Mmh-...?"

Maya froze, seated on the stairs, a look of pure confusion appearing on her face. She was certain she'd just heard someone's voice, and it sounded like...

(Nick...?)

She glanced around, but her friend still wasn't anywhere in sight. Even Franziska had just gone back upstairs moments ago. The voice hadn't sounded like it came from back up the stairs, so-

“Urp-!!"

Her eyes went about as wide as they could, fixed on the burger in her grip. Her mouth still full, she could feel a few loose bread crumbs tumbling down to her channelling robes. There was a tiny little figure inside of the burger itself, right between the lettuce and the cheese.

Needing to verbally process what she was seeing, she hastily gulped down the first bite of her burger.

"N-Nick...!?"

She couldn't believe the sight in front of her. There was a tiny, unmistakably human figure inside of her burger, waving a tiny arm in her direction. Phoenix was covered in sauce and burger grease at the moment, but Maya still recognized him instantly.

"Wh-what the heck are you doing in there...!?"

She had several other questions on her mind as well, but that was the one that came out first.

Hesitantly, she used two fingers to pinch at her tiny friend and extract him from her lunch. She wondered for a split-second if anyone else might have also been in her burger, but chose to focus on Nick for now, instead.

He was clinging to her index finger, his tiny body shaking. What was going on here...!?

Feeling breathless, she spoke up again.

"Nick, what happened...!?"

Why was he so small? How had it happened? Why was he crawling around inside of her burger? How had he even gotten in there...!?

There were too many questions to ask all at once.

She thought to look around for Franziska. There was no way that she hadn't noticed what had happened, right? It wouldn't make sense.

Her eyes slowly returned to her shrunken friend.

“Um… Nick, could you explain… all of this, actually…?”

--------

"S-so she... but wait, that's... WHAT!?"

Maya's indignant confusion was understandable. Phoenix had taken a couple of minutes to explain his situation, but Maya seemed to understand it even less now, if anything.

"... Yeah." he said. "It's nuts."

Maya frowned. "Yeah, you're tellin' me! That horrible jerk tried to get me to eat you!"

Phoenix shuddered. He didn't like to think about the idea any more than Maya did.

Maya moved to stand up from the stairs, but paused.

"... You're total mess, Nick." she said, looking him over. He had to agree; a generous coating of burger grease and sauce still covered his whole body and outfit. "We've gotta check out that machine again, but you should get cleaned up, too."

He nodded. "I think there was a bathroom down here, just-"

He was cut off by a sudden movement. Still held between a few of Maya's fingers, he was rushing up toward her face.

"W-wait, Maya...!!"

He frantically covered his head as Maya’s lips parted and she popped him right into her open mouth. Suddenly trapped in a damp, sweltering cavern, he didn't dare move, Maya's huge tongue shifting and rolling about all over his body.

He was mortified, to put it lightly. This was her idea of cleaning him...?

There was a very unpleasant feeling of suction all over him as Maya used her tongue to playfully jab at his tiny body, getting every last bit of residue from her burger off of him.

Finally, she pushed him into the soft hold of her lips, and then let him drop onto a spare napkin.

He coughed, still a bit behind in processing what the hell had just happened.

Maya was looking at him, and when he made eye contact, she grinned, giggling to herself.

"Now you're not a mess anymore!" she said brightly. "... Well, not from the burger, anyways..."

All he could do was groan. Maya was his best friend, but then again, she was also an extremely quirky young woman, to put it lightly...

"There was a bathroom..." he said wearily.

Maya glanced over her shoulder.

"Oh, yeah! Good idea, Nick, c'mon!"

With that, she got up, leaving her burger re-wrapped, and headed for the nearby door.

--------

A stream of warm water pouring over him from the faucet, Phoenix tossed his suit jacket aside. It was heavy and cold. Sure, he would probably have to just put it back on, since he didn't have anything else to wear besides what was under it, but for now, he wanted it off.

He was standing in the basin of a bathroom sink, with Maya still looming over him as the tap poured down upon him.

"Nick, I'm gonna go and check out that weird machine again, OK?" she prompted him. "You just get cleaned up."

She didn't let him object, just turning on her heel and leaving the little bathroom. Phoenix sighed again.

A couple of minutes later, he heard her footsteps again.

"Nick!"

He looked up. Maya was holding a tattered notebook of some kind, waving it in his view like it would mean something to him.

"What...?"

"This book! I just found it -- it's got all kinds of notes about that crazy shrinking machine!" she said.

He stepped back in surprise. By now, he wasn't under the stream of water anymore. Maya turned it off.

"See, it says..." she went on, flipping through a few pages. "... No, that's just the part about you being tougher... oh, right! It says that you should be much more resilient while you're at this size! So that’s cool... Anyway, here! The notes talk about how the machine can shrink a subject, but get this -- it's only temporary!"

"Huh...?"

"If this is right, you should be back to normal by tomorrow afternoon!"

He didn't really know what to say. That was fantastic news, for sure, but...

"... The trial!" he exclaimed, remembering. "We've still got to go to court tomorrow morning!"

Maya's grin vanished.

"Oh, crap..." she groaned. "I totally forgot... um..."

This was bad. He couldn't just show up to court at two inches tall...

"You defending at that size is gonna be pretty weird..." Maya mused, echoing his thoughts. "Hmm..."

They couldn't possibly get the trial postponed, could they...?

"Hey, Nick? Let's just head home for now, OK?"

He looked up. Maya had a point, at least. Staying in this basement wasn't putting him in a better mood. At least he could get more comfortable back at their law office and apartment.

"Uh... sure." he said, nodding. "Just let me get dried off, first."

"Oh, on it!" Maya said. "There are some towels here. Just hold on..."

--------

Having Maya dry him off was less weird than being shoved into her mouth to clean off his layer of burger grease, at least.

Once she had finished, Maya brought Phoenix back out of the little bathroom.

"I'm taking this notebook with me." she said. "Still gotta finish my burger, too."

She paused at the stairs.

"Uh... Nick, do you mind if I give you a different seat? We probably shouldn't let too many people see you outside..."

"... Right." he agreed. "Where were you-"

Maya cut him off again. She'd wasted no time in moving him, this time slipping him right into the fold in her robes beneath her tight sash. He was immobilized instantly, pinned to her stomach. He could barely move.

(Maya...! A little more warning, please...?)

--------

Maya scooped up her burger, as well as the bag containing Phoenix's untouched chicken sandwich. Maybe he could try eating a bit of it back at home?

(Ah, well. Enjoy the ride, Nick!)

--------

Maya was walking.

Of course she was walking. She really needed to get a bike. Phoenix had only needed to try letting her balance on the back of his bike while riding once to decide that it was a terrible idea.

Of course, alternately, he could always get around to learning to drive, but then, getting a car would sink their little office's finances even further...

Phoenix might have laughed at how mundane his current train of thought was, if he had the room for it.

There wasn't much else to do, stuffed inside of Maya's sash while she made her way back to the Wright and Co. Law Offices.

He could faintly hear her heartbeat, with his face pressed up against her stomach. The occasional, gross-sounding gurgle, as well. He did his best not to acknowledge that Franziska had genuinely tried to trick Maya into eating him. Just being this close to her stomach from the outside was unpleasant enough already.

Maya kept things in here pretty regularly, now that he thought about it. Usually wrapped pieces of candy, or notes she'd scribbled when they were out for a case. She kept her robes pretty clean, so the cramped nature of his current environment was about the only real downside to finding himself shoved into her makeshift pocket for transport.

... No, wait, it was too warm, as well. Phoenix gave a muffled sigh. This was going to be a long walk.