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Swapped

Summary: The gang heads down to the annual fair and enters a magic show that turns out to be a little too real. When the witch believes the humans are keeping the borrowers captive, sizes are swapped and now they have to figure out how to get back to normal.

Or; A non-canon April Fools fic where everyone gets to swap sizes with each other!

Warnings: Fear and panic

Word Count: 12,404

AO3 Link

Other people do actual pranks on April fools, I, apparently, write the literal longest one-shot of my fanfic writing career, lol. Anyway, this was a lot of fun to write! It's non-canon to the actual bbbcau but I hope you guys enjoy it anyway!

Also, special thanks to @valcove for help in beta reading this beast of a one-shot!

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“I still can’t believe the nearby town holds a fair every year.” Joel said as he, Grian, Impulse, and Tango walked along the fair’s path, looking at everything it had to offer. They had arrived not too long ago, having carpooled in an uber since they hadn’t wanted to deal with parking. Good thing too, because the place was packed. Not just from people within the town but from their fellow peers at the college. “This thing is huge.”

Impulse smiled and laughed. “Yeah, they really go all out on it. It’s a whole three day thing and they’ve got a ton of different things to do.” Impulse explained. It was no wonder the college had a three day weekend this week in particular. They were pretty sure they could even see some of their professors around.

“Impulse and I have gone the last two years and they’ve been a blast!” Tango exclaimed with a grin. “So I’m sure you guys will have a great time!”

Grian hummed, a smirk forming on his lips as he leaned over to look at Impulse. “And was Skizz with you those times too?”

Impulse laughed again, though this time it came out sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head. Tango blinked at the question and turned to look at Impulse himself. Upon seeing his reaction, Tango looked affronted. “What?! Even then?!”

They all laughed as Tango deflated, pouting at just how unobservant he had been for two years, with a borrower right under his nose. This wasn’t the first time and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but it was always funny.

Speaking of the borrowers, both Jimmy and Skizz had decided to tag along to the fair. Jimmy hadn’t been sure at first, after all, the most crowded place he had been in before had been a classroom and at one moment, on the floor of a busy crowded hallway. It had sort of put him off going out into public again. But Skizz had hyped up the fair so much and managed to convince him to at least give it a try.

So now, the two were tucked safely within a pocket. Skizz in Impulse’s chest pocket, and Jimmy in Grian’s hoodie pocket. Thankfully the day wasn’t too warm where Grian couldn’t wear it at all, since Jimmy really did prefer the hoodie pocket over other kinds. Skizz was a bit weird, saying he didn’t mind anything. Over the years he had spent with Impulse, he had found himself in a variety of places in order to hide. Some worse than others, and among them pretty much any kind of pocket was a solid ten in his book. Especially if it was Impulse’s pocket.

It was still strange knowing how long Impulse and Skizz knew each other. Thirteen years was a long time and finding out they had met as kids had been especially surprising for Jimmy to hear. Kids could be a lot, they could be so much more dangerous than even adults, but after hearing the story, it didn’t seem like that at all. In fact, Impulse had been far better than any adult. Even an adult borrower.

Jimmy shook those thoughts away for now, focusing back on the present. He could hear the sounds of the fair all around him and though he couldn’t make out anything distinguishable, it did all sound like fun. He was probably the most excited to try all the different foods they had. Skizz describing everything he’d tried at the fair was probably at least half the reason he had been convinced to come.

“So, what should we do first?” Grian asked after getting his laughs out at Tango’s expense.

Impulse snorted. “Well, I know what Skizz wants to do.” Impulse moved off to the right and the others gave each other a look before following him. Sure enough, Impulse stopped at a food stand, the first of many they were sure to stop at. Impulse turned around as he waited behind one person. “Skizz skipped breakfast so he could save room.” Impulse explained.

“Heck yeah, I did.” A small voice said, coming from the front pocket of Impulse’s shirt. Thankfully, Skizz’s voice was only loud enough for those closest to hear him. Though that didn’t stop Impulse from glancing around him, just in case.

“What stand is this?” Joel asked, trying to look behind everyone to see the sign for the menu. He wasn’t having a lot of luck though.

“This was Skizz’s favorite last time. They sell elephant ears.” Impulse explained.

“Oh, they were the best. Jimmy, if you can hear me, you need to try it!” Skizz exclaimed, this time a bit louder than before. Impulse placed a quick but gentle hand over the pocket, causing Skizz to make a noise, as the person in front of them turned their head to give them a look. Impulse gave them a nervous smile until the person simply turned back around, continuing his order.

Everyone sighed in relief. “Little too loud there, buddy.” Impulse said, slowly taking his hand off his pocket. He heard Skizz let out a small huff, his turn to be a bit pouty.

Jimmy had heard Skizz though and he moved a bit, pressing against Grian’s left hand, which was nestled in the pocket with him. He felt more than heard Grian hum and gave Jimmy a small poke. “Seems like Jimmy wants to take you up on that offer.” Grian translated for him. The only bad part about being in the hoodie pocket was that he was a bit too low to be heard like Skizz could be. But he had other ways to communicate, as he had just showed off.

“I’ll buy two then. They're big enough for two people to share, so once Jimmy and Skizz have their portion the four of us can split the rest.” Impulse explained before realizing it was now his turn and walking up to the stand to order.

“Sounds good to me. Not sure if I’ve even tried an elephant ear before.” Joel admitted, trying to think back. He was coming up blank though, so if he had tried it at some point but forgotten, well it no longer counted anyway.

It didn’t take long for Impulse to grab the two elephant ears, which were large, hanging over the paper plate it was on to the point all of them were worried it would fall. Thankfully though, they managed to make it to a secluded table and Impulse placed the plates on top as they all took a seat.

They all glanced around, making sure no one was around before Impulse reached into his shirt pocket and pulled Skizz out. Grian, hand already in his pocket, simply cupped it around Jimmy, making sure his grip was firm before pulling him out as well.

Both borrowers were set down gently on the table and the humans allowed them to grab what they wanted, both Jimmy and Skizz ripping off a corner piece of their respective elephant ears, before moving more towards the middle of the table to sit down together. Skizz had taken a bigger portion than Jimmy had, but Skizz was used to eating more food. Jimmy still had some catching up to do, if he wanted his stomach to grow out a little more, even after these last few months.

Once the borrowers were settled, the humans split up the rest with each other and they all dug into the fried cinnamon bread with eagerness. As soon as the flavor hit Jimmy’s tongue, he couldn’t help but let out a small noise of pleasure. “Oh my goodness.” Jimmy reacted as he swallowed. “You were right Skizz, this is amazing.”

“I told ya! And there’s plenty more food like this all over the fair!” Skizz exclaimed before taking another bite. “We eat like kings today, Jimmy.”

Impulse snorted. “Like you don’t usually?”

“Yeah, well, this food is extra special, so it’s different.” Skizz huffed, causing the humans to laugh.

Jimmy finished his piece and then stood up, stretching a bit before moving back over toward Grian and Joel, though they weren’t his real destination. He moved in between them and used their bodies as cover in order to see out into the fairgrounds. He had only caught a glimpse of it from the car before he had to go into the pocket, so he wanted to take this opportunity to look around.

There were a lot of humans around, to the point where Jimmy felt a bit tense just looking at all of them. He moved his gaze away from the crowd though and focused on the actual fair attractions themselves. There were tents set up all over, booths and games scattered in between them. Like Skizz had said, there were also a lot of food stands just from where Jimmy could see. It was different than anything else Jimmy had seen, and despite the crowds of people he was happy he had come.

