Finale - Victory Road

Once again, Troy found himself scurrying along the white floor of his previous apartment's kitchen. Despite the sun outside shining in through the window, its glow brightening up the room, Troy had not the foggiest idea as to why he had returned to this place that he had left behind in his past. Nor did he have any idea why he was running, or what he was running from. He was cutting a diagonal path across the floor, running in a general direction towards the room's exit.

It seemed as if no matter how far he ran, the exit would come no closer, even after taking his minuscule size into account. He did not understand what was happening, but something still compelled him to keep running.

He looked around at his surroundings in the meantime. His kitchen still looked the same as it did when he was living there. He was hit with a sense of nostalgia, of a period of his life when he still resided within the walls of this apartment, one whose rent he was able to afford by himself. With no roommate, he would sometimes find himself feeling lonely.

At least, until Dorothy came to visit.

While he thought this, something massive crashed down in front of him, with enough force to kick up a gale that knocked him to the floor. As he regained his bearings, he sought to see just what it was that had fallen before him. Perhaps to his combined shock and delight, what his eyes saw was a pale-skinned foot wearing a red flip-flop with a shade similar to the polish on the toenails. His head craned upward, following the foot as it transitioned to its leg of matching skin complexion. Soon after, its knee disappeared into a white sundress with strawberry imagery around its hem, and going further up was the rather petite bosom and frame of the giant that had stomped into his path; seeing the shoulder-length dark hair framing the pale face and glasses over the distinctively-dark, Asian eyes removed the tiniest of doubt that was still in his mind.

Dorothy, the sometimes-serious, sometimes-playful young woman, was standing right over him. She looked down upon his tiny form, and a smile formed on her face. She pulled her foot back, and turned her body to face him.

"There's my little Black king right there!" she happily said, before bringing her hand to cover her mouth. "...Oops! Guess that's not true anymore. You're not my little Black king these days."

"Maybe not," Troy said as he stood up. "But ex or not, you'll always have a special place in my heart." He looked down towards her otherwise small size 4 feet. "You and those giant tiny feet."

Dorothy giggled as she brought her right foot back and posed. "Yeah, you really couldn't get enough of them. But I enjoyed having you down there. No guy has paid as much attention to them as you did."

"They deserve it!" Troy said. "In fact, for old-times’ sake, how about you squash me with them?"

Dorothy chuckled amusingly. "You never change. I would love to, but I can't."

Troy was a bit disappointed. "Why not?"

"Because it's not my place anymore."

"That's right," chimed in another, familiar voice from behind. "I'm the only one who can crush you now."

Troy turned around just in time to see another giant walk over him as it passed him by. Shifting back to his front, he was met with another lovely sight: that of his current girlfriend Dawn. The curly-haired, lean and buxom Black woman's clothes consisted of a yellow tanktop, blue jeans, and turquoise thong sandals upon her size 10.5 feet, each of its toes sporting a beautiful French pedicure.

At this point, their surroundings had also changed from his old apartment's kitchen into a strange white plane with no discernible features. Neither Dawn nor Dorothy seemed to notice--or care.

Both women stood side-by-side--Dorothy just barely taller than Dawn's shoulders--as they both looked down on the tiny man at their feet. The sight of such two wonderful women standing over him almost made Troy pass out from sheer ecstacy, especially as he gazed at their feet. Both the skin tones of their feet and the colors of their sandals contrasted the other pair quite nicely.

"This is nice," Troy raved. "Two beautiful symbols of my past and present, standing right in front of me."

Dorothy touched the bridge of her glasses. "It is too bad I can't step on you, but since we're not together, it wouldn't be right."

"You don't have to be together to squish a bug," Troy slyly commented.

Dawn and Dorothy's heads turned to each other.

"He kind of has a point," Dawn said. "And since you two were together for so long, I guess I can let you have an encore performance."

"...That was easy," Troy muttered to himself.

Dorothy seemed to ponder this over in her mind for a brief period, before she finally came to her decision. "...It's a very, VERY tempting offer, but I still have to pass."

"Aw, man..." Troy moaned.

"Oh..." Dawn shrugged. "Oh well."

"Besides," Dorothy continued. "I think you're a much better crusher than I am. I can't compare."

"That's not true!" Troy yelled. "You both have your own styles!"

"Troy," Dorothy called. "We had a lot of fun together, but I think it's officially time for us to move on. I can't come visit you in your dreams anymore."

"Dorothy..." Troy uttered.

Dawn folded her arms. "Well, it's not like he can always control what he dreams about."

Dorothy nodded. "I guess you're right, but still. It's time for you two to make your own future together. And I think you'll both be a wonderful team. A beautiful Black woman," Dorothy said as she looked to Dawn--who nodded approvingly--and then she shifted back to Troy, "and her pathetic ant."

Troy was a bit moved by this. "Wow, Dorothy... That was nice. You're a really sweet girl. Those strawberries on your dress can't compare to your sweetness!"

Upon saying this, Dorothy's cheeks became red with blush. "Oh my god...!" A look of frustrated embarrassment appeared on her face as she started to fiddle with her glasses with her hands.

Troy laughed; he always loved Dorothy's reaction to the cheesy things he told her. "And your face is starting to look like a strawberry, too!"

"Augh, you stupid bug!" Dorothy barked.

Dawn chuckled at this exchange. "That was kinda corny, though."

"Dawn, can you do me a favor?" Dorothy asked.

"What's that?"

"I want you to smear that cocky little mouth of his right off of his face," Dorothy said, with a sternness in her tone.

Dawn grinned. "You don't have to tell me twice, girl! I'll take good care of this worthless bug."

Dorothy sighed a breath of relief, and her calm demeanor returned. "Alright. I guess I'll be off, then." She kneeled down over Troy. "I'll see you around, my little exboyfriend."

"Catch you on the flipside, my big exgirlfriend," Troy responded with smile.

Dorothy also smiled warmly, before standing up and--after giving Dawn a nod--walking off away from the two. They watched her leave, until seconds later, she literally faded away into thin air, just as their environment underwent another change of its own. Before Troy knew it, he was standing right in the dining room of Dawn's house, the white, barren ground from before now replaced the fine polished wood.

Dawn stood over him, arms folded as she tapped her sandaled foot on the floor.

"You really made your ex mad back there," Dawn told him.

"Nah, it's just a game I like playing," Troy said. "It always gets her riled up, and I like messing with her."

"Either way, she told me to smash that cocky mouth off of your face, and I can't turn down a request from a kindred spirit, now can I?"

Troy became amused. "Heh, I guess not. Alright, my big Black giant. Do your thing."

"With pleasure."

Dawn lifted her foot off of the floor and moved it over his tiny body. Completely within its shadow, Troy could see nothing past the brown sole of her shoe as it began to descend. Giggling almost like a madman, he stretched his arms out and eagerly awaited the feeling of her foot once again rending him into a pulp.

The foot started to fall upon him, and then...

~~~

The blaring sound of the alarm clock roused Troy from his slumber. Slowly opening his eyes as the clock constantly buzzed from his side, he reached over and slapped his palm onto the device, ending the shrill calls.

Troy briefly laid in his bed, reflecting on the wonderful dream he had had. He did not expect both Dawn and Dorothy to show up inside, and while they did not interact as much as he had wished, they got along rather well and he felt that they would have made a great tag team of deadly giants. He could imagine himself running and trying to avoid the feet of both of them. Of course, one would eventually get him, only for him to resurrect and try again, just for the other to end his life. He wondered if he would be able to trigger such a dream. Or any dream that involved both Dawn and Dorothy together; perhaps he just had to wait for them to occur.

Of course, he was a bit disappointed that his dream ended before Dawn's foot could squash him, but unlike in similar instances before, it was not a huge loss.

After all, he had the real deal in his life, and she was all too eager to please. As he was for her.

Not wanting to spend any more time in bed, Troy sat up and got off of the bed, before making his way to his door and eventually the bathroom. He had to freshen up for the workday that was upon him.

~~~

And what a workday it had been so far. Troy's office had begun work on a new account, one belonging to a large telecom company in the city. Much of his workplace had been in a very busy frenzy all day, and even at only halfway through the day, Troy already knew that it would take them the rest of the week if not the next to get things settled. The stack of paperwork on his desk made that quite clear, as did the constant emails flying into and away from his cyber mailbox.

As such, the lunch hour was a huge relief for him, allowing him to catch a breather from the hecticness. However, rather than go out for lunch, he decided to eat at his desk, relaxing with his thick turkey sandwich, complemented with a bottle of Pepsi and a bag of sour cream-flavored chips. All the while, he was reading about current events in the news.

He heard three knocks on the wall of his cubicle from its entrance. He looked up, and found Casey standing there, watching him while holding a lavender lunch bag. Until then, he had not seen hide or hair of her all day; no doubt she too was being run ragged.

"Hey, Casey," Troy greeted. "I was beginning to wonder if you had came in today."

"Yeah, SurgeNet is a pretty tough account," Casey said, a hint of tiredness in her tone. "They're still pretty new, but they have much of this area by the balls."

