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(The second part of the most recent, super-long section of the story! Make sure you read "Nico the Knight: Party's Over" before this. And if you're totally confused, just go back farther in the chapters in my gallery. I'm sorry for my lack of DA presence for a while. Real life butts in to DA life, of course.)

Night had fallen, and the rain showers had ended, leaving the whole landscape glistening in the scattered light of the lamps, the moon, and the stars. Strangely enough, the air didn’t feel as cold as December air should be, but Nico imagined that may have had to do with the fact he was perched on Rich’s shoulder, leaning close to the boy’s powerful neck as they moved along the neighborhood walkway.

He was surprised when his friend’s giant hand suddenly appeared in front of him, tentatively open.

“Nico … can I hold you in my hand for a while?” Rich asked.

Nico obliged, stepping forward and making contact with the giant fingertips. With sublime gentleness, the fingers curled around him and dexterously maneuvered him into a comfortable position in front of Rich’s deep chest. Now, Nico was able to look up at the boy’s handsome face, deeply shadowed and gazing upon him with the worries of the evening flickering behind his eyes.

“Do you ever feel afraid of me, Nico?” Rich almost whispered.

The question wasn’t very surprising, but the level of fear he detected behind it was. Nico thought for a bit, and hoped that Rich wouldn’t interpret that as a yes.

“My brother’s asked me that question so many times, you know?” he said, and scratched his chin. At age 16, he was beginning to grow stubble. “I’ve told him ‘yes’ before, because it was true sometimes, but I’m not afraid of him anymore, or, I guess…” He looked firmly into the giant boy’s brilliant green eyes. “I’m afraid of giants about as often as I’m afraid of people my own size.”

Rich sighed, and smiled a little sadly before cradling Nico close and looking off into space. “I guess it’s not really a fair question,” he said. “You’ve grown up with a giant brother, and you’re like some kind of magic superhero in training. If I asked any other littles at school, they’d probably tell me ‘yes’ in a heartbeat, if they even bothered to answer me at all.”

“Well, yeah, but … you don’t give up, do you? You keep talking to them anyway.”

“I try. I really do, but …”

“Rich …”

“Nobody listens, and most of the other giants, too, they don’t even bother to get past …”

“Rich, listen!” Nico said, almost shouting, and his eyes flashed with purple light.

The giant pursed his lips together and looked down at his tiny friend, who could see that the massive boy’s eyes were shining a little with new moisture.

“I know what you’re going to say. You probably say it to Finn every day,” Rich said. “But it doesn’t really get easier, you know? I know what’s right, and I promise I won’t give up but…” He sighed again. “I really just wish it could be easier sometimes.”

Nico stared at him. He stared, but without really seeing, because he was a little perplexed, a little flustered — in all honesty, a jumble of feelings that his adolescent mind had difficulty shelving in their proper places. During the news of the terrorist attack, he’d been silent and numb, mostly. And now, in the hands of the boy he’d been falling in love with, he found himself too tired to respond in the august way he was used to.

“Huh…” he uttered, and Rich gave him a quizzical look.

Nico peered up at the giant insecurely and fidgeted in the palm that supported him. “I’m just thinking,” he said. “I don’t know what to think. I’m still kind of shocked, I guess, and I just want everybody to be happy. Maybe the coach is right and I should write a new song.”

Rich smiled, this time with full-fledged joy, and the look of adoration on his face made Nico’s heart leap. “Well, I think you know how I feel about that idea,” he said.

In fact, with the voicing of those words, a train of thought started rumbling and building a head of steam in Nico’s mind. A new song. He had been rolling a couple melodies around, and he knew he could think of the right words, given time, but what if…? The corners of his mouth turned up.

Above him was the face of one of the most gorgeous creatures in existence, by his measure, and what’s more, he knew the giant boy could sing.

Nico almost rubbed his hands together and cackled with diabolical mirth. He held himself back, knowing he would have to lead Rich into the idea, and perhaps only after he had completed the song.

The giant raised his eyebrow, noticing his tiny friend’s silence. “What’s up? What are you thinking?”

“I’m just wrapping my head around the song thing,” he said. “And also, what you said before, about wishing it could be easier, you know, for all the species to break the ice and not be so afraid.”

Rich stopped walking. Ahead of him was a familiar hilltop, sandwiched between the enormous Cooper estate and Finnian Shawshank’s personal building, which overshadowed the much smaller house for other members of the Shawshank family. The cooper house peeked over the landmass with brilliant light shining from its windows. The Shawshank house sat in almost total darkness. Nico had said before that his parents, also away at a party, were likely to return home late that night.

“We’re almost home,” Rich said, and then raised Nico up to his eye level. Suddenly, uncertainty crossed his face again, and Nico detected hesitation.

“Nico …” the giant murmured. “I’m glad you want to go out with me … um … I really hope I haven’t been too forward or anything.”

Despite the nature of his words, his hand was doing a good job of slowly bringing the tiny boy closer to his lips.

Nico shuddered a little, his face a perfect deadpan. He was too overwhelmed by the emotions of the night to hold himself back from saying, “Dude, how can you be so hot and so cute at the same time?”

Immediately, his cheeks turned scarlet. Rich laughed, almost too loudly, and then covered his mouth. His eyes were alight with simultaneous joy and embarrassment at the compliment.

“What does that even mean?” he asked.

“It means … shut up, dude!” Nico said, and crossed his arms over his chest defensively, despite the grin he now sported. “You’re like this crazy muscleman who’s all shy! It’s hot and cute at the same time … whatever!” He relaxed his arms, reclined into Rich’s hand, and patted him on the index finger. “You know, you’re the first guy I’ve ever admitted to liking. I don’t really know what to say.”

“That’s OK,” Rich said, still chuckling, before he bashfully looked down at his shoes. “You’re the first guy I’ve ever asked out. And, definitely…” He turned his gaze up to meet the human’s again. “You’re the first guy I’ve ever kissed.”

