Chapter Text
The mirror detailed Masha’s sweaty expression, beads of wet dripping off her brow, hair slightly damp as the curled strands were swiped away from her eyes. Masha steadied her breath, pulling her waves up into her fingers, playing with the hair in several mock hairstyles, just seeing what looked good.
She’d just got back from her morning run, and was feeling quite good. Her reflection smiled back, proud of her appearance for a change, as she admired her curved hips, and masculine figure. Her biceps were getting pretty good too at that point, and Masha was happy that she’d picked up working out and taken it seriously. Putting that extra step into her routine surely helped with all the brain fog Masha had been steadily pushing away.
She felt good, genuinely good. Quickly flashing a final grin to the sweaty girl in the mirror, Masha stepped away, returning to her bedroom. She sorted through the pile of clean laundry that had yet to be put away, and motivation told her she’d probably get that done soon. Masha picked out a tank top, undergarments, and some denim shorts, slugging them over her shoulder to bring back into the bathroom.
Masha set the outfit out and popped into her shower, quickly rinsing the work out down the drain. The cool water rushing through her hair felt euphoric, and the sensation of cleanliness was so nice. Her mental health had been rising, along with her constantly inflated ego, which was always nice. Masha really felt like genuine progress was being made, and she was in a better place than last year.
After a quick wash, she stepped out, tieing her striped towel around her waist, and letting the air do its work in drying her off. Masha posed once more in front of the mirror, speaking affirmations of affection towards herself while she waited.
Once her body was deemed dry enough, she slipped into the chosen outfit, ignoring the slight stickiness pressed between her spotted skin and the fabric.
Masha left the bathroom, door left wide open for the steamy air to disperse, and decided to check on her plants. She’d gotten half of them as gifts from some anonymous person who seemed to take great notice of her. Whoever the person was leaving these beautiful bright-petaled flowers, she couldn’t care much. The kind gesture struck a certain sense of superiority for Masha, as someone cared enough from a distance to shower her in affections.
She grabbed the dropper and carefully squeezed droplets for the tiny marigolds on the window’s shelf, humming to herself as she admired the bright orange. Had they chosen this particular flower to match her hair? It was sweet either way.
Once again, Masha found herself amused by the sheer difference in proportion. How did humans see flowers? The things were so small to her, it felt odd to imagine the perspective of a human viewing the same plants. Masha liked the flowers being small to her, she couldn’t imagine them being any different. Masha loved to care for the flowers anyway, the miniature size of them presented them as more fragile, needing her care more than ever. Maybe that was related to the superiority complex as well.
As Masha was about to finish and move on to the next task in her day, she spotted something out of the corner of her eye. Beyond the window, there was a small figure scampering outside on her porch, carrying something in its arms. She watched with peaked interest, ears twitching and eyebrows furrowing.
“So here’s my secret admirer…” she mused, “I knew they’d be a tiny thing. Hm.”
Masha thought it’d only be polite to go say hello. Maybe give the human a good spook as well, letting them know they’d been caught red handed. Literally, as Masha squinted, the plant was a bundle of greens and red .
She opened the door, and as she could’ve guessed, the human was incredibly startled, nearly losing their balance as they processed the giantess had found them.
The little human stammered over their words. They were black with the most gorgeous highlighted coils Masha had ever seen. They were decorated in flowers, dull browns and greens, and oversized comfy clothes. They flushed, embarrassed of themself trying to string a sentence together. Masha found it cute.
“O-oh, hi!” The human squeaked out eventually.
“Hello there,” Masha purred deeply, “Are you the human giving me all these plants?”
They hid behind the pot, “Y-yes.”
Masha tilted her head, smirking playfully, “Aw, well no need to hide, why don’t you come inside? I’ve been dying to meet my secret admirer.”
The human blushed, holding out the potted plant, which Masha carefully accepted, leaning to place it beside the others. She was steadily growing a wonderful collection by now. The flowers looked like dolls toys on the windowsill.
She stepped out of the way, motioning to the inside of her sunlight lit home. The human nodded shyly and walked inside, looking around at the giantess’s living room. Masha could only try and picture how overwhelming the huge furniture might be for them.
“Need any help?” She offered, shutting the door behind the human.
