I’m in a white-walled bathroom that suits my size, standing in a bathtub as hot shower water pours down on me. I’m alone, and I’m starting to think I’m safe here.
I can’t hear anything but the patter of the water. I reach my hand forward and turn the metallic shower handle. Silence.
Henry told me this place is a mega mansion constructed with alien technology. When he carried me out to the atrium, I realized it’s more than a mansion. It’s a circle of increasingly large houses collected under an impossibly high clear dome.
We’re in a human-sized house now, though it seems the furniture is tailored for people at the upper limit of human height.
Henry shrank himself to a human size and gave me a tour. He showed me framed photographs of people he knows hanging on the walls. He felt worried when I didn’t recognize myself.
I walk out the shower, dry myself with a soft white towel, and put on the clean clothes Henry left for me.
Everything in this bathroom is spotlessly clean; the total opposite of how my body felt when Henry made me orgasm in those cargo shorts.
Looking at my face in the mirror, I confirm it’s the face of the short guy from the photographs. I wonder what my height is.
Everything before Henry was holding me above his gigantic maw is blank. Whenever he speaks, I'm transfixed by the sight of his fangs.
I reach my hand for the doorknob, but hesitate before I touch it.
What’s going to happen to me on the other side of this door? What’s outside this dome of giant houses? What sort of life did I live in this world of giant aliens?
I put my hand on my face, close my eyes, and take a deep breath. I feel something outside the bathroom, down the hallway. It feels familiar, but also afraid. Isn’t that where Henry is?
I open my eyes and leave the bathroom. The air is cooler outside, and it’s not silent. I hear Henry’s voice in the distance, down the hallway in a room I can’t see.
I walk toward the sound of his voice, and once I can hear what he’s saying clearly I stop and listen.
“Timber didn’t answer his phone,” Henry says.
I hear the voice of another man. “For now, we don’t know if the amnesia was a result of your giant powers, your Wolfian powers, or both. What did your Wolfian family say?”
“They didn’t say anything.”
“You mean you haven’t called them yet?”
“Lance is here!”
A second later, Henry all but leaps into the hallway and looks at me with an unabashed smile.
He rushes toward me.
I take a defensive step backward and hold up my hands in a fighter’s pose. That stops him dead in his tracks.
Henry isn’t giant-sized anymore, but he’s still taller than me, and more muscular. He’s wearing nothing but a pair of khaki shorts, and rubbing his right hand behind his blonde head.
The feeling I felt in the bathroom was definitely coming from him. It feels like 50% love and 50% fear.
“Sorry.” Henry says with one wolf ear drooping. “Didn’t mean to startle you into aikido mode. I’m always too excited to see you.”
He doesn’t advance.
I become aware of my body’s combat position and relax myself. After a moment of thought, I decide to walk toward him.
“How tall am I?” I ask.
“Your base height is 5’7. That’s the height you’ve been all day, and I’ve shrunken down to 6’2.”
“Am I a fighter?”
“Uh… yeah, you’re a great fighter! Not as strong as me, though. Ah, not that you should be scared of me!”
I stand in front of Henry, looking up at his face. His droopy ear perks up and he blushes.
“Who’s in that room?” I ask. “I don’t feel him.”
Henry steps back and offers his hand to me. “Come on. I have our professor on video chat.”
I reach out my hand toward his, but hesitate like I did in the bathroom.
“You’re still nervous, huh?” Henry says. “I hope you’re not terrified anymore. I promise I won’t do anything you don’t like, okay? Today is your special day.”
I quickly feel something new emanating from Henry. An invisible wave of warmth and kindness is emanating from his body, flowing against my front side like a gentle river.
“Are you making that feeling rub against me?” I say.
Henry nods. “I’m sending gentle giant energy to you. Like it?”
“I… I like it.” I put my hand in his and he leads me into a living room with a coffee table and a big holographic floating screen.
A bespectacled human man in his 40s is on the screen, sitting in what appears to be a laboratory. “Lance, I didn’t see you on campus yesterday,” he says in a friendly tone.
“I recognize you from the photographs. Are you a professor?”
“I’m a friend, a teammate, and a professor. The three of us have known each other for years, and today is simply our newest adventure.”
“Teammate?”
“Yes, we’ve done Size Support missions as a team for years! Though nowadays I prefer to stay off the field.” The professor leans forward with his arm against his desk. “I was the one who introduced you two lovebirds.”
Henry lets go of my hand and rubs my shoulder. “Professor Grant is one of Earth’s leading experts on size powers. He’s gonna ask you some questions, okay?”
Questions? How can I answer questions when I know nothing about anything?
“I don’t remember anything before Henry was holding me,” I say to the professor.
"Do you remember anything about life?"
I shake my head. “I wasn’t sure what I looked like before I saw myself in a bathroom mirror.”
Professor Grant nods. “Hmm. Look at the text on the top edge of this holographic display. Can you read it?”
“Size Support Video Conference.”
“Do you know what Size Support is?”
My eyes turn to Henry. “I’m sorry, I don’t remember. Does it have something to do with fighting?”
“Yes, fights are a common occurrence.”
“Henry is a stronger fighter than I am.”
“Good, good! Do you feel any more memories coming back?”
