After a few hours relaxing in Alex’s pocket, Alice decided to peek out.

Alex was resting on his back, and apparently sleeping. They were, also apparently, on Alex’s couch. The same couch they had both used while marathoning series or playing videogames, now was like the throne of a god. Alice had to balance herself against the rhythmic ups and downs of Alex’s chest as the giant boy breathed in and out, and admittedly, it was harder than expected.

Alice decided it was enough of resting already. She was, for some reason, barely inches tall and while she appreciated Alex’s help there was no excuse for delay now, as her entire life was in jeopardy. With great difficulty, Alice crawled from Alex’s chest to the boy’s face. 

If anything, her greatest distractor was Alex’s aroma. The soft musk of sweat and cologne he always had was intensified by several orders of magnitude hare, on this scale. It was now strong, and basically the only thing that Alice could smell now.

“Oh there you are sleepyhead!” A familiar yet booming voice came from in front of her.

“Alex?” Alice asked to his giant friend “You were awake?”

“Aha!” he said. “I just like, wanted to see you crawling in my chest and all…” He giggled. Even at this scale it was cute when he giggled.

Alice laughed. “Don’t make me crawl if I don’t need to, you dumbass!” She said.

“Aw, there’s no fun in that.” Alex said, with an obviously fake and dramatized sad tone.

Alice laughed again. Alex laughed too. Alice had to really put a great deal of effort in not rolling over Alex’s chest. She was grabbing her friend’s shirt as it was the only way for her not to fall over.

When they finally stopped, Alice took a long breath and said “It’s so good to have you helping me out on this.”

“No problem!” Alex responded “Doing my part!” he said, with a fake military salute.

Alice took her time to accommodate herself on her best friend’s chest, crossd her legs, and asked.“So, what now, Alex? We should get some help”

“Well, there is no need to go find help just yet don’t you think?” he answered.

Alice was baffled by that statment. What the hell was Alex thinking? Was this all a big joke to him? Where was his sense of urgency? “WHAT?! ALEX LOOK AT ME!” Alice said, pointing at herself. “In case you haven't noticed, I'm SMALL!”

“Hey, hey it’s ok” Alex said  “I know this is hard on you, I know this is weird and bizarre and unexplainable and we’re going to look for help but why don’t we like, chill for a bit?”

“What do you mean?" Alice said, still baffled at her friend’s characteristic relaxed attitude even in such situations.

“I mean you’re so small right now… isn’t it exciting for you?” he said.

“I don’t see how this could be fucking exciting, Alex”. Alice said.

“I get it, I get it, I really do but isn’t it amazing to see the world from this new perspective?” Alex said with a smile. “You’re probably the first person in that condition. You’re seeing things no human was ever seen before, you can do things no one has ever believed could be done!”

“I suppose you’re right…” Alice said. Maybe it was just that Alex wanted to cheer her up. Maybe he just wanted to put a positive spin on this horrible day. What could go wrong with a little positivity in her life? Alice felt almost guilty for screaming at him. Alex was doing his best to keep her morale up.

“Yeah! There's like, sooo many fun things we could do right now!” Alex said, cheerfully. 

Alice felt admittedly a little nervous by that statement. Not because she distrusted Alex as a person, but she distrusted, at least a bit, his definition of ‘fun’. Of course there was no harm in trying to do something fun at her size but what was Alex thinking of? Meekly, she asked:

“L-like what?”

“Like this! Watch!” Alex said.

A giant hand came from her left to grab her. It was so fast Alice didn’t have time to protest, resist or even gasp. Suddenly, she was trapped on a warm fleshy box of fingers and palm. Alex, on his part, jumped out of the couch with her best friend tightly secured in his hand and gently dropped Alice beside his feet.

“OH MY GOD YOU’RE SOOOO SMALL NOW!” he said, like an excited little boy.

Alice suffered a little vertigo and some dizziness from changing environments so fast, and by looking up at his friend’s giant form like this. It was very different from their first encounter as shrinkee and man, as Alex was resting on a bench. Now, at his full height, he truly felt like a massive, walking and breathing skyscraper.

“Let’s play a game!” He announced.

Alice still hadn’t stood up as she tried to respond “What kind of game?”

“Cat and Mouse!” Alex declared.

Alice was well aware of the implications that choice of game had. Fuck. She really couldn’t get mad at Alex. After all, if any person had to find her while she was just some inches tall she was thankful it was him. But still, he could be a little more comprehensive with her situation.

Alex was a giggling giant. He jumped back, making Alice trip and fall to the floor again as she was just standing up. And then he said “ON YOUR MARKS”

Alice wasn’t ready.

“SET”

She had finally stood up. Like an animal, she instinctively looked for hiding spots, cover, anything that could help. The couch? Yes she could go under it as long as-

“GO!”

Alright, there was no time to think. Alice ran to the underside of the couch as fast as she could. But all it took was Alex taking a single, loud step for the tremors it made to make her trip and fall.

