The days after accidentally learning that magic was real and also her roommate was studying in some sort of magic school to learn magic were rough. Although Gina felt guilty about it, she still avoided Ashley as much as she could, making excuses or pretending to look distracted by her phone. Which wasn’t fair to Ashley. And it also sucked because they had a good thing going, as roommates. If this kept up, the awkward atmosphere was going to probably force one or the other to move out and Gina didn’t want to go through the hassle of finding another apartment or another roommate.

So it was probably for the best that, by the end of the week, Gina had gone from somewhat fearful to mostly annoyed.

“Hey Gina, can you just help me with one tiny thing — “

“No! For the last time, I’m not helping you with magic stuff!”

“I promise I’ll actually start throwing things out when they’re empty if you do.”

“That deal is so unbalanced I can’t even pretend to consider it.” Gina took Ashley by the shoulders and started to gently push her into her room, but sighed as she continued to send pleading eyes her way. “Don’t you have classmates or friends at your magic school for this sort of thing?”

“But none of them have your unique perspective! Come on, Gina! It’ll be fun, I swear, and any new discoveries you help me make, I’ll definitely credit you in my research papers!”

“I don’t care about your papers. Look, can you just leave me alone right now?”

“At the very least, my homework — “

Gina closed the door in Ashley’s face.

Phew. She went for the living room and flumped onto the couch. Who knew having a magic roommate would be so mentally exhausting. It was definitely time for some relaxation, and she had been meaning to binge that show that had started last year. Gina leaned over and picked up the remote.

“Aha! Finally!” Ashley declared, pointing at her dramatically from her doorway and startling Gina into dropping the remote.

“Were you watching me? Ashley, that’s super creepy! Look, I’m sorry I haven’t been the nicest lately, but I need time to process, we can have a proper conversation later — “

“Small, small, small!” Ashley responded, still pointing at her with excitement, which was worryingly odd. But the intent became clear when Gina felt something somewhat familiar, like everything was shifting and expanding around her in bursts, and she jumped up, dismayed to see that her sweatpants were already flopping over her feet.

“What did you do to me?!” Gina yelled, looking down the sleeves of her t-shirt. They were already edging past her elbows.

Ashley strolled up next to her and crossed her arms with pride. “I cursed you. Well actually, I guess I cursed the remote. Which then cursed you when you touched it.” She laughed when Gina fearfully backpedaled away from the remote she had dropped on the floor. “Sheesh, chill out, the curse is already on you. You can’t get double-cursed.”

“It’s not like I’d know that!” Gina snapped. At this point, she had stopped shrinking and was at a height that was still probable for a human to be. But it was still upsetting to find her line of sight slightly lower than Ashley’s chin. “This isn’t permanent, right? I’m not gonna be short forev-” The word caught in her throat as her viewpoint jolted down to Ashley’s collarbone. “It’s not done?!”

Ashley looked pleased as she checked something off in a notepad. “Yeah, no. Curses are on you until you break them. You’ve seen Sleeping Beauty and stuff, right? Though I guess that one was more like someone breaking it for her.”

Gina patted herself down with urgency as if she could physically find the curse and snap it in half. Once again the shrinking had stopped, but now that she knew there was a chance it would start again, she couldn’t relax. “So what, I’m gonna keep getting smaller unless — “ she winced as she shunted down once more. Ashley discreetly covered a snigger. Asshole. “ — I kiss someone?” She tried pulling her sweatpants up and found the waist was up to her breasts. Blushing with embarrassment, she tightened the strings as far as she could. She had never been good at judging length with her eyes alone (and even if she was, her sense of scale would be significantly impaired now, for obvious reasons) but measuring herself against Ashley and her own sagging shirt, she probably couldn’t pass as an adult woman now. She must have lost at least a foot.

Ashley scoffed. “True love’s kiss or whatever isn’t the only way curses break; it depends on how I crafted the curse. And I definitely wouldn’t do something so cheesy.” With a smug grin, she added, “You could always ask me how to break the curse. Otherwise, who knows how tiny you’ll get?”

