“Breaking News: Woman Arrested on Charges of Eating Tiny Boyfriend.” Drew read the headline off Chris’ phone. They were at the bar, as usual, accompanied by the bartender and an older gentleman sitting a few seats down. Everyone’s attention was drawn towards the news. Chris took his phone back and skimmed the article.

            “Let’s see: the two were dating for a year, the boyfriend was missing for a week before police found evidence convicting the girlfriend, and she confessed but claims he consented to it,” he read off. Chris and the bartender looked to Drew who was still mulling it all over in his head.

            “Think there’s any truth to that?” the bartender asked. He didn’t mention it, but it was clear the question was directed towards Drew.

            “I don’t know,” Drew responded, leaning back in his stool. “It doesn’t get more intimate than literally being inside her. Jess and I have done similar stuff. I could see the appeal if it weren’t for the excruciating death part.” He scratched his head as he tried to formulate a satisfying answer. “Maybe he was suicidal?”

            “Nah,” Chris chimed in, “says here the feds searched the woman’s computer and found a bunch of posts on some voreaphile site. Apparently, she was plotting the whole thing out from the beginning. The guy’s friends and family never trusted her, but the guy was too infatuated with her to listen.” Without looking, Drew could feel Chris’ glare boring holes in him.

            “She was tricking him for a whole year? That’s fucked,” the bartender remarked. There was a long silence as everyone waited for Drew’s response. He sat there, staring at nothing, not even taking a sip from his bottle.

            “I take it you’re dating one of ‘em big folks,” the old man said. He was ancient, but he had a stoic look to him despite his diminutive stature. On his head, he wore a black cap with “U.S. Special Forces” written in yellow font. “That’s nice. Used to be, the only time bigs and tinies could ever stand in the same room was in the military. A lot of progress, we’ve made.” Since the country’s founding, the United States employed members of both sizes in their military. Tinies excelled in espionage and infiltration, and they were instrumental in key victories throughout history. For most of America’s existence, military bases and barracks were the only places both sizes could legally cohabitate. This was the case in most developed countries throughout the world.

            “Sir, you heard us, right? Getting eaten by giants doesn’t sound like progress to me,” Chris commented.

            “Every generation’s got its share of idiots. Some fool acts up, and you’re going to close the gates, lock the bigs out? That’s not how the world works. We move forward, not back,” the old man rambled. Chris regretted opening his mouth, but Drew was nodding along to the old man’s lecture. “Some of my best friends are big people. We didn’t always get along, especially not at first, but you learn quick on the battlefield that we all bleed red.”

            “Y’know what else bleeds red?” Chris posited. “Beef, chicken, and pork.”

            “Don’t listen to your friend. He’s one of those fools trying to retreat back to the dark ages,” the veteran chided. “You’re the future my generation fought for, not him. Treat this girl of yours special; you’re lucky to have her.” Drew listened intently to the old man. Things had been weird with Jess lately. She was much more standoffish, less intimate, and acting all cautious around him, as if he’d break at the slightest touch. There were also the nightmares that kept her up at night, though she’d never tell Drew what they were about. He assumed it was all somehow his fault. How could a guy his size be good enough for a woman like her? With all the doubts constantly floating through his mind, it was nice to get some support for once, even if he had to stumble across a wise, old guy to get it.

            “I should get going,” Drew decided, getting off his seat and heading for the door. “I’m going to Jess’. Thanks, mister. Put your drinks on my tab.”

            “Hey, call me if anything happens!” Chris yelled. Drew was halfway out the door. Without looking back, he waved to his friend and left.

…

            “Oh God,” Jess cried. She just finished reading the news off her phone. Her, Macy, and Sasha were at the bar together, all focused on the terrible news. The place was packed, each patron’s voice melding into one ambient, indecipherable mess of noise. “That’s horrible.” She was on the verge of tears.

            “Yeah, that’s fucked up by even my standards,” Sasha remarked. In the weeks since meeting Drew, the two had met up a few times to geek out over their shared taste in music. Tinies still grossed her out, and Drew was the only one she felt comfortable being near, but she was at least recognizing them as people.