At that statement, Nico’s heart fluttered in his chest, and his mind became a fog as he zeroed in on the sensuous giant lips just a few feet away from him. Warm. Soft. The conduits of his giant’s affection.

He was expecting Rich to maneuver him toward their sweet embrace, but instead, the titanic boy spoke.

“Nico, I have a surprise for you.”

The human’s stomach felt like it was about to drop out of him as he found himself suddenly being carried rapidly downward. Squatting his titanic frame, Rich set his tiny friend gently upon the sodden ground, and then stood back up to his full 80-foot height.

For Nico, it was a crazy change in perspective, not to mention his whole body seemed to groan in disappointment at being denied the giant kiss it had been expecting. Now, in the darkness of the night, Rich Cooper was towering over him, his sneaker-clad feet dangerously close.

Nico, looking forward, could see even the slight movements of the muscles underneath the canvas cloth as they worked to support his giant friend’s incredible weight. Looking up, he viewed in awe the image of a colossal teenager, the shape of his body sharply defined by the contrast of shadows and the light of the neighborhood street lamps — an image from nightmares, if not for that fact that it was Rich, with his friendly face and stylish bomber jacket. Most other humans would shake in fear at seeing this.

But Nico watched, his neck straining, as his giant friend mouthed a familiar phrase, and he couldn’t help smiling. A soft magenta light burst outward very briefly.

And, before he knew it, a human-sized Rich Cooper was standing in front of him.

Nico clapped his hands together and laughed.

“When did this happen?!” he said. “You never told me you were learning how to shrink!”

“Well, duh! I wanted it to be a surprise!” Rich said, grinning, as Nico walked up to him and gripped his shoulders. He was not shocked to find that, in this form, Nico had a few inches on him in height.

Nico noticed this, too, and chuckled. “Heh heh … you’re kinda short, aren’t ya?” he said.

Rich faked a scowl, which couldn’t last. “Watch it man, you know I can still take you,” he said, and then gripped Nico around the waist.

Nico’s heart leapt again, and his brain went into a sort of overload.

Looking into the human-sized giant’s mystifying green eyes for only a moment, he leaned forward and began kissing him. Only briefly startled, Rich forcefully kissed him back.

For several seconds that seemed to be displaced in time, both boys went blank with passion, clutching each other tightly, losing themselves in each others’ touch.

It was Rich who finally dislodged, not knowing how long the make-out session had lasted. He was on fire all over, and he noticed Nico seemed a little winded.

“Nico, little guy,” he said, forgetting for the moment that they were the same scale now. “You said you’d never admitted to liking a guy before, but that kiss, it was amazing … how?”

Nico rubbed the back of his neck as he breathed heavily. “I could ask you the same, man … where did you learn?” he asked.

And they both answered in almost the same voice: “The internet.”

And they both laughed, Nico hugging his arm around Rich’s muscular shoulders.

Unconsciously, they began moving together that way in the direction of Nico’s house, Nico complaining about how long the walk was, and Rich teasing him about how being carried by giant friends had made him lazy. In only about 10 minutes, they made their way to the Shawshanks’ back patio, and Nico pulled out his keys.

Then, his body locked up. He froze.

His overwrought, emotional mind was struck with certain realities: That they were alone, that Nico’s parents weren’t home, and that a friendly bedroom with a nice snug bed were just a staircase and a few steps away.

Did he dare even think of this? His parents would grind him to dust.

He turned to look back at Rich, wondering, with both hope and terror, about what the other boy might be thinking. He was almost relieved to see that the other boy seemed to be staring off into space, but a concerned look was on his face.

Rich was, in fact, staring at Finnian’s building.

“Do you think the kids have heard the news about the attack?” he asked.

Nico’s very soul seemed to droop. He had allowed himself to forget. “Uh … maybe. Would they have been watching TV? Do you think your dad would tell them?”

Rich shrugged, but said, “Most likely. I mean, I know Charlie listens to the radio this time of night, and my dad can be kind of oblivious to the outside world, but … not that oblivious.”

Nico leaned against his doorframe and considered the possibilities. An aching worry swelled up inside him, and he mentally kicked himself for not thinking sooner: How would Finnian react? Would he be triggered?

Since the beginning of school, Nico had been training Finnian in meditation the same way Professor Mars had been training him, except with a focus on emotional calm, because Finn, like many boys his age, occasionally had anger issues.

However, unlike other boys his age, Finnian’s anger had a certain unpleasant result.

It tended to be unpredictable things, too, that triggered him. He wouldn’t get mad if another kid pushed him. He wouldn’t be upset by not getting what he wanted at a store.

Instead, it tended to be if his friends were insulted or bullied, or if a little guy was threatened. It was like righteous indignation.

Nico started to panic a little, the fear of what might happen gripping him, and his eyes started to dart around. Quickly, piece by piece, a burgeoning fear of how the attacks might affect his brother fell into place. He shoved his keys back into his pocket and jumped away from the door.

“Whoa! What’s wrong?” Rich asked.

Nico turned to his friend and grabbed his arms in desperation.

“We have to go to your house!”

Rich was startled. “What?? Why?”

