GOES AROUND - pt. 1by AborigenIt was 11pm in Nick's apartment, the sky dark outside and a cold wind batteringat the old panes. The TV was mainly on for background noise, showing some"World's Worst Culinary Disasters" documentary or something, largely ignored bythe two people in the living room. Nick and his girlfriend Elisa were at itagain - though very in love with each other, there were a couple points ofirreconcilable contention between them, usually revolving around physicalexpressions of affection. Each tended to blow the other argument up intosomething larger, forcing the other to defend a ridiculous situation that borelittle relevance to the original issue.

"You seem to believe in absolute equality," Nick repeated, rubbing his temples,"while I'm trying to tell you I believe in balance, and they're not necessarilythe same thing.""I believe in balance too," Elise said quietly.

"No, let me explain. Your ideal relationship would be one in which both partnersare equally matched in capability, weaknesses and strengths?""Yes, equality everywhere.""But if each one of them is a capable individual, why would they need to be in arelationship at all?"Elise narrowed her eyes at him. "What are you saying?"Nick got up from the floor and joined her on the loveseat, where she sat withher feet tucked up beneath her. She was wearing a large, oversized sweater thatmade him want to drop everything and just cuddle her, but some sterile, rationalpart of him insisted on being understood. "I'm not saying we should break up!"he assured her, holding her hand. "I'm saying that I believe in balance:partners have different strengths, different weaknesses that work around eachother. Sometimes one person's in control, sometimes the other one is."Elise shook her head, and her auburn hair shimmered in the dim apartmentlighting. Nick's fuses had been blowing lately, so he back on candles wheneverpossible. "I can't accept being tied up. I can't see how that's an expression ofaffection at all," she said, raising her voice. Though six inches shorter thanhim, Elise had a personal presence that put nearly everyone off-balance. Notthat she was hostile, but she was remarkably self-assured and didn't cater topeople's insecurities or sensitivities. Her slender hands rested on the knees ofher black jeans, and her grey sweater looked almost ochre in the candlelight.

Nick wore a black t-shirt over a long-sleeve grey jersey, and black jeans aswell. He unlaced his combat boots as he composed his thoughts. "I know where youcome from, I know your history about being tied up."She sighed. "It wasn't as dramatic as that. I just tried it with anex-boyfriend, and it didn't work out. I didn't like being helpless, and I didn'twant him helpless beneath me. I believe both people should be in control at alltimes. Your issue with domination and submission is really disturbing, Nick."He looked over at her thoughtfully. "I don't think it's disturbing. I'm justtired of being in control all the time. I'd really like someone else to takecharge; and before you say it, no, it's not enough to agree to be in charge. Ireally want someone to overpower me, overwhelm me; that's what I like about mygiantess fetish."This was a recent area of discussion for them, ever since his 'ToweringTemptresses' catalog came in the mail. Elise found it lying around and wentthrough its pages, progressively more unsettled by everything she found untilshe could sit him down and ask him what it was about. She could understand beingobsessed with women's bodies, she could even understand objectification to acertain extent, but the predominant theme of women aggressively dominating womentruly disturbed her and she couldn't accept it. She asked Nick to just keep itaway from her, keep that part of his life to himself, and he agreed to that.

"I can't talk about this anymore tonight, Nick," she said. "I'm going out for acigarette." Nick couldn't permit smoking in his apartment, so Elise would lightup outside, at the front of the building.

"Want me to come with you?" he asked - he didn't like her being alone in hislow-income neighborhood.

She shook her head, and again her hair bounced and lofted in the warm apartmentatmosphere. "I need to be alone for a few minutes, sort this all out." Shepulled her shoes on, slipped into her jacket, and locked the apartment doorbehind her as she left.

Nick sighed heavily and leaned back in the loveseat, truly frustrated. He didn'tfeel the need to bring Elise into his sordid fantasies - sometimes they made himfeel dirty and callous, and he never wanted to associate that feeling with her.

However, it was still a tremendously powerful erotic force, one he was unwillingto give up simply because his girlfriend couldn't reconcile with it. He lit upsome incense and set it next to the candle on the steamer trunk that served as acoffee table, and curled up sideways on the loveseat to try to calm down.

