Chapter Text
TV Studio was as chaotic as it always was. There were pippins running around and trying to finalize props and sound tech, a bunch of shadowguys were desperate to keep everything clean and tidy, the zappers had to be ever diligent on their guard duties, people were making sure the schedules were in tact, and stars needed to make sure they were thoroughly prepared.
And then there were the Mikes.
It was rather odd at first, when people started noticing two or three Mikes in the same room, all wearing various costumes they've seen him in before. The darkners of the studio weren't quite sure what happened, but so many were so busy with their own work in the studio that they stopped caring again after only a few days. A few rumors circled around but that was the extent.
Was Mike always three people? Did Mike split into three people all of a sudden? What was Mike? Who knows?
TV World employees got used to the change quickly, and darkners often found themselves seeking specific Mikes if there were certain issues. The Cat Mike seemed to be a whizz at sound design despite never speaking a single word. The Cowboy Mike was often sought out to resolve conflicts between departments and seemed to always be able to safely defuse a situation with minimal casualties. And the Small Mike would be the go to for any scheduling issues, especially in regards to show times and appointments.
The denizens all knew who the Mikes would prioritize, that part never did change. The three of them seemed ever loyal to Tenna and would always prioritize his demands. What Mr. Tenna says goes in this studio, nobody can change that.
Like right now for instance.
"Mike! Oh thank the stars I found one of you!"
Battat sighed to himself and took a deep breath before turning towards Elnina, his wide grin plastered onto his mic mask. Just one minute. One minute of relaxing was all he wanted. He wanted to pull this mask off and the suit off and breath real fresh air for one whole minute before being pulled into another issue.
"I swear, if there's another change the directors want to make to the airing schedule I'm going to lose my cool."
Elnina had the decency to shoot him an apologetic look before speaking. "It's Tenna… he's second guessing the schedule and wants to scrap and rewrite it?"
Battat's eye twitched. He's never been happier for this mask actually. Just pretend. Your shift is almost over and you can take a well deserved nap. He doesn't even want to go to the theory board anymore, he just wants to rest.
The disguised pippins brought his hands together and held them in front of his mouth, taking a deep breath. After he exhaled, he willed his cheery voice to take center stage.
"Well now, we can't have that! Lead me to our dear boss and I'll have this remedied faster than you can blink!" He wanted a raise. He does not care that he just got one. He wants another.
Elnina looked beyond relieved and waved him to follow, quickly running towards the green room. Battat stayed right on her heels, body aching and demanding he stop and rest. Ugh, the things he does for Tenna.
Once they arrived, the moon waved him in and gave him a thankful nod before running off, presumably to go search for Lanino. What Battat wouldn't give to run off to Pluey or Jongler right now…
He caught his breath before pushing into the green room. An oddly empty green room save for two other figures. Pluey was stood by Tenna's legs, jogging to keep up with the giant pacing TV as he fumed over some papers in his ever tightening grip. Everyone definitely jumped ship once they noticed him spiraling. Count on TV denizens to leave the dirty work up to the Mikes.
Pluey caught his eye and sighed in relief upon noticing the second Mike. They allowed a musical sigh to escape them and got Tenna's attention as well with the sudden noise.
The CRT paused his pacing and glanced down at the disguised shadowguy before turning to the door, a bright smile on his screen appearing as he saw Battat.
"Bat- I mean, Mike! Just the guy I was hoping to see!" A faux sweat drop appeared on Tenna's screen at his near slip up. Battat sighed and shook his head.
The trio had been doing fairly well at continuing the Mike charade, though it wasn't as necessary as before. The only reason they did was because that was how the rest of the studio had already seen them and the three really didn't want any different treatment outside of costume. The only one really struggling was Tenna.
None of them really blamed the television. He had found out that none of them were actually Mike and because of the events that transpired after the trio's discovery, he was not as willing to refer to them as such. He still did for appearance sake, but behind closed doors the CRT would refuse to call them Mike.
Battat isn't sure if it's grief from losing the real Mike, whoever he was, or if it was remorse from what he did to the pippins.
That wasn't important right now though. What was important was that they needed to make sure Tenna didn't screw up their well planned schedule, one that was supposed to give the whole studio a few well deserved days of break.
"So I heard. Boss, why are you trying to change the schedule? We've had this finalized for weeks!"
Tenna sighed and glanced his way. "But what if it isn't good enough! It has to be perfect! And if its not perfect then we'll lose viewers and then-!"
