Standing at the tall, towering leg of Nicole’s bed, Sean was thinking of the next step of getting her attention. Only inches separated him from the young giantess now, but first he had to get up there. Not to mention, even an inch still meant something distance-wise to the little man. Climbing seemed to be the most obvious option but upon inspecting the surface of the leg, Sean noticed it was smooth, too smooth to grab onto anything. He looked around to find another way and noticed an electric outlet in the distance, in the wall the bed was standing by. A cable was plugged in, a thick white cord leading from the floor all the way up to the nightstand and a little lamp standing on it. That’s the right idea, Sean thought. He could use it to climb up there and there was a chance Nicole would notice him under the light. The only problem was making a short distance under her bed. He could see the dust cobbled beneath it from where he was standing, thick layers of grime with rock-sized crumbs of some unspecified food mixed here and there; apparently Nicole wasn’t big on cleaning up either, at least under her bed. But Sean knew he could do it – it was but a short walk, albeit through an unpleasant environment. But he survived worse things thus far.

Before he could make the first step, he felt another growth spurt coming. His surroundings, while still massive, were becoming a bit smaller in his eyes. When it stopped, he realized he was twice as tall as he was a moment ago, which boosted him to around an inch in height. He smiled, feeling ecstatic over his gradual, but certain, growth and he felt almost tempted to stay on the floor and wait until he’s big enough to be heard, or better yet – noticed, down there. But then he realized that even a bit bigger, he was still in danger. Nicole could get out of the bed at any moment and he could find himself in her way again. He was still smaller than her toes, not to mention the rest of her massive foot, and all his newfound size could afford him was ending up as a slightly bigger stain on her sole. No, as long as he was on the floor, he could not consider himself safe. He ran under the bed and kept going, his shoes and trousers immediately getting covered in dust. It took him less than a minute to reach the outlet and pull himself up on the cord, holding onto it with both arms and legs as he slowly crawled upwards. The climb took a moment, but eventually he made it to the top.

From the centre of the nightstand he could see Nicole’s massive frame stretching far ahead, her distant face illuminated by the light coming from the phone, which she held in both hands in front of it. Sean started to wave his arms and cry out towards her almost immediately, hoping a sudden movement in the corners of her vision (as well as a sudden, if quiet, voice) would attract her attention. He seemed to have succeeded, as he quickly noticed a look of confusion spread across the giantess’ face. Nicole moved her eyes to the side, as if she realized she heard something, or someone, and Sean repeated the previous action. Now she lowered the phone and looked ahead, her gaze focused on where he was standing. Her eyes opened wider, her brow rose a fraction of an inch, her lips parted as confusion was replaced with surprise. ‘Sean…?’ she whispered and he waved his arms at her some more to confirm it was indeed him. ‘How did you…? Why are…? Ugh, come here’. She switched her position to sitting with her legs crossed and reached out to him, placing her open hand on the nightstand. Sean eagerly ran into it, stopping at the middle, as she brought him closer to her massive, youthful face unspoiled by even a single wrinkle. Two enormous, deep blue eyes were staring down at him, still processing the situation as a gentle, warm gust of her breath blew down on him. Even if he was a bit bigger now, she was still immense compared to him.

‘Nicole, can you hear me?’ he cried out to her.

‘I… can, actually’ she said, surprised once more, then smiled. ‘So that’s what your voice sounds like, huh? A bit high, but I guess it has something to do with your size. Speaking of, didn’t you use to be… smaller?’

‘It’s a long story’ Sean said and shrugged. ‘I guess I owe you some explanations’

‘I guess you do. Let’s start with… how did you get here in the first place?’

He told her everything, all the details of his perilous adventure, from the moment he was feeling wobbly while still in the cage to his escapade across the floor of her bedroom. She listened to him keenly, nodding every few seconds, never interrupting him. Her face remained calm, albeit he could notice a certain concern in it when he was going through the time he spent inside her shoe. The only detail he omitted was the moment she almost crushed him, not wanting to give her any more reasons to be worried.

‘You could’ve died down there’ she spoke when he was finished with a hint of sadness in her voice. ‘And I wouldn’t even know it. I couldn’t even feel you, you know?’

‘It wasn’t your fault, or anyone else’s for the matter. Just some bad luck’

‘Yeah, but still… I don’t think I could forgive myself if something did happen to you because of me’

‘Fortunately, you won’t have to. Because nothing is going to happen to me, except the good things’

‘What good things?’

