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What The Actual.. Cover Art!!
Yet another masterpiece by @satethesatelite
Just look at those colours! Those hands! My precious OC's Luke and Matt brought to life! Literally cannot thank you enough for working with me to create these cover pictures! They are amazing!
Link to the story: What The Actual....
Taglist:
@da3dm, @smolcomfycat, @coffehbeans, @soakedmilkgt, @only-surviving-drfan
The Best Medicine - Part One
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.
“We’re here!”
Taglist:
@da3dm
@smolcomfycat
@satethesatelite
@coffehbeans
@soakedmilkgt
@only-surviving-drfan
Has Matt ever actually accidentally hurt Luke when he was shrunk before?
Another late reply to this ask! Again I'm sorry! But also your idea is the second runner up in the polls! So congratulations!
I'm really happy with how this story came out, also there is much angst! You've been warned!
Approx 3.3k words
Broken
“Luke! I hope you’ve already settled on the idea of takeout tonight cos I am so not in the mood to provide sustenance!” Matt groaned as he shut the apartment door behind him.
It had been a particularly taxing 12-hour shift for Matt, and he was honestly ready to just go to bed without dinner if there was nothing quick and easy to eat.
The apartment was quiet, but Matt hardly noticed being too tired to care much at the moment, he instead slid open the balcony door and promptly lit a cigarette, leaning heavily on the railing and fighting to keep his head held up straight.
He stood there for a long while, for once his mind was quiet, the sounds of the streets the only thing he could hear as the sunset for the day and he found himself admiring the orange and purple hues of the misty skyline. New York could be so very ugly sometimes, too busy, too loud, too many idiots and too much violence, but it could also be quite beautiful, Matt found himself smiling softly to himself and soaking in the view.
When he got back inside, he noticed with a little more alertness that Luke hadn’t said a word since he’d gotten home, which was strange.
Matt walked through to their small kitchen and turned the kettle on, ready to make himself a coffee and as he did so, he opened up his phone to look at the last messages he’d gotten from Luke that day.
Around mid-day Luke had sent a message to him reading:
‘Five hours to go! You got this!’
And then another message at 3:30pm reading:
‘At least you don’t have an hour of meetings this afternoon! What would you like for dinner?’
Matt had responded with:
‘So done with today! I’d be happy just to eat grass right now mooo! You choose.’
And then the last message from Luke was from only half an hour ago at 5:30pm:
‘Salad it is, your favourite! I’ll think of something, also the tv is doing weird shit again, I’ll sort it out tomorrow, see you when you get home’
“So weird, he should be here.” Matt said to himself as he added milk and sugar to his coffee.
Taking a sip, he headed for the balcony again, figuring that Luke may have gone out to get dinner or something from the shop. He paused at the sliding door though when another possibility entered his mind.
“Luke?” He called out again. “Are you small right now?”
Luke was usually pretty good about letting Matt know when he was small which honestly was not very often. Whatever Luke had on him at the time of the shift would shift with him, so if he was small Luke would normally have sent Matt a text to let him know. That, or he would call out, it could be dangerous for Luke when he was small, particularly if Matt didn’t know where he was.
There was still no reply.
Matt decided he needed to do some elimination, so first he headed down to the garage to see if Luke’s car was still there, which it was, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t gone out, there was a takeaway place down the street that Luke would walk to from here. Matt then pulled out his phone again to call his missing friend.
It rang and rang and then went to the message bank.
“I swear to god Luke, if you shrank without your phone on you, I’m gonna kill you, if I don’t step on you first of course, fuck!” Matt shivered at the thought.
It was a very real possibility and one that had given Matt nightmares in the past, not that the scenario had ever even come close to happening in reality, it still made Matt uncomfortable to think about.
Matt headed back upstairs to their apartment and dialled Luke’s number again, this time he could hear a ringing, though it was very faint, probably coming from a very small mobile phone. He tried to follow the sound but then it went to the message bank again and he groaned in frustration.
“Luke I’ve had the shittest day, could you just come out, I don’t have the energy for this stupid game of cat and mouse.” Matt said to the empty apartment, again there was no response.
With a hand slowly dragging down his tired face, he paused remembering that Luke would also shrink when he was sad, tired or scared. The last time Luke had shrunk when he was sad was when Luke and Jason had broken up, that time he’d also not called out or texted Matt that he was small. Matt had found him sobbing by the front door, he also hadn’t had to go searching for him because he was out in the open, but Luke was nowhere to be seen right now.
Matt realised that his last comment was probably kind of harsh, particularly if Luke was upset, but he had nothing to go on, just a tiny ringing and no Luke.
“I’m sorry, I’m just tired, please call out or make a noise if you can, I’m starting to freak out over here.” Matt said more gently this time.
He walked over to the loungeroom, watching his step and sat down on the couch after also checking that it was Luke free, including checking under the cushions.
Matt then noticed the blue screen of death was on their tv and remembered that Luke had said something about the tv being broken again.
He stared at the awful blue screen for a few minutes, and then it struck him that Luke had said something about the tv in his last text.
Matt pulled out his phone once more and redialled Luke’s number, the faint ringing could be heard again and as Matt slowly moved closer to the entertainment unit, he could hear it getting louder.
“Luke?” Matt called out again after the phone went to voicemail once more.
“M-matt!?” Luke’s small voice called out, and Matt breathed a sigh of relief at the sound.
He’d finally gotten a response and he couldn’t believe what Luke was doing, clearly, he’d decided to try and fix the problematic television himself and most likely gotten himself stuck or something.
“Dude, are you seriously inside the Tv right now?” Matt asked incredulously.
“No I-I was in the wire box thing-the thing behind the tv and now….I’m not sure, I think I-fell.” Matt had to strain to hear him, he still sounded so far away.
Carefully he pulled the entertainment unit away from the wall and found the box that Luke had mentioned, a small white box with wires coming out of it that were then connected to the tv.
“Are you hurt?” Matt asked with his hands on the white box, ready to pull it from the wall but hesitating when he realised that he could potentially hurt Luke in the process.
“I-I think I was-electrocuted.” Came Luke’s muffled response.
“Jesus fucking Christ Luke.” Matt was pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration with his idiotic roommate. “Are you still in the white box? What can you see?”
Turns out Matts long day as a paramedic was not yet over, he would have to pull a full search and rescue on his best friend, he’d pulled many people out of walls before, never one so small though.
“I’m not in the white box…” Luke began. “I’m in the wall-but I’m stuck-the wires are all around me-Matt I can’t move!”
“It’s alright Luke, I’ll get you out of there, just try not to move much, I’ll be back in a sec.” Matt moved away from the wall and went looking for some tools that he may need.
Once all the necessary equipment was acquired, he returned to the space behind the Tv, with a stethoscope in his ear, he placed the metal end to the wall and began to listen carefully.
“Marco.” Matt said, figuring lightening the mood would ease both of their nerves.
“Polo!” Luke called, his voice was a little further down the wall and Matt repositioned the stethoscope.
“Marco.”
“POLO!”
“Bingo.” Matt smiled, he pulled out a pencil and marked the spot on the wall.
Now if he was with his team, they’d discuss strategies, either cutting a hole from above or below, but Matt didn’t have a team so he would have to work out the best course of action himself.
If he cut from below, Luke could be stuck with a mess of wires tangled around his legs which would make it difficult to pull him downward from. If he cut from above Luke, then it was possible he’d be able to lift Luke back up the way he’d come. If worst came to worst, he’d have to cut some wires to free his small friend.
“Now, I’m going to cut a hole in the wall above you, it may be noisy, I’ll try to be quick, but I’ve only got our little handsaw to work with.” Matt gave a nervous chuckle and waited for Luke to respond.
“Okay!” Luke shouted in response to his friend’s plan.
Matt pushed the saw into the wall about 8 inches from the line that he’d marked, if he estimated correctly, he should make the hole a few inches above Luke’s head.
The handsaw was rusty and pretty much useless, so it took a good ten minutes for Matt to make a square big enough for even just his hand to fit through. With a grunt of effort Matt pulled the square piece of plaster out of the wall and then made to look inside but it was far to dark to make out anything except the wires directly behind the hole.
Matt grabbed his phone and held it in the hole with the camera on flash, the flash setting illuminated the space and the camera showed Matt what he was working with. Luke was indeed tangled and didn’t look like he was fairing too well, Matt thought he looked rather pale, his hair was a staticky mess, and he was indeed very tangled.
“Hey buddy.” Matt said in a quieter tone and smiled when Luke’s little blue eyes looked upward and squinted into the light.
Luke was very stuck, not only were his legs tangled as Matt had suspected but both his arms were looped by wires as well as his chest. Matt wasn’t even sure how he’d managed to get so tangled, it was actually quite impressive.
“You are pretty wedged in there. Are you in any pain? Do you have any burns?” Matt asked, still looking at the camera trying to see any physical injuries that Luke may have gotten.
