The Shrunken Universe: What-If?

Another Exhausting 'Morrow...

Interactive Story Basis: A Shrunken Son

POV: Matthew Jacobs

********************

You rubbed the sleep from your eyes as you walked into the hallway outside of your bedroom.

For once, you'd mostly had an enjoyable night's sleep, at least from about midnight on (which was when you'd finally been able to peel yourself off of your oblivious and slumbering mother's thigh, where you'd been stuck for a few hours by that point). After thankfully making it to your own bed without further issue, you'd genuinely enjoyed around seven hours of mishap-free sleep.

It was a bit sad that that sort of occurrence was a rarity in your life, but you took what you could get.

In fact, 'tomorrow will be better' had become the refrain to define your entire life, an adage you repeated to yourself ad-nauseum whenever you found yourself losing hours to your friend's foot, or days to your mother's stomach, or weeks to your sister's sock drawer. Setbacks hit you constantly in life, and they hit you hard, but you kept soldiering on under the stalwart belief that 'tomorrow will be better'...even if it hadn't quite panned out yet.

Today, especially, was a day you'd been looking forward to for quite a while. It was a day where you'd lined up a plethora of activities wherein, if they all worked out how you hoped they would, the 'better tomorrow' you'd been wishing for for so long might finally come true.

You knew that there were plenty of other affected in the world who had it way worse than you. You weren't entirely ungrateful to the life circumstances you'd found yourself in. But at twenty-two years old and still living at home while being jobless? While also constantly getting caught up in unlucky mishaps or accidents caused by your own inattentive and careless family? While always feeling like the universal butt of every joke? It wasn't surprising that you felt like you maybe deserved to be cut a little slack by the cruel higher beings who dictated your fate...even if that mercy never came.

Letting out a heavy sigh, you stopped getting lost in your own head and tuned back in to your surroundings...but it was already too late to prevent the day's first (of probably many) accidents.

Lost in your thoughts, you'd wandered halfway down the hallway, right past the bathroom door. And as soon as you walked by, the door swung open, a massive feminine body stepped forward, and a building-sized foot crushed down onto your body, splattering you beneath a tan-toned heel.

Your affected genetics acted as they always did, with your malleable body contorting and smushing flat like a crumpled twitching blob under the giantess' heel, pain shooting through your body. About the only slight recompense was that the heel that had crushed you was smooth, and smelled faintly of lilac body wash, signifying the giantess was fresh out of the shower. Still, you would have preferred not getting crushed to being crushed by a nice-smelling foot.

Thankfully, the foot lifted from you after a second, the giantess who had stepped on you having felt you the instant your squishy body flattened beneath her.

She stared down at you, a mildly amused and fractionally apologetic smile on her face. It was your sister.

"Whoops. Sorry, squirt." She said, not sounding as 'sorry' as you would've liked. "But how many times do I tell you to watch where you're going? You're gonna have to be more responsible one of these days."

You groaned, as your body reinflated. "O-Or...you could try looking down for once."

"I could." She shrugged. "But even if it feels unfair, or whatever, the world's just made for us normal-sized people. It's on you to adapt, not us to accommodate." She stated simply, shrugging again. "Not being mean, just telling it like it is. Besides, it's for your own good to be independent, since I won't always be around to save you, little bro."

You bit down a scathing 'and you won't be around to cause the crushing either' retort, and merely glowered at your sister.

Grumbling, you replied. "Whatever, Selena."

Your older sister, Selena, smiled. "That's the spirit, squirt!" She added, before turning on her heel and heading downstairs for breakfast...not even bothering to give you a ride even though that's clearly where you were headed too.

Your sister...or step-sister, really...was such a pain in the ass.

**********

Your mother, Lauren, was an amazing woman in a lot of ways. But it was not being cruel to describe her as 'unprepared' for handling an affected child. When you'd been born, she'd teetered on the edge of a full-on panic, obsessively and over-protectively shielding you from the outside world. And that method worked, especially as she had your father to rely on. Even once your unaffected younger sister, Jenna, entered the picture, things still worked out, as Lauren cared for you while your dad spent all of his time with Jenna.

But when your father passed away from illness when you were eight (and Jenna was six), the precarious balance shattered. Lauren bottled-up all of her emotions at losing her husband and poured her energy solely into protecting you, even at the cost of sharing that love and attention with Jenna. It was an unsustainable situation, that if unchecked could've led to years of pent-up resentment and unresolved emotional tension that could've fractured your mother's psyche, or turned your younger sister into a monster.

But that's when everything changed.

One random day, your mother went out to a nightclub called Dance To Scale, while you and Jenna were looked after by a nice and caring neighbor who had her own tiny boys and had experience caring for you and Jenna equally. Lauren's plan had been to just get drunk, let loss, and try and forget how hurt and sad she was for a single night. What she had not planned on was running into another newly-single woman at the same club for practically the same reason.

That woman was Cynthia Morrow, a colossally-proportioned woman who ran a local bakery called Just The Sweet Stuff. She was as jovial and soothing as she was massive, and she struck up an immediate rapport with your mother. Even though their circumstances differed slightly (Cynthia had simply divorced her husband), the two women were able to relate to being single parents lacking strong connections with others outside of the home. She and your mother danced the night away, and headed home for the night basically best friends.

