erikandariel

[erikandariel]

Giants wearing oversized sweaters just to hide twice the amount of tinies in the sleeves

[erikandariel]

The Truth

[Notes from Ken: This is a sequel to How We Met. There’s actually typical G/t stuff in it! Near the end there’s an infodump(tm) that’s Ariel and Erik’s backstory. I’m sorry this story is so long. I’m hoping to write much! shorter! fic! now that I’ve finished this one. Enjoy!]

Length: 5,926 words

The summer after I met Ariel and Erik felt like it went by more quickly than any before. I had an internship in my hometown that made me feel exhausted once I got home. Ariel and I texted everyday and we’d Skype each other at least once a week. Erik was there for the first call, but apparently he usually had “business to attend to”—his words—so he rarely joined us. I tried asking Ariel what the heck he was doing, but all she’d say was that it was somehow related to their home country; which she continued to not tell me the name of. Then near the end of July Ariel had a surprise for me. “All three of us are going to Yellowstone National Park to celebrate the end of summer!” she announced during our web call. “If you want to of course!” Apparently at some point, I’d told her that I’d like to visit the park again at some point in my life and she decided to make that happen sooner rather than later. She somehow roped Erik into joining a group call to my mom and dad to get their blessing for the trip and they worked out the details. My friends would pay for our plane tickets, the rental car, our hotel room, and most of our food expenses. They would have paid for everything, but my parents insisted that they’d give me the money to pay for the rest of my food and to cover my entrance costs for any activities we did. If I wanted souvenirs I could get them myself with the money I earned from my summer job. At the beginning of my internship, I told my boss when my last day would be. I had worked it out so that I’d have a little over a week off between when I finished with them and moving back to college. Ariel took advantage of this, so the three of us would be fly out together the Saturday after I was done with my job and fly back the Sunday before my semester started. I was more than willing to go.

—

We only had three full days left of our week long celebration. I’d been enjoying the trip overall, but I was getting a bit antsy over Ariel and Erik basically taking care of everything? Normally I would have been totally cool with this, but they seemed to be looking out for me like I was some little kid who could get seriously injured at any moment. So instead of actually talking through this issue, I chose to assert myself by insisting I drive the next day right before we went to bed. It took a lot of convincing and pleading but eventually Erik sighed and handed me the keys. “Thank you!” I said and hugged him in excitement. When I met up at the airport, Ariel and I had immediately taken to regularly giving each other hugs. They were always a bit socially uncomfortable? My head came only to the middle of her chest. I still enjoyed them though because she felt so soft and warm. Erik, on the other hand, just didn’t seem to be the hugging type. After mine and Ariel’s greeting hug I asked him if he wanted one too and he politely declined. (And then quickly added that he was also glad to see me again.) Since then he’d never done the whole like non-verbal hug ask thing where you like hold out your arms to show you want a hug. So, I figured he just wasn’t into them and had left it at that until that specific night. And even though he’d started to gently hug me back, I started to pull away. “Sorry! Sorry!” I said quickly. I very purposefully looked not at him as blood rushed to my cheeks. “I should’ve asked!” Erik stopped my retreat with his right hand that was still on my back. “Yes you should have asked first,” he said. He sounded stern, but not angry. “However, we can hug right now if you want.” I let out a happy squeak as I catapulted myself into another hug. He snorted and gave me a soft, but awkward squeeze. Part of it was because the top of my head didn’t even reach his sternum. But, I think the weirdness of the hug came more from the fact that if he tried to hug me like a normal-sized person did, it would basically be like he was just giving himself a hug. So instead he had the ends of the fingers on one hand lightly curled around the top of my right shoulder and his other hand resting across the lower part of my shoulder blades. Like Ariel, his hug also felt warm in terms of temperature. However where as she was squishy and soft, he was literally a rock. Like there was some give, but not much. Before I could catch it, I let out a yawn. “I think someone’s tired,” Ariel teased. Erik started to push away but I closed my eyes, leaned my forehead into him, and let my arms drop to my sides. “Iz ‘kay. I’ll just sleep like this,” I said in a mock-tired voice. “I am fairly sure you can’t sleep standing up,” Erik said as he put both of his large hands on the front of my shoulders and gently shifted my weight off of him and onto my own feet. “I know that it doesn’t work for me at least.” I dramatically rolled my eyes before flopping backwards onto my bed, behind me. “Fiiine.” They both laughed. Since that got the reaction I had wanted, I flipped over and crawled underneath my sheets. “Night!” I said as I set the car keys on the night stand and took my glasses off. “Hey, I didn’t get my goodnight hug then!” Ariel pretended to whine. “Get over here then!” She bounced over and daintily sat down on the bed beside me. We both giggled as we tried to figure out how to give a side hug. “Night, Ken!” “G’night, Ariel!” We did one last squeeze before she moved to her and Erik’s bed, which was on the other side of the nightstand. I made my hands into a heart at Erik. “G’night, Erik!” With my glasses off I couldn’t actually tell for sure, but it looked like he gave me a heart hand back. “Sleep well, Ken.” “You too!” I replied and snuggled in for the night.

—

By 2 PM the next day, I regretted making such a fuss about wanting to drive. We’d been admiring a particularly large hot spring when there was a breeze that felt a lot colder than it should have on such a sunny day. I glanced in the direction the wind came from and groaned. The horizon was covered in dark, foreboding clouds and I thought I saw some small flashes of light in them. The forecast for the day hadn’t included rain so we’d left our coats at the hotel. Erik pointed out that if the storm did reach us, we didn’t know how long it would last so it would be a good idea to go back and get them. Of course we’d been on the complete other side of the park from where we were staying. Which meant it seemed to take forever to get back to our room. We checked to see if the storm was supposed to be severe but didn’t find anything, so we headed back out to where we’d been. At first there was just a light pitter-patter of drops landing on the windshield. I joked that we could have left the rental convertible’s top down, as both Erik and Ariel looked rather squished. But before we were half way back to the trail the rain changed to a raging downpour. The part of the main road we were on snaked along the edge of the valley most of the park laid in so there was no shoulder to pull onto. I turned the car’s emergency lights on and slowed to crawl, hoping there was a turn off nearby. Erik was my acting navigator and had already pulled out our paper map of the park. I started to look at him when suddenly the front end of the car jerked to the right; in the direction of the valley. I yanked the wheel to the left and slammed on the brakes but it was too late. We’d already gone over the edge of the cliff. I couldn’t do anything but wait. I could tell we were picking up speed and I hoped we smashed into something—a tree, a rock—anything to slow us down before we crashed into the valley floor. I heard Erik yell something and felt a stream of wind and rain, then noticed that the little sunlight there’d been get dimmer. It all seemed very far away though. But everything quickly came back into focus as we somehow jerked to a slow stop. Then, somehow, the car started to right itself from being almost vertical to horizontal. At the same time I felt my stomach drop like it would on carnival rides that quickly move up and down. Then everything in front of us lit up again but I was still frozen in my seat. Looking back through the windshield was a large face. Like it was taller than even Erik was; if Ariel stood on Erik’s shoulders, I think the head would still have been taller. And the colors weren’t right. The hair was a reddish-purple. The skin was a deep blue, except for the red lips and two sets of markings. One pair looked like a set of red, winged eyeliner that didn’t actually go on the eyelids. The other set was made of a line, thicker than my arm on either side of the nose and the same color as the first markings. And then there were the eyes. What should have been the whites of the eyes was a pale yellow and the irises where the same color as amber. At some point, Erik must have grabbed onto my upper arm as I was aware of him holding onto just a little too tightly. He was yelling something in his language and I realized he was yelling at the blue being in front of us. They cowled at him briefly before the large, golden eyes turned to me and their expression softened. Erik stopped shouting. “Ken, are you okay?” they asked, their voice rolling over me like thunder. But… it still sounded familiar. I quickly looked to where Ariel should have been sitting. Instead, the end of a large, blue finger with a nail that was almost as long as my forearm rested there, entering the car through an open back door. “Ariel?” I squeeked as I turned back around and shoved myself as far back into my seat as I could. I was suddenly aware of the other large fingers surrounding the car on the back an either side. It was as though the hand was holding up a small model car for its owner to admire. “Yes, Ken, it’s me,” my now large and blue friend replied. “You’re alright. You’re safe now.” “Ariel,” Erik growled beside me. “Set the car back on the road and get inside. Now.” She glared at him again but said, “Ken, I’m going to put you down now, so don’t drive away without me, kay?” I didn’t reply. I just kept the brake pedal pushed as far to the floor as I could, where it had been the entire time. Ariel switched to holding the car from above with her other hand. My stomach dropped again as she gently placed us on the far side of the road. Then before I had time to process really anything that had happened in the last few minutes, Ariel stood by her car door looking normal again. She looked like a long-haired cat that had been dunked completely underwater, but otherwise how I’d always known her. “Can I please come in, Ken?” she pleaded through the open door. “I promise we’ll explain everything.” I looked at Erik in suprise. They spent almost all their time together, of course he would know about Ariel. But the way in which he cautiously observed my face hinted that Ariel wasn’t the only one with a secret. I looked down at the steering wheel and slowly shook my head yes, feeling as though I didn’t really have a choice anymore. Erik finally let go of my arm. “Sorry,” he said in a soft voice. “If you want to, once the weather clears some you and I can exchange seats and I can drive us back to the hotel.” “Yeah,” I responded numbly. We waited with only the sound of the storm to fill the silence. Once we could clearly see the road again, he cleared his throat before opening his car door and stepping out. Refusing to look at either of them, I unbuckled and crawled over the cup holders to the front passenger seat, closed the door he’d left open, and clicked my new seat belt into place. It made me uncomfortable that the seat was still warm. Erik got in and wordlessly did the same before starting the car. I listlessly led us into the hotel. The front desk clerk made a joke about the rainstorm as both Ariel and Erik were still soaking wet. Ariel responded in kind and they asked if we wanted to bring any extra towels with us to our room. Erik said yes and I could tell both he and Ariel stopped walking in order to do so. I didn’t stop though. Neither of them went after me. Once in the room I didn’t bother taking my shoes or coat off. I just turned straight into suite’s bathroom and locked the door behind me. I turned the shower on. I wasn’t going to use it, but it just felt like the right thing to do. I moved the curtain so water wouldn’t splash all over the floor though. Then I kicked my shoes off, grabbed them, then stuffed myself under the sink and against the wall. There was a loud knock at the front door, a moment of silence and then it opened. A second later there was a tentative knock on the bathroom’s door. I responded by pulling my coat’s hood over my head and pretending to disappear. “Ken?” It was Ariel. My breath caught in my throat and the first few tears spilled onto my face. “Ken? When you’re done in their, can we please talk? I promise all we want to do is explain things to you and then you can decide what you want to do after that, okay? You can even go home early if you want; we’d buy you the ticket.” I didn’t move. I heard Erik say something to her before their footsteps went further into the bedroom. I heard them shuffling and moving things around for a few minutes. There was another knock on the bathroom door. “We will be in the lobby,” Erik said. He waited a moment, then I heard the front door open, footsteps  move into the hallway, and the door shutting again. I refused to move until I was somewhat certain they really had left the room. I tried to cry quietly until then too, but I gave up after a bit and sobbed in fits and starts. I still didn’t want to leave the safety of beneath the sink so I awkwardly felt around the counter above until I found the tissue box. I don’t know how full it was before I got a hold of it, but it was empty by the time I was cried out. I listened for movement before I left my safety spot. The bathroom was fully steamed up at this point. I felt bad for wasting so much water and turned the shower off. I took my jacket off and sat on the toilet lid to figure out if there was some way I could escape. As far as I knew, the only door that didn’t have a fire alarm attached was the one in the lobby so I couldn’t go out that way. We were on the second floor of the hotel with no features to hold onto nearby, so even if I did figure out someway to get through the window there was no way I was going to jump that far. I was afraid of what They might do if police or the fire department showed up to rescue me so no 911 calls. A bit of a similar thing if I called my parents. Also they were like 5 Midwest-sized states away so it would take too long to wait for them to get to me. Had this entire trip been some sort of plan to get me alone? But why? I’d never been a fan of the human-eating giant trope and besides, they’d had plenty of opportunities to do something like that before now. Like that afternoon! They could theoretically still try to kidnap me at some point. Did they plan on keeping me as some sort of pet? I groaned and put my head between my legs. All that succeeded in doing was making my head hurt from too much blood. There really wasn’t much I could do. And the bathroom was way too hot and humid and I was tired of staring at the tiled floor. I stood up and cautiously moved to the door. I unlocked it, waited, nothing happened. I opened the door less than an inch, waited, nothing. I opened it up halfway, put my glasses on, and peered into the other room. Erik and Ariel’s two large suitcases were up against the wall across from my door. On top of Ariel’s was a piece of paper and I could tell there was writing on it, but not what it said. Nothing else in the room seemed off so I slid out of my self-made sauna to take a closer look. I picked up her letter, but did yet another quick look around. It didn’t seem like any of my things had been moved, but the few things the other two had scattered around the room throughout the week were gone and I figured they must be in the suitcases next to me. I took a deep breath and read what Ariel had left me.