Gina gritted her teeth as everything expanded again. The work she had done with her sweatpants was all for naught as they slipped all the way down to her hips — staying there only because she had widened her stance. She had to push her sleeves up to keep her arms free, though that was an exercise in futility as well. It would have been easier to just let her shirt slide off her shoulders and drop. But Gina was stubbornly clinging on to whatever dignity she could keep. Not that this was dignified at all, but sometimes you have to adjust your standards. Above her, Ashley looked like she was checking something else off on her notepad. And then, something clicked.

“It’s something someone says, isn’t it?” she demanded. “No, more like something I hear!”

Ashley raised an eyebrow. “Wow, how’d you guess? Yeah, you’re right. It’s supposed to be whenever you hear a synonym of — “

Gina covered her ears.

It felt childish, but it worked. With everything sounding muffled, whatever Ashley said didn’t trigger the curse. But she still loomed, and if she caught her, there was no winning. Gina turned to run and immediately tripped over her pants. With a yelp, she reflexively threw out her hands to catch herself.

“Ha!” Ashley crowed, dropping down to grab her. “Get back here you little, puny, petite, uh…tiny…? No, I already said that…hey!” As Ashley jerked the shirt upwards, Gina somersaulted out of the collar, hands on her ears again. It was hard to tell if she had gotten any smaller because, after glancing up at Ashley, she deftly rolled straight under the couch. “No!” Ashley snaked a hand down but missed Gina’s ankle and could only stare at her in frustration outside. “At least tell me if any of those words worked!”

Ashley sighed, got to her feet, and paced around the apartment. Gina could feel every step, the vibrations thrumming through her chest.

Despite her successful escape, she was in a pretty miserable position. She had shrunk a pretty significant amount, but she wasn’t so small that she could easily move around under the couch. It was a miracle she managed to fit under here — she was squeezed in so tight, she barely had the room to breathe. And worst of all, there was so much dust. If she stayed down here for long, there was a good chance that she would suffocate.

Gina waited for a while longer, listening for any more movement, before starting to crawl towards the other end of the couch. It was slow going with her hands occupied and her legs barely able to move. And it certainly wasn’t comfortable to slide her bare belly on the dusty wood floor. She was going to need a shower and a drink after this. Also find out how to break the stupid curse. She didn’t doubt that Ashley would undo everything in the end, but it wouldn’t be without its humiliations.

As she reached the edge, she paused, her nose barely peeking out. Still no sound. There definitely was a trap or something, but she really had no choice. She would just have to be fast.

She popped her head out, wriggled until she could prop her elbows on the floor, and started to leverage herself free, coughing out dust bunnies and old crumbs or whatever. There still wasn’t any sign of Ashley. It was all very suspicious. Even so, Gina cautiously removed her hands from her ears so she could push herself out easier.

“Hello~!” Ashley said from the ceiling. She was standing up there, defying gravity, but in an instant she was back on the floor again and she grabbed Gina around the middle and pulled her out and placed her on her feet.

Gina gasped and slapped her hands over her ears, but with a smirk, Ashley grabbed her wrists. Slowly, she pried them away. It didn’t even look hard for her, even as Gina strained as much as she could against her. And so, holding her arms apart, Ashley said, “Mini.”

“Ashley, please,” Gina said as she started to sink below her waist. Ashley’s grip felt loose around her wrists for a moment before she adjusted it. Her hands basically spanned her entire forearms now.

“Minute.”

“Come on, the curse worked, okay? Now you know, so…um…” Gina suddenly realized that she was having to stand on her toes now. She looked up at Ashley’s hands. “Uh, can you lower me a little — oh goddammit.”

Ashley laughed as Gina struggled to keep any part of her feet on the floor. “Sorry, what did you say? I couldn’t hear you, you’re just sooooooo…diminutive.” And there it was. She was officially dangling.

