FSE

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Chapter 5 - A New Home

"Here, try these!" said Helen, offering Ryan a pair of dark grey jeans. “They're not the most stylish, I know, but they're clean and they seem to be your size." She added.

Tuesday had passed in a breeze for Ryan, between the final check-ups, the chatting with Helen and Mr. Donovan, the elderly ratfolk that shared the room with him, and the various arrangements that he needed to make to get discharged, and the time at which Rhea would come to pick him up was getting close.

Helen had been more than happy to be the contact between him and the girls, never asking why they among all people were coming today, even if he could tell that she wasn't completely sold on them; Not only that, but she had also gone out of her way to find him some spare clothes and shoes, something that he greatly appreciated, considering the state in which his gym clothes laid after his unfortunate trip into Ayla's shoe.

As the small mousemin grabbed the pants, he realized that there was a small problem.

“Hmmm, Helen? Can you please…" he said, pointing with his eyes at his casted arm. Even if the doctors had reduced the cast and freed his left hand, many movements were limited.

“Of course, Ryan!" answered the catfolk, kneeling, grabbing his pajama pants, and pulling them down gently, realizing that she wouldn't easily be able to bend enough to remove them.

“Hmm..." she mused, “Do you mind a little lift? It will probably be easier and faster for me that way."

“Okay…but please, be careful," said Ryan, looking up at her.

“Don't worry, I have a brother who's 14 years my younger, I did this a lot as a teenager!" she answered, smiling, as she grabbed the mousemin waist, hoisting him up a good 15 feet in the air, holding it against her chest like a little kid as she finished pulling off his pants.

Ryan's face reddened as he felt a soft, pillowy surface behind his back. She was probably a C-cup at best, but given their size difference, her breasts felt like veritable beach balls against his body.

She snatched the jeans away from his hands, pulling them on him with a single, swift motion before she lowered the smaller man to the ground.

“There! Turn around…I think they fit, don't they?" she asked, while buttoning them.

He looked at his legs, standing on his tiptoes, first with one foot, then with the other. E could have lived without the rips and holes, but they weren't excessively tight or baggy.

“Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose." he thought.

“Yeah, they could do." He said to the nurse.

“I think they're perfect," replied Helen, looking intently at him…maybe a little too intently, thought Ryan. Was she checking him out?

Before he could wonder if that was true, he heard a strange buzz coming from his nightstand; they both took a moment to understand that it was a notification from Ryan's “new" phone. He was grateful that the hospital had been able to provide him with that; Apparently, the common occurrence of the “accidents" of patients with bigs made so that they kept a stock available for those who might need it.

As he grabbed the mobile, he saw that it was a message from someone, that from the profile pic he recognized as Rhea.

_Heyyyy, Rhea speaking!

Helen gave me the number this morning, so we can message here.

Also, I'm on my way, I'll be there in around 15 minutes._

See ya soon!

“I think I'll take them, Rhea is almost here," he said, smiling back at the nurse, while he grabbed the blue hoodie that was lying on the bed, struggling to get it on due to the shoulder band.

“No, not like this Ryan, you're gonna hurt yourself." commented Helen “Here" she added, stretching the hoodie's neck to its limit, before sliding it onto his left arm, and then onto the right arm. “There you go."

“Thank you, Helen," said Ryan, looking up at her “For everything…the clothes, the help…if there's something I can do to make it up to you."

“Nah, don't worry, silly...it's my job." replied the nurse, smiling back at him, a slight blush on her cheeks. “Let's finish packing your things, okay ?" she added, looking away from him.

As they made their way out of the hospital, into the main parking lot, they saw a bunch of people, including Mr. Donovan, sitting on a bench, that was enjoying the morning air.

“Hello Ryan," said the older ratfolk, glancing at the backpack that Helen was carrying “So you're getting discharged today, aren't you?"

“Good morning Mr. Donovan," said Ryan “Yes, it seems so!"

“Glad to hear it lad, glad to hear it. I had caught wind about what had happened to you, damn bigs, but you seem to be doing good now. I suppose you young fellows are pretty resilient; if one of those bullies had caught me in your stance, I probably wouldn't be here now to tell the tale, hahaha!" he commented, ending the last sentence with a raspy laugh.

He forced himself to smile; the old man reminded him a lot of his grandfather, and Ryan imagined that, just like him, he had already made up his mind on what had happened to Ryan based on his own views about bigs. He couldn't blame Mr. Donovan though: until a few days ago, Ryan shared some of his beliefs.

Before Ryan could reply, he felt a heavy breeze washing on his face and body, strong enough to push back some pieces of paper and fragments of garbage that were scattered around the lot. As he looked up, he saw a huge, black talon, its claws covered in purple nail polish, slowly descending onto the ground, finally landing with a heavy THUD a hundred feet to his left. Another one, similarly huge, landed a couple hundred feet to his right, and as he looked further up, he saw the brown-feathered body of Rhea, a large smile on her face as she waved down at him.

“Hi, Ryan!"

He waved back at her, glancing with one eye towards his interlocutor, only to find that it was not there anymore; confused, he looked around, until he saw him hiding under a bench, the farthest one from Rhea's position, staring up at the harpy in fear.

The avian girl didn't seem to have noticed it, as she slowly adjusted her position to be able to look at Ryan better, looking around attentively to avoid hitting any of the people or scraping the (to her) toe-height ambulances.