“I’ve got a burn on my hand and that kinda hurts, I’m cold and sort of tingly but that’s probably from shock, right?” Luke’s blue eyes looked up toward the camera again after looking over his own body the best he could.
“Yeah, electrical shock, your gonna need to go to hospital when I figure out how to get you out of there.” Matt grumbled, his long day was going to turn into a long night so it seemed.
Matt picked up the pair of pliers and hesitated as he thought over how he was going to do this. There were five wires, three of them were wrapped around Luke in one way or another.
He could cut the two wires holding his arms but then he would still be stuck around his middle, or possibly fall further into the wall. If he cut one of the wires holding his arms, then Luke could hold onto the wire with his other hand when his midsection was freed.
Matt would then need to pull Luke out and hope that the upward movement would be enough to free his other hand in the process. It was all he could come up with for the moment and it would have to do, he needed to get Luke out of there and to a hospital as quickly as he could.
“Alright, I’ve got a plan.” Matt explained his idea to his friend and Luke agreed that it seemed like the best option.
Matt pinched the wire that held Luke’s injured hand and made the first cut, Luke gasped as the taught wire went limp and with a small shake it fell far below him. One done, one to go.
“Hold onto the wire now, I’ll try to be fast.” Matt warned, as he pinched the wire that was holding Luke’s midsection captive.
Luke winced as the wire tightened momentarily around his stomach, his knuckles white around the wire that held his left arm, and then his stomach was free as the second wire fell through the wall below him.
Wasting no time, Matt reached his hand in, having to go in blind for this part, his fingers extended toward Luke, only two of his fingers could fit far enough in and they bumped into the miniscule body, causing Luke to sway on the wire.
“Matt hurry!” Luke gasped, legs dangling and his palm becoming sweaty.
“Give me your hand.” Matt called down.
Luke’s free hand reach toward the large fingers and when he placed his palm on the pad of Matt’s middle finger, Matt pinched Luke’s hand between the two. This would be a judgment game, too much pressure and he would break Luke’s hand, too little pressure and Luke would fall.
“Does that feel secure?” Matt asked.
“A little tight but good, don’t let go!” Luke called upward.
“I’m gonna pull you up now, ready?” Matt felt small beads of sweat building on his own forehead, he shook the stray strands of blonde hair that had fallen out of his ponytail out of his eyes and focused.
“Yep!” Was Luke’s high pitched response.
Matt began to slowly pull his hand out of the wall, beads of sweat formed on his forehead at the painstaking pace and then his heart dropped into his stomach when he heard Luke cry out in pain. There was a small pop of muscle that Matt could feel had come from Luke and he stopped immediately, almost losing his grasp on his Luke’s hand.
“Are you okay? What happened? Is your hand free? Luke!?” Matt was hysterical, he couldn’t let go of Luke’s hand between his fingers for fear he would fall.
Matt’s mind was racing, had he pulled too hard? Too fast? Had he injured his best friend in an attempt to save him?
“Ahhh!” Luke cried out again in agony, before responding properly. “I-It’s free p-pull me out!” Luke’s voice was laced with pain and Matt feared the worst.
Finally, his fingers were free of the wall, and he pulled Luke out immediately laying him in his open palm. Luke clutched his left shoulder and was visibly shaking.
“M-my shoulder.” Luke cried, tears falling down his dusty cheeks.
“D-did I do that?” Matt asked in a state of shock and fear, his worst fear, that he would hurt his best friend when he was so small.
“I-I think its dislocated ahhhh” Luke winced touching his sore arm and immediately regretting it.
“I’m so sorry Luke, I didn’t mean to I-“
“It’s okay Matt, I’m okay, ahhhh, just-can-you put it back?” Luke’s eyes met his once more, Matt was shaking his head, his hands shaking and feeling as though he was only making things worse, he quickly lay Luke down on the carpeted floor.
“I-I can’t.” Matt was stunned, he looked at his hands as though they weren’t his own, his fingers trembled furiously.
“You’re a paramedic.” Luke said through gritted teeth.
Matt almost laughed, he didn’t feel like much of a paramedic right now. He was supposed to heal people and get them to help faster, he wasn’t supposed to injure his patients, how could he have done this to his best friend?
“I-I’m too big.” Matt sat down on the carpet, utterly at a loss as to what to do now, how could he help his friend without making everything worse or hurting him further?
Matt seemed to drift off into space, he could no longer hear Luke talking to him or trying to calm him down, everything was dull and foggy, the only thing he could hear was his heart beating in his ears and the tingling of his shaky body.
Perhaps his nightmare had come true, he had dreamt years ago that Luke had been hurt by his own monstrous hands. He could hear Luke’s small voice begging with him, pleading with him and yet there was nothing he could do, he was simply too big, too rough and too dangerous.
“MATT!” Luke was shouting in his face now, waving his hands in front of his face to try and snap his friend out of his trance.
“L-Luke?” Matt asked, his brain not fully comprehending that his friend was now his usual size and shaking his shoulders.
“H-how? What?” Matt didn’t even know what to think, Luke was normal sized again, he wasn’t gripping his shoulder in pain, the colour had returned to his face, and he seemed to be okay.
“Super healing remember?” Luke smiled at him, showing his hands to Matt and finding no evidence of an electrical burn, or a dislocated shoulder, it was as though nothing had happened at all.
Matt finally snapped out of his stupor and tackled Luke to the floor, hugging his friend furiously and cursing him for his stupidity for getting himself into that kind of situation.
When he calmed down, he released Luke and offered him a hand to help him up off the floor, he then made a beeline for the balcony, figuring he had earnt himself a cigarette after that stressful event. Still not fully believing that he hadn’t just imagined the whole thing, he could still feel the small pop through his fingers as he’d pulled Luke’s shoulder out of it’s socket.
The nausea still swimming in his stomach at the reality that he’d hurt his best friend, hurt Luke when he’d been at his most vulnerable.
“Are you sure you feel fine?” Matt asked once seated in his usual chair on the balcony, Luke sitting in the other chair beside him.
“Really, I’m okay, I’m sorry I scared you, it was stu-“
“I’m the one who should be sorry, I could have ripped your damned arm off!” Matt still couldn’t shake the queasiness in his stomach at what he’d done to his friend, he didn’t deserve to be forgiven so easily.
Luke had trusted him, and Matt had hurt him.
“Matt come on, don’t do this, this is my thing, I’m supposed to be the one riddled with self-loathing and unable to forgive myself, not you.” Luke began but Matt wasn’t listening, instead looking off into the distance and shaking his head as he took another drag of his cigarette.
“You’re the hero this time Matt, you saved me.” Luke insisted. “I can’t thank you enough honestly.”
Matt crushed out his cigarette and stood up.
“I’m gonna head to bed, we’ll need to call an actual electrician tomorrow, goodnight.” Matt brushed past him and made his way into his room before promptly closing the door and leaving Luke sitting there in the cool night air.
He wasn’t sure if he was mad at Luke, or angry with himself, all he knew right now was that he didn’t want to talk about it and he desperately needed some sleep. Perhaps forgiveness and closure would come in the morning, but he wasn’t going to find it that night.
Oh no! The tv is broken! Luke was broken! And now we’ve managed to break Matt! My poor boys! Who else agrees that Matt deserves a holiday, the poor boy needs a day at the spa.
Superhero's Don't Get Sick
I’ve been really sick this week and thought I’d take my illness out on Luke, sorry Luke I love you, I swear I do!
This will be a short story in which Luke comes down with a cold causing his sizeshifting abilities to go haywire! Matt calls in reinforcements and we meet a grown-up Ivy! Enjoy!
Approx 3k words
“Yes I’m sure, I’ve never seen him like this before, what do I do?”
“ACHOOOOOO!!!”
Matt’s phone call was rudely interrupted by another strong gust of wet air that resulted in the dining room table being thrown across the room, luckily Matt was swift and had ducked out of the way. He stood once again with eyebrows raised in amazement, that eruption had caused his sick friend to shoot up a few more feet, his head bumping into their ceiling and showering them both in plaster and dust.
Luke’s nose twitched again agitated by the dust he had caused, Matt snapped out of his stupor quickly though and sprinted toward his friend.
“NOPE! Pinch your nose and lay down! Miss Waren would kill us if your gigantic head popped through her floor!”
There was a giggle through the phone as Ivy listened through the speaker at the absurdity of the scenario she was listening in on.
Meanwhile Matt had scaled his mini-giant of a friend and was pushing his head down, instructing him roughly to lay on the floor lest he cause more damage.
“ACHOOOOO!!!”
Another eruption and this time Matt was in the blast zone. “Fuck man!” Matt grimaced and wiped his wet hands on Luke’s shirt. “Ivy get your ass over here now!” Matt shouted into the phone before hanging up and throwing it across the room lest it get even more wet than it already was.