A hand suddenly snaked in front of him, curling around him front to back. He settled his hands against the top of the finger and looked up to see Grian was the one the hand was attached to. “Careful, you don’t want to be seen.” Grian said.

Jimmy rolled his eyes, though it was mostly out of fondness. “I know.” The hand curled around him became just a bit tighter and it moved him over so he was now in front of Grian before the hand left completely. Jimmy turned back to the rest of the table, who he noticed were just finishing up the rest of their snack.

“So, what should we do next?” Tango asked as he licked off the excess cinnamon on his fingertips.

Joel hummed and leaned back in his seat, looking around them for anything interesting. His eyes caught sight of a particular tent, one with a sign readable even from how far away he was. He pointed over to it. “That one sounds interesting.”

Grian followed his gaze, eyes squinting as he read the sign. “The Amazing Witch Aria? Really, Joel?” Grian asked, looking at Joel with a raised brow.

“Hey, it could be entertaining! Not that I believe in magic but everyone likes a good magic show. Right?” Joel said, trying to explain himself.

“He’s got a point. It could be fun.” Impulse said and Joel nodded along, thankful someone else agreed with him.

Neither Jimmy nor Skizz believed in magic either. Even if some would say the existence of borrowers at all was magic in and of itself. But with everything Jimmy and Skizz had been through before meeting their humans, well, it was a hard sell for anyone to convince them magic was real. Either way though, the idea of a magic show intrigued the two of them. “I think we should check it out.” Jimmy chimed in and with an agreement from Skizz, the group was decided.

Jimmy scurried onto Grian’s hand and was placed back in his hoodie pocket, Grian’s hand once again staying inside with him. He leaned against it, getting comfortable. Impulse scooped Skizz up and carefully deposited him back in his chest pocket. Once the borrowers were secure, they all stood, throwing away their empty plates and heading over to the witch’s tent.

As they drew closer, Tango got close to the sign in order to read the fine print. “So…it looks like it’s ten bucks per person.” Tango said, already in the process of pulling out his wallet for a ten.

“Bit expensive, ‘innit?” Joel mumbled a bit to himself as he also pulled out a ten.

“You were the one who pointed it out.” Grian reminded him. Joel simply shot him a look.

Money in hand, they pulled back the tent. It was a good medium size, fitting a table and enough chairs for at least six people. There was a girl messing with something on said table, but her head perked up once she heard the rustle of the tent opening. She put on a smile. “Hello! And welcome into the world of magic and wonder.” She said with a bow before standing back up and putting her hands together. “Are you here for the show?”

“Yes, please.” Impulse said and she nodded.

“That’ll be forty dollars then.” She said and Impulse collected everyone’s ten and handed it over. She quickly counted that all forty was present before slipping it into her pocket. She motioned toward the chairs in front of the table. “Please, take a seat.”

They did as told and Tango leaned in closer to look at the desk. There were some things like cards spread all around and some sort of stick off to the side. Though the stick was probably supposed to be a wand, now that he was thinking about it. “So…what kind of show is this? Are you going to be reading our futures?” Tango asked.

The girl huffed a bit. “I’m not a psychic, I’m a witch.” She blew some hair out of her face and put on another smile. “I’m here to do some magic and let you feel some magic.”

Tango blushed a bit. “Oh. Okay.” He said, feeling embarrassed for having asked.

The witch collected herself and then snapped her fingers. The lights in the tent went out, plunging them into darkness for a brief moment before a single light, right over the witch, came back on. “My name is Aria and welcome to the magical world of witchcraft!” She grabbed her wand and raised it up in the air.

Grian, Joel, Impulse, and Tango clapped politely, as Jimmy and Skizz simply listened in to what was happening. Though they both wished they could see the show, it was too dangerous to try and sneak a peak right now.

“First thing I’m going to do is let my magic wash over you, for not only you to get a feel of it, but for me to get a feel for you.” Aria said and her wand flicked forward. Both humans and borrowers were suddenly filled with a slight tingling sensation, though the humans chalked it up to placebo effect. The borrowers were a bit more awed at the feeling though.

As her magic washed over the four, she settled into their auras…and then promptly froze. Her magic wrapped around two more things than what she could see. Tiny things, tucked away in two of the human’s pockets.

Her grin dropped, her mood more than soured. “Oh. I see how it is.” She said out loud, her voice carefully even.

The humans gave her a confused look before Aria switched her expression back to a smile. Though it was clear there was something more sinister behind it this time. The humans felt another kind of shiver go down their spines. “Thought you could hide them from me, hmm?” Aria said and everyone tensed.

“...What are you talking about?” Grian asked carefully, his body shifting, ready to leave any second.

“You know. Your little borrowers.” Aria said, her eyes narrowed as she said it.

Grian stood up, quickly followed by everyone else. “We’re leaving.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” Aria said, her eyes shining as she flicked her wand again and all the humans froze against their will. Joel tried to open his mouth and speak, to yell, but that too was frozen shut. Aria stared at all of them and then smiled. “How unlucky for you that you happened to stumble upon a real witch.” She said and then waved her wand again. The humans dropped to the floor, suddenly unconscious.

Thankfully for the borrowers, however, Aria had held them with her magic to protect them from the fall. She then used her magic to lift them out of their respective pockets.

Jimmy struggled and squirmed as he was suddenly lifted into the air, waving his hands and legs every which way. He didn’t know what was happening, how this was all happening. But he looked down and saw all their humans passed out and felt terrified for what was going to happen to them all.

He glanced over at Skizz, who was acting similarly, before both borrowers were set down on the table in front of the witch. Jimmy felt his legs give out and he fell to his knees as he shook from the unexpected fly through the air. Skizz, on the other hand, righted himself almost instantly and glared at the witch. “Hey! What’s the big idea!?” Skizz shouted up at her and Jimmy’s eyes widened at the bravery Skizz was showing.

The witch’s sneer towards the humans turned soft when she focused on the two of them. The sudden change felt like whiplash. “Sorry for the sudden use of magic on the two of you.” She said, and surprisingly she sounded like she meant it. “But you’re safe now from these pathetic humans.” She turned back to glare at their unconscious friends, the word humans sounding like an insult the way she said it.

Jimmy blinked, carefully raising himself up from his knees. “W-Wait, you-”

He was cut off. “I’m sorry, I can only imagine what horrible things you’ve had to endure from them. But you won’t have to any longer.” Aria turned to glare at the humans again. “I’ll take care that they are never able to again.” She lifted her wand, ready to flick it, ready to do something to their friends.

“Wait!”

“Hold on a second!” Jimmy and Skizz said at the same time. Though Jimmy was terrified, at this point the witch was more of a threat to his friends than to him and Skizz, that much was at least clear.

Aria paused and looked at the two with a hum. And then her eyes widened in realization. “Oh! Don’t worry little ones, I understand.” She said and Jimmy and Skizz relaxed in relief. “I’ll let you have your revenge.” She said, striking a bolt of fear and panic through the borrowers once again.

Before anything else could be said, Aria lifted her wand and flicked it. The tip created a brilliant white light that took over Jimmy and Skizz’s vision.

Both borrowers fell over, unconsciousness taking them too.

***

Jimmy groaned as he woke up. He sat himself up so he was sitting on his knees, rubbing the back of his head. He opened his eyes, taking in where he was. Jimmy froze, his hand dropping from the back of his head and going down to his side in shock. He was still in the witch’s tent, that much was obvious. But something was different. Something had changed.

