Chapter Text
"Sooooo… does the [mean green machine] want to explain to [little ole' me] how you got into this mess or should I start [guess and choose]?"
"Oh go fuck yourself."
The insufferable mailman grinned cheekily down at him, a segmented finger poking Battat's side roughly, making the die stumble off to the side. He flung an arm out to keep himself balanced and upright while the other flew up to steady his head and keep it from rolling.
Battat shot a glare up at the puppet who's grin never seemed to falter from his reactions. If anything, he seemed to be enjoying making Battat's life a living hell. The pippins wasn't sure if his life was better while the mailman was missing or when he returned… that's still up for debate.
"Aww, the [brand new set of dice!] thinks he's intimidating like this!"
Battat flicked a middle finger up at Spamton, earning him one of those jarring, glitchy laughs. The finger came back for another harsh poke and Battat quickly shoved it away.
"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't brought Cyber World contraband here with you!"
The puppet snickered, leaning in closer to the small pippins. "This would [never ever] have happened if you hadn't [breaking and entering] this room."
Battat sputtered for a moment. "Breaking and entering-! Tenna gave me the keys to every room to make sure everything was running smoothly at all times!"
"Tenna gave Mike the keys."
Battat swallowed thickly as static filled Spamton's eyes at the mention of Mike's name. Right… he still wasn't over learning what Battat, Jongler, and Pluey had done, pretending to be Mike. Battat thanked his lucky stars again for Tenna explicitly telling Spamton to not take revenge against the three of them for their crime.
It definitely didn't stop Spamton from taking his own subtler petty revenge. And unfortunately, with Battat currently shrunken down to a few inches due to him accidentally messing with a strange tool from Cyber City, he was now in a perfect position for Spamton to take any revenge he wanted.
Based on the ever widening grin on Spamton's face, he knew it too.
The puppet's hand came at him again, but this time, instead of poking at Battat again like he had expected, Spamton wrapped his whole hand around Battat. Battat let out an undignified squeak at the sudden contact, immediately trying to wriggle out of the hold. He froze however when Spamton suddenly lifted him off of the office desk he was previously situated on.
The pippins' arms were held snugly to his side and no matter how much effort he put in, Spamton was holding him just tight enough to where he wasn't able to free his limbs to even think about steadying himself. He took a glance to the side and gasped as he realized just how high he was. Even with Spamton's short stature, the height Battat was being held at looked extreme while he was at his current size.
Before any of his thoughts could settle into anything too coherent, he was moving again. Spamton began twisting him around, almost as if examining the small pippins in his grasp. Battat was powerless to stop it, only able to let Spamton examine him as he pleases.
The puppet hummed for a moment before the movement stopped and the grip on the pippins loosened. Battat leaned back slightly in the hold, not bothering to move yet as his chest heaved. His face felt warm and he attributed it to all the movement he was just put through. That's it. It wasn't anything else. Not with this bozo out of everyone.
Battat tried to let his thoughts settle but was once again interrupted as segmented fingers came down upon him and grabbed at his right arm. He stared wide eyed at the hand as it pulled him forwards slightly with a small tug. He stayed frozen as Spamton gently rolled his arm inbetween his fingers.
The fact that Spamton wasn't saying anything was concerning. If anyone could rival Battat in terms of talking someone else's ears (metaphorical or literal) off, it was Spamton, the former salesman. He couldn't say much on the subject right now though. He thinks if he were to try saying anything right now it'd come out as some pathetic noise or nothing at all.
He willed his gaze to move away from the hand still fiddling with his arm and looked up instead… and oh, this really doesn't help either. Spamton looks absolutely transfixed, seeming to eat up each and every movement he's causing in the other's body by using only two fingers.
Battat takes a shaky breath to calm himself, trying desperately to dull the ever growing warmth in his face.
Eventually, Spamton seems to take some form of mercy on him and moves to carefully pinch Battat's tiny hand in between his forefinger and thumb. The thumb rubs gentle circles along Battat's palm and the pippins can't help the shudder that runs through him.
The fingers let go and Battat breathes out a sigh of relief.
Spamton chuckles before finally letting out another smug comment, "I didn't know you were [absolutely starving!] for attention this badly, [batter up]! Though maybe I could've guessed with you [playing pretend] for so long."
Battat just stared at the retreating fingers, chest heaving in anticipation. He thought about retorting, snapping back at the puppet and giving him the retort he was most definitely fishing for. But… the feelings running rampant in his mind were just too confusing for him to process much. His brain felt like mush.
He was angry. He was mad that Spamton of all darkners was the one making him feel like this. Because he could deny it out loud as much as he wanted, but inside? Not so much.
He was angry because he liked this. Being treated like this. A desperate part of him wanted Spamton to slam him down onto the desk and treat him rougher, roughly yank him into the air and fidget with his body with no remorse.
A fleeting memory flickered into his mind, remembering how Tenna had once pinned him down on the couch in a fit of anger, in the days before everything had become official between the four of them. Back when Tenna learned about the Mike gig and the pretending and the lies.
Huh, his rampant mind back then was right. He did like this whole manhandling thing. He just expected it to be Tenna. Maybe Jongler but that one was more a fantasy… at least until now, now that there's a way to shrink him like this. He knows Jongler would be so gentle with him and he can feel his face warm at the revelation.
He's not sure how much he'd trust Pluey though. He's pretty sure he knows exactly where he'd end up and he is nearly certain it would only take a few minutes for the damn shadowguy to do it too.
But this was Spamton. The mailman who left Tenna high and dry all those years ago. Sure, he properly explained himself upon his return, but that didn't lessen the blow of what he had done. It couldn't.