He dozed for just a moment, so briefly that Elise hadn't returned from her smokebreak, but when he opened his eyes he saw the incense had wafted up into a cloudabove the candle. The candlelight illuminated the cloud, and for a moment hethought it had taken the shape of a woman's face.

Nick sat up and stared into the cloud, and then he knew it was a woman's face.

It was two feet across and three feet high, nearly transparent and slightlyshifting as the incense caught every tiny breeze in the apartment. The face wasevenly balanced and finely-sculpted, with high cheekbones, full lips, and astern gaze that bore down upon him. The apparition seemed to open its lips andexhale.

"You've got to be kidding me," Nick said flatly, as the world rushed up aroundhim. The loveseat cushion spread outward in all directions, the weave of itsfabric thickening and bulking up beneath him. His shirts welled up around himand billowed to the cushion, nearly empty but for a tiny, naked man sitting upin near (but hardly complete) surprise. His jeans draped over the edge of theloveseat and onto the hardwood floor. As Nick crawled out of the neck of hisshirt, he saw the smoky apparition dissipate into thin air, just as Eliseslipped the key in the lock of his door to let herself inside.

Nick watched his girlfriend enter, gazing far overhead. Her normally slight bodynow took on a monumental proportion and moved massively through the air, like aflying skyscraper or something like that. Nick shook his head at this ridiculoussituation, getting inexplicably shrunk down by some mysterious mystical force,for his girlfriend to find him. And find him she did, eventually. She shed herjacket and tossed it onto the arm of the loveseat, nearly burying him inleather. She pulled off her shoes and sat down on the loveseat where she'd beenbefore - he saw her full hips expand above him as she bent over, and then shesat down in slow motion. His heart raced as her buttocks stretched the blackdenim like two massive planetary spheres, perfect and inviting in theirroundness, as they descended from the heavens to strike near him. Theircollision with the cushion rocked his gigantic world, toppling him to the side.

He had to grab the hem of his shirt collar to keep rolling down against her hip.

Elise sniffed the incense and grinned softly, though Nick could only peer up atthe side of her face and see the cheek pull back. She ran her fingers throughher hair - Nick saw fingers nearly as long as himself disappearing into hertresses - and leaned back in the loveseat. It was then she seemed to notice herboyfriend's clothes on the seat beside her and for a moment she wondered if hewere naked in the bedroom, waiting for her to find him stretched out on the bed.

But her keen eyes picked out her diminutive boyfriend, reeling from thisoverwhelming experience to try to kneel and look up at her.

Unflappable as ever, she pursed her lips for a moment and studied him beforesaying, "Okay, this is a remarkable development in our relationship, but I'mstill not going to be dragged into these fantasies of yours."Part 2Nick stared up at Elise, and Elise stared down at Nick. They stared at eachother for a long time. Elise tried to imagine what mystical or physicalcondition could've happened to actually shrink Nick down, while Nick's thoughtswere less pragmatic: he was simply drinking in the impressive monolith that washis girlfriend. Her hand rested on the shoulder of his shirt beside her, andsitting upright, he was just taller than her wrist. He figured he had to beabout the size of an action figure, about four inches, based on the size of herhand compared to his new perspective.

Elise slowly raised her hand and extended a forefinger, making no sudden movesto startle her miniscule boyfriend. He'd been sitting with his arms wrappedaround his knees; he shifted to lean back on his arms and stretch his legs out,opening his chest to her. She brought her fingertip in: to him, it was the sizeof a large log, maybe thicker than a telephone pole. He marveled at how such ahuge item could hover in the air before him. She brought it in closer, slowly,until the soft, rounded tip of her finger finally made contact with his chest.

Frowning thoughtfully, she stroked his bare chest repeatedly, exercising as muchcaution as she could in this, fully cognizant of the fact that she couldprobably crumple him like a Dixie cup.

"How, exactly, did this happen to you?" she asked him. "I mean, I was just gonefor five minutes. What could you possibly have done?"Nick shrugged, wondering absently if he'd have to exaggerate his gestures so hereyes could see them, then mused over how clownish that would feel. He'd feellike a miniature Jim Carrey, without the paycheck. "I really have no idea, hon.