            “Jess, are you okay?” Macy asked. Jess held her face in her hands, failing to maintain her composure.

            “No. No, I’m not. What’s Drew going to think when he sees this?” Macy and Sasha glanced at each other, wondering if the other understood what she meant.

            “What’s he got to do with this?” Sasha asked. “Didn’t it say those people were in Florida? I doubt he knows them.”

            “That’s not it. He’s going to see this and think I’m some monster like her. He’s going to break up with me to protect himself.”

            “Jess, you’re talking crazy,” Macy spoke up. “He’s not going to break up with you because of some freak you don’t even know.”

            “And if he does, he doesn’t deserve you anyway,” Sasha added.

            “You guys don’t understand. I keep having these dreams. I- I have a vore fetish.” Sasha choked on her drink; Macy stared at her friend, unblinking. “I didn’t know until I started seeing him, but he felt so good in my mouth, and I started doing research, and I found all these videos, and…”

            “You watched videos of people eating tinies?” Macy asked, dreading the answer.

            “They weren’t real!” Jess contended. “It’s all CG and editing.”

            “And I’m guessing you haven’t told Drew any of this,” Sasha said.

            “How could I? ‘Hey, sweetie, the thought of you dissolving in my stomach really gets me off. Let’s add that to our repertoire.’”

            “Ok, you need to set one thing straight: you don’t actually want to eat him, right?” Sasha asked.

            “Of course not! I’m not going to kill my boyfriend over a stupid fantasy.” Jess held her hands out in front of her. She stared into her open palms and slowly curled her fingers in and out. “It scares me how easily I can hurt him. If I take one wrong step, if I roll over in bed, if I swallow without thinking, it’s all over.”

            “Jess, you can’t stress over him like that. It’s not healthy.”

            “The little dude probably doesn’t want his girlfriend babying him, anyway,” Sasha remarked. Jess knew her friends were right.

            “I can’t help it.” She took a swig of her drink. “He’s too important to me.”

…

            Drew was walking alone through the tiny district. This late in the evening, most stores were closed, and the streets were empty. Flickering streetlights cast deep shadows around every alley, closing off the tiny man’s world to what he could see in front of him. His only company were the thoughts swirling around his head. The muted city ambience was interrupted by Drew’s phone ringing. It was Jess.

            “Hey, it’s me,” she said. “Have you seen the news?”

            “Yeah.”

            “You know I’d never…”

            “Yeah, I know.” He could hear her exhale on the other end.

            “Good. I love you.”

            “Love you too.”

…

            “Drew, we need to talk.” He had been dreading those words for a while, ever since she had that nightmare and started acting strange. It was still Friday night; the two were at Jess’ apartment, sitting together on the sofa. Jess sat crossed legged facing the middle where her boyfriend sat on the basketball court sized cushion. “I,” she couldn’t look at him while she spoke, turning her head to the side. “I have a vore fetish.”

            Drew fell back and breathed the biggest sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God. For a second, I thought you were breaking up with me.”

            Jess was left speechless. That wasn’t how he was supposed to react. “You heard what I said, right?”

            “Yeah, you’re into vore. You really thought I didn’t know? You sucked me out of a macaroni noodle last week. I spend more time in your mouth than I do in my own apartment.” He started counting on his fingers every instance of mouthplay they had engaged in. “…There was the time you stuck me in the fridge to see how I tasted chilled. And the time you covered me in Pop Rocks. And then…”

            “That’s not what I mean,” Jess interrupted, upset at how relaxed he was. “I want to swallow you, feel you go down my throat,” she traced a line down her neck with her finger down to her belly, “and keep you in my stomach. I mean, I don’t want to do that. I just get these urges.”

            “Is that what those dreams were about?” She nodded her head. Drew paced for a bit, deep in thought. After a minute, he struck upon a revelation. “I got it. All I’ll need is a spacesuit, a bungee cord, and some antacid tablets.”

            “Drew, this is serious!”

            “I am serious,” he muttered. “We’ll work it out somehow. You can’t just go on repressing it.”