And yet… Battat liked this. Even though it was Spamton. He'd never admit it out loud, but the puppet had his own charming moments… sometimes. He's sure that was how others viewed him too, so he couldn't be too harsh about it.
So that brought the question of whether or not he liked Spamton the same way as the others. Tenna clearly still liked him. Pluey and Jongler didn't have an opinion yet. So where did he fall? He wasn't sure. He thinks he'd give the dumb puppet a try though. If not for Tenna's sake then to sate his own curiosity.
The feeling of fingers pinching the back of his poncho snapped his thoughts out of their spiraling. Shit shit shit, no not there, not there-!
His whole body froze and his eyes widened. Battat desperately willed himself to move, to yell, to do anything. He wanted to tell him to stop and yet his tongue sat heavy in his mouth and his lungs began to burn with the intensity he was suddenly bringing air in.
Thankfully, the fingers retracted almost as if burned. The moment he felt his poncho was released, he slumped down in the hand, going almost entirely limp. He heard Spamton curse above him and suddenly they were moving.
Battat quickly found that he had much more room to move his arms this time, so he pulled them out of the fist that was holding him and latched his claws onto the finger closest to him. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he tried to ground himself.
Internally, he kept repeating a mantra that reassured him that Spamton hadn't known. It wasn't on purpose. He was fine. He stopped immediately. He let it be. He panicked.
It didn't lessen the tightness in his chest at those less than stellar memories.
A saxophone rang out and a surprised exclamation was heard over his inner mantra. Battat opened his eyes to make out a tall, blurry figure adorned in a red suit reach out for him. Large, gloved fingers began to gently wrap around him and began tugging him out of Spamton's hold.
In an act of defiance, Battat curled his claws in tighter to the finger he was holding onto as he let out a protesting whine he would be embarrassed of later. No! Tenna could have him in a moment! He needed Spamton to know he forgave him.
"[Green bean]? It's just [ten outta ten], it's ok."
Battat nodded and looked up at Spamton's face. The puppet looked confused. Battat would liken his current look to that of a drowned rat. The puppet definitely still looked like he just climbed out of the dump after a downpour. The image in his head of that actually happening brought a sudden snort out of him. He loosened his claws tight grip.
Spamton rolled his eyes and held Battat up to Tenna. But Battat saw the slight upturn in his mouth. A quiet apology and a quiet acceptance. Both of them would rather petrify than to do any of that out loud.
Tenna once again reached out to take Battat. This time, as the TV's hands wrapped gingerly around him, Battat let himself be pulled into the air.
The pippins sighed and immediately burrowed into the hands, earning a fond and much more familiar chuckle. As much as he was liking Spamton's hold, this right here was everything he had dreamed of. And more depending on what Tenna would do afterwards.
He heard Jongler's voice in a whisper with Spamton's reply being much less quiet. Probably the zapper going to find out why they had come in so frazzled and to figure out what caused the issue.
A finger stroked the top of Battat's head and he closed his eyes, pushing into the touch. Tenna cooed at him and continued petting the shrunken die.
Eventually, Tenna brought Battat up to his screen. He pressed his lips against Battat and made a loud exaggerated "mwah!" as he kissed Battat. A dopey smile flickered onto Battat's face as his face warmed exponentially. Tenna grinned and leaned down with another kiss, this one placed squarely on his chest and fully covering his small frame.
He followed up with a bunch of kisses all over Battat, each one punctuated with an exaggerated noise. He only stopped when Battat finally pushed at his screen, the die's embarrassment clear as day on his face.
"Oh Battsy~ when you look like this, well, I could just eat you up~"
Battat let out a flustered whine, his face feeling as if on fire. He opened his mouth to respond when a frantic glitchy voice interrupted.
"Oi, [cathode]! You can't just say that when he is [fun-sized], the [high rollers] are going to assume you actually are going to!"
Battat tilted his head towards Spamton, face still flushed a dark green but some confusion shining through.
"Uhh, yea? You know he can do that. Hasn't he eaten you before? There's no way I was wrong about you being the first person he's ever eaten."
Spamton's whole body seemed to go through a shocked glitch, entire body twitching violently for a moment as gargled nonsense left his mouth. Finally, it seemed to settle down as Spamton got enough control back to yell, "He's still [fine dining] others?!"
Spamton turned towards Tenna with an accusatory finger pointed at the CRT. "You said this wasn't a [normal life] thing you did! You're [TV dinner] your other employees after I told you it was a bad idea?!"
Tenna whined, holding Battat up to his screen in defiance. "I only did it against their will once-"
"AGAINST THEIR WILL?! [CATHODE] WHAT THE [$@&!]!"
Tenna shrunk slightly, antenna going slack. He seemed to glance down at Battat for a moment. "We'll have this conversation in a minute, I'm just gonna tuck Battsy away real quick and-"
"[CATHODE]. NO. YOU DON'T JUST EAT PEOPLE- Tenna. No. Tenna! GET [GREEN BEAN] AWAY FROM YOUR MOUTH."
Battat was all but shoved into the screen, but he just melted into the tongue and let Tenna take care of him, the commotion outside becoming muted as the mouth sealed behind him. At this size, he fit perfectly in here, like a simple piece of hard candy. The thought did weird things to his body.
He let Tenna lick at him until the tongue quickly began nudging him towards the throat. A quiet laugh escaped him as he could only imagine Spamton's growing irritation. He let Tenna swallow him down with a happy sigh, knowing that Pluey and Jongler were probably soon to follow. He hopes they go get themselves shrunk too, then they could all relax inside Tenna with no visible evidence of them being there.
Yea, he could get used to this.