Gina was blushing now, looking down at herself. She was getting aware of just how exposed she was, her breasts hanging out for anybody to see, her body in full view for anyone who cared to look. True, Ashley had already seen everything there was to see. Twice, even. But there was something about being nude while also being child-sized that made the situation just…embarrassing.

Ashley let out a breath, arms shaking slightly. “Man, you’re surprisingly heavy. I mean,” she amended, a sly grin crossing her face, “surprisingly heavy for someone so minuscule.” Gina’s line of sight started to rise this time; now that Ashley was holding her in the air, she was (in a manner of speaking) shrinking upwards rather than down. And, from her perspective, getting higher up.

“Please put me down!” Gina shouted, wheeling her legs in the air, trying to find a purchase on anything she could stand on. But there wasn’t anything in reach. Except maybe Ashley, but she didn’t have a lot of horizontal surfaces to choose from.

“Hey, I’m not gonna drop you or anything, and you’re not that high up — well, I guess it might look kinda high for someone so teeny-weeny.” She laughed as Gina groaned, approaching baby-size. “Here, this might feel more stable for you.”

“What are you doing,” Gina said nervously as Ashley started swinging her. Like a swing set, if swing sets got joy out of your terror. Gina was whistling through the air in an arc that kept getting wider and wider, until she was swinging almost vertically. And then Ashley let go.

Gina found herself tumbling in the air, the momentum carrying her up for a few long seconds, before she dropped and landed in Ashley’s arms. Her stomach carried on down without her for a bit before leaping back up in her throat. She took a shaky breath as Ashley cradled her close to her chest.

“Thrilling, right?”

“It was like a roller coaster,” Gina managed to croak.

“So you had fun?”

“I hate roller coasters.”

When Ashley laughed again, Gina scowled and slapped at her shoulder, which only made her laugh harder. “Look, I’m just trying to show you that I’m not gonna hurt you, okay?”

“I know,” Gina whined, “but this is really a lot to handle! Stop laughing!”

Ashley responded by lifting her up a bit higher so she could nuzzle her cheek against her entire head. And oh god, she was still naked. “I’m sorry, you’re just sooooo cute — ah…“ Ashley paused, her face scrunching up until she suddenly buried her face in her sleeve and sneezed. Gina winced as she was jostled a bit. But at least she hadn’t been sneezed on. It was already gross when someone’s sneeze got on her face or something. It would have been absolutely awful if it covered her entire body. Ashley sniffed and turned down the hall. “Oh man, I didn’t realize how dusty you got.”

“So you’re gonna break the curse and let me shower?” Gina glumly asked.

“Nope!” Ashley replied with inordinate cheer as she entered the bathroom with her. “We are gonna have a bath. Did you just shrink?”

The answer was yes. Gina sank uncomfortably in Ashley’s arms before she got bounced back up into a proper cradle. Ashley stared down at her, contemplating. “Huh.”

“That’s all you have to say?! Admit it! Something went wrong!”

“I mean…not likely…” To be fair, Ashley at least had the decency to look concerned. But apparently not that concerned; she still leaned down to start the bath. “Did I say something…?” she continued as they waited for the tub to fill. “Um…’having a bath…’ no, ‘gonna have a bath…’ oh!” Ashley brightened. “‘We!’ As in ‘wee’!”

“Stop saying ‘we’!” Gina shouted up at her, cringing as she inadvertently shrunk herself more.

“Oh, this is exciting,” Ashley said, holding Gina up in front of her. “I didn’t even consider homophones!”

Gina sighed as she found herself dangling again. “Can you please tell me how to break the curse.”

“So does that mean maybe if I say…’martini’?” Ashley stared at her expectantly, but Gina, for once, didn’t dwindle. “Oh.”

“Don’t look so disappointed.”

