“Stupid, stupid sister-creature,” groused Kara as she slammed the door behind herself.

The guy sitting in the living room unfolded from the couch to stand and face Kara.  “You found her?”

Kara sighed and nodded.  She dumped her keys into a bowl by the door, then pulled a crystal out of her jacket pocket.  “The tracer worked, once I was close.  Thanks for the lead on that.  Stupid girl had gotten herself transformed, just like I thought.”

Peter strode over to Kara to wrap her in a hug, resting his chin atop her head like usual.  “Is she stuck?”

Kara shook her head.  “They changed her back.  Freed her.  Then she turned around and went right back to them.  Something about too much fun to stop.”

“That’s not quite so bad.  And you can always find her again, right?”

“Meh.  I don’t wanna think about her.”  Kara struggled to get her coat off while still in her husband’s arms, then winced as something in her pocket poked her side.

“Is that a banana in your pocket, or are you that happy to see me,” joked Peter.

Kara laughed, and pulled a metal tube out of her pocket.  “Something else.  I picked this up with the tracer.  Just in case.”

Peter eyed the four inch long tube.  It had glass marbles glass inset at either end, and looked a lot like a toy telescope.  “A spyglass?”

Kara giggled and shook her head.  “Not exactly.  It’s a shrinker.”

“Seriously?”

Kara nodded, and pointed it at the couch her husband had been sitting on.  She squeezed the bezel around the larger end and the marble at that end glowed, illuminating the couch like a flashlight.  Rather unlike a flashlight, the glow made the couch quickly dwindle and in seconds it was half its original size.  Kara released her grip and the shrinker shut off.

Peter released her, and dazedly walked back to the couch.  He touched it carefully.  “Wild.  It really is smaller.  How small can it go?”

“Just half size.  Enough to dissuade an attacker, not so much you can stomp on people.”

“Still.  That’s so cool.”

Kara blinked at him in confusion.  “Cool?”

“It’s safe to use on people, right?”

Kara nodded.  “Yeah, it’s ridiculously safe.  Lasts at most an hour, or until the target is out of range.  It even teleports the object to a safe spot to regrow.”

“Okay then short stuff.  Hit me.”

Kara stared at Peter.  “Come again?”

Peter stood straight.  Around her he usually slouched a little to lessen the height difference.  “I’m a foot taller than you.  I know it bugs you.  This toy of yours can erase that, right?  Put me on your level.”

Kara bit her lip, and clutched the shrinker in her hand.  It went off, shrinking their coatrack to half size before she realized what she’d done.  “You want me to shrink you to my size.”  She looked guiltily at the rack.  “I might get the exposure wrong, you could end up smaller.  A lot smaller.”

Peter nodded.  “I might.  Then we can try shrinking you a bit to even it out.  Or I can see what it’s like to be the little spoon.”  He spread his arms wide, as if to make himself a bigger target.  “Go for it.”

“Okay,” agreed Kara dubiously.  She pointed the shrinker at him, and held the button down for just a moment.

Peter gasped as he felt the change, then scampered forward to compare himself against his wife.  He was still taller than her, but only by half a head now.  “Mmm, I could get used to this.”  He hugged her tight and nuzzled in for a long kiss.  

Kara broke from the kiss and gasped for breath.  She staggered a few steps away from her husband, and shook her head.  “That was...  You really like it?”

Peter nodded.  “I have to cramp over when we hug so I can get face to face with you.  This is much more comfortable.”

“But you’re six inches shorter than you should be!  Doesn’t that worry you?”

Peter shrugged.  “I’m still average height for a guy.  Still taller than you.  And you say it’s perfectly safe.”

Kara nodded emphatically.  “Shrinkfield Armory is trying to push them as alternatives to guns.  Has to be crazy safe to have a chance.”

Peter opened his arms wide again.  “Then let’s try for that elusive same-height kiss.”

Kara dosed him with the light again, then put her hand to her mouth.  “Oops.  I think you’re shorter than me now.”

Peter let her approach him this time, his eyes flaring as her proximity made the truth clear.  This time he was half a head shorter, and had to tilt his head up into the kiss.  When they broke apart, he smiled at her warmly.  “That was different.”

