HTTYD - Day 5, Part 2 (Patreon)

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Monday, October 19 (cont.)

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After Jessie had finished putting some padding on her bike pedal, she picked Marcus up and held him in front of it so she could show off her work. “Ta-da! Now it should hopefully be more comfortable on your back,” she announced proudly, pressing her finger against her workmanship to show how cushy it was. She’d cut up one of his old sweatshirts and layered the squares of cloth a few times, hoping it’d be comfortable enough for her dad. “Here, lemme know if it’s good enough,” she said, holding the pedal steady with one hand while she carefully set him down on it with the other.

Marcus wasn’t picky and would’ve been fine with just a single layer to protect him from the cold, hard medals of the pedal, but he was thankful nonetheless that she loved him enough to put in the extra effort. “It’s fine, Jess. More than fine, actually, like a lot more,” he laughed. “We should probably leave in a few minutes anyways.” She nodded in agreement and gently covered his torso with her palm, keeping him in place while she reached to grab the string. She carefully removed her hand, but kept her thumb on his chest as a safeguard, as he laid back. 9 inches was a lot longer than the pedal was of course, so his feet would have to dangle while his upper shoulders and head went without something to rest on. But the rest of his back would have something flat, comfortable, and sturdy to rest on, and that was what was most important.

“The string I’ve been using isn’t too uncomfortable either, is it?” she asked after having finished strapping his upper chest to the pedal, and had moved on to tie down his waist.

“Yes, honey, it’s fine,” he answered exasperatedly, causing her to giggle in embarrassment. Better to be overly concerned than not concerned enough, he reasoned, watching her giant fingers nimbly tie the knot that would keep him in place.

“OK, I think it’s good,” she said, biting her lip and leaning back to make sure she wasn’t forgetting any safety precautions. Marcus looked down at his body, testing out his binds by trying to squirm out of them. But sure enough, he wasn’t going anywhere; they were loose enough that they didn’t hurt, but tight enough that there was no way he’d be able to fall off the pedal. His daughter reached out with her hand and tapped a few fingers down on the corner of the pedal, and suddenly his world turned upside down as the entire platform he was stuck to spun in response. It was like he was on some kind of amusement park ride, spinning in circles on the bike pedal, but luckily unable to fall off. It was still disorienting though.

“Ohhhhh, wait wait wait, Jess,” he groaned, feeling the blood in his body swirl around as he got turned upside down again. “Please stop it.” He felt the spinning suddenly stop, and quickly correct itself to the proper positioning, where he saw his daughter fighting to hold back a smile

“Sorry,” she said. “I had to check if the pedals were locked or not,” she explained, leaning forward and tightening the mechanism on the end of the pedal that controlled how freely they were able to spin. “There, now you should be good again.” She tapped the edge of the pedal once more, and Marcus was relieved to see that the motion didn’t do anything. She’d have to loosen the lock again if she wanted to set it back to normal, like how the other pedal would be. But since she wasn’t going to be putting her foot on her dad, his could stay locked in. “I think that’s everything then,” Jessie announced, standing up and heading in to grab her backpack. She reemerged a few seconds later with her backpack around her shoulders, and lifted the kickstand of the bike as she grabbed ahold of the handlebars, and began slowly walking it out of the garage. “You ready?” she asked down to him as she punched in the code, closing the garage door behind them.

