Best posts made by littlest-lily

S+P 50 - The Other Tiny

S+P 54 - Small Talk

Chapter 10
Aiden

“You sure this isn’t too awkward?”

“I’m sure. It’s just an arm, Evie.”

“Yeah, to you…”

I don’t let her know just how much I’m getting a kick out of this… This is probably the most intimate interaction we’ve had thus far. It was entirely her idea too.

Over breakfast Evie was going on about how she’s getting used to her new space on the desk and thanking me for my help. Meanwhile I’m just glad that she’s still here and settling in so well no less. Maybe it’s wrong, but I can’t help enjoying this fantasy-come-to-life situation.

And then she admitted to not feeling used to me. For a moment I was worried that I’d done something bad, until she clarified that she just still feels a bit intimidated by our size difference. Well… that’s understandable. I must still look like a monster to her. No amount of joking around about it is going to erase that.

She asked me if I wouldn’t mind just putting my hand up on the desk so that she could spend some time taking it in. My heart rate started picking up, but I was still more than happy to oblige…

And here we are. I’ve propped my entire forearm onto the table’s surface, my hand relaxing palm side up, and at first Evie’s just assessing, walking along the length of it, like a curious little mouse eyeing a potential hiding place. So cute. She’s halfway between wrist and elbow before she finally reaches out to touch me.

It’s probably just the anticipation of it that’s making my nerves oversensitive, but it feels like electricity where her skin meets mine. The hairs stand up on the back of my neck and I just try to hold really still. Her back’s to me so I don’t see her expression, but I imagine it’s one of fascination from the way she’s fixating the spot that she’s touching. She starts making her way up towards my hand, her tiny fingers trailing along my arm.

She’s getting close to the inside of my wrist when she pauses and puts both hands out now. “Whoa,” she says, and now I do get to see her face as she glances over her shoulder at me, “I can feel your pulse.”

If that’s the case, I hope she can’t tell how fast my heart is beating. Trying to play it cool, I quip back, "Well that’s handy. You can be my at-home nurse then– ahhh–” I try not to flinch as my whole arm lights up with goosebumps. She just brushed her fingers along the base of my palm. “Okay that tickles,” I say tightly.

“Sorry,” she laughs, pulling her hand away and continuing along.

Don’t be, I say only in my own mind, That felt really good…

I kinda wish I could explore her too. To maybe wrap my hand around her frame or carefully grasp a limb between my fingertips. To try and brush her hair back in order to gently touch her tiny face. But all of that seems way, way more invasive than what she’s doing to me. I don’t want to treat her like an actual doll. I thought I was having success at keeping these kinds of thoughts in check, but with Evie interacting with me like this it’s becoming very difficult to do so.

She reaches the ends of my fingers now and pushes against the third and fourth one while I let them hang loose, so that they curl in from the pressure of her minute muscles.

“What’s it like from your perspective?” she asks after she’s pulled the digits back out, and then she cautiously crawls right onto them.

Hoo boy. I want to be careful about how I answer this.

“It really is weird just how light you are,” I say, consciously flattening out my hand to give her an easier time clambering across the length of it. “At first I was so nervous about hurting you, you just seem so… fragile? No offense.”

“None taken,” she says, reaching my thumb now and using it to hoist herself back to the desk.

“My aunt has pet birds, though,” I continue, “and I got really used to handling them growing up when I’d go stay with her during the summer. If I can trim a finch’s nails I think we should be okay… At least your bones aren’t hollow. Mind if I try something?”

Evie looks up at me curiously and nods as a go-ahead. I tilt my hand upright and snake it around behind her, and then I very gently use my middle finger and thumb to pinch around the sides of her waist. I make sure to be careful about where I aim… All of her body parts are really close together and I don’t want to touch her anywhere inappropriate. I put on just enough pressure around her torso to lift her up, until her feet barely leave the floor. She lets out a little gasp, suddenly leaning forward to catch herself on the fingertips protruding from either side of her, but she doesn’t protest.

“Not too uncomfortable?” I ask before setting her back down.

“N-no…” she says, despite looking a little nervous. She takes a step back as I slowly slide my hand away again, and she’s looking from my fingers to my face, as if trying to put it together that I’m all one being. “In fact,” she adds, and her cheeks are reddening, “that might actually be better for when you have to carry me. Just something that feels more secure I guess? I’m always worried about falling.”

As if there was any universe where that would be an issue for me. “Okay, yeah. No problem.”

Her entire face is flushing now and she suddenly covers her eyes with her hands. “This is so weird!” she exclaims fervently.

I laugh and figure she might need a break from this exercise so I pull my arm back off the table. “It is very weird. You think this is helping you get used to it though?”

She pulls her hands off her face as she takes a deep breath, quickly regaining her composure. “It is. Thank you.”

“Any time.” God do I mean that.

I leave to run more errands after that, intent on finishing up Evie’s setup today. I’m out all morning, visiting a few different stores, being quite selective about the things on our list. I don’t find a mini fridge that’s even remotely the right size, unfortunately. And I’m realizing that most dolls are quite a bit bigger than three inches tall. But I otherwise do find success. At one point I get a spontaneous idea for something we hadn’t discussed that I might try to build this afternoon, so I stop at a craft store too.

Being at the pet shop is particularly strange. I’m just here to get her a water tank, though I figure I might as well look through the small animals section in case there’s anything useful. I briefly imagine her running around in a hamster ball, which makes me laugh to myself.

There’s a harness here with a leash - it’s clearly meant for rabbits or ferrets so it would be way too big for her anyway, but… something about it makes me shudder uncomfortably. I remember Dr. Little’s recounting of how he trained his victims to act a certain way. And I take a moment, right there in aisle 4, to firmly tell myself that I will never, ever treat her like an animal. No matter how small and cute and dependent she is. I can’t ever lose sight of the fact that she’s a person.

