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Previously:

He was now standing in the midst of five mountainous young men, leaning toward him like living cliffs and looking upon him with curiosity, awe, and … was he detecting … admiration?

It kind of creeped him out. These guys were each more than twice as big as the house he lived in. First there was Malik, who was looking down at him with a calm smile, the shelf of his big pecs looming above, but then there was this even bigger guy with floppy blond hair and green eyes, staring at him with his mouth hanging open. Next to him was a slightly wiry looking jock with short black hair and pale skin in a soccer jersey, his eyes glued on Nico like he was a rare artifact, and the guy next to him had a similar look on his face — he was a Polynesian looking giant with long black hair, younger seeming than all the others, and his hands fidgeted on the table as though he were resisting reaching out and touching the human. Finally, to Malik’s right sat a tall Caucasian giant with a swimmer’s build, short dirty blond hair, and freckles. This guy’s face was blank as he stared, and he was the first to break the table’s silence.

“Are you … Nico the Knight?” he asked.

A tingle went up the human boy’s spine. If the giant knew that name, then that meant he’d been recognized, but not for his magic.

“You guys have seen my vlog?” he said.

All five gigantic faces smiled down at him with glee.

Now:

“Have we seen your vlog? Are you kidding?” the big blond giant asked with laughter in his eyes.

“We love your music!” the youngish Polynesian giant said.

“I’ve definitely stalked you on Instagram, too,” the giant soccer guy said, and then blushed. “I don’t mean to sound creepy or anything …”

Malik laughed a deep, hearty laugh. “I hope you don’t mind, but we’re all really big fans,” he said. Nico raised his eyebrows at the “really big” statement. “No pun intended, I’m sure,” he thought. What were the odds of this happening? To be sure, he liked to play piano and sing, and he’d consistently put videos of his songs and covers on YouTube over the past year or so, but his channel only had a few hundred subscribers — nothing to sneeze at, but not what he’d call “celebrity.” And yet now he sat at a table full of giant boys who not only loved his work but also went to his high school. Was it fate?

He couldn’t help smiling and shaking his head as he looked up at all their admiring faces. “This is so weird,” he said. “I never thought I’d ever meet someone who saw my videos. And you like my songs? I really don’t know what to say.” He sat down, making himself comfortable in a spot near Malik, and pulled his bag lunch out of his backpack.

Almost as if that were their cue, the giants started getting out their own lunches. All of them were in truck-sized plastic boxes. Malik excused himself to go get lunch from a kiosk in the school’s food court, and the Polynesian giant followed him, even though he had brought his own big box of food, apparently. As he started chomping on celery sticks with peanut butter, Nico noticed that the freckled giant, who sat to his right, had his name emblazoned in black across his food container.

“Jameson,” Nico said, startling the huge boy a bit. “Is that your first or last name?”

“Oh … it’s my last name,” he said, loudly prying the plastic top off his lunch. “My first name’s Will, and this,” he pointed to the soccer giant, “is Antonio — we all call him ‘Ant’ because he’s the smallest guy in our group — and this big monster,” he pointed to the powerlifter-looking blond, “is Randy. Don’t get too close to him, ‘cause he’s got his own gravitational pull.”

“You’re so funny, Will,” Randy said with zero humor on his face as he took a big bite out of what looked like a fried bison.

Will smiled wryly and continued as he nommed on a tree-sized broccoli stalk. “The freshman punk over with Malik right now is Toby. The rest of us are juniors except for Rich, who isn’t here today because he’s sick at home. He’s a sophomore.”

“He’s the one who first showed us your videos,” Antonio said, absent-mindedly playing with his food, stirring it around with his giant fork instead of eating it. He was still staring hard at Nico, enough to make the human a little uneasy.

Randy broke into the conversation abruptly — “I love your song … what’s it called? … ‘Broken Toys,’ “ he said, licking his fingers. The entire bison was already gone. “It really gets to me, y’know? Because it’s about being afraid and alone, and … um …” He suddenly turned red. He looked down at the human on the table, unsure of what to say next, feeling like he wanted to express himself, but embarrassed about saying too much.