            “How are you taking this so well? Shouldn’t you be terrified of me?”

            “Because I love you, and I want you to be happy. Sure, it’s weird and somewhat degrading being the secret ingredient in all your snacks, but I have fun with it too. And you always treat me well, so don’t worry about me so much.”

            “Alright,” Jess lowered her palm for him to climb on. Lifting him up, she caressed him with her index finger. “I’ll try.”

…

            Throughout the weekend and into the following week, the news story of a woman devouring her boyfriend was all that anyone talked about. It dominated newsrooms and social media, igniting debates and calls for action throughout the country. The majority of Americans supported coexistence between the sizes, but a vocal group believed returning to isolation was the best course for all. Many of these people were simply prejudiced and wanted to restore the status quo they had enjoyed for so long, but there were also those who genuinely believed that separation better guaranteed the safety and prosperity of each species better than cohabitation could. Violence between sizes, most commonly the large preying on the small, was always a hot topic whenever it occurred, but the extra maliciousness of the woman seducing her boyfriend into her stomach sent waves crashing through the collective conscious, never letting up on the small population of mixed size couples.

            Drew was working at his oversized desk, typing away at his miniature keyboard and reading off his giant monitor. The smaller employees had long appealed for appropriately sized office equipment, but management was quick to remind them that there wasn’t room for that in the budget.

            “It’s bad enough they get paid full-sized wages,” the district manager oft complained, “the twerps think the whole world should accommodate them. It’s ridiculous.” Most of the tiny equipment available (keyboards, mice and writing utensils) were procured out of pocket by the employees using them. Management at least had the decency to provide a miniature copy machine at the far end of the workspace. “I recognize your frustration at the only mini outlet being so far from your desks, but think of it as an opportunity to get in your steps.”

            Drew was wrapping up a report when a tiny woman walked up to him. “Hey Drew, how’s it going?” Lily asked. Lily was a tiny coworker occupying the desk next to Drew’s, though she preferred to be on Drew’s side of the cubicle any chance she could get. “How’re things with Jess?”

            “Fine,” he responded. He stared straight at his monitor, only giving Lily half his attention.

            “Oh, okay,” she said, words dripping in disappointment. Everyone in the office knew Lily had a massive crush on Drew, everyone but Drew at least. The two were hired around the same time, and she was all over him for as long as anybody could remember. Drew never thought anything of it, just assuming she was a kind, outgoing person, and he always preferred talking to Jess anyway. Lily didn’t take that well, developing a bitter jealousy towards the woman; her animosity detonated the moment the two started dating. “You should distance yourself from her, though. All this talk about giants eating us, it’d be horrific if something happened to you.”

            “Uh-huh, sure.” He was too absorbed in his work to understand what she was saying.

            “If you ever need someone to confide in, I’m always available. Don’t hesitate to come to me, especially if things aren’t working out between you two.” Lily had more she wanted to say to him, but she was interrupted by a large shadow cast over her.

            “Lily, I know you prefer to shunt all your work to the rest of us, but even you must have something better to do than pester Drew all day,” Jess gloated. Even with her bird’s eye view, Jess could see the scorn adorning the tiny woman’s face. Back when her and Drew were friends, Jess thought Lily’s feud with her was childish, but ever since the two started dating, she couldn’t help but act haughty around her. Hearing his girlfriend’s voice, Drew stopped what he was doing and turned around to face her.

            “Hey Jess, what’s up?”

            Lily sulked back to her desk, livid at the smug smirk bearing down on her from up above. She slammed the cubicle door and returned to her workstation where Steve was waiting for her. Steve was a tiny occupying the desk next to Lily’s, though he preferred to hang around Lily whenever he could. “Hey Lily, how’s it going?”

            “Fine,” she grumbled, “though I’d feel a lot better if I could wrap my hands around that giantess’ neck.” The jubilant laughter coming from the desk beside hers made Lily want to tear her ears off.