“Dear Ken, I’m so so sorry for scaring you today. But I’m even more sorry that my friend and I kept the truth about our real selves from you. We never meant to get this close to you; to anyone. I know that you must feel really scared, and that’s totally understandable! But please, just hear us out? You have our word that you get to decide what happens next! If you never want to go home right afterwords, we’ll buy your plane ticket electronically and you can take the rental car to the airport by yourself! If you never want to see or hear from us again you won’t! But please, please, can we talk? It would have to be in private of course and I’m really, really sorry for that. We know you aren’t comfortable around us anymore. It would just be in the hotel room. Erik and I will look and be the size you’ve always known us as. I know this is asking a lot, and I’m super duper sorry that we put you in this position. I have our cell phone with me when you’re ready. Ariel”

I sat down on my bed, pulled my phone out, and stared at it. I really did want to go home and never interact with them again. But that meant being alone with them. Shit, if they could change they’re size and what they looked like why couldn’t they just fucking shrink me if they wanted! But other than this one, very important thing, it seemed as though they’d never lied to me. They both made it a point to follow through with any promises they made. Until now, I’d trusted them. Although given the current situation I’d probably trusted more easily than I should have. “Heh, hindsight is 20/20,” I grumbled and pushed my glasses further up onto my nose. I unlocked my phone and opened the text app, “Okay. I’m ready.” I pressed send. And immediately realized I most definitely was not ready. I hurried over to the corner made by the top of my bed and the wall and threw my coat over myself. “I’m acting like a fucking rabbit,” I mumbled to myself, “I can’t see you so you can’t see me!” I stayed right where I was “hiding” and didn’t move. A minute or two later, there was a knock on the door. “Ken?” Ariel asked tentatively. I knew I should respond, but I didn’t want to. So I compromised and made a weird, unhappy groan-like noise. “Okay, we’re coming in then.” I listened as they came in and stopped at the end of my bed. “Oh… Ken!” Ariel sounded the most sad I’d ever heard her. I started crying again. “I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “No, no! You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for!” she said, her voice sounding closer to the floor than usual. I wondered if she was kneeling. “You’re scared and upset, and it’s our fault!” She was right but I felt terrible and hell if I knew if I really did feel bad for how I was treating them, or I just felt betrayed and just didn’t know how to react to it, or what the fuck. Thanks to my earlier cry fest, I really didn’t have much left in me and quited down quickly. “We can all stay where we are on the floor if you want,” Erik told me softly. It also sounded like he might be kneeling. “Whatever makes you most comfortable.” I groaned again. They didn’t say anything and I realized that wasn’t really a noise they could act on. I pulled my jacket off my face and stared at them. They were both kneeling on the ground. Ariel was a little ways past the end of my bed and leaning slightly in my direction. Erik was behind her with a hand resting on her back. “You changed clothes?” was the first thing I actually said to them. They glanced down at their outfits as though they were also surprised by this. “Well yes…” he said slowly. “It wouldn’t be right to make the hotel furniture wet.” “But you packed everything?” I tilted my head towards their suitcases. “Like I said, we didn’t want to get everything wet, and damp clothing is uncomfortable.” Despite his shirt being dry, he tugged on it as if to emphasize his point. “So you made all your stuff wet?” “Yes.” “Very logical.” I giggled despite how I felt. Erik and Ariel smiled slightly in response, but still mostly looked worried. I tried to diffuse the situation some more. “I think I should stop being squashed in corners, my feet are falling asleep.” I stretched out a foot and lightly tapped it on the floor. Apparently I was right. I wrinkled my nose, “Shit, I think they really are asleep.” “Do you want help standing up?” I could tell Ariel was holding herself back. “If one of you can fit over here. It’s kind of small.” Ariel started trying to scoot closer to me, “Huh, yeah. I’m going to get stuck like this.” Despite having pins and needles in my feet, I rolled forward on them so that I was on my hands and knees. My face ended up being only a foot away from hers, a lot closer than I expected. After a beat I just accepted it. “If Erik pulls I can help push you out.” She blinked, but then smiled. “I said I was going to get stuck, not that I am!” She backed up past the bed again. I used my bed to help me stand up, but quickly had to lean against the wall for support. Both she and Erik started moving towards me but I shood them away with my free hand. “I’m good! Just too much time on the floor so all the stuff in my head is going, vwoosh!” I tried to mime blood rushing from my head to the rest of my body. “Are you pretending to not be upset anymore?” Ariel asked, sounding worried. “Sort of, I think? But I’m also really bad at holding grudges so…” I shrugged. We were quiet for a moment. Erik spoke first, “Do you have a preference on how we do this? You can stand and we can sit or-” “Sit.” I realized that didn’t fully convey what I meant. “Like uh… can we all sit on one of the beds and I’m between you two and holding your hands and stuff?” Ariel offered me a hand and I latched on. She stepped out of the way so I could get to Erik. He slowly reached a hand out to me, obviously trying to gage my reaction I grabbed him as well before maneuvering us so we could all sit comfortably on the end of the bed. Before they started their explanation I brought their hands to my chest and kind of hugged them to me. “Okay. Now I’m actually ready.”