Luke’s chest shuddered under him, and Matt held onto the seems of Luke’s shirt for dear life. “Don’t you dare sneeze again.” He groaned.
“Actually, I think I’m good now, thanks.” Luke’s croaky voice reverberated; Matt rolled his eyes. “Thank the lord, now stay put, I need a fucking towel or something.”
Luke did as he was told, holding still while his friend manoeuvred around him in search of something to clean himself up with. He felt positively awful, his throat was scratchy, and it hurt each time he swallowed, not only that but the sneezing fits were getting worse as he’d just witnessed. Thankfully he hadn’t outgrown the apartment, but he was close to it, closing his eyes he took some careful breathes in through his mouth and tried to concentrate on shrinking.
His whole body shuddered and itched all over and soon he was overtaken by intense light-headedness, the world began to spin as it grew around him.
His head pulsed and a short while later there was a loud banging on the door, each thump sending shockwaves of pain through his skull and he clutched his head wishing the loud sounds would disappear. He had no such luck though as thundering footsteps resounded nearby and the creak of the immense door opened.
“THANK GOD YOU’RE HERE” Matt’s annoyingly booming voice assaulted Luke and he curled in on himself as he lay there amidst the rubble he had created.
“Shut Up!” Luke shouted as loud as his weak body would allow.
Matt meanwhile, heard no such command, he’d made note that his friend was no longer a giant as he’d passed through the living room to the front door, for that he was grateful. They’d need to get him out of here while they could until he was in a healthier state and better able to control his ability.
“Nice to see you too Matt, you’ve got a little something-“ Ivy’s slender fingers twinkled around a particularly soggy clump of hair. He batted her hand away “You try taking a giant size sneeze to the face and see how you look afterwards.” He growled in response.
She giggled and stepped past him and into the apartment, flicking her long wavy brown hair over her shoulder as she went.
“You’re lucky I was working in town actually.” She said stepping into the living room, eyes immediately scanning the area for any sign of her ill brother.
She paused, soft brown eyes landing on a small figure curled tightly into himself on the floor and miniscule hands over his ears. Her face fell and she kneeled gently beside him, hands reaching to scoop him up, a natural reflex to hold her brother protectively when he was so small.
“You have to help me, I don’t know what to-“ Matt started but Ivy quickly shushed him, holding up her small brother in her hands. “Quiet.” She whispered.
Her attention focused back on Luke as she looked him over, he was paler than normal and shaking like a leaf, though she knew he wasn’t fearful of her, she surmised he must have a fever. She placed a finger gently to his forehead and brushed the brown curls away from his sweaty forehead, he was definitely hotter than he should have been.
She held him gently to her chest encasing him in her fingers before she spoke to Matt again.
“Okay, pack whatever medicines you have, all the blankets in the house, water and food if you have it, otherwise I’ll stop by the grocer on the way.” She instructed quietly.
“Where are we going?” Matt asked as he started filling garbage bags of any throw blankets and doona’s he could find.
“Whatever large forest is nearby, he will keep fluctuating like this until he’s better, so we need to get him somewhere safe and away from prying eyes.”
“Achooo”
Ivy looked down her eyebrows furrowing in concern, and she shushed Luke gently like one might do for an unwell child.
“Your okay Luke, we’ll get you back to normal soon, I promise.” Within five minutes both Ivy’s and Matt’s cars were packed with anything they deemed might be useful and Luke had grown to a semi average height, but his body was wobbly on his feet, and he felt weak.
They headed to South Mountain Reservation, only a forty-minute drive away that was hopefully not going to be too crowded in the middle of the week, Luke slept in Ivy’s back seat while they drove, in that time he’d only had one other fluctuation but by her estimates had only grown to about 12 feet and he’d scrunched himself further into a ball. She took a deep breath pushing down on the accelerator, almost there.
Once they arrived and parked their cars, Ivy’s main goal was to get Luke into the woods off the beaten track.
“Can you walk?” She asked up to her big brother who currently stood more than twice her height, he gave a slow nod and stepped forward, lucky no one else seemed to be around, they just needed to keep walking.
A short way in Ivy deemed they had walked as far as they would go today, she prayed no rangers would wonder by and follow her brother’s tracks. She turned to see Matt trailing behind them with a few of the garbage bags and then the ground shook with a resounding thud like a tree had fallen.
Ivy turned to see what had happened only to be knocked square in the chest and sent flying a few short feet away, the air knocked out of her and shaking the dizziness from her eyes she saw Luke had now fully grown and lay limp on the forest floor his immense hand resting innocently beside her.
“Fuck, Ivy are you okay?” Matt came rushing over, he’d just barely dodged a car sized shoe as it barrelled toward him, but Ivy hadn’t been so lucky.
Ivy shakily pushed herself to a stand, brushing the leaves out of her hair and pressing her fingers to her ribs searching for any extensive injuries, it had hurt like hell, but nothing was broken, she’d get a few bruises but she’d live.
“I’m fine, not my first rodeo with a delirious giant.” She smiled and waved him off.
“I’ve never seen him sick before, I was beginning to think he couldn’t get sick, well until now.” Matt said staring in astonishment at his large friend, currently unconscious with his face in the dirt.
“This will be the third time that I know of, he doesn’t get sick often but when he does…well you can see.” Her expression softened again, he was going to feel like shit when he woke up, she’d be careful not to mention the close call she and Matt had just experienced.
Working as a team Matt and Ivy managed to get all their supplies to their secluded little area and took turns in patting Luke’s warm temple with cold wet blankets they’d dunked in the river. A short while later Luke began to stir, his vision blurry and his head throbbing, he wracked a wet cough that disturbed the nearby wildlife, but Ivy and Matt kept a safe distance this time.
“Luke?” Ivy called gently, stepping closer to her brothers face in concern.
Luke’s eyes blinked slowly clearing his vision until it settled upon his little sister, she looked so small, there was no fear in her eyes, only concern for him and his heart beat quickened reminding him how lucky he was to have her in his life. Then he noted a purplish bruise along her collar bone and his eyes widened in worry, ready to push himself back and away from her.
Ivy quickly pulled her cardigan around her shoulders tighter to cover the bruise and held a hand up to him stepping closer confidently.
“It’s okay Luke, I’m not hurt, only a few bruises, I’m okay.” She reassured him gently, he brought a hand up to his mouth and coughed as gently as he could to clear his throat.
“D-did I do t-that?” He croakily asked, a finger stretching out toward her and brushing the cardigan off her shoulder.
“I swear I’m fine Luke.” She insisted but Luke wasn’t so easily convinced, a tear fell down his cheek and splashed onto the damp forest floor.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered.
Ivy only sighed, her heart breaking for him, she stepped closer still and pressed her body against his damp cheek, spreading her arms out across his face in a hug. A gesture she’d done so many times throughout her life and came naturally living with a brother who tended to change sizes rather frequently.
He brought his larger hand up behind her and carefully held her to his face, reciprocating the hug all the while repeating ‘sorry’ over and over. The moment between the two siblings was broken however as another body joined the group hug, Matt had flung himself beside Ivy, wriggling himself between the massive fingers and being mindful of the Giant’s nose, his arms spread around Ivy and over his friends cheek.
Luke’s hand pulled away and Ivy and Luke both gave Matt an odd look to which Matt was immediately offended, throwing his arms up in the air and stepping away with a hurt look on his face.
“What! I need hugs too you know!” Matt said in exasperation.
“Aww were you feeling left out?” Ivy teased, hand on her hip as she leant against her brother’s face.
With a mischievous smirk on his lips, Luke quickly scooped Matt up in one hand and brought him to his chest, turning to lay on his back he pressed Matt against his shirt in a tight but not too tight squeeze.
“You should have just said so.” Luke laughed, while Matt squirmed in his grasp.
“Alright, alright! Hug time’s over now!” Matt banged his fists on the warm surface underneath him until the Giant relented and removed his hand.
Amidst the laughter that kept Matt from gaining footing on his friend’s chest, he noticed a change in the rhythm of the quakes, almost like he was going to…
“Ahhhh, ahhhh.” Luke pinched his nose and Matt practically dived off of his chest, rolling onto the ground.
“Choooooo!” Luke leaned to the side sneezing in the opposite direction of Matt and Ivy and successfully stripping a nearby tree completely of its leaves.
Ivy walked around him carefully and held up a large blue bedsheet as though it were a hanky, he took it gratefully and proceeded to loudly blow his nose while the smaller people around him covered their ears.
“I’m sorry guys, this all sucks.” Luke groaned, he pushed himself up and sat crossed legged looking down miserably at the two people who cared about him the most.
“Hey at least you didn’t sneeze on me this time.” Matt smiled, trying to cheer his friend up.
Luke cringed, he had been so out of it at the apartment and had almost forgotten that embarrassing experience, at least Matt seemed okay.