“Please, Rich! I wish I could explain, but I can’t really. I just need you to unshrink and take me to your house right now!”

~~~~~~~~~~~

The Cooper house, within minutes, had become a den of quiet sobbing and trembling.

Overcome with hiccups and tears, Charlie, beyond all shame, sat cradled in his father’s arms on the couch. Next to him, his face stony, skin unusually pale, Cade spoke into the smartphone he shared with his twin brother, speaking in sullen tones with his parents back home.

When the news anchor repeated that two giants had also been killed — a mother and her young son — Conor’s weeping increased, and he clutched his tiny elven friend to his chest even tighter. Mac, trapped in his hand, didn’t complain, and he didn’t cry either — he just remained silent, wishing that his new friend could stop hurting.

“Big Bro goes to college in Atlanta,” Conor said, loudly sniffling, and then yelled at his brother. “We have to call Big Bro!”

None of them seemed to notice, at least not right away, that Finnian and Alaki had disappeared from the living room.

The bathroom door was closed and locked.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

His hands were on the edge of the sink. It was cool and white.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

A tear drop fell on the white granite. He saw it slide and trickle until it fell to the ground.

For a human, that fall would be fatal.

He groaned and felt his body heat up.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

He looked up, and stared into the bathroom mirror. It showed the face of a 10-year-old boy. Bright red hair. His friends liked his hair. His friend Alaki liked to play in it.

He saw big, blue-grey eyes. He’d always liked the color of his eyes.

He saw freckles. Only a few dotted his nose and cheeks. He started to count them.

Hundreds of people were dead.

He tried to breathe.

A giant had crushed them.

His skin began to turn red.

A giant had killed them. They had fallen, and been crushed, and a giant had killed them. A giant like him. A giant who could help people, who was strong. But now they were dead.

With a jolt of pain, he felt his body swell a little. He gasped.

“No… no…” he said, pleading with the image in the mirror.

The giant was dead, but he had killed other giants, too. A mom and her little boy.

He watched as the muscles of his shoulders suddenly burst in size. His neck grew thicker and his veins popped out. He had been wearing a baggy T-shirt, but it now started to feel tight as the muscles of his chest and back started to push it out. His forearms, up on the counter, lengthened and grew, as did his biceps. Every part of his body felt like it was bursting, and he started to surge upward in height, growing taller and more muscular by the second. In the mirror, he could see his skin growing redder, darker. He squinted his eyes.

He breathed in.

They’re dead. He killed them.

He breathed out.

The giant killed them. He crushed them, and he didn’t care. He didn’t care about them at all.

They were only little people, and little people didn’t matter to him. So he crushed them.

People with families. Children. Minds that would never think again. Hearts that would never love.

The pain increased, and tears sprung from his eyes as he felt it entering his head. He opened up to look in the mirror, and was horrified to see that two red lumps were growing on his temples.

“No! Please …” he whimpered, noticing that a deep voice unlike his own was coming out, and drew his hands back from the sink, clutching at his rapidly swelling body, raking his fingers over rigid abdominals that had not been there before. He could feel his shirt and sweatpants both starting to stretch. The ceiling was also getting dangerously closer.

Images assaulted his brain. Images of little people falling. Trying to save each other, being buried under crashing walls.

The pain on his forehead shot up and he held back a scream. He could feel the lumps on his temples forming into sharp horns.

And then he heard a voice.

“Finnian?”

He didn’t take his eyes from the ceiling. Was the voice real?

“Finnian? Is … is that you?” The voice was tiny and meek. He could only faintly hear it over the surging in his blood vessels.

He looked down, gritting his teeth, afraid of what he might see.

It was Alaki. His friend. The werewolf cub was standing in the middle of the bathroom floor, his big fluffy ears twitching cutely. He must have crawled under the door.

Finnian registered surprise that the little werewolf didn’t seem to be showing any fear at all. His growth immediately slowed.

“A…Alaki…” he said, his voice a guttural growl. “You shouldn’t be here.”

The little cub cocked his head to the side in curiosity.

“I want to be here with you. Why can’t I be here?” he asked in a friendly voice.

Finnian stared down at his tiny friend, unnaturally far away on the floor, in bewilderment. He clenched and unclenched his red hands, causing his forearms to bulge. Pain shot up his back, and he felt another wave of growth. The cuffs of his sweatpants started to strain and fray against his bulging legs. The collar of his shirt and the seams on his shoulders began to tear as his back flared.

“Because … I’ll hurt you!” he growled. “Go away!”

The little werewolf did no such thing. Instead, to Finnian’s further shock, he began to walk toward his growing feet. Finnian’s growth, for a moment, seemed to stop as he watched the tiny figure mosey on up and lightly tap him on his right big toe.

“Finnian, pick me up!” Alaki said, his voice only slightly tinged with worry. On the inside, he felt afraid, but not necessarily for himself. He could plainly see the pain his giant friend was going through.

Finn looked down at him, and then his body lurched again with pain. He doubled over, clutching his stomach, and took a thundering step forward with his left foot. His right foot grew along with the rest of his body, and Alaki deftly jumped back, avoiding what could have been a dangerous shove from the swelling giant toes.

“Come on, Finn! I want you to pick me up and hold me for a while!” he yelled. “Please, Finny?”

Finnian’s breathing was labored and his eyes were squinting again. Ten-foot horns had now grown on his temples, and they throbbed with pain. But at the sound of his nickname — a name he only let his close friends use — he opened his eyes.

Almost miraculously, they immediately locked onto the tiny, ice-blue irises at his feet.

“Come on, Finny. Please?”

Slowly, he reached his massive hand down.

The waves of malevolent transformation were still coursing through him, he could feel them, but they seemed weaker now as he lifted up his tiny friend, nestled so precariously in his violent red palm. His fingers twitched, and he almost choked on his own gasping breath.

“Alaki…” he said, groaning in pain after the word. “I could crush you, Alaki…” His voice was still deep and demonic.