I just stretched out to take a little nap, and, well, I lit some incense,first."Elise smiled, sniffing the air. "Yeah, I noticed that. I really like it. Whatkind is it?"He pointed at a foil packet on the steamer trunk. "You tell me. I've never seenit before. It was just next to that purple candle, I figured it was yours." Herblank expression - broad as a billboard - told him much. "Oh, how hokey," hesaid, rubbing his temple with one tiny hand.

"What's that?" she asked, settling herself to face him. She turned towards himand drew up one enormous, black-clad leg perpendicular to him, tucking its footunder her other knee and leaning forward to listen to him. Despite his miniaturesize, she had remarkably little difficulty in hearing him: he sounded like hewas speaking to her through an old aviator's radio with the volume turned downjust a little.

Nick gestured all about him, laughing. "Oh, all of this. It's happening justlike in one of those giantess stories I like to read. Some mysterious elementjust appears out of nowhere to give a character dominion over the laws ofphysics, or some paranormal event takes place and someone falls victim to it,blah-dee-blah..."Never having read any of those stories - not for lack of Nick's suggestion -Elise could only trust in what he was saying. She asked, "Is that what this islike?"He nodded. "It's just like this. You and I argue about giantesses, you stormout-""I didn't storm out," she asserted. "I went out for a smoke, just to take allthis in.""Yes, that's right, honey. I just mean, that's a common formula. Foreshadowing,an opportunity for the event in this case, the incense out of nowhere. I lightit up, some woman's face appears in the smoke, and she blows on me and I shrinkdown. You come in, yadda yadda yadda...""Yadda yadda yadda?" Elise asked. "This happens in all the stories?""Well, sometimes it's a magical potion that an unhappy housewife discovers, or aring given to an abused girlfriend by a witch, or an amulet from aliens, I thinkit was, once.""And is the giantess always as reluctant as I am?"Nick shook his head. "Oh, no. If it's a revenge story, she leaps right into theaction, abusing her diminished tormentor with her body, of course."Elise looked down at him. "Is that what you want me to do, Nick? I reallywouldn't get any enjoyment out of hurting you.""And I really wouldn't enjoy getting the snot beat out of me, either," he said,"though I would like to get a little closer to you."Elise looked at him sideways. "How do you mean? This is really unnerving, Nick."He shakily rose to his feet, standing upon a broad plane of fabric that used tobe his t-shirt. He raised his arms slightly and called up to her, "Well, let'sjust... get used to each other, like this. Could you pick me up and, say, restme on your knee?"She frowned thoughtfully again - Nick always thought that expression was cute,the way her lower lip would push out, but at this size, staring up at abeautiful, even-faced goddess pouting at him, his heart throbbedenthusiastically - but upturned her palm and rested her hand on the shirt, justbeside him, not trusting herself to grip him gently enough. He stepped onto herpalm, and again his pulse raced at the soft fleshy feel beneath his bare feet.

He braced himself against her thumb, noting how tiny his hand looked beside herhuge, silver thumbring, and climbed into her palm. He sat down like he had onthe couch, drawing his legs up and hugging his knees loosely.

Out of an irresistable curiosity, Elise had to raise him to her face, as if shewere studying a gem or other small artifact. Caution was always on her mind,careful not to crush him or let him spill out of her hand, but she drew him nearher eyes and scrutinized him. It was certainly her boyfriend, and she couldn'tget over the detail of his face, the tiny eyebrows, the miniscule fingernails oneach tiny finger, and... well, he was naked, she was bound to notice hisgenitalia. She sighed, already missing how he used to feel inside her.

Nick, on the other hand, was in a private heaven. Her enormous body was no lesslithe as the sheer cliff face of her sweater raced past his little platform, andhe felt a wonderful, longing adoration for her huge, soft breasts behind theknitted wool. And again, if she was beautiful before, as a giantess she waspositively breathtaking. He absolutely lost himself in her huge hazel eyes, andhe stared at them, watching them twitch slightly as she examined every aspect ofhis tiny self. Her thin, button nose was even more adorable, and he smiled atthe thought of stroking it comfortingly, or however. And her lips? Nick's heartskipped a beat as he thought of those huge, soft lips, parted slightly inwonderment. Her breath, slightly sweet with decay, gently suggested itself athim, and his gaze peered into the black cavern beyond her teeth.