The tent was empty other than the tables and chairs. All of the witch’s things were gone, as was the witch herself. But it was the size of the tables and chairs that Jimmy was focused on. They were…smaller. They no longer towered over him, in fact, with how Jimmy was sitting right now, he was almost as tall as the chair itself and he found he could peek over the edge of the table.

The tent itself also seemed to have shrunk in size. Because the walls were now a lot closer than they had been before he had passed out.

A groan coming from his right made him look in that direction and he saw Skizz sitting up himself. “What happened?” Skizz asked, opening his eyes and looking over at Jimmy.

“I-I don’t know, but the witch is gone.” Jimmy said. “And…everything seems to have shrunk?” Jimmy was less confident about that observation. Skizz looked around them, his eyes widened as he took in what Jimmy had only moments ago.

“Oh, wow you’re right.” Skizz frowned and used a nearby chair to help him stand up. He then came over and gave Jimmy a hand, helping him do the same. Now that they were both standing, it was clear they were far taller than both the chairs and the table. “Weird…wait, where is everyone?”

Jimmy blinked, realizing they were alone in the shrunken down tent. “Did the witch teleport us somewhere else?”

Skizz grit his teeth and headed toward the tent’s door flap. “Probably. Come on, we have to find them before that witch does anything!” Skizz exclaimed and Jimmy jumped, quickly following close behind Skizz.

“Stay close to the tent, we don’t know how many humans will be out there, or where the tent even is.” Skizz said, a bit quieter this time. Jimmy nodded, knowing the drill. Skizz pulled the tent’s flap back a bit and took a peak outside.

To Jimmy’s surprise, Skizz immediately closed it again, his eyes wide as he simply stared at the tent’s fabric. “Skizz? What is it?”

Skizz turned back to look at Jimmy and there was something in his eyes that Jimmy couldn’t make out. When Skizz didn’t say anything, Jimmy pushed past him and took a look outside the tent himself. His jaw dropped, his body frozen as he took in the world around him. It was the fair, same as before, except Jimmy was now staring at it from a new perspective.

Everything was his size. All the people, all the tents, the booths, the stands, everything was the size of a borrower.

No, it’s not that everything shrunk. We grew. Jimmy thought to himself as he couldn’t help but take everything in. After a moment, it became too much and he closed the tent flap once more. He turned to look at Skizz, understanding that look in his eyes now. “Are we dreaming?” Jimmy couldn’t help but ask.

Skizz, numbly, reached up and pinched the skin of his arm. He winced and Jimmy’s eyes widened. “Nope. This is…This is really happening.”

Jimmy turned his head to look back at the opening, at the world that now fit the two of them perfectly. It was something Jimmy had only ever dreamed about but the dream was quickly crushed by the reality that a witch did this to them and they still had no idea what the witch had done to their friends.

“So, if we’ve grown, and this is the same tent as before…then where are Grian, Joel, Impulse, and Tango?” Jimmy asked, turning back to Skizz again.

Skizz thought for a moment, looking around the now smaller tent, at least to them. “Well, the witch was clearly upset with them. She seemed to think they had us against our will.”

Jimmy nodded, that assumption had been all but proven by her words. “Yeah, and right before we passed out she said something about letting us take revenge? Is that why we’re big?” Jimmy asked, trying to piece everything together.

“Maybe…but if that’s the case then where are-” He suddenly stopped talking, his eyes going wide. Jimmy tensed, wondering why Skizz had cut himself off.

“What?” Jimmy asked in a panic, wondering what Skizz had figured out.

Skizz let out a deep breath. “If we’re big and the witch wanted us to get revenge on them then…Jimmy, what if they’re small?”

Jimmy froze. “No, that…” He bit his lip. He was about to say how impossible that was, but ‘impossible’ no longer held any meaning now that the two of them were human-sized. It was completely and utterly possible that the witch had reversed their roles for the sake of ‘revenge’. “Does that mean…you don’t think they're still in here, do you?” Jimmy asked, looking down at the floor, suddenly panicked that they hadn’t been looking where they’ve been walking this whole time.

“Only one way to find out.” Skizz said and started moving around the tent, slowly, scanning the floor and watching where he was stepping. Jimmy let out a shaky breath before following his lead, looking around the legs of the chairs and tables and in the corners of the tent. Jimmy leaned forward and took a look behind the chair that was behind the table this whole time and his eyes widened.

“Skizz.” He called out and Skizz was immediately by his side. He followed Jimmy’s gaze and his jaw dropped at the sight. “Is that really…?” Jimmy whispered, as if talking too loud would make them disappear. He dropped to his knees, careful to stay a couple feet away from them.

“Oh my god.” Skizz said, also kneeling on the ground and staring openly at their once towering friends. His eyes fell specifically on Impulse’s form and he sucked in a breath. “Impulse…all of them, they’re so small.”

Jimmy could only nod.

Skizz tore his eyes away from their passed out friends, looking at Jimmy with wide eyes. “This is weird, man. They shouldn’t be this small. They’re-this is-it’s too much!”

Jimmy couldn’t help but agree. This was too much all at once. Seeing Grian and Joel especially like this…like Skizz said, it was weird. He was so used to seeing them as larger than life and now he was like that to them.

He couldn’t help it when his hand reached out, his fingertips ever so gently grazing Grian’s back. At the contact, he snapped his hand away, feeling weird about it. He cleared his throat to try and get rid of the feeling. “They’re still…they’re still unconscious.” Jimmy observed, subconsciously rubbing his fingers along the tips that had just touched Grian. “What do we do?”

Skizz swallowed the lump that had been forming in his throat, unable to tear his eyes away from their shrunken friends. His eyes lingering on Impulse most of all. “We need to…wake them up. Right?” He glanced in Jimmy’s direction, just as unsure as he was.

“Yeah…Yeah, right. We need to make sure they’re okay.” Jimmy said but didn’t move. He simply continued to stare. “...How should we try and wake them up?”

Skizz winced and bit his lip. “I guess just how you normally wake someone up?”

Jimmy was about to ask what that meant when he watched as Skizz reached out and nudged at Impulse gently on his shoulder. Right, now Jimmy understood, Jimmy himself had been woken up many times from Grian and Joel both nudging him like that. It was just…very weird to be the one doing the nudging to someone so small.

“Impulse…hey, come on buddy, please wake up.” Skizz said as he continued to nudge at Impulse’s limp body. Impulse groaned and started to move and Skizz relaxed a bit in relief before moving his hand over to Tango, doing the same thing with him as he waited for Impulse to fully wake.

Jimmy swallowed and followed along with what Skizz was doing, moving his hand to gently poke at Grian and then Joel’s tiny form. “Grian, Joel, please wake up. We’ve uh…got a bit of a situation here.”

Slowly, but surely, all four humans began to stir. Whatever spell the witch had hit them with must have really taken it out of them, because it took a while for each of them to fully enter the realm of consciousness again. Impulse was the first to start opening his eyes but before he could open them fully, Skizz scooted back, pulling Jimmy with him. Jimmy sent him a questioning look.

“We don’t want to crowd them.” Skizz murmured and Jimmy’s eyes widened in understanding. Right, he had to remember, things were swapped now and their humans were far from used to being around beings who were essentially giants to them. Not that Jimmy was any more used to being the said giant, but he knew better than anyone that his current position was a lot easier to handle than theirs.

Impulse let out a small groan, coming back to reality as he slowly realized he was laying down on the cold hard ground. He opened his eyes to confirm what he was feeling and slowly pushed himself up. He felt achy and drained and it took him a moment to remember what had happened. When he remembered the witch, and what she had said before the four of them had passed out, he immediately went to check his pocket. To his panic, Skizz wasn’t inside.