From that point on, Cynthia became a constant presence at your house, and it didn't take long for things to evolve past there. Perhaps buoyed by your mother's desperation for support and intimacy, Cynthia quickly moved from being a friend, to a source of comfort, to a source of attraction, to a source of love and lust. And Cynthia, for her part, developed feelings for Lauren as well. The two women had always been bi-curious, and so they naturally let their friendship deepen and evolve as it wanted, and it just so happened to lead to love.

A year after losing your dad, Lauren began dating Cynthia. And another year after that, the two were married. You now officially had a step-mom...and also, a step-sister, once Cynthia moved into your house and brought her own daughter, Selena.

On the surface, all of the problems in your household disappeared overnight. Lauren's own fragile psyche was healed by the love and warmth from Cynthia. Your own protection continued under Lauren's watchful eye, while Cynthia ensured Jenna was showered in praise and adoration. On top of that, Selena was able to help out around the house too, and Jenna was overjoyed to have a big sister she could look up to (Selena was a year older than you, so three older than Jenna). To any outsider, it would've looked like a perfect family dynamic.

To you? The only affected in the house? You saw things vastly differently, not least of which being the impact and influence that the two Morrow women brought to your home.

Even though you were only ten when Cynthia and Selena moved in, you still had enough life experience to tell that something was just a little bit off about them in regards to their opinions and attitude towards affected. And as you aged, your intuition only sharpened, allowing you to pick up on the Morrow ladies and their views of tinies.

Selena was the more neutral one, just about straight-in-the-middle when it came to indifference towards tinies. She didn't hate or detest them, but she didn't actively enjoy their presence or care about them in any abnormal way. She treated affected like you'd treat any other random person. Trouble was, that meant Selena wouldn't take any precautions around you either. She didn't check where she walked, look where she sat, or think twice about an unexpected squishy blob in her cereal of what have you. Her neutral apathy kept her involvement at a minimum, leading to many accidents involving you.

Cynthia was actually even worse, hovering around that neutral apathy but leaning slightly towards dismissiveness or even disdain. She seemed annoyed and vexed by the existence of affected, whenever she deigned to acknowledge their existence. To unaffected, she'd shower them in love and praise like the world's nicest and warmest mother. To tinies, she'd grunt, roll her eyes, or otherwise ignore them whenever possible. So, like Selena, she was a constant danger to be around, but multiplied thanks to her active unwillingness to assist in certain situations...and also multiplied due to her immense girth and the crushing pain it could bring.

Now, of course, being your step-mom and step-sister did soften them in some ways. Cynthia did, in a roundabout way, come to love you as a son. She could be mercilessly hard on you, never went out of her way to accommodate you, and had a habit of brushing off your mishaps (even ones she caused), or outright just snatching you up and deciding she needed to put your malleability to use for some demeaning task or another, but she did ultimately love you. Selena, as well, did save you from accidents she found you in roughly 50% of the time, which wasn't nothing. She couldn't resist teasing or belittling you each time she saved you, of course, but it was still something.

But you just wished it was more.

On top of that, Cynthia and Selena's attitudes slowly had a way of poisoning the rest of your family.

It was most obvious, and most problematic, with your mom. Over the years, Cynthia completely convinced Lauren that you could never be truly hurt or injured, since you'd endured so many squishing punishments and still kept soldiering on. Finally, her apathy seeped into Lauren, and your mom shifted from an overprotective mama bear to a careless and inattentive source of danger almost overnight. Crushing incidents that would've had her weeping and apologizing years earlier now had her bursting into fits of giggles so intense she sometimes ended up getting distracted and forgetting to free you from the mishap she'd just found you in.

Now, you had two massive mamas to worry about on a daily basis. One who'd have no issue squishing you if it played out like that, and one who'd find it hilarious if she found you stuck to herself. Together, they formed a pretty formidable duo who had consumed literal hours upon hours of your life through their antics.

Jenna was less extreme, but still noticeable. As children, your younger sister had adored you, at least before the loneliness of Lauren only focusing on you set in. Thankfully, Cynthia's love helped course-correct any lasting damage, so your relationship with Jenna remained mostly strong. But thanks to Selena's constant assurances of 'Matt can handle this' or 'tinies really don't need our help that much', Jenna began adopting some of her older step-sister's more apathetic practices. Not completely, but to the point where even she only sometimes watched where she walked or sat these days.

Little by little, your home had filled up with more people, but emptied of the love and protection you'd enjoyed in your childhood. Now, if you were being honest, it was a place you'd rather spend as little time in as possible.

**********

After finishing reforming from being stomped on by Selena, you continued on your trek down the hallway, towards the stairs that would led down to the ground floor, and to the kitchen. Your stomach was grumbling, and breakfast was calling your name, even if it'd take another thirty minutes minimum to make it there thanks to your older sister failing to stop and consider taking you with her.

