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Peppino was, for the most part, used to Feppino’s shapeshifting shenanigans by now. Splitting himself up into multiple bodies, giving himself extra limbs, whatever on earth was going on with his chase form– you name it, Peppino could handle it. He never knew the exact limits of Feppino’s shapeshifting, though; he only had so much mass, apparently, but most of it was tucked away in hammerspace at any given time. As far as Peppino could tell, the only thing holding Feppino back was his body’s own structural integrity. Even then, he was pretty sure he’d seen everything at this point. His chase form was the farthest he’d actually push it, right?
…right?
Peppino awoke to moonlight streaming in through his window, his arms uncomfortably empty and cicadas chirping outside. Eyes still mostly shut, his hands felt around the bed, ruffling through the sheets for any trace of his Snick plush. Rolling over, he reached over the edge, picking it up off the floor and pulling it back into his arms. But just as he felt himself falling back asleep, he heard something coming from outside.
At first he thought it must’ve been something hitting the window; it was loud, that same sort of rhythmic sound as a bird slamming against the glass, trying to fight its own reflection. Gritting his teeth, he pulled the blanket up over his ears, squinting his eyes shut as tightly as he could.
(“Peppinoooo…”)
His eyes darted open, his heart racing in his chest. That was definitely Feppino’s voice, but… not. It had the same tone as a whisper, but it was far too loud to actually be one. And it wasn’t like he was whispering in his ear, either. He’d be able to feel his breath if he was.
Great, more hallucinations, Peppino thought. At least they were just annoying this time.
Gritting his teeth, he squeezed his Snick plush tighter, waiting for the tapping to stop.
(“I see you, Peppino!”)
Okay, maybe they weren’t hallucinations. That sounded way too real. Normally, when he heard things while laying in bed like this, it felt like they were coming from somewhere inside his head– almost like he’d started dreaming before he’d even fallen asleep. This time, it sounded like it was coming from right outside his window. But that was impossible, right? His bedroom was on the second floor, after all, and there wasn’t a roof under it that Feppino could stand on.
Rolling back over to face the window, he pulled the blanket off his head, and opened his eyes.
“EYAAAAAOAOAOAOW!”
Staring straight through his window was an eyeball bigger than his head– an eyeball that very clearly belonged to Feppino.
(“Look!”)
Peppino’s heart was still racing at mach one as Feppino pulled away, giving him a better idea of just how big he must’ve been right now. He was sitting down and still nearly twice as tall as the two story house– he had to be at least 100 feet standing up, probably even more. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Peppino dragged himself out of bed and opened up the window, staring out at his now-giant doppelganger.
“Feppino–?”
Feppino beamed at him proudly, his tail wiggling and crossed eyes twinkling in the moonlight.
(“What do you think?”)
“What on earth are you-a doing?”
Feppino’s smile turned to a disappointed pout.
(“You don’t like it?”)
“It’s-a 1AM, Fep,” Peppino replied, rubbing his temples. “Why are you-a, you know-a…”
He gestured vaguely towards Feppino’s massive form, his eyelids still heavy with sleep.
(“Big?”)
“Yeah-a!”
(“I wanted to see how big I could shift, but I didn’t wanna bug anybody, so I did it at night!”)
Peppino let out a long, deep sigh. Feppino sorta just… did things like this sometimes. No real explanation, just another day of him shifting into some particularly bizarre form. Thank god he lived in the middle of nowhere, he thought. At least he wouldn’t have to explain this to anybody.
“Just-a– don’t crush-a the garden, okay-a?” Peppino said, reaching up to close the window.
But before he could, Feppino’s hand moved back down, a single massive finger holding it open.
(“Peppino…”) he whined, his pupils even bigger as he stared down at him.
Peppino rolled his eyes, his hands moving back down to the windowsill.
“What-a is it?”
(“You don’t want to come outside with me?”) Feppino asked. (“It’s really nice out!”)
Peppino stared up at him, leaning out the window to get a better look. He could probably fit in the palm of one of his hands with some room to spare– even the trees surrounding the house looked almost toy-sized next to him. Taking a deep breath, he looked past Feppino’s smiling face and up at the stars. He was right; it really was nice out right now. Under the blanket of night, the summer air had a rare chill to it, the cool wind gently blowing against his thin pajamas.