He realized that each of the talons was at least 1 and a half times the length of the parked vehicles, while he didn't even clear the height of their tires. No wonder she was so careful.

He turned back at her, seeing that she was dressed in a grey T-shirt with the aerography of a stylized dog, cargo shorts on her legs, and a red backpack strapped to her shoulders.

“Morning to you as well, Helen! Sorry I'm late, the professor went on and on today," said the harpy, “I ended up sneaking out of the class in the end" she added, giggling.

“No worries, we have just arrived." replied Ryan.

“So, that's what you have?" said the harpy, pointing at the gym bag that Helen was carrying, “Let me take care of that," she offered, moving her clawed hand toward them, pinching the tiny bag between her thumb and forefinger.

“There is nothing fragile here, right?" she asked, unzipping a lateral pocket of her backpack, and putting it in.

“I… don't think so," said Ryan. At least he hoped.

“Anyway, I think we should get going. I dunno you, but I'm starving,"

Ryan's stomach was starting to growl, it was almost half past noon after all.

“Yeah, I guess we can. I'm ready."

“Soo…any preferences on where you wanna ride?" Asked Rhea, smiling.

“What do you mean?" He wondered.

“Well, you can either sit on my head, so you can enjoy the view, although it could get very windy, or you can stay in my breast pocket, which is certainly comfier and safer. Choice's yours!"

He looked up at her, remembering his previous time inside her bra…it surely was comfy….

“I think the breast pocket is a little more secure…I'm not sure I can hold on to your head with this arm."

“Of course, you choose the place right on my boobs...men, always like this, right?" she mused, winking toward Helen.

Ryan's face became deep red, and he immediately tried to retract its previous statement.

“I-I didn't mean it like that! It's just…"

A roaring laugh erupted from the harpy's mouth.

“Hahaha, you should've seen your face! Relax silly, I'm just kidding! I wore this tee exactly for this reason." she said, extending her hand toward him, before stopping it a dozen feet from him.

“May I?" she asked, the amusement still visible on her face.

He nodded “Sure!"

He felt her thumb and forefinger clasping his form, enveloping his body in a firm, but gentle pinch. She smiled at him as she slowly lifted the mousemin, her voice turned into a more serious, “professional" tone.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Rhea's Airlines. This is your captain speaking, we thank you for choosing to travel with us." She announced, reaching the hem of the breast pocket with her hand before releasing her grip, letting Ryan drop a dozen feet, his fall stopped by a soft, cottony material. After she had made sure he was safe and secure, Rhea waved down at Helen, smiling, before concluding her announcement.

“Now sit down, relax, and enjoy your flight."

Then, with a flutter of wings, which generated a gale so strong that the nurse was forced to close her eyes, she took flight, the inertia pressing Ryan deep into the pocket, his eyes shutting reflexively as well as a strong wind began pressing on his face.

It took him a couple of minutes to muster the courage to open them back, but when he did it, he was met with a view that, even if partially obscured by the cloth, he couldn't describe as anything but breathtaking:

The Small neighborhood was sprawled hundreds of feet below him, dozens and dozens of blocks passing rapidly in front of his eyes, with small, bug-sized cars zooming between the narrow streets, and hundreds of even smaller people scattered about the blocks.

As he marveled at the vision below, he felt himself being pushed to the left as Rhea took a sharp turn, and he saw the crowded apartments of the Small neighborhood being slowly replaced by different buildings, larger, fewer in numbers. He saw the form of the harpy maneuver between enormous trees and equally large houses, into blocks that had the typical appearance of a series of terrace houses, connected by large paved sideways mostly devoid of cars.

“They probably don't need them most of the time" Thought Ryan.

A little ways beside it, he could see what he recognized as the Titan's neighborhood leaving the way to one of the historical quarters of the city, the one that the mixed-sized neighborhood also bordered. At the center of this ward, on the borders of his vision, he could see a large, ancient-looking building, made mostly of red stone bricks, surrounded by a crowd of what seemed like young college students. Before they could reach the campus however, Rhea turned again to enter a large road, delimited by impossibly high walls. They were probably imposing even at her size. As he felt the harpy slowing down, he looked at what seemed to be their destination.

There, standing in front of them, was the largest house he had ever seen. Painted in a white tone, with a light blue hue for the lower floor, it stood 2 stories tall, surrounded by a small courtyard, that separated it from other, similarly colossal homesteads. A driveway made of stone crossed the middle of the courtyard, stopping just in front of a thick, half-a-mile-tall door made of light brown wood, that they were rapidly approaching.

Enthralled, completely immersed in this view, he hadn't even realized that Rhea was slowly stopping, just in front of a smaller, but still imposing, skyscraper-sized door carved inside the larger one, just above the central wooden beam.

“Here we are!" boomed the harpy's voice, and Ryan felt himself plummet a couple of dozen feet, falling towards the cushioned end of the pocket, as she suddenly became vertical, landing on top of the central horizontal wooden beam. He heard a heavy rustling of keys as the large door beside him opened, revealing an expansive, modestly decorated living room, with a dark orange couch visible on the corner, and a large kitchen table appearing on the other side.

“Hey Ayla, we're home!" called out Rhea, her voice making Ryan's ears ring.