“I know.  Feeling like the big one was...”  Kara’s eyes shone.  “Can I try again?”

“Sure.”

Peter dwindled further under a flicker of light from the shrinker.  “I meant the kiss, but this should be interesting.”  He craned his neck to look up at his wife.  “Wow.”

“Wow?” asked Kara.  “This is...  You’re extra cute like this.  I’m wondering what it’d be like to go all the way.”

Peter cut his eyes toward the bedroom.  “Why Kara, how forward of you.”

Kara sniggered.  “You think you can handle this much me?”

“I know I want to try,” he said with a brave and saucy grin.

Kara chased him into the bedroom, both of them shedding clothes along the way.

*** *** ***

“I didn’t mean it that way, love.”

Peter sighed, and looked down at himself.  “Yeah, well.  ‘It’s so tiny’ isn’t something a guy ever wants to hear.”

Kara scooped him up, wondering that she could even do so.  “Ooof.  You’re lighter, but still pretty heavy.”  She staggered back to the bed, and set him on it.  “I think you’re wonderful like this.  And the things you could do with your delicate little tongue.”

Peter kicked his feet, amazed at how they didn’t reach the floor.  “I... that does sound fun.”  He looked up at his wife, got a facefull of breasts for his effort.  “Woah!”

Kara giggled.  “Seeing an upside, here?”

Peter reached up and caressed one.  “It’s bigger than my hand.”  He chuckled and rested his cheek against it.  “Bigger or smaller than my head?”

“About the same, I think.  Kiss me,” demanded Kara, but she didn’t crouch to put her head closer to his.

Peter got the hint after a bit of straining, and kissed her nipple.  He’d teased her nipple with his tongue many times before, but this was new.  It felt so much bigger.  As he suckled on it, it grew bigger, firmer.  What would it be like...

Kara cooed softly, then pushed him to his back and climbed over him.  He tried pushing her off, found to his amazement that it was impossible.  “Shhh, don’t fight it.” she encouraged.  “Enjoy.”

His struggles got worse, and Kara lifted herself up so he could wriggle free of her, further up the bed.  “Sorry,” panted Peter.  “I...”  He winced at the hurt look in her eyes.  “Sorry.”

Kara sighed, and carefully moved to lie beside him, a foot or so away.  “Now we’re the same height.”

Peter’s laugh was bitter.  “I guess.”

“Talk to me.  Please?  This was going so well.”

“Well?  I’m too tiny to fit.  Too weak to move you.  How can this work?”

“When you’re normal size, I’m too weak to move you off of me.  I’ll grant the fit’s better, but we can be creative.  I bet your forearm would be the right size.”  She scissored her legs to give him access, and watched as the wheels turned in his head.

“My arm?  That’d be something new, for sure.  Tell me if it hurts, okay?”

Kara nodded, trying not to giggle at how he was back to acting like the big, dangerous one that had to be careful of his lover.  As she watched him try to sort out a good position to work from, she thought back to how he’d always been so careful of her.  She grazed a hand gently down his back.  “Thank you.”

“For what?” he asked.  “Haven’t started yet.”

“I had no idea what it was like to be the overpowering one.  You do it so well, I hadn’t realized.”

Peter shrugged.  “Used to it, I guess.”  Then he frowned.  “Can we try something else?  Give me your hand.”

Kara extended her hand to him, puzzlement on her face.  Peter took it in both of his hands, making her marvel at how much smaller his hands were than hers.  “This is so crazy.”

Peter laughed.  “Try it from this side.  Oh wait, I guess that’s every day for you.  Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.  This is good.  What are you doing?”

Peter gave her hand a squeeze.  “I’m going to try to squeeze your hand, gently at first then harder and harder.  Tell me to stop when it starts to hurt.”

Kara nodded, and watched.  After a few moments she winced.  “Okay, that pinched a little.”

Peter wiped his brow.  “You’re way tougher when I’m like this.  Cool.  If you made me smaller...”

“Smaller!” exclaimed Kara.  “I thought you were already having trouble like this.”

