a little tiny spear,” she laughed. It was still quite amazing just how small Joe really was, and she just couldn’t seem to get over it. Smiling, she placed the toothpick back down, making a mental note to give it back to Joe later.

“Soooo… he’s an alien?” asked Stacy, and Joe nodded.

“Yeah, now shhh!” he said, staring intently at the TV. Stacy was quiet for a minute, then spoke up again.

“And that blue box… it’s a time machine?” she asked, and Joe sighed.

“It’s called the TARDIS! Yeah, it’s a time machine, but it does other stuff too. Now SHHHH!” he said, and Stacy was quiet again. The show continued, until Stacy spoke again.

“So if they call him the Doctor, then why is the show called ‘Doctor Who’?” asked Stacy again, and Joe almost ripped his hair out in frustration.

“Gah! Because that’s the question! Doctor WHO! They don’t KNOW his real NAME! Now shut up, I’m trying to watch!” he said with a huff, and leaned up against the couch cushion. He was on a pillow next to Stacy, who had made the mistake of letting Joe pick what to watch.

“Remind me not to let you pick what to watch next time,” she muttered, and did her best to keep Joe company while Michelle cleaned her room. It had been an unspoken agreement between the two best friends that if Michelle was going to help keep Joe safe until he was better, then Stacy would also help out too. In all honesty, she had thought it to be no big deal. Joe was alright at normal height, and thought him even better pocket sized. Though, at the moment, he was being a but annoying. Finally, Michelle rounded the corner, and sat down on the couch next to Joe, making him fly into the air a little, then settling back on the pillow.

“Done!” she sighed, and Joe glared up at her.

“Hey! Watch it!” he said.

“Oh sorry, did that hurt?” she asked. She was still getting used to having to be super careful around Joe. Something as simple as sitting on a couch was enough to bounce him into the air, and she made a mental note to remember that.

“No I’m fine, but I didn’t hear what The Doctor just said! It’s hard enough to understand them with their British accents,” said Joe, maneuvering back into a sitting position. Michelle looked at the TV to see one of Joe’s favorite shows on.

“I still can’t believe you watch this show,” she said, scrunching her face up, as if she smelled something bad. Joe rolled his eyes and glanced over at Michelle. Smiling, he rolled off the pillow and made his way over to her thigh. He hopped up onto Michelle’s thigh and walked towards where her body lay vertical and leaned against her stomach, finding it even more comfortable than the pillow.

“That’s because you won’t give it a chance. And at least MY shows don’t follow the lives of pretty little rich girls who complain about everything,” said Joe, making note of one of Michelle’s favorite shows. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the remote. She did her best not to make any sudden movements while Joe made himself comfortable in her lap. It felt strange to feel him walking along her thigh, and it tickled her a little. He was certainly getting used to being around her at such a small size.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. How about we find something that we all want to watch?” she asked, and Stacy and Joe agreed.

Eventually, they came across a movie playing that seemed somewhat interesting to all of them, through Joe’s mind began to wander a bit. The warmth of Michelle’s body lulled him into a dreamlike state, though he wasn’t exactly asleep either. Seeing his sisters again had brought to surface some memories he had of Giada and her so called “lessons”. One in particular was nagging at Joe’s brain, and he found himself remembering it like it had been just the other day.

********************************************************************************

“Ha ha! Sucker!” said Joe, pushing Giada out of the way and racing down the hall.

“Oh come on, Joe! Not fair!” she said, stumbling over herself, her towel falling to the ground. She picked it up and rolled it up, not bothering to refold it. She wore a light pink t-shirt and pajamas bottoms that matched. She had been walking towards the bathroom to go take a shower when Joe had burst from his room making a bee-line towards the bathroom.

“Gotta be faster than that!” laughed Joe. He was shirtless and wore only a pair of boxers, something Giada found annoying about her brother. Was it so hard for him to not run around the house half naked? He reached the bathroom door before her, flung it open, and slammed it shut behind him. The sound of the door locking reached Giada’s ears even before she tried opening the door, but that didn’t stop her.

“Come ON Joe! I called dibs on first shower this morning! You’ve had first shower all week! No fair!” she said, slamming her foot on the ground. All she heard inside was the sound of Joe’s maniacal laughter.

“You snooze you lose!” he said, and Giada sat down in front of the door in a huff. She hadn’t had a hot shower all week, since Joe had gotten their first AND took all the hot water for himself. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head.

“Hey Joooooooe! Did someone forget to take their pills this morning?” she said, a smile playing across her lips. There was silence, than Joe spoke.

“Ah I’ll be fine, I’ll take it after my shower,” he said, and Giada looked surprised.

“Joe, you know the rules! Pills first thing every morning! Otherwise you might… you know,” she said. The sound of running water came from the bathroom, followed by the sound of the shower curtain moving aside.

“Oh come on, Gi-gi, it’s a SHOWER. What could happen in here?” he said, and Giada put her head in her hands. Typical Joe. This is how he got himself into trouble. She than began to realize something. She had asked him the same question the morning before and he hadn’t taken his pills THEN either. She may have only been sixteen, but she knew that was wrong, and she also knew Joe knew it was wrong. Standing up, she made her way towards her room.

Joe needed to learn a lesson.

“Hmm, hm, hm! Taken a shower!” Joe sang, rubbing the shampoo in his hair, his eyes closed as the soap washed over his eyes. He sighed as the hot water cascaded over his body, steam filling the bathroom.

“Pills, shmills, I’ll get them after,” he told himself. There was a nagging voice in the back of his mind that was telling him he was being an idiot. An irresponsible, stupid idiot.