“Cooming!... Did you brush your talons on the doormat?" replied Ayla.

“Right..." she groaned “Come take Ryan, and I'll do it in the meantime."

He then heard something very heavy hitting the ground, just out of view, followed by a series of rhythmic footsteps, before something very large emerged in his field of vision. At the same time, he saw light pouring through the opening of his prison of cloth before the clawed hand of Rhea emerged, her fingers surrounding the mousemin as they gently pinched him on his chest and back, lifting him out of the pocket. Before him, occupying his whole field of vision, stood the hem of a pair of navy blue pants, kept up by a black belt with a silvery buckle. At the side of that, the form-fitting pants folded, covering her upper legs and her shapely thighs, barely visible at the corner of his eyes.

She certainly kept herself in shape.

Ryan hadn't asked her her height and had not paid much attention to the size of their furniture, but still, judging by the position of the sort of “elevated cat door" that they stood on, it was evident that Ayla was taller than the door, and not by a small margin.

While he tried to do some mental calculations, again dumbfounded by the mere presence of such a massive being, even when he thought he was starting to acclimate to her magnitude, he saw her belt disappearing as her legs bent, her knees dropping onto the ground as her city-block sized snout came into view, a happy light in her blue eyes.

“Hi Ryan, welcome!" she chirped, smiling,

“H-hi Ayla!" he answered, caught completely off guard by the swiftness of her movements.

“Did you have a nice trip?" asked the drakonid.

“It was actually fun, the view is great from up there," he said, speaking in a loud tone, a bit calmer than before.

“So…you'll recommend Rhea Airlines to friends and family?" Mused Rhea, as she turned to unzip the lateral pocket of her backpack.

“I will certainly do!" he laughed.

“Man, what I would do to be able to fly around here, but alas, it is what it is," she sighed. “At least the city is pretty easy to travel on foot," she added, reprising her smile as she brought her outstretched palm close to the elevated cat door.

Ryan watched as his body, carried by the harpy, descended towards the vast amethyst surface, landing just beside his bag, which Rhea was carrying in her other hand.

Immediately, he felt himself rising hundreds of feet in an instant, the sudden change of elevation making him dizzy.

Ayla noticed that, stopping her movement and giving him a concerned look.

“Are you okay?"

As he looked up at her, he froze: She was looking at him from up close, her eye only a handful of (to her) centimeters from him. From this distance, Ryan was able to see all the patterns of her cornea, every intricate motif of her blue iris displayed before him like an abstract painting. Many of those were probably too small for her to notice, but to him, every single detail was visible. Every, mesmerizing pattern of her…

He shook his head, considering that it wasn't the place nor the time to gawk at her, before answering.

“Ye-yeah, I'm fine. Just, try to stand up a bit more slowly maybe."

“Oh...I'm sorry, I will try to be more careful." Answered Ayla. “Anyways, time for a little tour of the house!" she added happily, describing the living room, the kitchen, the bedrooms, and the bathroom, accompanying her description with ample rotations and arching gestures, that were making Ryan's insides violently churn.

She didn't notice his discomfort until he was bent on his knees, struggling to keep his breakfast in his stomach.

“Hey Ryan…wha-what's happening? Are you feeling good?" she gasped, before realizing what was the cause of his distress, “So-sorry, I will put you on the ground now…" she mumbled, her eyes low as she slowly lowered him onto the coffee table, pinching him between two of her claw tips, making sure to descend at a snail's pace.

“Th-there you go."

It took Ryan a moment to regain his footing and become able to look up, where he saw the drakonid sitting on the expansive couch in front of him, looking at her left side, averting her gaze.

As she glanced at him from the corner of an eye, seeing that he was fine, she relaxed her posture a little, lowering her knees.

“So, do you like it?" she asked, her legs curled.

“Yeah, it's cozy, comfortable, certainly better than my bachelor flat. And there is so much space!"

She laughed sheepishly, as Rhea swooshed in on their left side, letting herself fall on the couch, her head resting on Ayla's upper leg.

“Man, am I tired," she mumbled.

“But it's only noon." convened the drakonid.

“After four consecutive hours of lectures, this feels more like midnight."

“Anyways, coming to the important things." Began Ayla, turning towards the mousemin again “Ryan, we're very glad that you're staying with us n for the time being, and Daphne is looking forward to meeting you when she comes home from work in the evening. However, there's a couple of rules that we wanted to discuss with you, you know, to ensure your safety while you're here if you don't mind."

“Makes sense," said Ryan, who was very aware of the danger that everything in the gigantic house could pose.

“First of all, a general rule, the shoes come off when you get home, Daphne doesn't like having to clean up the footprints around the house." She glanced at his feet, covered in his gym sneakers. “Although she won't probably even notice yours…but still, try to keep them at least clean, okay? Also, it would probably be easier to feel you under our bare toes, were you …to be stepped on," she concludes, speaking the last sentence with a sliver of voice.

He glanced down, his gaze immediately captured by the building-sized feet resting below the coffee table he was on, Ayla's clawed toes absentmindedly scrunching as she spoke. He couldn't help but gulp as he imagined himself under those digits again.

“That brings me to the second rule: try to avoid staying on the floor if it is not of the utmost necessity. We realize that this is not the most comfortable arrangement to stay in for someone like…well, like you, but there is always someone here, and we are all more than happy to help you move around the house, or get you anything you need."

