It had been several weeks since the success of Susie and Gabby’s date, and with the reveal of James, the three had become a near inseparable trio. Susie already had a natural attachment to her little friend, but Gabby seemed to have an extreme interest in making sure that James and her were on good terms. James never got into much detail with what he had been through with her, but she got the sense that whatever it was hadn’t been pleasant; and though she had no part in knowing that he was anywhere within her clothing, she felt immense guilt in knowing she had put him through any form of discomfort. She wanted nothing more than to make up for it and actively looked for ways to help James feel more comfortable around her. While this certainly played a role in how she treated him, she couldn’t help but appreciate him for what he had done for her. As far as Gabby had come to understand, James was a very kind individual who deserved nothing more than her affection. He had been incredibly understanding of her accidental smotherings, both at the gym and at the roller rink, and once Gabby learned of his involvement in getting her and Susie together, she became endlessly grateful. As a bonus, she found his diminutive size to be both remarkable and adorable. She found herself staring on multiple occasions, simply caught up in the wonder of how someone could wind up so small, and though it was a bit strange to have eyes on him so much, it was reassuring to know that Gabby at least seemed interested to know of his whereabouts.

As the weeks went by, Susie and Gabby continued to grow close, going on dozens of dates with James tagging along for the fun. While a great deal of their adventures were pleasant, there was the continued dilemma of his diminutive size. He was often still victim to whatever nonsense Susie felt like subjecting him to, and both her and Gabby had their fair share of unknowingly mashing him up. Sure, he was starting to get more adjusted to his size, but it didn’t do much to change up how difficult things could get. Something that did make him feel better about the whole situation was when Susie pointed out just how much his body had changed. Of course he was tiny now, but with all the time he had spent dealing with the various weights that came from their bodies, his body had gone through quite the strain; enough to where he had developed a much more defined physique than he had ever had back at his normal size. He could actually see the definition in some of his arm and leg muscles and any gut he may have had was now a slim, toned stomach. This of course filled him with conflicting thoughts as he struggled to believe that it might have been possible that this whole shrinking problem had wound up being something that benefited him. Either way, it was well appreciated to hear the various compliments from the two on how good he looked and how much they seemed to want him around. There hadn’t been a single date in which he wasn’t a part of the action in one way or another.

All of that led to what was now two months later with James currently nestled between Gabby’s planetary breasts with his head just barely poking out from the top of her cleavage. The titanic blond was fully nude, laid out on her back while Susie was making out with her lower lips. James had been at the center of their love making for nearly an hour and was completely drenched in a mixture of Gabby’s breast sweat and Susie’s saliva as she had just finished giving Gabby’s body a thorough tongue bath. She had made sure to put extra emphasis on losing her tongue within Gabby’s chest, wanting James to be in on the fun. He now lied snug in place with a bright red face. He could feel the pounding beat of Gabby’s heart below, and with the resting weight of her chest pressing against his sides, he was more than out of breath. Even so, what had just transpired had easily been the best experience of his entire life, and he was honestly ready to take a nap, but the various grunts and moans coming from his roommates was difficult to ignore. Soon enough, a loud gasp escaped Gabby and James was greeted by Susie’s face which hung just above him. She was breathing heavily, and he watched several droplets of sweat fall from her chest to Gabby's, then in one abrupt motion, Susie let herself drop. Her breasts came crashing into Gabby’s as the two embraced into a tight hug, both panting from their recent love session. Aside from his head, James’ entire body was completely mashed between Gabby’s tits, leaving him to weakly squeal as the air left him. He would’ve been left to drown in the booba if it weren’t for the pinching fingers of the panting blond that plucked him free before placing him just above her chest so that he rested along her collar bone.

“Oh wow, you’re already down an inch or so. Sorry about that.”

“I-it’s alright. I’m used to it by now….”

“Huff… that’s his way of saying he secretly loved it~” James’ face remained red as he ignored Susie’s comment, inadvertently confirming her theory to both her and Gabby.

“So you’re actually starting to like this now? Even with all the sweat” 

“Huff… and he huff… argued against being small when we did this.”

“You know that I still wouldn’t mind being turned back to normal, right?”

“Yeah, but the facility we’d have to go to is like on the other side of the country and they expect me to spend twenty bucks? Fuck that and fuck them. I shouldn’t have to go through that effort to fix a flaw in their app.”

“And besides that, you’re just so cute like this James. I don’t know if I’d be able to sleep anymore without my little bed bug all close and snug~”

James’ face went even redder as he recapped the pleasures of the last few weeks. Susie and Gabby had decided to move in together, both ditching their old apartments in exchange for a slightly bigger and nicer one for the two to share; and with how small he now was, James didn’t really have a good reason to sleep at his own house. This led to many nights slept snugly between two gorgeous women of gigantic proportions. And while there were plenty of times where he fell victim to someone rolling over, he had plenty of well rested nights on the cushiony bed and sometimes atop the plump cushions that were Susie and Gabby’s boobs. When they weren’t crushing him, they made for marvelous beds that kept him warm and comfortable. Even on the occasions where he accidentally slipped between one of their breasts, he had to admit that it wasn’t all that bad. Even when flattened to a pancake, he was actually starting to enjoy the prospects of being compressed by giant titties.

“Are you saying you haven’t enjoyed your time with us?” That couldn’t have been farther from the truth. He couldn’t believe how much had changed since he originally shrunk. It was accurate to assume that his relationship with Susie had certainly gone beyond just friends, and Gabby was just so wonderful. It felt a bit strange at first when he was initially asked to be part of this three way, but given the results, he had no complaints. “I’ll take that dorky face of yours as a no~”

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Ah! Fuck!” Susie flipped over and nearly fell out of the bed. “Who the hell is that?”

“I should probably get dressed, right?” Susie sat up slowly, unintentionally causing James to slide back down from her collar bone and get half of his body wedged between her boobs. Even after she did realize, James didn’t seem to be having any complaints; so instead of fishing him out, she gave him a very gentle pet on the head with her finger.

“No, you stay all sexy there with James. I’ll go tell whoever it is to fuck off.”

Susie walked out of the room, grabbing a towel along the way to cover her curvatures as she made her way to the front door. Standing at the other side of the door was the landlord of the entire apartment complex, Raychanette. Having your landlord stop by unannounced certainly didn’t bode well, but at the very least, she had something good to look at. With smooth skin comparable to that of dark chocolate and flowing locks of curly black hair, Susie couldn’t help but admire the woman. For someone in her late thirties, she was surprisingly well kept. If Susie didn’t know any better, she’d think they were only a few years apart. Raychanette was one for professionalism and regularly wore a light gray suit with matching pants. It wasn’t the most accentuating to the body, but even so, she made it look good. Unfortunately, Ray didn’t seem to be here for compliments as her brown irises glared into Susie’s soul. It looked like it was gonna be one of those days.

“Uh, hey there Ray, what’s up?”

“Don’t be acting all friendly with me, Susie. I’ve been getting emails about you two shaking up the whole complex! Everyone can hear you “going at it” and it’s beyond inappropriate. I’m not faulting you for wanting to be intimate. I can understand that part, but at least have the decency to keep it between yourselves. It shouldn’t be possible for residents that are literally three rooms away to hear you guys.”

“Listen, you don’t understand. If you had what we had going on right now, you wouldn’t even be acknowledging those stupid emails.”

Raychanette wasn’t even sure if she wanted to recognize what Susie had said, but wanting to give her the benefit of the doubt, she crossed her arms and sighed. “Could you elaborate?”

“Well clearly you seem to be aware that I was getting into it with my woman and if you knew what I was doing to her, you’d understand why there may have been some noise. I honestly don’t think it’s worth the bother to complain. Really it just sounds like our neighbors are being bitches.

Raychanette brought a hand to her face, regretting her choice to hear Susie out. “So… you’re telling me that if I were to be having sex, I’d ignore the fact that you’re disrupting over a dozen other residents?”

“Yes, I mean no… kind of? That’s definitely part of it, but there’s also more than just two of us.”