Henry sighs and puts a strong arm around my shoulder. “I told him we’re fighters in the hallway. He doesn’t remember Size Support… Hold on!”
Henry’s ears twitch as he hugs me against him. His muscles feel like heaven.
“When I rushed toward him in the hallway, he put himself in his typical defense stance without thinking.”
“Henry, you shouldn’t be so hands-on with Lance. You’ll scare him again.”
“Huh? Oh crap, sorry!” Henry releases me and backs away. Without his touch, I feel a bit lonely.
Professor Grant speaks. “Size Support is a group of volunteers who help protect society from dangerous size changers and other size-related problems.”
“Like superheroes? Are you a teacher at a school for superheroes?”
The professor chuckles. “You could call us superheroes without the costumes, or the glory. Do you know what a superhero is?”
“The characters in comic books who fly around and fight bad guys. They have superpowers… like growing giant-sized, or shooting waves of energy, or sensing things...”
Professor Grant nods. “Yes, that’s right. Do you sense anything now?”
I frown. “I feel Henry’s gentle giant energy. He told me about that too, but I felt it before he said anything. It felt really good when he was hugging me.”
“Huh?” Henry says. “I’ll hug you all day if you want! It’s my duty as your husband!”
“It seems my assessment of your hug was off the mark, Henry. Let him have the usual while I type some notes.”
With the professor’s endorsement, Henry moves up to me until we’re only an inch apart. He holds one hand above my shoulder. “I promise I won’t do anything you hate. Can I hug you?”
I gulp. My stomach feels nervous, but in a happy way. “Yeah, you can hug me.”
“Normal hug, or super hug? Your pick.”
“...Super?”
“Hmph.” Henry grins and kneads my shoulder with his hand. “Do you remember anything about Wolfians?”
“It’s what you are, right? You're an alien, and I’m human.”
“I was born and raised on Earth like you, and Wolfians have lived on Earth for hundreds of years. But Wolfians used to have a planet of their own.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t remember.”
Henry drops his head. “I’m the one who's sorry. Maybe I should be glad Timber didn’t pick up the phone.”
Henry lifts his other hand and massages both of my shoulders. He closes his eyes.
“My eyes glow when I change size. I don’t wanna spook you, so I’ll keep them closed. Just relax and I’ll make you feel real good.”
I close my eyes too.
“Don’t close your eyes. You like seeing this. Just relax and enjoy the moment.”
I follow Henry’s instructions as best I can. As he continues massaging my shoulders, his height slowly increases.
“Your hands feel nice,” I say. “They’re strong, but gentle, like your energy. But you’re scared too.”
Henry sighs. “I’m trying to be the leader, but I can’t beat your emotion sensing even when you have amnesia."
I sense guilt. “Is this bad? Am I doing something wrong?”
“You’re not doing anything wrong. It’s just… I’m a numbskull who doesn’t appreciate empathy. You know me better than I want you to.”
My eyes are level with the bottom of Henry’s pecs now. He holds the back of my head in his right hand.
“Here’s how I show appreciation,” he says as he presses my face into his muscular torso.
I nuzzle my face against his warm skin and wrap my arms around him. “This feels really good.”
“Thanks for hugging me back,” Henry says softly.
“Your energy is wrapping around my body like a cozy blanket.”
“If you let your guard down, my sizable energy will flow into your body instead of around it.”
“How do I let my guard down?”
“Uh… I don’t really know. I’ve never been a tiny.”
Professor Grant interjects while continuing to type. “The most important thing is to relax. It also helps to visualize a soft golden light soaking into your skin."
I close my eyes and visualize. “I feel the energy more strongly now, but it’s not going inside me.”
“I’ll give you more energy.”
“Henry, don’t—“
The feeling of love flows from Henry stronger than before. So strong it feels heavy, too heavy for my empty brain to handle. I cry tears of joy.
Professor Grant sighs. “When it’s received in surplus, even gentle giant energy can harm an unskilled tiny. And didn’t you say Lance harmed his sizable circuits yesterday?”
My cells buzz like alarm clocks, and I can’t hold back the sound of my sobbing. “I love you, Henry! I love you! Don’t leave me! I’m scared without you! I’m sorry! Don’t go away!”
“Crap, my bad!”
The energy stops flowing, but my body still buzzes and I can’t stop wailing.
“You’ve gone and broken him. Now he’s in deep small space while suffering lucidity amnesia.”
“How do I fix it?” Henry says in panic.
“Normally you’d fix it with size play, but if he presents fear in his amnesiac state, that might—“
A cell phone rings on a coffee table in the center of the living room. Henry turns toward the table, but I don’t let go of him.
“Don’t leave me!” I beg.
“I won’t leave you! I’m just answering the phone.” With strength far greater than mine, Henry pulls my arms off his torso and walks to the coffee table.
I fall to my knees and try to compose myself. I hold my breath to stop the crying, with little success.
Henry answers the phone with faux nonchalance.
“Timber, what’s up?” Henry looks at me. “No...no...if Lance was in small space really deep, what would you to get him out? That’s why I called.”
Henry grimaces.
“What if gentle giant energy didn’t work? I didn’t do anything stupid! You’re the one who fried his sizable circuits! I’m already talking to Professor Grant. I’ll link the calls.”