“If you made me smaller,” Peter started again, “I probably couldn’t hurt you at all.  That’d be amazing.”

Kara blinked at him again.  “Wait, what?  Why would that be amazing?  You’d be completely vulnerable to me.”

“Exactly.  A complete reversal.  I wouldn’t have to worry about anything, I’d be completely incapable of harming you.  Oh.  I suppose that’s the point of it in the first place, yes?”

“Still.  This is already weird.  Can we just stay like this for a while?” asked Kara.

“Sure!”

Kara lay back.  “C’mon, big boy.  Let’s see what those arms of yours can do.”

Peter snickered at the nickname.  “No, you’re ‘big girl’.  Tonight, I’m ‘short stuff’.”

Kara giggled and nodded.  “Hey short stuff.  Take your best shot.”

*** *** ***

The shrinking wore off abruptly, tumbling a panting Peter beside Kara, just out of reach.  He looked down at his hand in alarm, then over at Kara.  “Are you okay?”

Kara pouted.  “Just annoyed that we got interrupted.  It didn’t hurt at all when you grew.  A little stretchy getting in, though.  Have to make you a little smaller for that to work right, I think.”

Peter nodded.  “Sure.”

Kara sat up.  “Really?  You just spent an hour most of a foot shorter than me.  Two thirds your usual height, give or take.  That doesn’t worry you?”

“Let’s go find a measuring tape.”

Kara stared at Peter in confusion as he dug through his sock drawer and finally withdrew his prize.  As he started to measure his height her eyes went wider.  “Oh!  Right.”

“Six foot two,” Peter reported after some contortions and assistance from Kara to get the tape into place.  “I think we’re good.”

“But I just shrunk you.  How is this not weirding you out?”

Peter smiled and leaned down to kiss her gently on the cheek.  “It was weird.  But also wonderful.  You breasts got so big!”

Kara laughed and made to swat at him.  In the past she wouldn’t have thought twice about it.  Today she pulled the blow, touching his side gently instead.  Her eyes went wide with worry then wonder.  “Oh.”

“Thank you,” Peter said solemnly.  “We can learn a lot by trading places, trading sizes.  And it was fun.  For both of us.  I saw you.  What’s going on in that clever mind of yours?”

Kara blushed.  “I’m wondering what it would be like to see you as a giant.”

“I’d be okay with that.  Would you?”

Kara shook her head.  “I’d probably be terrified of you.  That feels like such a horrible thing to say, but...”

“No, no I get it.  I’d be terrified of hurting you.  I could lie very still, and let you explore...”  Peter lay down on the bed as if to demonstrate.

Kara bit her lip as she surveyed Peter’s pose.  “That... doesn’t feel like enough.  I know you’re not into bondage, but for the purposes of making me feel safe around you-as-a-giant?”

Peter sighed softly.  “I suppose it’s only fair.  You’ve put up with my fascination with your shrinky toy.  Do you promise to be gentle with me?”

“Of course!  Love, I don’t want to hurt you at all.  But may I tickle and tease a little?”

Peter tilted his head at her curiously.  “But...  Isn’t hurting what it’s about?  The whole BDSM thing?”

Kara smiled at him fondly as she shook her head.  “Not at all!  Well, some is.  But it’s an umbrella term, and only some people are into pain.  I never quite got that bit myself.  Other people have turned rope use and knot tying into this incredible art form.  But that stuff is dangerous without a lot of practice.  I just want to immobilize you so I can be tiny and close without being terrified.  I promise I will stop anything you don’t like, and let you out whenever you ask.  I, uh... just want to be normal size before then.  But if I run to the other corner of the apartment, that’ll be far enough away to go back to normal size.  I think.”

Peter agreed, but said they should test it first.  Kara looked worried until he volunteered to be the test subject.  So she shrunk him in the bedroom, watched him dart away, and heard his cheer as he returned to normal.  He even offered to repeat the experiment, which made her giggle and zap him with the shrinker once more.

When Peter returned at full size he saw Kara’s grin.  “Having fun?”

“Yes.  Being able to make you the ‘short stuff’ of the relationship whenever I feel like...  It’s empowering.”