Nico, however, was nodding his head and smiling in appreciation. “I’m happy you like that song. I wrote it about my little brother,” he said. “He’s a giant like you guys, and he didn’t have any human friends in the place we lived before, except, I guess, for me and my parents.” He took a hit off a small bottle of chocolate milk. “Even since he was a toddler, he’s been really gentle with me, but especially lately, he seems to be even more afraid of hurting me or even seeing me hurt. He’s all protective, my 10-year-old brother … it’s kind of funny.”

Randy’s grin got even bigger as he heard this. He felt compelled to pick the human boy up, but he knew it would be rude, and after all, Nico was still eating. “Your brother is a giant? That’s awesome,” he said. “I just … that song felt like it was about me, too. I’m big even compared to other giants, y’know, and I like it, but it gets, well …” His eyes showed uncertainty as his words trailed off, but machismo finally won out. “Whatever. I don’t know what I’m talking about. Who wouldn’t want to be big, huh?” As he said this, he raised his right arm and flexed his bicep.

Nico almost bit his tongue as he was chewing on his food. His eyes bugged out, despite him trying hard to feign nonchalance. The muscle was enormous — he could probably build a cozy cottage on the hilltop created by Randy’s arm.

The human’s nonverbal reaction did not go unnoticed. Randy slyly flexed his bicep again, this time a little harder, looking at Nico sidelong and biting his bottom lip in a half-smile.

“Randall, are you showing off?” laughed Malik as he and Toby stomped their way up to the table. They were carrying barge-sized trays stacked with colorful salads full of giant vegetables. With a loud clatter, they set everything down and started to stuff their faces. Toby especially seemed to be tucking into his meal with gusto, and he made an approving sound as he heard Nico point at each giant at the table and remind himself of each of their names.

“So … I’m sorry if this is a weird question,” Nico said, finishing off his light lunch, “but why is a whole table of giants who like amateur piano rock and R&B all buffed up? Are you all in a sports club or something?”

Each giant smiled in his own way, and Antonio blushed at the compliment. It was Toby who answered, talking with his mouth full at first before Will made a “Really?” look at him.

“Me, Malik and Randy are on the varsity football team,” he said, wiping his mouth. “Will and Ant are on the swim team — Ant’s just wearing a soccer shirt because … I don’t know.”

Antonio playfully smacked the freshman on the shoulder. “I like to play soccer, too, hermano, I’m just not on a team,” he said, and then leaned over onto the table, folding his formidable-looking arms in front of him, his burnt umber eyes glinting as he peered down at Nico, moving his huge face closer. “We’re kind of like a club,” he said, showing off his bright smile to the little human. “We have athletics in common. Rich, when you meet him, you’ll see he’s really hardcore. He does wrestling and tumbling. We all share something else in common, too …”

Before he could finish, Malik and Randy both loudly cleared their throats, looking at Antonio gravely. Playing off the tiny moment of awkwardness, Will gently tapped the table near Nico to get his attention, and said, “Your last video came out a couple weeks ago. Are you still writing any songs? When will you post again?”

Nico looked impassively at the colossal hand and answered after chewing his last piece of bacon sandwich. “My family just moved here, like, yesterday,” he said. “Things have been pretty crazy, but I’ve still been working on little projects here and there. I have one song finished, and another song that just … kind of sucks.” He chuckled.

“Aw, I wish we could hear it,” Malik boomed. It seemed like he couldn’t help projecting his voice.

As Nico crumpled up his lunch bag, his eyes flashed purple. Couldn’t they hear it? Right now? Mis magical nature was begging for a cue like that. During the whole family move, which had lasted about a week with all the packing and driving and falderal, he had been practicing his spells constantly — you could even say he was on a mystical binge, and he hadn’t come down from it.

“Well, actually, I could play it for you right now, if you want me to,” he said. He looked up into Malik’s eyes, and his own eyes radiated raw power. Malik gasped, unsure what to think of the indescribable waves of pressure suddenly coming off his new little friend. It was almost invisible, but it seemed like his tiny eyes and hands were softly glowing.

“But … how?” he asked.

“Tell you a little not-so-secret,” Nico said, a confident smirk crossing his face. “I’m kind of a brilliant sorcerer.”