Alaki, for his part, was giving an Oscar-worthy performance of feigned nonchalance. In truth, his tail was swishing wildly out of fright, and he could only hope that Finny would confuse it for wagging. The monster before him was almost nothing like his friend except for the general shape of his face, the wildness of his hair, and the clearness of his eyes.

He focused on the eyes.

“L-look at me, Finny,” Alaki said, giving the palm beneath him a pat. “I’m your friend. You won’t hurt me.”

Finn’s hand trembled, and he, too, did his best to focus on the pair of eyes in front of him.

“I never want to hurt you, Alaki,” he said. “But I… You see…”

“Just look at me, Finny! Just relax!” Alaki interrupted. He stretched his little body toward one of the giant’s fingertips and brushed his headfur against it. He smiled up with his sharp-toothed grin. “Just pet me, why dontcha? I’ll let you do it just this once, OK?”

Finn’s breathing suddenly slowed. He smiled, and miraculously, Alaki could see that the horns on his head seemed to grow smaller.

“What are you talking about, Alaki? You’re always wanting me to pet you,” the giant said. “It’s always your idea.”

Alaki beamed, his smile more genuine by the second as he saw Finn’s transformation slowly reverse. He could tell that he had distracted the boy. He had cheered him up.

“Whatever, Finny! You know you love how I’m all cute and fluffy!” he shouted.

Finnian laughed, and his veins became more faint. His height steadily decreased. Unable to help himself, he brought up his other hand, and with extreme gentleness, he stroked his little friend along the back.

“You’re such a little weirdo sometimes,” he said. And then, even as he was using a fingertip to scritch Alaki behind the ears, he began to cry in earnest.

This worried the werewolf cub for a moment, and he thought the giant might start to swell up again, but the opposite continued to happen. Finnian’s skin lightened all the way to its original fairness. From his position on the giant’s hand, Alaki saw that Finnian’s size returned to its original approximation. The horns completely disappeared, leaving behind two circular, red welts, like spider bites. The only thing that seemed to remain different, as far as Alaki could tell, was Finny’s musculature, which still seemed slightly more bulked and defined than it was before. In any case, he was still faced with a giant best friend who was weeping bitterly.

Unable to hold his own tears back anymore, Alaki, too, started to cry quietly.

“Finny,” he said. “Look in the mirror, Finny, and look at me. You’re OK.”

Finnian did just that, barely noticing the differences that had stayed on his body. Seeing his natural face, the face he was afraid he’d never see again just a few moments ago, set his heart free with relief. He looked at his tiny friend and then hugged him against his cheek.

“Thank you, Alaki! You saved me,” he said.

“Yeah, you owe me,” Alaki chuckled, his whole body dampened by giant tears as well as his own. Within a few moments, he and his giant buddy managed to calm down.

Just in time, too, as they suddenly heard the doorknob and the lock jostle violently before the bathroom door swung wide open. In the hallway stood Rich, with Nico perched on his shoulder.

Without the slightest hesitation, Finn leapt forward and hugged himself against Rich, snatching up Nico with his free hand and clutching him against his chest, along with Alaki.

“Nico … I … I …” He was unsure what to say, especially since he didn’t want Rich to know his secret.

Nico, even in the split second of seeing his brother, had noticed the differences. He’d seen the torn shirt and frayed sweatpants, and he’d taken note of the marked changes in the 10-year-old’s physical development. Looking up, he’d seen the welts on the kid’s forehead, too, and this worried him most of all.

“Finny, I think maybe you should spend the night at home tonight,” he said, his voice soft and soothing.

“Yeah, I think so, too,” Finn whispered back, and he pulled away from Rich, at the same time asking Alaki if he’d like the bigger boy to take him. The wolf cub obliged.

“Thank you, Alaki. I really do owe you big time,” Finnian said before turning away.

The rest of the giants and Mac were watching from the entrance of the hallway, confused looks on their faces, and Finn tried to duck by them without them getting too long of a look at him. He and Nico both said a quick thank you and goodbye to Mr. Cooper. Rich, perceptive as he was, drew the confused group’s attention toward him.

“I think Nico and Finnian want to talk things over at their house tonight,” he explained, and they all heard the front door close.

Charlie walked up to him with a worried look. “Nico wasn’t freaked out, was he?” he said. “Did the terrorist attack make him mad?”

Rich smiled warmly at his little brother. “No. You know Nico. He can take anything.”

But in the dark, on the short walk down the cold, rain-soaked hill toward the Shawshank house, the evidence could have suggested otherwise. Finnian was holding him close, and Nico was trying to say calming words, but he was shaking like a leaf. He needed to know. How close to fully transforming had his brother come? Did he dare ask now? Would it happen again?

Finnian, for one, didn’t want to talk about it. He was glad to have his brother, but he wanted to do something else and be in his own warm bed as soon as possible. Only half way across the hill did he realize that he was walking barefoot, his 163 tons of weight depressing huge pits into the earth. He wasn’t even listening to the meaningless words coming from Nico’s mouth. Home was the only thing on his mind.

He leaned toward the tiny human-scaled house, about ready to deposit his older brother at his window, when Nico finally said something that he heard.

“Finnian … Can I stay with you tonight?”

The giant boy took a deep breath. This was a welcome request. “Yeah … but please,” he said. “Don’t ask…”

“Don’t worry. I understand,” Nico said, and he was totally sincere. He would need to know the details of the transformation later, but right now, bringing it up was too risky. For now, he just wanted to be close and make sure his little brother was all right.

A little more happily, Finnian entered his own building, cleaned off his grassy feet with a towel, set Nico gently upon his barge-sized pillow, and took off his torn and distressed clothes to get ready for bed. As he shimmied himself under his humongous blanket and laid his head down next to his tiny brother, he heard Nico ask him one question.

“So … anyway … was it fun to hang out with Charlie’s cousins?”

Finny allowed a weary smile, turning his head so that his giant face was right next to Nico’s.

“Yeah. Cade and Conor are cool. Cade is the nice one, kind of. Conor’s nice, too, but … in a weird way. Like, he has to punch you first, and then he’ll be nice.”