‘Watch’

He smiled as her mouth opened in surprise of seeing him grow before her eyes. Not much, all things considered, but enough to see the difference. He now stood at full two inches in height in the middle of her palm, almost as long as her fingers were tall.

‘Wow’ Nicole whispered after a while ‘You’re actually growing back. This is so cool’

‘It is’ Sean said, still smiling, then remembering something both forgot about for a moment. Or, more specifically, someone. ‘We should let Kristine know. Can you call her?’

‘What? Oh, right! Of course!’ she gasped and picked up the phone, picking Kristine’s number with one hand. The latter answered almost immediately. ‘Hey, auntie, guess what? There’s a little man here asking for you’ she told her and grinned.

As Nicole was telling Kristine of how Sean happened to catch a ride to her place (not going into the more unsafe details of his journey), she let him wander around her bed. She watched him closely as her aunt’s concerned voice buzzed in her ear. ‘Okay, I’ll get him to you soon’ Sean heard her say and hang up. ‘Auntie’s worried about you. She thought you were in that cage of yours this whole time. You have no idea how surprised she was’

‘I think I can imagine from her tone. Or what I heard it sounded like just now’

‘Right. Anyway, she asked me to bring you back. She’ll feel calmer and you’ll be safer with her. I’d let you stay but I’m worried my mum could find you and I don’t know what she’d do to you. Nothing pleasant, I’m sure’

‘I guess it will be better for us all if you do’

‘I wonder what she’ll keep you in now that you’ve outgrown the cage’ Nicole grinned once more.

‘Hopefully not in an even bigger one’ he said, shuddering at the thought.

‘I knew you hated it in there. Alright, let’s hit the road’

She got up and walked over to her shoes, putting it on. Then she grabbed the keys, hid them in the pocket and picked Sean up, carrying him outside. Once in the car she gently placed him inside the empty cup holder and smiled at him as she started the engine.

When she finally made it to Kristine’s place she didn’t even have time to ring the bell. Her aunt appeared in the door as soon as she stopped the car.

‘Where is he?’ Kristine asked, deeply concerned, until Nicole held up her open palm, revealing Sean. ‘Oh thank god. Come on in’. She led her inside and into the living room, where the two took a seat on the sofa and Nicole let Sean walk from her palm into that of Kristine. ‘He’s gotten bigger, much bigger’ she noted, watching the little man in her palm.

‘It gets better than that’ Nicole said with a smile ‘Sean, tell auntie something nice’

‘It’s nice to see you again’ he said, much to Kristine’s surprise and Nicole’s amusement.

‘Hear that? You two can talk now’ Nicole said and stood up ‘Now, if you don’t mind, I really need some sleep so I’m going home. You guys have fun’

‘I’ll walk you to the door’ Kristine said, placing Sean on the sofa and standing up herself, and the two left the room.

‘Let me know how big he is in the morning’ Nicole said when she was already outside.

‘I will’ Kristine replied and locked the door. Then, with a wide smile spreading across her face, she walked back to the living room.

No matter how many times he had seen her, he could never get quite used to the sight. She emerged from around the corner, a massive, tall frame of teal and blue, her tender, but still enormous, bare feet carrying her softly through the floor, her wavy hair so golden and so high they could’ve been rays of the sun for all he knew. She was so big and powerful yet so swift and light at the same time. So worth admiring. And when he noticed her smile, knowing it was reserved for him, he couldn’t help but smile himself. He watched her take a seat, being careful as she did to not inconvenience the little man below, and when she was finally seated she offered her long palm for him to get in. He walked right into the centre of the familiar floating island and sure enough was soon lifted into the sky. Her gentle, beautiful and immense face filled his vision once more. Her smile almost made him melt. He sat down, soon feeling himself embraced by the familiar warmth of her skin. And for a brief, blissful moment, they sat there in silence, each looking and smiling at the other one, happy to be reunited.

‘Now that we can actually talk’ Kristine finally spoke ‘we can discuss so many things, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Such as?’ Sean perked up, curious.

‘Such as one question I have’ she said and Sean noticed her face change. The brows getting lower. The smile disappearing behind her closed lips. The expression becoming tense, serious. ‘Did you actually believe you could run away from me?’