“Ah, what do you know?” he said to the voice, and began rinsing the soap out of his hair. The voice babbled on, but Joe continued to ignore it as he relished in the warm water. The soft patter of the showering droplets on him and the floor was enough to mask the noises made by Giada, who was picking the lock to the bathroom door. He hummed a song in his head, not hearing the slight creak as the door opened, and Giada tiptoed in. Moving as quietly as she could, she made her way across the bathroom, careful not to slip on Joe’s boxers, which lay carelessly thrown in the center of the floor. His towel sat on the toilet seat, which was exactly where she was heading. She glanced at the curtain, yet Joe was still unaware of her presence in the bathroom. He was in the middle of rinsing his hair, when Giada reached toward the toilet and flushed.

“Hot! Hot! HOOOOOOT!!!!!” yelled Joe, as the water falling on him went from luke warm to boiling lava hot.

“Ow!... Jesus! How the?- Oh god-o-oh no,” he felt himself begin to tremble and, despite the hot water around him, broke out into a cold sweat. The affects happened too quickly for him to register, and before he could get out of the shower, he found himself standing under Niagra falls. A raging waterfall that threatened to crush him now replaced the once soft and somewhat comforting feeling of the shower on his back.

“Help! Someone! Help!” he shouted, but he knew he was on his own. There was no way someone would here him from outside the bathroom. The torrent of water continued its crushing decent, and Joe fell to the floor of the shower. Through the water, he glanced back at the drain, though he wasn’t too nervous about being washed away. It was covered with a small covering that had small holes that let the water through, none of them nearly big enough for him to fall through.

The biggest danger he faced at this point was the weight of the water that was crushing him from above. The constant pounding was making him sore all over, and he couldn’t find the strength to crawl out from underneath it. He was sputtering and coughing up water every time he tried to take a breath.

“Need… help…” he coughed, trying as hard as he could to take a breath. The voice in the back of his head that had warned him about not taking his pills was back now, and he could here it telling him I told you so, I told you so, over and over.

“Oh shut up!” he said to the voice, taking in another mouthful of water. Just when he thought he couldn’t take another second of this pain, he felt two small tremors, and then the waterfall stopped abruptly. Panting and completely sore, he wiped his eyes and looked to see two large flat mounds of flesh on either side of him. As his eyes adjusted, the mounds of flesh took form, and he found himself staring at two massive feet. The toes were wiggling and he could see water running down them from the legs they were attached to. It took him no more then a second to recognize these feet.

“Giada!” he screamed and looked up, immediately regretting it and shutting his eyes.

“Gah! Giada! What the hell!?” he screamed, and a loud, echoing giggle followed. His now towering little sister was standing above him, stark naked. Giada bent down to get a better look at her tiny little brother, being careful not to let the water hit him to roughly. The water trickled along the back of her and down her back, flowing across her body, some of which ended up crawling down her legs.

“What’s the matter, bro?” she asked, and he continued to cover his eyes.

“Jesus, Giada, you’re… you’re naked! In the shower! With me!” he said, and she laughed.

“What’s the big deal? I’ve seen you naked before,” she said.

“That’s different and you know it!” he said, pointing a finger at her while keeping his eyes downcast. In his mind, being seen tiny and naked was one thing, since he couldn’t always be wearing clothes while he was small. But this… this was just wrong.

“Oh relax, jus think of it as a way of saving water!” said Giada, standing back up and putting her face under the water. It felt good to take a hot shower after a week of cold ones because of the very person who was now right underneath her.

“Giada! Get out, now!... Or-or at least let me out!” Screamed Joe, a hand covering his eyes while the other waved at her clenched in a fist. She ignored him and continued soaking her hair. Joe stood below his skyscraper of a sister, not knowing what to do. Obviously, he was stuck in her until she decided to let him out… Or was he? Lowering his head, he looked straight ahead, keeping a hand above his eye line to block the view of his sister’s… he couldn’t even bring himself to think the word. He scanned the tub behind her, looking for something, anything that might help him escape.

His eyes rested upon a washcloth hanging over the side of the tub, one end inside and one outside. It was made of fibers that were just big enough for Joe to use as handles to climb.

“Bingo!” he said. Taking careful steps, and being sure not to look up, he slowly began making his way between his sisters leg towards the cloth that would be his ticket out. But he hadn’t even made it a few steps when he heard a loud squirting noise from above, followed by a large weight landing on his head. The shampoo from his sister’s hand had fallen out and landed on his head, covering him head to toe in a strawberry scented soap.

“Agh Fuck! My eyes!” Joe cried, as he tried to rub the soap from his eyes, which were now stinging insanely. But no matter how he hard he tried, the stinging would not go, and Joe now found himself utterly blind and helpless.

“Well this sucks,” said Joe flatly, and heard Giada giggle above him.

“Whoops, sorry bro,” she said, as she continued to rub shampoo into her hair. In fairness to her, she hadn’t actually meant for any soap to get on him, but it was certainly funny to see him flailing around blindly. Laughing to herself and closing her eyes, she dipped her head under the water.

Joe found himself slipping and sliding as Giada washed the soap from her hair, causing Joe to have a hard time walking around now that the soap now covered the floor.

“God dammit!” said Joe, and fell face first into the floor, whacking his head. He tried to stand up, but his feet kept slipping, making standing impossible. Panting with frustration and exhaustion, he blindly began crawling around on all fours, trying to find something to help him stand. The water above him was once again upon him, though it was now much softer, no doubt because of the massive titaness that loomed above him. Finally, he head bumped into something, and he flung his hands up to it immediately, and cursed at what he found himself holding onto.

Giada giggled as she felt Joe’s tiny hands grab hold of right foot, and she did her best not to move her feet. At first, he seemed frozen in place, his hands clamped around her big toe, not moving an inch. Finally, she felt the small hands moving down her foot and towards her heel. Curious, she wiped the water from her face and peered down to see where he was heading. A broad smile crossed her face as she saw just what her ‘little’ brother was heading towards.

“This HAS to be her right foot,” Joe told himself, using his sisters massive appendage as a makeshift railing, and slowly sliding along it towards her heel. He had grabbed onto her big toe at first, hearing his sister giggle one again, making him even angrier. He once again tried to get the soap out of his eyes, but he was still blinded by the strawberry scented shampoo. After feeling around a bit, he realized that this was his sister’s right foot, and that fact gave him an idea. If he wasn’t getting out of this tub on his own, he at least needed to find a way to stay safe until Giada was done torturing him.