This made Nico laugh.

“What about you?” Finn asked. “Did you have fun at the football party?” He thought a moment. “Why did you come home with Rich instead of Randy?”

At this question, Nico’s face paled a little, but he was too exhausted to evade revealing the truth.

“Well, Finny, you see…” He sighed. “Finny, Rich and I really like each other.”

A confused look crossed the giant boy’s face.

“You like each other? What do you mean?”

Nico gulped and flopped over, looking at the ceiling. The memory of the fantastic kiss he and Rich had shared entered his mind.

“Well, Finny,” he said, “I think … I think we might be boyfriends.”

For a couple of beats, Finnian was silent, the words tumbling around in his brain, and then, to Nico’s fright, the huge boy suddenly rocketed upward.

Raising up onto his knees, his underwear-clad form shining in the dimness of the huge building’s nightlight, Finnian pumped both fists into the air and shouted a hearty “YES!”

Grinning down at his tiny brother, his eyes twinkling, he said, “It’s about time!”

:) (Smile) — Description
(The second part of the most recent, super-long section of the story! Make sure you read "Nico the Knight: Party's Over" before this. And if you're totally confused, just go back farther in the chapters in my gallery. I'm sorry for my lack of DA presence for a while. Real life butts in to DA life, of course.)

Night had fallen, and the rain showers had ended, leaving the whole landscape glistening in the scattered light of the lamps, the moon, and the stars. Strangely enough, the air didn’t feel as cold as December air should be, but Nico imagined that may have had to do with the fact he was perched on Rich’s shoulder, leaning close to the boy’s powerful neck as they moved along the neighborhood walkway.

He was surprised when his friend’s giant hand suddenly appeared in front of him, tentatively open.

“Nico … can I hold you in my hand for a while?” Rich asked.

Nico obliged, stepping forward and making contact with the giant fingertips. With sublime gentleness, the fingers curled around him and dexterously maneuvered him into a comfortable position in front of Rich’s deep chest. Now, Nico was able to look up at the boy’s handsome face, deeply shadowed and gazing upon him with the worries of the evening flickering behind his eyes.

“Do you ever feel afraid of me, Nico?” Rich almost whispered.

The question wasn’t very surprising, but the level of fear he detected behind it was. Nico thought for a bit, and hoped that Rich wouldn’t interpret that as a yes.

“My brother’s asked me that question so many times, you know?” he said, and scratched his chin. At age 16, he was beginning to grow stubble. “I’ve told him ‘yes’ before, because it was true sometimes, but I’m not afraid of him anymore, or, I guess…” He looked firmly into the giant boy’s brilliant green eyes. “I’m afraid of giants about as often as I’m afraid of people my own size.”

Rich sighed, and smiled a little sadly before cradling Nico close and looking off into space. “I guess it’s not really a fair question,” he said. “You’ve grown up with a giant brother, and you’re like some kind of magic superhero in training. If I asked any other littles at school, they’d probably tell me ‘yes’ in a heartbeat, if they even bothered to answer me at all.”

“Well, yeah, but … you don’t give up, do you? You keep talking to them anyway.”

“I try. I really do, but …”

“Rich …”

“Nobody listens, and most of the other giants, too, they don’t even bother to get past …”

“Rich, listen!” Nico said, almost shouting, and his eyes flashed with purple light.

The giant pursed his lips together and looked down at his tiny friend, who could see that the massive boy’s eyes were shining a little with new moisture.

“I know what you’re going to say. You probably say it to Finn every day,” Rich said. “But it doesn’t really get easier, you know? I know what’s right, and I promise I won’t give up but…” He sighed again. “I really just wish it could be easier sometimes.”

Nico stared at him. He stared, but without really seeing, because he was a little perplexed, a little flustered — in all honesty, a jumble of feelings that his adolescent mind had difficulty shelving in their proper places. During the news of the terrorist attack, he’d been silent and numb, mostly. And now, in the hands of the boy he’d been falling in love with, he found himself too tired to respond in the august way he was used to.

“Huh…” he uttered, and Rich gave him a quizzical look.

Nico peered up at the giant insecurely and fidgeted in the palm that supported him. “I’m just thinking,” he said. “I don’t know what to think. I’m still kind of shocked, I guess, and I just want everybody to be happy. Maybe the coach is right and I should write a new song.”

Rich smiled, this time with full-fledged joy, and the look of adoration on his face made Nico’s heart leap. “Well, I think you know how I feel about that idea,” he said.

In fact, with the voicing of those words, a train of thought started rumbling and building a head of steam in Nico’s mind. A new song. He had been rolling a couple melodies around, and he knew he could think of the right words, given time, but what if…? The corners of his mouth turned up.

Above him was the face of one of the most gorgeous creatures in existence, by his measure, and what’s more, he knew the giant boy could sing.

Nico almost rubbed his hands together and cackled with diabolical mirth. He held himself back, knowing he would have to lead Rich into the idea, and perhaps only after he had completed the song.

The giant raised his eyebrow, noticing his tiny friend’s silence. “What’s up? What are you thinking?”

“I’m just wrapping my head around the song thing,” he said. “And also, what you said before, about wishing it could be easier, you know, for all the species to break the ice and not be so afraid.”

Rich stopped walking. Ahead of him was a familiar hilltop, sandwiched between the enormous Cooper estate and Finnian Shawshank’s personal building, which overshadowed the much smaller house for other members of the Shawshank family. The cooper house peeked over the landmass with brilliant light shining from its windows. The Shawshank house sat in almost total darkness. Nico had said before that his parents, also away at a party, were likely to return home late that night.

“We’re almost home,” Rich said, and then raised Nico up to his eye level. Suddenly, uncertainty crossed his face again, and Nico detected hesitation.

“Nico …” the giant murmured. “I’m glad you want to go out with me … um … I really hope I haven’t been too forward or anything.”

Despite the nature of his words, his hand was doing a good job of slowly bringing the tiny boy closer to his lips.

Nico shuddered a little, his face a perfect deadpan. He was too overwhelmed by the emotions of the night to hold himself back from saying, “Dude, how can you be so hot and so cute at the same time?”