“Yep!” he yelled back up at her, a confident (but slightly nervous) smile on his face. He watched her giant leg lift over the bike seat, her foot landing on the pedal opposite of him before she sat down on the seat. Wish a light push from her foot, she rolled along the driveway, lifting her free foot over her dad so she could rest it on the narrow ledge that forked out from the main tube. And then she turned onto the sidewalk, beginning to pedal so they could pick up speed. She was in high gear, so that she could travel a further distance while not having to pedal as much. It was harder to do, especially with only one leg instead of two, but because they were traveling on flat ground, Jessie wasn’t struggling too much with it. And as a result, Marcus didn’t have to spin around too quickly. If she hadn’t tightened that pedal, I don’t even wanna imagine how nauseating it would be for the pedal to be spinning one way while the arm spun in the opposite direction. Then it really would’ve been like some kind of amusement park ride. But instead, it was just like being on a ferris wheel. A really fast wheel, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. He was actually having a bit of fun traveling around on the bike. As he looked up at his daughter though, he almost felt guilty. Based off how quickly everything was flying by, he figured they were traveling around 15mph. She didn’t look like she was exerting herself too much, but she was still having to put the work in to get them to school while he got to just joyride beneath her with the wind in his hair and the peaceful neighborhood flying by. He glanced over at the leg that was pedaling, watching it work its wonder. Even though she was wearing jeans and he couldn’t see her legs, it wasn’t hard for him to imagine her strong muscles like the ones she previewed to him last night. Her hamstrings and calf muscles bulging through her skin, in and out, as they worked to execute what should’ve been the duty of two legs. And growing the tiniest bit bigger every day as Jessie grew bigger too. He had a sobering thought as he considered the possibility that Jessie might very well have a decade of growth ahead of her. Even though she’d still getting taller in high school, her muscles would continue to grow stronger if she continued playing volleyball through college. He remembered the saying ‘Today is the oldest you’ve ever been,’ and realized that today is the strongest she’d ever been. And tomorrow she’d be even stronger. And the day after that, and the day after that... all while he stayed at a measly 9 inches tall, probably weaker than a single one of her thumbs.

After they’d been riding for a while, he felt Jessie brake to a stop at the corner of a street, and then the bike tilted to the side slightly as she rested on her free foot. She wasn’t panting, but he noticed her breathing pattern had deepened, as her lungs began requiring more oxygen to keep her going. She unzipped her backpack and grabbed the water bottle on top of all her stuff, unscrewing the lid as she looked down at her dad to make sure he was still doing okay. Their eyes locked onto each other for a moment as she hungrily gulped down a third of the bottle, the refreshing agua getting cascading down her throat in loud gulps that reminded him of his dream a few nights ago. She broke free of her bottle, roughly wiping her lips with her wrist. “Just needed a break for a second,” she explained, closing the lid and putting it back in her sac. “So, the fastest way is up the hill, which I kinda forgot about. But there isn’t any sidewalk, it’s just like, road, and then boom, a wall of hedges, you know?”

She was waiting for him to speak, partly because she wasn’t sure exactly what to do. As much as she liked flexing her independence where she could, there were still things that she relied on her dad to figure out for her. “So you’d have to drive in the street?” he asked, and she nodded in response. “Well I mean, it’s totally legal for people to ride a bike in the street, especially if there isn’t a sidewalk or anywhere that you can ride it.”

“I know,” she sighed, “I’ve just never done it before. But also I wanted the break because going up the hill is gonna be a bit harder. I mean, it’s not too steep, but still.” She cranked the gears down a few notches, anticipating the need for an easier cycling experience.

“Are you scared?”

She paused for a moment, but ultimately shook her head. “No. I know it’ll be fine.”

“OK well, I’m ready when you are. Not much I can do to help,” he chuckled, and she smiled back at him, appreciating his lighthearted attitude and willingness to try out such a quirky mode of transportation this morning.

She took a deep breath, and then pushed off again, looking behind her quickly before steering her bike into the road. She was able to get back to her former speed right before the road started to gradually slope upwards. For the first 30 seconds or so, she was doing pretty well. She was sticking close to the right side of the road, not wanting to come off as a nuisance to any drivers. Occasionally a car would come up behind her, wait for the other side of the road to be clear, and then drive around her to get out in front and pick back up to a normal speed. It made her feel a bit bad, but she knew it was normal, and she was doing everything right. But it didn’t take long for Jessie’s pace to slow down. Already, Marcus could see her skin redden, and now she really was panting, her eyes dead set in front of her, hyper-focused making it up the hill with only one leg to pedal. The worst part about biking with a single leg was having to move the pedal back up, from the bottom to the top of its circular path. Normally only one leg had to worry about half of a rotation at a time, but without her other leg to press down with to move the other pedal up, she was really struggling. The only solution she had was to pedal downwards with as much strength as she could muster, just so that the pedal would have enough momentum to make it back up, and then repeat.