Peter nodded.  “Then I grant you permission to shrink me whenever you feel like it.  Um, when it’s just the two of us here, anyway.”

He was three feet tall before he finished talking, and laughed.  “This is as small as it can make me?”

Kara lay down carefully on the bed as Peter approached.  “Yeah.  You stopped shrinking before I turned it off.”

Peter scrambled up onto the bed, and Kara giggled as she felt his tiny hands trace along her sides.  He gave her breast a hug, and kissed it.  “This is nice.  I think I’d want you tied up if I were to get any smaller, myself.”

“Do you want to be smaller than this?” asked Kara, wonderingly.

Peter brushed his hands over Kara’s breast, teasing the nipple to hardness.  “The idea of a breast as big as I am is tempting.  Bigger?”  He shrugged, then knelt to kiss the breast.  “This is lovely.”

Kara giggled.  “Maybe I should find a magic item that can turn me into a giant breast, then.”

Peter snickered, then shook his head. “I’d miss the rest of you.  Just because these are my favourites doesn’t mean I don’t like your cute bum, or those long, delicious legs...”  Peter took a couple steps to reach Kara’s legs, and crouched beside them.  He traced his fingers along her leg, making her twitch.  Peter lost his balance and fell, his body barely longer than his sweetie’s leg.

“Sorry, it tickled,” apologized Kara.

Peter sat up, then lay alongside her leg and snuggled up against it.  “It’s okay.  No harm done.”

Kara studied him lying there and started to smile. “My turn.”

Peter hopped off the bed then darted out of the room, and was back at full size in moments.  He lay down on the bed, and let Kara equip him with wide cuffs at ankle and wrist.  She attached them to the bed’s feet with practiced motions, gently drawing his unresisting limbs out to a spread-eagled pose.  “There.  How do you feel?”

Peter tested his bonds.  “Remarkably comfortable, really.  I had no idea.”

Kara stood at the foot of the bed and smiled down at him.  “I suppose I should have explained it better.  How does this make you feel?”

“Curious,” reported Peter.  “A little vulnerable.  But I trust you enough that it’s... kind of like roller-coaster scary?  Giving you power over me...  But I’ve been doing that all afternoon with your shrinker.  So it’s becoming familiar.”

Kara nodded knowingly.  “Do you like it?”

Peter managed a shrug.  “I’m not hating it.  I think liking it will depend on what you do with the power I’ve given you.”

Kara nodded solemnly.  “Does making myself tiny and exploring you count?”

“Let’s see.”

The next few minutes were an exercise in frustration.  Kara tried using the shrinker on herself, but it wouldn’t work.  She shrunk a pillow and one of her bras successfully, then tried it again.  Nothing.  She dug out the pamphlet that had come with it, and started to read.  Peter chuckled.  “Going to leave me here like this?”

Kara winked at him.  “You look good this way.”

“Alrighty then.”

“Aha!  It’s a safety feature.  Won’t shrink the person holding it.”

“Well.  That’s inconvenient.”

Kara set the shrinker in Peter’s hand.  “Here.  You get power, too.”

Peter flexed his wrist until he could aim the device roughly at his wife.  “Interesting.  Ready?”

Kara took a deep breath, and stood up straight.  “Yes.”

Peter’s first attempt shrunk the side table, making both of them laugh.  “Sorry.  Hard to aim.”

Kara moved in front of the shrinker, almost touching it.  “Try now.”  The light played over her, and she dwindled.  “Oh!  It feels all tingly and nice.”

Peter cut off the shrinker once Kara’s size had stabilized.  He could barely see her, only her head poked above the side of the bed.  “Are you okay?”

Kara nodded shakily.  “I’m glad you can’t move, though.  Wow.  Just... wow.”

Peter smiled at her fondly.  “Yeah.  I felt the same, and you’re proportionately smaller.  Take your time.”

Kara smiled her thanks, and slowly walked around the room, studying Peter from various angles.  “This is so, so weird.  To see you like this.  Half an hour ago you were shorter than my leg.  Now it feels like I could curl up on your chest like a kitten.”

“Sounds good to me.  Try it if you like.”