“Come on, it has to be here somewhere!” said Joe, as he felt the slope of his sisters foot increase. He would be at the ankles soon, and if his hunch was correct…

Success! The surface on which he was touching went from soft and slippery to warm and metallic, as he found his hands gripping on to his sister’s anklet.

“Yes!” said Joe, and her grabbed onto the chain with both hands. As best as he could do with no sight, he slipped underneath the chain so that his back was now to his sister foot, and he hopped up and onto the slope of her foot, keeping hold of the chain so as not to slip down the rest of the foot, ending him back at square one.

“Not exactly ideal, but at least I’m not slipping around like an idiot,” grumbled Joe, doing his best to stay put. He was sore, tired, and blind, so at this point, being tied to his sister’s foot by her anklet didn’t seem all that bad.

Giada continued to shower, moving from shampoo to conditioner, then to body wash, all the while Joe stayed securely to her foot. She hummed away, idly moving her feet back and forth, causing Joe to slip around a little, but not enough for him to fall off. She lathered and rinsed the top of her body, the soapy water traveling down her body and down her legs, making Joe’s hold all the more difficult.

“She is so gonna pay for this!” said Joe through his teeth, his knuckles turning white from his iron like grip on the anklet.

“Oh, can’t forget my feetsys!” said Giada, and Joe groaned.

“Oh, you got to be kidding meee-ah!” he said, as he felt Giada’s foot rise through the air. Joe hung on for dear life as Giada brought her foot up to allow herself to lather and rinse her right foot. She made a big fuss about getting in-between each toe, making it take a lot longer to clean her foot then necessary. Joe gritted his teeth, but he felt his grip slowly slipping. No matter how hard he tried, and now matter how hard he gripped the chain, the mix of soap, water, sweat, and exhaustion finally won out, and Joe let go, darkness surrounding him as he fell from his perch on Giada’s foot. Joe screamed in terror as he felt himself falling, having no idea just how far down he was going. What had probably only occurred over a total time of three seconds felt like an eternity to Joe. Right when he thought he was about to hit the floor, there was a swoosh from around him, and he felt five large fleshy digits grab him out of the air, ending his decent.

“Watch it there, lil’ bro,” said Giada, as if Joe had just fallen out of a tree for not being careful.

“I-I-I,” was all Joe could stutter. The soap in his eyes was beginning to clear, and he was starting to make out basic shapes again. His saw his sisters smiling face peering at him, the rest of her body blocked from view by her hand, a fact he was incredibly thankful for. He glared at Giada, who smiled and, using her free hand, shut the water off.

“There, that’s should do it. All clean now, bro?” she asked, and Joe said nothing, continuing to stare at Giada angrily. Shrugging, Giada stopped out of the shower, grabbed Joe’s towel, and plopped him down in the center of it, then grabbing her own and covering herself up. Grabbing another smaller towel, she took to drying her hair, glancing at Joe who continued to stare angrily at her. Giada finished her hair and combed her hair back with her fingers, sighing. She stepped up to the toilet, put the lid down and sat down, her eyes resting on Joe, who had still not moved an inch.

“So, what’s on you mind?” she said. Silence followed, until Joe finally spoke up.

“You… what- Giada, what were you thinking?!” was all Joe could say, and Giada laughed.

“Whatever do you mean brother?” she said in an innocent voice. Joe’s face was red, though she wasn’t sure if it was from anger or over exertion. Probably a mix of both.

“Giada, that was… that was horrible! You, you treated me like some sort of doll! I can’t even believe you’d do something like that! You’re my sister!” he was fuming now, and Giada stared at him, the smile on her face gone. She let him finish his rant then sat up, looking down on him.

“Yeah, you’re right, that was horrible. It was degrading, wrong, and you could have gotten hurt,” she said, and Joe nodded, then stopped. Wait, she was agreeing with him?

“Yeah… yeah, what you said,” He said slowly, not seeing where this was going. Giada took her towel and adjusted it, not wanting Joe to see anymore of her than he already had.

“But it was just me, though. And I would never let anything bad happen to you,” she said, and Joe went to speak, then stopped. She had saved him from the waterfall that threatened to crush him.

“But what if it HADN’T been me, huh? What if that happened to you somewhere else? Joe, someone could have killed you!” she said, and Joe was stunned. Giada kept going.

“This is your senior year, Joe. You’ll be away to college next year. What if you forget to take your pills then, and you get hurt then? Will there be anyone to save you then? And what if the drain was bigger, hmm? Joe, you HAVE to be more careful, or you’re going to end up a smear on someone’s shoe! Or worse!” she finished, and Joe winced. He felt a shiver run down his spine at the thought of being stepped on, drained away, or… a multitude of other things that he didn’t want to think about. Joe grabbed the towel the lay around him and pulled it up and around his small, shivering body.

He might not have agreed with Giada’s methods, but she was right. Joe had been getting careless lately, and he needed a reminder of that. He looked up into the eyes of Giada and was surprised to see not anger, or annoyance, or humor even, but sadness. It was a sadness that he felt to. Giada reached out and stroked Joe’s hair, something she had seen Lisa and her mom do many a times. Joe sighed and leaned into the finger.

“Y-you’re right, Giada. I have been getting careless, and I- well I needed to be reminded of that, one way or another. I’m just glad it was by someone I could trust,” he said, and kissed the finger. With a sad smile, Giada lifted Joe into the air and brought him to her cheek where she gave him a small, quick hug.

“Let’s keep this little lesson between you and me, though, ok bro?” she asked, and Joe smiled.

“Yeah, I think I can manage that,” he said, and Giada pulled away. A small, devious grin was starting to spread across her face.