I come home to the bright, adorable smile of my little roommate, and the afternoon is spent unpacking and setting up everything that I bought. I’ve upgraded her measuring spoon to a small bowl for me to put fresh drinking water in, and Evie’s very excited about some of the miniature shelves and furniture I’ve found - I even came across a bed frame that fits her makeshift mattress.

She assures me she’ll pay me back for this stuff as soon as we get her debit card tomorrow amongst her other things. I secretly hope she forgets. She’s got enough on her plate as is, paying for this stuff is the least I can do.

I go fill up the water tank, which is just the right height for her to easily scoop out of with her toothpaste-cap-buckets, perfect for filling a bathtub. Speaking of which - I bring over a longer charging cable to set up the mug warmer and a small dish that she can use to bathe in. It’s a USB-powered warmer that’s just meant for office use, so it doesn’t get excessively warm, and the dish completely covers the hot plate, so it should all be quite safe. Plus she’s able to operate it independently… It’s all coming together.

She has a section on the corner of the desk that is quickly becoming the bathroom area, and I take some quick measurements of it with a ruler. Then I set to work, using the ottoman as a table and pulling out the white plastic sheets I got at the craft store.

“What are you working on?” Evie calls out from the desk, tilting her head to the side as she watches me.

“You’ll see,” I say with a smile, “I don’t want to promise anything in case it doesn’t work out.”

We spend a little while in comfortable silence as I measure, cut and glue the plastic while she starts putting things on shelves, her industrious nature manifesting again as she organizes everything meticulously. Early evening is approaching when I finally finish my project.

It just looks like a box, about five inches tall and over twice that in length. The roof is a series of many very thin criss-crossing plastic strips, meant to obscure view but still be able to vent. One of the walls has a wide doorway, and another one has a hole just big enough to string a power cable through.

“Let’s see if this works…” I say, softly interrupting Evie’s endeavors.

She glances up as I approach the desk, and her brow furrows with a mix of confusion and interest. I take the mug warmer with its ceramic dish and put it inside the box, orienting it so that the doorway is facing the side wall of the apartment and is out of sight, and then I place the entire structure right next to the water tank and metal toilet box for easy access.

“Thought you could use some privacy,” I say, standing back up to admire my handiwork. “At first I thought about using a shoebox, but then not only would it be dark in there but I figured all of the evaporation from the bath would make the cardboard soggy. What do you think?”

Evie enters her new bathroom excitedly, and while I can see a little bit of movement through the roof vent, I can’t tell what she’s doing.

“Can you see me?” I hear her voice yell.

“No, not really. That’s kind of the point,” I say with a laugh.

“Thank you so much, Aiden,” she looks almost emotional as she comes back out to meet me, “This is so thoughtful.”

“I’m glad you like it! I won’t ever go in there unless it’s to dump out the water bowl, so just let me know whenever it’s okay to do that."

“Sounds good.”

“Maybe at some point we’ll figure out how to make you a kitchen. Hell, I wish we could get you your own mini grocery store. It’d probably fit in the living room.”

She laughs, and I can’t get enough of its near musical sound. “I think I have more than enough up here.”

“Yeah, unfortunately you’re still stuck with my cooking. Any requests for your celebratory welcome dinner?”

“Hmm. What are the other meals you said you’re good at?”

“Well it’s pretty hard to screw up fried rice. And I learned to make homemade pesto sauce once, so I’m not bad at pasta. That takes a while, though.”

“Fried rice it is then!”

This works out since I have a lot of vegetables I need to use up. I make a large batch of it and I’m excited to get to use Evie’s new dollhouse plates. Like almost everything else, they’ll be a little big for her, but it’s better than her having to crouch over a giant spoon. I carefully place her portion on her shrunken table and we’re both able to sit in a chair this time as we eat.

Since at this point we’re done with any work we can think of, I suggest watching a movie to relax for the evening. I actually don’t own a TV, just watch everything on my laptop, but I think that’s better suited for my little friend anyway.

“So what kind of stuff do you normally like to watch?” I ask, offering her my hand to climb onto.

“Umm… I watch a lot of nature documentaries…” she says, settling onto me, “It’s a bit embarrassing, but a lot of cartoons too. I’m really into animation.”

I remember to loosely close my fingers around her this time, giving her something to hold onto, and I’m trying not to look too excited about having another excuse to hold her in my hand like this. Still, I offer her a smile as I lift her up. “Don’t be embarrassed. I’ve just gotten into anime pretty recently, so if that counts then I’m right there with you.”

Evie clings to my ring finger and looks up at me eagerly. “Yeah, it counts! Gosh, I haven’t watched anime in years. My best friend growing up showed me so much of it, that was her big obsession. What’s your favorite show so far?”

“So, one thing you have to know about me…" I say, sitting down on the couch as I continue holding her aloft, "is that I really love camping. I usually try to get out in nature for a couple of days once or twice a year. Last year was particularly busy for me school-wise, and I didn’t get to go. Sooo, what’s the next best thing? Watching cutesy anime girls camping instead, apparently. There’s my long-winded explanation for why I love Laid Back Camp. Even though I’m probably not the target demographic… It’s just so relaxing and a really nice escape for when I have a lot going on.”

“I’ve never heard of it. But a relaxing escape sounds really nice right now… Um, if you’re okay watching something you’ve already seen.”

“I don’t mind at all, I’d love to introduce you to it!” I set Evie down next to me on the couch and reach out to the laptop to pull up the show.

Our setup is rather comical. Like a kid who’s pretending to watch TV with his favorite action figure. I have to be mindful not to shift around too much - it’s not like she’s right up against me, but I still don’t want to jostle her.

