Drew’s heart pounded against his chest, the cool feeling of the apartment wall on his back, his breath came to a standstill as the darkness of his closet consumed him.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Floorboards whined with each floor shaking step, the piercing twinge of wood rang louder with each movement, the large mass was making its way closer and closer to his position.

“Damn it…” his hands ran through his dark brown hair as he prepared for the worst as whatever behemoth was outside had zoned in on his position.

“I know you’re in here,” bellowed a booming voice, the sliding door to the closet rattled as his pursuer settled itself in front of his hiding position.

He gripped the oversized half-eaten brownie and drew a face of inspiration as the door began to slide open. The evening moonlight crept into the wardrobe and just as it was about to reach him, he dashed into the open, a glance upwards revealed the pissed off face of his roommate – Taylor, it was clear she had just returned from the gym by the sheen of sweat that coated her body.

Her pillar-like legs towered in front of him, her huge feet, enclosed in Adidas sneakers, spread apart slightly, exposing a substantial gap for him to stage his getaway. His focus snapped to the door behind her, and he bolted between her legs, freedom was in sight!

“C’mere you little shit!” her lumbering form caused a cacophony of thumps as she gave chase.

Unfortunately for Drew it was a rather arduous task to outrun a giant who stood over four times his size. Before he had even taken five running strides past her, the thick pads of her fingers had wrapped themselves around his torso, her calloused palms pressed against the sides of his delicate ribcage.

Taylor practically manhandled his diminutive body as she roughly lifted him to face her, the heat of her flushed face invaded his atmosphere.

“I cannot believe you ate the last brownie,” her hot breath reeked of protein shake, “especially after I told you not to,” her eyes rolled in a way that eased his worries, she was clearly not too pressed by the issue.

“It was a moment of weakness, I’m sorry,” the tiny man pleaded, his hands strapped to his sides by her meaty claws.

Her finger prodded his stomach as a smile crept onto her face, “and didn’t you say you were gonna get in shape?”

“I already weigh less than you,” he jokingly retorted.

“Psh, you weigh less than my bicep curl bitch,” his body shook in her hands as he snickered, “you laugh but it’s true,” she stated confidently.

Drew’s body was unexpectedly spun on its side as her grip tightened around his torso, her palm covered the width of his back. His view of the underside of her navy sports bra and chin was interrupted by a soft grunt as he was hoisted upwards, her bicep flexed as his body was easily levered up and down, wind whipped past his face. With each flex his face came within inches of her sweat soaked breasts, the stench of hard work entered his nostrils.

“Yeah, I could probably get a good pump after a couple of sets of that,” his face went red with embarrassment at her braggadocios remark, there was a definitive truth behind her earlier statement.

“Okay I get it, you’re a gym junkie,” he avoided her eyes, desperate to not let her see his blushing face, “please let me down.”

“Only because you asked so nicely.”

His feet touched down before hers, Taylor’s looming body once again towered over him.

“My boss had some more files to get through tonight, but she told me to kill an hour and then bring you back to the office,” she explained while beginning to walk out of his room, “so once I have a shower, let’s head over.”

Drew nodded in agreement as he rubbed his shoulders, stiff from being held so tightly in her grip.

***

Cars were a luxury only those in the top three brackets of five, six and seven could afford, however, they were mostly used by those in brackets five and six, 12-17 footers and 20-25 footers, respectively. People, nay – gods, who resided in the seventh bracket stood at monumental heights of anything between 40 to 50 feet. Not many could claim to be a part of these divine citizens who often chose not to drive their gigantic metallic obelisks, instead they preferred to feel the ground rumble beneath their steps as the lower beings scrambled to get out of their way, financial superiority wasn’t enough for them.

For this reason, most roads from the old world had either been repurposed to fit the larger cars that now roamed the streets or instead fitted to house the altered trains that carried the comparatively smaller patrons.

Drew and Taylor sat aboard the aforementioned train as they hurtled towards downtown, the meeting with her boss awaited them.

It was late in the evening as the public transport pulled into their desired destination. The human traffic was busy, and the glow of the setting sun was replaced by the artificial lighting of the underground subway.

The pair of them made their way through the bustling streetlamp lit streets, passing by the various sizes of their fellow city-goers. As they rounded a corner, the office building Taylor worked at came into view, a tall structure with glossy windows lining all sides.

Once they entered into the fancy foyer and walked across the glossy white floor they stood in front of the elevators. The silver doors were clearly made for people of Taylor’s size or larger as Drew felt like he stood before giant gates to a castle. A resounding ding broke him out of his daydream as the elevator opened.

“Just so you’re not too shocked,” she began as she pressed the button for floor 17, “my boss is quite tall.”

He gestured to the expensive looking foyer and lush interior of the elevator, “yeah I figured as much.”

After the short ascent, they stepped out into the reception. ‘Normandy Law’ was scribed on a polished piece of wood that hung on the wall next to the unmanned secretary’s desk, it was getting late, so most workers had gone home.

As they made their way through the workplace, they passed by many desks that looked to be suited to people of Taylor’s size. Their footsteps must have made their presence known because a loud disembodied voice cut through the low humming of the air conditioning.

“Taylor is that you?”

“Yep, I brought Drew!” she shouted back.

“Excellent, I’m in my office,” came a bellowing reply from down the hall.

Drew found his nerves increasing as they got closer to the boss’ door, he hadn’t even really thought of what he was going to say to her, would she even care that much? Maybe Taylor had been pestering her for this meeting just to make him feel better, anxious thoughts continued to swirl around his head as they came face to face with the massive white slab of wood. The handle to the door was level with his roommates head, it looked like it took her a level of effort to pull it down and push the entrance open.