"From what people have said," Troy said, "they're actually pretty good for what they're charging."

Casey nodded, before walking closer to his desk and sitting down on the chair on the opposite side. "I might have to switch. I'm so sick of Comcast. But I don't think they've expanded to my part of the city yet."

"They're in my part, but my landlord has a contract with Comcast, so unfortunately I'm stuck until I move out."

"Bummer." She moved closer to Troy; he could see an excited expression growing on her face. "Oh! But guess what?"

"What?" Troy was curious of her jubilance.

Casey briefly looked around, before moving her head closer to his. "It finally happened. I got Heads!"

Troy was surprised, yet delighted to hear this. "Well, congrats! Looks like both our strings of bad luck have ended."

"Oh, you should have seen his face," Casey continued. "He had gotten cocky, and he was so sure the coin would turn up Tails yet again. But for once, the Universe sided with me!"

"So, what'd you do to him?"

"What else?" She smiled cunningly. "I turned the soles of my feet red, like completely red."

"Wow..." Troy could picture it in his head, of Gus trying--and failing many times--to avoid being crushed by Casey's lovely bare sole; not that he had ever seen her bare sole, but he could imagine.

"In fact, I had to clean my feet before I moved anywhere else in the house when we were done," she said. "It was a lot of blood, and I didn't want to track it on the carpet or anything. That's what I get for not wearing shoes, but I just love how he feels...!"

"But I'm sure you had fun," Troy commented. "Hopefully you get your own streak going. It's only fair, right." He grinned.

"Hell yeah!" At her beckoning, the two high-fived each other. "So, how was your weekend?"

"Pretty good," Troy answered. "We went out with some friends, but aside from that, I spent some good quality time with Dawn. And her feet."

"I'm still happy that you found someone finally," Casey said. "I know it was hard, but from what you told me, I know it was worth it for you."

"Definitely. After listening to your story, I wish I could have her step on me today after work, but I'm sure we'll both be tired. Guess that's what the weekend's for."

"I'd love to see how she crushes you," Casey said.

"I can have her record it on my phone and show you," Troy suggested.

"That'd be great. She sounds like a crush enthusiast, and so she might give me some ideas of my own. ...But actually, I was thinking..."

"What's that?" Troy asked.

"...If it's not too awkward, maybe the four of us--you, me, Gus, and Dawn--can get together and do a sort of double-date crush session sometime."

"Wha...?" Troy was bewildered that Casey had suggested this. He would be lying to himself if he said that he had never thought about being crushed by Casey, but he never thought he'd ever have an opportunity for it to happen in actuality.

"We've done it before," Casey said. "...Though not with other giant women, unfortunately. It was Gus and two of his friends--all giant--versus me and their girlfriends. We didn't stand a chance." Despite her words, she sounded quite satisfied with that fact. "My favorite part was when Gus stomped on all three of us at the same time. He even took a picture of it and sent it to me later."

"Uh-huh..." Troy tried to get that image out of his mind. "...But Dawn isn't into being tiny at all. She likes being large and in charge, so to speak."

"That's fine, and it's why I'm suggesting it. It's really not often you find another girl who actually likes stepping on guys, as you know all too well. I'd like to work with her if it's possible, form a tag team to smash both of you guys up." She smirked.

"Hmm..." Troy was taking her offer under serious consideration. "I mean, I'd be down for it, but I'd have to run it by Dawn. I'm not sure how she'd feel about it."

"I understand," Casey said. "I don't want to step on her toes or anything. If she says no, then I'll just see if I can recruit someone else."

"Like your Dawn?" Troy humored.

Casey chuckled. "Maybe, but she'd rather be around if she's going to be tiny."

"...Man, if we ever need to talk about both our Dawns, it'll be pretty confusing," Troy stated, before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, you're right," Casey concurred. "Here's what I suggest..."

The two of them spent the rest of their lunch hour in lighthearted chatter, eventually transitioning from macro to other topics as they both finished off their meals. However, before they both knew it, it was soon time to get back to their work tasks.

~~~

Perhaps as both a blessing and a curse, due to the work he was constantly plowing through, the week seemed to fly right by, and before Troy knew it, it was already Thursday evening. Just one more day before he could relax for the weekend and spend some quality time with Dawn. He had spoken to her over the phone and via texting all week, but unfortunately they were not able to meet for lunch, and it's likely that it would be the case tomorrow.

He had spoken to her about Casey's proposal, and Dawn sounded interested, but she also said that she needed to give it some more thought. On one hand, she wanted to be the only one who would crush Troy; on the other hand, it was a rare chance for her to have more than one tiny man at her disposal, even if she had to share both with her fellow giantess. That said, Casey had not mentioned it again since their lunchtime talk on Monday, and Troy decided not to press it for now. Especially as their busy work looked as if it would be pouring into the following week.

As Troy sat at his computer desk, navigating through webpages online, he recalled a short conversation he had with Bill. He had told him that the Minimizer site had updated with details on an "upgrade". Bill had skimped on most of the details, so Troy decided to check it out for himself.

Indeed, as soon as he reached the Minimizer Program's website, he saw a blue banner announcing the pending release of "Minimizer 2.0". Upon clicking it, he was met with a series of paragraphs giving a brief recap on what the Minimizer Program does and what it can be used for, and then thanking the patrons for their continued interest and making it a success. To be frank, Troy skimmed through much of that, scrolling down onto the page until he found a bulleted list.

In the short paragraph preceding said list, it said that the current set of Minimizer pills--containing version 1.0--would be retired and pulled from the site, and the new set would go on sale for the same price sometime in 2016. These new pills would provide some new features and upgrades to existing ones. Troy read through the list:

• The size setting would be enhanced. Now, there will be a millimeter toggle added, allowing for even smaller sizes than before. The numerical setting would also be getting its upper limit boosted, from 12 to 18, allowing for a maximum shrunken height of a foot-and-a-half.

• A new feature called Durability. This allows users to alter how durable their bodies are under extreme pressure and force. It comes in three settings: Fragile, which is essentially what the program had at the moment; Pliable, which allows the body to be flattened and reshaped without death, and they would revert to their original form after a minute of inactivity; and finally, Sturdy, which keeps the user's body intact no matter how much weight and pressure is placed upon it.

• There would also be an "instant kill" feature, which was what it sounded like: it instantly kills the user on the spot and triggers the respawning process. According to the site, it would only be available while the user is shrunken, and is meant to serve as a means of escape in the event the user party becomes trapped in some way.

• One last addition would make the remains of the user's previous body and everything on it "disperse", as the site puts it, after a certain amount of time after death. It is meant to aid in clean-up, as well as a means to prevent people from exploiting the program to duplicate money and other valuables, which was something that had been becoming a bit of an issue.

Reading through it, Troy was becoming a bit excited. Particularly for the Durability feature. He would be able to survive as much punishment from Dawn as he could without being splattered. Of course, said splattering was what he enjoyed best, but being able to take as much of Dawn's attacks--kicking, stomping, jumping, pressing, etc.--was something that truly enticed him. As did the idea of being turned completely flat like a cartoon character; he wondered if he would be able to stick to the bottom of Dawn's foot and remain there as she walked around. No reason why he couldn't, he thought.

He was not sure how much mileage he'd get out of the instant kill feature, but being able to shrink himself even further down while in Dawn's presence was truly a thought that beguiled him. At a millimeter high, he could perhaps be well outside of her notice, to be more akin to the dust on her sole; in fact, it was possible that he could even survive her casually stepping on him if he made it into her toe print or ridges of her sole or the treads of her shoe. He was already imagining such a thing, not to mention how mind-boggling huge even her pinky toe would be to him, to say nothing of her entire being.

Below the list, he noticed something else. It seemed that the creators took notice of the many, many questions about how all of this was possible. Perhaps in a whimsical display of their own, they stated that while they would not reveal all of their secrets, they will say that even getting the Minimizer Program to begin to function required them to "literally rewrite several laws of nature and physics". Troy raised an eyebrow in astonished bewilderment; just who were these people, and what powers did they possess so that they could even alter how the laws of the Universe worked? It seemed as if they were not going to answer that anytime soon.

In any case, it seemed as if they bore no ill will towards their customers, and created the Program purely as a means for fun or as a tool to aid in labor. Even people with no sexual interest in shrinking were able to use it to explore or build or even entertain. Even movie studios had long since begun using it, as it provided a much easier way to do shrinking plots than relying on green screen and special effects. The Program was basically what the user made of it, and its creators intended for it to be that way.

An apex of both science and technology, the Minimizer Program truly was a work of miracles, or perhaps even magic.

Being on the site also reminded him that he would need to order a new batch pretty soon himself. He was a bit disappointed that the new version would not be out until the next year; he wanted to dive headfirst into its new features as soon as he could. But for now, he could enjoy what he had now.

He navigated to the "Purchase" page, and began to put in his order. "Welcome, returning customer!" large blue text on the screen flashed.

~~~

As the clock struck 4:30pm, Troy stretched his arms back behind him and let out a loud, relaxed sigh. Though he still had work to do, his day--and thus, week--was finally completed. All he had to do was clock out, and his time would be over.