But then, just to make matters worse, the center of the road turned into a kind of curbed divider, with shrubbery lining the edge. So now the cars behind her weren’t able to get around her anymore. “Why is it… so important… to make this… town look… pretty,” she panted, internally cursing at the whole predicament. She looked behind her for a split second, and saw two cars driving gradually behind her, and then turned back around and gazed up at the rest of the hill. She wasn’t even halfway up, and was getting a tiny bit slower with each new pedal. She didn’t want to injure her leg, because then she wouldn’t be able to go to practice today, but it was the only way up the hill. One of the cars behind her finally honked, and she grit her teeth, staring intently at the road ahead as she desperately tried to pedal up it. Why did I think this was a good idea!? she screamed over and over inside, tears starting to form now, from a mix of exertion and embarrassment. Marcus felt bad, watching her high above, struggling just to reach half the speed she’d been going at before. He berated himself for letting her go through with this idea; he should’ve realized this could happen.

The car honked again, and her teary eyes flared up with anger. “There’s no fucking sidewalk, what the fuck do you expect me to do!” she yelled. That’s more than she usually curses in a week, Marcus thought. And he was starting to feel embarrassed too. With every loop around on his pedal, he was comfortable and well-rested, while his daughter had to push herself just to get them up the hill. And he knew it was his fault too; he could’ve just told his daughter to strap him to the center tube again, or the handlebars, uncomfortable as those spots might’ve been. But at least she’d be able to use both feet. Another honk, and the two of them could tell it was from a different car this time. Jessie squeezed her handlebars with so much force that it hurt her hands. They couldn’t go around her, and even if she crossed over to the other side of the road and road back down, she’d have to travel several blocks before she’d get to a road that was either flat, or had a sidewalk (or both), and would result in her being late for school. Not to mention the fact that she would’ve wasted all her energy getting up to this point—and she hated wasting her energy.

“Get to the side of the road!” the driver behind her yelled, followed by another honk somewhere behind him. There were half a dozen cars lined up at this point, all waiting on the teenage girl who was closer to a standstill than she was the speed limit. Fucking whatever, fine, she grumbled, and veered over to the hedges, pressing herself as close to them as she could. The people behind her finally sped up, whizzing by her with only a few inches of room to spare. With each passing car, the wind sprayed through her hair, and even caused the bike to wobble. And Marcus didn’t feel any better, watching the gigantic metal beasts that looked like castles, weighing millions of pounds to him, racing right by him.

“This is too dangerous,” he yelled up at her. “We can’t—“ WOOOSH “—stay here while people pass us.” She looked down at him, and then flinched as another car soared past, inches from clipping her bike. But as her eyes locked onto her dad’s again, she could tell from his expression exactly what he was going to say before he said it. “It’s okay,” he said. He didn’t want it to be fine, but it had to be. “I know you have to do it.” For only a few seconds, she smiled faintly at him in a way that communicated a sense of pity and gratitude. She reached behind her to quickly pull off her shoe. “Just try to—“

He hadn’t even finished his sentence before a soft, white ceiling slammed into him; his daughter had just stepped on him, covering his entire body with only her foot. “S… sorry,” she mumbled, realizing she’d cut him off, but she had to just move on and head back out onto the road. With both her legs able to pedal now, she set off, back up the hill, holding both her shoe and the handlebar with one of her hands. Heading back up the hill made her feel like her energy was lopsided, because while one of her legs was hot and sore, the other one was completely fine. But at least her spirit felt invigorated as well. She wasn’t quite going the speed she was on flat ground, which was already slower than a normal car, but at least she was making steady progress. The two cars behind her weren’t angry at least, so she wasn’t feeling burdensome anymore.