“Sorry.” Luke muttered yet again.
Matt rolled his eyes. “Quit saying your sorry, none of this is your fault, your just sick.”
“I don’t get sick.” Luke said firmly to which Ivy just raised her eyebrows.
“Oh, so the cough of 2010 was just you teaching the horse how to fly was it?” Ivy quipped.
“Okay fine, I don’t get sick often, not like you guys do.” Luke mumbled, and it was true, he would bet any money that his strong immune system was all because of his unique ability, however that didn’t mean he never got sick. And when he did, it was bad.
“Even superhero’s get sick dude, remember that episode of Smallville! This is just like that!” Matt said excitedly comparing the two vastly different scenarios.
“Once again, I’m not a superhero and I’m certainly not Clark Kent.” Luke pinched the bridge on his nose and sighed, his stomach gave a groan and he realised he hadn’t eaten all day. “Did you bring any food? I’m starving.”
Ivy nodded. “We did…do you think your able to shift? I’d like to give you some medicine as well but I’d prefer to give it to you when you’re a bit smaller and not likely to overdose if I give you too much.”
Luke concentrated, unlike last time where he was borderline conscious, he was able to focus his body to shrink to his average human height without getting dizzy.
“Alright let’s get some food and meds into you now then before you fluctuate again.” Ivy said grasping his arm and leading him over to the small fire they had made, she wrapped him up in a warm blanket, handing him a bowl of vegetable soup and a handful of pills.
Once he’d finished his bowl to satisfaction, Ivy took it from him and laid a hand over his forehead, sighing with relief. “Your fevers broken, thank god.” She said.
Now that the worst seemed to be over, the three of them sat in contented silence, watching the fire and chewing on jerky.
“So… I’ve been thinking about names…” Matt said into the open air, Ivy turned to peer at him curiously. “Names?”
“No.” Was all Luke said, knowing full well his best friend was about to try and give him a superhero name….again!
“Just hear me out!” Matt insisted.
“What names? What the hell are you two talking about?” Ivy snapped, currently agitated that she was somehow not included in this inside joke of theirs.
“Luke’s superhero name.” Matt said wiggling his eyebrows to which Luke just held his face in his hands in embarrassment.
“Ooooooh I like this game!” Ivy said giddy in her seat and rubbing her hands together. “How about Ant Man!”
Matt looked at her like she was crazy. “Ivy, that name is already taken, you have to be original, I was thinking ‘Shifter’.”
“Giganta!?”
“Expando!”
“Proportio!”
“Oh my god! Stop! Both of you!” Luke groaned. “It just sounds like your saying spells from Harry Potter now.”
Ivy and Matt laughed together at Luke’s expense, he was too sick and too tired to argue with them further on the subject. They continued to list stupid names and when Luke had had enough, he announced that he was going to bed. He stood and carefully pulled his sleeping bag a good distance from the fire, just in case he grew in the night when the pills wore off.
As much as they were bugging him, he wouldn’t risk turning them both into pancakes in his sleep.
Ivy and Matt sat up talking and catching up for a little while longer and Luke was just about to drift off to sleep when soft footsteps crunched through the leaves on the ground as they approached him. Without a word, Ivy took off her shoes lifting the corner of the sleeping bag and wriggled in beside him just as they had done as kids.
Luke always had a twin sized sleeping bag, he was always afraid of growing in the night, and figured better to have a larger one he can get out of quickly if he did start to grow. Ivy was also not very big, her slim frame left heaps of room between them so they were both comfortable.
“What are you doing?” Luke asked her, as she turned in the sleeping bag to face him, she buried her face in his chest and he wrapped her arms around her. He hadn’t known till now just how much he missed his little sister and how grateful he was that she was here right now.
“I was worried something might happen in the night.” She said matter-of-factly.
“Yeah, I could grow and hurt you…again.” He said quietly.
“Or you could shrink and become an owls next meal, I’m a light sleeper, I’ll wake either way if anything happens.” She insisted.
He gave her a kiss on the forehead, brushing away her curls, the same shade of brown as his own and breathed a contented sigh.
“Thank you, Ivy.” He whispered.
“Any time bro, also just for the record, I always believed you’d be a superhero.”
“Not you too.” Luke sighed impatiently. “Just, go to sleep.”
There was silence once more and Luke really did think that Ivy had gone off to sleep, so he let his own breathes even out before unconsciousness took a hold of him. However, Ivy was not yet asleep and instead holding back laughter as she said the final words of the night.
“Goodnight… Expando.”
What's Wrong With You Sketch
This scene appears in my story 'What's Wrong With you' where Luke is dumped by his boyfriend because he's asexual basically.
Poor Luke feels an overwhelming sense of shame and loss because the person he thought loved him decided he wasn't enough. Matt comforts Luke and begrudgingly shares some ice cream.
These two are just too lovely for their own good, I'm glad they have each other's backs and I needed that visual!
Running Into Fire
A Luke and Matt sizeshifter short story, this story takes place immediately after 'Be the Hero'.
TW: Life threatening scenarios involving being trapped in a burning building, some swearing, mentions of self-hate and shame
Approx 4.2k words
“Come on dude please! This will be so good for your image!” Matt was pacing the living room practically giddy with excitement; he was shaking like a squirrel on caffeine.
Luke on the other hand was largely less enthused, mostly embarrassed, and deadly scared of revealing his unique abilities to anyone else, he’d already let too many people see what he was capable of in the last few months.
“Matt I can’t, I can’t just go around shifting for the whole world to see, you don’t get it.”
Matt raised his eyebrows, he wasn’t going to let this drop, it had been two weeks since the incident at the bank and Matt was convinced, he was now somewhat of a vigilante. Luke had used his size shifting abilities during a bank robbery, the robber had turned suicidal when it was clear there was no sign of escape and had set a bomb.
Luke, thinking quickly had shifted into his larger size of approximately 60 feet to smother the bomb and apprehend the criminal. The police had then discovered what was going on and promised Luke they would keep his secret, for which he was grateful.
Matt on the other hand was only convinced further that Luke should continue to use his powers for fighting crime.
“Honestly Luke what the hell is the point in having kickass superpowers if you aren’t ever gonna use them!”
“I’m not a superhero Matt, I’m a freak of nature and this has to be kept a secret.” Luke stood then, feeling his blood pressure rise with the feeling of anger, he didn’t want to fight with Matt, but he was becoming increasingly more frustrated by the minute.
Another reason Luke couldn’t rely on his own abilities, though he had some semblance of control to shift at will, his shifting was also controlled by his heightened emotions.
Feelings such as anger or stress could cause him to grow and feelings of sadness and exhaustion would make him shrink, all out of his control, if he didn’t have a handle on his emotions.
“I’ve kept your secret Luke, and I don’t plan on going around revealing your powers to the world, but I at least think you should be using them to save people.” Matt was firm, his arms crossed over his chest, all excitement of a child gone in an attempt to help his friend see his own potential.
“Fuck man you don’t seem to understand that if this gets out, people will come after me, either the general public who think I’m dangerous or the government who will see me as a science project. I won’t be helping anyone if I’m locked up in some government facility.” Luke pushed his fingers through his short brown locks.
“This isn’t like in the movies Matt, superheroes aren’t real, in real life freaks like me need to stay hidden, for our own protection and for the protection of others.” Sighing deeply, Luke finished his rant, he wasn’t usually a man of very many words, but he needed to get Matt to understand this.
“Fine, whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night.” The tall blonde walked away from the conversation, it was clear they were not going to agree on this tonight, but he knew his friend and he knew that when push comes to shove, he would be the hero.
Luke fell back into the soft cushions of the couch, he didn’t feel like he’d won that, and he knew he hadn’t, but at least for now Matt would drop the issue and stop sketching potential superhero disguises for him.
Luke and Matt had known each other since they were in the first grade and had been thick as thieves since. When Lukes abilities made themselves known when he was six years old, he was sworn by his parents to keep it a secret even from his best friend, so it wasn’t until high school that Matt actually learned of Luke’s gift and even that had been by accident.
Luke had been stressed about a major test and feeling the tightness in his body and the push of shifting coursing through him all day, when the test was over, he had bolted into the forest that backed onto the school oval so he could shift.
He had not expected anyone to follow him, but he was grateful that it had been Matt and not someone else, though it had been a scary revelation for Matt he had quickly overcome his fears and was stoked to be in on the secret. Luke had felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders that he didn’t have to hide a huge part of who he was from his best friend.
Now some 10 years later, both of them in their mid-twenties and sharing an apartment in New York, still best friends and trying to lead a somewhat normal life, this had clearly grown boring for Matt though.
Matt was the more charismatic of the two where Luke was the quiet nerdy type, overly emotional and anxious as all hell, which didn’t bode well for him considering the nature of his abilities.