Actually, maybe that's an idea... You thought to yourself, deciding to pause and wait for Jenna to awaken. She'd be up momentarily, you were pretty sure, and you could just save your energy by hitching a ride with her.

Sure enough, a minute later and another door in the hallway cracked open...but it wasn't your younger sister who exited from the bedroom. It was a voluptuous Brazilian giantess, clad in cotton short-shorts and loose crop-top that left most of her beautiful body on full-display.

It was your older sister's girlfriend, Marisol 'Mari' Fuertes...and just the sight of her still stung something deep within you.

**********

Ten years ago, you'd been getting bullied by your habitual tormentor during your school years, a nasty piece of work named Penelope Graham. Then, suddenly, a new girl had been introduced to the class as a transfer student, and it was Mari. You'd been smitten from the first sight, and that love didn't fade even after a jealous and spiteful Penelope flicked you onto the empty chair Mari ended up choosing, causing your first introduction with your dream girl to be with her ass pancaking you flat.

You even spent the rest of the day on Mari's ass, but when she got home you were spotted by her mother, Rio, and rescued. Mari had been apologetic, and you'd assured this angel-giving-form that it was no big deal. You'd hit it off with her really well, laughing and chatting, and she even carried you back home to your house to return you. During that whole walk, your overactive mind had already begun playing out dreams of dating and marrying Mari, raising children with her and enjoying a peaceful future together with her.

And then Selena had answered the door in only compression shorts and a sports bra, mid-workout, and Mari's eyes had gone wide and her jaw slack. Selena, too, had had a look of awe as she took in Mari's form.

In that moment, you knew that you were going to have to compete with your step-sister to win Mari's affections.

Sadly, it hadn't been much of a contest.

For every one decent interaction you got with Mari, Selena had three times as much. 99% of the time, this was because of you getting squished or crushed, and the most humiliating part was that it didn't even come from Selena as a part of intentionally malicious sabotage. Sometimes it came from her inattentiveness, sometimes it came from your mothers, sometimes it was a freak accident, or sometimes it was even Mari herself bringing the chaos about thanks to what you quickly realized was a truly atrocious memory of hers.

There was the time you were supposed to hang out at Mari's house, only for Mari to toss her backpack onto the couch beside you, and the wind gust knocked you onto the floor where you were summarily vacuumed-up by an oblivious Rio doing some house cleaning. Or the time you invited Mari to the ice cream parlor and inevitably found yourself digesting in her stomach as she wondered where you went and why that particular sweet treat had been so yummy. Or the time you invited her to the movies only for Selena to be there by complete happenstance, and you spent the movie under your older sister's ass after she claimed the wrong seat after Mari didn't think to say anything about your whereabouts.

Before long, you weren't 'Matt' to Mari anymore. You were 'Selena's brother', and that was when you knew you'd lost her. Sure enough, she began dating Selena a little while later, and the two were still going exceptionally strong up to the present day. As far as you were aware, your older sister was planning to propose soon, and while a part of you was happy for your step-sister and how clearly head-over-heels she and Mari were for each other, it still hurt a bit envisioning the life you could've had with the angelic Brazilian giantess.

**********

Watching Mari emerge from Selena's bedroom, you briefly forgot she'd even spent the night. Then, it came back to you, as you recalled that the entire reason you spent hours glued to Lauren's thigh the previous night was because Mari hadn't noticed you on the couch before kicking her legs out, crashing her foot into you and toppling you onto the floor, where your mother then obliviously settled atop you for a long movie marathon. Honestly, Mari and her bad memory were now just another frequent, near-daily obstacle for you to try (and often fail) to overcome.

But that didn't mean she couldn't act as a valid source of transportation down to the kitchen for breakfast.

"Mari! Hey, Mari!" You shouted, cupping your hands around your mouth and calling up to the towering giantess as she approached.

Drawing nearer and nearer, Mari's only response was to let out a sleepy groan, and your eyes went wide with fear upon remembering all of Selena's jokes about how groggy and 'zoned-out' Mari could be right after waking up.

Foolishly, you tried screaming again instead of running, and paid the price for it as your futile efforts yielded no results save for Mari's foot slamming down onto you, crushing you flat.

Unlike your step-sister who had gotten up early to shower, Mari had obviously rolled directly out of bed to shuffle into the hallway. So instead of lilac-scented smoothness, your face was mashed right into her damp and sweaty sole, little flecks of dirt pressing against you. Worse, your mouth had been open due to being mid-scream, forcing you to temporarily enjoy a breakfast not of warm waffles or tasty juice, but the sweat and dust fluffs of your older sister's girlfriend's foot. It was rancid, and your flat body twisted and twitched as you gagged.

Thankfully, the twitching alerted Mari to your presence. Sadly, it only alerted your presence to her, not your ultimate identity.

A sleepy frown on her face, Mari's brow furrowed cutely as she wondered what was under her foot. Too tired to investigate thoroughly, though, she settled on twisting and grinding her foot against the carpet, subjecting you to excruciating pain as she ground you beneath her sole without mercy. You silently wailed out in torment, begging her to stop, and only seemed to summon more pain as Mari pressed down harder, her not-insignificant weight utterly obliterating you.