His reverie was broken by sudden motion as she lowered him back down and restedher hand on her knee. Very reluctantly, he climbed off and perched upon herthigh, lying on his back to stabilize himself as well as touch her leg with asmuch of his body as possible. Elise withdrew her hand and leaned over him. Nick,enshrouded in the canopy of her hair, inhaled her sweet musk deeply.

"Is that better? There, on my leg?" she asked him.

Slowly he remembered how to speak English and assured her it would do. He reallydidn't want to push this issue with her, knowing how quickly it could spin outof control, and yet, he was so eager for more! He supposed he could pacehimself, since he was probably going to be this size for a while, and she'd bekind enough to keep him around. Anything could happen, he told himself.

"You're awfully comfortable around me, for someone so helpless and naked," sheremarked.

He blushed furiously at that and crumpled back up into a ball. "I, um, yeah, myclothes," he stammered.

Elise grinned brightly, and it warmed him somewhat. She said, "You know, youwere never shy about lounging around with me completely nude before.""Yeah, well, you were usually naked with me and I was a bit taller than you,too." He smiled slowly. "You know, if you really wanted to even the score alittle...""Don't even think of it," she said sternly. "I'm not going to take off myclothes to go along with your little fantasy. This is really weird for me,Nick." She sighed, and again breathed a gust of warm, personal air over his tinybody. She raised her forefinger up again, showing it to him so he knew it wascoming, then slowly stroked his side. Tenderly, she felt for his ribs, then hispelvis, and said quietly, "Come on and open up, Nick. You were cute, like that.

You still look really nice, even at that size. I like looking at you," sheadded, when he looked up at her. He unfolded himself, slowly, and she continuedto stroke his body with her fingertip.

It was a remarkable sensation for him, to have this huge, rounded pad of fleshrunning over his body. She never pressed painfully hard, but with enoughpressure to feel like a hard snuggle, and he enjoyed it. He closed his eyes andfocused on the sensation, trying to push his exposed self out of his mind. Sherubbed her huge fingertip in broad circles over his chest, and he dug his headback into her thigh, grinning indulgently. She ran her fingertip down theoutside of his legs, and inevitably he wondered if she would grace him with agentle touch between his thighs. 'All in good time, all in good time,' hethought, sighing.

Part 3Nick and Elise went to bed that night, in the colloquial sense. Nick didn'tactually get to share the bed, as Elise was afraid of rolling on top of him inher sleep (though he secretly relished the idea) and crushing him. He tried toassure her that she was typically a very still and motionless sleeper, but hesuspected her own reservations about this whole giantess scenario were her truermotivations for the accommodations: he spent the night in her jewelry box on thedresser. The lid was propped open and it was already lined with velvet, so itwasn't too uncomfortable. But lying there in the silence of the night, laying ona folded pair of socks for cushioning, staring at the ceiling, the actualsignificance of his situation began to creep up on him.

Obviously, he couldn't go in for work tomorrow. Was he going to lose his job?Would he ever get his height restored, so he could go back and request hisposition again? His and Elise's incomes were what enabled them to afford theirapartment in the nicer part of town: now what? He rolled over to his side,staring at the bronze lip of the jewelry box. Traditionally, he realized, thiswas the part of the story where the tiny man realizes what a tremendous burdenhe poses upon the giantess, and makes plans to flee and fend for himself. Nickdidn't consider himself a coward, but he knew he didn't stand a snowball'schance in hell outside, in the city at large. If he didn't get run over by a caror hunted down by a cat, Christ, some transient in the neighborhood might findhim... Nick shuddered violently and pulled a corner of sock up to cover himself.

His soft brown eyes penetrated the velvet wall of his bed-box - there was alsothe issue of his friends. They got along with Elise as well, and they woulddoubtlessly grill her with questions once Nick had disappeared for a couple ofdays. And, oh, damn, there was that techno show this Saturday: Universal FemaleAdapter was playing at Bivouac, and he'd purchased tickets ahead of time.