—

And holy shit was their story something I did not expect. As far as Erik could figure out from his research—which was one of the things he would do while Ariel and I voice chatted—the two of them were from another universe. Erik and Ariel weren’t even their real names. In their culture they’re given a special name by their community’s religious leader and only a select, trusted few ever learn what it is. So, when they’d needed to tell Ana and I what to call them, Ariel said the first pair of names that came to mind. Courtesy of a Disney movies binge. Ariel and Erik had been chosen by their community to fight “the lifeless ones”. They were these blob-looking entities—or maybe different parts of the same being—that drained the life force from any living thing they came in contact with. In their universe, it was easy to fight the lifeless ones. The largest ones only came up to their knees and as long as they used a weapon made from inorganic materials and didn’t let themselves get surrounded, all they had to do was whack or poke the blobs and they would disappear. At some point, their culture’s religious leaders all started having nightmares. Together, they realized they were visions of the lifeless ones obliterating a far off place—Earth. It wasn’t a place that could be reached by normal means though. They somehow knew that wasn’t even a place in their understanding of reality. And that was why the lifeless ones there were much more dangerous. Some were taller than the tallest trees and smallest ones were still as big as boulders. Their leaders realized the place they were seeing had no to fight back. They argued over whether or not to do something about it. They decided they needed to help in someway. Erik and Ariel weren’t sure how it came about exactly, but the leaders learned that they could send a pair of warriors to where the lifeless ones were wreaking havoc and stop them. They knew that whatever had changed the lifeless ones would have a similar affect on the warriors when they arrived. Somehow this only worked one way though. The warriors wouldn’t be able to come home. They chose Erik and Ariel. But no one had been able to figure out in what ways the trip would make them able to stand against the lifeless ones. Would they somehow be stronger? Faster? How would they deal with massive difference in size? As soon as my friends woke up on Earth, they learned the answer to the last question. Without using their abilities, they’re both much taller than Ariel was the afternoon we fell off the road. By a lot. Like your average person is comparable to less than a quarter inch compared to them tall. Over time they learned that they were also naturally invisible to creatures on Earth unless they wanted to be seen. They also could only interact with the lifeless ones unless they were visible and wanted to do something like carry a rock. They didn’t know for how long they fought the lifeless ones after they arrived. But it was long enough that the hoards they fought against became fewer in frequency in number. Eventually they came to have a feeling that their work was nearing it’s end. They started feeling tired in a way they hadn’t before. They wondered if it was the feeling that they’d die soon. They fought against it for as long as they could until one night, they both knew that when they went to sleep they’d never wake up. They said there good-byes to each other then laid down side-by-side under the star-dotted sky. They did wake up though, just not in the usual way. At first they were only aware of themselves individually. They knew who they were and that something was wrong. They couldn’t move, they couldn’t see, or hear, or even breath. Then slowly they felt life coming back to them. They realized the other was still there, beside them. As soon as they could, they sat up. They found themselves in an underground chamber that was actually large enough that they could stand up and lie down, but not much else. They heard small noises that sounded almost like singing, coming from the end of the hall where there head had been. And that’s when they met their first humans. (They’d seen humans around before, but never interacted with them.) Apparently while they’d been sleeping, a very small religion had started with my friends as their deities. The group’s theology even included the lifeless ones, except they were also a bit more like demons at times. They thought the lifeless ones could possess people and animals and that everything bad that happened was due to them. The group believed that the lifeless ones were too numerous again and that their only choice to save the world was to resurrect Erik and Ariel. My friends weren’t happy about this development. Unfortunately they didn’t have a choice but to spend the first few months with their tiny cult. They weren’t able to do much besides be visible to them and on occasion, physically interact with things—specifically food. They started feeling stronger and would test their powers on the rare occasions they were completely alone, just to be safe. When they felt ready they made their escape. It turned out there really was a dangerous amount of lifeless ones, especially given how much the human population had grown while they slept. Erik’s best guess is that they fell asleep at least 4,000 years ago. So yeah. A lot happened while they were out. With no idea on what else to do, they went back to fighting the lifeless ones. When they weren’t doing that, they started learning about modern life. I met them a few years after that. “Wait, okay,” I said at the end of their story. “So not counting the time you were passed out, how old are you guys?” “With the differences in how we measure time… we were around 25 years old when we first arrived on Earth…” Erik said. “But well…” “We don’t think we age,” Ariel finished. “Other than learning new things and normal day-to-day differences in our bodies, we haven’t changed. And it’s another one of those things that we just seem to know.” “Oh.” I said. “That’s going to be weird in a few years.” “You’re speaking as though we’ll be around then,” he said slowly. “Yeah, I guess.” “Please don’t think you have to make a decision now!” Ariel told me with panic in her voice. “You can take as long as you need to and of course you have every right to change your mind at any time!” “So one of the basic constraints of any healthy relationship,” I mused. “It is, isn’t it?” Ariel said after a moment. I squeezed her hand and she did so back. “Well my choice as of right now is that we should sleep. I’m too tired to make any important life-altering decisions after today. Also, what time is it?” We all looked around for a clock. “That one says it’s after 6 PM.” Ariel said, pointing to the one on the bedside table. I remembered cell phones existed and let go of her hand to pull mine out. “Sounds right,” I said. “My stomach also agrees.” “Do you want to eat by yourself tonight?” Erik asked. “No, we need a fun group activity,” I declared. “Let’s find somewhere that serves breakfast for supper!” We stood up and started getting ready to leave. I paused part way through putting on a shoe. “Wait, another question.” “Hmm-mm?” “So you guys don’t have a job and I’m guessing you didn’t get mountains of US dollars when you first got here, so how the fuck are you paying for everything?” I realized with horror what the answer was. “Credit card fraud.” I whispered. “No!” Ariel exclaimed. She looked and sounded as though I’d accused her of murdering a baby. “It’s an ability we discovered recently,” Erik said, also sounding perturbed that I’d accuse them of something so heinous. “We don’t know how it works, but once a month I will the credit card bill to be paid and it happens.” Suddenly he looked sheepish. “Although we only found that out after we obtained our card somewhat illegally.” I finished tying my shoe and stood up. I narrowed my eyes at him, “I know you’re telling the truth but that sounds like complete bullshit.” “I think most people would consider my friend and I even existing as ‘bullshit’.” He shrugged. “Okay, that’s fair,” I admitted. We finished getting our things together before I stopped us from going out the door. “’Nother question,” I explained and turned to try to look them both in the face. I hoped I looked serious. “You guys’ve never said I can’t tell anyone about you…?” Ariel bent over so her face was almost at my eye level. “That’s because we trust you, silly!” My heart fluttered. “Oh.” I looked up at Erik, and with a genuine smile, he nodded in agreement. “I- uh… thank you?” Not knowing what else to do, I spun back around to the door and opened it. “Breakfast for supper still good with ya’ll?” I asked over my shoulder. “If that’s what you want,” Ariel reassured me. I gave her a big smile and stepped out into the hallway. I didn’t know what I’d think about everything tomorrow. But I definitely knew that right then, I wanted to eat pancakes and sausage and ice cream with my two friends who were walking behind me.

[erikandariel]

[erikandariel]