Only the faintest stroke of luck kept you from becoming Mari's foot tattoo for the day, as you were left a twitching mess instead of sticking to her once she finally finished brutalizing your body. You could only lay there on the floor as a defeated lump as Mari resumed her shuffling walk to the stairs and to the kitchen, blissfully unaware of what she'd just done to you.

Before too long, your mothers followed suit, emerging from their shared bedroom with stars in their eyes and blushes on their cheeks (if they weren't such a constant source of tribulation to you, their ever-strong love for one another would've been wholesome). As oblivious as always, each stepped on you in sequence, their extreme weight ruining any slight reformation you'd been able to achieve by pounding you into paste with renewed passion, leaving you perhaps even flatter than before as they went to join Selena and Mari in the kitchen for a nice meal.

Only Jenna actually noticed you on the floor after she was the last to wake up. A look of slight sympathy crossed her face, as she used her big toe to jostle your body into a slumped position so you could finally reform and not be glued to the carpet fibers. Sadly, she slipped downstairs before you could reform your mouth and call out to her for help in carrying you to the kitchen, leaving you to resume your long trek to the kitchen all by yourself and your pathetically tiny little legs.

As you'd surmised, it did take you an entire thirty minutes to make it downstairs and to the kitchen, especially as you had to dodge Selena, Mari, and Jenna's stomping feet as they clomped on by without so much as glancing at the floor. But, stomach growling, you did finally make it, and expended the last droplets of your energy pushing yourself to scale up onto the table and see what food awaited you.

Your heart fell as you witnessed the gruesome scene before you.

The five giantesses had devoured basically everything in sight, leaving precious little remaining. While Lauren busied herself with washing the dishes, the only scrap of food left was a single french toast stick on a plate in front of Cynthia. Syrup stains indicated she'd already packed away at least ten of the things, and she even had a hand on her rotund belly, rubbing it with satisfaction. Even still, her other hand inched closer to the remaining french toast stick, intent on gobbling it down too.

Frantically, you dashed forward. "W-Wait, mom, wait!" You cried.

Cynthia blinked, then focused on you. She smiled. "Ah, there you are, mister lazy. Finally decided to pop in? Well, you snooze you lose." She grabbed the syrup-coated stick.

"M-Mom, please! I'm super hungry. Can I have it?" You asked, aware your miniscule voice probably sounded pretty whiny, but you didn't really care at this point.

Your step-mom let out a long-suffering sigh. "Oh, I suppose, sweetheart. But only if you do a favor for me, yes? Later today?"

Internally, you winced, knowing that a favor for your step-mom always involved your malleable body's properties in some sort of demeaning or humiliating manner. But if it meant actually getting to enjoy some breakfast, it was a deal you'd happily take her up on.

"Sure, mom." You nodded.

Cynthia smiled brilliantly. "Ah, there's my helpful little boy. Always so useful, right when I need him." Dropping the french toast stick, her slightly-sticky fingers moved towards you instead.

You panicked. "W-Wait, what are you--" You began, only to have your lungs crushed by your step-mom pinching you tightly.

"What's the fuss, young man? This is that favor I just mentioned." Cynthia explained, with a patronizing smile. "Mama's got a lot of chores to do today, and those slippers of mine just aren't as comfortable without my favorite insole substitute helping me out!" She laughed heartily.

Your eyes widened to the size of saucers. "J-Job! Job! JOB!" You hoarsely cried, straining your voice to scream.

Your step-mom only laughed again as she finished crunching you into a flat square, then began molding and shaping you into an insole. "Yes, sweetheart. This is the 'job' I have for you. And it's one that you're always so good at!" She smiled knowingly. "The offer is still open, by the way. Your mother and I are more than happy enough to accept you just living at home the rest of your life as a licensed tiny to me and her. We won't force it on you, but it's always an option, and I personally think you'd excel at it." Cynthia explained, while succinctly shaping you as she willed.

All the while, you tried in vain to scream and flail, but it was hopeless. You were your step-mom's plaything, and there was nothing you could do about it.

It seemed, in her constant show of apathy towards anything related to affected, Cynthia had forgotten you'd actually landed yourself a job interview today. An extremely impactful and important one. Not only would it be a job that would pay well enough to get you out of the house and away from your problematic family, but it would put your school degree to work in an enriching and fulfilling way.

It was a job interview with Small Wonders, the tech company focused on improving the lives of affected everywhere. It was, in essence, your dream job.

And now, unless a miracle saved you, your own step-mom's willful ignorance was going to cost you the interview. Selena was supposed to have been your ride to Small Wonders, and she was going to leave in mere minutes!

While Cynthia molded you, Lauren sauntered over to give her wife a quick kiss. She then looked strangely at the tan insole in Cynthia's hands, genuinely failing to recognize you, before spotting the one remaining french toast stick.

"Oh, honey, you left me one!" Lauren said cheerfully, before popping the french toast stick into her mouth and devouring it in seconds.