“What? Where- no, that doesn’t even matter. Why would you tell me that you were having a threesome? And how does that change anything? It’s certainly no excuse for the noise.”

“Ah, but that’s the thing. It’s not just any threesome!” 

Gabby covered her face with her hands, squealing in embarrassment at how open Susie was being. She wasn’t even trying to be secretive and both James and Gabby could hear her spouting about their recent romance. She quickly retreated into the covers of the bed to hide with James and keep herself from hearing Susie try to explain the details of their love making.

“We actually have something that nobody in the world has access to and I’m not talking just once in a lifetime love stuff. I mean if you knew what it was, I’d probably have to fend you off.”

“Look Susie, I can’t be getting complaints so often. I could lose a bunch of residents if you keep this up. Either you’re going to get quiet or you’re going to have to leave.” Raychanette turned to walk off, but was grabbed by the shoulder and spun back around to face Susie.

“W-wait! You can’t just leave like that. I didn’t finish explaining. You didn’t even get to see what I was talking about.” 

“You really want me to stick around to see what gets you and Gabby going? I’m not that interested in seeing a sex toy.”

“Trust me, you’ll want to see this one.”

“I doubt that it will make any difference, but sure. Show me the reason I had to bother coming here.”

Susie nodded and rushed back inside to grab ahold of James. Ray could hear some arguing taking place. Evidently Gabby had some more self respect to keep from sharing everything with her. She quickly rushed back out and presented James to the landlord.

“Uh, you guys get off to a toy?”

“Not a toy, and hi Raychanette. Nice to finally meet you.”

Raychanette leaped back, not expecting to hear the little man talk. After confirming what she just heard, she leaned closer and got a clearer view of the tiny man. “What the hell is this?”

“This is James. I’m kind of the secret roommate who’s living here with Susie and Gabby. Sorry if I didn’t get to meet you before, but I didn’t really think we’d ever have a reason to talk.” James looked back and glared up at Susie who simply smiled back and waved.

“Right… so I’m still kind of not understanding this at all. You have a little bug man toy that can talk? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Well it’s more complicated than that. This is James. We go back and not too long ago-” Susie spent the next ten minutes explaining the whole ordeal of how James came to be so little, all the while Ray continued to lean closer with wide eyes as she tried to process the information. Gabby had decided to get more involved and dressed up in a loose t-shirt and pajama shorts before meeting everyone else at the door. “Hey Raychanette. You doing well?”

“Not sure…”

“So, what do you think?”

“I just… How is any of what you said even possible? I mean, the more you explained and the more I looked, the more real he seemed to be, but that can’t be.” 

“I was confused too, but he’s real.” Gabby insisted this by placing a hand by Susie’s. James quickly ran over and hopped into the blond’s palm where he was quickly brought up and given a series of smooches.

Ray was in disbelief and backed up to take a breather. She had difficulty taking her eyes off of James, but tried to compose herself to focus back on Susie. “Despite my trouble believing this to be real, and whether it is or not, James isn’t a good enough reason for you two to be so noisy. I’m going to have to remain firm that if you don’t settle down, I’ll have to evict you both.”

Susie looked between James and Gabby, hoping either had some idea on how to respond, but then gasped as she grabbed hold of Ray’s shoulders. “Well, maybe what you need is some time with James so you can better understand why I think these complaints are an overreaction.”

“What?!” Gabby wasn’t sure if she had heard correctly, but Susie confirmed it as she continued.

“If you had some time to hang out with what is easily the coolest boy toy on the planet, you’d feel much better about this whole situation and probably beg us to stay.” Susie quickly snagged back James and held him up close to Ray’s face. James didn’t know what Susie was implying, but he didn’t like it. He sat there in silence, staring into Raychanette’s immense pupils. They stared into him unlike the way Susie or Gabby looked at him. There was something unsettling about it to where he couldn’t help but look distressed.

“What use do you think I’d have for a tiny bug man?”

“I can see it in your eyes. You’re super curious to explore this whole idea of a small man in the palm of your hand. No artificial anything, no magic nonsense, just a fully real, cute little guy who could answer any curiosities you have.”

“What are you talking about?” Gabby yanked Susie back into the apartment to try and get a minute of privacy from Ray. “Answer any curiosities?!”

“Are you trying to sell me?!” Added James as he

“No, of course I don’t want to sell you. I’m just trying to keep us from getting evicted and we’re not paying any extra rent bullshit or keeping ourselves any quieter. The ‘other residents’ are bitches though so if you could just entertain the idea of keeping Ray interested, maybe we can get away with staying without any issues.”

“I hardly know her though. I don’t really feel all that comfortable going off with a stranger.”

“Yeah, I don’t know if Raychanette would be as understanding as we’ve come to be of how James is.” Gabby brought James up to her cheek to nuzzle in with him. “What if she accidentally hurts him?”

“Are you serious? James is like literally unkillable and Ray’s a reasonable person. And she’s not a stranger, she’s our landlord. She’d likely listen to James if there was anything to worry about.”

Before they could continue their dispute, Susie received a tap on the shoulder. “Let’s say I’m… interested in what you’re saying. Is he alright? Like, how much do I have to worry about hurting him? He’s not gonna just die if he falls over is he?”

“Nope! He’s quite the tough little bug. He just endured a whole hour between Gabby and I, so he’ll be fine with whatever you want to do with him.” Susie leaned back to whisper to Gabby and James with a confident smirk. “Seeeee, she’s totally interested in James’ safety!”

“Would I be able to bring him back to my home?”

Susie’s confident smirk turned into blank confusion as she straightened back out. “Uhhh, you want to take him?”

“Well I have lots of work to do back at my house. If I were to spend any time with him, it would be better for me to be able to do so while on my computer. I think that he could keep me good company for a while.”

“What do you mean a while?”

“Well, this is my proposal. You’ve succeeded in getting my curiosity. I planned to get a bunch of work done over the weekend, which you can assume isn’t all that exciting. So, how about you lend me your little friend there for three days. I’ll stay in touch over the phone so that you can check in and I can update you on his well being. After those three days, I’ll consider letting you three live here without any bother.”

“Could you give us a minute to discuss?” Susie went back in to again chat in somewhat better privacy. “So, what do you guys think?”

“What do you mean? He’s not going for three days. Are you crazy?” Gabby held James away from Susie like a protective mother.

“Why would she need three days with me?!”

“I don’t know. You’re so cute and lovable, I mean who doesn’t want to spend all their time with you?”

“You clearly.”

“Don’t be like that. It’s only for a few days and then we’re good! You guys seriously want to go and look for a new apartment?”

“We don’t even know if she’ll let us stay. She said she’ll consider it. We may send James off for nothing!”

“Still, don’t you think we should at least try? If we can get on her good side, maybe we can get away with other things too.”

“Then try getting her out on a vacation out of the country or something like that. You don’t think she’d appreciate that?”

“Maybe she would, but we’d have to plan that out for weeks and that means weeks of us not getting to experience what we just had this morning, James included. If we have a way to convince her to let us off the hook right now, I think it’ll speed things up for what we can do here.”

“Maybe it is worth a try…” Both Gabby and Susie had to pause a moment to process what had been said before turning their gazes to James.

“What are you saying?” Gabby looked with such dread and worry as she held James up to be more or less at eye level with her and Susie. “You want to go with Ray?”

“Look, I don’t really agree with the whole lending me out idea, but if it helps all of us to keep the place, maybe it's not that bad of a thing if I were to go out.”

“Taking one for the team? Didn’t really expect that, but I respect it. “Susie made an attempt to grab James, but Gabby was quick to hug him tight to the point of knocking all the air out of him.

“You don’t have to go. Just stay here with us and we’ll think of something else!”

“Gabby, he can’t breathe.” With a gasp, she released him and let him fall into her hands so he could catch his breath. “I’m glad you’re seeing it like me, James. I think this is worth a shot and if it doesn’t go so well, let’s just say Gabby and I will be more than willing to compensate you for your efforts~ I mean, if we’re gonna get kicked out for being noisy anyways, may as well break a few walls, right?”