“N-no thanks,” they responded, just taking in the simple room, “Oh, my name is Terrance, or, Terry if you’d like.”
Masha smiled, “Masha. It’s nice to finally meet you Terry. Might I add, you look absolutely stunning.”
They breathed out a barely audible ‘thank you’.
“I can make some coffee if you’d want, unless you’re a tea person. I personally don’t buy into the whole sides thing, I drink both.”
“Oh,” Terry considered, “Tea would be nice, if you have honey as well, I’d love that.”
Masha nodded, great taste, “Of course, make yourself at home, please. I’m just gonna get the water started.”
They nodded, still awed by the living room’s mild appearance, and Masha rolled her eyes playfully as she went into the kitchen. She started the water like she’d said, and picked out a bag of tea she though Terry would enjoy the most. They seemed either like a black tea, or raspberry tea enjoyer. Masha settled on raspberry.
She came back out and waved to Terry, “Hello again. I hope raspberry was a good choice.”
Terry nodded, their pretty dimples showing off in their smile, “Yes, thank you again.”
“No problem, want to sit at the table?”
“Sure,” they stared into the open dining room, “Would you… mind bringing me over?”
Masha gaped, “Oh yeah, probably a bit hard to maneuver since you’re so small,” she gave a hearty laugh afterwards, crouching to her knees in front of the human. She laid her palms out in front of Terry, patiently watching as the human climbed up over her fingers. They made their way to position themself, sitting on Masha’s right palm.
Masha considered for a moment to be slow, remembering that being in the hand of a giantess would mean fast equals incredibly nauseating. Masha made sure to slowly rise back to her feet, and walk carefully to the table, eyes never leaving Terry, who swayed on her palm, small hands holding onto Masha’s middle finger for balance.
She’d made her way to the rounded wooden table, and set the human on top of the surface. Terry glanced around, admiring the patterned fabric placemat that sprawled across the table.
“Comfortable?” Masha spoke.
Terry nodded, “Y-yes. Thank you.”
“First I just want to ask your pronouns?”
“Oh, they, them, thank you,” Terry beamed, “And y-yours?”
“She and her,” Masha hummed.
Then she took her seat cross-legged, leaning close and hand holding up cheek, “So, I’ve gotta ask. Why bring me all these plants? I love ‘em, but any particular reason to?”
Terry stuttered over themself, “I-,” they locked their fingers together, “I felt bad.”
Masha furrowed her brows, “Excuse me?”
The human's eyes widened, “Oh no, that came off wrong, I mean. You’re the only giant in town,” they struggled finding their words, “And people are awful to those who are ‘different’. I wanted to make sure you felt welcomed and like you belong, just in case you felt bad.”
Her heart melted, mouthing dropping completely agape in positive speechlessness. Her ego absolutely spiked that Terry, a complete stranger, went so far out of their way to make sure Masha was doing okay. Especially after moving in last year, and all the troubles associated, having Terry take that effort for her felt like divine worship.
“That’s-“ It was Masha’s turn to fumble over words, “That is genuinely the sweetest thing any person has ever done for me, thank you , so much, holy shit.”
Terry fidgeted with their hands, avoiding eye contact, “It’s what you deserve. I hope that didn’t cross a boundary, I- I tend to have a hard time with those.”
“No-“ Masha breathed out, “Heck no- Terry that’s so precious. That means so much to me, you’re a sweetheart.”
They rubbed their fingers over their thumbs and mumbled, “It’s nothing.”
“Maybe it’s not much effort on your end,” Masha’s heart warmed, “But it means so much to me. Can I be honest?”
They nodded.
“Last year, that’s when I moved in , things were really hard,” Masha admitted, “Like, people were assholes. I had a hard time adjusting in with the town ‘cause, you know, giant. Human town. It wasn’t really easy fitting in and being able to properly, like, live?”
“I get that,” Terry hummed.
“How? You’re a human?” Masha mused.
“I mean-“ Terry bit their lip, “I’m autistic, adjusting to a world not made for me is really difficult, and there’s a lot of stuff you don’t get, and you can’t do, and it’s hard to feel comfortable when you feel so out of place… that’s why I empathize with you,” their deep brown eyes lit up and love.
Masha felt her face heat up with a dusted blush, “Thank you, Terry. Thanks for understanding and for doing all this,” she remembered the boiling water with a jump, “-Getting the tea quickly, one second.”
