"Tell me again why my best friend decided that I would want to spend some of my last days at a plausible human height shopping?" Lio said as he tried his best to follow Ava, which was getting harder with his decreasing size.

Ava just shook her head at Lio's comment. They were at the local mall, a place in decline compared to when they were younger, but still going strong. For this occasion, the brunette had opted for one of her favourite casual dresses: a kaki green one that was loose and comfy around her body and reached halfway down her upper lets. "Because you need at least a shirt in a few sizes so you don't get forced to wear your old clothing as you get smaller." Ava said, turning halfway and looking over her shoulder with a smirk on her face. "Or do you wanna wear your Disney themed shirts again? I'll admit it would look adorable."

".... Point taken." Lio agreed somewhat flustered as he picked up his pace, passing Ava who was still stopped in her tracks. As he passed her, he tried his best to not look straight at her. At 138cm tall, his face was level with his friend's chest. If she had known this before getting dressed and meeting up, he knew she likely would have picked something a little more... form-fitting around her torso. She liked screwing with him like that, though it was never mean-spirited.

Eventually, they made it to the central hub, looking around for the shops that would interest them. Lio's eyes, of course, fell on the gamestore, the bookstore, and nostalgia couldn't help but make them fall on the toyshop as well. Luckily, Ava was there to be the.... responsible adult of the pair. She was mentally noting the different clothing stores. When she looked to the side, she saw her friend not paying attention to the right things. In response, she just rolled her eyes and laid one of her arms on top of his head, like he was something to lean on. "Whatcha looking at buddy? You considering having your new house be made of Legos? I hate ruining your dreams but I think they'll be a bit too big for you." she teased, removing her arm and standing up straight as she felt Lio moving awkwardly beneath her.

"Come on Ava, don't do that stuff! It's bad enough to see Rachel regaining her youthful playfulness now that I'm back to sizes she hasn't seen me at since she was a teenager." he protested... though he didn't truly mind. He just didn't like Ava acting like this in public. "But no, the house is already ordered, we got the confirmation-mail this morning. I feel kinda bad though, I'm gonna be living better than Rachel and she's been the moneymaker for a decade...."

At Lio's suddenly solemn expression, Ava's own cheekiness faded. Instead, she adopted a very sympathetic look that could make anyone's day instantly brighter. She also put her left hand, her dominant hand, atop Lio's right shoulder. It was huge compared to him now... but maybe that's what he needed. "Hey, don't think like that. Rachel's doing this because she loves you, her little brother. She could have dumped you a decade ago, but she didn't. She found work instantly and is now a senior biologist at the aquarium. I'd say she's doing pretty well in life."

"She's also responsible for the education towards visitors these days.... She can make a presentation about something as mundane as a koi interesting to both a 5 year old and a 50 year old. Let alone the actually cool animals they have there..." Lio added, understanding what Ava was trying to tell him.

"She could have also dropped you now, a lot of families do.... But she didn't, and that's because she made a choice and a vow to look after you."

"Yeah... but she never got to start a family of her own because of me... I don't know if she wanted kids but... you know...."

"Oh my god stop being so negative, it's not like you. We both know Rachel's too focused on her work to have kids. And she's already dealt with raising a teenager... Almost two with how often I came over.... Plus this education thing means she gets to be around kids plenty at work too. Point is, she would basically slap you if she knew you felt guilty towards her. Now stop sulking and let's buy you some clothes before you get another shrink burst."

With that, Ava grabbed Lio's wrist and dragged him towards the shop she had chosen. She was smart enough to be content with the cheapest clothing. since he was gonna wear them for 3 days at absolute most. He didn't really care... As long as it felt nice to wear, he was okay with it. He was also reminded that he really didn't like shopping, but Ava's positivity was infectious.

But Ava wouldn't be Ava without adding in some fun of her own. At one point, she followed him into the fitting room. She had a good reason of course, she was carrying the potential clothes (because frankly, she was much stronger than Lio now) and needed to hang them on the racks. But she also took the opportunity to... show off. After putting the clothes in their spot, she turned around to see Lio standing awkwardly in front of her. She smirked when she saw his determination to look up at her face... and simply stepped even closer. This effectively "trapped" him between a wall and a... soft place.

"Lio. Buddy. You're allowed to look there, you know. It's not like we haven't seen each other in swimsuits before. It's also not like we haven't... you know...." Ava cleared her throat and her face became a few shades more red. That quickly faded though. "Besides, we're both aware my chest isn't my best asset. You better get used to looking at things cause pretty soon they could take up your horizon. And it's not always gonna be my face or hands. Not with me and not even with Rachel."

Lio just gulped and shifted his glance in front of him, looking at Ava's dress-covered chest. Because she wasn't very busty, the collar just barely didn't show a hint of cleavage. His mind wandered to a few weeks from now... when that same chest would be literal hills compared to him. He then looked up at Ava again, who had a big grin on her face. She clearly enjoyed he took the bait. "Nice view isn't it? Just wait a few days until your face is level with my better hill-like asset.....Oh! As a sidenote, I went to the doctor's and got confirmation I'm infected too now. So maybe we shouldn't stick in one place too long... I wanna avoid the chance of infecting another potential micro as best I can."

Lio nodded, he wanted the same courtesy given to him all his life until a few days ago... Seemed fair he wouldn't be a hypocrite about it. Back in high school, he always appreciated it when people who got infected stayed home.. They didn't have to, and they weren't really sick. But most people were nice enough to not purposefully infect him.... Though he was pretty sure the majority did it as a favour to Ava... and not himself.

"Oh, but before we head home, I'm gonna go to the jewellery store real quick. I got something I need to pick up. You can just wait at a bench, I'll be back in 10 minutes at most."