Battat made a slight gesture towards Tenna as the TV began to shrink in his self inflicted anxiety spiral, prompting Pluey to leap into action and tackle the CRT in a sudden encompassing hug. It did the intended effect, Tenna immediately froze up in the shadowguy's hold.
The disguised pippins walked up to Tenna and pat the CRT comfortingly. "Hows about we head somewhere else so the crew can get back to work? We can talk about the schedule there."
Tenna opened his mouth to retort but Pluey was quick to let out a note sounding like a cat's meow, grabbing at Tenna's hand and tugging him towards the exit. The TV pursed his lips before sighing.
"Fine, as always, you're right, Mike." Tenna smiled at the two of them. "Can one of you tell the third Mike to meet us there? I want all of my Mikes…"
Battat smiled softly. "Of course, boss. We'll get right on that!"
Tenna gave him a wide smile and Battat's stomach fluttered. And then Tenna reached out and grabbed him by the back of his costume, effortlessly lifting him into the air. His heartbeat stuttered and his breathing hitched, mind immediately going blank.
He didn't register the movement as Pluey was also scooped up and everything suddenly sounded drowned out by a ringing in his ears. His vision was now a blurry mess and his heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest. Every breath he took in sent pangs through his chest and he could nearly hear his own breathing and heartbeat over the incessant ringing.
Battat couldn't move as his legs swayed in the air beneath him and the pressure from the taut costume was ever present. The tightness in his chest continued growing and a cold sweat formed a thin layer on his body.
He blinked rapidly, trying to get his bearings and actual location. His vision cleared slightly but when he looked to the side and saw Tenna's face, everything went blurry once more. Shit he was going to die. What could he even do in this moment?
His breathing picked up and he willed himself to move, to fight, to scream, to anything. But his body refused to cooperate, instead leaving his lifeless and dangling in the air. This was it. He wasn't going to make it this time.
The pippins felt the pressure of being held by the back of his clothes release and icy cold terror filled his body. A new pressure was felt on both sides and familiar sounding noises came from all directions. This was it he was done. But why? Why why why why why-
Everything suddenly seemed brighter and his breathing suddenly no longer felt like he was breathing in the same stale air. Why was it brighter? The air felt cool against his face… that wasn't right. Think, Battat, think.
He screwed his eyes shut and tried focusing on what was happening. The things he was feeling weren't matching up… the pressure wasn't encompassing. It felt like… hands. The hands seemed to move up and down his shoulders in a familiar and methodical manner. But it wasn't his full body feeling this strange massage. Just his shoulders.
He lifted a shaky hand to his shoulder and another hand grasped it, their fingers intertwined. Another hand. That wasn't his. Battat tried to level his breathing and the shoulder massage continued.
The pippins strained his hearing over the dimming ringing and he could hear faint musical notes… Pluey? He willed himself to open his eyes and a few rapid blinks later, he was met with the sight of a familiar shadowguy singing a soft song in front of him. And it was light. Not dark. It wasn't dark.
He moved his gaze over his shoulder and saw another familiar face, a zapper carefully massaging his shoulders. Battat let a shaky smile form on his face and he could see Jongler physically sigh in relief.
The two guided him to a more proper sitting position. Oh. He was standing. His legs felt like jelly and he didn't resist, allowing his partners to guide him to sit on the floor. He ran a hand over the surface they were sat on, only to realize he still had his Mike costume on. Well, except for the mask, someone had taken it off of him and left it discarded somewhere.
Battat pulled the gloves off and felt deft hands reach up to unclip his bowtie. He'll wait to take the rest off since that requires he stand back up and he's not sure he'll be able to stay standing right now.
He allowed his hands to fall back to the surface he was sitting on and carefully ran his hand over it, letting the smooth surface bring him back to his senses. Jongler sat behind him and pulled him into their lap with no protest from the pippins. Pluey was quick to slot itself into their sides and press gently against Battat.
He took a deep breath. He was alive. He didn't anger Tenna. He wasn't in the stomach. He was in Tenna's dressing room… he scanned the room.
Empty.
Where was Tenna?
Most of the fog had left his mind and reaching a hand up to wipe his face showed partially dried trails of tears. A part of him felt silly for reacting like that to being picked up but it just felt exactly like when Tenna discovered the three of them… nope. Not going to think about that right now.
"Where's," Battat coughed, disliking the slight rasp in his voice and tried to clear his throat, "where's Tenna? Didn't he… bring us here?"