            “You should just give up on Drew. Guy’s a lost cause.” It was painfully obvious that Steve had a crush on Lily, but he had neither the confidence nor the social aptitude required to ask her out. His plan was to hang around her until she finally developed feelings for him.

            “If he wasn’t the only attractive guy in my life, then maybe I could.” It wasn’t her intent to insult Steve. She didn’t view him as a man to begin with; he was more of a vessel to vent her frustrations into, like a verbal punching bag. With no other prospects in his life, Steve simply withstood whatever abuse she threw at him. “I mean, what does she have that I don’t?”

            “Thanks, sweetie. You’re the best! I’m so lucky to have such a reliable, handsome boyfriend!” Jess exclaimed, winking at Lily before returning to her desk. Lily was scalding so hard it looked like her head was going to pop. Drew never got why Jess was extra affectionate to him at work, but it helped him get through the rough days.

…

            Jess and Drew were grocery shopping together. Drew rode on his girlfriend’s shoulder while she pushed the cart through the aisles. The superstore they were at had an immense variety of wares for all sizes. Miniature shelves lined the floors directly beneath their larger counterparts, and marked lanes designated for tinies allowed smaller shoppers to navigate the store freely without getting in the way of the giant customers. In each aisle, Jess would lower Drew to the floor to pick out his stuff while she searched the upper shelves.

            Unbeknownst to them, a young woman had been following them through the aisles, keeping close watch on Drew. She was in her early twenties, wearing a university hoodie and sweatpants. She stalked them throughout the store, waiting for a chance to get Drew by himself. Her opportunity struck in the baking aisle; the tiny man was at one end picking out spices while Jess examined cake mix on the other side. In one smooth motion, the woman swooped in and nabbed Drew off the floor, covering his face with her thumb so he couldn’t make a sound as she brought him to the next aisle over. The force with which she carried him made Drew nauseous, only made worse by his airflow being cut off by her thumb.

            The tiny gasped for air as he was brought back into the light. The woman had both hands tightly gripped around him, his face inches away from hers. Her oppressive breath reeked of fruity vape juice. “Oh my God! You’re even cuter up close.”

            “What the hell are you doing? Put me down!” Drew cried out. He struggled against the finger prison, but he had no effect against the woman’s iron grip.

            “Shhh, it’s okay. You’re safe now.” Drew continued struggling. Even if it was futile, maybe she’d get the hint that he wanted to get away from her. “That lady was holding you hostage, right? Picking out what she was going to pair you with for dinner?”

            “Hostage? She’s my girlfriend.” Drew was terrified. This woman was either insane or an idiot, and he hated being at the mercy of either.

            “Oh, I just learned about this in Psych class. It’s called Stockholm syndrome.” Drew didn’t have many options. There was no one else nearby, and he was too far from Jess for her to hear him. His cell phone was in his pocket, but the woman’s grip prevented him from pulling it out and using it.

            “Drew? Drew, where are you?” Jess called from the other side of the shelves. The woman looked back nervously, deciding her next course of action. This was Drew’s only chance. He bit her thenar web. It didn’t hurt at all, but it distracted her for long enough as she tried to figure out what the tiny was doing.

            “Hand him over, now!” Jess demanded, appearing next to the woman with her hand held out. If a glare could kill, the young woman would be dead ten times over. She pulled Drew further away from Jess, afraid of the lady shouting at her. “Give him to me!” Jess took a step closer, hand still held out. The woman looked to Drew; he nodded, conveying to her that she should comply. She clicked her tongue and dropped the tiny into Jess’ palm.

            “You had your chance, tiny. I would’ve kept you safe from this harpy.” Jess was already in the other aisle, too worried about Drew to acknowledge anything else.

            “Are you okay?” Drew lied in her palm, clutching his head in one hand. It felt good to be held by his girlfriend again.

            “I’m all right. Just a headache, nothing serious.” Jess wanted to go straight home, but Drew insisted they finish shopping. She didn’t let him out of her sight the rest of the day.

…

            That night, Drew stayed over at Jess’. As the two prepared for bed, Jess set up a small, open box on her nightstand. It was 2.5 x 1 inch, and had two cotton swabs, a wad of felt, and a half-torn tissue inside it. Instead of carrying Drew to her pillow as she usually did, Jess placed him beside the makeshift bed.