Rolling over to lie on his chest, Nick reasoned that would be the easiestsolution of all the problems facing him: Elise would simply get in with herticket and keep him in her pocket, and while he wouldn't use his own ticket,he'd still be seeing the show, so he wouldn't exactly be out $12. Elise couldgive the ticket to one of her friends, and... Nick slowly drifted to sleep, lostin his thoughts.

Far off in a remote under-mountain laboratory, a dozen burned-out scientistsbuzzed about their clinical hive, checking monitors and taking notes in acryptic shorthand.

"How's subject #3257 coping?" a tall, greying man in labcoat asked.

The younger assistant, behind a console of three screens and two keyboards, readthe data off a neurotransmission transcriber: "Subject #3257 seems to bemid-range. This strip here represents his theta waves, indicating he's fairlyreceptive to the idea of being a tiny person. This erratic feedback up here,however, represents a synaptic transfer we've correlated to personal conflict.

He could be experiencing anything from fear of a household pet to an inventoryof exactly how his life has changed." The younger man leaned over a 3-ringbinder of codes and patterns, running his fingers down to the third paragraph.

"...Okay, this seems more analogous to introspection, so it's reasonable toassume he's assessing his responsibilities. ...Oh, wait, now he's going tosleep."The older man nodded and made terse notes on his clipboard. "Your summary?" heasked.

"Subject is experiencing typical self-doubt and the precepts of alienation, butseems to have an adequate coping mechanism. Also, he entered into this stagefairly early, so he may be particularly resourceful, or merely confident in hisenvironment."Again, the greying man nodded and noted this as well. "He's probably worriedabout rent or something," he muttered. "Mail them off their first check in themorning.""Got it," the young man said. "You want another holographic imaging pattern sentover, to reassure him of his fate or somesuch?"The older man scanned the clipboard, then looked up at the Big Screenthoughtfully. "Naah, that won't be necessary. Just mail them the check, and lookin on #2290's status for me."Nick stretched as he arose, listening to Elise bumping around the bedroom,fumbling for her clothes. He smiled to himself, listening. "Honey," he calledout, "I just had the strangest dream..."Elise walked over to the dresser and leaned over him, resting on her elbows andleaning down to blow him a kiss from a short distance. She wore only a pair ofpanties and a pair of socks, from what he saw. Her breasts, moderately-sizedwhen he was big, were enormous and rested upon her forearms with a seductive,ponderous weight. "You're locked in your idiom, Nick, and you know I hateclichés..." She lifted him up by grasping the sock upon which he reclined andset him onto the dresser, commencing to refill her jewelry box.

He grinned up at her and said, "No, seriously, I dreamed Nikita Kruschev and Iwere in a basement with only one exit, this rickety wooden staircase, and theroom slowly filled up with melted butter." He scratched his head and rolled offthe sock, walking around on the dresser to stretch his legs. The varnishedmahogany chilled his feet, but he withstood it. "And he had three boiledlobsters, and I had five lobsters and an Alaskan king crab, I think, and thenCarl Sagan walked in with a lit cigarette..."Elise laughed and stroked his short, brown hair with a broad fingertip beforeturning around to straighten out the bedsheets and look for her bra. "Thatwasn't your dream," she said, "that was an old SNL sketch we saw on that tapelast week, remember?"Nick rubbed his chin. "Oh yeah," he said. He realized he needed a shave, he wasgetting kind of rough, but then, who would notice? Elise? What, were his tinylittle whiskers going to take on the quality of fine razorblades and shred herskin? He decided he could let it go for a while, work it out later. He calledout to her, "Hey, don't you have work today?""Yeah, I'm covering Jennifer's hours at the bookstore. She has to take off for awedding, and I could use the extra money. Some new 'feng shui' material came inI'm really interested in." She paused and looked at him, standing straight. Theorange sunrise shone through the window to her side, and half of her glowed witha peachy luminescence. "Oh no. What about you?"He paused in his stride on the dresser. "I, um..." he started, then sighed.

"Look. I know it'll creep you out to keep me around with you, so just..." Hewalked over to a fine silver ring and began booting it around, idly. "How aboutyou put me on the steamer trunk and leave the TV on? Slice up a banana for me toeat throughout the day, and... um, get me a bottle cap from a soda bottle in therecycling bag."Elise sat down on the edge of the bed and started brushing her curly auburnhair. Nick took a moment's enjoyment in watching her nicely-shaped breastsshudder from side to side as she vigorously brushed herself. "A bottle cap? Whatfor?" she asked.