He noticed Pluey glance up at Jongler and he could feel the zapper nod against him. He rose an eyebrow and watched as the shadowguy let out a worried saxophone note and pointed towards the other side of the room. His brow furrowed as he squinted over in that direction. His vision was still off slightly so maybe he was missing something?
Shakily, Battat tried to push himself to his feet. Pluey let out a noise of alarm as the pippins stumbled but quickly pressed itself against Battat's side, helping to hold him up. He sent it a thankful grin and felt Jongler get up and help hold onto his other side.
The two slowly helped him walk over to the other side of the room. The silence was tense and Battat could quickly realize why as they got close enough for them to reach the other side.
Sitting there against the wall and curled up into a ball, was none other than Mr. Ant Tenna himself. His antenna were drooped down and his screen looked to be turned off, no light shining. Yet he was clearly awake and conscious if the slight shifting and deep breaths coming from the CRT were anything to go by.
The odd thing was that Tenna looked like he could fit perfectly into Battat's hands.
His heart stuttered, but this time was less out of fear and more out of confusion and worry. He spared a glance at Jongler and lowered his voice.
"What happened?"
Jongler shook their head. "He was already shrinkin' when I got here. Accordin' to Plues, he hadn't realized youse were having a panic attack until youse got here and thens he freaked out. I thinks he feels bad. Plues said he was holdin' you like how he did when… yea."
Oh.
It shouldn't have been relieving to know that Tenna had felt bad after scaring him like that. He shouldn't have even been that scared. But… he shook his head. They all should've had a better talk.
Battat took a few steps towards Tenna and when the TV didn't react, he knelt down and held his hands out. He kept his hands hovering around the shrunken TV and waited for a reaction, but Tenna made no move signaling that he knew the three were there.
The pippins frowned and moved his hands closer, gently nudging Tenna's back with a finger. It wasn't the first time he's seen Tenna this small, but it's still not a normal occurrence. The CRT only shrinks like this when his mood falls significantly, like when he thinks about that mailman and how he left. And he was Mike when Tenna has shrunk like this before. Now he was just Battat.
He hopes Battat is enough for his boss.
Thankfully, Battat's touch finally got a reaction out of Tenna. The TV startled and he lifted his head up, screen flickering back on and face popping into view. Tenna's face looked shocked as he realized he was staring up at Battat instead of down at him. Battat's face fell slightly as Tenna flinched backwards, only to pause as he pushed himself into the hand Battat was holding behind him.
Wow, that hurt to see someone look so afraid of him. Nobody has ever been afraid of Battat. He was one of the least threatening pippins out there. He didn't like that feeling of being feared. It left a sour taste in his mouth. Especially since it was Tenna who looked scared of him.
"Hey. It's ok, it's just me." Tenna relaxed slightly at Battat's words. The pippins felt Jongler and Pluey peer over his shoulder but he paid them no mind, instead putting all of his focus on Tenna. He smiled softly at the TV. "We're both alright."
"I-I didn't mean to scare you…"
Battat took a deep breath and gently pat Tenna's shoulder with his thumb. Ok this size difference was really weird! He was so tiny that his thumb was enough to pat his shoulder!
…
He wonders how it would feel like to be held at that size. Tenna could make that a possibility. Cradle him in a single hand. Use a finger to pat his head. Gently move his arms with two fingers. Hold him in place with a single finger. Kiss his whole body with a single peck-
NOT THE TIME.
His face flushed a pale green. Cool, he thought his crush on Tenna was gone. That's great. Awesome. Time to repress that. Again. Wonderful.
He needed to help Tenna and stop thinking about his own fantasies. He'll think about being pampered later… fuck.
"How about you give a guy more warning next time? It felt just like when you ate me."
Tenna shrank into himself and Battat felt panic take over his body.
"Whoa! H-hey! It's alright!" He sighed and glanced to the side. "I'm gonna pick you up, ok, Boss?"
Tenna stared up at him for a moment before giving Battat a slow nod. Battat steeled his nerves and carefully slid his hand underneath Tenna, using his other hand to brace the TV as he did so. Once the CRT was secure in his palms, he lifted Tenna up and held the shrunken man in front of him.
Pluey let out a few amazed sounding notes while Jongler let out an awed breath. Battat had to agree with them, this was surreal. Even Tenna looked shocked and amazed at the current situation.
But now what were they going to do?