“Happy birthday, Mason!!!”

     The boy was ripped away from his peaceful slumber by the sound of his door swinging wide open, and he turned to look out his bedroom window. Six long legs, each one over 60 feet tall, scurried onto the vast field of carpet outside his house. He sighed, slightly annoyed at being woken up so abruptly, but smiled nonetheless at the welcoming committee for his special day.

     He yawned and pulled himself out of bed, but apparently the three giant women that were waiting outside of his Lincoln Log home were unsatisfied with his lack of response. “Is he seriously not even awake yet?” the girl on the left whispered to the others, evoking a grumble out of the girl on the right. But just as Mason was about to call out his reply, the leader of the three marched forward, causing a minor vibration only the boy was able to feel.

     “Wait wait, I’m AAHHHHH!” Before he could finish yelling out a response, his entire home tilted backwards as his mom put her foot on the roof of his makeshift home and slanted it back enough so that she could see through the window without having to get on her hands and knees. But the cry of surprise from the tiny boy somewhere inside answered her question, and caused his two sisters to giggle. 

     “Oh, sorry honey,” the giant woman said, setting his toy house back on the ground so he could come to the door. “Do you not remember our conversation about speaking loud and clearly? I can’t even understand your sisters when they mumble, so how am I supposed to hear you?”

     A few seconds later, a 3-inch-tall boy emerged from the plastic front door, craning his neck to look up at Nicole, his mom. She was dressed in a white blouse, a few buttons undone, and slim-fitting jeans that accentuated the calves she’d developed from years of jogging. Between the two outfit choices, he wondered whether he’d catch a sight of her cleavage or her butt first. He hated that the thought even came to him at all; he would’ve thought that spending way more time around his mom growing up compared to most kids would “normalize” her in his subconscious, or whatever part of his brain was supposed to make sure people don’t feel attraction to family members. But it seems that all that time spent with her only strengthened his infatuation. And it didn’t help of course that all the hottest parts of her—really, every part of her—looked insanely big from his point of view. 

     She had several bracelets on her left wrist and a silver watch on her right, plus her hair was so voluminous today that he figured she was heading in to work later. Normally Mason got left alone in the mornings to get up when he wanted to, but it seemed the whole squad had showed up to his room in honor of him turning another year older. 

     “I wasn’t mumbling,” he replied to her maternal critiquing, “I just didn’t think to answer you guys in time.”

     “Well that’s even worse,” the giant woman smirked. “Anyways, congrats on number 19, Mason,” she smiled, and squatted down to pluck her son up between her fingers. He didn’t squirm or struggle as she raised him up to her face, having grown used to be handled like this over the last decade since he originally shrunk down. Arriving at her happy, radiant face, she leaned in a little bit and brought her boy to her lips. “Mmmmm-pwah!” That time he squirmed a bit though; being held was one thing, but having half his body smushed into a pillowy cushion of lip gloss was something he’d never gotten used to. She giggled at his uncomfortable reaction; it was just like how her daughters reacted when given the same treatment when they were younger. “I know you don’t really like it when I do that, but as your mother I think I should be entitled to at least give my son a kiss on his birthday.”

     He rolled his eyes but mustered up a smile. “It’s fine, I can handle it every now and then.”

     “Mom, seriously, I need to go to work,” said Mikayla, the girl on the right. Nicole turned around, sighing at the impatience of her oldest child, and reached out to drop Mason in his sister’s hand. Out of Nicole’s three children, she was the one who looked most like their mom, except with even bigger boobs and bigger butt. It was a fact that obviously didn’t help the boy’s occasional fixation over the women who lived with him. Even dressed in the modest, all-black uniform she wore for her job at Starbucks, she looked super pretty. Even though he could only feel it on the bottoms of his bare feet, she had the softest skin he’d ever felt, a trait which becomes much more noticeable and alluring when you’re constantly being held by people.

     “Wow, I feel so loved,” he said sarcastically, and the 22-year-old shrugged.

     “Your 21st birthday is the only one that matters after you turn 18,” she replied, “so I just don’t think it’s that big a deal.” She paused, glancing away for a moment as she thought of something. “Actually, since you can’t really go  to bars or buy your own stuff and Mom is already fine with you drinking, technically that one doesn’t matter for you either. Honestly, your 18th birthday probably didn’t matter as much as mine did or Skye’s will either.”