After logging off of his work PC and then turning it off, he began to gather up his belongings, which really only consisted of his tablet already inside of his messenger bag and a few documents. With the bag's strap over his shoulders, he walked out of his cubicle. After taking several steps away through the corridor of other cubes towards the card-swiper, he heard his smartphone in his pocket buzz with a tone. Fishing it out, he saw that he had received a text message from Dawn, which read that she would be "on the way" to pick him up in about ten minutes. He smiled, as he replied back that he would be waiting for her. He also sent a message to Mitch, telling him not to wait up for him.

As he returned his phone back to his pocket, he encountered Bill, who had beaten him to the wall swiper. After passing his card through the device--confirming that he had clocked out for the day--he turned and saw that Troy was approaching.

"Long day, huh?" Bill said.

"Was it?" Troy replied. "Seemed like it went by pretty fast, with everything we did."

Bill sighed wearily. "A shame we didn't finish it all this week. I'm not looking forward to coming back to the office and getting everything poured on me again."

"Well, you have to think positive," Troy said as he walked past his portly coworker and swiped his badge card into the device, which dinged and displayed his name, ID number, and the current time, confirming that he too was officially clocked out. "Like, what the weekend will be like. I know you and the missus have some neat stuff planned."

"Yep," Bill said, rather sternly. "A whole weekend with the in-laws. They live two towns over, and we'll be staying there until Sunday night. It's their anniversary." He sighed.

"Oh..." Troy found this unexpected; but he knew that these things happened. "Guess that leaves little time for... macro and stuff."

Bill nodded. "No way I'm gonna have them yell at me for doing it there. They're very conservative and old-fashioned and are actually the type who think it's evil. They don't even know that we do macro play."

"I don't blame you," Troy said, as the two started to walk away from the swiper. "I'm not exactly open about it to my family, either. Only my brother knows about it. Anyway, I checked out the site last night. The new Minimizer pill sounds pretty sweet."

"Right? Right?" Bill gushed. "Especially being able to make myself even smaller. I'm gonna have a lot of fun with that. Like, explore my wife like the beautiful goddess she is."

'That's an overstatement to the extreme,' Troy thought to himself of Bill's opinion of his wife's looks; though he gave the man credit for being much less shallow than he was. "Yeah, I can see myself doing that with Dawn," he said. "And the durability stuff, too." At this point, they were being discreet, as there were still a number of people working in the office.

"Yeah, like you can literally be her insole with that," Bill said. "Maybe it'll even let us be split in half so we can be two insoles!"

"I dunno if that'll be possible. It might kill you anyway if you're split up like that."

"Maybe... But I guess we'll just have to find out. After all, it's not like we'd be dead for good, right?"

"Yeah. Guess that leaves plenty of room for trial and error, see what works and what doesn't."

"Still, though... How do they do it?" Bill wondered. "It's like magic, but we were always told that magic wasn't real."

Both men had arrived at the elevator. Troy pressed the down button on the wall. "Well, they claimed that they rewrote the laws of physics, so for all we know, whatever they did made magic real, or at least real enough to make the Program work."

Bill folded his arms. "If that's the case, I wonder what else they're capable of? With that much power, you can't honestly believe that they'd only use it to make shrinking pills for us regular joes."

"Maybe not," Troy said. "For all we know, they could have a whole bunch of other experiments going on behind the scenes." A "ding" sounded from the elevator, and the metallic door to the right opened to the enclosed lift inside. "As long as they don't try to destroy the world, they can do whatever they want," Troy said as he walked into the elevator. "Anyway, I'm heading out now. You have a good weekend, Bill. Good luck with the in-laws."

"Yeah, I'll need it," Bill said, with little enthusiasm in his tone. "You have a good one, too. I mean, I know you will." He chuckled. "Anyway, see you on Monday, when it all begins again."

"I can't wait..." Troy said in a fatigued tone, before pressing the "L" button on the wall, closing the elevator doors. "Later," he bid his coworker as the doors closed him off from the hallway, before the enclosure around him began to rumble, and he was met with the sensation of descent.



Several minutes after Troy had reached ground level and picked a spot to wait outside his office building, the familiar white Ford Fusion pulled up on the curb in front of him. He approached it as the sound of the door unlocking hit his ear, and opened the passenger side door. Inside, Dawn watched him approach, wearing a warm expression on her mocha-brown face framed by her black curls.

"Hey, sweetness," Troy happily greeted as he got inside of the air-conditioned car and closed the door.

"Hey, insect!" Dawn responded with a laughed.

The two of them kissed each other, before Dawn put the vehicle's gear into drive and merged back onto the road, the ride filled with their playful and titillating banter.

~~~

Several hours later--well past 11pm--Dawn sat on her bed, clad in lingerie. Her bedroom was illuminated only by the lamp on her nightstand, and the curtains were closed, needless to say. She laughed and giggled as she looked at her feet, their soles pressed together as they rubbed back and forth against each other.

Sandwiched between the soles was the miniaturized Troy, who was being rolled back and forth with each movement of her feet. The three inch tall man was spun violently from her toes on one foot and the arch on the other, and then to the same arrangement with the opposite feet. Through it all, his head spun in dizziness, and he almost felt like throwing up the great dinner that he had with her, but he did his best to keep it down. After all, being rolled around between her feet was his idea.

Dawn's finesse was one that both kept him where she wanted him while also not crushing him between them, though Troy knew that she was fighting the urge. She had a clear control over him, and it was one that he was more than eager to give her.

As her supple soles kept his body between them--its soft bare flesh meeting with his own, his body lacking all clothing except his boxers and socks--his mind wandered back to earlier, when they had started their macro play soon after arriving at her house. Though it was nothing out of the ordinary; he pretended to be a pest, and she went to exterminate him like one, initially in her sandals and then eventually barefoot. He had also taken to worshipping her lovely feet, kissing and licking on her toes and soles as much as he could. ...And as much as he would be allowed before she smeared him underneath them at a whim.

Dawn truly was the perfect catch for him, a real shining pearl among a sea of dull stones.

Troy kept enjoying the rough ride Dawn's feet were providing him, despite his dizziness. It seemed as if she had been at it for minutes, several in fact. In truth, he was not keeping track of the time, nor did he have any way of doing so.

Soon, however, the movements--and the spinning--came to a stop, and he was pressed between the balls of both of her feet. The force she was exerting kept him in place, and he could not move himself at all. Not even his head, which was turned to the side due to the force. Before long, the feet separated, and he fell down onto the soft mattress. Breathing heavily, he looked ahead, towards his giant ebony girlfriend sitting over him, her feet resting on the best to both sides of him.

"That was... fun..." Troy said between breaths.

"You felt good, too," Dawn said. "But I had to be careful. One wrong move, and you would have been paste."

"That... won't be a problem when the updated Program comes out," Troy said, before attempting to stand up. The softness of the bed combined with his vertigo made it a fool's errand.

"I suppose. It would make keeping you alive easier when I want to." She bent her torso closer to him. "But most of the fun in stomping on tiny little guys like you is making them splatter," she said with a foxy grin.

"I don't disagree," Troy commented. "That really is the best part of being stepped on. But if I was solid, you wouldn't have to worry about crushing me and messing up your shoe when I'm inside."

Dawn pulled back slightly. "True."

"Plus, I have this little fantasy of you stepping on my head--and only my head--as hard as you can to keep me in place. I guess you can do it now, but you'd have to watch your strength and avoid crushing my head entirely, but with that sturdiness, you can press down as hard as you want! I'd turn the Numbing all the way off just to feel all the pain!"

Dawn's finger touched her chin in an inquisitive way. "Ah, you little masochist... And with the other thing, I can mash and reshape you like putty. I did used to play with Play-Dol with my feet when I was little, so I guess you'd feel really nice being stretched around my toes."

Troy became quite eager at the thought. "That sounds really fun!"

"Or I can tie you into a little toe ring," Dawn suggested. "I can think of a lot of things to do to you. But in the end, I'm still always going to go back to crushing you. And I don't mean like the cartoony, putty way." She winked.

Troy blushed. "Man... You're probably the best girl a guy like me could ever ask for. You're beautiful from head to toe--especially toe--and you got the perfect giantess attitude. Not to mention all of your other positive qualities. I really struck gold when I met you."

"Oh wow..." Troy noticed a rosiness in Dawn's cheeks as well. "I'm really flattered you think that." She arched her knees up and wrapped her bronze arms around her equally-bronze legs, relaxing her feet on the mattress in front of him. "That's not to say that I don't disagree, or that I'm also not happy that I found a guy like you."

Troy folded his arms. "In a way, I'm almost thankful for that bastard Vince Vane saying what he did. If he didn't, then I might have been dating a different girl and not you."

"Ugh, Vince..." Dawn groaned. "I never really liked him. I thought he was overrated. And that's before he said women don't like to crush guys. Who made him the authority on that?" She sighed in mild frustration. "I wish I could shrink him and show him firsthand that we exist."

"I can already picture that," Troy said. Indeed, he was picturing Dawn's large feet stomping, squishing, splattering, and otherwise crushing Vince in a myriad of ways. The handsome heartthrob was reduced to--as Mitch would say--shoe grime on the bottom of Dawn's sandal, over and over again. "Too bad you can't do it, though."

"...Yeah... ...But I still want to show him what's up."

"How're you gonna do that?" Troy asked.

"Well, I'll need three things. I need to make a throwaway email account, I need to mask my IP address--both of those as a precaution--and I'll need you, my little bug." She gave him a mischievous look. "

"What are you planning?" Troy wondered.

"I’m thinking about giving our friend Vince a little message. It probably won't have any impact, but I want to at least rattle him."

"Well, I'm in." Troy said.



Several minutes later, the couple had traversed to Dawn's dining room, its lights turned to moderate brightness. Dawn stood over him, watching as Troy used the Minimizer Program to remove two inches off his already paltry height, leaving him at a meager one inch high.

"Alright, you ready?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, ready when you are," Troy confirmed.

Dawn grinned. "Good."

Then, with little warning, she stomped on Troy with her right foot, crushing him completely flat into the ball of her sole with an audible wet crunch of his bones. Her foot resting on the floor, she relished the feeling of his frail tiny body breaking against her flesh, and the warm feeling of his blood spreading around it. However, she did not tread on him just to once again see how it felt; there was a specific purpose for which Troy died.

Holding her foot up and turning its sole against her, she was happy to see that the tiny man has been plastered right onto her foot, his minuscule body pressed and ruptured into her pale flesh in the middle of the red blood splatter. Great, she thought. It was time for the next step.

She sat down onto the hard floor--careful not to smear Troy off of her foot in the process--and pulled out her smartphone. Then, she activated its camera app.



A little bit later, the two were back on the bed in her bedroom. Dawn rested her left foot on top of Troy's body, he having returned it to his previous three-inch form. She rubbed and wiggled her toes upon his face, all the while he caressed, kissed, and licked the underside of her digits. She giggled with the ticklish, sensual feeling of his skin and especially mouth and tongue on her flesh; while she did indeed love crushing tinies, she also loved having her feet worshipped. Like the goddess she was, as Troy would put it.

She let out a sultry sigh. "Keep at it, little man."

Troy did not relent in the least. He grabbed onto her big toe with both hands and started to kiss and lick--mostly lick--its skin furiously. He wished that he was bigger so that he could take the entire toe into his mouth, but for now, he took in its massive size. Though he was bigger than he usually was, he was still small enough for even it to kill him. It could crush his head like a grape underneath it with little effort at all. All thinking about that did was just give him more of a lustful rush, and which made him worship the toe with more intensity.

This went on for several minutes. During which time, he did not break away from her toe.

Dawn moaned again. "I wonder if Vince will read that email?"

Troy moved his lips from her toe, and peeked out from the side to look up at her. "I dunno. You made the title pretty hostile, so he might just ignore it or delete it without reading it."

Dawn nodded. "I guess we'll never know. I doubt he'll talk about it."

"Well, let's just imagine that we turned his world upside down," Troy said with a grin.

Dawn smiled. "Yep! Now, you need to get back to my feet!"

"Yes, my goddess."

Troy resumed his oral stimulation of her toe, before it began to flex and wiggle, until he lost his hold. Lying on the mattress, she moved her foot over him and pinned his face against the ball of her foot. Unfazed at all, Troy pressed his hands against her flesh and resumed kissing, licking, and even attempting to nibble on her sole.

Their night went on like this, eventually climaxing with Troy spelunking into Dawn vagina and stimulating her from inside.