Luke’s biggest fear is still to lose control of his abilities and hurt someone he cares about, there had been way too many close calls throughout the course of his life so far and it was so easy to lose control. He couldn’t let that happen, and if he were to play the superhero then the probability of something going horribly wrong was much higher, he couldn’t risk it.
“Why can’t I just be fucking normal.” Luke sighed through gritted teeth; life would be so much simpler.
A loud explosion sounded nearby, shaking Luke from his self-depreciating thoughts, the crash could be felt like an earthquake through the floor and rattled the windows. Quickly jumping to the window, he could see flames coming from a nearby apartment building, only a block or two away, it looked as though a few cars had crashed into the building followed by an explosion.
Hearing the quick pads of feet down the hall he turned to see Matt had emerged with his shoes on and a hoodie over his pajama top.
“Oh, hell no.” Luke said, already knowing exactly what Matt was thinking.
“We will get there faster than the emergency services Luke, we have to go and help.” Matt was already heading for the door, his hand on the doorknob.
“I’m not doing it Matt; I won’t shift in front of all those people.”
Matt sighed turning away from him, clearly still either pissed or just disappointed in him, he opened the door as he spoke “I’m not asking you too, I’m going to go and help, whether you come with me or not, that’s what good people do.”
Matt closed the door behind him, and Luke turned his pale blue eyes skyward as if the ceiling might provide him with a reasonable excuse to stay in his apartment. Groaning loudly, he pushed off from the window to put his shoes on.
He wouldn’t let his friend go alone with the potential that he could and would recklessly put his own life in danger to help, he was the real hero after all, Luke was the coward.
Luke quickly raced down the two flights of stairs and chased after Matt who was already approaching the smoky scene. Now seeing things up close, it was clear that two cars had crashed into each other before rolling into the building and crashing into what must have been a gas pipe.
The six-story building was in flames, four of the six floors already engulfed with the fire rapidly escalating higher by the minute, many residents of the building were standing outside already disheveled and, in their nightwear, crying and hugging each other.
“Is everyone out? Has anyone called 911?” Matt was asking the crowd, a few people were on their phones already, presumably calling emergency services.
“No, there’s an elderly couple on the sixth floor, I can’t see them, there’s also a family with kids and I think a few others, I can’t see them anywhere they must be still inside, of god I wish they would hurry!” A stocky woman shouted, she had short, cropped hair and was clutching a small dog to her chest sobbing into his fur.
Matt nodded at the woman before running towards the entry way into the apartment, Luke followed after him grabbing his arm to pull him back.
“No fucking way Matt, there’s no way I let you go in there.” Matt tugged on his arm trying to shake Luke off of him, he had a sharp look in his hazel eyes.
“I’m not gonna just stand here and watch it burn, the firefighters are ten minutes away, they’ll be dead by then.”
“And you’ll be dead too, fuck!” Look shut his eyes tightly thinking of a way to get those people out, they couldn’t go up from the bottom, it was already unstable and engulfed by flame, they needed to go in from the top. He had a plan, but he didn’t like it.
“Damnit Matt, come with me, quickly!” He shouted at his friend pulling him around the corner and into the shadow of the neighboring building.
“We do this quickly okay, I’ll shift and let you in to the sixth floor, get the people to the window and I’ll carry them down and then we go before emergency services get here, got it?”
Without waiting for his friend to respond he quickly shot up to his 65-foot height, he pulled his hoodie over his face to hopefully hide his identity from onlookers, he then knelt down in front of his friend, laying his hand palm up for Matt to climb onto.
It never ceased to amaze Matt each time he saw his best friend grow into a literal giant, but there was no time to stare slack jawed, he quickly climbed on sitting with crossed legs in the center of the massive palm as it rose into the air.
With only a brief moment to hesitate, Luke carefully stepped out of the shadows of the building and rounded the corner, his footsteps quaked the ground below him and the multitude of gasps from the ground made him flinch. Ignoring the gawking stares, he went straight up to the building trying his best to keep his steps light lest he cause the unstable building to collapse.
At his impressive height of 65 feet, he stood eye level with the windows of the sixth floor, carefully and mindful of his small passenger he raised his hand up to the sixth floor, knocking one of the windows with the tip of his finger to break it and allow Matt to enter.
Once his hand was level with one of the windows, Matt stood and jumped through the open window, immediately shouting to anyone that might be there.
“If your still up here, shout out, make a noise, we need to get you out of here now!”
With nothing else to do but anxiously wait while the crowd of small people below him stared up at him in most likely fear, he fiddled with the edge of his hood and tried his best not to look at them.
He could feel their stares though, and the click of photographs being taken.
In the distance he could hear sirens and he cursed under his breathe.
“Come on Matt.” Luke muttered impatiently.
As if reading his mind, Matt made an appearance at the window, he had an elderly woman in a nightgown on his left with her arm over his shoulder for support and an elderly man on his right also leaning against him and coughing from the smoke in the air.
Luke raised his hand to the window, making it level and flush against the side of the building so it was easier for them to step onto, the woman looked up probably expecting to see a fireman and a ladder but instead was greeted with large blue eyes peering in.
She screamed bloody murder and clung to Matt, urging him to back away from the window.
“Ma’am it’s okay, he’s a friend, we are here to help I promise.” He assured her.
“M-monster!” She wailed, Luke’s heart skipped a beat at the word, he’d always referred to himself as a monster, a freak but never once had he heard someone cry that name at him before, not his family, not Matt, not even the frightened onlookers during the bank incident.
The word pierced through him, and he hesitated, he didn’t want to force them to do something they didn’t want to do, he knew what it felt like to literally put your life in someone else’s hands, and they didn’t know him and had no reason to trust him.
Matt rubbed the woman’s back soothingly, while the old man stood silently, his shirt pulled over his mouth so he could breathe easier, he stared at Luke as if calculating if it was worth the risk.
At that very moment Matt had just managed to calm down the old woman when there was more commotion behind him and soon a young woman with two young children, a little girl of around six years old and an older boy maybe ten, came into view of the window. The mother skidded in her tracks when she took in the scene before her, backing away towards the fiery hallway they had just come from.
“No wait!” Matt cried, quickly becoming frustrated with everyone’s hesitance towards his friend.
“Listen! This is Luke! He’s a friend, I swear, we only want to get you down from this building, you only have to trust him for one minute then I swear you can walk away!”
The mother and two children walked a little closer, but the old woman was firm in place.
“Do you want to wait for the fire fighters to get here and risk your lives while you wait or do you want to get down now!”
That was enough to convince the young mother and she skirted around the wailing woman, she then helped her children up onto the ledge and onto the awaiting palm, once seated in the center she held both her children close to her.
Luke raised his other hand as a sort of safety ledge before carefully pulling his hands away from the building and lowering the small family to the ground.
Another round of gasps erupted from the people around him and he kept his head tilted downwards in hopes that no one would get a good angle of his face. Once his hand was on the ground, he moved his other away from the family so they could step off easily, his eyes met the little girls, she reminded him so much of his own little sister when he was younger.
The young woman stood on shaky legs and pulled her children along with her, Luke had to suppress the automatic impulse to flinch from the feeling of small limbs tickling his sensitive palm. The little girl toddled after her mother and gave him a little wave, her other hand gripping a small brown bear to her chest.
“Thank you, Luke.” She said, her voice so quiet he almost didn’t hear it, he nodded once to her before he addressed the growing crowd.
“I’m gonna stand up again.” He muttered, he knew his voice no matter how soft would carry and echo through the streets, he felt he at least owed them a little warning.
Then standing again, he raised his hand once more to the window ledge, the fire had entered the room now and the woman still stood shaking her head, now however the old man was at her side also trying to convince her to get on.
“Come on Brenda love, we can’t stay here.”
Matt had had enough though, he approached the window trying to get a glimpse of the emergency services, he could hear them getting faintly louder, still a minute or two away, but the building could give way at any second.
“Luke your gonna have to grab her.”
Luke gulped audibly, not only did he really not want to do that, but he hated grabbing anyone against their will, even holding the robber in a firm fist had made him feel sick to his stomach. No one should have their free will taken from them like that, especially a frightened old woman.
“Matt, you can’t ask me to, I can’t.”
“Do it lad, she won’t listen to reason, please help us out of here.” The old man spoke up then, his wife was in a state of panic and not listening to anything happening around her, there was no way to convince her to get on his hand willingly and Matt couldn’t lift her onto it on his own.
The building groaned and that made up his decision, they had to do this now.
“Okay, alright, you two get on first.” The old man wasted no time, he climbed on and sat himself down holding on tight to Luke’s thumb that had curled into his palm, Matt hopped on shortly after.
Luke moved them towards his chest, so they had some kind of shield from the drop below before his other hand crowded the window, the old woman was backing up, but she wasn’t fast enough for the large appendage that invaded the small space of the room.