Both James and Gabby became a flustered mess at Susie’s words. James had already convinced himself to go, but now he had the bonus motivation in the back of his mind that he’d get to experience something even greater than what he had this morning. Ready as he’d ever be, he hopped over to Susie’s hand, waving back to Gabby who blew a flurry of kisses his way as Susie walked him back to Raychanette.

“Alright Ray, you’ve got yourself a deal. You get him for three days. Also, if you’re fine waiting, he can actually get a bit bigger than this. You just have to keep him hydrated and he’ll wind up a full two inches. I know that may not sound like much, but you notice the difference after a while.”

“No, I think I’m fine with him at this size. You don’t need to bother making him any larger than this.”

“Oh, well alright. I guess you can take him then. Just make sure you bring him back once the three days are up.” Susie held out her palm, giving James the opportunity to hop onto Raychanette’s

“Of course. I will be sure to keep James with me at all times. Thank you both for allowing me to explore this new curiosity. I hope you two enjoy your time and we’ll talk about this whole noise issue more when I come back.”

“See ya James! Have fun!”

“We’ll be thinking of you the whole time!”

The three waved at each other all the way until Raychanette got into her car. To his surprise, she had been very careful with how she was holding him and gently placed him down on the passenger seat as she buckled up and started to drive out. It was a bit awkward for the first ten minutes of the drive, with occasional glances from Ray being the only form of socialization that James got. Hoping to get a little less uncomfortable, he decided to speak up.

“So, you seem to still be a little confused there.”

“It is taking me a while to convince myself that you’re there right now. I had no idea that there was a resident the size of a bug in my complex. You know normally if we hear about a bug problem, it means we have to call the exterminators and all that. Glad I came over today so we could nip this infestation early.” Raychanette looked over with a smile, but grew confused as James seemed to be disturbed by her comment. “Sorry, that was meant to be a joke.” James let out a forced chuckle, trying to find the funny part of the joke, but he couldn’t shake the strange feeling that the comparison gave him.

“You’re clearly far different than any bug I’ve seen and I doubt you’ll cause much commotion. Though if I am to take Susie’s word, you seem to spark something in her and Gabby that make them very… loud. I will admit, even with how small you are, you don’t look bad.”

“O-oh well thanks. I hope it doesn’t come off in any wrong way, but I think you look really nice too.”

“I’m delighted to hear you think so. It’s not often that people bother to say anything to me unless they have a problem.”

“Well, I don’t want to be a problem for you. Hopefully we can have a good time together. And I’m sorry that Gabby, Susie, and I have caused you to get any complaints. Everything’s kind of loud for me at this size, so I can’t really tell how bad it would be for everyone else.”

“Oh don’t worry yourself with those thoughts. Once we get home, I want your attention on me. I only have you for a few days and then I have to return you. I don’t want to waste the time discussing people and issues that aren’t here.”

“Oh, alright. Fair enough I guess…”

The remainder of the car ride was relatively silent, and as they approached her home, Raychanette lifted James up to give a nice view of what looked to be a very nice house. It was two stories tall and even had an extension to the side which turned out to be the garage where they would wind up parking within. She made her way out of the car and into her home, carrying James within her palm so that he could get a clear view of her home. It was very clean and well put together. James couldn’t help but admire the design and effort Ray must’ve gone through to get things looking so good. For all the trouble her residents seemed to cause her, it was comforting to see that she was at least treating herself to be able to live in such a nice place.

“So… anything you want to talk about in particular? Any questions?” James wasn’t given an immediate response. Instead, she continued to what looked to be Ray’s living room. She made a B-line toward a very large U shaped couch and as she sat down, she kicked off her shoes and dropped James onto her lap. As he recovered back to his feet, he found himself sinking a bit into her thighs. They were very soft, yet all that walking throughout the apartments had led them to develop a level definition and firmness that made it a stable enough surface for him to walk across with relative ease. After a few seconds of thigh marching, he looked up to see Raychanette staring down at him. She seemed a bit perplexed still by his presence, but soon enough she found the words to get things going.

“Alright, James. This is what’s going to happen. I need a break. I’ve been doing so much lately and while I’m kind of used to all the work, my feet are killing me. It’s been nonstop going here and going there to check and see what’s wrong throughout the apartments and every step I take has my feet aching for rest. I was planning to go to a massage parlor to help work out the knots, but since coming to terms with your existence, I can’t help but find myself more interested in finding out m how it would feel to have someone of your… stature… dealing with my feet instead.”

James was able to follow pretty well up until the last sentence. He honestly had it pretty nailed in his mind that he was here for conversational support, but as he continued to look up at her, she continued to grow a more stern look on her face. He tried to think back to what they had discussed before, hoping that he had misunderstood something, but for the life of him, he couldn’t. What she was saying now was brand new. “I-I thought you had work to do.”

“I do, but I’m hardly going to be as efficient if I have to keep dealing with this discomfort. You know how often I’m on my feet having to deal with residents? There are over two hundred individuals living in that complex. There isn’t a day where I don’t have to show up to help explain something and all that walking has got my soles sore.”

“Ok, so I get you’re really tired and want something to relax, but there’s gotta be something else you’d rather do. Are you sure you don't want to try going to the parlor? I can come with and like talk with you or something.”

“A parlor is something I can go to whenever. A bug sized man to rub my feet? Haven’t had that pleasure in years. I’m not going to debate this further with you, James. I just wanted to make sure you understand what I want from you.”

“Come on Ray, there isn’t anything else I can do? You understand that to do what you’re suggesting will take so much time. It’ll probably take me hours to even do one foot, let alone both.”

“Well that’s something you’re going to have to get over and figure out then. I have you for the next few days and I’m not going to waste this opportunity to just talk with you.” She leaned over, encasing James in a shadow as she punched the toe ends of her socks. With a very rough yank, they seemed to slide off, though as they hung from her fingers, James found himself almost hypnotized by their heavy swing. It took him a minute to understand, but that was all sweat. The dread was starting to kick in and while Ray went ahead and tossed the socks away, James went ahead and decided that he needed to fix this now.

“Please Raychanette, reconsider this. If we just talked for a bit, I’m sure we-” Flick

With minimal effort, Raychanette flung James off her lap. He wound up landing flat on the hardwood floor and by the time he got up, he was face to face with the dark sole of Ray’s left foot. She had propped up both feet to rest on her heels less than an inch in front of James’ position. James looked her foot up and down to  see the perspiration that coated her skin. It wasn’t the first time that James had experienced feet at this size, but it didn’t make the prospect of touching them any better, especially given how sweaty they appeared to be. With the sweat came a nose clenching stench as well. The humidity that had built up within her shoe had caused her feet to develop some rank BO. He couldn’t help but plug up his nose as he began to back away from her foot. Of course this action didn’t sit all too well with Raychanette as she looked at him from her seated position. She just wanted him to get to it so she could lie back and relax, but it looked as though he didn’t fully grasp how serious she was about this.

She stretched her left foot down and spread her toes, looming them over James who upon seeing them tried to flee. He didn’t make it far and before he knew it, her toes had come down around him. He had expected to be stepped on, but instead, he stood between her big toe and second toe. It immediately became apparent that her toes were the source of a far nastier smell. James rushed to cover his nose again, but her toes suddenly came to a close as they pinched his body tight. His arms were pinned to his torso and he could only squirm and breath in the cold smell, much to his discontent. “I really hope that you aren’t going to be difficult. I gave you a very simple job. Rub my feet. I don’t care how long it takes or how bad they may smell to you. You will do it or I’ll be forced to find ways to condition you.” Before he could question what she meant by condition, her toes suddenly squeezed even tighter. He squealed as he felt his back start to bend and looked up to see no sign of regard for whether or not Raychanette was actually doing any permanent damage to him. It seemed as though his lack of actual cracking or breaking had pretty much confirmed to her that this wouldn’t be anywhere close to enough to put him down. This of course just meant that she didn’t have to hold back, so she continued to squeeze him for another two minutes before lightening the pressure and allowing him to breathe.