“Alright-a, just for a bit” he replied. “I-a need some fresh air anyways.”
Feppino beamed, reaching out towards the window with an open palm.
(“Here!”)
Without a second thought, Peppino crawled out and stepped onto his hand. He’d already gotten used to Feppino’s odd texture– soft and squishy like bread dough, yet strangely good at keeping its shape –but stepping onto it was something else entirely. He jerked, trying his best not to lose his balance as he felt like he might slip straight through his fingers and fall down onto the ground below. In his rush to keep himself steady, he fell flat on to Feppino’s hand, face splatting against his doughy skin. He heard Feppino laugh, loud and gurgly as his other hand reached down to help him up. Grabbing onto his finger, Peppino pulled himself back up and rubbed a bit of goop out of his eye.
(“Sorry,”) Feppino said. (“I won’t drop you, I promise!”)
Peppino just laughed, letting out another small sigh as he sat down on his palm.
“If you-a say so.”
Carefully, Feppino pulled his hand away from the window, keeping his other hand cupped around him so he wouldn’t fall. Peppino grabbed onto his finger for security, eyes bugging out of his head as he stared down at the ground. Swallowing, he turned away, keeping his gaze firmly placed on the inside of Feppino’s cupped hand as he lifted him up towards his face.
(“You look so tiny, Peppino,”) Feppino said, clearly excited.
His breath nearly knocked Peppino backwards, but Feppino didn’t seem to notice, his hand moving down to give Peppino a playful pat on the head with one finger.
“Hey-a! Stop-a that!”
(“But you’re so cute!”)
“I’m a fourty five year old-a man! I’m-a not cute, ” Peppino replied, furrowing his brow and crossing his arms.
(“Teenie tiny, itty bitty Peppino,”) Feppino said in a sing-song voice, completely ignoring Peppino’s embarrassment.
His hand moved down to give Peppino a tiny poke on the stomach, and Peppino scooted back, hands gripping Feppino’s palm in a poor attempt at keeping his balance.
“I’m-a not tiny! You’re-a just huge! ”
Feppino just grinned, his massive tongue peeking out of the corner of his mouth as he did so.
(“Which makes you tiny compared to me!”)
He gave Peppino another tiny poke, this time on what was probably meant to be his cheek– but ended up being more like the entire right side of his head. Peppino huffed, rolling his eyes.
“If you-a say so.”
His words were quickly followed by a long, loud yawn, his arms stretching out over his head as he leaned back against Feppino’s cupped fingers. It felt strangely nice, being surrounded by his hand like his; Feppino’s skin was warm against his back while the cold air blew against his face, his eyes threatening to slip back shut right then and there. Carefully, Feppino lifted him up closer to his face, lopsided eyes blinking down at him curiously.
(“Sleepy?”) Feppino whispered, tilting his head to the side.
“Yeah-a,” Peppino grumbled.
(“Wait, just one more thing before you go back to bed–”)
Feppino held his hand up to Peppino, spreading out his fingers.
(“Hug? Please?”)
Peppino laughed a bit to himself, spreading out his arms.
“Alright-a, alright-a. Just one.”
He slotted his arms between Feppino’s fingers, wrapping around his hand and giving it a tight squeeze. Feppino purred contentedly, eyes squeezing shut in excitement as his little tail wiggled as fast as it could.
(“Okay, now you can sleep!”)
Peppino gave Feppino’s hand one more little pat before he pulled away, letting Feppino reach back down to the window so he could crawl inside. Grabbing his Snick plush, he straightened out the blankets and nestled back into bed. Just as his eyes had started to slip shut and he wondered if this had all been a dream, he saw Feppino crawl through the window in turn, back at his seven foot size and still dripping slightly from where he’d shifted. Without a word, he took his spot at the end of the bed, laying on top of Peppino’s legs.
“Next-a time, don’t-a wake me up in the-a middle of the night, alright-a?”
(“If you say so.”)