     “Mikayla!” their mom gasped, backhanding her shoulder, surprised that she’d be so rude all of a sudden. It hadn’t been a comment about his value as a person, since it wasn’t a question that everyone in their family considered Mason every bit as valuable and irreplaceable as if he’d never shrunk. It had been about his freedom of an individual; technically he had the same rights as everyone else, but it wasn’t like most of them were very useful at his size.

     “I’m kidding!” the girl said defensively, but it didn’t help Mason to feel any better.

     “Just cuz you say something’s a joke doesn’t make it funny,” he muttered, glancing down and away. Within seconds, she’d reminded him of how limited his life was, and instantly turned his mood upside down. Nicole glared at her daughter, crossing her arms.

     Mikayla pursed her lips, feeling bad now as she saw her brother sulking around on her palm. She had a bad habit of just saying what was on her mind without thinking of how it affected those around her. “Okay, you’re right. I’m sorry.” Mason looked up at her, one end of his lips raising in a half-hearted expression of reluctant forgiveness. Mikayla looked around at the other two family members again, who still had judgmental looks on their faces. At 3 inches tall, it just wasn’t feasible for someone like Mason to have that much autonomy, so bringing it up was always a sore subject—and that wasn’t even counting the indifference she’d shown for his birthday.

     She winced, feeling genuinely bad for him now, knowing there wasn’t any combination of apologetic words that’d be enough to console him. “How about I take you around town or something this weekend? Like for the whole day, not just when I’m off from work.”

     His smile grew a little more at the offer, and he looked back up at her. “Sure, that’d be cool,” he said, and a bit of relief washed over her.

     “But for real, like, I’m gonna be late now, so I’ll see everyone tonight,” she said, whisking the boy over to the youngest of the family, who barely grabbed him before Mikayla rushed away to the front door. “Byeeeeeeee,” she called back to them, and then let the door slam a bit too forcefully on her way out.

     “Geeeeez, what a train wreck,” Skye giggled, and turned her attention to the boy in her palm. Out of everyone in his family, he was the closest with her since they were only two years apart. Mikayla’s last year of high school had coincided with Skye’s first year of middle school, so once Mikayla graduated and her life became a lot busier due to the throes of adulthood, the other two siblings naturally began spending more time together, which came at the cusp of a critical and intimate period of time that saw their emotions mature and expand. The great thing about having a tiny brother is that it wasn’t physically possible for him to have a busy life, so he was always instantly there for her when she needed him to be. And in return, Mason felt like Skye was his friend besides just being his sister, which was an invaluable thing to have since he couldn’t realistically meet many people outside of the internet.

     “I have to go soon too though,” she frowned. “We were supposed to turn in our AP class applications for senior year yesterday, so I need to get to the office before school starts to talk to Miss Hansen.” 

     “Wow, almost missing the deadline to get into AP Psych because you were too busy catching up on Riverdale last week,” he commented. “Sounds like Mikayla’s not the only train wreck.”

     “What!?” she shrieked with wide eyes, then bit her lip and pushed him over with her finger. “You’re right, I am a train wreck,” she pretended to pout, “I didn’t even remember to get you a present.” She grinned mischievously, and lowered him back down to the floor.

     Now it was Mason’s turn to freak. He figured she was joking, but she was also good at acting like she was messing around when she was really telling the truth but didn’t have the guts to come clean. And since Mason didn’t have any means of making money other than his slow stream of an allowance, he relied on the goodwill of his mom and sisters to get a lot of things for him. “Wait, does that mean you were too late to get me—”

     “Huh? I already put you down and you know I can’t hear you that well when you’re on the floor,” she teased. “You can ask me again after I’m home from school though, see ya!” She waved down at him before pivoting around to go grab her backpack and pack her stuff.

     “Skye, I’m being serious,” he yelled, except he couldn’t even see where in the house she’d gone to and knew she probably couldn’t hear him anymore for real this time.

     Their mom chuckled at her kids’ behavior. “I still have a little while before I have to leave, do you want me to take you to the kitchen?” she asked.

     “No, that’s okay,” he replied, and turned with a sigh, walking between her feet to head back into his cabin and decide how he should spend his special day.