Hey so I am still screaming, crying, throwing up over this but please look:
The incredible @ash-and-steel reached out to me a while ago to ask about printing and binding a copy of The Stranding for themselves and I was so blown away by how cool an idea that was. Then they suggested binding a second and I offered to pay the shipping and now.
Now I own a copy of the first 79 chapters of something I wrote, and that is just so wild to me 🥺 This is so nice. So beautiful. So crazy and touching.
3lbs, 3 pages of a table of contents, and 773 pages. I genuinely can't believe it.
This is the coolest thing in the world to me and I just wanted to share how near this is. Thank you again, Tau!
This two part story is based off of an ask, the ask part of the story however comes in part two haha
This story is set directly after the events of 'What's Wrong With you?'
“So where are we going?” Luke asked for the tenth time that day.
It had been a week since Luke and Jason had broken up. It had been a long and rough week with more than one mental health day off work and Matt simply couldn’t stand the moping anymore. Deciding that his best mate needed some fresh air and sunshine and more importantly to get his ass off the couch. Matt had organised a weekend camping trip for the two of them.
“Will you quit asking me, what are you Five? I told you it was a surprise, didn’t I?” Matt rolled his eyes and pressed his foot down on the accelerator in impatience.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to go anywhere overly public in my current mental state.” Luke mumbled fidgeting with the cords of his navy hoodie.
In the last week it had been difficult to control his emotions, generally shrinking without warning and finding it difficult to shift back for long periods, hence the time off work.
“We are going somewhere secluded and people free I promise, now quit bitching and navigate to the nearest gas station, I forgot to fill up before we left.” He knew where the gas station was but honestly just wanted to give Luke something to do.
They pulled up a short ten minutes later and Matt got out to start filling the car up.
“Do you wanna go in and pay and maybe find us some snacks, we’re still about an hour away.” Matt asked offhandedly.
Luke rolled his eyes. “You gonna give me your card to pay or am I expected to fund this long road trip that I didn’t ask for?”
Matt just smirked already knowing that Luke would cave.
“Fine!” Luke grumbled and pushed the car door open to stomp toward the service station.
Luke was such a pushover and Matt knew it.
The automatic doors opened, and Luke headed for the snack aisle, he gave the cashier a small nod as he passed by. He browsed the small selection of choices, but something popped out at him that made him freeze and he felt his heart being squeezed.
On a display stand to the side was a collection of Reese’s peanut butter cups, a bright sign telling the consumer that this product was to die for and on sale, the best deal, two for one!
Luke was frozen, watching the scenes flash through his minds eye of all the times he’d surprised Jason by gifting him this particular treat. Peanut butter cups were his favourite and often on sale like this. Luke would get two and they would sit up late watching movies, eating their favourite snacks.
Luke closed his eyes and took a deep breath, nothing worked, his eyes stung and his heart hurt.
Luke had known all of Jay’s quirks, his likes and dislikes to the point where he had at one time kept a stash of peanut butter cups in the apartment for the off chance that Jason would come over.
And now he was gone.
Luke wiped at the tears forming on his cheeks aggressively and opened his eyes.
“No no no.” Where he had once been looking over the tops of the shelves he was now looking at the bottom shelf and still shrinking.
“Stupid fucking emotions!” He glared up at the Reeses peanut butter cup stand before his attention snapped to the sliding door opening.
It was possible that it was Matt coming in to see what was taking him so long but it was also possible that it was someone else entering the store, without a second to lose Luke dived under the shelf that now towered over his head.
His breath came in sharp pants as he eyed the gigantic set of heavy leather boots thundering into the store, they weren’t Matt’s and his brain began to go into full panic mode as they angled toward him. He watched with wide blue eyes as the boot only a few inches now in front of him tapped idly on the tiled floor, sending tremors through his body.
It wasn’t the first time Luke had shrunk in an unsafe place but it had certainly been a while, these days he would usually have a family member or Matt with him and even when he didn’t he had his phone.
His phone!
Luke searched his pockets finding only his wallet, he’d left the damned device in the car. His heart hammered against his chest, he was stranded in an unknown place surrounded by giants who had no idea he was there. There wasn’t much more that could possibly go wrong.
