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Disclaimer: Any likeness to publicly recognizeable characters are unintentional, and none of the characters are meant to represent any real life or otherwise copyrighted characters or material. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

 

PLEASE NOTE that I have changed the rating from PG to R, and added multiple new categories to the story. The change in rating is partly due to the strong language used in chapter 5, as well as some upcoming events I am building. The category changes will be obvious in the future.

Author's Chapter Notes:

  • “Hebe” is pronounced “hee-bee” (rhymes with TV, or as in Heebie Jeebies.)

  • “Elaine” is pronounced “ee-lane.” The final E is not pronounced.

  • Hebe is nonbinary, and uses they/them/theirs pronouns. This may get confusing to read, but I promise you’ll get used to it. I haven’t seen literally any nonbinary representation in stories on this site and felt that was a shame.

  • Content: fluff :)

Hebe opened their eyes. They could barely see light peeking in through the blinds and over the opening of their makeshift “bedroom.” Excitement and anxiety mingled with exhaustion as Hebe tried to force themself awake. It didn’t work. For a couple minutes (or hours?) Hebe drifted between sleep and half-awake, dreaming about their first day of university, before an audible thump from the larger room containing their own woke them. They rubbed their eyes and finally approached the opening of the baby-blue converse shoe they were sleeping in and stood on their tippy-toes until their chin and arms could comfortably rest on the heel tab of the shoe.

Over the heel of the shoe, Hebe could see their roommate Elaine, who had just stepped out of bed and was rifling through her closet for a shirt. Out of respect for Hebe’s small space in the expanse of the normal-sized room, she typically wore a tank top to bed, but it appeared she had gotten too warm last night to keep it on. Hebe got a bit embarrassed and looked away. Though they had been living in the same space for over a year now, Hebe still felt as if they were intruding sometimes, and didn’t want to make things worse.

After Elaine had found a suitably baggy shirt & shorts, she turned and checked Hebe’s bed-shoe, seeing that they were awake.

“Oh, morning! Sorry if my stomp woke you up, I’m feeling kinda drowsy.” Elaine straightened her shirt as she approached the desk Hebe’s shoe was resting on. As she approached, her looming frame blocked out what little sunlight was coming through the window. Despite the desk Hebe was on standing at least two and a half feet high, Elaine still towered a good 30 or so inches above Hebe. For someone of a weaker constitution, this difference might be intimidating, but the two were used to it. She yawned and reached her hand down and waited for Hebe to get on, her back-length bleach-blond hair tumbling down in a mess above Hebe. She placed them on her shoulder, making sure there was a strand of her hair to grab in case of emergency.

“Are we sure the shoe thing is a good idea?” Hebe asked in a tired and somewhat timid voice. “What if you forget and put it on?”
              “Oh please,” Elaine laughed in response, “I never wear those old things anymore. Was it comfortable at least? Was the smell okay? I tried really hard to get rid of it but your small nose is probably more sensitive than mine.”

“Yeah, it was fine… If a little bit odd.” Hebe said. Though Hebe had been 3 inches tall their whole life, but some things, like sleeping in your best friend’s old size 7 shoe, one never got used to.

“What’s odd about it?” Elaine said, smirking.

“Oh, you don’t see anything odd about sleeping in your best friend’s footwear?” Hebe retorted. “Like, you wore those, your feet were in them for probably quite a long time, and now it’s my bedroom.”

“Aww, do my big ole feet make you uncomfortable?” Elaine mocked, raising a bare foot and wiggling her toes in response. Hebe simply rolled their eyes as they walked to the bathroom together.

For a while, Hebe had slept on Elaine’s bedside table, but continually had difficulty sleeping with the long drop to the floor always in the back of their mind. After that, they had tried inside a slightly open sock drawer, but Hebe’s inability to escape the drawer on their own made both roomies nervous. For one night, Hebe had tried to sleep next to Elaine on her pillow, but the fear of Elaine rolling over in her sleep and crushing Hebe kept them both up. Finally, in the past few nights, Elaine cleaned up an old converse shoe and shoved a few unworn socks inside for padding. The two agreed it wasn’t an ideal situation, but they were making do with what they had.

Elaine set Hebe down on the bathroom counter in the little corner she had prepared for them, which allowed them to prepare for their day unimpeded by the challenges of being three inches tall. Hebe's corner of the bathroom consisted of a blastic water bottle that Elaine filled with hot water, which then slowly trickled out the holes poked in the bottom, where Hebe stood scrubbing themself and preparing for the day. The two went through their morning routines of skincare and teeth-brushing. After a few minutes, Elaine spat out her toothpaste in the sink and stared into it for a moment, water running.

“What’s up?” asked Hebe in a concerned tone.
“It’s nothing, it’s just…” Elaine trailed off, “are you sure this is a good idea?”
Hebe gave a timid chuckle. “Absolutely not.” The two had a brief laugh at that, but the atmosphere quickly became serious again. Elaine turned off the water and rested her (relatively) gargantuan elbow on the counter next to Hebe.

“What if something happens to you?” Elaine asked. “What would I be able to do? What if you get hurt? What if-“
“Relax! Jesus!” Hebe interjected. “Nothing is going to happen. You’ll be with me the whole time, and all of the professors know of my… uh, predicament.” They tried to sound confident in their statement, but their voice waivered and broke at the end. The truth was, Hebe was just as nervous, if not more so, than Elaine.

“Okay but… What if we get separated?”

Hebe pulled a small tracking device out of their P.J. pocket. “That’s what this is for!”

Elaine gave a weak smile and made a kissy sound at their best friend. “You’re right. Everything is going to be fine.” She breathed out heavily and Hebe could smell the spearmint on the strong gust of wind coming from her mouth. “Ready to go get dressed?”
Hebe nodded, and Elaine scooped them up in her hand and carried them back into the studio apartment. Hebe wasn’t the biggest fan of the hand-held routine, but they knew Elaine was feeling anxious and she probably needed the comfort more than they did.

Elaine delicately placed Hebe on the portion of her desk that was designated to be their “bedroom,” where most of their belongings lay, including an assortment of clothing. Hebe’s wardrobe was part modified toy clothes and part meticulously tailored clothes Elaine bought on Etsy. They passively wondered why the hell someone on Etsy made clothes in this detail for a three inch person as they spent too much time deliberating over what color flannel to wear. Elaine was impatiently tapping her black-and-white checkered Vans as Hebe finally pulled on a pair of jeans.
“Ready?” Elaine asked in an exasperated voice.

Hebe's voice cracked. “Ready as I’ll ever be!”

Chapter End Notes:

Thanks for reading my first submission. I haven't done a lot of fictional writing, as much as I've done scientific writing, so I'm aware my writing style can be stiff. Any comments or (constructive) criticism are welcome and appreciated.

I'm really not sure where this story will go. I have a smattering of story ideas, some more fleshed out than others, ready to go for this, but the in-betweens are up in the air. I will probably change the tags on this story, and potentially the rating, in the future.

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