~~~

"So, tomorrow then?" Dawn confirmed, holding her phone to her ear while she looked out of her kitchen window.

"Mm-hm," said the female voice on the other side. "We'll both be there around three."

"Alright, I guess that means I have to cook for four then! Thank goodness I don't have to shop for food."

"Always prepared, just how we raised you. Anyway, I'll let you go now, but I'll see both you and your man tomorrow."

"Alright. Love you, Mom."

"And you too, dear."

Dawn's mother hung up on her end, and Dawn shoved her phone into her jean pocket. She stared out of the window for a bit, thinking over this new development. Her parents would be coming over to visit the next day. While it was not rare for her to entertain them, this was monumental because it would be the first time they would be meeting Troy.

Stepping away from the counter in front of the window, she walked a few steps away to an empty spot on the floor, and then pulled her right foot out from its black flip-flop. Kneeling down, her eyes locked onto the one-inch-high Troy, who had been tied to the thong of the sandal with black string.

"So..." Dawn addressed him, bringing her face closer to his body. "That was my mom. She and Dad are coming over tomorrow."

"Whoa, really? Are they gonna want to meet me?" Troy was a bit trepidatious.

Dawn nodded. "Definitely. I mean, why not? We're together, so you're going to have to meet them sooner or later. Just like I'm gonna have to meet your folks."

"Yeah, I know... It's always a nervous feeling having to meet the parents." It seemed that Bill would not be the only one dealing with his significant other's parents that weekend.

"Aww..." She cooed. "Just relax, and you'll do fine. I'm sure they'll like you. I mean, what's not to like?"

"Me being five years your junior?" Troy humored.

"They already know about that. Anyway, you need to swing by your place to get a change of clothes?"

Troy thought about it. He did pack a spare outfit for himself the day before, but said outfit--consisting of a t-shirt and jeans--was far more casual than he'd like to meet someone's parents for the first time. After all, first impressions were everything.

"You have a washer and dryer, right? I can just wash my work clothes here and wear those."

"Yeah, that'll be fine," Dawn said with a nod. "Anyway, I was thinking about going out to the store in a few minutes. I don't need to buy any food, since I have everything I need here. But I have something else on my mind."

Troy gazed at her for a few seconds. "And that is...?"

Dawn smiled. "Nail polish."

~~~

"Hmm..." Dawn pondered to herself as she held two vials of nail polish in her hand. Standing in one of the cosmetics aisles in the local supermarket, she examined both bottles in hand. One was a nice shade of sky blue; the other was a rather enticing deeper azure with bits of glitter glistening in the light.

Both colors had their merits, and she contemplated just buying both of them. Why not, she thought. It was not like she couldn't afford to do so, and by buying both, she would offer Troy the opportunity to pick whichever one he liked best. She wished she could consult him at the moment, but she knew that it would not be wise, not while he was still shrunken between her toes. After all, aside from her, there were four other women in the aisle with her.

No, he would have to wait until they were away from prying eyes.

Deciding to get both colors, she grabbed out a second bottle of each from the shelf in front of her, and then made her way towards the checkout, the express lane in particular which had three people ahead of her. Luckily, it was still early in the day, so the shore was not as busy as it would be once the afternoon hit.

After paying for her merchandise, Dawn thanked the young cashier and headed out of the store, purse and bag of polish in hand. Stepping outside into the warm late-summer air, she trekked towards her car, her flip-flops slapping and scraping against the pavement with each step.

Unlocking the car with a press of the button on her key, she opened the driver's side door and got inside of the vehicle, it being rather hot inside due to being out in the sun for so long. After closing the door, she put the keys into ignition, starting the car and along with it the air conditioning. She briefly looked around at her surroundings; there was no car parked to either side of her. Great, she thought, as she then reached down towards her foot and pulled her flip-flop from her right foot. She brought it up to eye level--the back end facing her--and immediately located Troy still bound to the thong. Thought she could barely tell due to his one-inch size, it appeared as if he was sweating.

"How you holding up, little man?" Dawn asked.

"Just fine!" Troy shouted back. "Don't worry about me!"

Dawn smiled. "Cool. Anyway, I bought two colors of polish for you." With her free hand, she fished out two of the polish bottles from the plastic bag on her lap. Specifically, she picked one of each color. "I couldn't decide which one to get, so I got them both. I'll leave the final decision to you."

"You got it!" Troy shouted.

"Anyway, let's get back to my place."

Dawn slipped the sandal back onto her foot, her big and second toes catching the thong--and Troy--between them. Moving her bag of polish over to the passenger seat, she shifted the car's gear into reverse to back out of the parking spot, and then to drive to depart from the supermarket.

As her foot worked the pedals as needed, down between her toes, Troy was enjoying the ride that he was being taken on so far. From his perspective, he could see little more than Dawn's instep in front of him, as well as her massive toes to his sides. Though he was sweating due to the heat from before combined with her own body heat, he did not mind at all; he simply loved being down there with her foot and he was glad that he suggested that he be tied to her flip-flop in the first place.

He wished he was able to kiss her flesh, but it was impossible. He was unable to move at all, with how tightly Dawn had tied him to the plastic pillar. Furthermore, he did not want to distract her and possible cause an accident. His lips would have to wait until they were back in Dawn's humble abode.

~~~

Back in Dawn's living room, the ebony giantess sat in one of the wooden chairs, turned to the side towards Troy as he grew himself  to four inches. With the growth completed, he walked towards the two bottles of polish, one sky blue, the other a darker hue with glitter. The caps on both had been twisted almost completely off, so that it would be easier for him to take the brush in his hands.