“Do you need some help growing back?” she asked, and Joe shook his head vigorously. He knew where this was going.

“Oh, ah, no, no, I got it, I can do it,” he said, shuffling backwards away from his sister, which was hard considering he was literally in the palm of her hand. Giada’s smile grew wider, and her other hand started to snake behind him.

“Oh, I think you DO need some help. I mean, it’d be faster anyways,” she said, and before Joe could answer, her other hand darted toward him and began wiggling underneath his arms. Joe burst into laughter and began trying to squirm away. But her fingers were relentless, and Joe was incredibly ticklish.

“Giada, stope! Please! I can’t breathe!” he laughed, as Giada continued to tickle him. In a few minutes, he gave up struggling and let the inevitable happen. Soon, he felt himself begin to grow, and Giada stopped tickling him. She placed him on the ground and stood up. Half way back to growing, he grabbed the towel and wrapped it around himself. Finally, he stood back up at his normal height and looked at Giada, breathing heavily.

“You can’t let me do anything on my own, can you?” he said, trying to shake off the feling of Giada’s fingers tickling him.

********************************************************************************

Ok, so that lesson, he admittedly deserved. He knew that his sisters’ would always take care of him and keep him safe, even IF it didn’t seem like it right away. He was still deep in thought when a massive finger poked him in the side, and he was wrenched from his daydreams.

“Joe, you awake? I asked you how the movie was,” said Michelle, and Joe arched his neck back, trying to look up to see her face, which was blocked out by her massive bust that loomed over her head. It wasn’t exactly that bad of a view, but it was impossible for him to see her face.

“Oh, um, it was good,” Joe lied and Michelle giggled.

“You fell asleep, didn’t you?” she asked, and Joe shrugged.

“Sort of. Sorry, I kind of have a lot on my mind,” he said, and Michelle nodded. She reached down and was about to pluck him from his spot on her thigh, when her hand froze. Quickly, she flipped it over and placed the palm up so he cold walk onto it on his own accord.

“You wanna lift? I was gonna run to the kitchen to grab a snack,” she asked, and Joe smiled.

“I would love that, thanks for asking,” he said, and stood up on his shaky legs and walked onto her hand. Once settled, she carefully stood up and carried him to the kitchen with her, leaving Stacy asleep on the couch.

Dr. Fisher sat at his desk, a large stack of papers sitting in front of him. He twirled the ice cubes around in his glass absentmindedly, occasionally taking a sip or two of the scotch that sat at the bottom. To his right, a large opening in the wall where he entered and exited was closed off, allowing him a luxury he took for granted when he was full sized; privacy. Taking another sip of his drink, he couldn’t help but remember to back when scotch didn’t taste like this. During his studies, he had found that the shrinking process caused by Minonia had an affect on his taste buds, causing things like his favorite scotch, for instance, to take on a slightly more diluted flavor. The effects of alcohol had stayed proportionately the same, but it’s flavor was all but lost to him. Sighing, he put the glass down and stood up. He stretched his body and rubbed his muscles.

“Twenty eight years,” he said, and chuckled to himself.

“It’s a wonder how I’m still sane,” he said, running his hands over his face. He looked up at the ceiling above him, than let his eyes wander around the rest of his office. It was located inside a wall that was inside Dr. Cale’s office, and it was one of the only places where he felt normal. Everything in the room around him was proportional to his height, giving him the illusion that he was still normal sized.

Making his way over to the closing, he peaked through it to see Dr. Cale sitting at her desk, deep in concentration. Her hair fell behind her back and around her shoulders. She had kicked off her shoes, and her bare feet dangled and swayed underneath her desk. Though her face was not showing, he could imagine what it looked. Her nose wrinkled, her eyes squinting, her lips taught in concentration. Dr. Fisher kept staring, admiring the much larger doctor. He hadn’t ever come out and said it, but he had feelings for Dr. Cale, feelings that had arisen through years and years of working together. Feelings he kept deep inside himself, locked away in some deep dark part of him.

Being two inches tall in a world much to big for him was hard for Dr. Fisher. Though over the years he had grown used to it, he would sometimes find himself thinking about how nice it would be to be big again. But what bothered him most was his inability to have a normal relationship. He would often daydream of being big again. Walking over to Dr. Cale, wrapping his arms around her, holding her in loving embrace. She would do the same, feeling safe in his arms. Safe and protected. But it was never to be. He was much too small for any of that, and his research, though progressing well, was far from giving him any solution to his current height. For now, he would have to remain content with watching his beautiful giantess from a distance.

“Michelle, please, don’t do this!”

“You know I have to Joe.”

“Honey, please, have mercy!”

“No, no mercy will be given.”

“No, don’t! Come on, I’m your boyfriend.”

“It’s nothing personal Joe. Try to remember that.”

“Micheeeeeele! Noooo-!”

“8G!”

“Dammit! That was my last friggin battle ship!” Joe cried, ripping the small plastic boat from the board and chucking it away. He then proceeded to kick the other red and white pieces on the board. Michelle giggled as her tiny boyfriend threw a mini tantrum. Once done, he slumped down and turned his back to her, arms crossed over his chest.

“Oh come on, Joe, it’s just a board game,” said Michelle, turning the board around so Joe was facing her. She lowered her head so that her eyes were level with Joe, who glared up at her.

“You cheated somehow!” he said, staring into the massive face of Michelle. Giggling, she grabbed Joe and sat back up, holding the wiggling little man in-between her index finger and thumb.

“You are such a sore loser, you know that?” she asked, and Joe grabbed her finger, still a little angry.

“I am not! I just don’t take losing very well,” he said, and Michelle rolled her eyes. She sat back up and leaned against the back of the couch. Glancing over at the clock, her eyes grew wide.

“Oh wow, 10:00 already! Man it got late fast,” she said. Joe, still in her hand, looked down and immediately regretted it. The floor below him was far enough down that a fall from here would either cripple him or kill him. He stopped struggling and wrapped his legs and arms around her index finger.