We’re about halfway through the episode when I notice her small figure out of the corner of my eye, shifting closer to me. I think she’s trying to be sneaky about it… which might objectively not be the smartest thing if it could lead to me accidentally knocking into her. But I also feel touched that she trusts me to be careful. I wonder what she’s up to…

Evie comes very close to my leg, and I abruptly realize what she’s looking for - body warmth. She’s shivering.

Any normal person would have offered her a blanket. Or I should have at least gone and updated the thermostat. But instead, my gut reaction is to lay my hand down next to her on the couch. She jumps at the sudden movement and looks straight up at me.

“You cold?” I ask quietly, and I gently nudge her with my pinkie. For a second I think she’s going to decline and feel incredibly stupid for not offering her something other than myself to stay warm. But then she silently crawls onto my hand, huddling against my fingers as I curl them around her. And bit by bit her muscles relax as her shivering goes away.

“Thanks,” she finally says, giving my thumb a grateful pat as she readjusts herself on my palm for the long haul. “This helps.”

I have a really hard time paying attention to the show after that.

I enjoy AJR and was waiting in high anticipation for this!! Argh I would not complain if I had such a clingy giant following me around

https://youtu.be/LhpRL3pL60c?si=Kvi6jqURMia00yjo

@HHunter1 Whaaaat, you mean women have a wide variety of tastes and no two people are completely the same? 🤭 (I’m totally teasing you, and that’s great if this helps you learn/expand your viewpoints by asking what we like!)

If I may be so bold as to point out what I think is a common thread - for straight women, we like for the giant to receive just as much (if not more) focus and importance as a character as the SW. The way he specifically behaves might be different from person to person and story to story (heck, for me it even depends on the mood, whether I want him to be more sweet or more dominating). We just don’t want the male character to be an afterthought.

So if it’s well written, I’m sure plenty of women would enjoy the scenario you’ve outlined! Maybe not all of course, and that’s okay.

Aww, your comments keep me going I so appreciate it!

Chapter 29
Evie

I look down at my list on a tiny square of paper, written for my size since it’s for my eyes only. I don’t want to lose track of what I’m doing so I’ve mapped out a plan and refer to it often. Feeling reoriented, I go back to the other sheet of paper I’m working on, writing with much larger letters. I’m getting close to done with my project, which is good because my little metal bathroom is getting very crowded with all of the hidden sheets of paper I’ve stuffed inside.

Every once in a while throughout the days, I hear a set of footsteps approaching and retreating from outside the door of the apartment - other tenants who live on this floor. I think the sound outside is just that… until I hear a key that enters the lock. I jolt up to my feet wildly. Aiden’s back way earlier than anticipated.

I’m rolling the paper up as the distant door swings open, then I dash behind the desk lamp with the scroll over my shoulder. I don’t want to be seen crossing the gap to the bathroom, so instead I turn towards my stuffed lion that’s perched on the windowsill. It’s leaning up against the desk just beside me and I don’t have very many options - footsteps are already heading my way. I slide the scroll of paper down so that it’s pinned between the desk and the lion’s chest, hidden out of sight in the fur.

Thankfully my acrylic paints are close by too so I just start walking along the tubes, trying to make it look like I was in the middle of picking out the next color.

“Hey, roomie!” I call out to the approaching giant who’s looking at me with a wide smile. Whew, I think he’s none the wiser. “Is everything okay? Today’s Wednesday, right?”

“Yup. My Geodata professor’s sick so class was canceled at the last minute. I still have work this afternoon, but I figured I’d swing by and have lunch here since I have extra time.”

I may have been anxious to get my secret project done, considering his birthday is the day after tomorrow. But I savor any extra time I can have with him, especially with the knowledge of how busy he’s about to be with finals in the next couple of weeks. He’s always a welcome sight.

Aiden sits and turns his attention to the mini that I’ve thankfully made some progress on since he saw it this morning. He leans forward, lowering his head and resting his elbows on his knees.

“Damn, Eve.” He squints at the elven ranger I’ve got propped onto a DIY work table. The unpainted figurines I ordered are about a third of my height, and all I currently have for paintbrushes are a couple of plastic kids’ brushes, cue tips and kitchen sponges in various sizes that were part of the items that Dr. Little had shrunken down. I think I’ll be able to upgrade and make my own brushes eventually, but this has been working well enough for now.

“Damn good or damn bad?” I ask facetiously as I approach to be level with the mini.

“Seriously, the detail on this is insane. Which makes sense, I guess, but actually seeing it is so cool… And for someone who claims to not be able to draw, you sure can paint!”

“Thank you, I’m glad it’s alright,” I say with relief, “since from my perspective it’s not quite where I want it to be. This is a lot easier than drawing, though, it’s more like coloring an existing drawing.”

“Maybe, but some of these details are all you! Did you give her dimples?”

“Hey, you noticed! I gave her freckles too.”

“Oh shit, you did! I can barely make them out, but there they are. Amazing…”

“Well, I’m glad my puny hands are good for something.”

Aiden sits up again, attention back on me. “They’re good for lots of things!” he exclaims. There’s a slightly awkward pause as I’m not sure how to respond, and finally he laughs and says, “Yeah, I don’t know what I mean by that either.”

Man, I really love that smile of his. The kind where it starts out a little self conscious but grows in confidence when our eyes meet. And with a thought as simple as that, I can feel my heart climbing up into my throat.

Ever since Moira and I had that conversation about him last week, I’ve begun taking notice of more things… They’re rather shallow observations. Like how his shoulders aren’t just nice to sit on, but the shape of them is also nice to admire from afar. I’ve started enjoying the way his jaw tapers up, the way his hair frames his face, the way his lips rest when he’s content. I love how long his fingers are when I go to sit on them, and how there’s a smooth curve where his arm meets his wrist, transitioning into his thumb that feels like a loyal friend at my side. And god, the gorgeous hazel of his eyes still knocks me off-kilter sometimes.