Cynthia chuckled at her wife's antics, and also the vague amusement of her tiny step-son missing his chance to eat the snack he'd agreed to a favor for. Maybe, if she felt up to it, she'd bake him something later, as an apology treat. Unless the end result smelled so good, then she'd probably just eat it herself anyway. Tinies really didn't need food anyway, right?

Finally, Cynthia hefted her bulk up from the table and bent down towards her fluffy slippers. Taking her left foot out of the slipper, she expertly placed you inside of it, using her fingers to prod your malleable body until you filled up every corner and crevice of the slipper, like a good little insole.

The second your body was shoved inside of your step-mom's slipper, nearly all of your senses exploded into distraught overdrive of misery and suffering. The fluffy fabric was damp and soaked with days-old foot sweat, and the stench within the depths of the slipper was the stuff of nightmares. As your ears were crumpled down flat, your hearing became nothing more than dampened muffled noises. The sensation of the slipper fabric all around you sent shivers of grossness down your spine, yet your weak twitches were nothing compared to the mercilessly molding fingers of Cynthia.

Finally, it was time for your last sense to be dominated, as your step-mom shifted her position, withdrew her hand, then began to slip her bare foot back into the slipper. Her foot loomed massive, blocking out all of the light as it entered the slipper and approached, her recently-painted toes wriggling with anticipation for putting her step-son to use as an insole again, something she was privy to doing many, many times over the years. As your doom approached, you squeezed out any last remaining droplet of strength within you, and screamed out.

"MOM! PLEASE DO--" You cried, before the rest of your high-pitched wail was silenced by the soft 'whump' of Cynthia's foot settling atop you.

Outside of the slipper, Lauren paused her task of cleaning her wife's plate. She frowned. "Cyn? Did you just hear Matt?"

Cynthia shrugged, flexing her foot inside of the slipper, relishing in the comfortable and supportive feel. "Did I? Sorry, I zoned out. But I don't think so."

Lauren giggled. "Oh, then it was probably nothing. Just my ears playing tricks on me. Matt's probably still asleep, huh?"

"Or busy making himself useful." Cynthia chuckled, delighting in the vague comment she knew would fly over the head of her adorably inattentive wife.

True enough, your mom merely laughed. "He is so good at that, isn't he? Aren't we lucky to have such a funny, selfless little man as our son?"

"We sure are." Cynthia concurred, sharing another kiss with Lauren before strolling out of the room.

Meanwhile, inside of her slipper, you were paying for your attempt to scream by finding your step-mom's big toe wedged right into your open mouth, forcing you to suckle her toe. Sweat droplets and dirt flecks poured into your open mouth and you were unwillingly forced to swallow them, bringing a horrific taste to your entire essence.

But even that was nothing compared to the pain of bearing the full, incomprehensible weight of Cynthia's slamming footfalls. Your step-mother was gigantic to begin with, and at your size? Each slam felt like you were dying and being reborn in a world of hot steamy sweat and suffering, over and over again as she lazily padded around the house.

Knowing you were screwed, you did the only thing you could, which was send a silent prayer to Selena that she'd sniff you out before leaving you to rot, so you wouldn't miss this once-in-a-lifetime job interview chance.

**********

After watching Cynthia head upstairs, Selena finally found her patience running thin. It was now 10:05, and she'd told you to meet her at the door exactly at 10:00 or else she wasn't going to be your chauffeur. And now, even with her kindness and grace granting you five additional minutes, you were still a no-show.

Selena swore under her breath. "That's it, I'm done. No more waiting."

Beside her, her girlfriend frowned. "Oh, Selena, are you sure? It's not like we're doing anything, right? We can wait for your brother a little longer, can't we?"

Selena clicked her tongue. "No, because that's how he gets you, babe. He makes you cater on him, hand and foot." Selena sighed. "I do love my little bro, but you have to know when to be firm with him. With all tinies, really. And I set clear guidelines, I told him to be here by 10:00. It's his fault that he's late."

"I guess." Mari nodded. "But he probably could've gotten squished somewhere, right? We could look for him."

Selena shook her head. "It's a waste of effort, babe. Even if we do find him in only a few minutes, nothing's changed. Matt will still pull this shit next time. He needs to learn to be responsible, even if it seems harsh."

Mari tapped her chin. "Didn't he have somewhere important to be dropped off, though? And then we were going to spend some time at the park while we waited for him to finish...uh...whatever he was doing?"

Selena laughed. "'Something important'? My little squirt of a brother? Nah, I don't think so. Not like I actually remember what he told me, but it was something about 'Squishy Wonders', or something. Like...an amusement park for tinies, or some shit?"

Mari smiled. "Oh, that sounds fun!"

Your step-sister chuckled. "Babe, I'm pretty sure you'd flatten the whole place in an hour if you went."

Mari blushed in embarrassment. "H-Hey, I'm a little forgetful sometimes, okay? But I'm not a ditz!"

"Sure, sure." Selena teased. "Anyway, Matt will have to go another time, or whatever. He should've been ready." She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, not even sure how he has the money to pay for a park ticket when he doesn't even have a job."

"Still no job?" Mari asked, sympathetically.