"Pick whichever one you want," Dawn told him. "And remember: you can't alternate them. Not unless you want me to hide them from everyone at work."

Dawn had told him that she could not decide on which one to get, which was why she got both colors. However, for Troy, the choice was a no-brainer. He strode over towards the sky blue polish and pulled off its black cap, bringing with it the long brush coated with polish. The distinct scent of the liquid began to waft into his nostrils.

"Oh, you're going with that?" Dawn commented. "Smart bug."

It had been a while since he had painted a woman's toenails. The last time was when he was still with Dorothy. He was certainly very eager to once again put his skills to use, though he hoped that he had not gotten too rusty in the time since.

Dawn brown feet both rested on a strip of plastic on the floor, likely so that less polish leaked onto the wood. Approaching her left foot--the big toe in particular--he turned the brush towards the nail and lowered its bristles dripping with light blue polish onto it. Once it made contact, he started to slather it with the viscous liquid, making a streak of blue in the brush's wake.

Troy went to work, applying more polish onto the wide, large canvas that was her nail. He even had to make a trip to get more polish once half of it was blue. Returning, he spent the next several minutes finishing up that nail, careful that he got as little polish as possible on her skin, until it was completely coated as blue as the sky. Then, after replenishing his reserves, he went for the second toe, its nail being smaller than the one before it and this requiring less time, effort, and polish to complete. This was the case for the remaining toenails on the foot, and little by little, Dawn's previous French pedicure was slowly but surely concealed underneath a coat of blue. Soon, he reached her pinky toe, the smallest of the bunch. However, its nail was comparably long, not like the shortness on some women's pinky toes, Dorothy included. As more blue polish splashed back on his clothes, he went to paint that last nail on her left foot, spending precious minutes getting it just right, until he was satisfied with the work. Not just on that toe, but the four others, all of which almost shined in the light.

"One down!" Troy announced to Dawn.

"Wow, they look great!" Dawn enthused as she flexed and relaxed the toes on her left foot.

Wasting little time, Troy made a return visit to the polish bottle to draw up more of the paint, before moving onto her right foot, starting with its big toe as well. Thus, he went to work on that foot as well. All the while, Dawn alternated her attention from him to her phone, occasionally laughing at whatever she was looking at on its screen. Troy slogged on, his arms gradually becoming fatigued at working such a large brush. However, he did not want to let her down, and remained determined to complete his task. As he continued painting her nails, he simply thought of how stunning the finished product would look like, and use that as his motivation to see it through.

In the end, the finished product was more beautiful in person than in his mind.

Both of them marveled at her ten toes, all neatly and meticulously polished the shade of the blue sky, contrasting quite well with her naturally-dark skin.

"Wow, little man..." Dawn awed. "I'm really impressed you were able to do this!"

Troy grinned. "I'm glad it turned out well! Because your toes deserve the very best, right?"

"Yes they do! You really delivered on it, too." She wiggled her toes slightly. "I feel like I should reward you, but my nails need to dry first."

"That's fine," Troy said as he sauntered over to the bottle of sky blue polish and thrust the cap and brush back onto it. "You let them dry. I'll use this time to start washing my clothes."

"Sounds like a plan."

Troy brought up his hand in preparation of bringing up the Minimizer control panel, but right as he was about to touch the back of his hand, he found himself distracted by Dawn's toes, all wearing their fresh coat of polish. He gazed lovingly at them; they truly were beautiful, but one should expect nothing less from the person that they were attached to.

He walked over to her right foot, getting down his hands-and-knees on the floor before its big toe, and pressing his lips against its flesh. He was careful to avoid the still-wet polish--and the smell still touched his inner nostrils--as he spent several seconds with his mouth on her toe. With a second, much more brief kiss, he finally stood back up, took a few steps backwards, and used the Minimizer program to grow himself back to his regular height.

Still sitting in the chair, Dawn's eyes met with his own above her. After a blushing smile from both, Troy moved forward and kissed her again, this time on her soft lips. Again, he was careful to not step on her foot and mess up the polish, as their lips locked for a brief period. At last, Troy pulled away, stroking her cheek in the process, before walking out of the dining room and heading for the bedroom, where his work clothes were being kept.

While he did have all day to wash them, doing them now while Dawn's toes were drying seemed like a very wise idea.

After all, it then meant fewer distractions when it was once again time for him to become her tiny bug.

~~~

Late that evening, Dawn sat on the couch in the living room, its lights off while she watched a cable news program on the television across the room. Though there seemed to be a lot of bad news and otherwise depressing events lately, Dawn always liked staying abreast with the latest happenings in the world. Though it seemed as if much of the news was talking about troubles in the Middle East and the influx of refugees flooding into nearby countries or making the trip all the way to Europe.

"How are they going to deal with that?" Dawn wondered. "That's a lot of people flowing into those countries."

With her feet resting on the coffee table in front of her--one foot crossed over the other--she found herself otherwise perfectly relaxed. Especially with Troy serving as her cushion of sorts, the two-and-a-half inch man pinned against the table by the heel of her foot against his back. Though she could not see him, she knew that he too was paying attention to what was on the TV; after all, he had no choice in the matter. The weight being pressed against him kept him right in place, though not to the point of crushing him; she was careful of that.

"If they're committing themselves to taking in those people," Troy said, "then they had better find a way."

"True. I hope everything works out."

"...Can you go back to playing the game? This is boring" Troy had been enjoying watching her play The Witcher III and discuss various things about the game and how she played it--it also helped him keep his calm in anticipation for tomorrow--until she suddenly decided to quit for the night and watch this news program at the turn of the hour.

"Sorry, but no," Dawn answered. "You know I always need to watch the news. I don't want to be blind to what's going on in the world."

"You can always read about it online," Troy suggested.

"I could, but it's not the same. Besides, this is my house, and I'm in control. Now, stop complaining or else I'll sit on you."

Troy sighed. "I'm sure Vince Vane would be proud if you did that."

"Yeah, but screw him. I do what I want, not what he thinks I should be doing."

As if on cue, the news anchor switched the subject from the crisis in the Middle East to entertainment. "In entertainment news, Hollywood heartthrob Vince Vane has posted a new vlog today, and in it, he was not happy," the anchor said. "What had him so riled up? Let's take a look."

"Oh no..." Troy muttered. Both he and Dawn became silent as they watched the footage on the TV switch to that of a webcam recording of the dark-haired Vince himself, who was clearly irritated.

"So, I got an email from someone by the name of 'Mistress Mash'," Vince started, "She said..."

"'Mistress Mash'?" Troy was shocked. He knew exactly who he was talking about. He tried his best to turn around, though he could hardly see past her giant sole behind him. "Oh shit! He's talking about u-"

"SHH!!!" Dawn shushed loudly.

"Oh..." Somewhat dejected, Troy focused back on the TV.

"...And that she loves stepping on him!" Vince continued. "Now, that's nasty enough, but then they went for the hail-mary! They attached a pic of... the girl's feet right in the camera! Even worse, on her foot was the guy smushed right into it! I could barely look at it for too long without throwing up! I deleted that sh(*bleep*) right away!!" There was a cut by the station between that part of the clip and the next. "Both of them were Black, too! And that really boggles my mind!! If you're watching this, you freak," Vince's face pulled closer to the camera, as if he was trying to send a personal message. "You're supposed to be after her ass, not her feet. Sick pervert. Seek help, you f(*bleep*) a(*bleep*)le."

The program then switched back to the anchor, who was holding back laughter.

"Wow... He was really angry, wasn't he?" said her male colleague from off screen.

"I kind of wish he did show the photo," the female anchor said. "...But I don't think we'd be allowed to show it on the air. ...Anyway, the posting got thousands of comments, ranging from ridicule of 'Mistress Mash' and her boyfriend, to some calling Vince out over his close-mindedness, to some even asking to see the picture in question."

"Well, whatever your thoughts on that are," the male anchor said as the camera switched to showing both anchors in the studio, "it's clear that those two love each other, and that's really all that matters, right?"

"Indeed, Zack," the female agreed, before smiling at the camera. "Anyway, we're going to take a quick break, and when we return..."

Both Troy and Dawn were silent; they stared at the TV in a mix of disbelief and astonishment. However, soon--as if they read each other's minds--they both burst out into hearty laughter at the same time. They were very much amused at the fact that they did indeed screw with their nemesis Vince. His reaction was more than they could have asked for, especially that it had been picked up by the news. Vince calling him a "sick pervert" was par the course for him and as such did not faze him, but it did not take away from the fact that he read their message at all, and that they were able to rattle him.

"Oh shit, we really got him!" Troy said in between laughs, wiping the tear from his eye in the process.

Dawn kept laughing, her fit causing the weight of her feet on Troy's back to shift ever so slightly. "Hahaha!! Man, I can't believe it! And best of all, he'll never know who did it! Especially since I made sure not to get anything identifying in the picture!! It's classic!!"

"I'm glad I played my part as well. I think that really drove it home. ...Should we tell people about this?" Troy asked.

"Hell no!" Dawn quickly responded. "Let's keep this just between us. It'll be our little secret."

"You got it, Mistress Mash," Troy jested, which garnered a lighthearted chuckle from Dawn in response.