He looked beside him, seeing Grian, Joel, and Tango stirring and waking up as well. His eyes scanned around them, looking for Skizz, hoping he was okay. He looked further into the expanse of the room and promptly froze at what he saw, all the breath in his body leaving him at that moment.

Skizz and Jimmy were sitting a few feet away, towering over them like skyscrapers. Impulse scooted back some, his eyes meeting Skizz’s, who had a softened look in his gaze. Impulse swallowed thickly and his eyes went to the rest of the room, finally noticing the furniture that also now towered over them. As he met eyes with Skizz again, he realized what must have happened. “Skizz?”

Skizz put on a smile, trying not to show how panicked he was at Impulse’s current size. “Hey buddy.” Skizz said, keeping his voice low just in case. Though no matter how low he tried to keep his voice, it was still much louder than any of the humans were used to. The rest of them shot up at the sudden loud voice, only for them to freeze when they saw Jimmy and Skizz.

They all simply stared at each other, not knowing what to do or say. Jimmy, for his part, felt incredibly awkward being the giant. He glanced over toward Skizz, wondering if he was feeling the same way.

“J-Jimmy?” Joel stuttered out, breaking the silence. Joel tried to take in what he was seeing but it was hard to believe. Hard to fully comprehend the fact that not only were there two towering beings in front of them, but that those beings were Jimmy and Skizz.

“Yeah, it’s…me.” Jimmy said, though he didn’t sound confident. To be honest, he didn’t really feel like himself like this.

Jimmy’s eyes moved to Grian when he saw the human start to shake his head. “No, no this isn’t real.” Grian said, his tone toeing on the edge of panic. Jimmy’s heart broke at the sheer look of fear on Grian’s face. All the humans, actually, had looks of fear spread across their features. Even from where he was, he could see Joel’s breathing starting to pick up even more. Tango looked pale, like he was going to pass out again. Impulse actually looked the least scared of them all, but he still had that familiar feeling of wariness toward them.

Jimmy bit his lip about to try and say something, but Skizz beat him to it. “Unfortunately, this is very real.” Skizz said with a somber tone, very unlike Skizz usually.

“We’ve…shrunk?” Tango’s tiny voice said.

Skizz nodded but Grian once again shook his head. “No! This is…” Grian jumped up to his feet, swaying slightly, looking like he was going to fall over and pass out again.

Jimmy started to move before he could truly think about it. “Careful-!” Jimmy reached his hand out toward Grian, intent on helping him balance. Grian, however, had caught his balance on his own and when he turned and saw the giant hand coming toward him, he panicked.

Grian would hate to look back on it later, but he screamed at the incoming hand. His scream seemed to jolt everyone out of their shocked, fear-filled stupor, because they all jumped up to their feet. Jimmy flinched at Grian’s scream, his hand paused, and that gave Grian and the others enough time to start running.

Jimmy and Skizz’s eyes both widened as their friends ran from them.

“H-Hey, wait!” Jimmy called out, scrambling to get himself up.

“Impulse!” Skizz called, feeling a bit hurt that his best friend would run, even if he couldn’t really blame him given the situation.

The humans continued to run, their mind so clouded by fear that they didn’t even process the concern in the giant’s voices. They watched as Grian and Joel split from Impulse and Tango, going in the other direction but both sets of humans seemed to be heading for the walls of the tent.

Skizz’s eyes widened with panic as he turned to Jimmy. “We got to stop them from getting out.” Skizz said and Jimmy nodded. “You get Grian and Joel. I’ve got Impulse and Tango.” Skizz said and then both borrowers jumped into action. Jimmy felt really bad for what he was going to do, he knew better than anyone, except maybe Skizz, how it felt to be grabbed so suddenly when trying to run.

He was reminded of when he first met Grian and Joel and how that whole first meeting went. This was seemingly going down very similarly, much to Jimmy’s guilt.

It was quite easy for Jimmy to catch up with the two, the hard part was making sure he didn’t get too close and accidentally kick them or worse. He really needed to get them off the ground and so, despite his guilt, Jimmy reached down and grabbed Joel first.

It was sickeningly easy for Jimmy to wrap his hand around Joel’s entire body. Only Joel’s head was free as Jimmy lifted him up toward his chest. He could feel Joel struggling against his finger, pushing and hitting but doing nothing. Jimmy swallowed but didn’t have time to think too much about it because he still needed to grab Grian.

Keeping Joel close to his chest, he used his free hand and reached down toward Grian. Once again, it was so very easy to grab Grian, even with him running as fast as he could, Jimmy at this size was faster. Like with Joel, only Grian’s head was free as he brought him close to his chest. He could feel their little heartbeats against his fingers, going a mile a minute as both humans struggled against his grip. Jimmy would be lying if he said his own heart wasn’t going just as fast.

Jimmy glanced over toward Skizz, who he watched snatch up Tango, Impulse already in his other hand. Jimmy relaxed just a bit, knowing the humans were safe from getting themselves trampled outside of the tent. He swallowed thickly and turned his attention back to the two shrunken humans in his hands and geez, wasn’t that a sight? Seeing Grian and Joel in his hands like this was nothing short of insane.

He took a deep breath. “Guys, please, it’s okay.” Jimmy tried, though he winced at his own words. He didn’t think he was terrible at comforting people, so then why did he feel so bad at this?

Maybe because he had never been looked at with such fear before.

Jimmy shook his head, trying to push that down. He carefully brought his hands close together, opening them up and allowing Grian and Joel to sit in his cupped hands. “It’s just me, I’m not going to hurt you.”

The two were clinging a bit to each other now and Jimmy just felt bad. He didn’t like scaring them. He didn’t like being something worth being scared about. Gently, Jimmy used both his thumbs to rub at Grian and Joel’s back, knowing he found comfort in it when they had done the same to him. Jimmy almost stopped when he saw the two flinch but slowly, he watched as their shaking died down.

“Jimmy?” Grian voice came out, careful and nervous. Jimmy nodded and continued the slow and gentle rubs.

“Yeah.” Jimmy confirmed. “Are you guys okay?” He then asked.

Joel sucked in a breath. “Y-Yeah.” He stuttered and winced at himself. “It’s just…a lot.” Joel admitted and Jimmy nodded, knowing exactly what Joel was talking about.

“I get it. I mean, obviously I get it.” Jimmy said with a slight laugh, trying to lighten the mood just a bit.

He counted it as a win as he saw two brief smiles flash across their faces.

“But seriously, are you guys okay?” Jimmy asked. He just wanted to make sure there were no other effects left behind from the witch.

This time, Grian was the one who nodded. “We’re fine.” He paused. “Sorry for running.” He mumbled more under his breath, looking away in embarrassment. Joel also couldn’t seem to look Jimmy in the eyes. Jimmy sighed but smiled softly.

“It’s okay, like I said, I get it. I’m…I’m sorry for just grabbing you guys like that but we were scared you’d run out of the tent and get hurt.” Jimmy explained to them. Jimmy was unfortunately familiar with large crowds and stomping feet and he did not wish that fate upon anybody. But especially not his two best friends.

Grian shivered, as if he had just realized what could have happened if Jimmy hadn’t snatched them up in time. “Yeah, no, that’s…” He shook his head as he trailed off and Jimmy couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment.