Immediately, his cheeks turned scarlet. Rich laughed, almost too loudly, and then covered his mouth. His eyes were alight with simultaneous joy and embarrassment at the compliment.

“What does that even mean?” he asked.

“It means … shut up, dude!” Nico said, and crossed his arms over his chest defensively, despite the grin he now sported. “You’re like this crazy muscleman who’s all shy! It’s hot and cute at the same time … whatever!” He relaxed his arms, reclined into Rich’s hand, and patted him on the index finger. “You know, you’re the first guy I’ve ever admitted to liking. I don’t really know what to say.”

“That’s OK,” Rich said, still chuckling, before he bashfully looked down at his shoes. “You’re the first guy I’ve ever asked out. And, definitely…” He turned his gaze up to meet the human’s again. “You’re the first guy I’ve ever kissed.”

At that statement, Nico’s heart fluttered in his chest, and his mind became a fog as he zeroed in on the sensuous giant lips just a few feet away from him. Warm. Soft. The conduits of his giant’s affection.

He was expecting Rich to maneuver him toward their sweet embrace, but instead, the titanic boy spoke.

“Nico, I have a surprise for you.”

The human’s stomach felt like it was about to drop out of him as he found himself suddenly being carried rapidly downward. Squatting his titanic frame, Rich set his tiny friend gently upon the sodden ground, and then stood back up to his full 80-foot height.

For Nico, it was a crazy change in perspective, not to mention his whole body seemed to groan in disappointment at being denied the giant kiss it had been expecting. Now, in the darkness of the night, Rich Cooper was towering over him, his sneaker-clad feet dangerously close.

Nico, looking forward, could see even the slight movements of the muscles underneath the canvas cloth as they worked to support his giant friend’s incredible weight. Looking up, he viewed in awe the image of a colossal teenager, the shape of his body sharply defined by the contrast of shadows and the light of the neighborhood street lamps — an image from nightmares, if not for that fact that it was Rich, with his friendly face and stylish bomber jacket. Most other humans would shake in fear at seeing this.

But Nico watched, his neck straining, as his giant friend mouthed a familiar phrase, and he couldn’t help smiling. A soft magenta light burst outward very briefly.

And, before he knew it, a human-sized Rich Cooper was standing in front of him.

Nico clapped his hands together and laughed.

“When did this happen?!” he said. “You never told me you were learning how to shrink!”

“Well, duh! I wanted it to be a surprise!” Rich said, grinning, as Nico walked up to him and gripped his shoulders. He was not shocked to find that, in this form, Nico had a few inches on him in height.

Nico noticed this, too, and chuckled. “Heh heh … you’re kinda short, aren’t ya?” he said.

Rich faked a scowl, which couldn’t last. “Watch it man, you know I can still take you,” he said, and then gripped Nico around the waist.

Nico’s heart leapt again, and his brain went into a sort of overload.

Looking into the human-sized giant’s mystifying green eyes for only a moment, he leaned forward and began kissing him. Only briefly startled, Rich forcefully kissed him back.

For several seconds that seemed to be displaced in time, both boys went blank with passion, clutching each other tightly, losing themselves in each others’ touch.

It was Rich who finally dislodged, not knowing how long the make-out session had lasted. He was on fire all over, and he noticed Nico seemed a little winded.

“Nico, little guy,” he said, forgetting for the moment that they were the same scale now. “You said you’d never admitted to liking a guy before, but that kiss, it was amazing … how?”

Nico rubbed the back of his neck as he breathed heavily. “I could ask you the same, man … where did you learn?” he asked.

And they both answered in almost the same voice: “The internet.”

And they both laughed, Nico hugging his arm around Rich’s muscular shoulders.

Unconsciously, they began moving together that way in the direction of Nico’s house, Nico complaining about how long the walk was, and Rich teasing him about how being carried by giant friends had made him lazy. In only about 10 minutes, they made their way to the Shawshanks’ back patio, and Nico pulled out his keys.

Then, his body locked up. He froze.

His overwrought, emotional mind was struck with certain realities: That they were alone, that Nico’s parents weren’t home, and that a friendly bedroom with a nice snug bed were just a staircase and a few steps away.

Did he dare even think of this? His parents would grind him to dust.

He turned to look back at Rich, wondering, with both hope and terror, about what the other boy might be thinking. He was almost relieved to see that the other boy seemed to be staring off into space, but a concerned look was on his face.

Rich was, in fact, staring at Finnian’s building.

“Do you think the kids have heard the news about the attack?” he asked.

Nico’s very soul seemed to droop. He had allowed himself to forget. “Uh … maybe. Would they have been watching TV? Do you think your dad would tell them?”

Rich shrugged, but said, “Most likely. I mean, I know Charlie listens to the radio this time of night, and my dad can be kind of oblivious to the outside world, but … not that oblivious.”

Nico leaned against his doorframe and considered the possibilities. An aching worry swelled up inside him, and he mentally kicked himself for not thinking sooner: How would Finnian react? Would he be triggered?

Since the beginning of school, Nico had been training Finnian in meditation the same way Professor Mars had been training him, except with a focus on emotional calm, because Finn, like many boys his age, occasionally had anger issues.

However, unlike other boys his age, Finnian’s anger had a certain unpleasant result.

It tended to be unpredictable things, too, that triggered him. He wouldn’t get mad if another kid pushed him. He wouldn’t be upset by not getting what he wanted at a store.

Instead, it tended to be if his friends were insulted or bullied, or if a little guy was threatened. It was like righteous indignation.

Nico started to panic a little, the fear of what might happen gripping him, and his eyes started to dart around. Quickly, piece by piece, a burgeoning fear of how the attacks might affect his brother fell into place. He shoved his keys back into his pocket and jumped away from the door.

“Whoa! What’s wrong?” Rich asked.

Nico turned to his friend and grabbed his arms in desperation.

“We have to go to your house!”

Rich was startled. “What?? Why?”

“Please, Rich! I wish I could explain, but I can’t really. I just need you to unshrink and take me to your house right now!”