“Michelle!” he said, his eyes closed. She looked at Joe to see his body wrapped around her finger, eyes closed and shaking. Her eyes grew wide and she brought her other hand underneath him.

“Sorry! Sorry! I forgot,” she said meekly, and Joe dropped into her open palm.

“It’s-it’s ok Michelle, you’re still getting used to all this,” he said. In honesty, heights didn’t really scare him all that much. What scared him the most at the moment was the fact that Michelle, though careful as she was, didn’t have the experience that Lisa and Giada did in (If he could think of a better word he’d use it) “handling him.” In time, Michelle would begin to remember things like holding him more carefully. But like all things, it would take time. Sitting up, Joe patted her hand and smiled up at her. Michelle smiled back at him and bit her lip.

“Sorry I’m not all that good at this. Maybe you should have gone with your sisters,” she said, and Joe shook his head vigorously.

“Michelle, don’t be so hard on yourself! I don’t regret this decision at all. I mean, my sisters are great, but they tend to be a bit over protective. ESPECIALLY Lisa,” said Joe, and scooted over to Michelle’s thumb. He planted a small kiss on it and looked up at her.

“Overall, you make me feel safe, yet also like I’m still normal size. No smothering, no chastising, no ‘don’t do that Joe, it’s not safe!’ or ‘stay here and behave’! This is the normal-ist I’ve felt at this height in a long while,” he said, trying to convince Michelle she was doing a good job. It seemed to be working, and she smiled down on him. Joe felt his height escalate and prepared himself as Michelle’s warm lips once again covered his head. He smiled and kissed her bottom lip, and Michelle felt a shiver run down her spine. She brought Joe up to her face, her eyes shining as she stared down on him.

“Joe, how much do you trust me?” she asked, and Joe laughed.

“Enough to put my life in your hands,” he said, standing up. Michelle stared at him for a little while. He was so small and so fragile, yet he carried himself as if he was still his normal height, which admittedly wasn’t all that tall. A smiled spread across her lips and she looked at the door. Stacy had left around dinner to go see a friend of hers. At this point, Stacy was probably going to stay the night, something she did quite often. She looked back at Joe, who had an eyebrow raised.

“What are you thinking?” he asked, and Michelle’s smile grew wider.

“I think it’s time we headed to bed,” she said, and made her way over towards her bedroom. Joe swayed a bit, but Michelle’s hand lay perfectly flat and almost completely still. She was learning fast, he admitted that.

“O-ok,” said Joe, then he thought.

“So what are the sleeping arrangements?” he asked.

‘Ok, so this is happening,’ thought Joe, standing on Michelle’s soft mattress butt naked, having removed his suit. She was in the middle of taking her shirt off, and Joe did his best to not look so nervous. He and Michelle had been together for months, and they had had sex a multitude of times. But this… Joe had never done this before. He hadn’t ever had sex at two inches tall, though the thought had crossed his mind a many a time. He had fantasized about what it’d be like. Would it hurt? Would he be able to pleasure her as much as she would most assuredly pleasure him? He was incredibly anxious as Michelle removed her shirt, revealing her large breasts still encased in a bra. Joe became mesmerized by the large globes of flesh that were like small hills to him. He smiled and felt his member increase in size.

Michelle looked down at Joe, her glasses crooked, and she smiled at him, noticing where his eyes were pointing.

“Joe, my eyes are up here,” she giggled, and Joe smiled.

“Yeah, but your boobs aren’t,” he said, and Michelle laughed.

“Does someone want a closer look?” she asked, and reached behind her back. Normally, it had been Joe’s job in the past to remove her bra, but things were different tonight. In a few seconds, Michelle’s bra fell away, revealing her voluptuous bosom. Smiling, she leaned forward, and before Joe could say anything else, Michelle’s upper body rammed into him, pinning him onto the mattress with juse her right breast.

“Oof!” huffed Joe, as Michelle’s massive chest covered his entire body. He could tell how careful she was being, knowing full well that these mounds of flesh could easily crush him without his beloved holding back. Smiling, he felt the soft cushiony flesh above him. At this height, the only thing he could compare it to was a memory foam mattress, but much bigger, warmer, and it smelled like Michelle. He tried to move his legs, but they were completely pinned. He wriggled around a bit, then gave up, not wanting to exhaust himself to quickly. He laughed and, doing the only thing he could think of that might get Michelle’s attention, bit into the soft flesh above him.

Michelle could feel Joe wriggling about, and his hands feeling her up. Finally he stopped, and before Michelle asked if he was ok, she felt a small pinch. It took her a moment to realize what had just occurred. Laughing, she lifted her body up revealing a rather squished Joe looking up at her.

“Did you just bite me?” she asked, half laughing.

“Yeah I did. You gonna do something about it?” asked Joe, and Michelle was surprised. Even at a size smaller than her finger, he was still acting tough. ‘Well, that may very well change in the next few seconds,’ thought Michelle.

“Well, you bit me, so it’s only fair if I get to bite you back,” she said, and brought her face down closer to her snack-sized little man.

“Wait what?” asked Joe, seeing Michelle’s tongue dart out of her mouth and lick her lips. Smiling, Michelle brought her chin to the mattress, her lips inches from Joe’s feet. Like a large wet, pink snake, her tongue slid out of her now open mouth and lapped at Joe’s calves. Weather or not she meant it, her saliva was especially sticky, and had no problem sticking to Joe’s legs, pulling him into her mouth.