How We Met: 3/3

Part 1 | Part 2 

Length: 6,091

Tuesday arrived more quickly than I wanted it to. This was partially because I never liked slogging through finals, but mostly it had to due with hanging out with Erik and Ariel that day. The three of us had agreed to meet up in the parking lot by my dorm a little after 11:15. Although I hadn’t told them that the dorm that the lot was next to was the one I lived in. I was honestly a bit proud of myself for thinking to have that extra layer of security in case things went badly. But before I went to look for them and their car, I stopped off at my room to switch out my book bag for my camera. Ana was sitting at their desk working on their last essay for finals. They were still sleeping when I left for my pre-test breakfast that morning, but now they were dressed and presentable as far as clothing and washing their face and such. I could tell that they were thinking hard when I entered the room because they looked like a human pretzel. They sat on one leg that was folded beneath their body and their other leg was bent and resting on the chair so that the knee was up by their shoulder. “How’s it going?” I teased. They transferred the pained expression that they have for their laptop’s screen to me. I partially mimicked the look in sympathy but said with some enthusiasm, “I believe in you!” “Thanks,” they sighed, already back to staring at their laptop. “Try not to pass out today, ya?” I rolled my eyes in mock annoyance. “You almost pass out all the time and then I go and do it once and you won’t let me live it down!” “Yup,” they snorted. And the important word there is ‘almost’.” I made a face to the back of their head as I set my book bag down. Then I grabbed the tube of sunscreen I had strategically placed on my desk and doused every inch of exposed skin with it. Then I put it in my camera bag before putting the bag’s strap over my head and on my shoulder so that it laid across my body. “Well I should get going and let you get back to work. Bye!” I made my hands into a heart shape and pointed it in their direction. Without looking away from their essay, they responded in kind. I giggled to myself as I headed out the door. As I walked down the steps from the 4th to the 1st floor, I checked my phone. It was 11:13 so I figured Erik and Ariel weren’t on campus yet, but would be soon. Knowing the people in our age group, I guessed it would be at least another five minutes. Which is why when I walked out the dorm’s front door I was surprised to hear an excited voice yell, “Hey Ken, we’re over here!” from the lot. Never mind. Apparently they showed up to places early rather than late. Ariel bounced up and down and waved at me from next to the passenger door of a silver convertible. The top layer of her long, wavy brown hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, with the smaller, lighter sections of it blowing somewhat in the light breeze. This time she was the one wearing a crop top. It was light blue with a flower design in the middle of the front. She was wearing some sort of high-waisted denim pants. Although they could have also been shorts. While she easily stood two to three feet taller than the cars still in the lot, I couldn’t see where the leg cuffs ended. The top of the convertible was down so I could easily see Erik sitting rigid in the driver’s seat and staring straight ahead through a pair of large dark sunglasses. Well on a normal sized person they would have been large. On him they were actually a little too small. The space he had in the car was a similar situation. It looked like he had the seat all the way back but he still seemed cramped. The theme of things being slightly too small for him continued with his white T-shirt. It clung to his body to the point where I could easily see all of his form beneath it, including individual muscles and… his nipples… He also wore his hair up, but at least on the side of his head that I could see, it looked like he had a thin ribbon or braid going from his temple to where the rest of the hair was collected in a ponytail on the back of his head. Since he seemed to be ignoring me, I tried to ignore him to and focused on Ariel. I tried to give a genuine smile as I returned her wave and walked over to the car. “Hey!…” “Do you want to sit in the passenger seat or in the back?” she asked quickly. I still wasn’t used to her and Erik’s accent so it took me longer than usual to parse what she was saying. “And if you do sit in the back do you want me to sit back there with you or no?” “Uhh…” I’d never ridden in a convertible before. Mostly because I other than these two, I never knew someone with a convertible, but I also had a slight aversion to them. I always figured that with the top down I’d end up with a lot of bugs smashing into my face and holy shit do I hate bugs. Also glasses don’t exactly come with mini wipers to clean them off. I didn’t want to be a bother and ask them to put the top up though. 1) Because I barely knew them. And 2)Since I didn’t know if either of them could have fit underneath it. “…I’ll sit in the front I guess?” I said, choosing to hope that the windshield would keep me mostly bug-free. “If that’s okay with you guys of course…” Ariel looked quizzical. “Why would I offer to let you sit there if I wasn’t okay with you choosing it?” “Well… um… good point… I guess I just wanted to make sure?” “Don’t worry, you can sit there,” Ariel said with a smile as she opened the passenger door for me. I slid in and quickly buckled up as she vaulted over the edge of the car and into the seat behind me. It was a 2-door car though, so normally someone would have to fold the front seat forward to get back there. But she’d easily made it back there in one jump with the only jostling being from her landing. I didn’t think about this at the time though because I saw how many various buttons were on the console and dashboard. There was even a touch screen. I am easily distracted by technology. Erik turned the car on and as he went to grab the stick to go in reverse, I noticed he wasn’t buckled. As much as I wanted to I didn’t say anything about it because I didn’t want to seem rude like I had at the petting zoo where we met. I must’ve had some sort of look on my face though as Erik glanced my way before quickly grabbing the seat belt and clicking the buckle into place. “Oh. I forgot I took it off while we waited for you,” he mumbled. I heard Ariel buckling herself behind me. “Safety first!” she said enthusiastically. “Yay!” I responded, turning around to giver her a thumbs up. She quickly did the same with a very excited grin. Erik grumbled something as he threw the car into reverse, out of the parking spot, then quickly shifted it into gear and sped out of the lot. I grabbed onto my door and clutched my camera bag to me for dear life. Over the roar of the wind in my ears I heard Ariel yell something at Erik. We slowed down some and when we turned onto the highway we didn’t accelerate quite as fast as before. I loosened my death hold on the car door. “Sorry,” Erik said, not sounding apologetic at all. “I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.” “I noticed,” I mumbled under my breath. He stayed silent for the rest of the trip. Meanwhile Ariel tried to ask me multiple questions, but it was hard for me to understand her over the wind until we were on the road leading to the zoo. It was a nice day, but the place wasn’t very busy; with it being a weekday and kids still in school and all. Before we walked into the zoo’s main building I did sort of try to protest against them paying for my ticket again. I always felt awkward accepting this sort of help and even more so if I didn’t insist it wasn’t necessary until they finished the transaction. “We said we would pay for you and we will,” Erik snapped at me. I shut up at that point and tried to look interested in the landscaping. After we made it inside, Ariel immediately laced her arms around Erik’s left one. “So what do you want to do first?” she asked me. “Food?” “Oh, it is time for lunch, isn’t it?” she replied. My stomach rumbled in agreement and she laughed. I tried to see what Erik’s reaction was from the corner of my eye, but he seemed to not be paying attention and staring straight ahead like he had in the car. Granted, it was a bit hard to tell since he was still wearing his sunglasses… even though we were inside. If he’d been anyone else I knew I would have teased him about it. But that didn’t seem to be his cup of tea so instead I readjusted my bag’s strap and took a step in the direction we needed to go. “The food court’s this way,” I explained. “Okay!” Ariel said as she and Erik started after me. “Do you know what you’re going to get?” I changed my pace to walk next to her. The hallways in this building were wide and with hardly any other guests around I figured it would be find to walk three-across. And if it did get crowded I figured I’d just move behind the couple. I was more comfortable being the last person in a group anyway. I quickly realized that despite my plan, I might have to walk behind them anyway because in order to keep up with I had to take longer and faster strides than I normally did. “A hamburger if they have ‘em. What about you guys?” “We ate before we left for your school,” Erik said curtly. “Oh.” “Well I’m still hungry,” Ariel said and I noticed her elbow him sharply before she turned back to me. “Do you know what else there is to eat here?” “Well we’re almost there…” I pointed to the sliding doors where we could see some tables and the first few stations on the other side. We stopped once we were in the food court to see the answer to Ariel’s question. I quickly picked out the grill area where it turned out they were actually selling hamburgers. There was also a sub shop, a place for Chinese food, vegetarian only area, and of course a spot just for ice cream. I tried to act casual while the couple talked quietly to one another in their native language about, I assumed, what she was going to get and if he was going to get anything. Near the end of the exchange it sounded like they disagreed about something and I hoped it didn’t have anything to do with me. At that point I’d realized that Erik really didn’t seem to like and that he also didn’t want to be there. However, I noticed him grudgingly give Ariel his credit card before she looked back at me with a grin. “Okay! I’m going to go the vede- veze- … vegetarian area!” she said. “Erik’s going ta go with you so you can get your hamburger and he can get himself something to drink.” And with that she gave us a small wave and left us where we were. I nervously looked at Erik. He’d partially crossed his arms and looked deflated with his shoulders hunched forward. It made him look like he felt awkward instead of angry like I would’ve expected. He flourished a hand in the direction of where we needed to go so I hesitantly led the way. We were the only ones in line at the grill station so after another cautious glance in his direction I stepped up to the cashier. “Hi. How can I help you?” they asked halfheartedly. “Hi, uh… I’ll have a double hamburger, so no cheese! And only mustard; nothing else on it.” I waited for them to punch in that part of my order. “And a bottle of sweet tea, please.” “’Kay. You can grab the tea over there.” They pointed towards a cooler a few feet away from me and which Erik was standing next to. “Anything else?” “Uh… yeah. Whatever he’s having.” I gestured at Erik while I took a step back so he could take his turn. He gave me what felt like a nervous look before taking a step forward. A single step. With his height it was a long stride, but he was still like three feet away from where most people would stand. “I will also have a bottle of sweet tea,” he said slowly. “Grab it over there.” The cashier pointed at the cooler again. I was thankful that they didn’t seem phased by his size or his accent. “Is that all?” “Yes,” he replied as he took out his wallet. “Your total is $10.74,” they told him and then nodded at me. “Your burger will be ready in a couple minutes.” I nodded back. Before flipping through the surprisingly large amount of bills he had, Erik pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head. I wasn’t sure if it was the light from the station’s heat lamps or what, but it looked like he had a slight yellow color to his eyes. There was an awkward second as the cashier and I waited for him to hand some cash over. He looked down at our total on the register’s screen, then back to his wallet before he straightened himself back up to his full height and flipping again through the bills. I could feel the frustration radiating off him. The cashier cleared their throat and I saw that they were beginning to look nervous. “Uh… sir?” He turned his glare on them and they took half a step back. “Just a sec!” I told them and sidled over to Erik’s elbow and extended my hands toward his. I paused for a second as I realized what I’d done, but decided I was committed at this point with being so close to him. I also just wanted this to end for the poor cashier’s sake. “Here, I can help,” I whispered. I refused to look up at his face. He sighed and I felt the breeze from it in my hair so I knew he was looking at me. He shifted his stance to be angled more towards me. Then he held the wallet open wide with his right hand and offered the closest end of it to me. “Please,” he said in an exasperated tone. I reached up and lightly pulled the wallet down so that I could actually see in it with being this close. It turned out that Erik’s natural waistline was right about at my eye level and so while it may have worked just fine for him to hold the wallet at that height I would need to stand on my tip toes and I am in no way a ballerina so that wasn’t going to happen. Thankfully he had things organized by amount so it was easy for me to find a $10 bill. “Do you have any change you want to use?” I asked, still keeping my voice quiet. “What is change?” he asked, matching my volume. “Uh, coins; pennies, dimes, quarters…” “No,” he huffed. I quickly grabbed a 1 and offered the two bills to him. He hesitated before slowly reaching for them with large left hand and carefully taking them from me. The cash looked like they should be toy money when compared to him. He took a short step forward before shoving his hand at the cashier; who I noticed was now sweating a fair amount. They quickly grabbed. “Um. Out of $11…” they mumbled as they punched the amount in. Before the drawer fully opened they quickly put away what Erik gave them and grabbed his change. “Here’s 26 cents.” Erik glared at their awaiting hand. I edged around him and offered a palm to them in his place. “Can you grab the tea please, Erik?” I asked, hoping that I didn’t sound too nervous. He gave a grunt but put his wallet away and then stepped over to the cooler. H easily grabbed both bottles with one hand. I stepped off to the side to wait for my hamburger and he came over and stood slightly behind me. “Here,” he said flatly as a thing of tea suddenly appeared next to my face. “Thanks.” I turned a little to take it with my free hand and then held out the one with the change. “Do you want your coins back?” He forcefully pushed his sunglasses back onto the bridge of his nose. “You can keep them.” “You sur-” I remembered our interaction on our way into the zoo. “Thanks,” I said instead. I hastily opened my camera bag to put them away in my wallet. He grunted in return and I figured whatever moment had happened when we were ordering was over. As I made sure my bag was securely closed, I