Surprising all the huge boys present, he suddenly whipped his body around, aimed his hands at the table’s center, and shouted.

“Oynnestre gad gliwcraft!”

In a brief flash of light, his keyboard materialized. A chorus of “Whoo!” and mild swearing broke out from the small group of giant spectators. Nico strode over to his instrument, his hair standing on end with purple electricity, and, after cracking his knuckles theatrically, began to play, his powers amplifying the sound without using a speaker or amp.

All the giants stopped eating and stared with mouths agape. They weren’t used to seeing magic of this caliber, especially from a kid their age. And the music — the song Nico played had very minimal lyrics about surges of happiness and feelings of triumph, but the piano melody was bright, rolling, and catchy. It sent them along for a ride on a visceral, positive emotional adventure.

Nico, as he sang, shook his head around and held nothing back in his showmanship. He wished he could have conjured his normal vlogging outfit, too, but it would’ve just put an unnecessary burden on his magical stores. When he finally finished his song, he snapped his fingers and the keyboard vanished, and the crew of giants around him applauded. They all leaned in farther, and each one of them now fought with the compulsion to pick Nico up and see him up close. They smiled so hard, their faces began to ache.

Nico soaked up the attention, but then, hunching a bit to hide his blushing face, walked back over to his backpack like his performance was no big deal. “I’m glad you guys liked that,” he said as he sat down, sipped the dregs of his chocolate milk, and continued conversing with his new friends through the rest of the lunch hour.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the end of the school day, Nico met his brother Finnian at the Academy’s gate and was happy to see a smiling, calm face, as well as another giant kid speaking to him animatedly. When the human approached, the kid became quieter, but he didn’t affect shyness. He just looked upon Nico with a sort of tacit respect.

“Nico!” Finnian crowed as he squatted down and gently picked his brother up with both hands. “My first day was really good! This is my new friend, Charlie Cooper!” He brought Nico over in front of the other giant’s face. Charlie giggled a little and waved “Hi,” then brushed some of his strawberry blond hair behind his right ear. He had fair skin, a round-ish face, and shockingly green eyes.

“Nico, is it OK if I go visit Charlie’s house after I drop you off at home?” Finnian asked. It was Nico’s decision, since both of their parents wouldn’t get home from work until a few hours after school ended.

“I don’t know, man. Will Charlie’s parents be at home?” Nico said, crossing his arms and milking his position of authority as per usual. Finnian rolled his eyes a little and sighed through the smile on his lips. Nico always had to make a show of being in charge.

“Um … my dad is at home. He works at home,” Charlie said in his 10-year-old soprano voice. “And my brother Rich is there. He was home sick today.”

“Rich?” Nico said, perking up. ”Today’s absent giant fanboy,” he thought. “Do you think he’d be OK with me coming to visit him? I met a bunch of his friends today — I’d like to meet him.”

“Yeah, um, that should be OK. I think he wasn’t really that sick,” Charlie said, and with that they were bounding over the hills and fields in giant strides.

The Cooper estate, as it turned out, was just around the corner from Nico’s parents’ property — walking distance even for tiny human feet. When Charlie, Finnian and Nico entered through its huge doorway, Charlie called out, “I’m hoooome!” He and Finnian both dropped their backpacks and shoes in the entry hall.

As they shuffled into the living room, Nico, still held in his little brother’s hand, saw an amazing sight. Sitting on a monolithic red couch was a giant teen boy, he estimated about 80 feet tall, playing video games. He was shirtless and wearing long, blue, baggy pajama bottoms, pushed low on his hips as he sat on the edge of the couch cushions. Like his younger brother, Charlie, he had fair skin and wavy, strawberry blond hair. The most distinctive thing about him, however, was that he was bulging with shredded muscle all over his body. Every tiny movement, even in playing a video game, showed off his definition and taut, iron-hard strength. His eyes were glued to the glowing TV screen and his toes curled against the carpeted floor at his feet.

Nico gulped. This was Rich, apparently, and Nico’s heart fluttered as he felt the inspiration for a new song coming on. The huge being before him was just plain magnificent. He felt a little ashamed at himself that his feelings were so strong just from looking at the guy.

“Hey Charlie,” he said. “Why don’t you introduce us to your brother?”