“Alex… Wake up, Alex…”

Alex groaned and screwed his eyes shut tight as he was dragged from sleep and the dream he’d been having and back into the real world. He tried to ignore it, but the voice was persistent. Finally, Alex managed to force his eyes open, blinking against the glare of the lights.

Alex found himself eye-to-eye with a faerie.

“What the…?!” He yelped, sitting up straight and sending the tiny figure that had been clinging to his face tumbling down into his lap with a rather undignified squeak.

“Damn it Alex!” The doll-sized apparition groused, pulling herself back to her feet atop his thigh. At that point Alex managed to clear his head enough to notice the thick mane of braids atop the sprite’s head and the tiny pale green eyes that were glaring daggers up at him.

“Rixie?!” He mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “…the hell are you doing?”

Rixie sighed and shook her head, the anger deflating from her posture almost instantly. “I suppose springing this on you like that wasn’t one of my better ideas.”

“You think?” Alex sighed. “Why are you all… migetified…?” He lowered a hand to her and waited while she climbed unsteadily into his palm. He noted with amusement that it was obvious she hadn’t had as much practice at this as he had. Once Rixie managed to situate herself, he carefully raised her back to eye level.

“I don’t know. I thought it would be fun to try out and maybe it would help your recovery if you were to step into the other role for a while.” Rixie shrugged and grinned up at him. “Besides, I did owe you a titan experience, didn’t I?”

“That’s true.” Alex’s eyebrow arched. “Since you’ve gone to all this trouble, I suppose it’s worth a try.”

“Good.” Rixie sat in the center of Alex’s hand and waited. Alex didn’t move. The two of them stared at one another for several seconds before Rixie let out a huff.

“Well?”

Alex blinked. “Well what? What am I supposed to do?”

Rixie rolled her eyes and pulled herself unsteadily back to her feet. “You’re hopeless.” She said with a rueful smirk. “You’re supposed to be a Titan. But, that’s okay. I guess I’ll start us off by being a human.”

“What does that- Hey!” Alex watched, wide eyed, as Rixie walked out of his hand, and along his forearm. He barely resisted the urge to twitch away from the ticklish sensation of her bare feet against his skin. Before he could stop her, she’d grabbed ahold of his shirt sleeve and was climbing up his arm toward his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“Being a human.” Rixie repeated snarkily, as she pulled herself up onto his shoulder. “You know, invading your space, using your body as my personal playground, that sort of thing.”

“Ha ha ha.” Alex muttered. “Listen here, Pixie Tam…”

“Oh clever.” Rixie giggled, grabbing onto his ear before using the lobe as a foothold.

“Ow! What are you doing?” Alex grumbled, stopping himself before he succumbed to the urge to slap at the tugging feeling of the miniaturized Titan climbing up the side of his face.

“Trying to get to the top of your head.” Rixie explained. “You don’t have any convenient braids to help me climb, so I have to improvise.”

Alex chewed his lip thoughtfully. “Rix, it… it doesn’t, you know, hurt when I do that… does it?”

Rixie smiled and pressed a kiss on the top of Alex’s ear. “No, it really doesn’t. You’re very light. I’m just teasing you.”

“Okay.”

“This isn’t hurting you, is it?” Rixie asked as she pulled herself on to the top of his head.

“No.” Alex winced from the sharp pain when she used his hair as a handhold. “No, you’re fine.”

Rixie chuckled and sat down in the center of his hair, patting the hair underneath her fondly. “You’re a terrible liar.”

Alex felt Rixie’s weight settle on top of him as he placed his feet on the floor and slowly stood up, being careful not to jostle the tiny form on top of his skull too much. She was right; “humans” didn’t weigh much by comparison. Still, the metaphysical weight of her safety felt like a lead bar on his head.

And she’s just a hologram he thought to himself. He could only imagine the heavy burden she forced herself to carry with regards to his safety. Without really thinking, he carefully plucked her from the top of his head and cradled her small form in the palm of his hand.

“Hey!” The small woman yelped indignantly at the abrupt change of location. “Alex, what are you doing?!”

“I just…” Alex swallowed and cleared his throat, the back of his neck reddening from embarrassment “I… didn’t want you to fall.”

“It’s just a hologram, Alex.” Rixie reasoned, as she sat cross-legged in the palm of his hand. “I’m not even in the same room as you, let alone actually the size of your finger.”

“I know,” Alex said. “But it’s hard not to think of you as being very… fragile right now. Which is really weird, because ‘fragile’ is definitely not a term I would have ever used to describe you before.”

Rixie leaned back against Alex’s fingers, and rubbed her bare foot against the heel of his hand. “I guess now you have an idea what it’s like for me, and the other Titans. I know sometimes we go overboard, and sometimes I’m sure it seems like we think you’re children but… Sometimes, we have to keep reminding ourselves that you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourselves.”

As Alex pondered her words, he unconsciously began to stroke Rixie’s body with his finger. He only became aware of his actions when the tiny titan let out a small growl of pleasure.

He jerked his finger away from her.