“Third: make sure that at least one of us knows where you are at all times. We will respect your privacy, but at the same time we want to avoid you getting in danger because of our absentmindedness."

“Okay, those seem pretty sensible," commented Ryan, his mind still thinking about those black claws.

“Another thing," started Rhea, “Daphne is trying to see if she can procure some Tiny-sized furniture, to make your life a bit easier…in the meantime, we have made some arrangements for you, in terms of bathroom and sleeping. Considering that Daphne is not here, and I'm kinda dating someone at the moment, so…you know…"

“Plus, you're kind of a klutz." intervened Ayla, gently tapping Rhea's nose with her index finger.

“HEY…but yes, that's true." resumed the harpy, scratching her nose “We can either put those in the living room or Ayla's room. Your choice."

He thought about it. They had a point, it was very easy for the girls to lose sight of where he was, and that could create all sorts of grievous accidents, so staying in the living room all alone was not a great idea. At the same time, Ryan thought, the utter massiveness of the form of Ayla scared him, and he couldn't help but feel nervous at the thought of being right next to such a colossal being all the time. Sure, she was friendly, but this didn't change the fact that she could snuff his life out in an instant, without even noticing.

But then again, the same could be said about the harpy, and most likely about the other roommate, that Daphne. He hadn't seen her yet, but given the size of the house they lived in, there was little doubt of her being bigger than Rhea.

He looked at the drakonid, her cerulean eyes eyeing him intently, waiting for an answer. In the end, they seemed to have made all the arrangements that they could to make him feel at ease, not to mention that they were risking a lot, so maybe it was a bit pretentious of him to have so many doubts about them. Hoping that they would be as careful as they seemed, he finally spoke.

“Well, considering what you guys said about always knowing where I am, I think that Ayla's room is the best choice. So she can always keep an eye on me, maybe?"

Ayla's face curved in a warm smile.

“Okay then," said the dragongirl, smiling. “I'll bring the arrangements to my room, while Rhea heats the stoves."

“Roger that," said the harpy, “What are we eating?"

“Well, I remembered this morning that Ryan likes seafood, so I went ahead and bought some frozen prawns. They are in a bowl in the sink, if you could please rinse them. "

Oh, how considerate, thought Ryan.

“Oooh, I like the sound of it." said the harpy, as Ayla moved upstairs.

She returned briefly afterward, announced by the slight tremors of the glassy surface of the coffee table Ryan was still on.

He watched her pillar-like jeans move past him and towards the stoves, starting to prepare lunch.

It didn't take long until his nose was hit by the smell of grilled seafood. After three days of hospital food, the aroma was enough to make his mouth water.

In the meantime, he saw Rhea fluttering towards the coffee table, crossing her legs as she landed on the glassy surface.

“Ah, I had almost forgotten something," she said, looking down at him “We have a little present for you!" she added, adjusting her position to pull out something from her jeans' front pocket, a small metallic box, slightly dented in places, utterly minuscule between the tips of her nails.

“Shit," she muttered, noticing the state of the box “Please don't be broken, please don't be broken." she prayed, depositing the box on the ground, in the middle between the 30 or so feet distance between them, opening it up with a slight flick of her fingertip.

“Oh, it seems alright, thankfully." she sighed. “Come, take a look at it." she added.

He moved towards the open container, seeing a pair of tiny-sized and very high-tech-looking, if a bit worn, headphones, complete with a microphone and a charger. The only thing that seemed a bit off was their flashy, bright purple color.

“Now, I'm not the most familiar with the technical jargon of you engineers and programmers," said Rhea, looming high above him, “but if I understood correctly, this will allow us to communicate a bit better with each other."

Ah yes. Now he knew why they seemed familiar. There had been a lot of talk about this new system of communication in the last 4-5 months. They weren't still the most accessible and widespread, but they were getting cheaper by the week.

“We already have our earpieces on," she said, gesturing towards her right ear, where a silvery button-like earring stood, just below the ear canal, “So you just need to turn on these headphones, and you won't need to shout the whole time when you want to talk with us…yes, yours is a bit more uncomfortable, but as I understood you need this whole shebang to amplify your voice and filter and reduce ours,"

“No worries…thanks, it must have been expensive."

“Nah, not really. A colleague of mine had it for her girlfriend, but then she bought the new model, so she gladly gave me this."

“That explains the color," he said, putting it on.

“Lol, let me see," she said, moving her face closer to him, “It kinda suits you. You could totally open a gamer girl channel now or something," she added, chuckling a little.

He let out a small laugh, “Yeah, streaming is probably not a great idea if I want to fly under the radar."

“I guess not…" she convened, lowering her eyes.

“Although, I'm sure it would be a hit if I did," He said, “Grandma says that I'm a handsome young man." He added, trying his best at a flirty pose to underline his statement.

Rhea laughed.

“Grandma sure knows best," commented the harpy, as she lowered her open palm towards him.

“Wanna clean yourself before lunch?"

“That would be lovely," he answered, looking up at her as he climbed on the huge hand.

It took Rhea only a couple of seconds to reach Ayla's room, the door open enough to allow the comparatively small harpy to slip through without trouble.