noticed him shift his weight from one foot to the other. “Thank you,” he said. I glanced up at his face but from the angle of his head it was clear he wasn’t looking at me. “For helping me pay with… paper money.” I caught myself smiling but before I could say anything Ariel appeared between us. “I have my food!” she announced. “What are you two waiting on?” “Uhh… ma’am…?” I heard the grill cashier say. They pushed a tray with hamburger on it towards me. I tried not to wrinkle my nose at getting misgendered. After all they obviously couldn’t know from just looking at me that I was non-binary, but it still always bothered me when it happened. “Thank you,” I said instead. I quickly put my tea on the tray and grabbed it. Then turning to Ariel and Erik I asked, “Where do you guys want to sit?” “We don’t have a preference!” Ariel replied for the both of them. “Uh… okay…” I surveyed the tables near us, then at some by the large windows on the other side of the room. “How about over there?” The air conditioning was making me a little cold so I led the way to one of the tables that was somewhat in the sun. The two followed. I put my camera camera bag on the floor between the window and the seat I was sliding into. The window looked out on a tree-shaded plaza, beyond which I could see some of the zoo’s elevated walkways. Erik and then Ariel stopped next to the table instead of sitting down. “Isn’t the sun in your eyes there?” he asked hesitantly. “Won’t you get too hot?” she added. “Nah, I’m good.” I shrugged and started to unwrap my sandwich. “I’m a little cold and the sun is warm so I’ll live.” Ariel examined the table before saying something to Erik and nudging him forward. He took a deep breath in and out before taking off his sunglasses and handing them to me. “Here.” Instead of looking at me he squinted out the window. “Oh, no, I’m good!” I repeated. Pointing to my own glasses I said, “Mine sort of turn into sunglasses if there’s enough UV.” He glanced at Ariel. She said something to him before pointing at the spot across from me with one hand while easily balancing her tray with the other. He put his sunglasses back on then moved next to the chair she’d indicated. I just stared as he pulled it back far enough to touch the one behind him, then gingerly sat down. His body made a wall between me and the sun. He didn’t move his chair any closer to the table and I figured part of it had to do with his knees being almost as tall as the top of the table. Ariel put her tray down and took the seat next to me. She had her chair at a normal distance from the table, but I was pretty sure it was due to her folding her legs neatly to her side, almost as though she were riding a horse side-saddle. They both stared at me. “Aren’t you going to eat?” she finally asked. “Um, sure…” I snapped back to attention and took the top but off my hamburger to make sure there weren’t any offending vegetable on it. It was clean so I picked up the entire sandwich and took a bite. They seemed to take this as a signal that they could also start eating, or rather drinking in Erik’s case. They both took smaller samples of their stuff than I expected. He seemed surprised by the tea’s flavor while Ariel looked thoughtful for a moment or two while she processed the taste of her wrap. Then they caught me looking at them and I realized they were also watching me. To try to cover up the fact that I’d been staring at them, I took an unnecessarily large bite. Almost mechanically, they had a little more of their own things. Ariel started to say something when I discovered that the bite was a little to big for me. I hurriedly tried to open my tea. Like I didn’t have anything stuck in my throat, it was just that uncomfortable feeling I would get when I tried eating too much at once. Thankfully this was the case because my first attempt failed. “Ken, are you okay?” she asked as I changed my grip a little. “Just thirsty,” I grunted as I tried again. The lid didn’t move. So I grabbed the bottom part of shirt and held it against the cap to see if that would improve my odds. And another failure. “Let me do it,” Erik said and suddenly one of his large hands appeared over my hamburger. I passed the bottle to him. “Thanks…” I said sheepishly. “I like always have problems opening bottles…” Leaning a little over the table, he turned the cap with what looked like no effort and there was a satisfying crack and hiss as he broke the seal. He laid the lid on my tray before offering the bottle back to me. As I greedily took it from him, I accidentally brushed my fingers across part of his warm hand. I paused and briefly marveled at just how much bigger it was than mine. A shiver ran up his arm and I quickly shoved my tea into my face. I took a couple large gulps as if that would somehow make up for just how awkward this day was. Instead I almost literally inhaled it. “Don’t choke!” Ariel gasped, standing up. Erik quickly followed suit and even leaned over and placed a hand on my shoulder. I heard the table behind him move as he pushed away from his chair. “I’m good,” I tried to assure them between coughing and trying to get air in my lungs. “Just give me a sec. My body’ll calm down.” Erik tightened his grip to where it started to hurt. I looked up at him in surprise but at least it stopped my diaphragm from freaking out for a moment. He stared at his hand as though he was also surprised by how tightly he held my shoulder before quickly pulling it away. He dropped back into his chair, crossed his arms, and glared out the window. I coughed a few more times before taking a cautious sip of tea. Ariel still stood over me. She looked like she was ready to fight the bottle if she needed to. It was honestly very intimidating. “I’m fine!” I said again. I patted the air in the direction of her chair, trying to get her also sit down again. She narrowed her eyes at the offending drink but did plop back down beside me. “Are you sure you’re all right?” she asked seriously. “Yeah! This kind of thing happens all the time…” I said, hiding my mouth behind a hand. Erik snorted. I swallowed. “What?” I asked. I sounded more defensive than I meant to. “Okay so I know that like since we met I seem like a helpless baby, but I’m not!” Ariel studied me with suspicion. I tried to ignore her stare by taking another bite and pulling out my phone to see if I had any notifications and what the time was. After a few moments she turned back to her own lunch, only for her to say something angrily under her breath. I followed her gaze to between our chairs where her wrap laid on the floor, its contents spilled out under our chairs. “Welp. I can get some napkins to help clean up,” I offered. “No,” Erik said firmly before I could bolt to the condiment bar. “My friend and I can manage this. You finish eating.” It took me a second to realize that his “friend” meant Ariel. “No, really, I don’t-” He held up a hand to silence me as he stood up. “Eat.” I did as he said and watched him leave. Ariel knelt down behind her chair. The top of her head came to my shoulder but her long hair still almost reached the lettuce covered floor. “Ken?” she asked. “Mm-hmm?” “How exactly do I… do this.” “Pick up your wrap?” “Yes.” “Just put it on your tray? Then you can just throw it all away in the garbage before we head out.” She smiled at me and started doing so. “And hey, if you want you can go get another wrap if you want. I don’t mind waiting for you to finish eating.” She shook her head no. “Nah. Like Erik said, we ate before we picked you up so I’m fine!” “Okay… Well then, let me know if you want me to help you pick this stuff up?” She shook her head again. “Then tell me if I need to move to another seat or get my legs out of the way?” “I will!” Erik came back a second later with two large handfuls of napkins. Not just like normal person large handfuls though; his huge fists were stuffed with them. He joined Ariel on the floor and I nervously watched them work, moving my legs around or holding them up out of the way as needed. She used her bare hands to grab all the larger chunks, while he used the napkins as make shift gloves to clean whatever she missed. When they were done he tried to give her the remainder of the napkins so she could wipe her hands off. But instead she either didn’t see or didn’t care and just rubbed them on her capris as she stood up. He sighed and used them himself before putting them on her tray with the rest of the garbage. I finished my sandwich right about then so I quickly rolled up its empty wrapper, grabbed my things and got up too. “There’s a garbage can over there,” I said and started walking towards it. I saw the grill cashier standing warily about 20 feet away from our table with a broom and dust pan. I wondered how long they’d been standing there as they waited for us to leave before making sure we’d fully cleaned up our mess. The can I went to had two others next to it. Erik went to the one on my right and just… threw the entire tray into the can. Like not just the remains of Ariel’s wrap and the napkins he used and the tray liner. He dropped the actual tray in. I stare at the can and then at him. He did the same to me. Then slowly he reached into the can, grabbed the tray, shook off anything still stuck to it, then reached past me and set it on top of the one I had put on the nice little shelf above the can that was meant for holding the used trays. I tried not to giggle as I gave him a thumbs up. He looked confused at the gesture but he did start to mirror it. Suddenly Ariel appeared on the other side of me and held my free hand in hers. She was definitely not as tall as her significant other, but her hand was still a good deal larger than mine. “So what animal do we want to see first!” she asked. I looked down at our clasped hands for a moment. Partially because I hadn’t expected it and didn’t really notice the difference in our hand sizes earlier, but also because I had to marvel at how long and nice her fingernails were? I played piano growing up so I couldn’t stand it if my nails went much past the ends of my fingers. I felt her grip loosen and she started to pull it away. “Sorry! Do not want to hold hands?” she asked with much more concern than the situation called for. “No! I mean yes! I mean-” I slid my hand back into place in her palm and held it. “I like holding hands.” She smiled brightly. “Okay!” Then at the same time she and I each offered our other hand to Erik. All three of us looked surprised by this. After a beat Erik hesitantly held his own hand out near mine. “I… like to hold hands too.” I carefully took it and he gently moved our hands to his side. “Do we want to start at the petting zoo?” he asked us with a stiff smile. “I promise not to yell at either of you if we do,” I said and hoped both of them could tell I was joking. Ariel laughed and started us towards the doors leading out into the zoo-proper. “I promise not to stick my fingers in any cages!” she said, giving my a light squeeze. “And I promise-” he paused mid-sentence with a thoughtful look on his face. “You should be Ken’s shade tree!” she supplied. “To keep them from getting too hot this time!” He hesitated in his current stride until I was slightly ahead of him and he was able to block the sun. “Yes, I promise to do that.” I rolled my eyes. “That was one time!” I pretended to protest. “And anyway it’s cooler today, and I made sure to wear light colored clothes, and I’m even wearing sunscreen!” “What’s sunscreen?” Ariel inquired. “It keeps the sun from burning me.” They pulled me to halt. They both looked at me as though they thought I was going to randomly burst into flames. These mini-crises were starting to get old. “You know… cuz my skin is so light? I get sun burnt really easy? Like I don’t tan? My skin just goes straight from ghost white to red if I’m out in the sun for too long…? And I guess you’ve never had a sun burn since your skin is so much darker than mine?” “Should we leave and come back on a day when it’s cloudy?” she asked with genuine concern for my safety. Erik took another step towards me as though he were trying to keep any sunlight from reaching me ever. “No! I’m  wearing sunscreen! And it’s the really good stuff too; it’s SPF 75!” The two literally started talking over my head at each other. Exasperated, I let go of their hands and started digging in my bag for my bottle of sunscreen. “Here, look!” I first shoved the bottle into Ariel’s face and then Erik’s. He took it from me and carefully began to read the front under his breath. She shuffled next to him to try to read it too. When they were done they exchanged a few more words before handing it back to me. “We believe you,” she said as I stowed the sunscreen away again. I sighed with relief. “I thought Erik said he was going to be my shade tree anyway.” I said with a forced giggle. I did not like confrontation one bit and we’d had more than enough for one day; probably two. “And I really want to see the sea otters!” “Yes, I did say that,” he said, a small genuine smile appearing. “Good, cuz you promised!” His smile quickly vanished and he looked dead serious. “I always keep my promises,” he said solemnly. “We both do.” Ariel sounded like she was somewhat offended. So much for no more confrontation! “No! Sorry! I was… just making a joke…” I stared at the ground. Despite the temperature and Erik being between me and the sun, I could feel myself getting warmer. “Oh… Oh! We’re sorry!” she said, sounding worried again. “We’re just not used to your kind of humor…” “Yeah…” I agreed. And then my anxiety kicked in and I suddenly felt like crying. What the fuck emotions. “Ken…!” She quickly cupped my hand in both of hers and then Erik did the same with my other one. I made myself take a slow, deep, somewhat shaky breath in… and then out. “Fuck… I’m sorry…” I whispered, still trying to focus and control my breathing. I closed my eyes so I didn’t have to look at them. “Sometimes my brain just overreacts and I’m fine. Just give me a sec…” They both let go of me, but I could tell from the—surprising amount of—heat radiating from their palms that they held them only a few inches away. I took a few more deep breaths before forcing a smile and opening my eyes. Both of them had bent down a little so their faces were closer to mine. I didn’t know if they were trying to make themselves look smaller or if they were trying to get a better look at me or what. “Okay,” I said, trying to reassure all of us that I really was fine. “Okay.” “Do you want to go to the sea otters first, Ken?” she asked softly. “No, we said we were going to the petting zoo first so let’s go to the petting zoo.” I bumped my hand into her hand that I’d been holding earlier. Thankfully she understood that I wanted to hold hands again and took it. She closed her eyes, smiled, and gave me a small squeeze before standing upright again. Then I turned to Erik, who was already standing straight and tall. I moved the hand by him closer to his own and tried to ask with my expression if he wanted to hold hands again too. He accepted my offer and even though I’d noticed that so far he seemed careful about any physical contact we had, his actions seemed even… more calculated? I smiled up at my two, new, large, friends and pulled them in the direction I thought we needed to go. “Ken…?” Erik said after only a couple of feet. “The petting zoo is this way.” And he gave me a gentle tug in his direction. I looked at the nearest directional and yup. He was right. I changed course. “To the petting zoo!” I said over-enthusiastically. Ariel laughed and Erik sighed as we made our way down the path.