Alice rolled over her back to stand up quickly, but Alex was already over her. She waited for his hand to snatch her out from the floor, instead…

Alex's sock-clad foot came down on her. Alice's reflexes acted up and she covered her face waiting for the worst. But obviously, her friend had no intention of crushing her. Instead, his foot gently pressed her against the floor, pinning her down, and preventing her from making any movement.

It wasn’t Alex’s foot that was bothering Alice right now. Not his foot per se. It was the smell of the foot.

Alex had clearly worn his shoes all day and it showed. His socks were soggy and dirty and all around her was the smell of sweat trapped within a shoe and a sock. Even if Alice squirmed and pushed, there was no way for her to realistically take it off from her.

“Take this of me now!” She screamed up. Unintentionally opening her mouth and letting the humid fibers of the sock in for a brief moment. It tasted horrible, bitter and salty. Alice dreaded the fact that Alex could have noticed it.

“Uhhh, don't wanna” He said, with a lightheaded tone.

“ALEX!” Alice screamed again. Although this time with just a little bit of genuine anger in her. 

“Ok, ok! No problem!” Alex said, gently removing his foot and looking down mockingly on his best friend laying on the floor, a sight that made him giggle like an amused young boy yet again.

Alice took the first chance she got to try to rise up from the floor. It was a nice attempt, but Alex just shoved his foot right back in. Again, he used little force. A mere touch  was all it took to make Alice fall back down on her ass again.

“Sorry!” He said “It’s just so much fun to see you down there like that!” He said, and honestly, Alex was speaking the truth here. Watching her best friend pinned down, hopelessly fighting for release against not him, but just his foot, was the most amusing thing that Alex had seen in his life.

“IT’S NOT FUNNY, ALEX” Alice shouted at him. Now, she was definitely annoyed by her friend’s teasing attempts.

“Aw come on, it really is” Alex said, pouting. “You’d do the same if I were tiny, you have to admit this is really funny”

“IT 'S NOT!” Alice said.

She gave up. Alice stopped squirming and pushing and fighting to reflect on her position. Alex was merely teasing her, that was right. But he was just so much more powerful than her now. If he had wanted to, he could have crushed her like a bug several times over. 

And then it sank in. She was powerless. She depended on Alex for everything now. Her life was entirely reliant on his whims.

Alex, above, felt how Alice suddenly stopped and removed his foot to reveal her friend curled up and crying. Concerned. he backed off and dropped to the floor on his belly, in a position that best allowed him to look Alice eye-to-eye.

“Look, I’m sorry if it got out of hand, it’s just kind of irresistible” He apologized.

Alice cleaned her tears with the sleeves of her dress, and took a big breath. “Don’t worry Alex, I guess I’m going through a bad moment, that's all” she said, still depressed.

“I’m sorry, again” Alex said with concern in his voice “Do you need me to do anything for you?”

“I need you to get help!” Alice said. “Just look at me! I don’t know what happened to me. I don’t know how it happened, I don’t know if it’s even possible for me to grow back! We need to get someone! A scientist or a doctor or anyone!”

“That’s going to be a bit of a problem” Alex said, backing off a little “you smell like feet right now. I believe you should clean yourself up a bit before going to meet anyone else, it would be a bad first impression if you roll up smelling like some dirty socks.”

That was very much true. Alex’s smell had somehow stuck to her. It was everywhere in her dress, hair, and face. 

“I smell like YOUR feet because of YOU!” Alice shouted at her friend. “You should be the one finding a solution!”

“Well… I can help you smell nicely right now!” He said. “Although you probably wouldn't like it. The thing is, I've been chewing mint gum all day, you know?

Alice connected the dots immediately. “Oh no, don't you da-”

Alex, in an almost feline motion, lunged forward to grab Alice with his mouth. Only her kicking feet were out of his body, and he promptly pushed them in as he stood. He wasn’t lying, his mouth did smell nicely. 

“ALEX!” Alice said. “LET ME OUT THIS INSTA-” and again, Alice was interrupted by Alex’s mouth. His tongue, acting as a bathing sponge, licked Alice’s entire body. From her feet up to her head, Alex spared no place from his tongue.

He went back to the couch, playing with his little prey on his mouth. Alex moved Alice from cheek to cheek, between his teeth. Covered her entire body with his saliva. He even took the care to give Alice some brief moments of respite to catch her breath.

After a few minutes, Alex opened his palm right below his mouth, and gently dropped her friend from inside of him, covered in a blob of mint-scented saliva. Alice’s hair was a mess now, and her pretty dress would need a wash later, but she was otherwise unharmed.

“There! Now you smell like fresh mint!”

Alice had cried a lot while inside Alex’s mouth. It wasn’t that she felt violated by him, not at all. It was all too frequent among the pair to grab each other unannounced and to sleep together occasionally. Intimacy among them was no taboo.

No, Alice had cried because there was nothing she could do to stop him.

But right now she wasn’t crying. As her mess of a saliva-soaked body tried to find her footing in Alex’s palm she just laughed nervously.

“I guess we can look for help now?” She asked

“First we wait for you to have an actual bath, silly”