As they went inside, they were met with a simple, if spacious bedroom, that Ryan would probably define as a typical “nerdy" girl room: A plain, double bed, with light blue sheets on top of which stood two elongated pillows; A small, square night table equipped with a bedside lamp, where a relatively thin book, the title unreadable from this distance, rested; On the light brown wooden desk laid a couple of wireless headphones, a controller leaning on the side of the charger, a series of notebooks and pads sprawled on the wooded surface, some on top of a large, grey laptop; At the side of the desk was a small bookcase, its first two rows filled with several neatly ordered books, while the third row contained a number of small pouches and satchels, and what looked to be an elongated case made of neatly polished wood, laying on top of various sheets of blank paper; Several plushies and plastic dolls decorated the topmost layer of the bookcase, representing mostly cartoon animals and characters that Ryan couldn't identify. As they moved closer to the bed, he started to recognize the largest one, that was resting on top of the bed: Geltharas the Red Tyrant, a giant red dragon that was the villain of Last Fantasy, one of the most famous RPG sagas. He had never seen a plushy of that, he didn't even know they sold them; It also looked a bit off, far less menacing and far cuter than the other representations he had seen.

A shiver ran down his spine as he realized that that doll, most likely not taller than a regular doll to Ayla, would have looked like a veritable kaiju in his neighborhood, towering over most of the buildings.

“At least, it doesn't look that threatening." he thought with a chuckle.

As they closed the distance with the bedpost, he noticed something small on top of the night table, something that had previously been hidden by the far bigger lamp in front of it: a matchstick box, with his top side cut off.

From his advantageous position, on top of the harpy's breast pocket, he could see some peculiar objects inside of it, including some strange makeshift objects made of playdough covered by thin cardboard, the shape of which reminded him of chairs and pieces of furniture, placed around a small rubber; a pair of cotton balls rested in an angle, the largest of which, to him the size of a car, was covered with a square of thick cloth; smaller pieces of a similar colored cloth were visible on the other side, placed neatly beside a bottlecap filled with water.

He smiled. He couldn't believe his eyes:

An apartment of his size, complete with a bed, a washing basin, and even a sofa!

“Home sweet home," Said Rhea as she landed, slowly lowering Ryan to the ground “We tried to put in everything you might need, and we cut off the top to give you light. It's not the fanciest of accommodations, I know. Let's hope that Daphne can find something resembling real furniture."

“What do you mean?" He said, “It's perfect…it really wasn't necessary." He added, looking up at her, past her pillar-like legs.

“Nah, no worries. I hadn't played with the playdough since 1st grade, it was a lot of fun,"

“Well, maybe you can start a career in tiny furniture manufacturing" he joked.

She laughed back at him, “Come on, go inside, tell me how it is" she added, pointing towards the opening that had been cut on the side of the box, acting as a front door.

As he moved towards his new living quarters, he noticed that it wasn't properly scaled for his size, beginning with the door, the archway reaching well above the height of a single-story building.

The same could be said for the furniture, with the low sofa standing at the height of bar stools, and the cotton swab that was supposed to be his mattress that looked around the size of a car.

Rhea immediately took notice of that, cursing under her breath as she looked down at the oversized furniture.

“Shit…I'm so sorry, I've tried to make them as small as possible, even used needles, toothpicks, and stuff," she commented, lowering her face.

He looked up at her. Even though the matchstick box was scaled for Ayla's size, he could see how she still loomed over the whole thing, her hand probably not much smaller than the length of the whole box. He couldn't really fault her for being inaccurate. In the end, all things considered, the makeshift furniture was still serviceable.

“It's…it's fine. A tad big, maybe, but it's perfect. You went above and beyond what you needed to do. I even have my own Jacuzzi!" he joked, pointing at the bottlecap.

She smiled, before reaching out to her jeans pocket, extracting Ryan's bag from it.

“Anyways, here's your clothes." said the harpy, lowering the bag to the side of the cotton bed.

“I'll give you some privacy...if you need anything, just tell me," She said, standing up and turning away, sitting on the edge of the night table with her back turned to the box.

After a quick freshening, they made their way back to the dining room, where they were met with the delicious smell of cooked seafood.

“There you are!" said Ayla, plates in hand, as she moved towards the kitchen table “I was calling for you. Lunch is ready!" she commented.

“Yeah, I was just showing Ryan around," said Rhea, as she deposited him on the table, not far from a chair, before fluttering to what he assumed was a tall bar stool, while the drakonid put a small plate, containing a couple of king prawns, in front of the harpy.

“How did you find your room, Ryan? Hope everything is alright." said Ayla, putting a similar plate in front of him, the simple gesture enough to make the ground at his feet tremble slightly.

Ryan didn't even notice that, dumbstruck as he was at the sight of the bus-sized crustaceans.

He didn't know how much time had passed until he heard Ayla's voice.

“Ryan? Is everything okay ?" she said, looking down at him, concern audible in her tone.

He snapped out of it, shaking his head.

“Yeah, yeah…the room was fine, more than fine actually. Certainly more than I would have hoped for."

“That's nice to hear, we tried our best," she said, smiling warmly as she sat down in front of him, her plate filled with a veritable small mountain of prawns.

“I wasn't sure if the night table was a good place to put it, but I felt it would be more comfortable than the desk, given that I don't use that old lamp that much anymore. I can also see that Rhea gave you the headphones!“ She said, pointing at the set resting against his upper chest “Remember, whatever you might need…" she said, gesturing at a small pearl embedded in the frill that constituted the auricle in her species.