There was some loud crinkling from high above and Luke held his breath as a small canister of pringles hit the floor with a deafening crash and then ominously began to roll toward him. Putting his arms out he stopped the canister from rolling any further, luckily pringles were light or he might have been flattened if it had been something like a bottle of milk.
Anyone else might have just rolled their eyes at their own clumsiness and picked up a different canister of pringles, but for whatever reason Luke’s luck just continued to dwindle. There was a rush of movement and the sound of immense amounts of clothing shifting as the unknown giant crouched down and then a large hand was hurtling at him.
With all the effort in the world Luke held his breath to stop himself from crying out in alarm, and instead ducked behind the pringles and hoped the fingers wouldn’t pry any further once they’d found what they were looking for. Luke’s eyes widened as the large digits spread over the top of the canister and very nearly brushed his head before they gripped the pringles tighter and pulled them back out into the light.
Luke fell to his knees and watched with relief as the giant stood back up and moved away from his hiding spot. Now to somehow get Matt’s attention, he’d have to come into the store at some point, it would only be a matter of time and then he’d be found and he’d be safe again.
Matt meanwhile had decided to have a smoke while he waited for his friend to come back with snacks. Luke didn’t like it when he smoked in the car so instead he saved his nicotine hits for pit stops like this one.
Matt had found a park bench off to the side of the station, a playground was also there but he’d hardly consider it a playground when it consisted of only a small slide and one swing. Regardless it was the perfect place to wait for Luke to finish up in the gas station, with only one other customer having stopped for gas, Luke wouldn’t be too long.
Matt’s eyes drifted to his phone as he took his last drag and crushed the butt on the ground, Luke had been in there for ten minutes, the other customer had come and gone what seemed like ages ago. He’d received no calls or messages from Luke though but that didn’t chase away the unease that was settling into his stomach.
Unable to wait any longer Matt marched toward the sliding doors and stepped inside the store, his worry only increased when his tall friend was nowhere to be seen.
“Did my friend come in here?” Matt called over to the cashier.
“I dunno, I saw him and then figured he’d gone to the bathroom or left.” The older man shrugged and focused back on his computer once more, thoroughly unbothered by his friend’s disappearance.
“Come on Luke, where are you?” Matt murmured to himself, he turned toward the bathroom, it was possible he was simply overreacting and Luke had just gone to the toilet, he could hope.
He took a step toward the bathroom and then froze when a positively miniscule cry of alarm could be heard from his feet, every inch of Matt’s skin tightened, and a sick feeling washed over him as he dared to look down, hi sneaker still hovering mid-air.
Luke was also frozen, he’d been so relieved when Matt finally stepped into the store that he’d run out hoping to call up to his friend or tug at his pant leg to get his attention. He’d completely forgotten how dangerous an unaware giant could be, even a friendly one, Matt’s booming voice had rattled through him causing him to pause and then everything happened way too fast.
Matt’s sneakers turned in his direction and then rose above him, unable to hold back a scream of fear as it glided over his head and then froze mid step directly above his head. Luke wasn’t sure his little heart could take much more as his heart rate escalated once again.
What should have been a quick in and out trip at the gas station had turned into a literal nightmare for the broken-hearted size shifter.
Matt shifted his foot to the side and carefully placed it back down on the floor once his eyes landed on the small, huddled form of his friend as Luke cradled his hands over his head in a desperate attempt to save himself from being trodden on. Without wanting to raise suspicion from the cashier, Matt carefully scooped him up before pushing his way through the bathroom doors and locking it behind him.
“Luke what the actual fuck? Are you okay?” Matt was caught between frustration and concern but focused more on worry upon seeing his small friend flinch from his loud words.
“Sorry dude.” Matt lowered his voice and raised Luke up to his eyes, scanning over him to make sure he was truly unharmed.
Luke curled inward hugging his knee’s to his chest, the whole experience had been too much, from being dragged back to his heartbreak, to nearly being found by an unknown giant to nearly being stepped on by his best friend. Luke began to shake as tears and shame and guilt overwhelmed him.
“I guess I don’t need to tell you how stupid that was, do you wanna tell me what happened?” Matt asked as gently as he could manage.
“Not here.” Luke’s whispered words only just reached Matt’s ears and he nodded before closing his fingers gently around Luke and pushing him into his hoodie pocket.
His fingers stayed curled around his friend as he made his way back to the cashier to pay for the fuel.
