Archive of Our Own ^beta

Kris is dreaming.

That’s the only explanation he can make up to explain this. Everything is a hundred times bigger around him. The couch he’s on suddenly feels as big as the whole house, his weight barely causing the pillow he’s laying down on to wrinkle.

He pinches himself for good measure. Huh, this dream feels awfully realistic. He turns around– 

What the fuck.

“Your first mistake,” a giant Bojan says, smirking down at him, “was coming here.”

What the fuck.

“I can’t believe you actually did that despite me telling you not to!” Nace fumes, and Kris thinks this is the angriest he’s ever seen him. Yes, Nace, Kris thinks, Please get angry on my behalf. Sometimes, it feels like Nace is the only one who can control Bojan.

Or not, apparently, Kris grimaces as he looks down at his small hands again.

Bojan just shrugs, looking like he hasn’t done anything wrong. “I warned you.”

“You mean you knew about this and you didn’t say anything?” Kris asks. Nace’s anger seems to diminish a little, replaced by guilt as he winces.

“I didn’t think he’d actually do it…”

“I had leftovers from the time I shrunk myself. I couldn’t let it go to waste,” Bojan explains. “Explain” seems to be an overstatement, though, because Bojan’s so-called explanation makes no fucking sense.

“You shrunk yourself?” Kris is bewildered. How has he never heard of this? There goes another chance to make fun of Bojan.

“It’s a long story,” Bojan says, suddenly looking embarrassed, but Nace shoots him a glare and opens his mouth to tell Kris the full story.

Kris watches as Bojan lunges at Nace, aiming for his mouth to shut him up. He sits down on the table he’s standing on, making himself comfortable. It’s fine, he can watch them all day. It’s not like he can go anywhere anyway.

Bojan ends up in a headlock. Kris didn’t even know Nace was capable of doing that. He watches Bojan struggle with a satisfied smile on his face as Nace recounts the time Bojan accidentally shrank himself trying to shrink Nace.

“So, it wears off after 24 hours?” Kris confirms, and Nace nods. That’s not that bad, he can handle 24 hours. Especially when Nace picks him up and carries him to his and Bojan’s room, setting him down on the bed gently, despite Bojan’s protests. It’s satisfying to see Nace being mad at Bojan. Besides, maybe being small isn’t so bad after all. It’s kinda fun, actually – everything being so much bigger gives him more space to explore, making everything more interesting, and—

Wait. Why is Nace kissing Bojan.

Bojan crawls up onto the bed – the same bed Kris is in – and snuggles up against Nace—

Now Kris realises why Bojan is so unhinged. The only person he ever listens to is a fucking softie.

Well, that or Bojan is a devil sent down to Earth specifically to seduce Nace and torture Kris.

To give them some credit, Nace and Bojan (mostly Nace) take care of Kris quite well, after they’re done being all sappy with each other in the bedroom. Nace moves with the grace of a man who’s been in the very specific situation of having to look after a mini person, picking him up and putting him down wherever Kris wants to go in a way that doesn’t make Kris nauseous, bending down to listen to him when his tiny voice doesn’t carry the same volume as it does in his full size. He knows exactly how much food to offer Kris to fill his now-small stomach, yet not too much to make him feel bloated.

Bojan, on the other hand, is simply barbaric. He constantly almost sits on Kris, picks him up without a care in the world, and almost knocks him off the table multiple times.

And there’s that damned smirk. Bojan keeps on looking at Kris with that smug expression, and Kris is endlessly irritated. “I’m taller than you now,” Bojan says once, along with one of his smirks.

God. Is that what this is all about?

“You’re a monster,” Kris breathes shakily, his eyes wide.

“Can’t hear you,” Bojan laughs and walks away.

24 hours pass and Kris is still the size of a rat.

Well, no matter, maybe another day will rid him of this predicament he’s in. He tries not to mind the worried glances Nace and Bojan shoot each other.

Another 24 hours pass. Kris is ready for the joke to end now.

He stays at Bojan and Nace’s place – he’d rather not get run over trying to get back to his own, or be left helpless with everything out of reach even if he doesn’t – but he sorely misses his own house.

And Jure. He’s never wanted to see that man more in his life.

“Why am I not big again?” Kris demands, but Bojan only shrugs, and he truly looks as lost as Kris is. He whips out his phone, tapping around on the screen as if looking for something. Nace glances over his shoulder to see what he’s getting at, but Bojan quickly jerks his phone away from Nace’s view.

“It says here that the 24 hours need to be spent with a loved one,” Bojan says, reading off of his phone.

“Where?” Nace asks, grabbing Bojan’s phone to see what Bojan is looking at. Kris peeks over Nace’s shoulder, too; he’d like to know where Bojan gets his stupid concoctions from, so that he can maybe get one to shrink Bojan forever.

Bojan’s phone is open to a blank note. “I don’t know, I made it up."

Kris is ready to keel over and die. Bojan is sick.

"You're sick," Kris tells Bojan. Bojan only shrugs.

"Sure."

Another day goes by. This isn’t funny anymore – not that it ever was.

Kris’ phone buzzes with notifications incessantly. Bojan has had enough of it, it seems, and he lunges to grab it. Kris doesn't do anything – what can he even do? Waddle slowly over to the phone too big for him to use and sit on it?

At least Bojan doesn't know his password—

"What." Kris watches as Bojan types in the password with ease.

"It's the same password you had since we were teens," Bojan points out. Kris had almost forgotten their history together, under all the recent animosity he holds toward the other man. With an unexpected wave of fondness, Kris recalls all the good moments he's spent with Bojan. Okay, maybe he's being too unreasonable. Bojan didn't mean to shrink him for more than 24 hours, anyway, maybe this is forgivable—

Every positive thought Kris is having immediately shoots out of his brain as Bojan swipes to Jure's contact and presses the video call button.