I’ve learned to be very wary of handsome men, but with Aiden it’s different - the way he looks was at the bottom of my priority list for so long. My focus just used to be the scale of him, along with how generous and kind he was. But the simple ways in which I’ve found him alluring have slowly been sneaking up on me in the background. It doesn’t make any sense to me, the fact that I can be so… physically attracted to someone who’s more of a landscape to me than a person, but that’s exactly what’s happening. It’s only recently that I’ve really been made aware. It… might become a bit of a problem.

“I think I’d like to have at least a dozen ready before I officially try to launch anything,” I say, turning to look away from the giant for a second so that I can catch my breath. “The next thing I’ll need to figure out is how to pack them. I have some ideas on that though. Maybe come summer I’ll start making actual money. And soon enough, I’ll finally be able to pay rent!”

I’m half joking, but a quiet sigh from my larger friend tells me the joke didn’t land. Perhaps I’ve made this kind of comment one too many times. He doesn’t quite look annoyed, just a little pained.

“Evie, we’ve been through this. You being here makes no difference in rent. Please stop getting hung up on that, it should be the very last thing you worry about. I’m not going to kick you out.”

“I know, I know.” My voice is a cross between soothing and sad. “I’m just talking longer term. You know that I wish I could contribute more…”

“You contribute plenty. I’ve never had such a clean kitchen counter in my life! And I’ve also never felt so organized with the groceries and cooking. I always end up grabbing junk food during finals, but with all your meal planning I won’t have to.”

He’s humoring me, I know these little favors aren’t actually making that much of a difference. But he makes it sound so convincing. They’re not lies, just an acute ability to find things to compliment. Yet another one of his qualities.

“Speaking of that,” I say, cautiously trying to redirect the conversation, “Did you see the spreadsheet I emailed you?”

The corners of Aiden’s mouth suddenly drop. "Uhhhh… Yeeeah… I totally checked it out…”

I laugh, knowing he’s not nearly as much of a nerd about this stuff as I am. “It’s okay, I only made it last night. It was just to put everything we talked about in one place, and that way you have a grocery list ready to go for tomorrow. It’s already off track, though, I wasn’t expecting you to be here right now… I was planning on you getting takeout for lunch and leftovers for dinner.”

“How about the reverse?” the giant suggests, offering me his hand. “I’ll go get some leftovers now. Want to join me?”

I’ve already stepped on before he finished his sentence, a clear answer that makes him chuckle. The usual vertigo of being lifted up feels more like butterflies in my stomach as I gaze up along his body, not worrying about our destination but instead just… looking at him.

I’m feeling a sense of curiosity as I stare. He could have simply brought his food back to the desk. There’s no reason for me to come along. But he’s always offering to carry me around everywhere. Why is that, I wonder? Is it always just a favor, to give me a change of scenery?

I move my attention to his fingers. They’ve folded inwards for me to hold onto as usual, but I take notice of the way part of his middle finger presses up on one side of my waist while his thumb is braced against the other side. He’s gingerly moving the digits against me, ever so gently rubbing me between them, a gesture that I doubt he’s even conscious of. Maybe that’s why he likes carrying me around, maybe I’m just something to fiddle with as he goes about his business. I’m such a small point of contact to him.

But to me it feels very different. He can easily touch so much of me at once. The pressure, the warmth, the delicate intention of it all… it’s pretty addicting. Intoxicating, even. And as I sit here, so little in the palm of his hand, for the first time I feel a wave of something new. A humbling but not unpleasant awe at being held so softly by someone so incredibly powerful.

I expected Aiden to put me down on the counter, but he keeps me held aloft as he opens up the freezer to pick out his lunch. Some of the cold air drifts down and I shiver as it rolls over me, which he seems to notice. With a casual movement, his fingers curl in further to cover more of me and he holds me up against his chest.

“Does it matter which one I pick for the meal plan?” he asks.

“Nope! If it’s frozen it’s fair game,” I answer, and it’s only when I hear my own masked nervousness that I realize he had a similar tone. Come to think of it, his nearby heart is starting to beat a little faster. But why would he be nervous right now?

To my surprise, he still holds onto me as he goes to put the food in the microwave, despite the fact that it’ll take a while for it to defrost. This is definitely out of the norm, and I’m starting to wonder if something’s wrong. I lean back against his thumb, away from his chest as I try to look up at his face. He notices me out of the corner of his eye and looks down to meet my gaze.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, “Do you need space? I can put you down.”

“No,” I say quickly, then I realize how overeager I sounded and add, “Just, uh… you alright?”

Aiden doesn’t answer at first as he slowly breathes in and out, his eyes looking past me. Then they come back to join mine and finally he says, “I’m just conscious of the fact that I’m about to be so busy. Next week is going to be absolute hell, and the week after will be even worse. I don’t think I’ll really have much time to hang out and I… I guess I’m already sad about it.”

Those butterflies in my stomach are feeling more like hornets now. I suppose I wasn’t the only one who had thought about us having less time for each other soon. I slide back across his hand to push myself up against his chest in a hug, and he closes the distance with his fingertips, resting them against my back. “It’s just two weeks,” I say to try and comfort him, “And I’ll still be right here the whole time to cheer you on.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m being dramatic.”

“Well, you’re the one who has to actually deal with school stress… I don’t mind you being a little clingy."

