Ben cupped his puny hands up under Kendra’s tender, broad thighs, knowing she wouldn’t mind if he did so for support. He granted himself an extra inch in height by rolling up onto the balls of his feet, and craned his neck. Kendra aided in the cause by bunching her palms up around each globe of ass flesh and separating her cheeks as far as she could, revealing the glorious, star-shaped darkness that was her awaiting anus.

            Dreaming for just a glimmering, optimistic second, Ben wondered how life might’ve been different if he’d never invented the chemical base that became ForLit. He might never have even had to meet Hoshoku to eventually become her unspoken slave. He might have stayed at five-foot-nine, very happily able to live and work on his own. He might have asked Kendra on a date; there obviously was, or had once been, a mutual attraction between them. She was once sweet and caring, putting others before herself, yet willing to crack a joke and throw down at a party. They could’ve been very happy together.

            Yet here he was, less than two feet tall, about to press his face between the brown crescent valley of her ass cheeks and lick her sphincter.

            The glimpsed dream ended, and Ben stuck out his tongue. He raked harder than was necessary, so charged had he become with passion for what might have been. One second. Little Ben’s tongue dragged up the soft, curvy slope, crossed the wrinkled portal of her anus, and finished at the top. Two seconds. Clean flavor, as she’d said, and even delicious with hints of mango soap and body lotion; that wasn’t the point, though. It might as well have tasted to Ben like rotting animal carcass. Three seconds.

            Difficult though it was, he tried to imagine this same act in a loving, consensual scenario with this woman. Two months ago, if he’d known by premonition that he’d someday have the opportunity to lick Kendra’s rear, he’d have jumped for joy and immediately gone off to masturbate. At their original sizes, he would’ve eaten her ass for all it was worth, maybe made her orgasm from the mere sensation of his skillful tongue; he’d certainly had enough practice in his college days.

            But the act was different now. This wasn’t a chance to lick a beautiful woman’s ass; this was humiliating blood money like he never conceived could exist. This was a ransom for his right to be a human.

            “Thank you, Ben,” Kendra murmured as she pulled her panties back up and ascended higher to her full height again, her gorgeous legs like a pair of smooth tree trunks on either side of her tiny, emotionally destroyed coworker. “I know you didn’t want to, but you did a lovely job, and now you can have what was promised to you.”

            And, true to her word, at least, Kendra did lay two crisp one hundred dollar bills at his ankles. She patted his head with gentle, willowy fingers like she might to an obedient puppy that just learned not to pee in the house. Then she was walking away, laying her ballet flats down softly on the ground such that Ben was only mildly vibrated with seismic activity. She rejoined her two newer, more gigantic friends near the door. Shauna filed out first, then Kendra, until only Mariah remained.

            “I suppose you earned this, you funny little freak,” Mariah sighed. She took a crumpled twenty dollar bill from her purse, balled it again in her fist, and flicked it at Ben. It hit him in the chest and fell beside his other earnings.

            “Thanks,” he heard himself say. If he didn’t show gratitude, he feared she might cross the room and tear up his meager earnings from Kendra.

            “By the way, just in case you were curious… that money you have now? All of it, what both of us gave you? My stocks earned me double that much in the time it took you to lick Kendra.”

            Crestfallen, revolted beyond belief, and blubbering in a full-on sob now, Ben buried his face in his hands as he was abandoned again in the desolate workspace with the money and Mariah’s dirty panties.

            Once he’d gotten over the tears, Ben was none too proud of himself when he dragged Mariah’s discarded undergarments into his little tent and masturbated vigorously into the lacy fabric, deeply inhaling her pussy’s secondhand aroma all the while. He came hard into the cloth, then fell back into crying all over again. Though he couldn’t be sure, he was pretty sure he shrunk another inch or two as soon as he was finished.

            It was not a smooth morning. The man was only glad the trio hadn’t returned to witness his folly and depression. This was the absolute edge.

            His laptop rested on the floor by his tent. It didn’t have much use for Ben now, as it had been rigged to only allow through emails from Ms. Hoshoku telling him when to come up to her richly decorated office for a day of service. At this moment, it glowed with a brand new message from his nine-foot mistress:

            Benjamin.

            You will meet me in the building lobby at 8 pm sharp tonight. Do not be late. It doesn’t matter what you wear, as new clothing will be provided to you at the time. Shower yourself.

                        Ms. Hoshoku

            Too tired and drained of tears to feel upset at the prospect of leaving his tent again today, Ben shrugged and wandered off to find the laboratory sink nearest the floor, where he could rinse himself of the humiliation and previous day’s labors. The water was warm and relaxing, and almost allowed him to forget Kendra and her newfound cohorts. He scrubbed so hard his skin turned red.

            Surprisingly, Ben wasn’t asked up to Hoshoku’s office today for work. It was the first time all week. At first he wondered if there’d been a mistake and he was digging his own grave by not appearing at her door, but then realized he’d probably be in even more trouble if he wasn’t supposed to arrive, only to do so unexpectedly like the little ass-man he was.

            It wasn’t hard to guess he’d be punished severely and at length for such an indiscretion. He knew, because Ms. Hoshoku explained the risk of such an outcome to him daily, usually while he was compressed beneath her weighty ass and skirt folds, his puny erection squashed under her cheeks.

            So, Ben bided his time. Freshly washed and dried, he huddled silently in his tent throughout the day, praying the Blend techs who’d replaced him would simply assume he wasn’t home today, as per usual. Thankfully, none of the giant, laughing women peeked down into the tent to molest him.

            The hours ticked slowly by. Ben actually realized now time seemed to pass more quickly on the days when he was with his mistress, servicing her lower body and making himself useful. Right now, he decided, he had no use, and thus was more aware of his pointless existence in an uncaring world which was daily better suited to the fairer sex.

            7:39. Ben decided it was best to get moving now, since it would take him a while to reach the lobby at his size. He took the steps carefully, lowering himself fully down each one and crouching for safety. When he reached the lobby twenty minutes later, Ms. Hoshoku was already there in the most incredible outfit he’d ever witnessed in his life.