“I don’t want to be seeing this whiny gagging act either. You are a very small and unnoticeable speck of a person, yet I’m allowing you the chance to pamper the feet of someone so much larger and greater than yourself. You should be grateful that I’m just wanting my feet rubbed. I could just as easily make you do several far nastier things for me. Now, I’m going to release you. When I do that, you’re going to walk up to my feet and put those hands of yours to work.” Her words put James into a state of unease. He had never been talked to this way before and it seemed like such a sudden tone shift from what he had thought to be a very reasonable person. “Now, I don’t want you talking to me for a while. To show me that you understand what your current purpose is, I want you to give me a kiss on the toe. I don’t mind which, but I’m not putting you down until I see your face pressed up against a toe.”

It didn’t sink in as quickly as she wanted, so after ten seconds of him staring blankly at her, she clenched her toes once more, causing him to wheeze. To her satisfaction, he finally got the message and pressed his face into her big toe. James hated every second of it, feeling the moist surface of her toe’s against his lips. It was degrading, but she kept her word and released him. He fell on his back, and her heel came falling down in front of him once more. He certainly had an assortment of words for her, but for now decided that it would be wiser to remain silent for now until he could better assess what to do. Unfortunately, with her staring down at him, he begrudgingly began his match up to her foot and pressed the palms of his hands into the skin of her heel. It was an icky sensation to get his hands wet with foot sweat, but he didn’t want to get pinched again, so he pushed hard, trying to apply some noticeable pressure to her skin. He expected her to say something in response, but she just looked with curiosity to see him go. He sighed and started to run his hands along the width of her heel, pushing as hard as he could to try and get this over with. Several minutes of silence went by, aside from the occasional grunt from James as he worked on her heel. Soft as her skin was, there wasn’t as much give as he’d prefer, making it an exhausting endeavor to dig his palms in and make any noticeable difference. Soon enough, a new shadow loomed over his position. When he looked up, he saw the face of Raychanette staring down with a smirk.

“You’re doing surprisingly well down there. It didn’t feel like much at first, but your touch is so gentle and cool. It’s not like a normal massage where a few fingers rub across the surface. It’s as though you can loosen up the finer details of my skin. I know I didn’t want you speaking, but I’ll give you permission for now. I want to know how my feet feel. I imagine you’re coming to understand just how lucky you are to be where you are right now?”

“I… uh… yes?” As much as James wanted to argue, he figured that wouldn’t get him far. The name of this game was to make her feel good. “Your skin is very soft... I don’t know if I could have appreciated how smooth it was if I were any larger. That being said, I don’t know if you recall, but it is possible for me to get a little bit bigger. If you were to get me some water, I’d still be small, but able to work on your feet much more efficiently.”

“Hmmm, that is tempting. The problem with that idea is that I'm not all too interested in you getting bigger. Your current size is what I like, and if anything, I’d enjoy it if you were even more insignificant. I am glad to hear that my foot is so appealing cause you’re going to be feeling it up for the rest of the day. It must suck being so weak that you can’t even do the work of a single finger though. I guess that slow and steady will just have to do for now. Anyway, back to work. Another ten or so minutes on that heel then get to the other.”

“But-”

“No more talking. I’ll let you know when you can speak again.”

Not seeing any other choice, James went ahead and spent the next thirty minutes working on her heels. Based on her lack of complaint, he must’ve been doing a decent job, though that wasn’t something he had any intention of being proud of. A shadow loomed over him and just like before, it was Raychanette staring down at him with narrowed eyes and a coy grin.

“Seems like you’re getting the hang of this. Sure you’re not enjoying yourself down there? Don’t answer me on tha. I don’t care if you are. What I do care about is giving you your new task. I’m sure you can already tell, but my feet are a bit clammy and I’d just love it if you could make use of that little tongue of yours and lap up as much sweat as possible. Same deal with both heels, then I’ll move you along to work on my arches. How does that sound? Good? Great! Now get to work, wet wipe.” Raychanette leaned back into the couch and let out a heavy sigh as she closed her eyes. She really wanted to savor this, but she’d soon come to discover that James wasn’t on the same page as her.

“Tsk… this is ridiculous.” James decided that this had gone on long enough and that this was his opportunity to make a break for it. She couldn’t see him from that position and if he were quick enough, he could get to the door. He broke into a sprint, hoping to take advantage of the fact that his size would keep him silent and more or less out of sight. About a minute into his run however, he felt a heavy weight creep up his spine. He couldn’t figure it out, but something was wrong and he could feel his heart beating much quicker. Eyes wide in shock, he looked back to see Raychanette looking straight at him from the couch. He hoped it to be a coincidence in that she hadn’t actually seen him yet, but there was no mistaking it. Hey expression was cold and was nearly enough to paralyze him. He let out an audible scream as he doubled down on his efforts. fuck fuck fuck. 

“I guess that while you’re making me get up, I can use this opportunity to call your roommates. I don’t need them disturbing us later.” Raychanette rose to her feet and began to walk toward James. It only took a few steps before her foot eclipsed his light and came crashing down on top of him. Raychanette wasn’t one for quitters and in her eyes, James’ abandonment of his task had left him in dire need of punishment. As such, when she brought her foot down, she made sure to aim it so that her heel was what landed upon him. She didn’t even put her full foot down, just her heel. She could feel his tiny body pressed right against the center of it and she slowly started to apply more and more weight as she pulled out her phone. His body was in such discomfort and was getting flatter by the second. He was barely able to let out a muffled scream into her skin before he was too squished up to continue making any sort of noise. She nearly cooed at the feeling, but had to stay focused as Susie picked up her call.

“Hey Susie, just calling to let you know that James and I are having a wonderful time together. I was doubtful at first, but I’m really coming around to the appeal.” James desperately tried to share his voice and express to Susie what was happening, but with every few words that she spoke, Raychanette dug her heel into the ground. He couldn’t even find the strength to move as he wound up molded into a flat and twisted mash against her skin. “I’d even go as far as to say I wish he were living with me; but don’t worry, I’m still going to give him back after two more days.”

Satisfied with what she had to say, Susie hung up the phone, leaving James to once again be left alone with the cruel woman above. “Great, that takes care of that distraction for the day. Now we can get back to us. Hope you found yourself appreciating the taste of my heel. It's not something that many get to experience for as long as you. There’s the occasional ant or something here and there, but I’m sure you can piece together that any bug found in this house doesn’t last long. That’s what makes you so special. There are so many people out there who deserve to be where you are right now, yet I have to put up with them and act like they’re important and worth my time. In reality, the majority are bugs who need humbling. Ugh, I could use a drink. Here, let me pick you up.” Ray lifted her foot off the floor, expecting to see James. To her surprise, he was nowhere in sight. She looked around the floor, wondering if he had managed to escape somehow. She took a step back to better look over where she had been standing, but felt a little lump under her heel. She quickly lifted back her leg and turned to see a flattened James spread like a sticker across her heel. He looked like a sheet of folded up paper with bent arms and legs across his own back. She counted him lucky that whatever it was that made him so small made him capable of surviving so much.

“Well that’s convenient. You think you can stick there a bit longer? Great!” After a few test steps to see that he’d stick, Raychanette made her way into the kitchen where she grabbed hold of a full bottle of wine and a glass. She quickly popped the top off and brought the beverage back with her to the couch where she sat back and propped her feet back out. As she poured herself a glass, she saw that James hadn’t bothered to peel himself off her heel yet. “You can let go of my foot now.” He continued to be motionless, leading Ray to conclude that him being a sticker wasn’t by choice. “Hmmmm. You really can’t get yourself off? Pathetic. Here, let me just…” She brought her other foot around and dug the nail of her large toe into the skin just above James’ plastered position. In a firm motion, she dragged the nail down and effortlessly scraped his body off. His face was given a few seconds to rub up against the underside of her nail before his flat body loosely fell to the floor. Free from her sole, Raychanette loomed her toes over James’ body. She wiggled them in delight and he watched as a drop of sweat dripped down and landed square onto his body. The sweaty substance clung to his body and in his flattened state, he couldn’t keep some of it from trailing into his mouth. Thankfully his throat wasn’t capable of swallowing for the time being, and if he was lucky, he’d stay like this for a while longer and by some time to get through this ordeal. Of course, just as soon as he accepted his flat form, he felt a tingling across his body and as he began to vibrate, he became smaller. As he did so, his body also became more resilient and therefore started to reform much quicker. After a few seconds, he now lay in a puddle of sweat, fully reformed and standing at what he generously guessed to be about a half centimeter tall.