What am I saying? What are we doing? My mind goes to where it normally does in similar situations. We’re so intertwined into each other’s lives that it’s only natural that we really care about each other. And it makes sense that we would touch more than average roommates, because I’d never leave the desk otherwise. He’s the type of person who likes helping others, so I think he enjoys looking after me, almost like he would a pet. That’s all this is. I mostly convince myself of it, but instead of feeling the usual reassurances from this mental exercise… I feel a little sad. Why am I so out of sorts today?

I look up at how much time is left on the microwave and I speak without thinking, throwing out a stupid idea. “We’ve got ten minutes. Can you go lie down on your stomach on the couch?”

Aiden stiffens. “…What?”

This is so stupid. "Or on the floor. I just want to try something.”

The giant continues to balk, staring down at me still leaned up against his chest. "R-right now?”

“Uh huh. Bring me with.”

With a hesitant “okay…” we’re headed back into the living room. Aiden’s a bit too tall to fully stretch out on the couch, so he opts for the floor instead, cupping me carefully as he kneels down and then lowers all the way onto his front.

From his position propped on his elbows, he looks straight down at me still sitting in his hands, which are currently resting on the floor. “Now what?” he asks, bemused.

I give him a playful smile. “Can you put me on your shoulder?”

Silently he obliges, bringing one hand up to lift me close to his neck. Grabbing onto his shirt, I pull myself higher, climbing further than I normally would until I’m hoisting myself over his shoulder blade now, reaching his upper back. Once the slope of his body is level enough, I get to my feet and start stepping towards his spine with intentionally slow and weighted footsteps.

His dark hair has grown a little bit since I’ve moved in, but the nape of his neck is still plenty exposed. I notice it’s lighting up with goosebumps as I walk on him, as if I’m just causing a slight tickle. Not quite what I was going for…

“Are you gonna fill me in?” Aiden asks, and I can only see the back of his head and not his expression, but he clearly still sounds very confused.

So, so stupid. “I’m not sure this is working how I’d hoped,” I call back. “I was wanting to give you a little massage, to maybe help with the stress. But I think I’m too light.”

There’s a pause. “Oh. I see. I mean, it… it does feel nice…”

I can’t help laughing at how tense he sounds and I start heading back the way I’d come. “Don’t force yourself, I’ll get off of you.”

The massive back quakes and I almost lose my balance from the sudden yet slow descent as Aiden gets all the way down and buries his face into his arms. His words are muffled by his posture, but from where I’m standing I can feel them vibrating up through me. “I’m serious. That feels really good.”

My mouth quickly goes dry. “Oh, well, um… good! Just relax then.” I go back to ambling across his back and cross over the bump of his backbone. “I could even do this while you’re studying! Who says we can’t still hang out?”

The giant’s head tilts down as he further curls in on himself, ears turning red from the awkwardness of the situation. “Thank you," he rumbles, "You’re totally spoiling me.”

He’s wrong. I stabilize myself against his protruding shoulder blade and glance back towards his head, observing the line of his neck and the edge of his jaw. I look the other way, along the length of his back that subtly slopes downward to a slight dip above his tailbone. His body is so vast, stretching out on all sides. I feel his muscles below me, the warmth of his skin through his shirt. I do care about his stress levels, I do want to do something nice for him, but… my little expedition is truly, mostly, very selfish.

Some good ideas here, taking notes~

For me it’s usually just… NO personal space. I tend to make myself at home on him. Like nesting in his hair, I could stay up there all day. I’ve gotten good at clinging to his hand so he can’t shake me off. He’s gotten into the habit of checking his clothes before putting them on thanks to yours truly. I’ll lay on his stuff when he’s trying to get things done, or slip into his sleeve or pant leg or collar when he’s trying to get somewhere, or get up in his face to boop his nose or blow at his eyelashes when he wants to get to sleep.

Otherwise, I’ve only done this once but I miiiight have pretended I was going to fall off a shelf when he was across the room, just to see the look on his face~

All of this is in retaliation of course. He messes with me all the time, it’s only fair.

S+P 5 - Working From Home

This one might look a lil familiar heh

Rock bottom. I think I’ve finally reached it.

I can already hear my mother’s voice in my head, desperate to counter my pessimism. “Cameron, honey, I know it’s hard, but it’s not the end of the world.” “Cameron, sweetheart, this is just a setback, you’ll get through it.” “Cameron, baby, it’s really not as bad as it seems.”

No. I actually mean it this time. Rock bottom. I give up.

All of my muscles ache as I attempt to readjust myself in the hospital bed. It is literally impossible to get comfortable, so I’m not sure why I’m bothering, but I guess my body is on autopilot at this point, searching for any kind of relief. Pins and needles shoot down my leg in protest after being compressed in one position for too long, and I wince at the painful tug of the IV at my arm. But it’s only once I’ve finally finished turning over that I come out of my brain fog just enough to suddenly notice the sandpaper dryness in my mouth. The room is empty so I allow myself one lengthy, dramatic groan before I course correct, painstakingly flipping back to the other side. Without bothering to open my eyes, I reach to the bed’s side rail until my fingers find the controls that will tilt the bed upright.

I don’t bother to open my eyes because they’re practically useless. They have been for months now. And no, I don’t want to talk about it.

Once I’m lifted high enough to sit upright a bit more easily, I tentatively reach out to where I know I last left my cup of water. I make contact with the table and begin the familiar process of sliding my hand around to feel my way. My fingertips slither over a notepad and pen, a box of granola bars, a pair of earbuds…

With a heavy sigh I finally squint my eyes open, letting them adjust to the little amount of light they’re still able to capture. The visual static isn’t too bad today, at least. I still can’t make out the majority of the room, but I do have a small circle of vision remaining. My depth perception is shot, my sense of color is off, but from this angle I should be able to make out the–

I startle at the sound of a knock from a dozen feet away, abruptly piercing the silence of the room. The noise isn’t a request but a warning, a rather pointless one as I have no time to react before the door immediately opens. I slouch back into my bed in defeat, letting my arm slump lifelessly onto the bedside table.

