HTTYD - Day 5, Part 1 (Patreon)

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Monday, October 19

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Marcus and Jessie were sitting at the table eating breakfast on Monday morning, when Jessie’s phone buzzed. “Who’s that?” Marcus asked as she picked it up.

She stared at the text for a few seconds, biting her lip as she thought about what it said. “Ummm, just a friend from school asking me something. I don’t think you’ve met them before.”

“About what, anything interesting?” he pried. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want, just making conversation.”

She glanced at him, a faint smile on her face, then looked back to her phone and typed out a reply. “No it’s fine, I don’t care. We basically have a career day at school today, or at least our class does. And…” She looked off to the side, rolling her shoulders around as she thought about how to put it. “People… pretty much know about you, right? Like I told people when you first got DSD, so now it’s like… people at school pretty much know that you’re, you know, like a foot tall now. So my friend was asking if you were gonna come in for career day too since a lot of people’s parents are coming to talk about their jobs and stuff.” She scratched her ear nervously, “But I’m pretty sure they just wanna, like… see you, you know?” Marcus nodded and looked back at his plate, thinking about what she said as he took another bite of food. “Not in a weird way! Or anything,” she quickly added, not wanting to stir up any awkwardness. “Like most of the people in my class are pretty cool and all. But I think just some people are curious cuz you’re… rare.”

Her dad chuckled at how defensive she was being. “It’s fine, I understand Jess. I’d probably be pretty curious too if I was their age. It’s definitely an interesting condition,” he said, looking around his kitchen at how much bigger everything was before eating another bite. Even with his reassurance, she still felt the need to justify herself.

“It’s fine like, obviously you having DSD isn’t a career or anything. I mean, I’m sure the teacher would’ve still let you talk about when you were a cameraman, but… whatever,” she shook her head; she was getting off track. “I told my friend to chill out and that you weren’t coming since you’re still… getting used to being around people.” That’s a polite way of calling me antisocial, he thought. He didn’t want other people thinking he got anxious from being in close proximity to strangers since they were all so much bigger than him. It was true, but he didn’t want people to know. So the fact that his daughter had assumed he’d be too scared to show up was bothering him.

“I’m surprised your teacher’s having kids bring in their parents though. I’d think most of them wouldn’t be able to show up because they have to go to work,” he mused.

“Well, she’s giving extra credit to people if they could get their parents to sign up, or some other family member. Jackie’s bringing in her uncle I think.”

“That doesn’t seem very fair to people who can’t get time off work. What about single parents like me? You get half the chance of people with two parents.”

Jessie shrugged, “That’s what Edward Sandoval told Miss Shepard. Cuz his mom works downtown and always leaves early in the morning. But then he told me that she just gave him the extra credit anyways cuz she figured he was right. I guess she didn’t wanna take away the incentive though so it’s like, if you bring it up with her and can prove you tried but your parent can’t do it, then she’ll give you points for trying anyways, but for everyone else, most people probably didn’t realize that or don’t really care or something.”

“So is that what you did?”

“Well… I didn’t really wanna ask you or guilt trip you into doing it or anything since I knew you were still getting used to people.” Jeez, she’s making it sound like I have agoraphobia or something. “And besides, I have a B- anyways so I didn’t feel too bad about missing out on it.”

Marcus hesitated for a moment, before speaking up. “Well it looks like you were wrong then,” he said proudly. She looked at him with a confused expression. “I don’t think a classroom’s too crowded, I could handle a few hours. Especially after Saturday evening at the restaurant, it was good to get some exposure like that.” He ignored the memory of having fallen into Jessie’s milkshake. And then licking him afterwards.

Jessie looked surprised for a moment; she’d never planned on telling him about the school event until he asked her this morning, so she hadn’t even imagined that he might volunteer himself. But a smile slowly grew on her face, happy not only for the extra credit she’d get, but for the implication that her dad was starting to become accustomed to being around people besides her. “OK!” she said enthusiastically, picking up her phone to text her friend, before deciding against it and putting it back down. But then picking it up again; she wanted to at least share the news with Paris, her best friend. “Hey! I just realized too,” she said, looking down at him with excitement. “Instead of talking about when you worked at the news station, I mean you can still do that if you want to, but I just thought that you could talk about what your life’s been like ever since you shrunk. Kinda like a PSA or something. Like you could talk about how people should treat you or talk to you too, cuz I feel like a lot of people can be awkward about it or they feel like they don’t know what to do, you know? Obviously it’s not technically a career, but a lot of people look at stay-at-home parenting as being a kind of job in itself, and you’re doing that too but with a growth condition.” It was a bit of a stretch to call him hanging around most of the day by himself a “job.” And jobs are something that people choose; he didn’t choose to shrink down to 9 inches.