~~~

Troy stood before the wall mirror in the bathroom, making sure that his shirt was buttoned just right and that his hair and face were up to par. He then took a deep breath, in an effort to calm his nerves. After all, very shortly he would be meeting Dawn's parents, the two people who were responsible for bringing her into the world back in late 1983. It would definitely be a monumental occasion, and one of the many milestones that Troy could foresee being erected over the course of his relationship with Dawn.

No one could blame him for feeling the pressure. He recalled feeling the same when he met Dorothy's parents for the first time, but that had the added burden of her parents possibly instantly rejecting him due to his race; thankfully, that was one weight that he would not have to carry on his shoulders this time around.

"Okay..." Troy turned to the clock on the wall. It was very close to 3pm, the designated time. He exhaled again, before exiting the bathroom and heading down the hall towards the kitchen, wherein Dawn had been finishing up the meal she had cooked, with some assistance from him.

On the kitchen table was a steamy and juicy roast beef, bowls of peas, corn, and mashed potatoes, and a dozen sweet rolls. It was quite a meal, one not unlike one you would find on the Sunday dinner table. Perhaps it was something she had picked up from her mother?

Dawn wiped off the sweat from her brow, letting out a sigh of relief that her task was done. She too was dressed up for her parents, donning a light blue knee-length dress with a white belt around her waist, and her turquoise thong sandals, the whole ensemble matching well with the sky blue polish on her toes and now her fingers (she did her fingernails herself). She really was a sight to behold, Troy thought. Especially her feet, strapped into their sandals; what he wouldn't give to throw himself at them at that moment, but he knew that there was no time.

She turned to him. "They'll be here any minute now. You ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be..." Troy responded, his tone lacking gusto.

"Relax," Dawn said as she approached him. "My folks are nice people. I'm sure they'll like you."

"I hope so. How do I look? Business casual isn't too casual, is it?"

"You look fine. You're just meeting my parents, not President Obama."

"It kind of feels like I'm meeting Obama."

She smiled and started to embrace him with her arms. "...You're pretty cute when you're nervous."

"Am not," Troy retorted.

Dawn drew in for a kiss, as did Troy whose lips were already puckered, until the sound of the doorbell interrupted it.

"There they are," Dawn happily announced as she broke away from Troy and walked out of the kitchen.

Troy listened as he heard the house's front door open in the distance, followed by the sound of voices happily greeting each other. One obviously belonged to Dawn, while the other female voice was a bit more mature. Though faint, he could also occasionally hear a deeper male voice speak.

Troy took another deep breath, before following her out to the front hall. Indeed, Dawn was accompanied by an older Black couple, both whom appeared to be in their late 50s or even early 60s. The woman was shorter and much more chubby than Dawn was, with a skin complexion of one or two shades lighter than both Dawn and the tall man. Her hair was mostly still black, though even from where he stood Troy could spot a grey strand here and there. The man was more lean and a good five inches taller than Dawn was, and the top of his scalp bald while the remaining hair as well as his mustache and beard had substantial greying; he was mostly silent, keeping a more serious, stern look on his face. Both of them wore their Sunday best--the woman even wearing a rather fancy hat--as if they had left church and immediately made the trek to Dawn's house.

Both of their attention shifted to Troy the instant he stepped into the hall.

"Oh, there he is!" the mother said, as Troy approached.

"Yeah, this is Troy," Dawn introduced. "Troy, these are my parents."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Smith," Troy said as he extended his hand towards the mother, who grabbed it herself and gave it a shake in her plump hand.

"Oh please, honey," Mrs. Smith said. "Call me 'Ronda'."

Wondering if that would be too informal, Troy looked back towards Dawn for some sort of affirmation on whether he should do as her mother suggested. She simply nodded.

"Okay... Nice to meet you, Ronda."

"Same to you, Troy." She gave him a warm, motherly smile. He could definitely see Dawn in it.

Troy then turned to the father, the somewhat intimidating man who had a good few inches on him. It was clear that Dawn's height had come from him. "Mr. Smith," Troy spoke to him, presenting his hand in the process. "It's an honor, sir."

Mr. Smith grabbed Troy's hand with a very firm grip and shook it. "You can keep calling me Mr. Smith, young man."

"Dad..." Dawn chided, as if she had grown tired from hearing this.

The grip loosened as Troy pulled his hand back. "So, did you both come from church?"

"Yep!" Ronda gleefully answered. "We go every Sunday we can. I wish you'd come too, Dawn. Everyone's asking about you."

"Yeah, you tell me that all the time," Dawn replied. "Anyway, why don't you all come into the dining room. I know you're hungry."

"Girl, yes I am!" Ronda said. "Since you said you'd be cooking, we didn't eat anything! But let's go!" She turned to Troy. "I wanna talk more to the man my brother set you up with!"

"So do I," Mr. Smith added.

Troy could feel a shiver down his spine, though he did his best to hide his nervousness from the couple. Dawn likely knew his ordeal, though.

Dawn took her mother's purse and hat and carried them off into the living room, before leading the group into the dining room. Mr. Smith sat at the left end of the table, while Ronda picked out the seat nearest to the hallway entrance. Troy pulled out the chair on the right end and sat down upon it.

"Alright, I just need to make a few preparations," Dawn said behind Troy, as the three were seated, "and then we can eat!"

"Alright, dear," Ronda said. "I always look forward to your cooking. I mean, I taught you, right?"

Dawn laughed. "Yeah, I know." Rubbing her hand on Troy's shoulder briefly, she walked into the kitchen, leaving Troy alone with her parents.

"So, uh..." Troy said as both eyes were upon him, Ronda's filled with curiosity while Mr. Smith's were clearly judging him. "Do you live far?"

"On the other side of town, on Green street," Ronda answered. "We've been there all our lives. We do want to move, but we're waiting until I retire."

"Just you?" Troy asked.

Ronda nodded. "Mm-Mm. My retirement is closer than his, and we've been talking about getting out of there for years."

"Where do you work?" Troy asked.

"I'm a teacher, at Arbor Woods High School. I teach Biology."

"Wow, high school... I remember those days really well."

"Yeah, because you're just a baby yourself." Ronda laughed heartily at her joke.

"Err..." Troy could feel a slight blush in his cheeks. He was not sure how to respond.

"I'm only foolin'. Anyway, the kids are nice--most of them--but I think it's time to move on. I've been there for over 30 years, after all."

"Whoa..." Troy was genuinely amazed at this tidbit.

"What about you?" Mr. Smith suddenly asked as he folded his arms. "What do you do?"

"I'm a technical accountant in the Ward building in the city, sir," Troy answered.

"Really." Mr. Smith sounded impressed to hear this.

"Yeah, and it can be a really tough job at times, but it can also be pretty fun, too. You learn a lot about companies and how they manage their money. It's kind of eye-opening to see just how freely some of our clients throw their cash around."

"I see... And you studied for that? What school did you graduate from?"

"Lockhart University, with a degree in finance," Troy answered.

"Hm. Well, you already got a leg up on most of the men I deal with just by having gone to college," Mr. Smith stated.

"What do you mean, sir?" Troy asked.

"He's a judge," Ronda interjected. "With the city's criminal court."

Mr. Smith nodded. "Yep."

That explained a lot, Troy thought. "I can only imagine all of the crazy stuff you have seen in... Er, however long you've been there," he said.

"I suppose you could say that I've seen it all," Mr. Smith said. "But I've learned a long time ago to be able to judge a man just by looking at him. I can usually tell what kind of man he is within seconds, and 90% of the time, I'm right on the money." His eyes squinted as he said this, focusing right into Troy's own. Though he had been trying to calm his nerves, this started them right up again.

He was very relieved when Dawn returned to the room.

"Alright, food's ready," she announced. "You all can come in here and make your plates."

"Alright! Time to dig in!" Ronda said in an excitable boisterous tone. Both she and Mr. Smith got up from their seats and made their way into the kitchen in the next room. Troy followed after them.

"How are you doing?" Dawn quietly asked Troy as the two walked into the kitchen together.

"Fine," Troy whispered back. "How come you didn't tell me your dad was a judge?"

"All that would have done is make you freak out," she answered.

"I would have given me a bit of time to prepare, though."

"Well, don't worry. I'll be there with you now, and I'll stop them if they get too inquisitive."

"I'd really appreciate that."

After gathering their food and beverages, all four went back into the dining room, Troy, Ronda, and Mr. Smith taking the seat they had before, while Dawn sat in the remaining one to Troy's right. Ronda then insisted that they had prayer before eating, and as they were in Dawn's house, she further insisted that Dawn said the prayer. Rather than dispute it, Dawn simply went along with her mother's wishes. Troy wondered just how much of Dawn's apostasy that Ronda was aware of.

The table was full of conversation, though mainly between Dawn and Ronda as they discussed various things, from their family members and friends, to current events, to even gossip. Mr. Smith spoke up whenever he felt like it, but mostly listened to the two women's banter. In a way, Troy was a bit thankful that there was so much spatial distance between himself and Mr. Smith, both sitting at the longer ends of the table. Had he had chosen to sit next to him, no doubt that the patriarch would have put him through a thorough interrogation, perhaps to see if he was good enough for his daughter.