[erikandariel]

How We Met: Part 2/?

[Note from Ken: Welp. Here’s the 2nd part finally... Hopefully there won’t be as long a break between this and part 3...]

Length: 1,011 words

I was hesitant to share my number with the man and woman who helped Ana and I at the zoo. Like on one hand they’d been super helpful and I didn’t want to be rude, but at the same time I didn’t know like anything about them. Ana was the one who’d been talking to Ariel and Erik, and she also didn’t know much about them because they were just checking up on if we were doing okay or not. I decided if worse came to worse though, I could just block their number. So, Ana passed along my number and I sat on my futon to wait for a text from one of them so I’d get their number.

Ariel & Erik: hi! :D this is ariel btw Me: Hey :3 Ariel: :3 Ariel: :D its so cute! Me: I know, right? :3c Ariel: thats even cuter! just like u :3c

I realized that I was taking quick, short breaths and that my heart rate was up. I forced myself to take slower breaths before starting my reply.

Me: Uhhh… are you flirting with me??? O.o Cuz if you are that’s not going to work out right now… Ariel: wats flirting? wats not goin 2 work out? Ariel: english isnt my 1st language :( Me: So uh… flirting is like verbally letting someone you’re attracted to know that you like them without actually saying that

Before I could answer her second question, Ariel responded.

Ariel: Are you accusing me of lying? Me: No! That’s not what I meant at all! Flirting is like a secret way of saying you like someone does that make more sense??? Ariel: I am not doing that at all! Ariel: You are cute and I just told you so. Ariel: How is that a secret? Me: It’s not? …nevermind… obviously you weren’t flirting then Ariel: No you claimed that I was keeping a secret! I was not doing that! Me: I know! That’s why I said nevermind. Like I said I thought you were flirting with me but obviously you weren’t… Ariel: So… you didn’t accuse me of keeping a secret from you? Me: Ye, no, sorry. I’m just on… high alert after my last relationship? Ariel: wat do u mean “on high alert”?

Well this conversation was going to unexpected places.

Me: Let’s just say my ex was a jerk so I’m cautious about people being interested in me like that. Ariel: interested like wat? Me: Romantically and/or sexually Ariel: oh Ariel: im srry ur ex was mean & that i upset u :( Me: No! You didn’t upset me! And I’m sorry that it seemed like I was saying you were lying earlier Ariel: thx 4 the apology but it was my fault not urs :3

I sighed in relief.

Me: Well now that that’s over, was there something in particular you wanted to talk to me about?? Ariel: o ya! erik & i were mosly wondrin if you were feelin bettr aftr the zoo? Me: Ye! I’m feeling normal for me again! …which at this point is freaking out about finals… Ariel: o no! r finals important? Me: Yup. They’re the biggest tests and/or projects for my college classes Ariel: i bliev in u! u can beat them! Me: Hehe thanks I’ll try! Me: Well, I’d better get back to studying for them then… Ariel: w8! 1 mor thing! erik and i wanted to ask u if u’d like 2 meet somtime? Aftr ur finals of course! Me: Would Ana be coming too? Ariel: we were thinkin just u but if u want she can com 2

I had to think for a moment. Like on one hand the fact that they wanted it to just be me and them seemed like a huge red flag. There were two of them, one of me, and they were both significantly larger and presumably stronger than I was. But she did say that Ana could come…

Me: Where were you thinking of going? Ariel: as in where we wud meet? Me: Ye Ariel: we cud visit the zoo? to make up 4 how bad it was last time ;)

Well at least it was somewhere very public and not some dark alleyway or somthing.

Me: Ehhh… I love the zoo but it’s really expensive Also if Ana doesn’t come I’d have to find a ride with someone else probably :/ Ariel: if thos r the only problems we cud help u around & wed also pay for u! Food & drinks included! Me: Oh, no! You guys wouldn’t have to do that! If you have your own car you could come visit me at college? I have an afternoon off before my parents come and help me move out. Ariel: if ur more comfortable @ college we can definitely do that! But if its cuz of money were mor than happy to pay 4 u!

Meeting at school was a bit of a way to avoid stranger danger, but I had missed seeing most of the zoo and shit am I a sucker for animals. And if they paid it would probably be cheaper than if they visited since I’d have to buy food for myself more than likely. Also it was probably better than just playing video games or scrolling Tumblr like I would have done otherwise.

Me: I guess the zoo then?? Btw, it’s next Tuesday afternoon that works Ariel: :D k! wat time should we pick you up? Me: If we want to eat there, I’ll be done by 11 and then we could meet up a lil after that. Ariel: that works 4 us! :D

We finished texting after I told her my school’s address and where on campus to pick me up.

“You okay, Ken?” Ana asked from next to me on the futon.

I thought for a moment. “I think so? But I’m meeting up with them again on Tuesday and we’re going to the zoo. So like, if you don’t from me by 6PM, please call the police and tell my family I love them.”

[erikandariel]

Ken has an idea for a group Halloween costume for us. It is Legend of Zelda themed: I would be Link, Ariel would be Zelda, and Ken would be Navi. Navi is very fitting for them since they are very annoying. (That was a joke.) 