She screamed so loudly that it could surely be heard from a few blocks away, Luke held his breathe, hating himself as his fingers wrapped around her frail frame, he held her in a loose fist, not wanting to squeeze too tightly on her fragile body.
Then as carefully as he could he pulled her from the building, he knelt down once more, letting off his two passengers and carefully opening his other hand next to Matt so he could help her if she was unstable.
Luke hadn’t realized until now, but the old woman had become silent in his hand, as he let her go, Matt caught her and lowered her onto the ground.
A deafening groan came from the building behind them, and Luke turned to see the sixth floor begin to collapse, he stood and stretched his arms out hoping to shield the civilians from the crash, He pushed the building upright with a grunt and then let it concave in on itself. God, he hoped that they had gotten everyone out.
The dust and smoke filtered out through the streets, causing the people on the sidelines to cough and choke, it was then that the fire truck rounded the corner, screeching tires and sirens blazing casting the site in red and blue light. Luke decided to pay them no mind, they were late to the scene, and he had other things to worry about now.
Once he was sure the building wouldn’t fall further into the crowd, he turned back to Matt and the elderly woman on the ground, his eyes widened when he saw that Matt was pushing his hands into her chest, performing CPR.
All colour drained from Luke’s face and he crouched down so his face was hovering over them, Matt’s brow was slick with sweat from the exertion.
“W-what happened? D-did I-?”
“I think she had a heart attack.” Matt panted as he continued pressing rhythmically into her chest.
“No no no.” Luke muttered, he thought for sure his own heart had stopped, this is what he feared most, he’d actually done it, he’d hurt someone, unintentionally but nevertheless proved he was indeed what she had called him, a monster.
“Step back!” A burly looking man pushed through the crowed, he held a first aid kit and a portable defibrillator slinging across his chest and an ambulance emblem on his uniform, he must be a paramedic.
“Suspected heart attack, she’s been unresponsive for about a minute.” Matt told the paramedic as he took over, Matt was a paramedic also but obviously off duty, he helped the man cut the woman’s shirt down the middle before sticking two defibrillation tabs onto her chest.
“Clear!” The man shouted before proceeding to shock the woman, her body jolted, and a deafening single beep resounded. He rebooted the device and went for it once again, jolting her body, it felt like time stood still as everyone waited to listen to the beeping of her heart.
“Beep, beep, beep.” A rhythm, Luke exhaled a breath he didn’t know he had been holding, the breeze blew the hair of those directly under his looming face, and then the paramedic looked up at him.
“He’s cool.” Matt said, he spoke to the man with familiarity, like they knew each other, they probably did seeing as Matt was also a paramedic.
“I don’t wanna know man.” He shook his head and waved for them to get out of there, Luke wasted no time, he stood without waiting for Matt to follow, rounded the corner and when he saw no one was looking he shrunk back to an average height of 6 foot 5.
Matt jogged around the corner to catch up with him and immediately pulled his mate into a tight hug.
“Luke, I don’t care what you say or what you think, you’re a hero, those people would not still be alive without you.”
Luke couldn’t shake the image of the old woman, literally scared to death, he may have actually killed her had Matt not been there to start CPR she would still be dead.
“Heroes don’t kill people Matt.” He said quietly, he couldn’t meet Matt’s eyes, instead he only stared at his hands like they were alien to him. “let’s just go.” Luke turned away from his friend and walked slowly toward their apartment, the shaky feeling of adrenalin leaving his body and now all he wanted to do was sleep for a week.
“Come on man, don’t blame yourself.” But he could tell that he wasn’t hearing him, he knew Luke felt responsible for the old woman Brenda’s near-death experience.
“The stress from the fire, inhaling all that smoke, and probably partly you all contributed to her heart attack, you didn’t kill her Luke, she’s breathing, she will live to breathe another day because of you.”
Luke couldn’t hear him, the woman’s screams drowning out any other sounds to his ears, the look of sheer terror on her face and the way she writhed in his grasp before she ceased moving all together, and then the way she hung limp against his fingers. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, couldn’t shake those thoughts and feelings from his mind.
“Luke!” He turned sharply to tell Matt to quit with the lecture already when he realized he had to look up at his friend’s face, currently staring squarely at Matt’s chest and definitely not the height he should be.
He let a tear fall down his cheek then, he should have expected this, he could feel himself feeling more and more down about himself, beating himself up until he felt raw inside. This is what he felt he deserved after all, after being a dangerous giant, he deserved to be weak and small now, at the mercy of large hands other than his own.
“Oh, Luke buddy.” Matt sighed, watching his friend slowly dwindle in height until he stood no taller than his ankle, at which point Luke collapsed to his knees and buried his face in his hands, large sobs wracking his small body.
Matt looked around the street to ensure no one else was around, everyone nearby was too busy focused on the fire and supporting the victims and witnesses of the event. He then knelt down in front of Luke and laid out a palm for him much like Luke had done for him only ten minutes ago.
“Come on dude, let’s get you home.” Luke crawled on hands and knees into the safety of his best friends warm and slightly sweaty palm. Matt had bore witness to his shifting abilities in all its forms and was well versed in handling his friend when he was this small.
Matt carefully raised Luke up to his chest and held him securely there, blocking him from view with his other hand from anyone who might walk by or look out their windows. All they would see was a hooded young man holding something to his chest, they would probably assume he’d been to a drug deal or something, but he didn’t care what they thought as long as he kept his friend safe.
Once inside the apartment, Matt asked Luke if he wanted to stay up and talk about what happened, hoping to raise his friends spirits enough for him to grow back but Luke only shook his head requesting to be put on his bed for the night. Matt reluctantly let him go, not wanting to push the issue any further before heading to his own bed.
That night both friends slept like the dead and Luke wondered if being a hero would ever become easier.
One Year Anniversary!
It has officially been one year since my OC's Luke and Matt popped into my head and I began sharing their shenanigans with all of you on Tumblr!
It's actually been a little over a year but I've been away on holidays and only just now available to start being active again!
To celebrate their one year anniversary, I did a sketch from 'What The Actual' where Matt discovers Luke's size shifting abilities for the first time.
It's not perfect and Matt looks much more fem than intended but I'm pretty happy with it!
I also have a few stories lined up and ready for editing before publishing them here so stay tuned!
I just want to say a big thank you to my lovely little following on here, interacting with my posts, sending asks (I'm slowly working through replying I promise!) and engaging with me and my characters. A year ago I never would have thought that anyone would be interested or enjoy my stories at all and yet here we are. I wouldn't have had the motivation to get this far without all of you so thank you all so much!
I also want to say that because I love this community so dearly, I am open to doing suggested stories for free, either in an ask or feel free to DM me, I only ask that you stick to SFW stories, intimacy can be implied but shouldn't be explicit.
I can't promise I will write them in any kind of hurry, but as a gift to the community and to my followers I will be taking suggested stories and writing ALL of them! Think of things that you've maybe always wanted to read about in the gt scene, or even more of my characters in certain situations, maybe an idea you've had that you've never been able to get down in words, I'm open to any as long as they are SFW and I will write them all.
Free suggested stories will be open for 3 weeks from today, 6th of November they will end. I will begin writing them from today, I'll have a rough list and will post as they are finished, warning this process may take several months but my promise to you is that they will all get done.
So happy Luke and Matt-aversary! Get your creative thinking caps on, because I will be writing!
Taglist:
@da3dm
@smolcomfycat
@satethesatelite
@coffehbeans
What happends if Luke actually hurts someone? If he gets really angry and do something he dosen't want to do?
This ask has been in my asks a while! Anon I am sorry! But you are also the winner of the poll!
Now this ask inspired this story but I also didn't stick to the ask completely, so Luke is angry, but he definitely wants to do what he does in this story.
Figuring out an excuse for Luke to be angry in the first place was difficult and probably why I left this ask for so long, but then I was reminded that Luke would do anything for his little sister. So what could cause Luke to become so angry? In protecting his little sister, this would make Luke act in all kinds of ways that are not his usual. So this is Luke vs The Boyfriend!
TW: misogyny, emotional abuse, gaslighting
Approx 3.9k words
Luke vs The Boyfriend
It just always seemed so far away to Luke, but Lakewood New Jersey was only an hour and a half drive away, he didn’t often drive out there to see his sister and for that he held a lot of guilt. Each time he drove to visit Ivy in her cute little cottage he would be once again reminded that it wasn’t far away at all and that he should be visiting her more often.
He pulled up to her driveway and noted that beside her little blue corolla was a black pick-up truck that he’d never seen before. Nervousness pinched at Luke’s stomach, he hadn’t been prepared to meet any of Ivy’s friends, he’d hoped for a quiet weekend catching up with his sister.
Pushing the feeling away from his mind, he stepped out of his own car, slung his bag over his shoulder and walked up the few wooden steps onto the narrow porch before knocking on the door.