~~~~~~~~~~~

The Cooper house, within minutes, had become a den of quiet sobbing and trembling.

Overcome with hiccups and tears, Charlie, beyond all shame, sat cradled in his father’s arms on the couch. Next to him, his face stony, skin unusually pale, Cade spoke into the smartphone he shared with his twin brother, speaking in sullen tones with his parents back home.

When the news anchor repeated that two giants had also been killed — a mother and her young son — Conor’s weeping increased, and he clutched his tiny elven friend to his chest even tighter. Mac, trapped in his hand, didn’t complain, and he didn’t cry either — he just remained silent, wishing that his new friend could stop hurting.

“Big Bro goes to college in Atlanta,” Conor said, loudly sniffling, and then yelled at his brother. “We have to call Big Bro!”

None of them seemed to notice, at least not right away, that Finnian and Alaki had disappeared from the living room.

The bathroom door was closed and locked.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

His hands were on the edge of the sink. It was cool and white.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

A tear drop fell on the white granite. He saw it slide and trickle until it fell to the ground.

For a human, that fall would be fatal.

He groaned and felt his body heat up.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

He looked up, and stared into the bathroom mirror. It showed the face of a 10-year-old boy. Bright red hair. His friends liked his hair. His friend Alaki liked to play in it.

He saw big, blue-grey eyes. He’d always liked the color of his eyes.

He saw freckles. Only a few dotted his nose and cheeks. He started to count them.

Hundreds of people were dead.

He tried to breathe.

A giant had crushed them.

His skin began to turn red.

A giant had killed them. They had fallen, and been crushed, and a giant had killed them. A giant like him. A giant who could help people, who was strong. But now they were dead.

With a jolt of pain, he felt his body swell a little. He gasped.

“No… no…” he said, pleading with the image in the mirror.

The giant was dead, but he had killed other giants, too. A mom and her little boy.

He watched as the muscles of his shoulders suddenly burst in size. His neck grew thicker and his veins popped out. He had been wearing a baggy T-shirt, but it now started to feel tight as the muscles of his chest and back started to push it out. His forearms, up on the counter, lengthened and grew, as did his biceps. Every part of his body felt like it was bursting, and he started to surge upward in height, growing taller and more muscular by the second. In the mirror, he could see his skin growing redder, darker. He squinted his eyes.

He breathed in.

They’re dead. He killed them.

He breathed out.

The giant killed them. He crushed them, and he didn’t care. He didn’t care about them at all.

They were only little people, and little people didn’t matter to him. So he crushed them.

People with families. Children. Minds that would never think again. Hearts that would never love.

The pain increased, and tears sprung from his eyes as he felt it entering his head. He opened up to look in the mirror, and was horrified to see that two red lumps were growing on his temples.

“No! Please …” he whimpered, noticing that a deep voice unlike his own was coming out, and drew his hands back from the sink, clutching at his rapidly swelling body, raking his fingers over rigid abdominals that had not been there before. He could feel his shirt and sweatpants both starting to stretch. The ceiling was also getting dangerously closer.

Images assaulted his brain. Images of little people falling. Trying to save each other, being buried under crashing walls.

The pain on his forehead shot up and he held back a scream. He could feel the lumps on his temples forming into sharp horns.

And then he heard a voice.

“Finnian?”

He didn’t take his eyes from the ceiling. Was the voice real?

“Finnian? Is … is that you?” The voice was tiny and meek. He could only faintly hear it over the surging in his blood vessels.

He looked down, gritting his teeth, afraid of what he might see.

It was Alaki. His friend. The werewolf cub was standing in the middle of the bathroom floor, his big fluffy ears twitching cutely. He must have crawled under the door.

Finnian registered surprise that the little werewolf didn’t seem to be showing any fear at all. His growth immediately slowed.

“A…Alaki…” he said, his voice a guttural growl. “You shouldn’t be here.”

The little cub cocked his head to the side in curiosity.

“I want to be here with you. Why can’t I be here?” he asked in a friendly voice.

Finnian stared down at his tiny friend, unnaturally far away on the floor, in bewilderment. He clenched and unclenched his red hands, causing his forearms to bulge. Pain shot up his back, and he felt another wave of growth. The cuffs of his sweatpants started to strain and fray against his bulging legs. The collar of his shirt and the seams on his shoulders began to tear as his back flared.

“Because … I’ll hurt you!” he growled. “Go away!”

The little werewolf did no such thing. Instead, to Finnian’s further shock, he began to walk toward his growing feet. Finnian’s growth, for a moment, seemed to stop as he watched the tiny figure mosey on up and lightly tap him on his right big toe.

“Finnian, pick me up!” Alaki said, his voice only slightly tinged with worry. On the inside, he felt afraid, but not necessarily for himself. He could plainly see the pain his giant friend was going through.

Finn looked down at him, and then his body lurched again with pain. He doubled over, clutching his stomach, and took a thundering step forward with his left foot. His right foot grew along with the rest of his body, and Alaki deftly jumped back, avoiding what could have been a dangerous shove from the swelling giant toes.

“Come on, Finn! I want you to pick me up and hold me for a while!” he yelled. “Please, Finny?”

Finnian’s breathing was labored and his eyes were squinting again. Ten-foot horns had now grown on his temples, and they throbbed with pain. But at the sound of his nickname — a name he only let his close friends use — he opened his eyes.

Almost miraculously, they immediately locked onto the tiny, ice-blue irises at his feet.

“Come on, Finny. Please?”

Slowly, he reached his massive hand down.

The waves of malevolent transformation were still coursing through him, he could feel them, but they seemed weaker now as he lifted up his tiny friend, nestled so precariously in his violent red palm. His fingers twitched, and he almost choked on his own gasping breath.

“Alaki…” he said, groaning in pain after the word. “I could crush you, Alaki…” His voice was still deep and demonic.

Alaki, for his part, was giving an Oscar-worthy performance of feigned nonchalance. In truth, his tail was swishing wildly out of fright, and he could only hope that Finny would confuse it for wagging. The monster before him was almost nothing like his friend except for the general shape of his face, the wildness of his hair, and the clearness of his eyes.

He focused on the eyes.

“L-look at me, Finny,” Alaki said, giving the palm beneath him a pat. “I’m your friend. You won’t hurt me.”

Finn’s hand trembled, and he, too, did his best to focus on the pair of eyes in front of him.

“I never want to hurt you, Alaki,” he said. “But I… You see…”

“Just look at me, Finny! Just relax!” Alaki interrupted. He stretched his little body toward one of the giant’s fingertips and brushed his headfur against it. He smiled up with his sharp-toothed grin. “Just pet me, why dontcha? I’ll let you do it just this once, OK?”

Finn’s breathing suddenly slowed. He smiled, and miraculously, Alaki could see that the horns on his head seemed to grow smaller.

“What are you talking about, Alaki? You’re always wanting me to pet you,” the giant said. “It’s always your idea.”