“Don’t stop, Alex.” Rixie purred, a contented smile appearing on her face as she reached up with both hands and pulled his finger back towards her body. “That feels really nice.”

Alex’s lips curled into a wry smile as he continued to gently pet the small being in his hand. With the way Rixie contorted herself to allow his fingers to cover as much of her body as possible, he was reminded somewhat of petting a very affectionate kitten.

“Alex put me down.” She murmured after several minutes of this treatment.

“What, why?” Alex blinked and pulled his hand away from her again. Had he done something wrong?

Rixie giggled. “Don’t look so nervous, you haven’t done anything. I just… I want to see what you look like from this height.”

“Oh…” Alex’s brow creased, but he bent low to gently set her on the floor at his feet. “I guess that makes sense.”

Rixie smiled and looked up at his towering form. At this size she was obviously able to notice a lot more about Alex that she had never seen before, even when they were both the same size.

She walked beside the arch of his foot and trailed a hand along the fleshy wall beside her. Her touches were feather light and Alex was able to resist the urge to flinch away from the ticklish sensation. He watched with fascination as Rixie walked around his foot.

“You have hair on your toes.” Rixie observed with a giggle. “I never realized.”

“Of course not.” Alex rolled his eyes. “I doubt you’d be able to even see my toes, normally.

“Still… it’s kind of cute.” Rixie reached out and patted the knuckle of his toes. Then, before Alex could stop her- or even react- she had reached out and forcibly yanked one of the hairs from his flesh.

“Ow!” Alex stepped back and away from the vicious onslaught “What was that for?”

“I don’t know.” Rixie shrugged and rubbed the spot on Alex’s foot that she’d assaulted. “I’m sure I owed you for something.”

Alex’s eyebrow arched. “I’m starting to have a much greater appreciation for your apparently bottomless well of patience, Rixie.”

Rixie smiled up at him wryly. “I do my best. But, my size confers quite a few advantages; it’s only fair that you get quite a bit of slack to compensate for that.”

Alex bent down and scooped her back into his hand. Knowing that she wouldn’t be as used to rapid changes in elevation as he was, he slowly raised her back up to his face. Gently, he pressed her against his lips, pleased when she responded in kind.

After several long seconds, he pulled Rixie away again and was rather gratified by the stunned smile she wore on her face.

“I, um…” She muttered, distractedly running a hand through her braids. “That was-”

A loud chime interrupted them and Alex’s fingers curled protectively around Rixie by reflex, which amused the small holographic woman immensely.

“What was that?” Alex muttered.

“That.” Rixie said, reluctantly climbing to her feet in Alex’s hand. “Is the next step in your therapy, if you’re ready for it.”

Alex glanced towards where he knew the door to the holo suite was located. “What is it?”

“We’ve spent the past week getting you used to Titan-sized me.” Rixie explained. “And you’ve done wonderfully, but I’m not the only Titan in the universe, Alex.”

Alex nodded, though he swallowed the lump in his throat nervously. “Who’s on the other side of the door? Pryvani? Brinn?”

Rixie’s form vanished from his palm. A split second later, her image reappeared standing at human size next to him. Alex was rather startled by the change, as it had been instantaneous. No sound, no light, not even a whoosh of air. She had simply vanished and reformed in a blink, like a special effect from an old TV show.

“It’s Pyvani.” She said, answering his question. “And… Thyllia.”

Alex swallowed nervously. “Thyllia? Are you sure it’s wise to bring a giant kid in here?”

“Are you afraid she’s going to hurt you, Alex?” Rixie asked. “Because-”

“It’s not that.” Alex quickly assured her. “Or at least, not entirely. I believe you when you say that Thyllia is a good kid, and good around humans. And, heck, she handled herself well when I appeared here that night but… I don’t know. What if I react badly? What if I start panicking again? I don’t want to scare her, Rixie. And for that matter, I don’t want to scar her either.”

Rixie placed a hand on Alex’s shoulders and squeezed it affectionately. “Don’t worry, Alex. It’s been a long time since that happened and you’ve come so far since then. I think you’ll be okay. And Thyllia was only concerned about you that night. She was confused, of course, and scared for you, but she was fine.”

Alex took a deep breath and let it out slowly. After a moment he nodded his head. “Okay.”

“Do you want me to stay down here with you, or…?”

“No.” Alex responded, and he surprised himself with the answer. “I want you here. The real you.”

Rixie smiled bemusedly, but she looked pleased with the answer none the less. “Okay. I’ll be right back.”

And then she vanished again, leaving Alex alone in the vast holosuite.

Alex began to pace nervously. He was mere moments away from being surrounded by a trio of giants. True, none of them meant him any harm. He knew that. Alex wasn’t sure if he was ready to take this step, but he knew it was a step he needed to take eventually. And, well, it was too late to back out now.

As if sensing his thoughts, the massive double doors of the holosuite rumbled and a line of light appeared between them as they slowly slid open.

Outlined in the doorway were three figures. The light behind them was too bright for Alex to make out any details, but he didn’t really need to. He knew exactly who was about to enter.