Kara scrambled up onto the bed and skittered closer to Peter’s torso.  She shot a few glances at the enormous arm she was standing beside.  

Peter held still, chuckling softly as he felt her climb onto him.  “Better?”  He craned his neck to look at her, but the pose made it difficult to see much.

Kara purred softly as she pulled in her limbs and curled up as small as she could.  “Oh my God.  I fit.”

“I wish I could pet you.”

Kara twitched, then settled again.  “Maybe I can work up to it.  I like the idea of napping on you, and you settling a blanket over the two of us.”

“Sounds cozy.  Do you really think you could be comfortable like that?”

Kara’s answer was to curl up a little tighter and purr at him.

“We could get you a cute catgirl outfit.  Make you fuzzy and soft and little and precious.”

“Mmm.  Okay,” said Kara drowsily.

Peter waited quietly, as Kara’s breathing softened into the cutest little snores he’d ever heard.  He shrugged slightly then he shrugged and closed his eyes.  The cuffs really were quite comfortable.

They woke when Kara suddenly returned to normal size.  Both of them laughed, and Kara undid her sweetie’s bonds.

“Happy?” asked Peter when she was done.

Kara nodded.  “That was really nice.”  She looked uncertain.

“But?”

“I’m going to need some time to process all this.  Can we set it aside for now?  Get dressed again, go for a walk, try out being normal people for a while?”

Peter smiled and held his hand out to her.  “Of course.”

*** *** ***

A week passed without using the shrinker, then another.  Kara started getting texts from her sister again, and showed them to her husband.

“So she’s okay... but she’s decided to live as his doll full time?”

“Yeah.  I’m just glad she can communicate.  And speaking of communicating...”

“Yes?”

Kara held up a parcel that had arrived the previous day.  “Catgirl costume.”

Peter’s eyes went wide.  “Oooh.  Do I need to get the straps out?”

Kara shook her head, and held up a bracelet she’d started wearing recently.  It was a broad silver band with a clear cabochon gem in the middle.  “I went to the Shrinkfield Armory website, and found this.  It lets me control how long I’m shrunk.”

“Ah?  I suppose that would be confidence-granting.  You can grow back whenever you want?”

Kara nodded, eyes alight with amusement.  “Ready to have a pet kitty snuggled up to you?  I was thinking we could watch a movie together.”

Peter smiled at her encouragingly.  “Go get dressed.  I’ve got the perfect movie in mind.”

Kara went to the bedroom, then came back a moment later and offered Peter the shrinker.  She retreated to the doorway, clutching the costume package to her chest.  “Shrink me here.  I’ll get dressed, and your kitty will come out to play.  Okay?”

Peter lay back on the couch, and nodded.  “I’ll be as still as I can while the shy kitty gets to know me better.”

Kara giggled, and kept laughing as she felt the tingle of the shrinker going to work.  When she stopped dwindling, she looked around.  “This far away from you it’s not so noticeable.  The apartment being twice as big is...”  She frowned, and looked around again.  “Kinda cool, really.  I’ll be back in a bit.  If you don’t see me soon, it’s because I’m using the bed as a trampoline.”

Peter chuckled and took the opportunity to dig out the movie he was after.  Once everything was set up, he went back to the couch and reclined there.  He was starting to drift off when he heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching.

Peter slitted his eyes and held still, watching his extra-petite wife approach.  She was wearing what looked like a black bodysuit with built in gloves and boots that made it look like she had paws instead of hands and feet.  A fuzzy black tail swished behind her, and the hood that hid her shoulder-length brunette hair had white-tipped ears perking from the top.

Kara ghosted forward, took a step back hesitantly, then continued.  Peter lost track of her when she hid behind the coffee table, but soon he felt the cushion under his legs shift as his wife’s slight weight was added to it.  She crawled alongside him then up onto his chest.  Once she’d curled up he opened his eyes wider.  “Happy?”

Kara purred softly.  Peter started the film, and soon The Cat Returns was playing on their TV.  Kara turned to watch, and the two of them lay together through the entire movie.  Once it was over, Kara yaawned and stretched.  “Did you stash a blanket here?  I could nap.”