"Nope. He turned down our bosses' offer to be licensed to The Oasis, even though it would pay pretty good. Honestly, sometimes feels like he's just going to end up licensed to our moms instead as a full-time gig. I know they both appreciate his squishiness." She sighed. "All depends on him getting his act together, though."

Mari winced. "That's a little bit mean, Selena."

Selena ran a hand through her silvery hair. "Maybe, but it's just because I care, right? I'm his big sis, it's my job to be tough on him if it means looking out for him, you know? And hey, I'm not dissing being licensed, I know plenty of tinies who live satisfying lives like that."

"That's true, I guess." Mari conceded.

Selena's smile grew. "Putting that squirt aside, now that we don't have to babysit him, we can have more time to ourselves today, babe."

Mari's cheeks flushed. "Oh yeah? Any plans, then?"

"A few." Selena teased, kissing her girlfriend before the two girls then slipped out of the house, ready to enjoy their day together.

**********

Two hours later, Dr. Fran, the head of the Small Wonders organization, stood up from her chair.

"I believe Mister Jacobs is going to be a no-show." She declared aloud, disappointment evident in her voice. "We've given him more than enough leeway to arrive for his interview.

"Damn, that sucks." The redheaded Tina (a leading product tester and researcher at Small Wonders) said. "His profile pic looked really cute, I was eager to meet him."

An exceptionally voluptuous blonde adjusted her glasses. "It's possible he got squished somewhere, correct?" Mackenzie (such was her name) asked.

"It is." Fran nodded. "But our application guidelines stated how important arriving on-time to an interview is, especially given the volatile nature in our company's growth right now. I'm sympathetic to Mister Jacobs possibly getting stuck in a bad situation, but we just don't have the time for delays right now."

Tina let out a low whistle. "It really is go-time now, huh? Yeah, guess we can't wait for a guy who misses his interview, even if it does break my heart a little."

Fran turned to Mackenzie. "Feel free to expunge Mister Jacobs' application from the record, Mackenzie. And resume looking for suitable applicants."

"Understood, ma'am." Mackenzie nodded, tapping a few keys on her keyboard.

The faint 'shoomp' sound of the application file being sent to the computer's trash bin echoed through the room, but none of the giantess' who heard it paid it any mind.

To them, it was just another temporary hiring-process setback, soon to be forgotten about.

**********

Your step-mom finally released you from your slipper prison later in the day. A lot later in the day. Just under seven hours later, to be specific.

It actually took her a bit of effort to peel you free from insider of her slipper, such was the devastation her big, sweaty, pounding foot had subjected you to. There was even a terrifying moment where it looked like your apathetic-leaning mother was going to just leave you there, but finally your malleable body hooked itself on her thumbnail and was pulled free. Of course, you were left in your insole-shaped form from the hours of abuse, but at least you could vaguely taste fresh air.

You still smelled of foot sweat and awful stench, your body was still soaked with sweat and coated in dirt particles, and it'd be weeks before you washed the taste of your step-mom's toes out of your mouth. But you were finally free of her slipper, and even though it had cost you most of the day, getting even a little reprieve was a rare occurrence you'd eagerly accept when you could...even if it was a little sad that your life was to the point where the simple act of being freed from a humid slipper gave you fleeting joy.

Cynthia, taking up a spot on the extra-deluxe couch in the living room (the largest and longest model, which even then barely held both Cynthia and Lauren simultaneously), laid you down on the empty cushion beside her. She gave you an amused look as your insole-shaped body rested on the cushion, as she meanwhile kicked her feet up on the table and sipped from a hug of hot cocoa.

"I got a ton done today because of your help, sweetheart." She said, in a rare form of commending you. Although, technically-speaking, Cynthia did praise you fairly often. It was just only exclusively in the form of praising your malleability and usefulness when molded into an object. "My feet didn't hurt at all, and I cleaned oh-so much around the house. Seriously, thanks for pitching in for this little favor, sweetheart."

Your step-mom blew you a kiss that, to anyone else, might've looked mocking. But you knew (with no small amount of exhaustion), that your step-mom was being 100% genuine. She did, technically, love you. But the vast majority of that love came through in the form of seeing you as a useful object first, and her actual sentient step-son second. A pretty distant second, at that.

Slowly, you began to reform, knowing that it'd take quite a while after the beating Cynthia's foot had given you. And it also didn't help that a part of your brain was still thinking about that Small Wonders job interview you'd missed. You tried not to worry about it too much, consoling yourself with the thought that surely the ladies at Small Wonders would be sympathetic, and would have saved your application to reschedule another interview later. They'd give you a second chance, for sure!

You were also a bit nervous for something else you had planned for today, starting in about an hour, actually. Alongside your job interview, it was another big event that you had held high hopes for leading up to it, and you were still positive you could turn this day around for the better...even in the face of insurmountable odds.

You were going out on a date, with the girl you'd been on a few dates with so far, but hadn't officially asked her to be your girlfriend yet.

The date was with your younger sister's best friend, Ashley Parker.