“Find your friend?” The man asked gruffly.
“Ah yeah, all good.” Matt said vaguely, tapped his card and then turned and headed back toward the car.
Once seated back in the drivers seat, Matt pulled Luke out and placed him in the centre console cup holder, he was still shaking and clearly upset but Matt suspected there was more to it then a near run in with his shoe.
“Did someone kick a puppy? Seriously, what the hell happened?” Matt asked as he turned the car on and pulled back out onto the road, the sooner they got to their destination the better.
“I-it was the Reese’s.” Luke felt stupid, it all seemed so silly now and yet here he was six inches tall and that overwhelming feeling of loss and sadness had taken him over because of a peanut butter cup.
“What?” Matt asked leaning over a little as he drove to hear his shrunken friend.
“Reese’s were on sale…they were… they were Jay’s favourite.” Luke said pathetically and couldn’t make himself look upward to see Matt’s reaction.
“Oh Luke.” Matt sighed putting the pieces together rather easily now.
“I’m sorry.” Luke choked on the sobs welling inside his chest once more.
“You know that you don’t actually have anything to be sorry about right?” Matt asked, keeping his eyes on the road as he spoke.
“What happened between you and Jay was not your fault, and what happened at the gas station was also not your fault.” As much as he tried to drill the point through to Luke, he knew that his friend wouldn’t hear him at least not right now.
“I should have been in more control.”
“Luke I’m gonna be honest with you.” Matt said quite seriously. “I don’t actually know of any other person who is in more control of their emotions than you are. You can’t be perfect one hundred percent of the time, especially after a break up, give yourself a break.”
Luke said nothing and the car was silent for a while as they drove, Matt hated the current sadness and tension that lingered about the car. There would be no convincing Luke so he tried a different tactic, changing the subject with humour, it always seemed to work for him anyways.
“So my Aunt’s daughter is looking for actors to play parts in her Peter Pan musical next month, I hope you don’t mind, I put your name down for Tinkerbell.” Matt said as casually as he dared.
“You did not.” Luke scoffed utterly unbelieving until Matt choked on a laugh he’d been trying to hold in.
“You didn’t! Matt tell me you didn’t!”
“I mean it’s doubtful you’ll get the part anyway, you don’t really have the sassiness that comes along with Tinkerbell.” He explained. “The auditions on Thursday.”
Matt felt a small object hit the side of his face and he turned to see Luke standing in the cup holder with admittedly a very pissed off Tinkerbell expression on his face and missing one shoe.
“Did you just throw a shoe at me?” Matt smirked.
“You deserved it you gigantic ass.” Luke glared upward.
“Good luck finding that ever again.” Matt laughed.
“Ah shit.”
Matt turned his head again to see Luke’s body expanding slowly inch by inch, he pulled over to help his friend out of the now squishy cup holder and onto the passenger seat. They both held hope that Luke was simply growing to his human height, however there was always the possibility that he could go the other extreme and that meant he’d need a quick escape out of the car.
His growing stopped when his head almost brushed the roof of the car as usual and Matt smiled at him.
“Welcome back.” He said.
“Yeah well now I’ve got one normal shoe and one tiny shoe somewhere in here.” Luke groaned, it seemed his ‘gift’ would never ever gave him a break.
Luke muttered a thanks regardless of his annoyance, he knew full well what his friend had been trying to do and it had worked, and for that he was grateful.
With his mood improved they continued their journey, Matt soon turned down a gravel road that grew rougher and bumpier the further in they travelled. When their car simply couldn’t go any further Matt stopped and turned off the car.
Went swimming with Zip today and we talked about if our dingdongs went swimming and the logistics of G/t swimming in general. As someone who has to tread water a fair bit to keep afloat for conversation, it'd be pretty strong currents around me if there was a tiny in the water. The kind of wake you leave while you swim has always been a thought for me in regards to how it would affect/be affected by other boats or ships nearby but I genuinely hadn't done a ton of thinking or writing about swimming together with a tiny aside from the tiny swimming while the giant just kind of kicked it back in what would be shallows to them.
It was a fun idea to splash around in haw haw haw haw i'll see myself out
What do you imagine tagging around in a pocket would be like?
Just kind of spitballing about this one and probably not going to be able to edit it too well before posting, so apologies in advance for the rambling!