“Thanks for brushing your teeth!” Joe called out from inside the mouth of his giantess. It was warm, sticky, and dark, but strangely arousing. Joe felt the wiggling mass that was Michelle’s tongue move underneath him, causing him to shudder from excitement. The tongue tossed him from side to side, jostling Joe around a bit. Finally, he came to a rest near the back of her front teeth, and found the tongue snake it’s way towards his erection. With a low moan, Joe felt the sticky, wet mass of bumpy flesh moisten his enlarged member, giving Joe the strangest blowjob he’d ever received. Just as he felt he was going to burst, the tongue pulled away, and light filled his dark cavern, giving Joe a quick glimpse of his surroundings. Strands of saliva hung from the top of Michelle’s mouth to the bottom, glistening in the light. Her large white teeth, each one big enough to crush his bones, seemed to sparkle in this new light. The back of her throat contained a large, pink bulge of skin that hung from the top of her throat, Joe recognized as her uvula.

“Incredible,” Joe muttered as Michelle dumped him into the palm of her hand. He stared up at her in shock, and Michelle looked down at him, nervously.

“Was that too much? Should I dial back a bit?” she said. Though she was incredibly horny at the moment, she did the best she could to hold herself back, so as not to accidently hurt Joe. Until she knew all of his limitations, she knew that she needed to proceed with caution, as if she was walking across a thin layer of ice. Joe snapped out of his astonishment and quickly shook his head.

“No, no! It’s just… that was… Incredible,” he said, not being able to think of a better way of putting it. Michelle sighed, and seeing her tiny man was doing a-ok, put her seductive grin back on.

“Good, because that was just the start…”

Joe lay on the pillow next to Michelle’s, his body still a little wet from sweat and other bodily fluids, some not even his own. Michelle stared at him from her pillow, not being able to take her eyes off his soundly sleeping form. A smile had formed across his face, and he seemed completely at peace for the time being. She herself, felt her eyes begin to flutter as she felt the warm embrace of sleep come to her. It had been an amazing experience for both of them, and having Joe inside of her, in two different ways, sent a shiver down her spine just thinking about it. Never before had she ever had so much control over someone. Joe’s life had literally been placed into the palm of her hands, and she had felt a feeling wash over her; power. It was not that she felt any differently towards Joe, he was still her loving boyfriend. But having him at such a submissive and easily controllable size was something she could get used to. Michelle reached across and stroked his cheek with her index finger, and saw him shift. He turned so that he was facing the opposite wall, his back now pointed towards Michelle. Scooting forwards, she place a small kiss on his back, the put her head down on her own pillow, her eyes not leaving Joe’s small, motionless form even once.

“Good night, Joe,” she whispered, and closed her eyes.

Agent Freeman sat at his desk, shuffling through a few papers and scribbling some notes down on them. There was a knock at his door, and he looked back at his offices door to see a silhouette through the bumpy glass.

“Come in,” he said, turning back to his paperwork, and Rita poked her head in. Her eyes wee a bit droopy and she was yawning.

“I’m heading out, sir,” she said, and Freeman nodded.

“I’ll lock up. Just throw me the key,” he said, and Rita reached into her pocket to retrieve the key.

“You know the code?” she asked, throwing the key over to Agent Freeman. He nodded, catching the key without even looking at it.

“Of course I do,” he said, not looking up from his paper. Rita nodded and closed the door.

“See you tomorrow,” she said, than walked away. It still amazed her to this day that she knew had known the man for ten years, and yet never once revealed to her his first name. In fact, she was almost positive no one around here knew Agent Freeman’s first name. Why he was so secretive about it, no one was really sure. He just was. Shaking her head, she grabbed her coat from her desk and left the building.

It was midnight when Agent Freeman left the MuGenTek lab. Other than his car, no other vehicle were in the parking lot. A few overhead lights were on, giving the lot a little less of a creepy look to it. Walking quickly to his car, Agent Freeman made his way over to his vehicle, unlocking it on the way. Opening the driver’s door, he slipped in and threw his jacket onto the passengers seat. He put his key into the ignition and started the car. Then he settled into his seat and looked straight ahead.

“You know, if you truly want to sneak up on someone, wearing a perfume as strong as yours might not be the best idea,” he said, and he heard a slight chuckle from the back seat.

“Who said anything about sneaking up on you? I was merely waiting,” said a female voice. The back seat of his car was dark, and Agent Freeman had no way of seeing the woman’s face.

“One of these days I am going to see that pretty little face of yours, Sandra,” he said, and again, the woman laughed.

“Yes, well, that’ll also be the day where you either accept my invitation to come work for me and my employer, or the day I kill you,” she said. At the word kill, Agent Freeman reached for his pistol that was strapped to his hip, his fingers gripping the gun. Apparently, Sandra had foreseen this, and Freeman heard the cocking of a gun behind his head, through the seat.

“So, Agent Freeman, here we are again. I do believe you already know my proposition,” she said, and Agent Freeman felt the cold metal of a guns muzzle touch the back of his neck.

“And I believe I already told you no,” he said, his voice remaining emotionless and unfazed. Silence. Finally, Sandra broke it.

“We’re more then willing to double last times offer. And as an added sign on bonus, measures will be taken to ensure the safety of your little friend,” she said.

“You lay a finger on him, and you can be sure he’s the last thing that finger ever touches,” said Agent Freeman. Sandra sighed.

“Agent, Agent, Agent. You are only prolonging the inevitable. We will eventually obtain the subject, whether or not you have a say in it. This is merely a way for you to benefit from it instead of suffer.” The cold metal left his neck and he heard Sandra lean against the seat. He heard the gun being holstered, and the door open. He glanced at his mirrors, but it was still too dark for him to see the woman.

“Our patience is running short, Agent Freeman. The time will come where the subject will be ours, and you can either join us, or suffer the consequences,” she said, and closed the door before Agent Freeman could say another word.

Joe was sore from head to toe, but it was a good sore. It was the type of soreness that came from a hard days work, or in his case, a horny nights work. He felt a warm draft wash over him, and opened his eyes to see Michelle’s sleeping face looming over her. Smiling, he sat up and stared into her face, admiring the beautiful scene that took up almost his entire range of sight.

“I am one lucky man,” he thought. Standing up, he stretched out his arms, legs, back, neck, and any other body part that seemed a bit stiff. He glanced down the expanse of Michelle’s body and smiled.