**********

Ashley Parker had been Jenna's best friend since elementary school, the two girls practically inseparable for years on end. When Selena entered the picture, Jenna did admittedly start spending more time with her cool big step-sis than with Ashley, though she of course didn't blow Ashley off completely. And it ended up not mattering too much, as right around that time was when Ashley hit puberty, a certain part of her brain awakened, and she developed a monstrously huge crush on you.

Sometimes, 'crush' in the most literal sense.

You'd never intended to date Ashley. In fact, you often tried to avoid her whenever she came over to spend time with Jenna. There wasn't a sweeter, nicer, kinder, sillier, or more selfless unaffected in all of existence than Ashley. But there also probably wasn't a more ditzy, inattentive, unobservant, forgetful, gullible, klutzy, spacey, or easily-manipulated and hyper-distractable unaffected either. To put it as bluntly as possible, Ashley was really dumb. Well-intentioned, but really dumb.

So while she had a lot of positive personality traits, and admittedly an outrageously curvy and beautiful body that still gave you slight pause each time you saw her (especially because she was unaware of her own sex appeal and often accidentally dressed in really scandalous ways), Ashley was still a walking disaster for you or any tiny to be around.

It seemed like you couldn't get within a ten-foot radius of Ashley without ending up obliterated by her in some way, shape, or form. Some of your most uncomfortable, humiliating, and longest-lasting mishaps directly involved Ashley. Whether she was your sole oblivious tormentor, or was simply the tool of your destruction wielded by one of Selena's pranks or Cynthia's moments of not bothering to point you out, you were frustratingly familiar with every inch of Ashley's body. The worst was probably the time you spent nearly all of a summer as Ashley's bikini top, even getting recognized by her on more than one occasion only for her to ditzily forget to free you and re-starting the process all over again.

And yet, with Mari claimed by Selena, a small part of you began to see the positives of Ashley in a slightly stronger light than the negatives.

Ashley was 'passion' personified, putting her all into anything and everything in a way that was both dorky and charming, but also inspiring. She was also an insanely talented artists, who'd practiced painting and sculpting and was a damn savant at both. She also rivaled (or perhaps even surpassed) Cynthia in the kitchen, cooking up a truly insane number of delicious dishes. She also, in a way that none of your family did (except for Jenna, briefly, until Selena told her it wasn't 'cool' anymore) engaged you in your hobbies of watching anime and playing video games.

It didn't hurt that Ashley was, as mentioned, insanely in love with you. It made it easier to return her affections when she herself so obviously and flirtatiously came onto you at every chance she had. And sure, most of her attempts at being flirted ended in your splattered by her obscenely huge breasts, or big perky booty, but it was also hard to get mad at Ashley knowing her heart was always in the right place.

So one day you finally said 'yes' to her offer of going out, and she legitimately passed out from the excitement (and yes, crushed you under her breasts as she fell over). For the past two months, you'd been going on bi-weekly dates with her.

The trouble was that, consistently, each date went pretty poorly. Sometimes due to your own unluckyness, but mostly due to Ashely's own issues. Regardless, things always went south pretty quickly, and though Ashley was too upbeat and peppy to be dismayed by little mishaps (a part of her charm, and also a big reason why she never learned and grew from her mistakes), you couldn't help but feel like a failure for your part in trying to date this girl like a normal person would without everything falling apart.

But everyone else in your family had a loved one, even Jenna. Somewhat unlucky with love for years on end, Jenna finally found a strong connection with a pretty redhead from The Oasis waterpark named Viola. The two got along quite well, and had begun dating about three months ago to steady, strong success. Some part of you had always felt like your younger sister was destined to end up with a tiny partner instead of an unaffected, but maybe that was just wishful thinking that might propel her (and the rest of your family) to start being more considerate towards affected.

In fact, you even recalled a time at the local arcade when this strangely tall pink-haired affected was trying to hit on Jenna. But your sister kept getting distracted by Selena showing her new dance moves on the DDR machine, eventually leading to Jenna accidentally kicking the pink-haired tiny girl and sending her flying. Worse, you were pretty sure you noticed the tiny girl landing squarely in the semi-exposed butt crack of this white-haired voluptuous beauty a few feet away, the oblivious giantess' pronounced curves contrasting her seemingly demure demeanor. You only hoped that pink-haired tiny had escaped that planetary posterior before too long.

That aside, the real reason you worried about messing up dates with Ashley was due to the fear of upsetting her strict mother, Bea. A beauty in her own right, who doted on Ashley to an almost controlling degree (but Ashley was a naive mama's girl who liked the attention, so it didn't bother her). Bea seemed to hate all men, though, especially tiny men, and you got really bad vibes from her. You were hoping to prove yourself different from other tiny men, but hadn't done a great job so far with all the ruined dates. Even if Ashley was always in high-spirts, Bea seemed to sense when the romantic evening had gone awry.

**********

After ten minutes, you were barely 10% reformed from your flattened shape, and were just starting to worry that you'd have to reform your lips first and beg your step-mom to help you so you'd still have time to call Ashley and let her know that the date was confirmed.

But then the ground began to shake, and a sinking feeling of full despair hit you like a ton of bricks.