“Huh, so you do get smaller. I guess I’m not complaining, but I doubt you’ll be strong enough to leave much of an impression anymore. I was going to have you start working on the balls of my feet, but with your current size… the only useful feature you probably have left is that taster of yours. So, here’s your new job.” Ray slammed her feet flat in front of James, presenting him with all of her toes. Their impact on the ground sent an artificial current of their funky smell that made James want to cry. “Until I say otherwise, you’re going to start licking in between every single one of my toes. That doesn’t mean I want you to avoid licking my toes, but I can feel the moisture between them so that’s where I want you to focus. And if you feel like getting on my good side, maybe throw in a few kisses as well. I want each and every one of my toes to feel appreciated.”

“What, is your hearing worse when you’re smaller? Get in there and lick.”

James really didn’t like her tone, wishing she’d stop talking to him like he was some pet. It was like she was a completely different person from the woman he talked to in the car and it made James reflect on how much nicer things were with Susie and Gabby. Neither of them ever treated him so low. James hoped to drag out the process of belittling himself with his tongue, mumbling some curses as he leaned in and kissed her big toe. He was surprised to find out that his lips were felt as she let out an audible coo and wiggled her toes in delight. He yelped and jumped back as they moved. It was like watching ten gigantic sledge hammers crash into the floor. She of course wanted him to keep going and so she settled her toes down and watched as he eventually wiggled his way between her toes. The smell was dreadful this  close up and he wanted to back out, but he also wanted to avoid getting crushed any further. Closing his eyes, he stuck out his tongue and leaned in until he felt the warm moist surface of her toe crevice. It was almost sour in flavor and with the added salt from her sweat, it became a sickening concoction. Nevertheless, Ray’s eyes were on him, so despite his mind and body’s desire to stop, he licked up and down the crevice, lathering it with his tongue as he coated his taste buds in her funky foot flavor. Raychanette got chills as she felt his much cooler little tongue against her steamy feet. He was really starting to go at it and it felt divine. She could hardly keep a straight face as she leaned back once more and took a heavy sip of wine. This was going to be incredible. 

James was forced to lick up the sweat between her toes for a total of two hours. His tongue felt dry as it had tasted so much foul salt and his stomach felt ready to burst with how much sweat he had ingested. It was enough to make him feel queasy. He wondered if he had permanently damaged his taste buds and at this rate kind of hoped he did. And what made it worse was how much smaller he had gotten. Purposefully drinking up all that sweat had filled him with enough sweat to diminish him down to just a fourth of a centimeter. It had been quite a while since he’d gotten this small, yet despite this near microscopic size, he somehow still fell into the gaze of Raychanette. Somehow, she was able to distinguish him amongst the other dust specks on the ground and any attempt to leave resulted in her shaking her finger in disapproval and showing just how easily she could envelop him beneath just her pinky toe. Of course this became a new kind of torment as she still wanted to see and feel James’ tongue. It wasn’t much of a sensation anymore, but she was starting to get goofy. Ray had experienced such a pleasurable couple of hours. Turning a free little man into her personal foot worshiper in less than a day filled her with such a thrill. It was such a pleasure to the mind and body that she was willing to spend the rest of the day on the couch with James at her service. She was admittedly surprised to see him get as small as he did; and while his licks did little to physically feel good, just knowing that he was still there huffing and tasting the sweat of her every working digits filled her with an empowering bliss. To accompany this joy, she had continued to drink throughout the hours until she was now down to her final glass; and it was clear that she had started to lose her composure. “Heeeeey James. You look thirsty! Want a drink?” 

Ray tipped her glass over and allowed a stream of wine to spill onto her foot. The red liquid ran down her foot and trickled in between her toes like mini waterfalls. “Oh well, might as well drink up since you’re down there.” As much as he was tired of drinking, he had to admit that a change in taste would be phenomenal. He’d have to live down the humiliation later as he was feeling desperate. He knelt down and ran his tongue up the length of her toe crevice. His mouth quickly filled with the foot filtered wine and he spent a solid thirty seconds just swishing the drink within his mouth to try and cleanse away the taste of foot sweat. He hated to admit it, but it tasted amazing. James had never been much for alcohol, but the sweet fruity taste did wonders to relieve him of what he’d been tasting thus far. He took a moment to stop and hand his head as he thought about what he was just thinking. This was so wrong for him to be forced into the position, but it was all he could do for now. It was becoming more and more difficult for him to even want to get Susie and Gabby’s help. Sure Gabby would probably be understanding, but Susie would likely find some way to mess with him so that he’d never forget this experience. Even so, at least she tried to be nice every now and then. These were concerns to have later though as he was still in the position of kneeling to Raychanette’s toes. He figured this was sort of a compromise that he could at least get a better taste out of having to tongue her digits. He sighed heavily and went back into it, hoping that he’d be able to finish this task and hopefully the night without much more worry, but he’d soon run into a new problem.

His rapid little licks were starting to feel awfully ticklish and Raychanette was having a hard time keeping herself together. It eventually became too much for her and she suddenly burst out into laughter. In sync with her cackling, she clenched her toes and inadvertently pinched James’ head between her digits. He tried to wriggle free from the vise grip, but it only worked to tickle her further. It got to the point where she actually lost sight of the glass she was holding and allowed it to tip over enough to pour out nearly half the glass. With a heavy hitting splash, the wine splattered onto her foot and washed over James and her toes. Her grip on his head left his mouth squeezed open so when the flow of wine came upon him, he was forced to choke down several mouthfuls before the toes let go of him and allowed him to properly close his mouth and fall into the newly made puddle of red. The cool drink hitting her foot evidently was enough to recall her attention and she quickly looked down to see the mess. “Aaaawww fuck…”

If she weren’t so tipsy and comfortable, she’d have made a dash to clean it up, but she really didn’t want to get up and as her eyes trailed back to James, a cute little idea popped up in her head. She brought her chin to rest on her hand as she stared down at him. Unlike the intensities of her previous glares, this one appeared to be far more sensual and James couldn’t help but feel a sense of discomfort as she started to giggle like a happy fool. “H-hey there little servant. You mind cleaning that up for me? If you do a good job, maybe I’ll give you a reward~”

James got back to his feet to better face her. “Servant? Did you really just call me a-” splat. Raychanette’s foot came down like a hammer, grinding James beneath the ball of her foot until he was flattened and smeared to her skin.

“Don’t make me have to repeat myself to you. Hicc You’re serving me right? That means that when you are doing so, you aren’t James, you are a servant. More importantly, you are my servant. And if I want to call you that or anything else, you are not to question me. Understand?” After a few more seconds of pinning him down, she lifted the weight off and rested her foot back in front of him. “You should be grateful to be at my feet. With how hard they work, you’d think people would be lining up to give them the loving they deserve… the loving I deserve. Anymore would be lucky to find themselves beneath me. Now, what are you?”

James lay battered on the floor, wanting to hold his tongue. But with the looming presence of her foot, he swallowed up his pride once more. “I’m your servant…” 

“And a bug…”

“What?”

“You’re a bug, don’t you agree?” 

“Y-yes…”

“Well if you think so, then how about you stop standing up like you’re some sort of person. I think it would be far more fitting if you embraced your insect role and got onto your hands and knees.” She could see his hesitation, and though it was upsetting to see him resist, it was actually becoming more so satisfying to know that she was really testing his will. She let out a soft chuckle as she leaned close and whispered in such a gentle tone that it gave James goosebumps. “Get on your knees right now and start crawling before I forget that you aren’t some worthless bug that I have to crush and toss out into the toilet.”