She rushed out to the kitchen and poured the tea for two, oozing a fair amount of honey into both mugs. Masha wisped through the drinks, stirring up the mix of sugar and honey, before she carefully took the full cups into either hand, balancing them as she walked back to the dining room.
Masha placed both cups down, “I guess you don’t need such a big mug,” she felt a bit embarrassed for forgetting the human’s stature, “That’s alright, you don’t have to finish it,” she added with a soft chuckle.
Terry sipped the rim of the mug, hardly making a difference to the level of liquid at all, “Thank you.”
“No problem,” Masha took a sip of her tea, “Mind me asking why you never just knocked on the door and introduced yourself? The anonymous presents were fun, for sure, but we could’ve been friends all this time.”
“Friends?” Terry whispered the word as if they hadn’t in a while, before their expression softened pleasantly, “I- I guess I was nervous.”
Masha cooed, “Scared of the big ‘ol giant down the street?”
“N-no!” Terry defended, coils falling in front of their face, “Not scared of you , I- I just struggle socially…!”
Masha chuckled, “Only teasing, only teasing! But,” she leaned in, watching Terry quiver from the closeness, “Have you ever been afraid of giants? I’m curious, what does the town think of me?”
The human hesitantly responded, “Well, t-they… I’ve never really been afraid , just heard things.”
“ Things ?”
“L-like, that giants eat people, and they’re cruel. T-the stereotypes I hear thrown around are… yeah, they’re scared of you,” Terry fidgeted anxiously.
She nodded, “Yeah, that’s fair. I hear that stuff quite a bit. Also that giants are stupid or inhumane and whatever bullshit. It doesn’t get to me as much as it used to, though.”
“T-that’s good.”
“Yeah. I’ve dealt with some pretty nasty humans before,” Masha swirled the tea in her cup, “You get used to all the insults. Then you get to laugh about how uncreative some of them are. They just take something and twist it until it fits their standard to demonize giants and make ‘em this scary evil thing to hide from. We’re just people, just trying to survive like everyone else. There’s a reason so many giants keep to their own countries instead of moving into human spaces.”
Terry listened to each word, nodding at the tangent, “It’s not fair to giants at all.”
“It’s not,” Masha shrugged, “But it’s important to me to be in this town for that reason. Be visible, dispel negative stereotypes. Just existing as myself helps so much.”
Terry smiled, “That’s a great way to put it.”
They stayed silent for a few moments, finishing off their drinks. Masha played with the teabag, bobbing it in the little puddle left at the bottom. Terry had managed to drink about a quarter of an inch of the tea, and they looked about done with it.
“Will you come over again sometime?” Masha felt a twinge of need in her instincts. She’d miss Terry if they left. She felt like she really hit off the friendship with them, and wanted to see them again.
“Sure,” Terry replied quietly. They seemed to be mouthing the word ‘friend’ with a joyful glint in their eyes. It made Masha feel warm inside.
She leaned back, “Do you live far?”
“Not at all, my house is just a few blocks away, it’s got the wild garden out front, if you’ve seen it before.”
“Oh, yeah! I love your house,” Masha beamed, “Alright, maybe I’ll stop by,” she laughed, imagining herself in comparison to the small building. They’d definitely be hanging out at Masha’s house in the future instead.
Terry let out a low giggle, “Sure. Thank you for having me. And for the tea, it was nice to meet you.”
“Of course, feel free to pop over anytime, Terry, it was wonderful,” she extended her hand for them again, waiting as they climbed up once more, sitting and staring up with big beautiful eyes.
The giantess carried Terry along to the door, gently placing them down once they’d pulled it open.
Masha waved, “Thanks for coming over. I’m happy I met you.”
They returned the gesture, “Thank you, I’ll come over again soon. Is the day after tomorrow at 2pm okay?”
Masha grinned, “Very specific, yeah, that works. See you then, Terry.”
They nodded and walked out. Masha watched them leave, making sure they got off the porch before closing the door. She leaned against the wall, recalling the day with a gentle expression. It was lovely to meet such an understanding human, Terry was such a sweet and caring person, and Masha was genuinely so happy to have made their acquaintance. She felt her heart rate pick up, excited for the next time she’d get to see them.