Expensive wood lined the walls of the office with towering bookcases on either side of a mammoth oak desk, they took a step onto the dark green carpet. Drew laid his eyes on the frequently mentioned boss, who sat upon a magnificent leather swivel chair, her hazel eyes lifted from her work to meet his.

“You must be Drew,” her sharp and mature facial features softened. She began to rise from her chair, her luxurious red hair bobbed by the side of her face.

“I- uh-“ his words were stuck in his throat as she rose higher then he expected, her frame making her building-like desk look moderately sized, he estimated her to be roughly double Taylor’s height. She wore a tightly fitted black pencil skirt with a white blouse, her clothes accentuating her slim but curvy figure. The ground quaked as her red heels swung around from behind the desk, obliterating the carpet beneath her.

He backed up as her form loomed closer, each step caused the books in the shelves to shudder as the whole room seemed to rattle behind her immensity, he couldn’t believe the floor could hold someone who wielded such weight behind their paces.

“I’m Valentine Normandy, but just call me Val,” she came to a stop before him, leaving enough room so he wouldn’t have a clear view up her skirt, “I don’t have a chair you’d fit into; do you mind sitting on my desk while we talk?”

Drew’s mouth was agape as this living goliath spoke down to him from the heavens, her voice had a deep, sultry, fullness to it. Her elevated ankles sat level with his chest, he could comfortably use her heel as a place to lounge.

To his left he saw Taylor pull out an adjustable chair, they were designed to extend upwards so that different sizes could sit at any table and be able to see over it. She gave him an expectant look towards her boss, she was just there to introduce him, it was up to Drew to get out what he wanted from this meeting.  

“Yeah sure, I don’t mind,” he finally put his words together, as he looked back towards her.

“Splendid,” her hulking form began to bend at the knees as Val lowered herself to a squat, a sound only perceptible to Drew could be heard as the large quantity of fabric that made up her skirt stretched its way around her rear.

Pincer like fingers reached down towards him and gripped the back of his shirt, he was lurched upwards as she stood up. Each step towards her desk sent a jolt through his body, it was similar to when Casey held him, except it seemed like there was more time between each footfall.  

He was gently lowered atop the expansive desk surface, his ground made up of swirling patterns found within wood, a desk of this size must have been crafted using multiple trees. Drew was surrounded by oversized pencils and stacks of files with a computer that stood as tall as a house.

“Sorry if that was uncomfortable, I know how that can feel,” her words fell on deaf ears, how would she know how it feels he thought to himself.

“No, don’t worry, I’m alright,” his small words faintly made their way to the gentle giant’s ears.

Val made her way around the desk and fell into her leather chair with a thunderous thump, her upper body stretched over the horizon. Giant elbows lightly touched down onto the wooden surface as she clasped her hands together, even with care their weight caused him to lose balance.

“Taylor briefly told me about what happened over the phone, but I want you to retell me as well as any other significant events that occurred while you were working under Casey Pierce,” she had taken on a more serious tone as she got down to business.

Drew recounted the fateful day where he received a boot to the stomach and went on about how poorly he and his other unfortunate co-workers were treated by the tyrannical Casey, a particularly degrading memory of one of his colleagues who was forced to lick off the grease they had accidentally spilled over her boots.

“Mm, I see,” her focused eyes lifted off him, Val hadn’t interrupted him as she soaked in all the information she could, “she’s a rotten one.”

Her lack of words caused the harsh reality to sink into his thoughts as he retold his personal experiences, what good will come from telling her all this, doubt began to cloud his mind, “I appreciate you taking your time to listen to my story, but I really don’t think I can afford you as a lawyer, and even then, I have no actual proof of any of these things happening.”

“You won’t need to afford me Drew, I want to help you.”

He was confused, it made sense she felt for him but why put in time and effort for a law case to help a random stranger, “I don’t understand why.”

Val took a deep exhale as her hazel eyes softened, “because I understand your struggle,” she leaned back into her chair and continued, “I grew up in a tiny family, my parents weren’t broke, but they didn’t do particularly well for themselves. I spent 21 years of my life watching myself and my family get disgusted and uninterested looks from anyone bigger than us, that’s why I worked my ass off to get a degree and get where I am today.”

Drew’s eyes widened as she told him about her upbringing, she didn’t just understand his struggle, she grew up with it. He had only been shrunken down to the lower rungs of society in the past four months and he was at his wits end. A sudden pang of guilt hit him, he grew up in a middle-class family where he never once worried about those less fortunate and now, he was in the presence of a woman who had lived and breathed size discrimination for a huge chunk of her life.

“I want to help you because it absolutely sickens me when I hear about these criminals in upper brackets who think it’s okay to enforce their size over others with no consequences, our world is a materialistic mess and I want you to help me change it,” there was passion behind her words and fire behind her eyes.

Val’s words struck a chord within his soul, a future where he failed to fix his life flashed before him, a family stooping to humiliating lows, begging for scraps and kids with no hope in sight who counted down the days until they withered away.

A miserable future.

No. He wouldn’t let that happen. Drew had lazed around for most of his life, constantly piggybacking off others success and finding the easiest option to solve problems. Now was different, he was finally faced with an opportunity to truly do something with his life, to make an actual change in the twisted world he found himself in.

“Alright…” he raised up from his seated position and met her eyes with confidence, “where do we start?”