As confident as he was that he’d survive the crushing, the prospect of being flushed left him pale. He tried to reassure himself that she’d never dare to do so, but with how inconsistent her tipsy influence was, he didn’t want to take that risk. He allowed himself to fall to his knees and bent forward to rest his weight into his palms. Hanging his head in humiliation, he began to shuffle around. Ray’s cheeks puffed out as she tried to contain her amusement until she finally burst out into laughter. He was actually starting to crawl and it filled her with such joy to see him slowly accept his role. “Isn’t this wonderful? Did you ever think your life would amount to this moment? It’s kind of sad, but at least I’m getting some fun out of it. What do you think? Doesn’t it feel natural to be in that position? I must look pretty amazing from down there, like some sort of goddess. I suppose that I kind of am one if you think about it… at least when compared to someone as pitiful as you.” 

Laughing to herself at how delicious this whole situation was, Raychanette became confused upon feeling a wet substance beneath her toes. “Oh right, look at me getting distracted by a speck. Make yourself useful already and clean up that wine. And I hope that I don’t have to clarify, but just in case your little brain didn’t pick up on it, I want you to drink it.”

She grew a deviously wide smile as she watched him, still propped on his hands and knees, bent down and sipped up some of the wine. He was like a tiny little mop to look after her messes. She couldn’t contain herself as he began to lap up the wine off the floor. She simply watched in glee, giggling every few seconds as she observed him. For a while, she became lost in thought wondering whether or not he’d look nice in a little dress with stockings. With how well this was turning out so far, she wouldn’t mind appointing him to be her official maid. She had to admit that it had been quite some time since she had thought this much about a guy, even if it were a bug. It was rather nice to have one around and she did a sort of subconscious shimmy in her seat to express her delight. As for James, it admittedly wasn’t as terrible as he expected to have to clean up her spill. It still tasted like wine, but he felt as though he was wasting time doing what could be done with a paper towel. He couldn’t imagine that he was really making a difference, but Ray seemed to be enjoying his efforts. She watched him for over half an hour, all the while swaying a bit from side to side. She was starting to lose balance just sitting down, and as the time went on, her giddy smile suddenly shifted into anger. Without warning, she slammed the feet to be on both sides of James and in one quick motion brought them together. James hardly had the time to get up before being smashed between her feet. He let out a weak squeal into her flesh. Ray then proceeded to scrub her feet against one another, causing James to rub and roll up against the length of her soles. For the life of him, James couldn’t figure out what he had done to deserve this. It seemed as though in her drunken state, Raychanette had forgotten her command to lick up the floor, so when she saw James doing something that didn’t involve her feet, she grew enraged thinking that he had tried to skimp out on his task.

“I really don’t like how much I’m having to remind you who’s in charge here. You don’t get to make any decisions without my say.” She further ground him into her flesh, twisting him up and coating him in remnants of foot sweat before leaving him at the mercy of her toes. He barely had time to breathe before her damp digits clamped around his body and squeezed so tight that they started to bend and mold him to fit their shape. The visual of James slowly being molded into a sort of half ring around her toes proved entertaining enough to break Ray out of her rage. “You’re so lucky you don’t splatter like normal bugs. You think you’re ready to get back to worshiping your goddess?”

Ray separated her feet, expecting to see James fall. Instead, the high pressure of her toes and the moisture of her sweat left him glued in place. She briefly considered peeling him off, but figured this to be a fitting punishment for his attempted insubordination. As such, she rested back on the couch and in a few minutes started to doze off. With how tiresome of a roller coaster this had been, James was fine with this and took the chance to rest, not that he had much choice as his body hadn’t reformed. Another twenty minutes passed and James’ body was finally reformed back to its normal state. As a result, he was finally able to move and break loose from Ray’s toes. He landed on his feet into the still present wine that was currently staining the wood and started to stretch out any kinks and knots he had developed when he was all squished up. He hadn’t even gotten to the point of planning an escape when Ray suddenly sat straight up. She had just barely felt his departure from her foot and drowsily looked to the floor. To her relief, he hadn’t escaped and was still in squishing distance. She was about to reintroduce him to her heel, but reconsidered after concluding that he must’ve realized how futile escape would be. Why would he have stayed otherwise? 

“Hehe, good to see you learning your place. How about you show me how loyal you are and give my toes a good rubbing?” James honestly had no idea what she was talking about, but figured that questioning her now wouldn’t do much good. He went up and started to massage her toes. Pleased with his compliance, Ray went ahead and downed the rest of the wine, wobbling a bit as she watched the little man at work. Time started to fly by another hour or so, with Raychanette eventually heading into the kitchen for another wine bottle. While this would’ve meant a break for James, Ray wasn’t paying attention to where she walked and wound up stepping on him so he could inadvertently join her on her trip to the kitchen and back. Of course when she saw him stuck to her foot, she either assumed he wanted to be there or that she had forgotten about some punishment that she had wanted to give him prior to getting the wine. Soon enough he managed to peel himself off though. He went straight back to massaging her toes, all the while she downed a few more glasses and started to dive into a lengthy rant from her family life to her daughter to a man who didn’t stick around. Now she was all in about the work life.

“All those idiots in that complex spam my email with the stupidest of crap! Boo hoo there’s ants in my pantry, waaah there’s someone in my parking space. I don’t care about any of that! If they want to keep bugs out, stop leaving food around. And there aren’t any assigned parking spots! It’s such a waste of time having to read and respond, but that’s the crap I have to deal with. Hicc You know how rare it is for any of those stupid people to say something nice to me? I may get one compliment for every thousand complaints about how I’m running a shitty thing here! They don’t know how much I have to figure out. That’s like literally hundreds of homes in one building that I have to manage.” Raychanette stopped to take a breath and chug down another few gulps of wine before looking back down at James with sorrow in her eyes. “You know when I picked you up today, we had hardly met and you were already saying nice things to me. Why can’t everyone else be like that? You aren’t even an official resident!”

Tired as he was of this whole situation, James was starting to get a feel for why someone like Raychanette would act like this. She just wanted some validation and it didn’t look like there were many people at her home to give her that. He did think that outside of all this, she was a decent person. If he were to appeal to that side of her, maybe she’d feel less shitty, and maybe if he was lucky, she’d start to take it easier on how she was treating him. “I-I’m sorry to hear that Ray. I can’t imagine how demoralizing that must be. You uh, you seem like a very nice and generous woman and I appreciate what you go through to keep things from getting too out of hand. Trust me that if I could still use the computer, I’d be sending you emails of appreciation daily.”

Ray’s eyes started to water at his words. “Awwww thank you so much for saying that. You know I think you’re a very kind person. Susie and Gabby too, you three are my favorite so far. I wish all of us could just have a blast and hang out together! Gimme a hug!” James couldn’t imagine how things would be if the four were to hang out. He supposed it would wind up better, and maybe he was the one to bridge that relationship. It honestly made him feel sad knowing what stress Raychanette had been going through and if she could find friendship in him and anyone else, maybe she’d lighten up o. Them all. Finishing his train of thought, he looked up to see Ray sitting up right with her arms spread as though she expected him to leap up and embrace her. He looked around awkwardly before extending his arms out toward Ray, expecting to be hoisted up, but as she made the attempt to bend down and grab him, she nearly tumbled forward completely and through sheer luck wobbled herself back into the couch. “N-no I’m… I’m gonna fall if I bend down. Just… just give my big toe a hug and smooch me on the nail~”

Raychanette watched him widen his arms and embrace her toe in a very cute little hug. He looked so precious. She was so enraptured by his hug that she had completely forgotten about her order to kiss her nail. Her heart nearly skipped a beat as he climbed her big toe and pressed his tiny lips onto her nail. It was so endearing that her cheeks started to flush red. “You little Romeo, you are starting to like this aren’t you~

It had been strange enough feeling the rough keratin against his lips, but hearing her think that he wanted this was kind of worrying. Surely it had to be a joke. “Hey, random thought, but you’re all squishy right? Well, do you think if I tried hard enough, I could use my toenail to cut you?” Hoping to not have to think about or answer that question, James slid back down her toe and started to rub it up again. Thankfully this was enough to take her attention away from her question.