"You know, for... waste products," he said. "They may be tiny, but I still havemy intestines. I still make poop."Elise stared at him a while as her brushing slowed down, and then her hand fellto her side. After a thoughtful moment, she rose wordlessly from the bed andstarted rifling through her closet for the day's outfit. She yanked out acranberry linen button-up blouse and her khaki cargo skirt. She dressed hastily,noticing the time, and pulled on a pair of hiking boots, to be laced up later.

Nick held his arms around his ribs as she reached over for him - and he wasstruck by the intimidating visual of her open, flat palm rushing at her, herhuge fingers splayed and stretching around him. Embraced in her morning-sleepywarmth, he grinned to himself. "Comedy Central should work for most of the day,"he called up to her, "if they don't keep playing Johnny Dangerously."However, she didn't take him to the living room. She grabbed the sock from thedresser, unbuttoned one of her cargo pocket, and wrapped him up in the sockbefore inserting him carefully into her left cargo pocket. Nick looked up at herin genuine surprise; her face was one of resolute determination, and he imaginedshe was probably overriding some of her personal compunctions against this, butapparently she thought this was the best idea - he was coming with her to work.

Elise kissed her fingertip and pressed it against his tiny cheek beforebuttoning up the pocket and running out to her car. Nick jostled very pleasantlyagainst her firm, warm thigh and looked forward to the rest of the day.

Part 4It wasn't a tight-fitting skirt that Elisa chose that day, it was more a blossomof khaki and linen with shallow billows-pockets on either side. Nick foundplenty of room to stretch out as he shared the driver's seat with her in themid-90s model VW Jetta. A brighter red than her burgundy blouse, it rolled outof the driveway and took off for the highway as Elisa headed off to work.

Nick again took stock of his surroundings, a sensory inventory to calm his mindand help him to focus. If he let his mind wander he either became unreasonablyhorny or frantic with the realization of how much his life had changed and howpowerless he was to recover it. Paradoxically, there also lingered the thoughtthat this was perhaps a temporary condition, hope against hope, and he shouldburn these images and senses into his mind while he may observe them from thisvantage point. He knelt upon the seat, from within the cargo pocket, and splayedhis fingers upon the fabric beneath him. The linen was of a very loose weave, athis size, but the fibers were plenty strong and unyielding. He could just barelysense the contours of the driver's seat, the rough weave upholstering andplastic seams. All around him the roar of the engine vibrated the air,accelerating and dwindling away like a valley of angry dragons just on the otherside of the mountain…The mountain, the warm ridge of female flesh beside him. Heat radiated off ofElisa's thigh like a sun-baked side of a building. He felt it was such adifferent sense of heat, as well, since it burned from her muscles and exudedthrough her sweet, sweet skin. If you could feel the quality of scent in aperfume, if scent were a tactile stimulation, the heat off her thigh would beit. He smiled, closed his eyes, and let it soak into him.

From without layers of fabric enshrouding the tiny man, Elisa said, “Hold on,Nick, tight turn…” Gravity abruptly shifted and threw him against hisgirlfriend's thigh as she swung the vehicle hard to the left. The car settledback in its lane and her massive log of leg rolled gently upon Nick,overpowering him mindlessly, effortlessly. He found himself half-pinned beneathher thigh as she adjusted herself in the seat. Not wishing to jinx this magicmoment, as the blood drained from his legs yet his erection rose beneath thehuge monolith of flesh, Nick held his breath and said not a word. “Sorry aboutthat, honey. Crazy drivers today. You okay?” she spoke to him.

He carefully released his breath and called up, “Oh, sure, not a problem,” ascasually as possible. She seemed satisfied with the answer as she made no moveto pick herself up off of her boyfriend. For the rest of the trip to thebookstore, Nick enjoyed every pothole, speed bump, and thank-you-ma'am in theroad for the tremendous shock wave they sent through dear Elisa's thigh,rippling and rumbling over his tiny body excitingly. He knew there wasn't enoughgas in the world to keep this car going long enough for him to tire of thiswonderful situation, and all too soon they pulled into the parking lot.