“Everyone okay over here?” Skizz said, moving over to them, Impulse and Tango cupped in his hands similar to how Jimmy was holding Grian and Joel. The two looked a lot better than before, though Tango still looked a bit pale.

“Yeah, we’re okay.” Jimmy answered, turning around to face Skizz and let the humans see each other. “Are you guys?”

Skizz nodded. “Yeah, Impulse was easy to calm down. Tango here was a bit harder to tho.” Skizz said, though it was clear he meant it in more of a teasing way. Tango blushed and looked down. He muttered something that Jimmy couldn’t quite make out but Skizz must have been able to because he laughed, gently poking Tango’s side. “Aww, come on buddy, you know I love ya.”

Jimmy smiled a bit at that but quickly frowned again when he looked around the still very empty tent. “Now that everyone’s calmed down, we need to find that witch.” Jimmy said, looking back at Skizz with furrowed brows. “I’m pretty sure she’s gonna be the only one who can reverse this.”

Skizz nodded but then paused. “How are we gonna find her though? This fair is huge and she could be anywhere. The fact that she has magic doesn’t help either.”

“Maybe you guys could go out and ask someone?” Impulse spoke up and he only flinched a little when both pairs of giant eyes fell on him. He cleared his throat. “Um, if she was here with a tent that means she was registered with the fair. So one of the fair employees has to know where she is.”

Skizz nodded. “Good idea Dop. I guess that’s our next order of business then.” Skizz decided and then, for a moment, nobody moved.

Joel looked between the two of them. “Uh, what’s going on?”

Jimmy cleared his throat, gaining Joel’s full attention. “Well, um, if we want to head out there and ask someone…” Jimmy trailed off so Skizz picked up the end.

“You guys are gonna need to go in our pockets.” Skizz finished and all the human’s eyes went wide.

“What? But Jimmy doesn’t even have…wait, Jimmy, are you wearing my hoodie?” Grian’s line of thought scrambled as soon as he recognized the red hoodie Jimmy was wearing. Jimmy blinked and looked down at himself, not even realizing his clothes had changed.

“Huh.” Jimmy said and then looked up at Skizz. He pointed at his chest. “And Skizz is wearing Impulse’s shirt.” Jimmy noticed.

Skizz looked down and his noise crinkled. “So not only did that witch swap our sizes, she swapped our clothes too?”

“Seems that way.” Impulse said, looking down at himself and realizing he was wearing Skizz’s shirt.

“Well, it works out for us right now, I guess. We both have pockets we can put them in.” Jimmy said.

“I am not going in your pocket.” Joel said, adamant. Jimmy knew Joel was probably still just scared and that’s why he was refusing, but it still hurt just a tiny bit.

“Joel, I’m in your pockets all the time. It’s really not that bad, in fact it’s actually pretty comfortable.” Jimmy tried to reassure. Joel blinked at the reminder and made a small noise, turning his head as he crossed his arms.

“Joel, I don’t like it either but Jimmy is right. He does this all the time and he’s perfectly fine.” Grian said, though with the kind of tone to suggest he really wished he could come up with an excuse to not go into the pocket. Thankfully, Grian usually thought more logically between the three of them and despite not liking it, he knew it was the only way they were stepping foot out of this tent.

At least with Grian thinking logically again that meant his fear wasn’t as bad as before.

“Gah, fine.” Joel huffed and Jimmy looked over toward Impulse and Tango.

Impulse shrugged. “I don’t mind. Skizz is always going on and on about how nice pockets are so I’m curious about it anyway.”

Skizz grinned. “It’s so comfortable, although it might be a little cramped with two of ya in there.” Skizz snickered a bit and then his eyes landed on Tango. “Top? You okay with this?”

Tango let out a sigh. “Yeah…not like we really have a choice.” And really, they didn’t, but Jimmy and Skizz at least wanted to make them as comfortable with it as possible.

“Okay, then I guess…” Skizz trailed off as he tilted the hand holding Tango into his other one so that he was holding both humans in one hand. He used his now free hand to open up the chest pocket, bringing his other hand at the lip of it. He gently tilted his hand and let both Impulse and Tango slide down into the fabric. Jimmy watched all of this, fascinated at the way the two humans simply disappeared. Only a barely noticeable bump was all that gave away their presence.

With Impulse and Tango secure, Skizz turned to Jimmy and Jimmy realized it was his turn. Jimmy looked down at Grian and Joel who simply gave him a nod to indicate they were ready. Jimmy nodded back and carefully lowered them down to where the hoodie pocket was. Unlike Skizz, instead of pulling them both into one hand, he instead separated them. Now holding Grian and Joel in one hand each, he put both of them into his pocket at the same time.

He let them slide off his hand and then moved his hand away but didn’t completely remove either hand. He knew Grian and Joel always kept their hands in the pocket with him for a reason, as evident by the one time they didn’t, so Jimmy wasn’t going to take any chances. With Grian and Joel settled, Jimmy turned his attention back to Skizz.

“Ready?” Jimmy asked, despite feeling barely ready himself.

Skizz nodded. “Let’s go.” And with that, Skizz headed toward the tent flap. Jimmy took a deep breath before making himself follow Skizz.

Just like when they had first woken up, Skizz pulled back the tent. Unlike the last time though, Skizz stepped fully into the outside and Jimmy was quick to follow him. They both paused, once again taking in the sights as people who now fit the size of it. Jimmy frowned as he looked up into the sky though, realizing the sun was in the process of disappearing over the horizon. A heavy amount of orange in the sky because of it.

“How long were we out for?” Jimmy asked quietly to Skizz, who noticed what Jimmy was looking at and could only shrug helplessly.

“At least a few hours if the sky is anything to go by.” Skizz answered. “Man, this whole thing is crazy.”

Jimmy couldn’t agree with Skizz more.

“Anyway, do you see anyone wearing some sort of employee uniform?” Skizz asked, looking back down from the sky to scan the crowds of people in front of him. Despite it being the evening, there were still quite a few people bustling about the fair.

Jimmy looked at all the people, feeling weird at being in sight of all of them. Even if he was the same size as them now, it was still weird to be perceived by so many people. He tried to ignore the feeling, looking for anything that could be an employee uniform. Jimmy paused on one of the booths, there was somebody there wearing a tan sort of outfit helping the booth person in putting stuff away. He tapped Skizz and when he turned around he pointed toward the guy. Skizz nodded and the two headed over in his direction.

“Um, excuse me?” Jimmy started as they got closer, gaining the employees attention. He had a nametag on, so it was more than likely their assumption was correct. Jimmy tried to continue. “We were uh, wondering if, I mean, there was this witch and-wait…” Jimmy trailed off, his words getting all sorts of jumbled at the fact that he was talking to an unknown human.

Thankfully, Skizz took over. “We were wondering if you knew where Aria the witch went? We wanted to catch a show from her but her tent’s empty now.” Skizz asked and Jimmy couldn’t help but admire the fact that Skizz hadn’t stumbled over his words once.

The guy scratched the back of his head. “Oh, she packed up and went home a few hours ago.” Jimmy and Skizz deflated. This was bad. If she had gone home, how were they supposed to find her now? “But she’ll be back tomorrow, same time.” The guy continued and relief flooded the two borrowers.

“Great, thank you so much.” Skizz said and the guy nodded, getting back to work. Jimmy and Skizz moved away from the guy, off to a secluded part of the fair so they could all talk.

Skizz opened up the flap of his pocket and looked down at the two humans inside. It was still a very surreal sight to see for sure. “It looks like we aren’t going to get much further on this tonight.”