But below the young girl was her tiny passenger, and Marcus on the other hand wasn’t doing as well as Jessie. One moment he was talking up to his daughter, and just a few seconds later her sock was rubbing up against his entire body as her foot landed on him. His initial reaction was that it didn’t actually hurt as much as he was expecting, but that feeling was quickly overturned once she put her weight on him. Because his strength didn’t scale as much as his size when he got smaller, and because people with DSD still had durable bodies, he was able to have the giant foot cover him without it actually hurting for him. But once she put her full weight on him, he suddenly didn’t feel as confident about being able to withstand 40,000 pounds of immovable mass. His body, technically, was able to withstand her because her normal weight wouldn’t have been an issue, but his nervous system was still screaming at him that his own daughter was about to smash him flat beneath her foot. It almost felt deceptive, because her feet themselves weren’t what was uncomfortable; they were cushy enough that his body squished into them slightly, and her socks were a fresh, clean pair from this morning. But despite how much the fat of her sole yielded to her body, there still came a point where he just couldn’t get absorbed anymore, and everything past that point accounted for the majority of her weight. Not to mention how hard the surface behind her was; the few layers of his old sweatshirt didn’t do much to help ease the discomfort of a flat, rigid surface. He was just glad that it was his torso that was tied to the pedal instead of his head, because that part of his body was getting the worst of it.

But then the pain went away, as the pedal swung up, allowing Jessie to momentarily take her weight off of her dad. It only lasted a second though, before he felt the pain return as her weight bore back down on him again.

And then off again.

And then on.

Off.

And on.

Released.

Compressed.

Free.

Then trapped.

Over and over, the teenage girl squeezed her dad under her foot again and again and again, all in an effort to make it up to the top of the hill. Marcus hated it, and had no idea how much longer they had left to go, but it didn’t matter—they wouldn’t be done until Jessie said they were done.

But then finally, after several minutes of intense cycling (and painful squishing), she made it to the top of the hill. The center curb had tapered off too, allowing her to pull over to the side while the cars could pass her more easily. As soon as she’d made it over the hump, she immediately removed her foot from her dad’s body, and once she was off to the side of the road, she slipped her shoe back on and knelt down to inspect him.

She could tell from his face it had been quite the ordeal; besides his relieved expression, the surface of his skin was red from having been squished so much without being able to flatten itself. “I’m so sorry we had to go through that, I hope it didn’t hurt too much,” she said, dawning a pair of puppy dog eyes as she took pity on her dad’s unfortunate state. “At least it’s over now so the rest of the ride should be easy again. Are you okay? How bad did it hurt?”

He sighed and nodded his head, closing his eyes to relish the welcome return of normalcy, not being squished or pressed against a warm foot. “It was really more of a mental challenge than anything, cuz I knew that it’d only last a few minutes and then I’d be fine once it was all over.”

“Yeah, but did it actually hurt, like physically?” she asked, pressing him for the truth.

“I mean… you just stepped on me over and over Jessie, of course it didn’t feel good,” he answered, but regretted his choice of words once he saw her blush and purse her lips, a wave of guilt washing over her; ultimately, she was the one who made the call to head up the hill. “But it wasn’t as horrible as I was expecting,” he lied, hoping to cheer her back up again. He didn’t wanna sour her mood for the rest of the day.

She sighed and stood back up, checking her phone to see how much longer until school: 11 minutes, so they’d be able to make it on time. “Well, I’ll believe you if you say so,” she mentioned, and got back onto the bike. “We’re almost there,” she told him, swinging her free foot far away from him again, wanting to give him as much space as possible. And then she headed off down the road again, steering up onto the sidewalk once it reappeared.

Strapped to the pedal, Marcus could only look up at the giant girl as he reflected on his experience. After he’d stopped shrinking and realized he’d only be 9 inches tall for the rest of his life, he wondered if he was big enough still to keep from ever getting stepped on. But I guess Jessie gave me the answer to that question now, and I’ve only been at this size for a few weeks. He might’ve said it was fine, but at the end of the day, not even taking into consideration how much the experience had hurt… he’d still been stepped on by his own daughter. What kind of father can say something as crazy as that? How can I maintain my dignity and feel like I’m still the head of the household after something like that?

…And is it ever gonna happen again?