Alaki beamed, his smile more genuine by the second as he saw Finn’s transformation slowly reverse. He could tell that he had distracted the boy. He had cheered him up.

“Whatever, Finny! You know you love how I’m all cute and fluffy!” he shouted.

Finnian laughed, and his veins became more faint. His height steadily decreased. Unable to help himself, he brought up his other hand, and with extreme gentleness, he stroked his little friend along the back.

“You’re such a little weirdo sometimes,” he said. And then, even as he was using a fingertip to scritch Alaki behind the ears, he began to cry in earnest.

This worried the werewolf cub for a moment, and he thought the giant might start to swell up again, but the opposite continued to happen. Finnian’s skin lightened all the way to its original fairness. From his position on the giant’s hand, Alaki saw that Finnian’s size returned to its original approximation. The horns completely disappeared, leaving behind two circular, red welts, like spider bites. The only thing that seemed to remain different, as far as Alaki could tell, was Finny’s musculature, which still seemed slightly more bulked and defined than it was before. In any case, he was still faced with a giant best friend who was weeping bitterly.

Unable to hold his own tears back anymore, Alaki, too, started to cry quietly.

“Finny,” he said. “Look in the mirror, Finny, and look at me. You’re OK.”

Finnian did just that, barely noticing the differences that had stayed on his body. Seeing his natural face, the face he was afraid he’d never see again just a few moments ago, set his heart free with relief. He looked at his tiny friend and then hugged him against his cheek.

“Thank you, Alaki! You saved me,” he said.

“Yeah, you owe me,” Alaki chuckled, his whole body dampened by giant tears as well as his own. Within a few moments, he and his giant buddy managed to calm down.

Just in time, too, as they suddenly heard the doorknob and the lock jostle violently before the bathroom door swung wide open. In the hallway stood Rich, with Nico perched on his shoulder.

Without the slightest hesitation, Finn leapt forward and hugged himself against Rich, snatching up Nico with his free hand and clutching him against his chest, along with Alaki.

“Nico … I … I …” He was unsure what to say, especially since he didn’t want Rich to know his secret.

Nico, even in the split second of seeing his brother, had noticed the differences. He’d seen the torn shirt and frayed sweatpants, and he’d taken note of the marked changes in the 10-year-old’s physical development. Looking up, he’d seen the welts on the kid’s forehead, too, and this worried him most of all.

“Finny, I think maybe you should spend the night at home tonight,” he said, his voice soft and soothing.

“Yeah, I think so, too,” Finn whispered back, and he pulled away from Rich, at the same time asking Alaki if he’d like the bigger boy to take him. The wolf cub obliged.

“Thank you, Alaki. I really do owe you big time,” Finnian said before turning away.

The rest of the giants and Mac were watching from the entrance of the hallway, confused looks on their faces, and Finn tried to duck by them without them getting too long of a look at him. He and Nico both said a quick thank you and goodbye to Mr. Cooper. Rich, perceptive as he was, drew the confused group’s attention toward him.

“I think Nico and Finnian want to talk things over at their house tonight,” he explained, and they all heard the front door close.

Charlie walked up to him with a worried look. “Nico wasn’t freaked out, was he?” he said. “Did the terrorist attack make him mad?”

Rich smiled warmly at his little brother. “No. You know Nico. He can take anything.”

But in the dark, on the short walk down the cold, rain-soaked hill toward the Shawshank house, the evidence could have suggested otherwise. Finnian was holding him close, and Nico was trying to say calming words, but he was shaking like a leaf. He needed to know. How close to fully transforming had his brother come? Did he dare ask now? Would it happen again?

Finnian, for one, didn’t want to talk about it. He was glad to have his brother, but he wanted to do something else and be in his own warm bed as soon as possible. Only half way across the hill did he realize that he was walking barefoot, his 163 tons of weight depressing huge pits into the earth. He wasn’t even listening to the meaningless words coming from Nico’s mouth. Home was the only thing on his mind.

He leaned toward the tiny human-scaled house, about ready to deposit his older brother at his window, when Nico finally said something that he heard.

“Finnian … Can I stay with you tonight?”

The giant boy took a deep breath. This was a welcome request. “Yeah … but please,” he said. “Don’t ask…”

“Don’t worry. I understand,” Nico said, and he was totally sincere. He would need to know the details of the transformation later, but right now, bringing it up was too risky. For now, he just wanted to be close and make sure his little brother was all right.

A little more happily, Finnian entered his own building, cleaned off his grassy feet with a towel, set Nico gently upon his barge-sized pillow, and took off his torn and distressed clothes to get ready for bed. As he shimmied himself under his humongous blanket and laid his head down next to his tiny brother, he heard Nico ask him one question.

“So … anyway … was it fun to hang out with Charlie’s cousins?”

Finny allowed a weary smile, turning his head so that his giant face was right next to Nico’s.

“Yeah. Cade and Conor are cool. Cade is the nice one, kind of. Conor’s nice, too, but … in a weird way. Like, he has to punch you first, and then he’ll be nice.”

This made Nico laugh.

“What about you?” Finn asked. “Did you have fun at the football party?” He thought a moment. “Why did you come home with Rich instead of Randy?”

At this question, Nico’s face paled a little, but he was too exhausted to evade revealing the truth.

“Well, Finny, you see…” He sighed. “Finny, Rich and I really like each other.”

A confused look crossed the giant boy’s face.

“You like each other? What do you mean?”

Nico gulped and flopped over, looking at the ceiling. The memory of the fantastic kiss he and Rich had shared entered his mind.

“Well, Finny,” he said, “I think … I think we might be boyfriends.”

For a couple of beats, Finnian was silent, the words tumbling around in his brain, and then, to Nico’s fright, the huge boy suddenly rocketed upward.

Raising up onto his knees, his underwear-clad form shining in the dimness of the huge building’s nightlight, Finnian pumped both fists into the air and shouted a hearty “YES!”

Grinning down at his tiny brother, his eyes twinkling, he said, “It’s about time!”