“Luke!” Ivy had flung the door open and immediately wrapped her arms around his middle squeezing him tightly.
Luke’s smile widened and he pulled his sister in tighter resting his chin on the top of her head.
“It’s so good to see you Ivy and I love what you’ve done with the garden, last time I was here it was dying and now look at it!” Luke let his sister go and they both turned to the front garden.
The bushes on either side of the driveway were now green and evenly shaped, flowers sprouted in amongst the garden beds and there wasn’t a weed in sight, Luke was impressed, he’d never thought Ivy to be much of a green thumb girl.
“I’m so glad you like it, Riley worked really hard on it, you know I’m hopeless when it comes to plants.” She laughed a musical laugh and Luke looked down to her with an eyebrow raised.
“Riley? A new friend?” He asked carefully.
“Riley is my boyfriend.” Ivy said not missing a beat, she made to usher him inside, but Luke was frozen for a moment.
“You never mentioned a boyfriend.” Was all Luke could think to say.
It wasn’t like Ivy had never had a boyfriend, she’d had a few on and off into her adult life but none that she’d introduced to her family before, it made Luke wonder if maybe this one was serious.
“I didn’t want to tell you over the phone, I knew you’d overthink it.” She smiled and he couldn’t argue with her.
He would have overthought it; he would have gone over and rehearsed the conversations and first impressions a million times before meeting the guy. Luke wished Matt had come with him, he was always better at these kinds of things, now Luke had to do the big brother speech with no backup.
Luke gulped nervously as he followed his sister inside her small home.
When Ivy had first moved in, Luke had thought it to be so perfect for her, it was a wood cottage painted white, small with only two bedrooms and a cosy living area, but the best part was that it backed onto a small creek surrounded by trees. Stepping outside you could almost imagine you weren’t in a small-town street but hidden away in a forest.
She’d set up some tables and lawn chairs in the lush grass and completed the scene with a rope swing hanging from a tree, a place he knew she would sit in often reading a book or just taking in the scenery around her.
Inside Ivy’s home was usually a disaster zone but in the most Ivy way possible, on every wall hung her latest painting, every available surface area was full of craft supplies of all sorts and the floors were usually covered with plastic tablecloths to catch any mess she made. Ivy was always good at making a mess, and Luke thought she made such a beautiful mess, but her house was far from messy right now.
The floors were cleared to reveal dark wooden floorboards, all the surfaces were neat and tidied sporting candles and photos instead of clutter and the walls only had one or two of her own paintings.
“Where have all your paintings gone? Did you sell some?” Luke asked as he looked around curiously.
“Most of them wouldn’t sell so we gave them away.” A new voice said, a man around Luke’s age stepped into the living room, he was only a little shorter than Luke, broad shouldered and muscular as though he’d spent a lot of time at the gym.
“I’m Riley, you must be Luke.” Riley held out a thick hand for Luke to shake, Luke accepted the handshake on auto pilot.
Riley appeared very casual, he wore jeans and a black ‘Band of Brothers’ T-shirt, his blonde hair was combed back, a smirk seemed to leave a wrinkle on the left side of his mouth.
“Uh yeah, nice to meet you.” Luke said, still taking in the man and trying to get a read on him.
“The house was getting too cluttered, so I decided to do some spring cleaning.” Ivy explained breezily as though it were nothing.
“Clutter!? Ha! More like a bomb had gone off in here babe!” Riley laughed loudly and pulled her against him, Ivy let out a small laugh and then patted Riley on the chest.
“I’m gonna finish up with dinner, Luke do you wanna help me in the kitchen?” Ivy asked hopefully to her brother.
“Yea-“
“I think Luke would prefer to have a beer with me, we gotta get to know each other after all.” Riley’s smirk deepened, it seemed the only way this man knew how to smile was through a smirk.
Without getting much say in the matter Luke was steered outside and was soon sat down on one of the lawn chairs with a can of beer in hand.
Luke wasn’t sure what to think about Riley, something inside of him was telling him that there was something off about this man, his loudness, his smirk, the way he talked over Ivy, none of it sat well with Luke and he wasn’t really sure what to do about it. Or perhaps he was simply over thinking it, hating the guy on sight simply because he has dating his sister.
“So what do you do for work Riley?” Luke asked, figuring if they were going to get to know each other, best to start the conversation off.
“I’m a landscaper, did this place too actually, that’s how Ivy and I met, I saw the mess out the front and couldn’t walk past it, so knocked on the door and when Ivy opened it I fell in love, I knew right then that she was my kind of woman if you know what I mean?” Riley gave him a suggestive sort of look and Luke fought the urge not to look at him like the man had three heads, instead Luke gave him a polite nod.
Luke wasn’t sure what Riley’s kind of woman was, but Riley definitely wasn’t Ivy’s sort of man, at least he hoped he wasn’t.
“And you’re a teacher, aren’t you?” Riley asked when Luke said nothing in response.
“Uh yeah, Elementary school teacher.” Luke answered taking a sip of his disgustingly bitter beer.
Luke wasn’t one to drink much at all, it made keeping his shifting ability under control pretty difficult, not to mention he hated beer, he’d much prefer a white wine or something sweeter in general.
“Any hot schoolteachers you got going on the side, my middle school teacher Miss Evens still gives me a boner just thinkin about her.” Riley quirked an eyebrow and Luke spat out his drink.
“Dinner’s ready!” Ivy called from inside, saving Luke from having to answer such a question.
Not only was he not interested in any of his colleagues like that, but he was gay and asexual which judging from Riley’s comment, he did not know, this made Luke wonder if he should keep that knowledge to himself.
Luke was first out of the lawn chair and headed inside to Ivy with the strong urge to be near her and to be anywhere but near Riley.
Ivy was busy setting plates onto her small dining room table and she smiled warmly at Luke when she spotted him in the doorway.
“I made your favourite.” Ivy said sweeping a hand toward the steaming tray of lasagne.
“And no, I didn’t make it from scratch, it’s a store bought one so don’t worry.” She said teasingly, Luke laughed with her, she had never been much of a cook, though it surprised him that she hadn’t made it from scratch anyway.
Ivy being the creative person she was, would experiment with meals all the time, she enjoyed cooking she just wasn’t all that great at it, Luke never minded though. He would eat whatever she had baked for him as a child, assuring her that it was great and then teasing her about it later when she’d tried it for herself.
“It looks great.” He said politely, for some reason he felt as though he couldn’t really be himself here anymore, not with Riley right there and he felt that Ivy was definitely not herself either, something was very wrong.
They sat down at the table, Riley at the head and Ivy and Luke sat side by side, it was quiet except for some odd comments from Riley occasionally. He teased her about buying a lasagne but then also commented on her lack of cooking skills.
Though Luke would also tease her for such things, the way that Riley said it seemed demeaning and purposefully hurtful. Though Ivy laughed good naturedly each time, Luke noted the small slump in her shoulders.
When dinner was done, Luke excused himself to turn in early for the night using the excuse that it had been a long day at work and he was tired from the drive. He lay on his bed in the spare room with his eyes wide open and lost in thought, how could he tell Ivy that this guy wasn’t right for her. Who was he to say who was right for her?
At some point in the night, everything had gone quiet, presumably everyone had gone to sleep and then there was a small creak of the back door. Luke padded over to the window to see Ivy tip toeing barefoot across the grass and taking a seat on her swing, she folder her legs up onto the seat and wrapped the blanket around her shoulders tighter leaning against the rope of the swing.
As quietly as he could manage, Luke snuck through the hallway and followed Ivy out the back door, quietly he approached her, not wanting to surprise her he tread a little more loudly and then sat on the stump beside the swing. She still started a little upon seeing him there but relaxed almost immediately when she realised it was her brother.
“Can’t sleep?” He asked her, he wanted to just come right out and tell her she was being an idiot and that Riley was a piece of shit but he felt like that wasn’t really what she needed to hear right now.
She nodded her head, her wavy brown hair falling into her eyes before she blew it away as though it were a nuisance.
“They never tell you this, but I’ve found the hardest part of living with a partner is sleeping next to them.” She said thoughtfully. “Like I’m half awake and every time he moves it wakes me up, how in the world do people sleep next to other people?”
“Well, I’m not an expert on the subject, but I think people make all sorts of sacrifices for the ones they love.” Luke offered and she gave him a tired sort of smile.
“I suppose your right.” She said almost sadly. “How’s Matt anyway? You two officially a thing yet?” She added with a teasing smirk, changing the subject.
Luke felt his ears, cheeks and every inch of his skin get hot at that out of left field comment.
“W-what!? Matt’s my best friend! We are not- there’s nothing-we are not officially anything except for friends!” Luke fumbled around hurriedly for a response, Ivy just laughed, a real laugh, not the timid fake laugh she had been doing around Riley.