“So, what? Do we just…head back to the dorms?” Tango called out from the pocket. Skizz hummed at that.

“Not sure how we’re gonna get in. Or get there.” Skizz said.

That was true, neither Jimmy nor Skizz had anything they could use. Jimmy thought for a moment. “Maybe their phones still work? They could call us an uber?” They’d have to figure out the rest when they got there, but at least one obstacle would be out of the way. Jimmy curled his hands around the two squirming figures of Grian and Joel and lifted them out of his pocket. They looked a bit frazzled, but otherwise okay.

They both took a moment to gain their bearings before Grian reached into his pocket. But Jimmy watched as he froze, his hand pulling out with nothing. “My phone is gone.”

“Hey, mine too!” Joel exclaimed, also coming away empty. “And my keys!”

Impulse and Tango checked their pockets, only to be met with the same emptiness. Joel barked out a laugh. “Really? That witch couldn’t just shrink us, she had to rob us too?!”

Suddenly, for some reason, Jimmy felt a weight in his pants pockets that he hadn’t noticed before. Moving Grian and Joel to one hand, Jimmy silently reached into said pocket. His eyes widened and everyone matched his expression when he pulled out two phones. Phones that they all recognized as Grian and Joel’s.

“Well, at least she didn’t rob us.” Joel muttered, unable to ignore the fact his phone was bigger than him now.

Jimmy reached back into his pocket and pulled out two sets up keys as well. “Looks like we’ll be able to go back to the dorms after all.”

Jimmy had to get help from Grian and Joel to use the uber app and order them an uber as soon as possible, but once it was set, it was pretty easy from then on. Jimmy slipped Grian and Joel back into his pocket and both him and Skizz waited right outside the fairgrounds for their uber to arrive.

As the car pulled up, they got inside. Jimmy stayed silent, only giving a nod in greeting. But Skizz chatted with the guy at least halfway back to the college. Jimmy, once again, couldn’t help but marvel at just how sociable Skizz was. It was hard to see when the two of them only ever interacted with the same five people, but Skizz really seemed to excel at talking with others. It made Jimmy feel a little sad, that Skizz couldn’t be like this all the time.

Skizz noticed his demeanor and leaned back into the seat once he had ended the conversation. He gave Jimmy a knowing look. “You okay?”

Jimmy let out a shaky breath. It wasn’t just that, but everything seemed to be crashing down on him now that they were away from the fair and in the car. Jimmy couldn’t help but curl his fingers around Grian and Joel, feeling them move against his hand. His breath caught as he felt the tiniest of hands press against his own. It was almost too much to think of that being him to Grian and Joel.

“I’ll…get back to you on that.” Jimmy said, not knowing what else to say. Skizz nodded in understanding and the two spent the rest of the car ride in thoughtful silence.

***

The pocket swayed a lot more than Joel had initially been expecting. But as Jimmy got out of the uber and started walking toward the dorms, it was clear their ride in the pocket was not a still one. It wasn’t bad though. The slight sway was actually quite peaceful, almost lulling them. If Joel hadn’t been on such high alert, he might have even been able to fall asleep.

As it was though, there was no way his mind or body would allow him to rest right now.

He glanced over toward Grian, who was huddled in here with him. Jimmy’s hand was situated behind Grian, there, but not quite touching him, though the hand had moved a few times so far and curled around the two of them. Joel knew there was also a hand behind him as well. He didn’t look back at it, but he could feel its presence.

He still couldn’t believe they had been shrunk. They couldn’t have been smaller than Jimmy himself now. Well, normal Jimmy anyway. It was also hard to wrap his head around the fact the borrower he could normally hold in his hand could now do the same to him.

It was no wonder Jimmy was so scared when they first met. It was a wonder he wasn’t still.

Grian was in a similar state of mind, thinking over the last few hours and what had happened. He hated the fact he had let fear consume him so much he ran but looking back he wasn’t sure if he could have kept himself from doing so. The shock of seeing Jimmy and Skizz so big…the sudden horrible fear that had washed over him when a hand bigger than he was had started to reach for him…

Grian had already felt guilty before, of how their first meeting had gone with Jimmy, but now he felt even worse. All Grian had been was grabbed and cupped gently in Jimmy’s hand. The two of them had not only grabbed Jimmy, but moved him back and forth between them. They had poked at him, pressed down against his chest, completely surrounded him in their hands…Grian shivered at the memory. With the new perspective handed to him, Grian now fully understood just how terrifying that would have been.

The two were jolted out of their thoughts at the sound of a key unlocking a door. Voices, familiar but far too loud, rang out above them. “Are you coming in?” Jimmy’s voice asked.

“Nah, I think it might be best if we split for now. Give the guys a break from two giants hovering over them.” Skizz said with a slight laugh.

“Alright, have a good night then.” Jimmy said and they heard Skizz reply with the same, with a promise to meet Jimmy in the morning so they could head back to the fair.

Jimmy opened and closed the door behind him and Grian and Joel both watched as Jimmy’s hands tensed a bit. They braced themselves as the fingers began to move again, wrapping around each of them like it was the easiest thing in the world. And from experience, they knew it really was that easy.

Jimmy’s grip solidified around them and they were pulled out of the pocket once again. Grian couldn’t help but shake, his nerves alight like nothing else before. He tried to push it down, tried to tell himself that Jimmy was safe, obviously. But it was like his body didn’t want to listen to rational thought.

They were only in Jimmy’s hand for another brief moment before they were both placed on Joel’s nightstand. Joel couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief at being back on solid ground. Even if that solid ground was still well above the actual floor.

“How are you two holding up?” Jimmy asked. He was bent down a bit in order to be more level with them. It was appreciated though it didn’t take away from just how imposing he was.

Grian couldn’t help but snort. “Would you believe us if we said fine?”

Jimmy winced and Grian felt a bit bad for joking like that when he saw the sad look in Jimmy’s eyes. They had always had an effect on him before, but with them being so big now it was even harder to try and ignore them. Jimmy let out a small sigh. “Honestly, I probably wouldn’t. Being small is…hard. And I can only imagine it’s harder for someone who hasn’t been small their whole life.” Right, Jimmy was very aware of how Grian and Joel must be feeling. The only thing Jimmy had was more experience but he had been terrified just like them before.

“I really don’t know how you do it.” Joel couldn’t help but say, rubbing at his arm where he could still feel the phantom touch of Jimmy’s fingers.

Jimmy titled his head and suddenly he was smiling softly, looking at the two of them with a fond gaze. “Well, it’s easy when I know I’m the safest with the two of you.” Jimmy admitted, a slight blush coloring his cheeks.

Grian and Joel could feel their own blushes creeping up their necks. “S-Still.” Joel said with a slight huff.

Jimmy laughed a bit, letting his smile linger a bit longer before it slowly turned back into a frown. “It is hard. I still get scared sometimes too. Not of you two, not really. Just…your size.” Jimmy said, looking away from the two pairs of tiny eyes.

“Makes sense.” Grian mumbled, even if he hated to hear how Jimmy still got scared sometimes. “It’s not like we’re scared of you. Just of how…big you are.”

Jimmy nodded and then bit his lip. He straightened up and tried to ignore the fact that Grian and Joel took a step back when he did so. “I should…probably change, right? You probably don’t want me sleeping in your bed like this.” Jimmy said, looking down at Grian’s clothes that he was wearing.

Joel hummed. “Yeah, especially if you’re using my bed.” Joel pointed over to his dresser. “You can use my sweats, I think they should fit you?” Joel tried to look Jimmy up and down but it was hard to gauge just how tall he was when all Joel could see was giant.