“Hello,” the nurse calls out as her footsteps steadily approach, “I’m here to check your vitals.”

Not that I needed that introduction. This is nothing new. Someone comes to check on me every couple of hours, day and night, to check my blood pressure, monitor my IV, get the occasional blood sample. I’ve only been here a few days and already it feels monotonous. I turn my head in the direction of the nurse’s presence, forcing a curt smile onto my face as I catch the movement of the blue cloth of her scrubs but little else.

Without saying anything she takes my wrist, making me tense up from the lack of advance notice, and a moment later I sense the cool plastic of my water cup being gently thrust into my hand. I mutter a thank you and gulp greedily as the nurse sets up the blood pressure machine beside me.

“How are you feeling?” she asks me, and I catch the weary tone in her voice. I feel a bit guilty that my cordial smile has already slipped back into my usual vacant scowl. I can’t remember her name, but I can tell by the sound of her voice that this is the same daytime nurse that I’ve had for the past two days. I know I’m just another item on her to-do list, but she’s honestly been really nice, and with all the pain I’ve been dealing with I can’t say I’ve been particularly nice in return. I should make an effort.

“Better,” I lie, employing as convincing of a lighthearted tone as I can. “How’s it going out there?”

“Oh, you know,” she sighs as she slips a fabric cuff over my arm. “At least a dozen new cases every day so it’s always a bit nuts… But we’ve been doing better at this hospital than most. And I heard on the news that nationwide things are finally starting to slow down.”

“That’s good,” I respond with a slight bob of the head.

The blood pressure monitor whirs to life, and despite my good intentions, I’m planning to just fall into silence for the rest of this visit the way I usually do. Small talk isn’t really my thing. But then I remember something I’m genuinely curious about, and that makes continuing the conversation a little easier.

“My mom said she saw someone on this floor who has bird wings growing out of their back?” I venture.

In the narrow tunnel of my vision I make out a pair of lips smiling wider. “I’m not at liberty to discuss the details of other patient’s conditions. But we do get all sorts here.”

“I mean… are there any anomaly patients on this floor? Can you tell me that?”

“Well, you’re in the Anomaly Recovery Unit. So yes.”

“Wait, I am?” I say with a frown, perking up with surprise.

“Yes. They moved you here from the ICU since that’s where we have space right now.”

I didn’t realize that detail when I got wheeled over here yesterday morning. I didn’t know that an “Anomaly Recovery Unit” even existed, though I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Last I heard there were over 300 cases in our county alone. Most of them are completely benign - people whose skin had turned pink or their hair doubled in length or they suddenly grew an extra toe or whatever. You know. Definitely things that require immediate medical attention. Definitely things that should put them first in line…

Still, I guess there are enough requiring hospitalization to justify a dedicated unit for them. I suddenly attribute this new piece of intel to the strange noise I had heard last night - someone was walking around in the hallway outside, but I could have sworn that each step caused a slight musical sound, like a wheezing accordion. Whoa. I wonder how many anomaly patients are in my immediate vicinity.

A couple of minutes later, the nurse is wishing me goodbye, leaving me in silence again once the door shuts behind her. I slide a little lower in bed until I’m almost flat, and I stare up at the blank, colorless space of the ceiling above me. I fixate the one dark stain that I’m able to make out in my own pathetic version of cloud gazing. For a few minutes I debate on whether it’s more interesting to stare at this mystery stain or the back of my eyelids. That’s when I hear it.

“Pssst! Hi there!”

I flinch and turn my head, reflexively trying to look towards the faraway voice. It’s not one I recognize, and I hadn’t realized anyone else had entered the room, so it makes me feel very uneasy. I don’t say anything at first, and it’s so quiet in the ensuing pause that I wonder if I imagined it.

“Is someone there?” I call out, looking around pointlessly.

“Whoa, not so loud! Over here, to your left. Helloooo.”

I frown as my eyes fervently try to hone in on the source of the voice. For some reason she seems to be keeping her distance. I’m about to try and push myself up into a sitting position when my small circle of clearer vision passes over the outline of a human figure, and then I find her smiling face. She appears to be further away than the door that I thought was closed, even if she’s in the right direction - something about this moment is incredibly disorienting.

The mystery person stops waving so dramatically, her toothy grin widening before she speaks again. “I snuck in here. Heard we had a normie neighbor!”

“Um, what does… who…?” I question, struggling not to stutter. I’m still flat on my back and feel a bit like a cornered animal in my current state of confusion. I move my arms to my sides to brace them against the mattress and add, “Wait, what do you mean you snuck in?”

“Like, I slipped in right before she closed the door…” The girl falters for a moment and tilts her head to the side. “Huh. You are not asking the questions I thought you’d ask. Though that’s kinda refreshing I guess.”

She’s still a good distance from me, just standing there on the other side of the room. I push into my forearms so that I can sit upright, and then reach out to my side table for better leverage as I ask, “Why are you so far aw–”

Right as I sit up there’s a small sound, like a soft gasp, and I freeze in place. My hand just whacked against something unexpectedly warm, and it causes me to yank my arm back off the table. But before I can figure that out, I’ve realized that I’ve lost sight of the person in the room. I’m scanning wildly, my confusion coming to a head. Where did she go? Clearly that wasn’t a doctor or something, right? Am I losing my mind right now?

But no - she’s still here, somewhere, because I hear her voice pipe up again, now breathless and frustrated. “What the hell, man? Are you blind?!”

She still sounds strangely far away. And she also sounds like she’s somehow below me now. My eyes drift downwards as my mouth answers her question automatically. “Yes.”