[erikandariel]

No matter what size Ariel and I are, we find some way to show Ken that we love them; and they’re always happy to reciprocate.

[Note from Ken: As always, feedback is welcome!]

[erikandariel]

Giant that takes in all of the tinies they can from pet stores because they don’t like how they’re sold and treated as less than people, but the tinies don’t really have anywhere else to go or a way to provide for themselves so they just stay with the giant

And eventually the giants house is just full of tinies with accommodations for them and they have to watch were they step or what they’re doing at all times and any visitor just thinks they really like pets but they treat all of the smolls with respect and everything (even if they are taking care of all of them).

Honestly I just needed an excuse to imagine a giant with like 30 tiny friends running around.

[erikandariel]

½ Scale Model Home - built by:  https://www.facebook.com/osaka.mujiie.jp/

[erikandariel]

Gentle GTS confessions

I want to press a fingertip against a tiny’s open hand.

And push my nose against their torso.

And nibble at their sleeve with my lips.

And hug their little body to my cheek.

And just admire them.

*dies* >///<

[erikandariel]

If you were to rank the three of us by how much we swear, this is how it would look:

English:

Ken: They use at least 1 swear word per conversation, but usually they say many more than that.

Ariel: She only swears in English as a way to intimidate someone when she is very angry with them.

Erik: The only times I’ve sworn were asking Ken what the words meant.

Mine and Ariel’s Language:

Erik: None of the English swear words I have encountered carry as much weight as those in our tongue, so I stick to ours. I don’t swear as much as Ken does in English though. Also, I only use them when Ariel and/or Ken is around, but no one else. 

Ariel: She also only uses these as an intimidation tactic, but only when she is on the far end of the anger scale. [Note from Ken: I’ve never seen her this mad, and I don’t want to. The times I’ve seen her pissed were scary enough the way it is.]

Ken: They have attempted to pronounce the swears I’ve said around them a few times. They’re much better at recognizing when I say them rather than speaking them though. At this point they purposefully mispronounce them back at me in order to tease me. Therefore, they don’t actually swear using our words.

[erikandariel]

Hug a Tiny Day is August 11th...?

[erikandariel]

Reblog if it’s completely okay to draw you

[erikandariel]

Romantic G/t idea.

A tiny is sitting on their giant Significant others shoulder and as they watch the world below them they comment on how they don’t see how their giant S.O can spot them or find them, because they must seem so small and insignificant!

The giant replies that they can always find their Tiny because to them they are their sun and moon and stars and they shine twice as bright!

The tiny then gets extremely flustered and gives their giant a little kiss on the nose and tells them to stop being soppy!

[erikandariel]

The First Night

[Note from Ken: This is takes place more than a year after the end of the first fic. I thought it was going to be a drabble, but nope. And that’s why I finished it before the second part of How We Met. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!]

Length: 2,282 words

I slowly blinked as I came to. Vague memories of the dream I just had swam in my mind as I heard a huge wind above my head and felt slow, steady rumbles of thunder as my bed… slowly moved up and down? At that thought I fully woke up. I fumbled for my phone. When I finally got a hold of it I held the screen a few inches from my face so I could see to turn on the flashlight. Once my eyes adjusted, I recognized the gray-green color of the warm, soft surface I sat on and the large, wrinkled and lined ceiling high above me. I was sleeping on Erik. It wasn’t wind and thunder that I was hearing, but the sound of his football stadium-sized lungs slowly inhaling and exhaling unfathomable amounts of air and the beating of the humongous heart next to each of them pumping billions of gallons of blood throughout his body. I’d slept on top of both him and Ariel a few times since learning about who they really were, but they’d never been this… monstrous before. Until now, they’d slowly introduced me to the different heights they could be. At first they’d only changed by a few inches each week, but eventually I convinced them that they could grow by a few feet instead.I was also the reason they were now unimaginably large. It had taken some coaxing, but I assured them that I was ready to see their full size. However, it’s one thing to be told that you’ll be a little shorter than the side of your datemates’ fingers and another to experience it. I had attempted to calm myself down when I first saw how huge they were. But, between the fact that I had been violently quaking in Ariel’s immense palm and her ability to tell if someone was lying, I knew it was obvious to both of them that I had been terrified. Despite this and the fact that they had asked like 20 times an hour if I was positive that they shouldn’t get smaller, I had insisted, no, I was fine! In fact, just to prove how not scared I was, I had announced that I’d be sleeping on Erik tonight. Now if you just went by looks, Erik looks much scarier than Ariel. She’s round, soft and squishy. Erik on the other hand has sharp features and rippling muscles. He’s also taller than her by half a foot, but at their current size it wasn’t obvious to me given that they were significantly larger than any building I’d seen in my life. However, they’d respected my choice to soldier on, even though I could tell they were both upset that I was upset. But, they’d pretended not to be with varying degrees of success. And that was why I was now sitting on Erik’s solar plexus with the palm of his cupped hand resting above me like a vaulted ceiling in a cathedral. Suddenly, the ground below me tilted back. I squealed as I slid quickly towards his sternum. Any breath I might have left was knocked out of me as my back hit a soft wall of flesh. “Ken?” a deep, anxious voice rumbled around and through me. Erik was awake. “I’m ‘kay,” I replied, but my voice cracked. I clutched onto one of the huge ridges in his hand. I tried to slow my breathing as I recovered from the short, but terrifying ride I just experienced. But, it was also very unsettling to think that even with the significant size difference that we were able to communicate. I didn’t even have to raise my voice for him to hear me despite being miles away from his ears, and he was able to speak softly enough that his voice wouldn’t hurt mine. “Do you want us to change size?” Erik asked, his voice sounding soft even though I could feel every word. I bit my lip as I felt my eyes tear up. “Yes…” I finally croaked. I squeezed my eyes shut and the air around me began to feel as though it were filled with static electricity. A few seconds later the feeling subsided and I peered around me. The lights were on and I found myself sitting on the bed between Erik and a now awake Ariel. They and everything in, and including, the room were almost human-sized now. This was the smallest they got, but they were still unusually tall. Erik was 7’6” and Ariel was 7’, but this was the height they’d been when I met them. “Would you like a hug?” Ariel asked gently as she sat up, her sheets falling softly into her lap. I lunged at her and wrapped my arms tightly around her neck before bawling into her thick mane of dark purple hair. She pulled my close and softly whispered words from her native language in my ear, trying to comfort and reassure me. Erik placed a large, warm hand on my back. When I finally felt like I couldn’t cry anymore I tried to untangle myself from her hair. “I’m sorry…” I sniffled as I changed to sitting cross-legged. “For what?” Ariel asked, placing a hand on my knee. “It wasn’t fair!” I said miserably. “What wasn’t fair, Ken?” Erik pleaded. It took a while for me to string together some coherent words in my head. “You guys’ve done a lot more for me than I’ve done for you,” I finally replied. “Like, every time you’re around me you have to be so li’l compared to what you actually are and you’ve said that it feels wrong! So I thought I’d actually finally do something for you and I’m used to you guys being bigger now so I thought I’d be okay if you were as big as you’re supposed to be, but I’m not.” Erik moved so that he was kneeling next to me. “Oh, Little One, you do more than enough to make up for a small discomfort,” he said as he gently stroked my hair. “You’ve chosen to be our friend, even after learning who we are.” Ariel lightly squeezed my knee. “And we choose to be uncomfortable,” she reminded me. I hung my head. “Gods, I’ve been stupid,” I moaned. “No you haven’t, Ken,” Erik assured me with a small kiss on the top of my head. “You’re just very caring.” “And stubborn,” Ariel added. “But what else is new?” She grinned and I shyly smiled back at her. Then suddenly, I yawned. “Well, I think I’ve managed to wear myself out with all those emotions,” I informed them. Ariel snorted and I heard Erik chuckle. “Where do you want to sleep for the rest of the night?” she asked. “With you guys of course!” Both of my SOs looked surprised. “It is one of our regular sleepover nights… but only if you guys are okay with it!” I quickly added. Ariel grinned, each of her sharp, pointed front teeth showing. “Absolutely, positutely you can!” she assured me. “We’ll stay this size…” Erik said warily. I shook my head. “No, it’s ‘kay if you’re bigger,” I told him “What were you thinking?” Ariel asked. I paused for a moment. “Um… where I’m about doll-sized compared to you guys I guess?” “Based on what doll?” she teased. I thought for a moment. “Actually, wait, give me you hand,” I said to Erik. He held one above my lap. I grabbed it and started to examine it. “I liked the size where I could kind of sit on your hand but you still kept your other one kinda wrapped around my middle,” I finally said, looking up. “So, very small doll-sized,” Ariel giggled. “Hey, I’m small, so any doll size I am is small,” I shrugged, pretending to take her seriously. She snorted. “Fair.” “Alright,” Erik chuckled. “Close your eyes, Little One.” I did as I was told and opened them again when the air felt normal. Erik sat the closest to me, so he set his right hand, facing up, near where I sat. His palm was about the size of a large couch cushion now. I grabbed my phone and crawled onto it before crossing my legs. He partially closed his other hand around and behind me, giving me something that I could lean against and hold onto. Then he slowly picked me up. I felt my stomach drop, but thankfully my motion sickness medicine was still working. “So same question as before,” he said, holding me around chest height. His voice was at least two octaves lower than at his last size. “Where do you want to sleep?” Instead of answering I said, “First things first, goodnight kisses!” Above me, he rolled his eyes before brining me to his face. I leaned forward and pecked his upper lip. This meant that he ended up kissing my chest and the lower part of my face but I didn’t mind. “My turn!” Ariel cried, her voice also much lower now. Erik moved me in her direction, then took away his supporting hand so that I could get onto her palm. She held me in the same way Erik had as she moved me towards her face. But, instead of making it so we could kiss each other, she gently nuzzled my stomach with the tip of her nose. “That’s not a goodnight kiss!” I scolded playfully. I tried, unsuccessfully, to shove her large face away from her. “You mean butterfly kisses don’t count?” she pouted. I could only see her eyes but that was all I needed to tell that she was trying to pull off the sad puppy dog face. “That’s not a butterfly kiss!” She giggled, but finally moved me to where I could reach her lips. We kissed each other gently, then snickered. Next, above me and to my left I saw Erik’s large hand reach for Ariel’s face. She looked up at him before leaning in his direction. They met for their kiss above me. As I waited for them to finish, I realized that if I leaned back I could see, and maybe even reach, the underside of Erik’s chin. But before I could do anything about this revelation, hey stopped snogging for a moment… and then went back to it. Ugh, why were they torturing me like this. After another second I decided they’d kissed for long enough and I scooted myself back and up to try to tickle Erik. Ariel stopped me though. “Nope,” she said in a muffled tone as she closed the hand supporting my back around me and held me further away from their faces. Then they started making exaggerated kissing noises. “Ugh… no… stop…” I groaned, trying to sound as pitiful as possible. The two giants chuckled but did finish. “So you never answered our question, Little One,” Erik said after he’d kissed the top of my head again. “I said I was going to sleep with you so I am,” I replied matter-of-factually. Ariel burst out laughing. “No, not sex!” I yelled so I could hear myself over her. “Get your mind out of gutter!” She quickly calmed down. “I thought that wasn’t what you meant,” Erik teased. Then turning serious he asked, “Are you sure?” “Well… maybe on your pillow…” I said reluctantly. Slowly, Ariel turned and set her hand on his pillow. I sort of rolled off it and splayed out on the pillow like I was going to make snow angels. She saw one last chance to bother me and she took it, lightly poking me in the belly with the tip of her fingernail. I let out a small squeak and curled into a ball on my left side, making sure my arms and hands covered my equally vulnerable sides. I stuck my tongue out at her over my shoulder and she grinned down at me. Erik snorted and gave her one last kiss on the cheek. She returned it with one on the tip of his nose. The bed shook as Erik carefully made his way over to his side of it. I rolled onto my back again so I could watch him. Even at this size and on his hands and knees, his head towered a few stories above me. Slowly, he lowered it down next to me, but also far enough away that I wouldn’t tumble down the indent it made. I scooched towards it though and lightly slipped into his face before curling my upper body around the end of his nose. His eyes widened in surprise for a moment, but then I felt him smile and he lightly cupped a hand against my back. “Comfortable?” he asked quietly. The breath from his words tickled even through I was wearing a shirt. “Hm-hmm!” I closed my eyes and nuzzled my nose against his. He gently caressed my cheek with the pad of his thumb.   “Oh wait, my glasses!” I exclaimed. I whipped them off and Erik moved his hand away from my back so he could take them from me. He must have passed them to Ariel though as I felt the bed move on her side. “G’night, Ken!” I heard her say as the lights went out. “Night, night,” I mumbled back. Snuggling against Erik’s nose again. He moved his hand so that it lay on the pillow next to me. “Good night, Little One,” he breathed. “You too,” I whispered back as I closed my eyes. After a few moments we all fell soundly back to sleep.