“I guess it can’t be part of a word, then.” Ashley turned off the tap and set Gina down in the tub. The water went up to her chest despite Ashley having been considerate enough to not fill the tub all the way. Gina did take the chance to dunk her head under, and then waded away from the spreading film of dust on the water’s surface. When she looked up again, she caught Ashley in the middle of undressing and swiftly turned on her heel, blushing hard. Which meant she wasn’t prepared when Ashley did step into the tub, and she stumbled from the waves that pushed her from behind. As Ashley finished sinking into the bath with a contented sigh, Gina found herself straining to keep her head above the rising water. “Hey, can you think of any other homophones for synonyms of ‘small’?” she asked after a moment of relaxing. Gina’s head suddenly shot down under the water and she surfaced a second later, spluttering. “Whoops,” Ashley mumbled to herself, and after being buffeted by a few more waves, Gina suddenly found a knee between her legs. Though she still had to strain her head above the water. Ashley was still an asshole.

“No. I can’t. Can you break the curse now?”

“You’re no fun,” Ashley pouted, grabbing the soap. “You haven’t even gotten as small as you can get.”

Gina squeaked as she jolted down again, trying to hide her embarrassment as her shrinking inadvertently rubbed her against Ashley’s knee. “I think you found the only one. Please tell me how to break the curse.”

“You were smart enough to figure out what the curse was in the first place, I’m sure you can figure out how to break it before,” Ashley snickered, raising her leg slightly, “you get too small.”

Gina looked forlorn as the water level went back to lapping at her chin. She couldn’t even muster any sense of alarm when Ashley started lathering up her thigh and playfully bumped the bar of soap into her.

“Fine, I’ll give you a hint. Breaking the curse involves having to give me what I want.”

“Uh,” Gina stammered, her face at its reddest.

“Not like that,” Ashley said sharply. “Sheesh. Get your mind out of the gutter. Oh wait, what about homonyms? Like ‘minute’ instead of ‘minute’?” Ashley peered at Gina, who diminished only once. “Aw.”

At this point, it would be easier to sit cross-legged on Ashley’s knee. Gina glanced at the scale of the world nervously. “Uh, how sm- I mean…what’s my…lower limit here?”

“Well, you lose three inches at a time, and you look about…” Gina grimaced as a hand as long as her entire body approached to measure her. “…six inches? So the next one’s the last.”

“Fucking hell,” Gina muttered.

“Hey, come on, look on the bright side! At the worst, you only have three inches to lose.”

“Three inches is half my height!” Gina shouted back. “That means everything would look like it doubled in size! Maybe to you, that’s a slight diff-“

Everything looked like it doubled in size.

“Ooh, ‘slight,’ that’s a good one,” Ashley commented as she raised her knee slightly for the last time. Gina just groaned and thunked her head on her expansive perch. “You can still break the curse, you know.”

Gina kept her head down in thought. Something Ashley wanted. And that she could give to her.

With the tone of someone condemning herself to holding the earth on her back, Gina glared up at Ashley and said, “I promise to help you with your stupid magic homework.”

The two continued sitting in the bath.

“What, that wasn’t it?!” Gina whined, looking around a bathroom that was still a hundred times too big.

“No, you got it right,” Ashley replied as she lathered her arms.

“But, but,” Gina spluttered, gesturing all around, “then why am I still small?!”

“The curse was that you shrunk three inches any time you heard a synonym of ‘small.’ Then you broke it. So now you won’t shrink three inches any time you hear a synonym of ‘small.’ Doesn’t mean you undo the shrinking.”

Gina stared up at her in incredulous silence before throwing her hands up with disbelief. “So breaking it was pointless, then! I already wasn’t gonna get any smaller!”

“Not true. If I grew you back and you didn’t break it, then you’d still shrink.”

Gina opened her mouth to retort and realized she didn’t have one. She huffed instead and crossed her arms. “So are you gonna grow me back or what?”

Suddenly noticing a shadow above her, Gina looked up and yelped as Ashley’s hand descended and easily enclosed her in a loose fist. “Ask me again in a few hours,” Ashley responded with a grin.