“So you cook it in a white wine sauce?” Troy asked. “Yeah, and then garnish with parsley.” Penelope replied. “That sounds great, I'll have to try tha-” Troy started. “What up, nerds?!” Roma shouted, kicking open the door and holding up a generic 'thank you' bag from a local bodega, “Penny, you, me, bubble gum contest, right now!”
“Sure, I'm game.” Penelope shrugged. “Do you remember the rules?” Roma asked. “Yeah, we each blow a bubble as big as we can. First to pop loses.” Penelope said.
“Right. Now pick your gum.” Roma said, tossing the plastic bag towards her sister.
Penelope snagged it out of the air and, holding both handles, peeked inside. There was a seemingly random assortment of gum packets, ranging from the minty, tooth friendly kind, to the thick, sugary bricks that could probably ruin orthodontic engineering.
“Hm...I'm gonna go with Hubble Bubble.” Penelope grabbed a pack of the fruit flavored gum.
“Bad choice, it's gotta be Major League Chaw.” Roma said, picking up the sachet of shredded sugar, “Original flavor too, none of that fruit stuff.”
“I like the fruit stuff.” Penelope said, carefully unwrapping a cube.
“What do you think, shrimp?” Roma asked, giving her brother the sort of look that said 'agree with me or else.'
“I always sort of liked Bident.” Troy obliviously pinched up a pack of the gum, “See how it has a picture of Hades on it? Isn't that neat?”
“You...” Roma crossed her arms and tapped her foot, before sighing exasperatedly, “I think I'm gonna have to shrink you for such a boring answer.”
“Wh-what?” Troy stammered, “B-but that's not-” “No, she's right.” Penelope interjected, “That was the worst possible choice. Definitely worthy of a shrinking.”
“C'mon...” Troy pitifully puppeteered the image of Hades side to side, “It's not that boring, is it?”
“Oh, just shut up and shrink.” Roma said, and Troy did, whirling down into the carpet, suddenly lost in the fibers like a scurrying ant.
“Should we just, you know...” Penelope mimed stepping on a bug.
“How about whoever wins the contest gets to decide what we do with him?” Roma asked.
“Oh, I like that!” Penelope grinned, “And if that’s the case, I'm gumma win, no matter what.”
“Jesus, Penny.” Roma pinched the bridge of her nose. “And I'm gonna chews a really nasty punishment.” Penelope said.
“Penny...” Roma sighed. “It'll be gum-believable!” Penelope laughed. “Penny!' Roma shouted, “Seriously, you need to tone it down.”
“It's not my fault you don't have a sense of humor.” Penelope said, kneeling down and fishing Troy out of the carpet, “Hey, wanna stick him between the bubbles?”
“Now you're talking.” Roma smirked, “Let's do it.” Both sisters stuck the gum in their respective mouths and began chewing, easily pulverizing the shelf-stable candy into soft, malleable wads. Troy watched, grasped between Penelope's thick fingers, agape at the raw power of those jaws, mashing and deforming structures much larger than he. Whatever the outcome of this contest, he knew it wasn't going turn out great for him.
“Readyyyyy?” Penelope held up Troy so that he was equidistant from both of his siblings’ lips.
“Go!” Roma cried. Both titanic mouths started to blow their bubbles, one purple, one pink, growing at steady, similar rates, and closing in on the minuscule body of Troy. He tried struggling for a moment, but Penelope's fingers were too strong. They had not only grabbed his torso, but had trapped his arms at his sides, leaving him unable to even protect his face. The expanding monstrosities continued to edge closer and closer, their combined, cloying smell settling like a thick fog. Troy wriggled as hard as he could, managing to only pull one arm out up to the wrist.
By then, however, it was too late. Each sticky membrane suddenly pressed into his body, Penelope's fingers immediately snaking away, so that he was encased in a thin, airtight layer of both the sweet, taffy-like texture of the gum, and the slimy remnants of the twins' saliva. He tried to breath but couldn't pull any air from within the quickly warming interior, and even if he could, it would only be the carbon dioxide exhaled by his sisters.
Troy was going to suffocate, unless somebody won the contest in the next minute. Time seemed to slow down as he wildly struggled and gasped, making no impact on his cage of chicle. Finally, though, the pressure from one side collapsed completely, a sudden rush of air reaching the tiny man's lungs, giving him a moment of exuberance before realizing that he was about to be temporarily owned by one of his sisters.
But which one?