And then something far heavier than a ton of bricks hit you, as Lauren (without looking, of course) plopped herself down onto the couch, her massive ass completely dominating you as she settled in beside her wife.

Just to rub salt in the wound, your mom then smiled at the unexpectedly soft padding of the couch she hadn't realized was as supportive as it was, and spent an additional minute grinding her ass back and forth atop you, relishing in how nice you felt. Any other unaffected might've connected the dots between a supportive squish and her tiny son, but not Lauren (not since Cynthia's slow and gradual corruption of her protective instincts). Lauren merely kneaded you beneath her doughy buttocks, before placing more grueling weight upon you as she kicked her feet up and reclined.

"Ready for that movie marathon, honey?" She smiled at Cynthia.

Cynthia took a quick second to admire her wife's large, perfect ass (and the lack of any visible squishy step-son buried beneath it), before returning Lauren's smile. "I am. Especially with a couch as soft and supportive as this one."

"I know, right!" Lauren beamed, giving her booty another wriggle. "Feels nicer than usual, but that's a good thing!"

"It sure is." Cynthia chuckled, before turning on the tv.

Beneath your mom's ass, you just barely heard the sound of a movie begin playing. And alongside that sound, was the silent but unignorable sound of the dreams of a date with Ashley shattering into pieces.

**********

Ashley let out a sigh. "I guess he got busy." She said aloud.

"My angel, no one should ever be too busy for you." Bea cooed, brushing Ashley's hair. Ashley had, for once, tamed her wild red mane into an appealing curled braid, thanks to Bea's help. She'd put on an eye-catching (and almost gratuitously revealing) dress too, all in preparation for the date she'd expected to have with you.

Ashley grinned, already back in spirits. "Well, you know Matty! Probably just a silly accident or something! We'll reschedule!"

"You're a forgiving saint, dear." Bea commended, giving her daughter a kiss on the forehead before sending her on her way to the bathroom to change back into casual clothes.

As soon as she was gone, Bea's fury stormed into a tempest.

"That good for nothing, fucking bug!" She simmered under her breath, so filled with rage she wanted to break something. Or more accurately, break a certain tiny man. "Too good for my daughter, huh? Stand her up, huh?"

Picking up her daughter's phone, Bea went to work exchanging her contact information for her daughter's, so that the next time you received a message from 'Ashley', it would really be from her.

"I know she has a crush, and she'll be sad to lose you." Bea whispered aloud, a cruel grin growing on her malicious face. "But disposing of you is for her own good. She'll thank me once you're gone."

She then began brainstorming the perfect way in which to permanently remove you from existence, her mood lifting as she thought about all the ways she could break and torment you for daring to not treat her daughter like the flawless angel she was.

Bea's smile deepened.

"I was just thinking about buying a new thong, wasn't I?"

**********

Lying on the couch in your living room, in the ass-shaped imprint your mother had left behind, you felt like a shell of a real sentient being. Distantly, you could hear the sounds of Lauren, Cynthia, Selena, and Jenna enjoying a nice late dinner, laughing and chatting happily with each other. Not a single one of them actively thinking about you.

This day had been one for the record books.

Trod upon by each of your family members in the early morning. Deprived of a real meal at breakfast (or any meal time). Seven hours as your gargantuan step-mother's insole. Buried in sweat and dirt by her toes. Another three-ish hours as cushion padding for your mom's ass during a movie marathon. Hotboxed by suffocating weight and an unanticipated flatulence attack that hit Lauren during the second movie. Constantly neglected, ignored, and belittled by your family members, your 'loved ones'. Missing a crucial job interview, and screwing up another date chance with Ashley.

It was day wherein, if something could've gone wrong, it did.

You already knew how the rest of the day would go. You'd stay glued to the couch for a while longer, until eventually Jenna would wander by and see you. She'd probably free you, and maybe even give you a bit of leftover food scraps from dinner. Selena and your moms would then find you, and proceed to 'playfully' tease you in a way that would essentially cause them to mock your accidents and mishaps while they themselves chuckled and smiled, guilt-free and unashamed.

You'd then go upstairs, clean yourself off, and drift away to sleep after an hour of mindless phone scrolling, unless Cynthia had ended up accidentally vacuuming your phone up while cleaning earlier, destroying it. She'd done it tons of times before, so it was a distinct possibility. Actually, it was even possible she'd vacuumed your bed and clothes too, as it wouldn't be the first time she didn't bother to look closely at what she was cleaning, and then just brushed it off was an 'inconsequential little mishap'.

The more you thought about it, the more you realized that there really wasn't anything inherently special about this day at all. Given your history, it really was just another day in your life. Your life that was a constant disappointment, not in any grand way like being crushed and stuck forever in a horrible spot, or stolen away by an evil giantess to endure a life of slavery. It was disappointing in a mundane, normalized sort of way, that was slowly but surely eating at you.

So, you did the only thing you could think to do.

You repeated your adage through slightly-smushed lips, as you lay flat on the couch.

"Tomorrow will be better." You hissed through flat lungs.

"Tomorrow...will be...better..."

********************

THE END