Peter sighed.  “Sorry.  Will my arms do?”

Kara nodded, and he slowly wrapped his arms around her, stopping still whenever he felt her tense up.  It took a few minutes, but once his arms were fully around her Kara relaxed and rubbed Peter’s chin with the top of her head.  “Pet me.”

Peter shifted his arm slowly to put his fingertips against the back of Kara’s neck.  He stroked her gently, wondering at the soft furry nap of the costume.  “You feel like a kitty.  Where’d you get this?”

“Special order.  It’s not magic, if you’re worried.  Just really nicely made.”

Peter chuckled, and the bouncing made Kara twitch.  “Sorry.  The idea of you becoming a real cat is entertaining.”

Kara made a face.  “I’d rather have hands.  And I don’t want to lap food out of a bowl.  Though I could go for lunch.”

Peter carefully sat up, giving Kara ample time to scamper to the floor.  She darted ahead of him into the kitchen, so he followed at a leisurely pace.  She made a piteous face at him as he entered, and gestured to the counter that was above her head.  “You’ll have to make lunch.”

Peter nodded, then frowned at her.  “Wait a minute.  The movie was two hours long.  How are you still small?”

Kara held the wrist with the bracelet on it.  “I said this lets me control how long I’m shrunk.  Works both ways.  Until I tell it to pop the spell, I’ll stay this way.”

“Without a limit?  Isn’t that dangerous?”

Kara shook her head.  “Continuously-fed temporary change.  I won’t end up permanently shrunk.”

“And you’re sure it works?” Peter asked worriedly.

Kara nodded emphatically.  “All I have to do is tap the stone firmly.  Like this.”  She rapped the bracelet sharply, and with a pop she was suddenly full size once more.

Peter gestured to the kitchen counter, which Kara could now reach easily.  “Lunch?”

“Oooh, you!  Was this all a trick to get out of making lunch?”

“You know you cook better than I do, short stuff.”

Kara smirked at the nickname.  “I should shrink you for that.”

“Okay.  I could go for a super-size meal.  Wait, would that work?”

“No idea.  Let’s do lunch first.”

Afterward, Kara pretty-pleased her way into being the little one again, and Peter sat still as she explored the couch beside him.  When she curled up in his lap, he started to gently pet her, getting happy purrs instead of nervous twitches in return.  “You’re getting used to this,” he murmured.

“Your hands are so strong, but gentle.  It’s like...  I can’t even understand why I was scared.  You’re not really any more powerful now than you were when I’m normal.  And feeling such a huge hand against me...”  She purrrowled happily as answer.

“So since you’re so comfortable with me, we don’t need the bondage stuff any more?” he asked hopefully.

Kara’s eyes went wide and her face crumpled into a comical mask of dismay.  “Not again...   I’m spoiling all my fun.”

“So you’d like to cuff me again?”

Kara nodded desperately.  “So much.  How can I convince you to try it again?  I have so many things I want to try with you like that.  Things I can do while tiny that would be risky if you weren’t restrained.”

Peter brushed his hand gently down Kara’s back, calming her as if by magic.  “Shh, shh.  I like the sound of your plans.”

“You’ll do it?” she asked hopefully.  “Why?”

“Because I love you, my pretty kitty.”  Peter scritched her between the ears.

Kara purrred happily.  “Mmm.  Can I call you ‘short stuff’, and keep ‘pretty kitty’ for myself?  I like it way better.”

“That seems fair.  But only when I’m actually shrunk.”

Kara giggled.  “Nah.  I’m going to use it all the time.  Think of the looks we’ll get.”

Peter laughed louder than he intended, bouncing Kara in his lap.  He glanced down at her with a worried look, then smiled to see she was still contentedly curled up.  “Can I keep you like this?”

“Mmm.  As long as you like, if there’s a blanket to snuggle under.”

Peter gently scooped his arms under his “pretty kitty” and she wriggled but only to settle herself in the crook of his arm.  She purred all the way to the bedroom, and snuggled up to her lovely, huge husband as he settled the duvet around them.  “Happy?”

“Love you so much, short stuff.”

Peter chuckled.  “Love you too, pretty kitty.”