Jimmy nodded and Grian and Joel both turned around as Jimmy undressed and put on Joel’s sweats. But when Grian and Joel turned around, it was clear that the clothes didn’t quite fit. Joel blinked. “Huh.”

“It’s…just a little tight.” It wasn’t enough to be too uncomfortable, they were sweats after all and already baggy to begin with. But the fact that they didn’t fit was enough to tell the two humans that Jimmy was taller than either of them first thought.

“Don’t tell me you’re taller as a human than either of us!” Joel exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation.

Jimmy looked down at himself, as if he would be able to tell how tall he was that way. “Huh. That’s…that’s really weird to think about.” Jimmy was taller than them as a human? How on earth was that possible?

“You’re telling me.” Joel mumbled, another huff leaving his lips.

Jimmy didn’t really want to think about that anymore, so he instead opened the drawer of the nightstand Grian and Joel were standing on and rummaged through his clothes. He had to pause for a moment, fingers rubbing at the tiny piece of fabric, awing at just how small they were. He quickly cleared those thoughts though and grabbed two sets of his pajamas. He put them in front of the two. “Here, you can wear my clothes.” Knowing that Jimmy was taller than them, the clothes would be a bit baggy but should still be comfortable.

Jimmy turned around and Grian and Joel each grabbed a set of clothes, turning away from each other as well as they got dressed. When they were finished, they all looked back at each other. “I guess…we should head to bed? It’s already getting kinda late.” And the sooner they went to bed, the sooner they could hopefully fix all of this.

“Yeah, we probably should.” Grian agreed, though he wasn’t sure how he was supposed to rest when his body still felt on such high alert. Jimmy nodded and set up the small nest of blankets he usually used to sleep in. Once that was set up, Jimmy climbed into Joel’s bed. He sat up in it, watching Grian and Joel as they moved toward the makeshift bed.

Joel went ahead and fell into the small pile of blankets and was surprised at just how comfortable it was. Jimmy had always looked nice and cozy within the blankets but Joel couldn’t have guessed it would feel this nice. He let out a sigh as he sunk in deeper and Grian sent him a look. “Just get in and you’ll see.” Joel told Grian.

Grian hummed and got in, immediately understanding. “Oh wow.” Grian curled up within the layers of blankets. “It’s so warm.” Grian hadn’t realized just how cold he had been until now.

Jimmy chuckled. “I told you guys it was comfortable. Though I still prefer sleeping on the bed.” Jimmy said, running his fingers along the mattress. It wasn’t as comfortable as when he was small but it still felt nice. “I’m gonna turn out the lights now.” Jimmy warned, before reaching over them, once again ignoring the way they flinched, and shut off the lamp.

The room fell into darkness and Jimmy shifted until he was laying down in bed. “Goodnight, guys.”

“Night.”

“Goodnight.” Joel and Grian answered back. And then the room fell into silence.

…

Jimmy wasn’t sure how much time had passed, it couldn’t have been long, but he had yet to fall asleep no matter how much he tossed and turned. His mind was still awake with the events of the last several hours and he couldn’t shake the feeling of just how insane all of this was.

He turned over so that he was facing the nightstand. In the cover of darkness, he could only just barely make out Grian and Joel’s small figures. Jimmy frowned as he took them in, their eyes closed and their chests going up and down with steady breaths. That was supposed to be him. This is what Grian and Joel saw every single day, his tiny form snuggled up in blankets otherwise far too big for him.

Jimmy wetted his lips, and he couldn’t help himself as he reached out and gently laid a finger on one of the tiny forms. The figure underneath his finger flinched and Jimmy snapped his hand back, his eyes wide. “Grian? Joel? Are…are you guys still awake too?” Jimmy asked, quiet enough that if they were still asleep he hopefully wouldn’t wake them.

As it was, he watched as Grian and Joel both sat up from their positions. Grian glanced over at Joel, unaware he had also been awake until now. “Seems like it.” Grian said with a sigh.

Jimmy sat up and reached above them to turn back on the lamp. The room flooded with light, briefly blinding all of them. As Jimmy’s eyesight came back, he looked down at the two shrunken humans. “I guess we all got stuff on our minds, huh?” Jimmy said and Grian and Joel nodded in agreement.

“Like just how crazy this all is.” Joel said quietly, staring down at his own hands that were now tinier than life.

Jimmy agreed with that. This was certainly all very crazy. Jimmy looked down at his own hands and bit his lip. He was still curious and maybe now he understood Grian and Joel’s want to hold him better because he was feeling the same way toward the two of them. He swallowed the forming lump in his throat. “Hey, can I…” Jimmy trailed off, feeling awkward for even trying to ask.

“Can you what?” Grian asked, though his tone was a lot softer than Jimmy had been expecting.

Jimmy took a deep breath. “Can I…hold you guys?” Jimmy asked, not looking at the two as he waited for their answer.

Grian and Joel both tensed as an immediate reaction to the idea. Despite having already been held before, the idea of it happening again was still terrifying. But still, this was Jimmy. And the two of them could understand better than anyone of wanting to hold a borrower. The two sent each other silent looks, communicating with their gazes. Grian nodded and Joel sighed but also nodded.

“Yeah, Jim.” Grian answered and Jimmy finally looked up to stare at them with wide eyes. He had honestly not been expecting them to agree.

“Really?” Jimmy asked.

“Yeah, just, ya know…be careful.” Joel said and Jimmy nodded rapidly. Of course he would be careful. He might not have experience on this end of things, but he liked to think his experience on the other end of it would make him pretty good at this part.

Jimmy carefully brought his hand closer and Grian and Joel tried very hard not to flinch at the approaching hand this time. However, instead of grabbing them like before, Jimmy set down his hand palm up in front of them. Looking up at his face showed them he was giving them a gentle smile. “Whenever you’re ready.” Jimmy said, willing to wait as long as he needed to.

Grian and Joel sent each other another look and surprisingly, Joel was the first one to step forward. Grian, not wanting to be shown up by Joel, was close behind and pretty soon the two of them had climbed on and seated themselves down in the center of Jimmy’s palm.

Jimmy brought them over and settled his hand with the two of them over his lap, his other hand coming over and adding to the surface area, just in case the two needed more room. Now that they were safe and away from the craziness of before, Jimmy could actually take a second and process the fact that Grian and Joel were literally in his hands.

He could just barely feel their weight at all. Even the two of them combined wasn’t enough for Jimmy to really notice it. In fact, the two of them could fit comfortably on just one of his hands, let alone both of them. His thumb came up and nudged Joel on the side, watching the way Joel tried not to react very much to it and failing miserably.

On Grian and Joel’s side of things, they too were taking everything in a lot more than they could before, when they were still trying to figure out what to do. Grian couldn’t help but run his hand over the skin of Jimmy’s. He could feel the heat rolling off of the skin in waves and once again, the warmth made Grian realize just how cold he was. He knew smaller beings got cold a lot easier and Jimmy had also told them as much, that borrowers were more susceptible to the cold. But experiencing it first hand was something else.

Experiencing actually being on a hand, first hand, was also quite the mind boggle.

Joel shifted in his place, trying hard to act brave and not react to the giant finger nudging at him. He tried not to think about how that one finger could crush him like it was nothing. He shook his head angrily at himself. Jimmy would never do that, it was just his stupid fear getting in the way. He trusted Jimmy implicitly, even if their roles were now reversed and Jimmy held all the power in the situation now.