There. I’ve found her face again. But now things really aren’t making sense. It’s impossible for her to still be so far away at this lower angle.

Her entire demeanor has changed, her bright smile gone and her eyes a little wider. “Oh,” she says, faltering, “Uh… Damn. Sorry.”

“Hold on…” I mutter, leaning forwards. Towards my side table.

I’m finally putting it together. She’s not far away at all. She’s right next to me. She’s standing on the table.

My brain is short circuiting. In this moment I don’t pay attention to her increasingly nervous expression or the way she seems to be shying backwards. I have to make sense of this. Without thinking I raise a hand up, hovering it over the table for a second before it descends again, the side of it thumping softly against the wood. I’m lowering my head to get a more level view, ignoring the pain in my abdomen as I do so, and my brow furrows in shock. She’s in front of my hand. I run my eyes up and down her figure, observing the contrasting outline of her frame against my palm. Her skin is a little darker than mine and the sight is as obvious as a cup of water splashing against my face.

She’s tiny. Like, unbelievably so. She’s sitting down at the moment, but even if this girl were standing, I’m not sure she’d be as tall as my palm is wide. It feels impossible. She doesn’t look real.

“Ummmm?” I’m snapped out of my stupor by her voice, no longer sounding distant to me anymore, just sounding appropriately small to match her stature. My attention is naturally drawn back to her face, and she’s smiling weakly. “I thought you just said you were blind?”

I’m a little distracted by something new at this point. A strange… exhilaration. For too many months now I’ve had to deal with not being able to see a single thing clearly. And this is especially true with people - when I’m having a conversation with someone, the most I can make out at one time is an eye or a mouth or something. My tunnel of clear vision is so incredibly narrow. But right now… I can make out this person’s face. Her entire face. Everything from the dark brown of her eyes to the way her long black hair rests on her shoulders, to the tiniest speck of a mole on her left cheekbone. She’s right here, she’s right in front of me, and I can see her!

I let out a tight exhale, trying to bring myself back to the task at hand. “Blindness is a spectrum,” I answer - it’s something I’ve had to explain countless times so it’s the only words I can easily summon at the moment. “I can see some stuff… But… I don’t…” I pause, my breathing shaky and my words equally so. “Am I awake right now?”

To my surprise, the miniature girl breaks into a big grin again, her nerves seeming to settle all at once. “Now that’s the kind of reaction I’m used to,” she chirps, and her arms start moving, her hands gesturing as she speaks. “You see, some of the anomalies allow people to breathe underwater. Some of them make their skin glow in the dark. And some of them make us three and a half inches tall.” She shrugs nonchalantly. “Although I think that’s just me.”

Of course. She’s an anomaly patient. I should have figured, since I did just find out that I’m in a part of the hospital that has dozens of them. And yet I never imagined I’d witness something like this. She looks like she belongs on the screen of my phone, not wandering around a hospital. I wonder about a million things at once - how long has she been like this? What must her experience of the world be like? It’s so easy for her to pass unnoticed - hence her being able to sneak into my room. But at the same time, I can’t even imagine how scary things must be for someone so small. She just looks incredibly fragile…

I tense up as this thought makes me remember something. Earlier, I’d reached out to the table to help pull myself up to sitting, and my hand had hit something foreign in the process. I suddenly realize why my little visitor is sitting down.

I force myself to hold very, very still as I fight back panic. “Oh my god… Did I knock you over? I’m so sorry, I just realized– um… Can I, uh…” My hand is still just behind her and my fingers twitch as I wonder if I should offer her help in getting back to her feet. The thought of touching her is strangely intimidating.

She waves me off though, quite literally with a flick of the wrist. “It’s okay! Just give me some room?”

Aaaand now I’m feeling like an idiot. My palm is at her back like a wall, as if I was trying to corral her towards me. I didn’t mean to block her way or anything, but I can only guess how imposing I might look to her in these first few minutes of us meeting. A wave of shame washes over me, making my ears burn.

Slowly I slide my hand away, making sure to have plenty of clearance before lifting it off the table and back onto my lap. It’s slightly trickier for me to maintain my gaze on things without my hand as a target, and yet I have no problem keeping my eyes fixed on the incredible creature before me. She gets onto her knees before pushing herself back up to standing, and the way her leg seems to buckle ever so slightly when she first puts weight on it makes me wince.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” I mumble, internally kicking myself.

“Yup!” she says brightly, and she puts her hands on her hips. “Serves me right, the nurses all keep telling me I need to stop wandering around… I just couldn’t resist checking out who’s the new guy on floor seven.” She holds one open hand up in a static wave. “Let’s start over. It’s nice to meet you, neighbor! I’m Naomi. What’s your name?”

I offer her a hesitant smile and respond. “Cameron.”

With that Naomi takes a couple of steps towards me and finds a more natural seat on the nearby box of granola bars, crossing one leg over the other. I’m rather relieved that she still seems comfortable enough to settle in for a chat despite that rollercoaster of an introduction.

“So…” she says as she lets her head tilt up at me with curiosity in her eyes, “Are you in here because you’re blind?”

Well, she’s certainly blunt. I don’t really want to go into details about my own situation, but her candor brings an amused smirk out of me. “No, that’s not why. Well, actually… kinda? I guess it’s because I’m blind that I didn’t see that a car was coming.” I shrug one shoulder and indicate my own abdomen that I know looks like a mosaic of blacks and blues under my hospital gown. “Internal bleeding.”

She grimaces. “Ouch.”

“Yeah.” I swiftly try to change the subject. “What about you? How long have you been like that?”

“About seven… no, eight months now. I’ve been living at the hospital ever since. It’s been wild.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet… I’m honestly struggling to wrap my mind around this.” I gesture vaguely in her direction. “How did you even like… get up there?”