Troy took a spoonful of corn and peas into his mouth. Could use a bit of salt, he thought.

"...You've been pretty quiet over there," Mr. Smith said to him. "Is something wrong?"

The conversation at the table stalled, and all eyes were on Troy. Troy's heart almost skipped a beat with all the attention cast upon him.

"Not at all, sir," Troy replied. "I was just listening to them talking, but I didn't really have much to add to it."

"Okay, well lemme ask you this," Mr. Smith started. "What is it you like about my daughter? Aside from her looks, that is."

"Well, she's smart, kind, we have a lot in common when it comes to hobbies and things like that." Of course, Troy dare not mention anything about macro to the man.

"Um, I'm right here, you guys," Dawn said. "But we really do enjoy each other's company. We try to spend as much time together as we can." She warmly placed her hand upon Troy's on the table.

"And how long have you been together?" Mr. Smith inquired.

"About a month, sir," Troy answered.

"Hm." Mr. Smith cut into the roast beef on his plate with his fork and knife. "Seems kind of fast. You sure my daughter just isn't some 'booty-call' to you?"

"Dad!" Dawn complained.

"I'm just saying, I don't know if you can really know someone in just a month. You don't want to rush it." He looked to Troy again.

"Dad, I'll be 32 in a few months. Don't you think it's about time you learned that I can make my own decisions?"

"I don't care how old you get," Mr. Smith responded. "You'll always be my little girl, and I'll always be there to keep you on the straight and narrow."

"Your father's just looking out for you," Ronda added.

Dawn sighed. "I know, I know."

"I know you do. Anyway, I have a question for you too, Troy," Ronda said.

"What is it, Mrs. Smith?" Troy asked.

"I said you can call me 'Ronda'. Anyway, do you go to church?"

And here we go, Troy thought. He knew that this topic would come up sooner or later. He shot a quick apprehensive glance at Dawn, before speaking. "No, ma'am. Aside from special occasions with my family, I haven't gone in years."

"Well, do you believe in God?"

"I..." Troy thought about how to phrase his answer. "Well, it's not that I don't believe in him, and I guess I do feel something giving me some kind of direction, but in the end, I make my own choices."

"Hm. I suppose I can accept that," Mr. Smith said, before sipping a bit of his beverage. "But you can't truly be a strong man without a solid foundation in Christ."

"Dad, please don't start preaching to him," Dawn said. "Everyone has their own beliefs, and only they can decide what works for them."

"You have a point," Mr. Smith said.

"Still," Ronda started as she addressed Troy, "I'm sure you know what our generation is like. I bet your parents are the same way."

"They are," Troy said. "Especially my mom."

"It's always the women, huh?" Ronda let out a short but hearty laugh. "But alright. Out of respect for you and Dawn, I won't push it."

"Thank you, Mrs. Smi- Ronda."

From there, it seemed as if the worst of this meeting was behind Troy. As they made gradual dents in their meals, the conversations and banter continued on, with the topics once again shifting from one thing to the next. Again, much of it was Dawn and Ronda, but Troy decided to also join in whenever he could. He found Ronda much easier to speak with, as she had a warm, motherly air to her unlike the harsh, judgemental aura of Mr. Smith. That said, and perhaps it was just in Troy mind, but even the father seemed to be lightening up a bit, especially after the party had relocated into the living room.

He learned a bit more about Dawn's parents; one interesting thing was that Mr. Smith's parents had marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights movement, and it was them who instilled in him his hardworking ethic and his strong sense of right and wrong. They even spoke of past events in their family, and their experience raising Dawn. Ronda even brought up Dawn's habit of gathering up bugs and stepping on them; both she and Mr. Smith expressed their bewilderment at such a thing, while Dawn rolled her eyes and tried to change the subject.

During the topic of work and their day-to-day tasks, Mr. Smith started talking about his job, and some of the cases he presided over. Cases involving such heinous crimes as robbery, murder, rape, things that could truly test a man's faith in the divine. One thing that got Troy's attention was the mention of a handful of cases involving the Minimizer Pill: two were typical incidents of public nuisance, and one involved a group of men using the Program to break into a house and burglarize it. Troy was well-aware that some people used the pill to commit misdeeds, and what Mr. Smith recollected was not even the worst that Troy had read about in the news; the Pill truly was what one made out of it, and there were people who even used it to commit murder. Not just men, either: there was a rather prolific incident earlier that year in which a woman found out her fiancée was cheating on her, and so after she got him to swallow her per usual, she used two very sharp knives to slice up his throat and flesh inside as she went down, and even managed to cut as many holes into his stomach before she died and revived; her fiancée however was not so lucky, as he succumbed to his internal wounds.

Both Mr. Smith and Ronda were baffled that the Pill even existed at all, which Troy was not surprised about; it seemed that in most cases, there was a clear generational gap between acceptance of the Minimizer Program, and derision of it.

Mr. Smith occasionally quizzed and challenged Troy on various things, but Troy met each one and answered his inquiries to the best of his ability, which seemed to placate the patriarch. Through it all, Troy's nerves had completely settled enough, and Dawn seemed to sense it, as she too began to relax more than she had before. Perhaps it was a sign that they truly were meant to be...

As the clock passed by 7pm, Mr. Smith and Ronda had decided that it was time for them to get back to their own home. It seemed this high-pressure family meeting was finally at its end.

Standing at the front door of the house, Dawn and Ronda hugged each other.

"I had a good time, dear," Ronda said. "And thanks for feeding us! The good was great!" So great, in fact, that she had made both her and her husband an extra plate of food for them to take home.

"Thanks, and I'm always happy to have you over," Dawn said, before pulling away and turning to her father. "Both of you."

Mr. Smith gave her one of his rare, fatherly smiles, and hugged her. "Always, baby girl."

Dawn sighed in mild frustration. "You're never gonna stop calling me that, are you?"

"Remember what I said at the dinner table?" he said. "But it is time we got back to the house. I have to get ready for work tomorrow."

"Yeah, and you know folks our age can't stay out for that long," Ronda joked. "But really, I have to finish grading the kids' papers."

"So we'll be heading out, then," Mr. Smith said.

Ronda turned to Troy. "And it was nice meeting you, Troy. You are a smart, handsome young man. I can definitely see what Dawn sees in you. I know you'll treat her well."

"Thanks, Ronda," Troy said. "I'll be nothing short of the best man for your daughter."

Ronda smiled, and then hugged him. "Take care, now."

"You too," Troy said. After she released him, he addressed Mr. Smith, who still held his stern expression on his face. The man seemed to never stop judging him.

"Young man," he said, "I'll keep you to what you just said. Because if you do anything to hurt her in any way, you'll have to answer to me."

"Dad...!" Dawn chided.

"You have nothing worry about, Mr. Smith," Troy asserted to him.

"Hm." Mr. Smith held out his hand, and Troy grabbed it with his own, locking the two in another firm handshake. "I'll be seeing you."

With that, he hugged Dawn, and after exchanging expressions of familial love, both Mr. Smith and Ronda exited the house. Troy and Dawn watched as the senior couple made their way to their car, chatting with each other all the while; though Troy could not completely decipher what they were saying, he knew that they were talking about the two of them. They got into the sleek black Mustang in the driveway, with Mr. Smith in the driver's seat, and soon, it backed out into the street and drove off.

"...Aaand they're gone," Dawn said as they watched the car disappear from their sight.

Troy and Dawn retreated back into the house, and Dawn shut and locked the door behind them. With the pressure finally lifted off of his shoulders, he let out a clearly-audible sigh of relief. He was happy to have that behind him.

"You sound relieved," Dawn said as the two walked towards the kitchen.

"I kind of am," Troy said. "Not that I hated them or anything; they're good people and they clearly love and care about you alot. Especially your dad. He kept quizzing me on a lot of stuff about myself and about you. To be honest, he was kind of scary."

"Yeah, he's like that. And if I can also be honest, I was also a bit nervous about what they'd say about you, him especially. But you can relax. They like you."

"Really?" This information took Troy by surprise. "Even your dad? How can you tell?"

"Trust me," Dawn stressed. "If he didn't like you, you would have known."

"Oh..." With how serious Mr. Smith had acted towards him, he wondered how things would have been different if her father had a far more sour opinion of him.

Dawn turned to face him as they stopped in the center of the room. "He's just being overprotective. That's how fathers are with their daughters, you know?"

"I wouldn't, actually. I only have brothers."

"Well, in any case, you handled them pretty well. I'm happy for that." She smiled, her eyes gazing into his, before embracing and kissing him on the lips, while he reciprocated. Feeling her soft lips on his, as well as her body in his arms, brought a sense of peace in his mind, even with her parents gone. He was happy to have gained their approval, though as a grown woman, he'd imagine that she had little real need for it.

Seconds later, Dawn's face pulled from his, while her expression had shifted into a foxy, mischievous one.

"I feel like I should reward you," she said.