Gathering her things, Elisa saw her cargo pocket was caught beneath her leg andhastily yanked it out from beneath her seat. “Oh my God!” she cried. “Are youokay, Nick? Did I crush you?” She extracted him cautiously from the pocket andheld him up to her face to examine the tiny nude man.

His legs tingled pleasantly from the ride, as well as the circulation restoringto them, and he could only smile back up at her concerned expression. Heattempted to reassure her: “I'm perfectly fine, honey, really. It was a snugfit, but it wasn't unpleasant at all! I hardly noticed.” He waved amiably up ather to accentuate his claim.

She seemed satisfied with his answer. Hesitantly, she raised him to her face -which beautiful visage swelled and grew in his vision - and placed as gentle akiss upon his forehead as possible. To him, this translated into two beautifullips the size of a small sleeping bag puckering up, hovering tantalizingly abovehim, and somewhat roughly mashing into his face. Again, a delightful sensation,as his vision, scent, taste, hearing, and tactile capacities were overwhelmedwith her soft, sweet lips and anxious breathing. He pressed his face into herkiss, his heart pounding, and placed both hands modestly over his raginghard-on.

“It's time for me to go to work, I'm almost late,” she noted, slipping him backinto her cargo pocket. “I'll try to be more careful throughout the day. You besure and let me know if anything's wrong, okay?” She tilted her head as herhiking boots clomped across the asphalt. Not hearing anything from him, sheadded, “How about you just tug on my skirt or poke at my leg once for yes andtwice for no?” That provoked one soft little fist, smaller than a pencil eraser,nudging at her leg. Again satisfied, she strode through the huge doors of thebookstore and made a beeline for the back room, to punch in for her workday.

Nick's thoughts were racing as he lay nestled in her pocket. The view neverchanged, except for patches of light and shadow sailing over the fabric, but thenoise was a cacophony of activity that suddenly sent a shiver of panic up hisspine. When normal-sized, he'd never been a fan of crowds in particular butcould manage his way through one with minimal effort. Now, however, the noiseswere overwhelming and he knew they were coming from giants several dozen timeshis own size. If the pocket were somehow to give and he tumbled onto the floor…would anyone even see him before he was crushed beneath some huge sole? Wouldhis last image of Elisa be that of her voluminous skirt sailing away like aperambulatory mountain of khaki, just before a dirty white Converse soledescended upon his frail frame? His heart started racing and his fists clutchedhandfuls of fabric. He told himself logically there was no way he could produceenough weight to test the strain of the fabric and fall to the floor, he knewthis was true. It was simply a train of thought his mind, once engaged, founddifficult to leave. He took small consolation in being so close to hisgirlfriend, since she was wrapped up in her own world and he only idly bouncedagainst her thigh.

It took him a few minutes to calm himself down; it helped that Elisa stopped forsome coffee before going to work. Sitting in the café she reached down to gentlystroke what she hoped would be Nick's back. It felt right, the concave bend inthe middle of tiny tangled limbs. “How are you doing down there, honey?” shewhispered, staring into her coffee.

Nick gathered his breath and called up to her as gently as he could, “I'm fine,sweetheart. I just had a panic attack, I'm fine now.” After a moment he added,“Promise me if you suddenly feel your pocket go a couple grams lighter or youdon't feel me banging off your thigh, you'll stop and look around for me?”She wondered where that came from but agreed to it promptly.