“It’s like I’m looking at a sleeping building, except a hell of a lot sexier,” he laughed. An idea crossed his mind and he glanced back at Michelle’s sleeping face. She looked peaceful, and a slight smile played across her face. Her lips, which he had spent a bit of time behind the night before, were slightly parted, and were the source of the warm draft he had been feeling. He made his way towards the foot of the bed, walking a bit awkwardly across the bedspread. For whatever reason, Michelle had kicked off the sheets, leaving her body naked and exposed. Michelle was still naked, as was he, and was lying on her side, facing him. Joe reached her feet and, with expert climbing skills, scaled them until he was on top of her outstretched legs. His bare feet were greeted with the warmth her body radiated, and he put his arms out to steady himself as he began to climb across her body. The smooth, porcelain surface he walked on did not move, to which Joe was thankful for. During their love making the night before, Joe had not been given much time to explore the wondrously massive form of his girlfriend, something he had fantasized about doing for a long time. The trek across her body brought him to where her hip rose up. Looking down to his left, he took a glimpse at the area between her legs, and couldn’t help but think back to the night previous…

********************************************************************************

Joe’s body shuddered when Michelle had said things were only just getting started. It had been from excitement, though, not fear… at least that’s what he thought. All of a sudden, he found himself flying through the air much faster than he thought possible, and looked to see her spreading her legs open. He gulped, his throat suddenly dry and his mouth parched. She wasn’t kidding. Before he knew what was going on, he felt himself drop from Michelle’s hands and onto the mattress with a slight bounce.

Standing on his legs, he looked up to see Michelle smiling down on him. He looked straight ahead and his eyes grew wide as he stared into Michelle’s now person-sized vagina. Or, as least, HIS sized. The warmth he felt emanating from Michelle’s privates was enough to cause him to sweat. Or was that just because he was so nervous? It didn’t matter. He had a feeling that being covered in his own sweat would be the last thing he’d need to worry about soon. He looked back up at Michelle, a bit dumbfounded. She didn’t say a word, just stared at him expectantly.

‘She must be waiting for me,’ he thought. He took a step forward, then another. Then another, until he was in arms reach of Michelle’s most private of body parts. He touched the warm, moist skin, and felt as Michelle’s entire being shuddered. With renewed confidence, he then placed both hands on the trembling mass of flesh and began rubbing. Michelle’s body trembled again, and a slight moan escaped her lips.

‘So far so good,’ thought Joe, feeling his already erect member harden even more. After his “blow job,” Joe had felt a bit tuckered out, but he was catching his second wind, feeling the stamina build back up once again. He was going to pleasure Michelle, one way or another. Trying to move things along a bit quicker, he made his rubbing movements that much faster, and Michelle’s moans grew in volume. Smiling, Joe rubbed and rubbed, ignoring his arms, which were starting to burn. Suddenly, he felt a massive object hit him from behind, and fell face first into Michelle’s vagina. The hand pushed him in, and Joe found himself in a place like no other.

She was all around him. Unlike being inside her mouth, he found himself completely immobilized by the walls of wet, pulsing, warm flesh around him. He tried to move his arms, and found that he could at least wiggle around a bit. He then heard, and felt, Michelle moan once more. He moved his arms again, this time adding leg movements as well, and the moaning grew louder.

Getting the idea, Joe began to thrash around, tiring himself out, and increasing his own erection. His entire body was being used to pleasure Michelle, and it was quickly sapping what little strength he had left. At the same time, he felt his penis reach a climax, and with a muffled moan of his own, exploded within his gentle giantess. He then felt the movements around him quicken, as he realized Michelle was thrusting her pelvis up and down. Though he was tired and had already came, he continued on as best he could. She couldn’t be much longer, and he was starting to run out of air-.

The sudden rush of fluids hit Joe like a tidal wave, and he found himself back outside on the mattress, cold, drenched in his girlfriends fluids, and exhausted. He heard Michelle sigh, and felt her large warm fingers pick him up. He looked up into the face of Michelle with an exhausted smile.

“Ok, now THAT, was incredible,” he said, and the last thing he heard was Michelle laugh, before he slipped away into sleep.

********************************************************************************

The thought brought a smile to Joe’s face, as well as a certain body part of his to attention. He glanced down at his erection, which was quite hard, after the memories of last nights events had played through his mind.

“At ease soldier,” he saluted to his erect penis, yet it did no yield. Sighing, he continued his walk along his girlfriend’s naked body. In a few minutes, he found himself atop her shoulder, Michelle’s lovely face a few feet below him. He slid down her shoulder as if it were a slide, and bumped into the bottom of her chin. He climbed up once again and found himself lying on her left cheek, facing the ceiling above him. He leaned over and kissed her face. Suddenly, he heard a slight giggle, and Michelle spoke, causing him to shift.

“Enjoy your morning walk, Sargent?” she asked, and Joe’s face grew bright red.

“Oh, you’re awake! Um… how long-,” he began, than stopped when Michelle lifted him up and rolled onto her back, placing Joe on her right breast.

“The whole time,” she said, and a broad smile was plastered across her face. Joe realized that she might have heard a lot more then he thought she would.

“Oh, right… uh, sorry if you didn’t like me… climbing all over you. I just… I just wanted-,”

“Oh I didn’t mind at all! It was actually kind of cute seeing you walked around like that. And the feeling of your little bitty feet padding across my body… It’s something else,” she sighed, and Joe did as well. Grinning, he scooted to his right until he slid down into the valley that was between Michelle’s massive breasts.

“So, we going to go grab some breakfast, or what?” he said, and Michelle laughed.

“Let’s get dressed first, then we’ll talk food,” she said, and Joe nodded.

“Fair enough.”

“Sandra, I don’t tolerate failure,” the man said, voice unnaturally low. “You know this.”