[erikandariel]

Imagine your height difference otp: person A is way bigger than tiny person B, but A is actually a big softie and will sometimes just randomly scoop up B just so they can cuddle them closer

[erikandariel]

How We Met: Part 1/?

 [Note from Ken: So this story is going to be longer than anticipated but I have enough done and ready to post the beginning of it! There’s not really any G/t in it since Erik and Ariel are trying to blend in with humans.]

[Edit by Ken: I forgot to thank @commiewithablog and @im-significant for beta-reading this! o.o; ]

Length: 1,264 words

Ana and I had planned to relax at the zoo before finals started the next week. The relaxing bit wasn’t happening though. “Well fuck,” I grumbled as we came around a bend in the sidewalk. I didn’t care if children heard me swear at this point. The Couple was standing there in front of the next exhibit. Again. Even if I wasn’t paranoid at this point I would’ve noticed them. They were both very tall. Like professional basketball player tall. When we first saw them at a barn in the petting zoo area the both of them needed to duck when they walked through the door. The woman needed to lean forward a little ways to fit and the man had to freaking bow in order to get in. They looked to be about our age so I thought the man may or may not be done growing and if he wasn’t, Jesus on a pancake. And like their height was impressive enough but in addition their bodies were in proportion to how tall they were? Like most people who are taller than average look kind of noodley, like their bodies are stretched out. But these two looked like they were from a place where objects were scaled slightly bigger than what normal-sized people needed. Which meant that in addition to ducking to get into the barn they’d had to angle themselves so only one shoulder went through the door at a time. As I continued to stare at them the woman glared in our direction. Our eyes locked for a moment, hers looked like molten lava. Whether it was because of the sun or not I couldn’t say but it definitely made me shiver. I stopped walking and Ana followed suit. “What should we do?” she said quietly as she shifted her weight so that she was angled towards me and away from the couple. “Um, maybe skip this exhibit and go the next one?” I suggested. “I guess… We’d still have to walk past them though…” I shrugged but otherwise didn’t move. That was a very good point. Then I heard her breathe in sharply. I looked over and saw that her eyes were now very wide. I started to follow her gaze and saw that the woman was striding towards us. Her long hair flaring out behind her as though she were a pissed-off brown and long fhaired cat. The man stalked behind her, somehow looking even larger and more intimidating than before. Fuck. Why had I yelled at her over sticking her fingers in a fucking rabbit cage? Ana grabbed me with her free hand and we stumbled back a step as the woman stopped less than a yard away, glowering down at us. I couldn’t force myself to try to give her eye contact and instead looked at the pavement behind her right elbow. Unfortunately the man stopped right in front of where I was looking so I ended up staring at the strip of skin between the bottom of his crop top and where his khaki cargo shorts draped over his hips. Goddammit he had a six-pack too. I really wanted to just nope the fuck out of there. “Why are you following us?” the woman demanded. It took me a moment to process her question; partially because of her thick accent. “Wait, you- you’re not following us?” I finally asked in a shaky voice. I was so surprised that I actually looked up at her. She blinked and her thick eyebrows knit further together. The man stepped next to her—causing Ana and I to take another couple steps back—and placed a hand on her shoulder. The woman looked over at him for a moment before turning back to us. “Then how do you explain why you’ve been arriving at the same exhibits we’re at after us?” “Not always…” I said warily. “A-at first we thought you were following us, because you’d show up after we did but then we got nervous and waited until after we thought y-you’d be done at the next exhibit to leave but well, you were still there… A-also everything’s set up like a big circle so if we’re going in the same direction it’s kind of hard not to see the exhibits around the same time…” The woman continued to scrutinize me for a few more tense moments. Then suddenly a sheepish grin spread across her face. “Oh, whoops!” she giggled. “I guess this was all a big misunderstanding! Sorry, our bad!” The man relaxed as she spoke. “Yeah, sorry,” he mumbled with the same articulation as the woman. “Haha, no, it’s our fault too,” I said, averting my eyes again. “Sorry…” Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ana nod in agreement. I gave her hand a small squeeze. Suddenly, I started to feel like I was on a merry-go-round, but nothing was moving. I tried to hold onto Ana with my other hand. She saw my flailing and tried to grab onto me as well but her other hand was gripping her cane. Before I could fall the man gently caught me underneath my arms with his huge hands. His thumbs were as long as my upper arms were thick and his fingers almost met across my back. At the time I didn’t think about this fact too much though, but Jesus, like, I’m small but it was just ridiculous. I was currently much more concerned about not falling over and getting the world to stop feeling like it was spinning. I clung to his arms as I fought down my growing nausea. “Ken?” Ana squeaked. “Are you alright?” the man asked softly. “Yea, I mean, no, I mean, I think I need to sit down…” I croaked. “Should my friend carry you?” the woman asked. I weakly shook my head as I tried to push myself away from the man. He let go but kept his hands near me as though I was a toddler learning to walk. It sure felt like it as I wobbled a whole two steps before I tripped over nothing. The man caught me again. I laughed but it came out sounding like a dying cow gasping for breath. “I-I guess I could use some help…” “Is it alright if I pick you up?” the man asked as he knelt next to me. I nodded and he gently moved my left arm in front of my body before lifting me up bridal style and adjusting my upper body to lie comfortably against his chest. Even though my head was on his right side I could easily hear his heart beat. I remember thinking it seemed fast but quickly didn’t care. The next clear thing I remember was lying in a hospital bed. Apparently the couple stayed with Ana and me until an ambulance arrived. The woman and Ana exchanged numbers while we waited so that Ana could text them if we needed anymore help. The best the doctors and I could figure I either experienced heat exhaustion or a random case of vertigo. So a couple days later I was released from the hospital. Thanks to my mom, my college was surprisingly understanding about me being out of it for the first day of finals. The woman texted Ana a couple of days later to ask how we were doing and, to my surprise, she and the man wanted to know if I’d be okay with trading cell numbers with them.