Heather, reduced to the size of an action figure, sat helplessly in the palm of her giant ex-boyfriend. Jason, naked, but for his boxer briefs, was a human citadel, ascending so high above Ben that the little man got dizzy just looking at the giant. Jason had lost the round of morning videogames, but now he and Heather were playing another game altogether. They were vying for power, exercising their new abilities on themselves and each other. As far as Ben could tell, it was a friendly competition. Two training partners sparring against one another. But Heather and Jason weren’t just soldiers readying for war, they were gods, only glimpsing their true potentials. 

After spending the morning as Heather’s shrunken subject, Jason had gained the upper hand. Ben didn’t mind the previous balance of power. He could spend the rest of his life worshiping Heather’s feet. But he didn’t know what kind of god Jason would be, and neither did Jason. This was Jason’s first taste of true, unchecked, raw power. There wasn’t a force in the universe that could stop him now. True balance could only be restored if Jason relinquished his throne and allowed Heather to return to her normal size, but judging from the hungry look in his eyes, Jason wasn’t about to do that. He was going to have fun first.

“You still in the mood for games?” the giant asked the tiny person in his palm, as if the answer even mattered. From far below, Ben was unable to hear Heather’s reply, but she rarely backed down from a challenge. He loved that about her, even took comfort in it. The competition was too big for Ben, but he was playing on Heather’s team. The winning team, he hoped. 

The giant cast his gaze onto the little man hiding in Heather’s shoe. Jason smiled, knelt down, licked a finger, and pressed it into the sole of the shoe. When he lifted the finger again, Ben was stuck to it, clinging to Jason’s saliva. Jason tapped his finger and dropped Ben onto the giant palm, next to Heather. Heather began to shrink and Ben grew, both matching a final height of a half inch. The two ran across the palm and embraced each other.

“How about a game of hide and seek?” Jason said, his deep voice rumbling through their shrunken frames. 

“Oh no,” Heather whispered, looking up at the giant. “You don’t mean-”

“Mmhmm,” Jason said. “Just like in training.”

“You’re not supposed to!” she shouted.

“Yeah you said that yesterday,” Jason countered, “and I spent the whole afternoon under your foot. Well I played your game, now you play mine.”

“What’s going on?” Ben asked, tugging at Heather’s sleeve. But she didn’t answer him.

“10 minutes,” Jason began, lifting one mammoth finger in the air, “You get 10 minutes to hide, then I come after you. If you stay hidden for an hour, then you get your old size back.”

That shouldn’t be too hard, Ben thought. Especially at this size, there are limitless places to hide.

“But if I find you,” Jason continued, “I’ll make you my little slave until tomorrow morning.” He brought his palm extremely close to his mouth. “How does that sound?” His godlike voice reverberated through Ben’s bones, bringing the shrunken man to his knees. But the game being proposed seemed too easy. Even on his knees Ben felt confident he could win this one.

“Bring it on!” the little man shouted. But Heather just shook her head.

“Ben, you can’t win this one,” she said, despondently. “This is what we trained for.”

“Hide and seek? I don’t get it?” Ben responded, completely puzzled. But Heather didn’t have time to explain. Jason lowered them both to the faux plywood flooring.

“Ten minutes. Starts now,” Jason said, laughing a little to himself. He walked away to the guest bedroom.

“We need to split up,” Heather said, beginning to walk toward her bedroom.

“What? Why?”

“Because you’re a liability. If you lose, I’ll lose too.”

“I don’t get it.”

“We don’t have time! Just go!” She pushed him gently, but the sense of urgency was felt. Ben, dismayed, hustled toward the kitchen, while Heather crawled under her bedroom door.

Ten minutes passed. 

“Where is she?” a deep, godlike voice asked from the heavens. Ben was compelled to answer, but didn’t know how. The world around him was warm, so so warm. And firm. Secure. Controlling, but Ben welcomed the control. A small part of him was struggling to understand where he was. The last thing he remembered was trying to find a hiding place. So how did he get to this place? Everything was dark. A large, slightly moist surface was pressing gently against him, squeezing him into the ground. But the ground had its own firmness to it that yielded slightly, molding itself around Ben’s body as he was pressed into it. The air was musty and dank, and smelled of... Feet.

The surface above gave way, and light poured in, revealing where Ben was. He was an inch-tall resident of Jason’s flip flop. Jason’s foot dangled above, ready to squeeze the little man once again.

“Where is she?” Jason asked again. Ben couldn’t produce an answer. The foot came down again, caressing the shrunken man’s body. Ben moaned, and his body convulsed with stimulation. He wasn’t in control of himself anymore. How, how did he get here? 

The foot moved away again, and was replaced by Jason’s hand. The giant snatched the little man up and plopped him onto the edge of the guest bed, between two huge, muscular thighs. Ahead of Ben, Jason’s massive package throbbed behind a tight sheet of fabric rising 20 feet into the air. Ben stared with stupefaction. A giant finger reached down and began caressing Ben’s head.

“I can make you talk, if I want,” Jason said. “But I know you have nothing to say.”

The air in the room felt thicker than it should. Jason’s body seemed to be emitting a powerful, masculine aroma. All the colors in the room appeared to have taken on a slight amber hue. Sounds, especially Jason’s voice, were deep and resonant. Ben’s perceptions were skewed, and he was starting to understand why. 