“Aw, my toes really appreciate your love. Thank you~”

“Uh… N-no problem, Ray…”

“Hey! I didn’t say you could talk!” She raised her big toe and slammed it down onto James. She dug her toe into the floor, relishing his wriggling little form against her skin. After a minute of compressing him, she released him. Her toe wasn’t quite as intense as her entire foot, so he was able to get back onto his feet relatively quickly. “You’re such a good little foot slave. I do think that if you were to do this whole thing with me more regularly, you’d come to enjoy it even more. I mean, it’s been what, less than a day and you’re already trying to sneak a smooch with my toe nail.” James paused for a moment to look at Ray who gave him an all too mischievous glare as though she had just called him out on a big secret. “Yeah, that’s right. I saw you kissing my nail, you naughty little thing. Don’t be too embarrassed though, I kind of liked it~ Maybe if you keep doing a good job, I’ll let you sleep up against my toes tonight. How does that sound?” James wanted to respond and correct the amount of misconceptions with that whole thing, but given how she reacted last time, he chose to simply continue the massage as Ray went into her tangent. She went on for what felt like hours before she finally started to quiet down. From her tone to her droopy eyes, James figured she was getting pretty tired and he could heavily relate.  Aside from her tipsy mood swings, he was starting to get tired from the actual process of rubbing her toes. It wasn’t often that he found himself feeling sore, but his arms had been at work for hours and he just wanted to take a nap. He wanted to ask for a break, but Raychanette wasn’t emotionally stable at the moment and he’d likely wind up crushed again. He sighed in exhaustion and simply continued to run his hands along her toes, wishing that he were back home in the comfort of a bed or couch. He’d even take being buried in boobs so long as he could rest. Unfortunately, he’d have to enjoy that dream in his head because he wasn’t going anywhere.

Meanwhile, back at the apartment, Susie and Gabby were spending the night on the couch all cuddled up as they watched one of their favorite shows, Gary’s Grand Gritty Gamble Across The Globe. It was a series that often played on the audience’s emotions and the two couldn’t get enough of it. Susie seemed to be in complete comfort, munching a handful of pretzels as she watched Gary go about his all too exciting plot within his city, Gonisoba. Gabby on the other hand seemed rather distracted, looking off to the side as she fell deep in thought. Susie soon enough picked up on this and nudged her shoulder. “Aye, everything alright? I’ve never seen you so uninterested in Gary before.”

Gabby slouched her shoulders and sighed as she looked at Susie with a pout on her face. “I think we should go and check up on James.”

“What do you mean? We just got a call not that long ago. They’re fine. ”

“Yeah, that’s what Raychanette says, but we didn’t get to hear James speak.”

“Well he’s at least an inch tall right now. Even if he was two inches, I don’t know if we’d be able to hear him through the phone. I don’t think it's worth worrying over.”

“I just don’t want him to be too worried without us.”

“Look Gabby, even James agreed that this was worth the effort to try and get us to keep this place. I know he’s small and adorable as fuck, but he’s also an adult. He’s very tough for his size and he knows his limits. We probably both have no idea what he’s gone through, yet he’s taking this potentially uncomfortable risk for us. He may even find it insulting that we didn’t let him follow through on this. Even if something went wrong, he’d find a way to get back to us.”

“And hey, if it’ll make you feel more safe about it, I still have the app. We can just see where he is and if he isn’t at her address like she implied, we’ll head over and whoop her ass.” Gabby couldn’t help but chuckle at the prospect of doing such a thing, though that tactic was one of the many she’d be willing to employ if it came to James’ safety. She tried to calm down and sank into the couch while Susie scrolled through her phone to find the app. Soon enough, she found the GPS link and she and Gabby leaned in to compare the location to that of where the landlord’s house was. “See? He’s still at her place. He’s probably just busy chatting it up with her, maybe even watching something together. Don’t you stress about him. We’ll be snuggling him up in just a couple of days.”

It was relieving to see his location on the app, and she was grateful to have Susie around to help calm her down. She yanked Susie close and the two embraced each other. “Thank you Susie. I just miss him, but you’re right. He’s probably fine.”

“He’s definitely fine and tomorrow we can call and check the app again. For now, let’s just enjoy the night.” 

“I’m gonna cuddle the fuck out of him when he comes back.”

As any form of rescue faded for him, James was left to continue his work at the feet of Raychanette who was getting more intoxicated by the minute. She looked ready to topple over, yet whenever he tried to back off from her foot, she suddenly moved as though she could still see him clearly. He groaned in annoyance, hoping for her to go to sleep soon. As if someone had heard his wishes, Raychanette suddenly started to shift around, kicking both feet up in the air as she readjusted on the couch. James was subsequently launched up into the air where he landed and clamped onto one of Raychanette’s toes. She was having a hell of a time figuring out how to get situated, but she eventually managed to flip herself over and rest upon her stomach. It was evidently far too much of an effort to make it to her bed, so she had accepted passing out across the couch. She settled her face into her arms and mumbled as her mind shifted in and out of consciousness. With her foot, along with the rest of her body going still, James could finally let go and take a seat on her big toe. He observed her body laid out flat and more or less motionless. Her feet were on an incline with her heel forming a sort of hill and he could see the stretch of her legs beyond her feet. Curious to know if she had fallen asleep, he stepped off her toe and onto the ball of her foot. As soon as he did this, she began to shift around in place and mumble some whiny noises. Panicking for the worst, he turned back and started to run his hands along her toe. This seemed to calm her down and as she settled back down, he sighed and leaned back against her toe. This had been such an exhausting day, but it looked like it would soon be over. As soon as she fell asleep, he was going to make a break for it. All he had to do was make his way off her foot and find some water. Once he got back to two inches, it would be far more reasonable to get himself back to Susie and Gabby. For now, he figured he’d try and speed up her dozing off by continuing to rub her toe. In response, he got a murmured mess of words, all the while keeping her face muffled into her arms. He decided that it was probably a good sight and kept going. It was difficult to believe that she could still feel him. Even so, he would rather massage her for a few more minutes so that she’d sleep instead of trying to bail now and be at the violent end of a half sleeping drunk’s rage. 

Ten minutes into the toe rub, he was just about convinced that she had dozed off. As slowly and as gently as possible, he started to walk, but as soon as he took his first step away from her toe, he began to feel a vibration across his body. He looked at himself in confusion as something was off about this. As far as he knew, he had already gotten about as small as he could get, and while there was probably a few millimeters to go, this vibration felt different. It felt tighter like he was starting to recoil into himself. The vibration itself was also far more intense. “Fuck, uh, Ray?!” Unfortunately for James, Raychanette was far too dazed to try and hear what was a near inaudible voice at his size. He’d have to deal with whatever this was on his own. Fearing the potential danger of what could happen, he started to jump up and down in an attempt to irritate her, but it was too late. In a quick jolt, he fell into himself and watched as the surface he had just been on began to expand at an exponential rate. He felt as though he were falling for nearly a minute before coming to fall flat against a soft surface. He assumed it to just be more of her skin, but it felt much firmer now. Rising to his feet, he looked on to see a dark, glistening surface with no end. He pondered what could’ve happened and where he was, but then shrieked at the sound of some thunderous roar. He looked up to the skies to see nothing that resembled a sky, yet after a few more seconds of silence, the thunder came back. It was so loud, yet so distant. Dread was sinking in as he came to terms with what had happened. He had shrunk, but to a whole other extreme. He couldn’t even fathom how small he had gotten, but he could get a grasp of just how hopelessly large Ray’s foot now was. It seemed to stretch on forever and as he turned back to look toward Ray’s toe, he was met with a solid wall of skin that seemed to stretch up to the heavens. He couldn’t even see any of the other toes. He rubbed his eyes, unable to believe the reality of his newfound size. “RAYCHANETTE!!!” He cupped his hands around his mouth as he shouted, willing to take any punishment now so long as he could get her attention. As he somewhat assumed would be the case, it was impossible for Ray to hear him. The thunderous roar repeated over and over and concluded that it must’ve somehow been her snoring which meant that she had finally fallen asleep. That would’ve been incredible news if he wasn’t currently facing wrinkles that looked like vast mountains and valleys stretching out for miles.