Troy grinned. "Do I even have to ask how?"

"I think you've already figured it out, my little insect."

An all-too familiar eagerness had overtaken Troy's mind. Breaking out of Dawn's hold, he took a few steps back, and then brought up the Minimizer control panel.

"One inch, twenty minutes," Dawn commanded. "That will give me time to clean up in here."

"I can help out, you know," Troy proposed.

Dawn scoffed playfully. "But what good would a bug be in that?"

Troy shrugged. "You're the boss." After making her suggested changes, he triggered the shrinking process and--in a sight that was all too familiar to him by now--watched as the kitchen around him grew to an epic size.

From the white tiles on the marble floor to the nearby table in the center of the kitchen to the appliances and counters in the distance to the ceiling high above, everything was huge. However, what immediately maintained his attention was the also gigantic Dawn, who stood over him like a skyscraper. Her lovely blue dress matched her ebony beauty, as did the turquoise sandals upon her feet, their toes bearing the blue polish he had worked himself to apply. The otherwise size 10.5 peds lay flat on the floor, perhaps waiting for the impending meal that would very soon be provided to them.

Dawn put her hands on her hips. "Alright, my tiny man. I'm going to count to ten. In that time, I want you to run as far as you can. Once I reach ten, that's when my feet will start moving. You ready?"

"Always!!" Troy shouted up at her.

She grinned, before folding her arms. "One..."

Taking that as his signal, Troy turned around and took off running as fast as he could in the opposite direction. As Dawn slowly counted, his legs and feet put in tremendous work to carry him as far away from her as they could. He wondered just how far he would make it, but he knew that no matter how far we got, she would reach him in no time.

"...Four... ...Five... ...Six..." Dawn continued. "...Seven... ...Eight... ...Nine..."

Having covered the distance of nearly seven of the floor's tiles, Troy's heart started to race in anticipation, and he looked behind him to see just how much distance was between him and the giantess. As expected, she still loomed over him. He was just too small to make any sort of headway at all.

In truth, he loved that feeling of utter helplessness.

"...Ten!" Dawn announced, before Troy heard a boom behind him.

He turned around, finding that she had taken a small step forward with her left foot. Then, he saw that he was soon in the shadow of her right. Looking overhead, he saw the brown bottom of her sandal and the treads upon its sole. He could even see minute traces of dried blood upon it, evidence of the times it had claimed his life in the past.

And it was primed to do so again.

"Gotcha!!" Dawn boasted, before stomping him into the floor. Despite his tiny size, she could hear his bones crunch with a violent burst, and through the sole of her sandal could even feel them break somewhat. She wondered if she should have told him to be a bit bigger instead.

She shrugged; there'd be time for that later, she figured. She slowly grinded her foot on the spot--her sky blue toes tensing as her heel moved from left to right--the friction between her sandal against the floor tearing and shredding his body underneath it with each twist. She kept at it, her brown ped and turquoise thong rending Troy asunder until she was fairly confident that his bones had become dust. Rather than simply remove her foot, she pressed down as she pulled it back to her body, smearing a red trail of blood with it.

Dawn bent down to get a closer look at what remained of Troy, and between the torn clothes soaked a deep red and bits of flesh and bone, it was not anything discernible at all. She stood back up and lifted her right foot to examine the bottom of its sandal; she found more of his blood as well as tiny bits of flesh in the treads. There was no mistake about it: he was completely, utterly destroyed. What absolute power she had over him, and she loved every single second of it!

Smiling in satisfaction, she walked over to the counter and tore off a sheet of paper towel. Returning to the tiny splatter, she kneeled down and wiped up the mess from the floor, as well as from the bottom of her sandal. After cleaning up the lesser blood splatters she had tracked, she balled the paper towel into a ball and tossed it away into the garbage bin.

Then, Dawn proceeded to clean up the kitchen and the dining room, passing the time until Troy would return to her.

~~~

Perhaps against his better judgement, Troy had decided to stay another night. This, despite the fact that both had work in the morning. He wondered if it was a good idea, but Dawn seemed okay with it. After all, he had his work clothes already--despite being the same outfit he work to work the previous Friday--and he could not think of anything else he needed at his apartment. The plan would be for her to drop him off at his job, and it would be business as usual for him.

It had been a pretty eventful weekend for Troy, particularly meeting and gaining the approval of Dawn's parents. He felt as if their relationship had taken an important step forward with that.

His three inch form laid on Dawn's sole, who in turn laid down on her own bed. The two had already engaged in sexual intercourse beforehand, and now were simply relaxing before slumber took them both. Feeling the wrinkles of her soft sole against his flesh, Troy had made himself very comfortable, even as Dawn warned him that she may inadvertently kick him off if he remained there for the night.

"I can think of no better place to sleep," Troy said, partially dozed off. "What guy wouldn't want to snuggle up on your sexy foot?"

"Vince," Dawn answered, clear tiredness in her tone as well. "But I wouldn't want him there anyway."

"I'd love to see you stomp on him. He'd probably throw a bitchfit, but it'd be totally worth it."

"Well, he already threw one, remember?"

Troy laughed. "Yeah, you're right. But still... Who in their right mind could say no to you? You're the perfect angel, my Radiant Dawn."

Dawn giggled. "That's a bit tacky, but shit, I'm not gonna complain. Not when I have you, my tiny Troy-toy."

"And you say I'm corny," Troy commented, before turning over and caressing the skin of her sole, which made her foot twitch somewhat. Though he would have loved to indeed sleep there, his own movements may end up being too distracting for her, so he knew that he would eventually have to move somewhere else.

He figured that he would probably just end the Program and sleep in bed with her normally.

"Good night, my goddess," Troy said, kissing her sole, before returning back to his original position.

"Good night, my little bug," Dawn responded, sounding as if she was just about ready to pass out.

Lying there, he spent a considerable amount of time imagining his future with Dawn. He thought of many holidays with her, many vacations and other special occasions. He thought of the two moving in with each other, perhaps in this house or a new one entirely. He even thought of eventually marrying her, and starting a family of their own, and then thought of the two growing old together as their kids themselves grew up and embarked on their own journeys.

Perhaps her father was right in that at one month, it was too soon to have these sort of thoughts in his head, but Troy had such a good feeling about Dawn that he just knew that they would go the distance. He could feel it in his gut. That said, he would not rush things; he would simply let them play out at their natural pace, and go along with the flow.

Troy could hear Dawn's quiet snoring behind him. After spending a few more minutes upon her sole, he discreetly removed himself from her foot, and then from the mattress, jumped down to the floor. After using the Program to grow himself back to his normal size, he then climbed into bed with her. Soon, he too would fall asleep, with himself and Dawn in each other's slumbering embrace.

~~~

After the very busy workday, Troy unlocked the door to his apartment, and walked inside. After spending the entire weekend at Dawn's place, he had to admit that it did feel good to be home again. He was also a bit surprised--and relieved--to see that the place was not messy, or at least not any messier than it normally was.

"Oh dude, you're finally back," Mitch said from Troy's left, in the kitchen making a sandwich with a very hearty helping of turkey and ham. "You were gone all weekend. I thought you'd be back last night."

"Nah," Troy said as he stepped into the area. "I went straight to work from her house this morning."

"You're spending a lot of time with her," Mitch said. "But after looking for a girl to step on you for so long, I don't blame you for wanting to make up for lost time."

"Well, it's not really that. It's more that she and I have a real connection, you know?"

"Yeah, I getcha. ...Man, seeing Ethan and Sandra, and now you and Dawn, I feel like it's time for me to start settling down as well. ...But there are just so many hot girls out there that I want to be swallowed by! How can I pick just one!?"

"Find the one whose lips and stomach you really grow attached to," Troy advised. "Of course, as a person, she has to have more going for herself than that, but she also has to really know how to swallow you, right?"

"True, true. Man, you normally just roll your eyes when I talk about plunging inside of girls. I guess Dawn has been a good influence on you."

"Kind of. I guess I'm in a good mood, because you see, I met her parents yesterday."

Mitch blinked in surprise. "You did? Did they like you?"

"Well, yeah. Especially her mom; her dad was a bit of a hard-ass, but Dawn says that he likes me as well. You have no idea how nervous I was, but I guess my tenacity paid off."

"Wow... Well, I'm really proud of you," Mitch said with an approving nod, before both he and Troy gave each other a high-five. "I hope you and Dawn last. I mean, you of all people deserve it."

"Thanks, Mitch," Troy said with friendly smile. "And yeah, I hope so too. I've got a really good feeling about it. ...Then again, I did with Dorothy as well, and you know how that turned out."

"Don't sound so pessimistic," Mitch said. "I know things'll be different this time."

Troy nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Rather than think about how the Universe can screw me out of this one, I'm gonna think positive. Me and Dawn are gonna be together for a long time, and that's that!"

"Attaboy!" Mitch gave him a thumbs-up.

Troy turned around and started to head towards his room. "But no matter how it ends, for now, I can take comfort in one thing."

"And what's that?"

Troy turned back to his friend and smiled. "That my quandary is over."



[THE END]