Lanky, though not in a sickly way, the man reclined in his chair, twirling a pen between his fingers. A scowl appeared to be carved on his long face, the very idea of a smile foreign to his thin lips. The intercom on his desk flashed, a dull red light indicating a caller on the other line.

A woman’s voice, lacking in both confidence and emotion, spoke. “I apologize for the delays, Mr. Masters. I assure you, we are getting closer to obtaining the subject. I realize we are getting closer to the deadline, but I can guarantee you, things will follow the plan without any more complications.”

The man rose from his chair and paced the office. His eyes wandered to the front of his desk where a golden plaque -- emblazoned with his name and title in dark black letters -- clung to the reddish mahogany.

Gerome, F. Masters, CEO of NewGenics inc.

Gerome cleared his throat while straightening his tie in a mirror. “Ms. Collins, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were hiding something from me. But you wouldn’t ever hide anything from me, would you my dear?”

The venom in his voice sent a shiver down her spine. Nevertheless, Sandra contained her fear and steadied her speech -- barely. “Agent Freeman denied our request once again, sir. It seems there is no swaying him into working for us.”

Gerome sighed, picking a piece of lint out of his short, snow white hair. “Pity. Agent Freeman would have made a fine member of our organization. Such a shame to see all that talent go to waste. Proceed with the plan. Mr. Freeman has made his decision.”

“Yes sir. Right away.”

After an awkward silence, Gerome continued, “Oh, and be a dear and have the boys from the lab send me some WD-40 for my leg.”

“Right away sir. Will that be all?” she asked, eager to be dismissed.

“Yes, Sandra. Goodbye.” Gerome terminated the intercom session.

Rubbing his temples, Gerome sighed and reclined into his chair. He hefted his right leg onto the table and pulled back the pant leg. Instead of flesh and blood, a robotic limb met his gaze. Gears and metallic joints whirred inside the prosthesis, emanating heat -- electrical rather than biochemical.

With an expression of absent mindedness, he ran his fingers along the rivets, edges, and smooth bumps. Though his current limb excelled in many ways, he occasionally missed the feel of real skin.

Snapping out of his reverie, Gerome stood and walked to the mini bar, allowing his pant leg to fall back into place. He grabbed a glass, filled it with scotch on ice, and sipped while returning to his desk. The intercom button once more met his finger.

After a crackle, a man’s voice spoke. “Mr. Masters?”

“Jameson, I’m assigning you to be Sandra’s help,” Gerome said. “The mission has taken a slight deviation, and I need to make sure it still goes mostly according to plan. Nothing can get in my way. Absolutely nothing.”



“Michelle, please, get out of the way!” shouted Joe, his girlfriend’s massive right arm sitting before him, an immovable mass of flesh and bone. Michelle glanced down at him and raised her arm.

“Sorry, Joe,” she said through a mouthful of eggs and toast. Joe said nothing as he walked towards a plate that sat in the center of the table. A plate that seemed to glow in Joe’s eyes, as if the gods themselves had blessed it. Greasy, shimmering strips of godly deliciousness sat on the plate, longer that he was tall. Their smell was intoxicating, and Joe felt drawn to them, like he was in some sort of hypnotic trance. The smell, the sight, the sound of their crispness, a sound not unlike that of applause.

Bacon. Sweet, savory glorious BACON!

Joe took a piece off and bit into it, his mouth watering the whole time. Even with the slightly diluted flavor, the bacon still tasted amazing.

“It’s so beautiful,” Joe said, his mouth still full of the savory meat. Michelle rolled her eyes as she swallowed another mouth full of eggs.

“It’s just bacon, Joe, why do you get so obsessive over it?” she said, and Joe turned to her, his eyes wide.

“Just bacon? JUST bacon!? Bacon is not JUST bacon, it’s… well look at it! It doesn’t need an explanation,” he said, gesturing to the plate.

“How they managed to take a pigs ass and make it taste so delicious, I will never know. But I’m not complaining!” he said, and shoved another piece into his mouth, savoring the flavor as best he could.

“That’s what bacon’s made of? Ew gross!” said Michelle, throwing the bacon off her plate and onto Joe’s. He shrugged and kept chewing.

“More for me!” he said. Michelle sighed and took one last bite of her breakfast, wiped her mouth, and sat back. Joe was still chowing down on the bacon, somehow still hungry. She stood up and made her way over to the sink, putting her dish in the warm soapy water.

“Where are you putting all of it?” she asked, laughing at her tiny boyfriends insatiable appetite. Joe didn’t answer, but he did give a little shrug. Smiling, she continued to wash the dishes, putting some leftovers in the fridge for later. Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door. Wiping off her hands with a dishtowel, she took a deep breath and looked down at Joe, who was wiping his face and swallowing another piece of bacon.

“You sure about this Joe? I mean, I’m sure we can come up with an excuse or something,” said Michelle, and Joe shook his head.

“No, I’ve made my decision. She’s your sister, Michelle, and she’s already involved in this, just not as much as she realizes.” Joe stood up and walked to the edge of the table. Michelle sighed and knelt down so her face was level with Joe’s. Though he never complained, she got the feeling he didn’t feel as nervous around her when she wasn’t looming over him. He stood before her, just far enough from her that she could see him, yet close enough that he could feel her warm breath washing over him.

“And besides, I’m tired of hiding this from everyone. It’s time I start trusting more people with my secret. Mary already knows something is up, considering she’s discovered what my pills are made of. And if I know your sister like I think I do, she’s not going to leave this alone until she gets some answers,” said Joe, and Michelle sighed.

“I hate it when you’re right,” she said. At the moment, she sounded exasperated, but in her heart, she felt relieved. She was very close to her sister, and hated the idea of keeping any secret from her. To break a bond of trust like that would have been hard for both of them, so the fact that Joe was so accepting of Mary learning his secret made her happy. Smiling a bit, she stood up and placed her palm on the table, allowing Joe to crawl onto it and take a seat. She raised her hand slowly and looked at him.

“So, how are we doing this?” she asked.