He shrugged, not having faith that he’d be allowed to talk about life as a shrunken person for a special day that was designed to introduce students to prospective career possibilities. But he did admit, a kind of lesson about shrunken individuals could be beneficial for a lot of people. “If your teacher’s fine with it, I guess that sounds like it could be a good idea. And if she isn’t then yeah, I could talk about my old job.”

Jessie’s upper teeth bit her lower lip as she crinkled her nose in an excited smile, drumming the table excitedly. “Yes! Great attitude Daddy!” she cheered, dashing around to his side of the table and kneeling down so he could hug her shoulder affectionately. “Wait… but since your car’s still at the mechanic getting refitted…”

“But you normally take the bus anyways, so what’s the issue?”

“Well we’re supposed to get 15 minutes earlier than usual today since the schedule’s kinda shifted around. And since the bus only comes once an hour, I would’ve had to already left for the bus stop already and I didn’t wanna have to get to school that early. So I was just gonna bike there.”

He recalled their last few excursions on her bike; they weren’t as nice as riding peacefully on a bus would’ve been, but the trips weren’t uncomfortable enough to make him change his mind. “Well I’ve ridden with you on your bike a couple times already, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world,” he said, trying to keep her positive. “Besides, last I checked we were still trying to find the best way for me to ride along with you. All we’ve tried so far is on the handlebars and the center bar thing, whatever it’s called.”

“I should honestly just get a basket or something by now,” she laughed. “But I’m always too lazy to go to the store.”

“And I’m too cheap to get a roundtrip Uber there, so we’re both to blame,” he chuckled.

“So you wouldn’t wanna ride along using one of the ways we already tried, right?” she asked, and he shook his head. “Well I can always just stick you in my backpack,” she offered nonchalantly. “Actually, since I’m not taking the bus today I didn’t wanna have to take my volleyball bag with me on the bike since I’d already be wearing my backpack, so I was just gonna stuff my clothes into—“

“No, it’s fine,” he said, cutting her off. He was already wary of having to be stowed away in his daughter’s backpack, but if she was gonna be sticking all her volleyball gear in it as well, it’d be way too claustrophobic for his comfort. “We should find a way for me to ride along with you anyways; you won’t always be wearing your backpack whenever we head somewhere, and for all I know it could be anywhere from a couple days to a month before the mechanic’s done with my car.”

“I guess…” she sighed, laying her arms on the table with her hands overlapping, and set her chin down on them while she tried to think of a solution.

“I didn’t mind being strapped to the bar, like I didn’t feel unsafe or anything. My only problem was how it felt on my back,” he said, walking around the table to stand in front of her face. It was weird being only as tall as his daughter’s head, but at least he could speak to her without looking up like he always had to now. “I don’t know if there’s really any part of the bike that would be more comfortable than that area though, it seems to be the widest bar.”

Jessie glanced away, then looked down, pursing her lips together as she thought about whether she should mention an idea she’d just had. He glanced at her and recognized the look on her face, and could tell she was thinking about something. She looked back up, realizing her dad had noticed her get lost in thought. “Weeeeeeell… teeeeechnically you could lie down on one of the peeeedals,” she cautiously suggested, seeing her dad look down, obviously unreceptive to the idea. “Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait! I know I know I know… Obviously I wouldn’t step down on it or anything. I have no problem pedaling with just one leg,” she insisted, sitting upright with her head off the table again. “Like… yeah, it’d be weird and stuff if, you know, I had to like… yeah, I can just not pedal with it. It wouldn’t be a problem.” Marcus was surprised with how quickly his internal reaction went from thinking ‘obviously not’ to actually considering it… “I’ve made it this far without stepping on you yet, and I’m not about to break that streak anytime soon,” she joked, her chin held high.

“Would you really be able to make it all the way to school though?” he asked as he imagined the route, thinking of someone having to bike all that way. It wasn’t necessarily that far, but biking could be an intense workout.

She scoffed. “It’s mostly flat, are you doubting how fit I am?” she asked, crossing her arms with a pretend angry expression. “All these years of playing volleyball, staying after school for practice, all for nothing,” she moped as Marcus rolled his eyes. “Just for my dad to think I’m not any good at cycling…”

“Alright, alright,” he smiled.

Jessie ignored him and continued on with her pretend sulking. “Do you even know what machine I always use in the gym whenever it’s leg day? I have my routine down to a T, but apparently my legs still have haters in this household.” She stood up all the way and slapped her thighs, which, in fairness, were clearly muscular. “Doubters who don’t think my legs are strong enough!”

“OK, I get it!” he laughed. “Fine, you won me over, we can try it out for today I guess.” Marcus still felt a bit nervous about the idea in general, but he trusted his daughter enough to know she’d keep him safe. She grinned down at her dad, proud to have successfully convinced him. She couldn’t wait to take him to school today.