Jimmy continued to stare down at them, a question on the tip of his tongue. “Is this how it always is for you guys?” Jimmy felt the question leave him before he could properly think about it.

“Huh?” Grian let out a noise of confusion and Jimmy glanced away for a moment.

“Like…holding me and stuff. Is it always so…?” Jimmy trailed off, not even really knowing how to describe it. “It’s like…you’re just so small and yet you trust me enough to let me hold you?” Was the only real way Jimmy could think of to describe how he was feeling about this.

Grian blinked and then his eyes softened. “Oh.” He said gently, almost just a breath instead of an actual word. “Yeah. It…it’s sort of always like that. Holding you never really gets old because it’s just so…” Grian trailed off and looked to Joel, who continued.

“Amazing.” Joel finished Grian’s sentence. “Like you said, it’s the whole trust aspect of it. You barely even react to us grabbing you anymore and you always look so comfortable in our hands…it hard not to stare in awe sometimes.” Joel admitted. Jimmy nodded along. He could understand all of that, now better than ever. He felt like all he wanted to do was stare and poke at his friends.

“Is it…” Grian started, wetting his lips before continuing. “Is it always like this for you?”

It was Jimmy’s turn to be confused. “Like…what?”

“Terrifying.” Joel chimed in, looking down.

“Do you always feel so…small, compared to us? Like, we know you are small but…do you always feel like it?” Grian asked and Jimmy really had to think about that question.

“I mean…kind of? I am constantly hit with the sheer size difference between us and especially in your hands I feel my size most of all. But while I feel small it’s not a bad feeling. Maybe it’s because I’m used to it but feeling small is just normal for me. And the two of you make being small feel…nice.” Jimmy said earnestly.

“Nice, huh?” Joel said with a small exhale. “I mean, I guess I can kinda see the appeal.” Being in Jimmy’s hand was still a lot but even Joel could admit he was slowly relaxing more and more within the hold.

Jimmy hummed. “Well, you haven’t even been on a human’s chest yet.” Jimmy said with a grin and then shifted around so he was laying on his back, before carefully letting Grian and Joel off his hand and onto his chest. “I think you’ll see why this is my favorite place to sleep.”

Grian and Joel wobbled on the uneven surface of Jimmy’s chest and then paused as they could feel the giant heart beating against said chest. Their eyes widened. “Is that your heart?” Joel whispered in awe.

“Yep.” Jimmy said with a smile, watching as his two friends walked around on his chest. For the moment, Jimmy decided to try and ignore just how weird the sight was.

Grian kneeled down and pressed his hand against Jimmy’s chest, his eyes wide at the consistent thudding heart underneath his finger tips. “Wow.” Was all Grian could really say.

Joel took it a step further and completely laid down, pressing his ear up against the chest. Grian waited for Joel to do or say something but when he didn’t, Grian followed his lead and laid down too. “It’s so loud.” Grian said, though even with how loud it was, he felt mesmerized by it.

“Yep and when paired with this…” Jimmy placed his hand down over the two of them, like a blanket. As the gentle weight settled over them, Grian and Joel couldn’t help but relax for what felt like the first time all day. The warmth mixed with the steady beat of Jimmy’s heart underneath them was so comforting.

“...I’m usually out like a light.” Jimmy continued, his voice now a whisper as he realized Grian and Joel had closed their eyes. Their breathing was steady and Jimmy smiled at their relaxed expressions.

Jimmy hummed as he moved to get a bit more comfortable, careful not to jostle his friends too much. While he obviously knew that being on the small end of this was comforting, what he didn’t know was being on the big end was too. Feeling their tiny forms against his hand, knowing they were safe, it brought Jimmy more comfort than he had felt since waking up big.

He closed his eyes and with Grian and Joel close to his heart, he let sleep take him too.

***

The next day they woke up to the sound of knocking on their door. Jimmy had been nervous wondering who it could be before they had all realized they slept in and it was Skizz knocking on the door, ready to head to the fair. Jimmy had to let them know they would be a minute and they quickly all got dressed. Jimmy had slipped Grian and Joel back into Grian’s hoodie pocket and then opened the door and left with Skizz back to the fair.

Jimmy’s stomach grumbled, especially as they passed by all the different kinds of food, but they needed to find the witch and fix this first, before he could even think about eating.

They came across the same tent as before, and this time the sign was back up, announcing the Amazing Witch Aria to the world. Jimmy and Skizz nodded at each other and then went inside.

“Ah, welcome in-Oh!” Aria cut herself off as she realized she recognized her guests. “The borrowers! How is your revenge going? I hope you are repaying those lousy humans in kind for what they did to you.” Aria said, sneering at the mention of the humans again.

Jimmy stepped forward. “You’ve got it all wrong!” He exclaimed, causing Aria to blink in surprise.

“Sorry?” She said, confused.

Skizz matched Jimmy’s step forward. “Look, we tried to tell you before, but we weren’t in any danger. These humans,” Skizz cupped his hand over the chest pocket holding Impulse and Tango. “They’re our friends.”

Aria blinked, processing this new information. Her eyes widened. “Oh my goodness! Wait, really?”

Both Jimmy and Skizz nodded.

“I am so sorry. I just…I saw the two of you and I just assumed…” Aria shook her head and bent her head down toward them. “I’m sorry.”

Skizz sighed. “I guess I can sort of understand the assumption but you really should have talked to us about it first. We could have avoided all of this.”

Jimmy bit his lip. “Um…you can fix this though, right? Turn us all back to the right size?”

Aria stood up straighter. “Of course! As long as everyone is here, it’s no problem.” Jimmy and Skizz, as well as the humans in their pocket, sighed in relief. Jimmy and Skizz brought the humans out of their pockets and onto the table in between them and Aria. “I’m sorry, I was only trying to protect the borrowers.” Aria apologized, looking guilty.

Impulse rubbed the back of his neck. “We appreciate you looking out for borrower kind, but like Skizz said, maybe talk to them first?”

Aria nodded. “Yes, I will do that next time. I promise.” She brought out her wand. “Now, just stay still and…”

“Wait!” Grian suddenly shouted, all eyes falling on him. Aria tilted her head and Grian continued. “Is…is there any way for Jimmy and Skizz to stay this size? And for all of us to be the same size?” Grian asked a bit nervously.

Jimmy and Skizz’s eyes widened at the request. They hadn’t even thought of that.

Unfortunately, Aria shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, but unless you want some other humans to take their place, I’m afraid it’s not possible. Magic is an exchange. In order to grow one thing, something else of equal value has to shrink. It was hard enough for me to grow two and shrink four by exchanging it that way.”

Grian sighed but nodded. “Right. I understand.”

“It’s okay, Grian.” Jimmy said, giving Grian a smile. “Thank you for trying, but I think I’d rather go back to my regular size anyway.”

“Same here.” Skizz chimed in.

Grian looked between the two and smiled.

Aria lifted her wand again. “Are you ready?” At all of their nods, Aria waved her wand and flicked it toward them, a brilliant shining light filling the room.

A few minutes later, Grian, Joel, Impulse, and Tango exited the tent, now back to their regular human heights. Jimmy was carefully tucked away in Grian’s hoodie pocket again and Skizz was likewise hidden in Impulse’s chest one.

“So…food?” Tango suggested and they all agreed. They were starving after everything that had happened in the past day. As they looked around for something filling to eat, Grian couldn’t help but let out a content sigh.

“It feels good being back to normal.” Grian said.

And from within his pocket, leaning against his hand, Jimmy couldn’t help but agree.

#size swap

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#size swap