In short: Depends on the pocket!
In long: Anything waist-level or lower and you're dealing with a lot of movement (depending on how tight the clothing is, as well. Pants pockets? Terrible, never, but the lower pocket on decently-long coat? Yeah that could be do-able.) but a lot of the time I tend to focus on chest pockets.
Chest pockets make communication way easier for the smaller person, could be tight and very warm in there depending on the chest/clothing makeup. I've always kind of imagined it like a very deep hammock sort of situation? You can stand in it but it wouldn't be tremendously stable.
The lower pockets (or even like a hoodie pocket, but god that would have to be just... so warm) allow for more opportunities for subtle touch/holding with the big's hand(s). Communication gets harder outside of that, but if you're just tagging along for fun, then it's not a bad sacrifice. (Possible solutions involve cellphone earbuds and the like).
Lint and dust are always one of those logistical thoughts I try to throw aside for the fantasy of pocket rides.
On the topic of logistics: movement could be intense. I am someone who, especially during the work day, am doing a lot of moving and rocking back and forth around my workstation, my hands and arms are always busy, and I will often take several steps backwards or spin/dip to get things/do things. If you can't see what's happening outside of the pocket to perhaps give you warning or at least context to the movements, I could see anyone with motion sickness issues (or even people who don't normally have an issue with that!) being made pretty uncomfortable throughout that sort of thing. If the fabric of the clothing is slack compared to the person's body, that's a whole additional level of swinging that could be added as well.
You've also got to worry about positioning of the pockets for things like: possible collisions with the environment/other people, what's going to happen if the person sits down/stands up, how much of a noticeable impact is the tiny making in that pocket, how hard is it to get the tiny in and out of that pocket and so on.
I had a semi-clever title for this one but then realized I had removed the paragraph it had been referring to so it would just be weird. So here: As Advertised.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Dinner is ready and it took a billion years to find all of the italics and such to get this ready to update so I can't say much other than: Enjoy! Love you all!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Fun bit of struggle getting this one up, more-so due to illness than the power outage, but still. Hoping I didn't miss anything obvious, but I always catch something on the re-reads when I'm making sure timeline/details are adding up across scenes and plot beats.
Me, uploading the last Rescue chapter: ok I'm gonna need to split this scene because it's going a bit too long and melding directly into the next scene which is gonna go even longer so I'll just do that.
Me: This will work because the next scene shouldn't be too long
The next scene: Bath
Current status: 22 pages, 9500+ words
... im curious what Henry's thoughts/reaction would be to getting a dollhouse?
Pretty awkward, likely. He's at a very awkward scaling closer to 1:9, and basically nobody does 1:9 scale anything except for model horses from what I've been able to find, so everything would be either too big at a 1:6 barbie scale, or slightly/way too small at 1:10/1:12 or more. While he appreciates having some of his things around so he has some feeling of fitting, the quality of a lot of miniatures/doll furniture isn't fantastic and would likely be very noticeable to him as another jarring difference.
As strange and awkward as it is that he has a 'room' setup in a cupboard, that he's using (until the ratlines/ladders are done and hung properly) stacks of giant books and things as staircases, and other ways they try to accommodate him throughout living there, it kind of helps create a separation for him that while he doesn't fit in this world, he fit in his own. It helps him maintain an idea that he's not wrong, this place is wrong.
Some days, that's easier to hold onto than others.
Getting him a space specifically for him that's trying to be to his-scale would just... impress on him more that he is wrong in this world, and that he's more on the level of a toy. Of something not-real. It would wear him down a bit faster than what he's got going on.
Thank you so much for the ask!
(one tiny bonus thought below the cut)
If someone in The Stranding somehow got him a doll house, like as a decoration, he would probably kill them for the insult.
He has had, and continues to have, a hard time readjusting back to the world he's in, but because he feels more akin to Melanie in terms of scale (at least initially). He finds the other people around him to seem small, everything to feel crowded and tight in a way that makes him uncomfortable. He feels too big to fit back into the place he came from easily.
If someone got him a doll house, he would presume it was designed to be an insult based off of what the other person perceives how Melanie treats/has treated him up to now. How he, despite feeling more natural around her (especially in comparison to everyone else), is nothing but a toy and implying he does not and may have never fit with her as an equal.