            “You should sleep there tonight. It’s much safer than next to me.” Drew pushed down on the cotton swabs, getting a feel for their softness. He looked back to Jess, his eyes pleading for her to reconsider. “This really takes a weight off my shoulders. Please, do it for me.” He didn’t argue and clambered into his bed. It wasn’t uncomfortable. “Thank you. Goodnight.” Jess gave him a kiss and laid down in hers.

            Jess was half asleep when she felt something climbing up the back of her head. It crawled across her cheek and pulled apart her lips, forcing its way inside her mouth. Drew made himself cozy in her cheek as she woke up.

            “What are you doing!?” she exclaimed.

            “I’m sleeping in here tonight.”

            “No, you are not.” She sat up and spat her boyfriend into her hand. Even covered in drool, Drew maintained a defiant posture.

            “Well, I ain’t sleeping in that matchbox,” he declared. “I want to sleep with you.”

            “I told you, it’s too risky.”

            “So what? Everything we do together is a risk. I don’t care about the danger.”

            “I do, though,” Jess responded. “If you got hurt, if I hurt you, I couldn’t forgive myself.”

            “But you haven’t, and you won’t. I trust you not to,” Drew pleaded.

            “It’s not about trust. If I take one wrong step, if I’m not paying attention for one second, you’re gone. You don’t understand how stressful that is.”

            “Then share that burden with me. I’m not as fragile as everyone thinks I am; I can take care of myself.”

            “It’s not that simple. Compared to me, you are fragile, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.” For the past week, the couple had grown physically distant. They still talked, still hung out, still loved one another, but a barrier had risen between them. Contact was minimal, limited to simple actions like carrying and kissing. Until now, Drew didn’t understand what was happening, unable to lay blame on anything but himself. Jess recognized the consequences of her decisions, but believed them to be necessary for Drew’s sake. They were stuck in a passionless relationship, one that could not last in its current state.

            “So, we’re just going to sleep in separate beds from now on? Can we even have sex anymore?” Drew grew more upset as he spoke. “We should probably eat separately too. Wouldn’t want to accidentally end up on your fork. And we shouldn’t bathe together, in case I drown. I shouldn’t drive to work anymore either, since I could get in a car wreck. Just set me up a hamster cage, so I can be the perfect, sheltered pet you want me to be.” His words stung. No matter what anyone said, she always respected him as a person and always defended him as such. She wasn’t dating a pet or a toy.

            “That’s not what I meant! I love you and want to protect you. What’s so wrong with that?” Jess shouted, her blaring voice ringing in his ears. As his adrenaline died down, Drew deeply regretted losing his cool. She was right. He knew she was right. No matter what they felt towards one another, no matter how careful she could be, people make mistakes. When a two-inch man dates a six-foot woman, the odds he comes out unscathed are slim.

            “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he admitted. “But you can’t protect me from everything. I’m my own person, and I live how I choose to. If that means risking my well-being to sleep next to my giant girlfriend, then so be it. We have so much fun together, and I don’t want to lose that.” The two sat together in silence, having said what they needed to say. Once they both calmed down, Jess pressed Drew into her chest and laid back down. He could feel her heartbeat pulsing through her pajama shirt as she held him there.

            “I’m sorry. I guess my bed idea was pretty stupid,” she chuckled. “I’m always going to worry about you; I can’t help that. But, you’re right. Our relationship is filled with risks, perhaps it shouldn’t work at all, but that’s what makes it special.” She pulled Drew off her chest and pushed him against her lips. As the two kissed, Jess poked her tongue out and slowly dragged the tiny into her mouth. As gently as she could, Jess pressed him against her cheek and cuddled him with her tongue. She held him in there until her drowsiness took over, and then deposited him beside her on the pillow. “Besides, there’s still plenty more food I need to try you in.” The two fell asleep an inch apart from each other. That night, Jess slept peacefully, undisturbed by dreams.