Rixie was first. Her bare feet made light slapping noises on the smooth floor of the room. She looked about for a moment before spotting him on the floor in front of her. Almost exactly where she’d left him.

She smiled softly and padded towards him. Rixie stopped a fair distance away from him before slowly kneeling down and placing her hand, palm up, on the floor in front of him. Alex took a deep breath to steady his nerves before walking to her and stepping carefully into her palm. A moment later he was raised high into the air as Rixie stood to her full height.

Rixie didn’t move, but she nodded to the two figures still waiting in the doorframe. A moment later, Pryvani stepped slowly and carefully into the room. A small figure trailed behind her. Thyllia stayed immediately behind her sister, her posture slightly hunched, and close enough to her older sibling that she was practically walking on Pryvani’s heels.

Alex stared at Pryvani as she drew closer. She had a gentle smile on her face. Nevertheless, Alex couldn’t help but feel rather exposed as the giant heiress loomed over him. Rixie’s palm offered very little protection from the giant titan’s gaze after all.

As if sensing his thoughts, Rixie’s fingers twitched and curled upward slightly.

Pryvani bent at the knees and lowered herself until her piercing blue eyes were at the same level as Alex himself. She unconsciously pushed a lock of her bubblegum pink hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

“Hello Alex.”

Pryvani’s voice washed over him, low and soft. Alex swallowed nervously and licked his lips which had suddenly gone dry.

“H-Hi Pryvani.” He muttered. His own voice was a meager chirp and it embarrassed him that that was all he could muster. He doubted Pryvani had been able to hear it.

Still, Pryvani’s eyes lit up and her smile widened. “Darling, there’s someone I’d like for you to meet. She’s been asking about you, and I’d like to introduce you to her, properly this time. That is, if you’re ready for it.”

The butterflies in Alex’s stomach had suddenly turned into a hornet’s nest, but he took a deep breath and nodded his approval anyway. “Yeah, I’d… I’d like to meet her.”

Pryvani glanced up at Rixie, and as if by mutual decision, they both lowered themselves down onto their knees almost simultaneously. Alex watched as head of bushy brown hair crested in front of the edge of Rixie’s hands, followed by a forehead. Soon a pair of bright and curious brown eyes peeked at him. They remained locked on him even as he lowered past them, past a cute button nose and a pair of lips that were formed into a shy little smile.

Finally Alex was able to take in the whole of Thyllia’s face all at once. The little girl stared at him in wonder, her gaze only briefly leaving his when Pryvani wrapped an arm around the little girl’s shoulders.

“Thyllia, dear,” Pryvani’s voice retained the soft tone she’d used on Alex. “This is Alex. He’s a very good friend of mine.”

“Hello.” The little girl whispered. She raised her hand and slowly brought it towards him. Alex tensed, and he felt as Rixie did as well. For a second it looked like Thyllia meant to snatch him up, but then her fingers folded into her palm. All save for the pointer which she slowly extended to Alex.

It took Alex a second to realize what Thyllia was trying to do. When he did understand he smiled and grasped her finger in both hands, giving it a little shake.

“Hello Thyllia.” Alex said hoarsely. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Pryvani beamed and squeezed her younger sister’s shoulders, pleased that the little girl had remembered the polite way Pryvani had taught her to introduce herself to a human.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Alex.” Thyllia repeated. “I’m glad you’re not feeling sick anymore.”

Alex chuckled ruefully. “Well, I’m not all better yet, kiddo.” He told her. “But I think things are getting better. I hope I didn’t scare you too badly, that night when you found me in the hallway.”

Thyllia’s eyes widened slightly but she shook her head, which sent her brown locks bouncing across her face.

“Good.” Alex sighed. “I’m glad you found me though. Thank you. And I’m sorry if I scared you.”

“You’re welcome.” Thyllia murmured happily. “And I wasn’t scared.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed and he seemed to consider the young titan in front of him. Finally, Alex nodded as if coming to a decision about something. He pushed himself to his feet in Rixie’s palm.

“Thyllia, hold out your hand.”

Thyllia’s brow creased but she did as she was asked, raising a flattened palm until it was level with Rixie’s own. “Like this?”

“Perfect.” Before he could give himself a chance to change his mind, Alex carefully traversed the gap between Thyllia’s hand and Rixie’s own. Thyllia’s eyes widened in surprise and her other hand flew up to carefully cup his body between them. There was a slight tremor in the flesh beneath Alex and he patted the skin underneath him reassuringly as he sat down in the center of her palms.

Thyllia glanced between Pryvani and Rixie apprehensively, as if afraid one or both of them were going to be mad at her. Neither of them appeared to be upset. Rixie had tears welling in her eyes, but there was a small smile on her face. And Pryvani squeezed her shoulder again in a reassuring way.

So Thyllia’s gaze slid back to the human in her hands. Slowly, Thyllia’s heart stopped pounding and the hands that cupped Alex stopped trembling. A wide grin split her features as she came to understand, if only dimly, the significance of what Alex had just demonstrated.

She could tell already that the two of them were going to be very good friends.