He nodded, smiling.

“Now, let's eat! Hope you like it, this is a family recipe."

“Finally!" mumbled Rhea, as she grabbed a peeled prawn with both hands and started scarfing it happily.

“Look at you, Queen of the Jungle," giggled Ayla.

“I'm starving, okay? Flying all across the city is fucking exhausting" replied the harpy, putting the, grabbing the fork and knife at either side of her plate.

With a chuckle, Ryan started to walk on his plate, towards the quarter of a prawn that she had cut for him, which stood between two and three times his size when he realized a little problem.

“Erm…how should I" he whispered, trying to break some pieces off the prawn, the casted arm strapped to his right shoulder making the whole affair quite a bit trickier.

After several seconds, he had managed to cut a couple of small pieces of meat, before Ayla took notice of his struggles.

“Of course...how could I…step aside, I'll cut it for you."

“No…that's not needed."

“Yes, it is…no worries, I don't mind," said the dragongirl, grabbing a knife.

He moved away from the prawn, watching her blade moving swiftly, as his masculine pride made him fume.

Sure, he was diminutive compared to them, but he was able to cut his own food! He wasn't a kid, gods dammit! That was only a broken arm!

Still, it took Ayla only a handful of seconds to complete her task, the prawn now cut into pieces roughly the size of his head.

He grabbed the one closest to him, taking a bite. As the fish hit his tastebuds, he immediately forgot his wounded pride: It tasted amazing.

It reminded him of the grilled crayfish his father used to make during their summer vacation when he was a kid.

He sighed at the thought of his parents. They didn't call or text him every day, but still, when he finally managed to contact them, they told him that they had tried calling him several times, and they seriously freaked when he didn't answer them; Luckily, she seemed to have believed him when he told her that his phone had broke, and Spike didn't seem to have bothered them, meaning that most likely he was oblivious to these calls.

Still, he hated having to lie to his parents. He hoped that he could come clean to them soon…

“Earth calls Ryan." boomed Ayla's voice, the tone even more worried than before, “What's up?"

“Nothing, it's delicious," he said, taking another big bite, savoring the flavor, trying not to think about his parents.

He ended up eating the whole piece, and more than a half of the other, before he leaned on the table, satisfied.

“Okay, I'm done." he said, rubbing his belly.

“Are you sure you're full?" Asked Ayla. “You haven't eaten almost any of it!"

“Yeah, thank you, but this is enough to feed me for a week if not more. It was amazing though."

Ayla smiled, grabbing his plate and glancing at the clock.

“Well, I have no lectures this afternoon, and we have at least a few hours until Daphne comes home, hopefully with some of the stuff you need, so what do you want to do?"

He looked up at her “I dunno, I usually am at work at this time, but I don't even have a PC available to me at the moment."

Ayla remained silent for a moment, immersed in her thoughts.

“Yeah, that's also something we should take care of. I dunno how we should go about this. Do you think that that shark, Spike, would have any reason to keep watch of your house? Cause if not, you can tell one of your friends to fill a bag with things you might need at the moment, and organize a rendezvous with us."

He looked up at her. He hadn't thought about that, but it wasn't the worst idea.

“Mmhh…I suppose that could work. The doorman knows Alan, so if the coast is clear, he could ask him for the spare key. How shall we check that though? You guys are not exactly…inconspicuous, you know." He said, keeping his eyes low.

“R-right," muttered the dragongirl, as Rhea glared at him.

“Are you saying I'm fat?" she snarled, crouching towards him.

The mousemin immediately turned white, his eyes wide as he stared at the building-sized girl looming above him menacingly.

“O-of course not. I-I wouldn't dare..you look g-great." He blabbered, gulping heavily.

Seeing that, Ayla shook her head, grasping the harpy's right shoulder, pulling her away from him, a bit more forcefully than she needed.

“Rhea, stop messing with him! You're actually getting annoying."

“Yowch." yelped Rhea, looking down at him “I'm sorry, it was just a prank. Didn't mean to scare you this much."

“That was completely uncalled for, we're supposed to help Ryan, not scare the heck out of him!"

“Well, your grasp was also not pleasant. That hurt." She exclaimed, rubbing her arm.

A few feathers were torn or broken.

“Maybe, but you deserved it. Apologize to him."

“I already did, but okay. I'm sorry, I was just messing with you Ryan, I didn't think how scary it would look from your point of view."

She rose up from her position, her face still, immersed in her thoughts.

“Tell you what: I have to go out with Alex later, so we can maybe take a little detour and check if anyone is spying outside of your apartment complex. Nobody would suspect of two harpies on a date flying around the area."

“...That's..that's actually a great idea," said Ryan, his tone still a bit uneasy.

“Very well then, we're set. I'll text you if something unusual happens." She stated, looking at her phone, “Now I have to go, or I will be late for my lecture. See you guys later!" she said, rubbing her shoulder while she shot an annoyed look at Ayla, before grabbing her backpack from the living room and leaving.

As the door closed, Ayla sighed heavily.

“I'm sorry about her…Rhea is not mean-spirited, she means well, but she can be a handful."

“No worries, I've gathered that much. I was just a bit… startled, that's all. You guys look really scary when you get angry."