She giggles. “How do you think? I climbed up.”

I frown, trying and failing to get a good look at the table she’s on. I know the whole thing is on wheels, and I think there’s only one center table leg, which is much too thick for her to have wrapped her arms around.

“How??” I insist, a bit bemused.

She laughs again and points towards something outside my field of vision. “I’ve gotten good at spotting invisible routes. Maybe you don’t know, there’s a couch on the other side of you that’s by the window. The curtain has this mesh trim that I can grab at, so - up the curtain to the couch, up the cushions to the armrest, used the IV tube to reach the bed, and it was an easy jump from bed to table. I do this a lot.”

I mentally map out the obstacle course that Naomi put herself through just so she could come say hello. Holy crap, she was scurrying around the perimeter of my own bed while I was busy staring at the ceiling… Either I must have been very distracted by that mystery stain, or she was just that quiet.

“So, uh, this is a regular passtime of yours then?” I ask, “Sneaking into people’s rooms?”

She crosses her arms defensively. “Dude, you have no idea how bored I get. Going on visits is the best part of my day! I would go crazy if I didn’t socialize.”

“And people are okay with this?”

“Are you not okay with it?”

My expression softens despite myself. Since I’ve been at this hospital I’ve preferred it when I’m left alone, but I can’t deny that this has been the most interesting part of my stay here. “No… You’re fine,” I say reassuringly, “I just meant the staff.”

“Oh. No, of course they’re not okay with it, I get scolded all the time! That’s why I’m sneaking. Some of the nurses bring me with them to go see the more long-term patients that I’ve gotten to know. But usually everyone’s so busy… I can’t expect them to entertain me all the time.” Naomi leans back on her hands and uncrosses her legs, stretching them out in front of her. She taps her heels rhythmically on the table, creating the tiniest pitter-pattering sound, and adds, “Sometimes people come visit me! That’s always exciting.”

“You mean from outside the hospital?”

“Yeah! Some of my friends, the ones who have stuck around since I shrunk. Every once in a while it’s someone from my extended family.”

Come to think of it, since she’s mentioning family… I wonder why she’s been staying here at the hospital. Is it purely for medical reasons? Or does she not have anyone from her inner circle to look after her? It seems like a pretty personal question so I opt not to ask, but then of her own volition she starts peeling back the layers.

“Most of the time, though, it’s someone who just wants to check on my dad. He’s also a long-term resident.”

“Ah…” I hesitate again, but not only does she seem like such an open book, it’s like she’s pointed out a bookmark. I let my curiosity get the best of me. “Did your dad get shrunk too?”

Naomi goes quiet for a second, and at first I think I’ve screwed up. I know I probably wouldn’t want to talk about it either if that’s what happened. But the more I nervously search her little face, the more it just looks like she’s deep in thought.

“You know, that would have actually been pretty great if that’s what had happened. Then I wouldn’t feel so alone all the time. But no…” She brings her attention back up to me. “You could say he’s in a coma. We got hit by the same anomaly. But while I started drowning in my own clothing, he sorta just… went to sleep. The doctors said it was some kind of temporal effect? As if time has just paused for him. Physically he’s fine, they’re not even having to do anything to keep him alive, they’re just keeping him here to try to find a way to fix him. I miss him so much, though.”

Yikes. This talk got real intense, real fast. My fingers fidget anxiously at my own hospital gown as I search for the right words.

“I’m really sorry to hear that,” I finally say lamely.

“Yeah, it sucks! I’m hanging in there, though. The doctors don’t think there’s a way to fix me, but they seem to think he still has a chance. Here’s hoping.”

I let out a breath in a tight, subdued sigh. “I just… I had no idea the effects of an anomaly could be so… severe.”

Naomi throws both hands up with an exaggerated shrug. “They’re usually not! Though I guess I’ve met a lot of extreme cases at this point. They recently put me in a room with someone whose bones literally turned into glass. She’s had a couple of surgeries now, to replace some of it with metal implants, but she can still hardly move at all.”

“Shit. That’s horrible.”

“Yep, I feel really bad for her. But I agree, most of the anomalies are much more minor… I mean, sure, I guess I’d be freaked out too if my eyes went from brown to blue overnight. But in the grand scheme of things it’s so silly.” She seems to catch herself then, and she looks off to the side in embarrassment. “Sorry, that probably sounds awful. I’m sure those things feel like a big deal to the people going through them.”

I really can’t get over how well I can see her, how effortlessly I’m able to read her expressions since her entire head fits in my small field of clear vision. I recognize the look in her eyes. And I feel an unexpected moment of kinship despite how different our conditions are.

“It’s okay…” I say quietly, “I get it.”

She meets my gaze again, her grin quickly returning, and a warmth blossoms in my chest. Damn. That smile is infectious.

“Alright, enough with my sob story,” Naomi exclaims, now folding her legs up in front of her in a cross-legged position. “Tell me more about you! I can’t tell you how good it feels to meet someone around my age here. Are you a student?”

“Uh, used to be. At Southwest University, next town over.”

“Oh really?! That’s where I went too! Back when I could, at least. I was a computer science major - you?”

“Kinesiology.”

“Right on!”

S+P 7 - The Perfect Fall Cap

S+P 9 - Back From Work

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Those who follow me on DA will have already seen the sketches in this one, but I figured I’d collect them into an official “comic” for Webtoons~ Except unfortunately the file sizes for these are too big for me to also post them all here, so I’m just going to post a link today and hope it works…

S+P 10 - Autumn Memories: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/salt-pepper/autumn-memories/viewer?title_no=896513&episode_no=10&serviceZone=GLOBAL

S+P 13 - A Sprinkle of Sugar

S+P 16 - Holiday Decorating