Luke pushed at her swing indignantly but couldn’t help the small smile forming on his own lips at seeing her so happy at his demise.
“Sure! Whatever you say Luke, but just so you know most ‘best friends’ don’t fall asleep on the couch together like this!” She held up her phone with a photo of he and Matt laying on the couch.
Matt was lying on his back and Luke snuggled up with his head on Matt’s bare chest, a quilted blanket lay over both of them and a small trail of drool could be seen at the corner of Luke’s mouth.
Luke remembered that night, Ivy had come over to stay for the weekend and the three of them had stayed up trying to get through a Lord of the Rings marathon, Luke and Matt had fallen asleep in the second movie. Though it was true they had accidently snuggled together in their sleep, neither had said a word when they woke up and had just carried on like nothing had happened.
“Oh my god! You took a photo of us that night!?” Luke had stopped trying to keep his voice down, his cheeks aflame, his heartrate quickened and though he could feel the tightness in his skin he knew well enough how to keep it under control from a small case of embarrassment.
“I added a filter to it, and this is my screensaver at work.” She said still shaking with laughter and holding up the same picture, except this time it had little red hearts floating about and popping occasionally.
“Ivy!” Luke groaned, reaching desperately for her phone and snatching it from her.
She gave little fight and watched him delete the images all the while still giggling, Luke looked to her with a deadpan expression.
“These aren’t the only copies are they?” He asked, Ivy shook her head bursting into another fitful laugh, wiping at the tears coming to her eyes.
“What’s so funny?”
The laughter died immediately, and both Ivy and Luke turned to see Riley standing on the patio with his arms crossed over his bare chest, he wore only checked pyjama pants and he looked somewhat annoyed.
“I thought you were tired.” Riley said eyes snapping to Luke.
“He was asleep.” Ivy defended. “Luke and I both came out for a drink of water and just got to talking I guess.” Ivy explained quickly, as though she needed to come up with an excuse for talking to her brother.
“Well, I was really worried when you didn’t come back to bed Ivy, you could have told me you were up with Luke or text me or something.” Riley said as though hurt that she’d left his side and wasn’t her own person with free will.
“I’m sorry.” Ivy said rather timidly and not like herself at all.
If Luke had said something like that, not that he ever would, but if he had Ivy would have told him to kindly fuck off.
Something ticked inside of Luke, and he could no longer just stand by, this man wasn’t physically hurting his sister that he was aware of, but he was treating her like a child. He was talking to her as though she were stupid and manipulating her into thinking she was doing something wrong by coming out here to find some peace and maybe have a laugh with her sibling.
Luke’s blood was beginning to boil and the tightness in his skin became more apparent and harder to ignore.
He wouldn’t just stand by and watch this guy strip away everything about his sister, slowly taking apart every piece that made her Ivy until she was an obedient pup.
“You have nothing to be sorry about Ivy, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Luke said through gritted teeth.
Riley raised an eyebrow at Luke as though daring for him to continue. “Excuse me?” He said.
“Luke it’s okay.” Ivy reached out to Luke with a hand ready to reassure him with a pat on his shoulder, but he grasped her hand in his instead and her eyes widened when she noted his hand had eclipsed her own more than it should have.
“No Ivy, it’s not okay, don’t you see the way he’s treating you? The way he talks to you? The way he’s trying to change you? You’re wonderful just the way you are and if he can’t see that then he doesn’t deserve you.” Luke met her wide brown eyes, tears were flooding them and that broke his heart even more.
“I feel like none of this is your business, squirt.” Riley had come closer now and pulled Ivy roughly away from Luke, Riley eyed Luke’s slim frame as though he were thoroughly underwhelmed.
“None of my business? She’s my sister.” Luke was positively fuming, his body was beginning to shake.
“Luke calm down, please, I’m okay really!” Ivy said desperately watching as her brother fought to keep the giant within himself from escaping.
“Blood means nothing, she’s mine, right babe?” Riley took Ivy by her wrist tightly, she let out a small gasp taken by surprise but then looked away not saying a word.
“She’s not a piece of property, let go of her or I swear you’ll regret it.” Luke said dangerously quietly, his body had now become disturbingly still.
“Make me twerp.” Riley smirked again pulling Ivy closer still to him.
“Fine. I will.” Was all Luke said rather calmly before his whole body began to grow at a rapid speed.
His head quickly reached the tops of the trees and he took a knee to the ground not bothering to dull the earthquake like impact he knew he’d made.
He watched with satisfaction as Riley was thrown to the floor, eyes widening as they stared up at him in fear. Luke wrapped a fist around Riley’s small body, trapping his arms painfully to his sides before lifting him up to his face.
“L-let me go! Y-you freak!” Riley was squirming wildly in his grasp, and Luke had to admit he rather enjoyed the feeling of making this man feel small for probably the first time in his miserable life.
“No, I don’t think I will.” Luke said rather matter-of-factly.
“Luke let him go, this isn’t you.” Ivy called up to him and he looked down to see her tear-stained face peering up at him from beside his knee.
“And this isn’t you Ivy, do you really love this jerk enough to let him hurt you?” Luke asked, scared that her answer would be yes and that he’d have to let the man go and leave them both be.
Ivy was quiet for a long moment and Luke took this opportunity to address the frightened man in his fist.
“What do you love about Ivy?” Luke asked him, blue eyes cold.
“I-I do, I love her! She’s the most b-beautiful woman I’ve ever met!” Riley stuttered, he gave a cry as Luke tightened his fist feeling the man’s ribs bend beneath his fingers.
“What else?” Luke pressed, Riley’s breathing became laboured, his face had gone red with pain.
“W-what do y-you mean w-what else!?” Riley cried.
“Put him down Luke.” Ivy said quietly but Luke heard her, he’d always hear her, something in her tone had changed, she wasn’t begging or crying with emotion, she’d deflated.
Luke dropped Riley a good six feet off the ground, letting the man hit the floor hard and crumble into a ball at his little sister’s feet.
“Love is more than skin deep Riley, I can’t believe I didn’t see it before. You shower me with compliments on my appearance all the time but every other part about me or my personality has annoyed you or angered you. You don’t really love me, you don’t even know me.” Ivy said looking down at his pathetic form shaking on the floor at her feet.
“Get out of my house, I never want to see you again.” This time her voice broke, tears threatened, and her shoulders shook.
Luke scooped her up in his palm, cradling her gently as he rubbed a finger along her spine soothingly.
“You heard her.” Luke said sharply at Riley who was trying to pick himself up off the floor.
With some effort Riley managed to stumble to his feet, clutching his middle, he whimpered and limped toward the side gate, shortly after they heard the sound of his pick-up truck starting and then driving away.
Luke let out a deep breath, adrenalin making him feel shaky and he held Ivy to his chest in a hug, she was still sobbing. Riley may not have really loved her, but Luke knew that she had been in love with Riley and had been trying to make it work.
“I’m sorry Luke, I’m such an idiot.” She sniffled, Luke’s fingers trailed along her shoulder, and he shushed her gently.
“You are not an idiot Ivy, sometimes our hearts make bad choices for us.” He began gently. “I’ve done the same and fallen for the kind words and ignored the hurtful comments, it leaves us feeling hollow and constantly seeking their praise and approval.” Luke’s memory flickered to Jason.
Jason and Luke had been dating for a while, Luke had been absolutely smitten by him, and each time Jason had pushed him to do something out of his comfort zone, Luke had felt like that’s what he had to do because of how much he loved him. He had been wrong though, Jason hadn’t truly loved him and he’d left him when it became clear that he wasn’t going to be able to change Luke, it had been hurtful and Luke had cried just as Ivy was now.
“You are strong, you are loud, you are talented, messy and annoying.” Luke began again, Ivy looked up at him as though he were not helping. “All of those things make you who you are Ivy, embrace them, and anyone who can’t accept them, isn’t worth your time.”
“I know, you’re right.” She sniffled. “Thank you.” She whispered.
Luke knew there would be a long road of healing and acceptance to come from this, but he would be there for her, even if he had to start visiting every weekend, he would be there.
When Luke finally got home late on Sunday night Matt was up and waiting for him.
He’d received Luke’s text about his concerns around Ivy’s new boyfriend and he’d been dying to hear the tea all weekend.
“What happened!? Tell me everything!” Matt declared as soon as he’d heard the front door shut, without even a hello, he practically pushed Luke into the living room, turned on the kettle and waited for Luke to begin.
Luke shook his head at his energetic puppylike human of a roommate, he sat down on the couch and gave Matt a withering look.
“Well, I think I mastered the intimidating big brother speech…” Luke said wincing at the memory.
Matt’s hazel eyes widened, and a huge smile spread across his face, he didn’t even bother to wait for the kettle, instead he plonked himself down right beside Luke.
“Oh My God, you didn’t! This I gotta hear!”