Ben was a chemist at AllTech, and he had worked extensively on human olfactory stimulation research. Particularly pheromones. AllTech was very interested in developing inhalants that could put a person into a suggestive state. Ben now understood why. Jason, and very likely Heather too, were beneficiaries of this research, having been modified to release these mind-altering pheromones at will. Maybe they’re immune, but Ben certainly was not. So this was hide and seek. Ben never stood a chance. Jason must have simply told Ben to come out of hiding, and Ben was helpless to resist. Someone at the military must have been insane to give this much power to two people.

“Bow,” the god commanded. There wasn’t even a micro-fraction of Ben’s brain that had the capacity to resist Jason’s divine edicts. The little man dropped to his knees, and groveled. He cried, screaming internally for the god to take mercy on him. 

“Wow,” Jason said, chuckling. “Pretty effective.” He pet the little man’s backside, almost taking pity on him. “Get to your feet.”

Ben rose as quickly as his tiny legs would let him. 

“I could keep you like this,” Jason continued, still petting Ben’s back with one huge finger. “if I wanted. I could even tell you to break up with Heather, and you would do it, and you would think it was your idea. But don’t worry. I play fair. I wouldn’t do that to you. Just stay calm.”

Under the effects of the pheromones, Ben remained perfectly calm. He felt great, actually; never better. Jason lowered an open palm, and Ben instinctively climbed on. The palm lifted slightly into the air, and then moved toward Jason’s briefs.

“But, I want you to remember something, as long as you’re alive,” Jason said. Ben’s neurons began to fire into full memory commitment of whatever statement was to follow. “I want you to remember,” Jason continued, “that I will always be the bigger man.” The words were stone-etched upon Ben’s brain. Jason took his palm and squeezed it against his erect cock, squishing Ben against the throbbing surface. Ben embraced Jason’s terrifying, godlike bigness, losing himself in the fabric of the giant’s briefs. Always be the bigger man. Always. “You’ll never speak of this to anyone,” Jason commanded, and he would be obeyed.

“Now,” Jason said, pulling his hand back and lifting it to his face, “let’s go find Heather.”

Jason took Ben in two fingers, and sat the little man on one muscular shoulder. Ben shrunk once more, down to under a millimeter. He was in awe of the expanse of flesh sprawling out for miles in every direction. Above him, the chiseled face of a god reached into the heavens. The god smiled at his insignificant subject. Always the bigger man.

The giant lumbered across the apartment, a hulking, miles-high predator in search of his prey. He stooped down to inspect the underside of tables and chairs, discovering no traces of Heather. But he smiled all the same, just enjoying the hunt. Having finished his sweep of the living room, Jason opened the door to Heather’s bedroom. He took three steps inside, and stopped. Jason closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. His eyes opened again.

“I can smell you,” he taunted, assuming Heather could hear him. He walked straight across the room, arriving at a hamper full of her dirty laundry. Jason picked it up, and dumped its contents onto Ben and Heather’s bed. Amidst a pile of shirts and panties, Heather plopped onto the bed. 

“How did you know?!” her tiny voice shouted.

“Because you knew I could smell you,” the giant answered. “So you hid in your own scent. Pretty smart. But I’m smarter.” So they have heightened senses too, Ben thought, finally free from the effects of the pheromones.

“This is a dumb game and you knew you would win so why did we even play?!” Heather indignantly shouted. “And would you please put some fucking pants on, nobody wants to see-” her voice diminished into nothingness, as she shrank into a speck. 

Jason, the apex predator, claimed his prizes. Minutes later, he was reclined on the couch, with two speck-sized pets on his chest, one for each pectoral. He flexed his pecs in a cartoonish display of power, gently tossing about the motes on his flesh. He channel surfed for the rest of the evening, while the tiny people on his body settled into their surroundings.

Ben was eager to be reunited with Heather. He bolted across the fleshy landscape in what he assumed was her direction. He slid into the expansive ravine separating Jason’s pecs, then arduously ascended the other side. Ben stopped to catch his breath. Peering into the distance, he spotted Heather’s tiny form. With renewed vigor, Ben jogged toward her, stumbling a few times as the world beneath him rose and fell. 

Finally, Ben was close enough to see his girlfriend more clearly. She was lying down, with her ear against the fleshy ground. She was tired from the day of games. Now the day was over.

“Come here,” she said, waving for Ben to join her. He walked over, unsure what to think.

“Lie down,” she patted the surface next to her. Ben did so, putting his ear against the massive pec.

“Do you hear it?” she asked. He did. It was Jason’s heart. Its deep, bassy beats shook every atom in Heather and Ben’s insignificant bodies. “It feels amazing, doesn’t it?” she asked.

“Um. Yeah, I suppose,” Ben said, hiding how mindbogglingly inferior the entire day made him feel.

“I know you want things to be different, Ben. I get that. But you have to see how big my world is now. And you get to be a part of it. You get to share all of this. It may not feel like it right now, but you’re so lucky to be part of it all. And I’m so happy you are. I just wish you were happy too. I can tell that you’re not.”

“It’s just that...” Ben started, taking a deep sigh, “No matter what I do, he’ll always be the bigger man.”

Heather let out a sympathetic laugh. “And you’ll always be my little man.”