“I can see that," she admitted, her head low “Still, she even made all the furniture in your room mostly by herself."

“Yeah, she had mentioned that. What was that about then ?"

“I'll be honest, I'm not sure." Answered Ayla, “Maybe her instincts kicked in, harpies typically love to play with small, cute things."

He let out an embarrassed, stiff chuckle, as he glanced at the front door in the distance.

“Oh, so she finds me cute?"

“Well, you are kinda cute," she said, stopping abruptly as soon as those words left her mouth.

Taken aback by her comment, Ryan turned and looked up at Ayla, whose face had turned the deepest shade of crimson he had ever seen.

“I mmm-mean, y-y-you…excusemeihavetogotothebathroom. I'llbebackinasec!" she blurted out, avoiding his gaze as she bolted out of the dining room, the tremors created by her frantic steps strong enough to make Ryan fall on his ass.

Upon reaching the bathroom, Ayla turned on the faucet, splashing cold water on her face.

She looked up, seeing her reflection staring at her, the water dripping from her chin as nervous tears were already welling up in her eyes.

“You idiot," she said to the mirror, “You big, dumb, idiot. Why did you say that? When will you learn to think before you speak?" she asked, sighing heavily.

She grabbed a towel, pressing her face on it, yelling in frustration inside the cloth.

She sat down on the toilet, her arms falling at her sides.

“Why you should rush things like that? You just met him!" she continued, “It's exactly like that guy at the bar, the other week. You need to stay calm. Remember what Daphne said? “Do not jump straight there, give yourself some time, see what those feelings are." You're just sorry for him, nothing else. It's a guy who needed a hand and a place to stay, and we decided to help him. Nothing more than that."

She sighed, beating her temple with her fist.

“Fuck. I was the one who said he could come live with us. Now, he probably thinks I'm a weirdo, a predator, or something. And I have to share a room with him."

She stood up, leaning on the wall.

“Besides, if there really is something to it, what could you do about that?" she asked “Sorry, I know that I almost killed you the other day, would you like to go on a date sometimes?" She said, a knot beginning to form in her throat.

She remembered their first meeting, the primal fear that she had seen in his eyes as her face approached him, and a tear started to move across her cheek. She wasn't sure, his face was too far from hers, but she could swear to have seen that same expression today when he had glanced down at her claws while he stood on their coffee table. And of course, Ayla had seen his reaction at Rhea's stupid prank. Rhea, who was so small compared to her.

“Get real girl." She thought, “You may have more than a few things in common, but you're hundreds of times his size. To his eyes, you are a huge, scary monster. Sure, he maybe won't say it to your face, but that's what he thinks, and I cannot blame him."

She grabbed the glass that she always kept beside the sink, filling it with water.

“Okay, better to come back downstairs, I've been here for some time, he's gonna start wondering what I'm doing," she thought, as she downed the glass of water in a single motion, “Try to be cool Ayla, maybe you can salvage this."

Back in the kitchen, Ryan stood there, completely dumbfounded by her reaction.

“What the hell…" he began “Did she … is she maybe…" he stuttered, unable to process what had happened. It was just a compliment after all, why would she be so flustered about it?

Unless…

He shook his head. That didn't make sense, they were strangers to each other 48 hours before. There couldn't possibly be any other meaning to that.

Oh shit, maybe she had caught him ogling her before! Dragons do have a great sight, don't they?

Great job Ryan, caught perving on your roommate the day you started living at their place. “I'm sure that won't be awkward," he thought.

He could just hope that Rhea wouldn't kill him when she got home if she heard what he had done.

Then again….Ayla didn't mention or show indications that she had seen him staring at her.

Still, he couldn't believe that a girl like her would have a crush on an ant-sized thing like him. Sure, the compliment felt nice, and they seemed to share some interests, but she was a pretty, statuesque girl at the top of the food chain, while he was a meek, nerdy, tiny loser, that everyone could push around, a quarter the size of her toenails. He was close to insignificant to her.

There must be another explanation.

As he continued to wonder about her behavior, he started to hear heavy steps coming from the stairs.

Whatever was the case, he thought, better apologize, and leave the ball in her court.

He saw Ayla's denim jeans coming into view briefly, before she stopped to his level, her face directly in front of him, her eyes looking down at the mousemin. Pushing down the anxiety at seeing her effortlessly looming above him, even in her crouched position, he took a deep breath and spoke.

“I'm sorry, that was unwarranted." they both said in unison, the booming voice of the drakonid almost completely covering Ryan's, even if she was whispering.

They both took a step back, looking at each other nervously.

“Uhm, you go first." said the drakonid, rubbing her left arm.

“I'm sorry if I stared at you before, I know it's inappropriate. I know you shouldn't take me at my word, but I apologize, I swear I'm not that kind of guy. I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable."

Ayla was taken aback by his answer.

“I-I didn't even notice," she admitted.

“You didn't?" asked Ryan, puzzled.

“No…not really. Thank you for admitting that though.“ she answered.

She looked at him. For whatever reason, she didn't know whether she should be mad at him or…relieved? …That he found her attractive, she guessed? She decided to go with a mix of the two.

“Still, that was definitely inappropriate…Although, I guess I can't be too mad at you, I suppose we're very easy to see from your point of view," she said sheepishly, before assuming a more serious expression. “Try not to do that anymore though, okay? I'm sure that Rhea and Daphne would be far less accommodating if they ever were to catch you staring at them."