Soon coffee was over and she had to attend to her duties in the store. It was agame for Nick to try to pick out one sound out of the ocean of noises andidentify it. Sometimes it was easy: the shrill cry of an angry child; twomatrons gabbering about cooking recipes; the plaintive whine of some loserlooking for the self-help section (Nick suspected there was an oxymoron in theresomewhere). Sometimes it was more difficult, when all voices were raised to asimilar volume, or when the speaker could have been a young boy or a smallwoman, or someone of either gender with a dire smoker's rasp. Venturing withinhis pocket, he slowly raised himself to his feet, gripping the pleats of thecargo pocket very tightly, and extended his legs until his head just came up tothe seam of the pocket. He dared to grip the seam and pull just a littledownwards…And the entire world was opened up to him, albeit from a dramatically alteredperspective. Much of the world was a blurry rush of book spines, colors andtextures, as Elisa skirted the aisles and led customers to their destinations,but once in a while she stood still and he could peer about. He was abouteye-level with baby strollers and toddlers; he was merely knee-high to the restof the population. As fearful as he'd been before, trepidation slowly gave wayto amazement as he studied the once-familiar landscape around him. Jeans strodeby powerfully; skirts fluttered past; hips rumbled and asses shook, and shoesand boots engaged in thunderous collision with the floor non-stop. He wassurprised to imagine that everyone's spines didn't just shatter with theterrible impact of heel upon floor, time and time again! Yet there they were,tall and strong and proud, going about their business.

Nick began to wish he could steer Elisa around rather than jostle about only asfar as she stood or walked, because there were a couple interesting straits hewould have liked to pursue. Two teenaged girls were sitting in the café talkingto each other rapidly, their smooth hands fluttering in the air, fingertipstwitching and twirling like the antennae of butterfly in communication with eachother. Their part of the café happened to be next to the foreign historysection, and Elisa's customer proved to be quite dull, requiring severalexplanations to get across exactly what this section offered in terms of historyand other countries. Keep talking, keep asking questions, you idiot, Nickthought to himself. He was staring transfixedly at the girls in their seats,being maybe a few yards away from them (his scale). They both wore jeans thatwere nicely faded and clung snugly to their developing hips. The girl on theright tended to shift in her seat with some frequency, as if never comfortablewith how she were arranged. Full within his gaze, her ass shifted and slid overthe wooden chair, rising gently and then lowering, plumping out with theponderous weight of the young woman squooshing down upon it. More talking, morerocking back and forth - she seemed to enjoy rolling back and forth on herbuttocks, her pelvis never touching the chair as she floated on layers ofmuscle, fat, and young firm skin - all accentuated by the lines and creases inher jeans. Nick felt himself get a little aroused, and cupped his hand over hisgenitalia to keep from poking into the fabric of her pocket (as if anyone couldnotice).

Then she did an unconscious, sexy thing: she shucked her sandals off, grippingeach back with her toes and pushing them off, and tucked her right foot beneathher left thigh. So situated, she leaned forward to talk conspiratorily to herfriend, as if imagining anyone in the café could possibly care what two teenagegirls have to confide in each other. Nick cared, however, for her new position:she had a darling row of pink-orangey toes that twitched reflexively before abroad pad of soft instep. All her skin seemed to glow with youth, and theenormous log of thigh that pressed upon it resisted spreading all over by virtueof the strong young skin encasing it. Her toes twitched and he caught a glint ofburnished silver - she was wearing a toe ring! Nick never thought much of thembefore, but now, seeing that band of carved metal around one slender, darlingtoe, waggling seductively beneath a huge wave of faded denim painted onto along, strong thigh…Abruptly, Elisa spun on her heel and marched over to the information desk. Hercustomer had evidently found what he was looking for and was fine to leave onhis own for a while. Nick bit his lip to keep from howling with disappointmentand longing, as the flap above the pocket bore down upon his head: Elisa rubbedhis head gently with one fingertip to make sure he was okay and to remind himshe was thinking about him. She didn't find it so unpleasant to keep herboyfriend around with her: even if he couldn't talk to her, he still kept hercompany and it made work a little more bearable.

“Yes, yes, I love you too,” he muttered darkly, reaching out of the pocket tostroke her fingertip. For a moment he felt bad, what with his girlfriend beingright there; indeed, her thigh being the mighty redwood that stood behind himscant inches away. But only for a moment for, as Elisa turned, he saw somethingthat froze his blood and turned his heart to stone.

A young girl, maybe six years old, was bending over just slightly to stare athim with huge blue eyes. Her thick brown hair fell like a waterfall around thesides of her round face, and her pink mouth was hanging agape as she studied thetiny little man in the woman's pocket. One of her arms was pulled idly back byher mother, only making a token gesture of restraining the girl; her other armlifted, trance like, and her young, stubby fingers extended and reached straightfor Nick's tiny head.

TBC