He stood there for nearly ten minutes, trying to figure out what to do. It looked like it would quite possibly take days to make the trek to any end of her sole and even if he did manage to do so, what would he do then? Spend the next years of his life trying to traverse the bed? He hated the thought of it, but what happened to him in the long run would mostly depend on the sleeping goddess that lay happily asleep in her bed. His best bet was to just remain on her foot and wait. Hopeless as his efforts would be, he took a deep breath and began to walk. He didn’t really have much of a plan, but figured that staying still would only drive him mad. He wasn’t all too sure if walking was any better though. It wasn’t until he started walking that the smell started to kick it up a notch. It wasn’t necessarily horrible, but wasn’t all too pleasant either. The stale stench of sweat was apparent, but she managed to soak in enough of the wine to give a hint of fruit. Speaking of, he wondered why he wasn’t feeling any different after drinking so much of her wine. It had practically knocked Ray out, and he must’ve drank just as much if not more. He wasn’t necessarily complaining since he figured he’d need to keep his wits about him, but part of him wondered if a drunken slumber would help ease the stress of the situation. He decided to shrug it off for now and keep walking. After what felt like twenty minutes, he looked around to see that everything was more or less in the same spot as when he had started. He had trouble accepting the reasoning, but that was just how insignificant he now was that he could likely walk for what felt like miles and only manage a distance of maybe a centimeter if he was lucky. To make matters more annoying, each step came with a wet feel upon his own feet as every bit of her skin was still somewhat damp with perspiration. It couldn’t have been as bad as it was before shrinking, but now that he was so small, it was ever present.

For seemingly an hour he continued to trek the barren desert of her sole. His mind was starting to go wild as he hunched over and envisioned how things would eventually work out. He had been through all sorts of problems since his shrinking and he had managed to persevere and make it out every time. He told himself that this would be no different, but he had also never been so small. It was admittedly demoralizing, but he knew that pessimism wouldn’t get him anywhere. At this new size, it was likely an impossibility for anyone to actually see him, but he had been proven wrong in that regard before and there was no way that he’d never get into contact with water again. It was just a matter of waiting out this very bitter storm. He continued to slump on for a while longer, thinking he’d just casually wait for Ray to wake up or his body to grow back so he’d have more options, but as he was lost in thought, he failed to notice where he was walking. He yelped as his foot got caught into something and he tripped over. His face slapped flat onto the moist surface and he was quickly reminded of what Ray’s sweat tasted like. He expected it not to taste so bad, but the wine taste seemed to be fading away. He spit out what he could of the salty liquid before turning onto his back to see what he had tripped over. 

It looked like some sort of ditch, but given his environment, it had to be some sort of natural indent. He crawled up and leaned in, overcome with curiosity. His choice to get onto his knees did become an immediate regret however as his hands soon became soaked in sweat, but at this rate he was willing to get over it. The ditch appeared to stretch out like an endless line. It was so perplexing, but he soon thought up an easy resolution. He brought his hands up to his face and squinted his eyes to get a look at his fingers. The only thing remotely similar to what he was seeing now were the many ridges that made up his finger prints. James’ face went pale at this realization. His heart began to race far quicker and his breathing became more sporadic. Being so small was starting to prove much for him to process. It was anxiety inducing and he soon found himself unable to stand up, as though the motivation was draining from him. He needed to sit down and think this out some more. Better yet, maybe he could calm down and prevent himself from thinking of this any further. It was entirely possible that things would fix themselves if given enough time, so to keep himself from going mad with distress, he took in several deep breaths and closed his eyes. It seemed to be working as his heart rate slowed and he filled his mind with pleasant thoughts. This was just one really big hurdle. If he could just tough it out, he’d be back with Susie and Gabby and the three of them would be having the absolute time of their lives together.

Comforted by the thoughts of his friends, he started to ease up into a very calm state of relaxation. It got to the point where he wound up letting out a lengthy yawn and started to rub his weary eyes. This trip to Raychanette’s had proven to be a straining one and though his body felt surprisingly well rested, his mind was in need of a reset. He leaned back and settled into the wet surface of skin, hoping to try and get some sleep. In hindsight, he’d likely need to be as well rested as possible for whenever the colossal woman woke up. He couldn’t believe how willing he was to sleep here, but he didn’t really have any other options, and despite the moist surface, it was decently comfortable. Before he could fully doze off however, something bright hit his eyes and distrusted him enough to sit back up. He groaned in annoyance, being disturbed from what little peace he was able to find. Tracing the source of the light, his jaw immediately dropped and his eyes widened like never before. Sliding along the surface of her skin was a droplet of sweat, unlike any he had ever seen before. He had been victim to countless sweat streams encasing his body with ease, but this one was different. As much as he looked in desperation to the sides of the droplet and up above, there seemed to be no end to it. It was like a tsunami that was covering the sky and sliding its way over to erase anything in its path. It turned out that whatever light within the living room had reflected through the drop of sweat and had been the cause for his disturbance. He found it kind of insulting that what was looking to be his doom had gone through the effort to warn him, but it was something he’d have to mull over later. 

He of course began to run in a panic, looking all around him for some way to out pace or side step out of the drop’s way, but it was hopeless. Ray’s foot was like a country right now with a state sized boulder rolling up behind him. Even so, he couldn’t think of what else to do. He just continued to run and hoped that something would happen to prevent him from getting swallowed up. As he dreaded, the droplet caught up to him and was now within arms length to engulf him in its salty essence. To his surprise, instead of immediately getting drenched, the droplet actually had some give to it. It turned out that James wasn’t even significant enough to have the physical size or force necessary to penetrate the droplet’s surface naturally. This of course didn’t mean he was in the clear as the droplet was still sliding at a much quicker pace than he could handle. The salty liquid quickly caught up and forced him to fall over as it slid over his legs. He was pinned now, nearly face to face with her sole, but he held himself up with his arms.if he didn’t catch himself on his arms. He had just enough wiggle room and strength to turn in time to watch as the droplet steamrolled across the rest of his body, practically slamming his face back into the skin of her foot. Only then, as the weight of the drop bore onto him, did his body penetrate the lower surface. In less than a second, he was enveloped within the sweat drop’s expanse. It was like a mobile ocean and he was now trapped within it. It stung to keep his eyes open, but he was desperate to find a way out. Swimming seemed to make no progress as he couldn’t find an end. All he could do was keep his breath held and aimlessly choose a direction, but he may as well have floated in place because there was no telling whether or not he was going forward, back or up. The constant motion of the droplet also posed the dilemma that he could be getting stirred and reset without even knowing it. It was impossible to figure out and he lacked what strength he needed to keep going. It eventually became too much and he was forced to inhale. This led to a heavy intake of water which he tried to swallow rather than breathe to prevent drowning. This was a temporary solution of course, but he was limited on options and time. Thankfully, the world seemed to be on his side. The droplet had trickled right back down to Ray’s big toe. Upon making contact, the sweat drop burst and splattered a portion of her toe. James felt as though he were within a bomb as he went flying with specks of sweat until he came crashing down into what seemed to be an endless valley of pure darkness. He fell for twenty seconds, tumbling into what he could only guess was more skin until coming to a stop. He couldn’t really tell where he was, but given the consistent foot smell and texture of the ground, he must’ve still been somewhere on Ray’s foot. He’d never know it, but he had fallen right into the crevice of where the big toe connects to the rest of the foot. And with how scrunched her toes currently were, a sort of wrinkle had formed at that connection point. It was a damp abyss and James would have to call it home for now. There was no way for him to get out as far as he was concerned and he was honestly rather exhausted. Raychanette was also fast asleep, meaning that there was no one to look for him, and with how clammy her feet still were, it would be a miracle for him to find the hydration necessary to grow back to a more manageable size. For the time being, he’d have to simply hold out hope that things would work out and whether it was by his own efforts or that of the landlord, he’d find himself free from her foot.