He nodded. “Of course."

“Well, if that's everything you wanted to say, I guess it's my turn." Said the drakonid.

She spent the next handful of seconds twiddling her thumbs, biting her lips while she mustered the courage to say what she had on her mind. She sighed.

“Here it goes…I wanted to apologize for what I've said before. It was weird saying that to someone you don't know. I don't want you to think that I'm some kind of predator, someone that took you in because…. I take advantage of people who need help or something." she stated, her voice almost breaking at the last sentence.

He looked up at her, dumbfounded.

“Why would I think that?" answered Ryan, “It was just a compliment, you're fine. No big deal. Honestly, it was nice to hear it, after two of the shittiest days of my life, so thank you."

“You're welcome," she said, her lips curling in a smile, her eyes beaming with relief at his words. Maybe he didn't see her as a monster, after all.

Ryan's eyes fixated on her lips for a moment. There was something to her, something he couldn't really wrap his head around. The only thing that he knew was that something about that expression, that smile, had almost made him forget all his penance for a moment.

He was tempted to add, “Especially from a girl as pretty as yourself." to his previous remark, but he ultimately decided against it. It would have done nothing but fluster the poor girl again.

“Okay, let's change the subject, shall we?" said Ryan, “What do you want to do?"

“Well," she began, leaning on the fridge, “I should be studying, but I suppose I can take the afternoon off, at least until Daphne comes, and we can watch some TV. There is a new anime that I've wanted to watch for some time now if that's alright with you. You're the guest though, so we can do something else if you want."

“Sounds great!" he said. He immediately saw her step towards the table again, lowering a hand towards him.

“Hop on then," she instructed.

He looked at the appendage right in front of him. Even laying flat on the table, the side of her hand towered above him, standing between 1 and 2 stories tall. Considering the rough texture of her scaled skin, he guessed he could have climbed the thing without too much trouble. That is if both his arms were fully functional.

“Oh…" she said, seeing how the tiny mousemin compared to her hand “May I?" she asked, approaching his form with the other hand.

He nodded, and he saw the drakonid's van-sized nails pinching him on his chest and back, slowly rising him up, before depositing him on the cupped palm of her other hand.

It took Ayla only a few steps to reach the couch, and as she sat on the cushions, she lowered her hand on her thigh, enough to make him roll safely on her leg, not too far from her lap.

“Is that okay? Can you see the TV? Or would you prefer staying on my shoulder?" She asked, stretching her legs out to make sure that they were not obstructing his sight.

“It's fine." He said, laying on his back as he looked up at her, seeing her lips turn into a smile.

A smile that was even cuter than before.

As she turned on the TV, he looked around, seeing the humongous living room sprawling before him, as he absentmindedly touched the jeans fabric below him.

He couldn't explain why, but the apartment felt less alien than before; Weirdly enough, it almost started to feel a little like…a home.

Back at his hospital room, Mr. Jack Donovan, the elderly roommate of Ryan, had spent the last two hours mumbling about the noon encounter, expressing his complaints at a bored nurse, who was practically ignoring him.

“How is that possible for a monster like that one to be able to come here, in a place of healing, and scare off everyone?"

“For the last time, Mr Donovan," groaned the nurse “This is a hospital, not a military base. We welcome everyone here."

“It doesn't matter! There should be some protection, those…things are dangerous, they are a threat to us smalls! You should know that!"

“The fact that some of them intentionally hurt some small people, does not mean that every Big is a ruthless bastard with no regard for smaller folks. They are people like us!"

“But you saw her! Those talons were the size of cars, how can you feel safe around that? That Ryan, poor fella, that harpy has probably disemboweled and eaten him by now! How could you let that happen!"

“Whatever, Mr. Donovan," cut the nurse, annoyed. “I think we should return to your room, someone is coming to visit you."

“Actually, I'm already here." came a voice from behind a corner, as a middle-aged, overweight ratfolk appeared in the hallway.

Jack Donovan paled. He knew that figure very well.

As the sharply dressed ratfolk moved towards them, he gave him a cursory glance, to which the old man responded with a forced smile, trying his best to hide his discomfort at the sudden appearance of the shark.

“Jack! How are you doing, old friend!"

“S-spike!" said Mr. Donovan, immediately “What are you doing here?"

“Well, I haven't seen you in a long time, I just wanted to see how you were faring. I'd heard that you were recovered here, and I figured that now it was a good time as any to pay you a visit."

He then turned towards the nurse.

“Mind if I take him back to his room? We have some catching up to do."

The nurse looked around. “Well, that is not really the procedure, you see…"

“Do not worry, I've been the caretaker of my father for years, I know how to handle a man on a wheelchair. Trust me, we're old friends."

“Alright" conceded the nurse, who was more than a little fed up of Mr. Donovan blabbering .“But each visit is fifteen minutes, not one more. Mr Donovan needs to rest. Am I made myself clear?"

“Agreed," said Spike, nodding.

As the nurse made his way away from the hallway, Spike grasped the handle of the wheelchair and began pushing it forward, towards the elevator.

“What do you want?" said the elderly ratfolk, dryly.

“I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" was the gangster's only answer, a wicked smile on his face.