Kris lunges at his phone, hoping to aim for the end call button, but he only smacks into the phone screen uselessly. He rubs his forehead and watches helplessly as Jure's face fills the screen.

"Can you please stop messaging your boyfriend?" Bojan demands. "It's getting annoying."

"Bojan?" Jure frowns. "Why do you have Kris' phone?" Kris chews his lip nervously, ready to jump to his own defence when Jure gasps.

"Did you kidnap him?!" Jure yells, and Kris lets out a laugh of relief. Of course Jure is too sweet to think Kris would have any malicious intent.

"No. I mean, not really. Not on purpose," Bojan amends. He points the camera at Kris without warning, and Kris freezes like a deer caught in headlights. He didn't want anyone, especially not Jure, to see him like this. It's embarrassing, to say the least.

There's stunned silence for a second. Then: "Awwwww!"

"No, Jure! Not 'aw'! You should be outraged!" Kris shouts, or at least what his tiny lungs can muster anyway.

"His voice is so high! So cute! Can I come over?" Jure all but squeals.

"Yes, please come! Save me, Jure!"

Bojan looks amused as he nods. Kris could sob in relief.

Help is coming.

Kris sighs as he settles onto Jure's palms, hugging a finger. "You're here."

"You're so tiny!" Jure coos, petting Kris. Kris doesn't like being so vulnerable in front of anyone except Jure, but he hasn't felt his boyfriend's touch in a few days, and so he can't help but snuggle up to the finger Jure is using to pet him with. Kris sneaks a glance at Bojan, then quickly closes his eyes again. He can't stand the smugness on that man's face.

"Can we keep him like this forever?" Jure asks in excitement, and Kris' eyes fly open. Absolutely the fuck not.

"How is he going to play in the band at this size? Besides, I think being small is a lot harder than you think it is." Nace, the saint that he is, gently tells Jure. Jure visibly deflates, but he continues petting Kris, and to him, that’s all that matters.

“At this rate, it looks like he has no choice,” Bojan says. “He doesn’t look like he’s getting any bigger to me.”

“It’s your potion,” Kris snarls. “You fix it.”

“You’re even cuter when you’re angry and small!” Jure positively cries, ruining Kris’ totally menacing moment.

“I can’t. I don’t even know how. Besides, I already told you my guess earlier.”

“Yeah, a guess. A baseless hypothesis.”

“Okay, no matter how cute you are, I’m going to take you home now,” Jure interjects. Kris leaps to his feet, staggering on the uneven surface of Jure’s hands. “Yes! Take me home!”

“But, Jure, what if something happens to Kris? Like a side effect or something? I’m the only one who has the potion, right? I know the most about it, maybe I could help,” Bojan protests.

Kris whips around to face Bojan. “That doesn’t make sense, you don’t know shit about this!” When Kris locks eyes with Bojan, he can see it in the other man’s gaze: Bojan just wants to see Kris’ suffering first-hand for as long as he can.

Bojan truly is heartless.

Kris watches in despair as Jure nods. “Huh, I guess so. Can I spend the night over too, then?” Kris turns his gaze to Nace in desperation, but Nace is gazing adoringly at Bojan. Fucking softie.

“Okay, then, we’re all sleeping here tonight!” Bojan declares, making sure to give Kris one last devious look before taking Nace’s hand and trotting to their bedroom.

Jure carries Kris to the sofa and gently puts him down. “We get to sleep together tonight, Kris!”

Kris sighs, making himself comfortable in the curve of Jure’s stomach as he lies down too.

If nothing else, at least Jure is miles better than Bojan.

Kris is sitting on a chair at the kitchen table, nibbling on a french fry Jure occasionally bends down to give him. Each fry takes him about ten minutes to finish eating, but Jure doesn’t seem to mind, scrolling on his phone as he plucks a fry from the small pile he’s saved especially for Kris every now and then to feed it to him.

Mid-chew, Kris feels a strange sensation. He quickly swallows the fry in his mouth and squeezes his eyes shut. Is it possible to get food poisoning from a fry? Or anything he’s eaten in the past few days? Did Bojan purposely give him something to upset his stomach and torture him even more? A wave of nausea hits him, but in a weird way he’s never ever experienced before.

As quickly as it’d come, it’s over. Kris tentatively opens his eyes to find Jure staring at him in shock. He blinks at Kris—

Wait. He's at eye level with Kris.

Kris looks down and realises his feet are touching the floor once again, the fry he had been eating squashed under his now full-sized thigh where little him had been sitting before, the once-giant fry now seeming all too tiny.

“Holy shit, Jure! I’m not small anymore!” Kris exclaims, reaching over and crushing Jure in a hug. Jure laughs and hugs him back, his arms finally able to wrap around Kris again.

“Wow, that was freaky,” Bojan comments from his spot over on the sofa. “I’ve never seen someone grow like that before.”

“Shut up, Bojan. I’m big enough to kill you now,” Kris mutters, still not letting go of Jure. He’s never been so appreciative of the fact that he’s the size of a normal human until now.

Right, Jure. As much as Kris thinks Jure would be downright adorable as a miniscule version of himself, he doesn’t think he wants anyone – except Bojan – to go through what he just did. “How do I know you’re not going to do this again?” he demands, removing his face from Jure’s shoulder to glare at Bojan.

“I don’t know where I got that potion from,” Bojan admits, so earnestly that Kris is thrown off for a moment.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Nace, who’s beside Bojan, asks. “Like, you don’t remember or something? How could you possibly not know?”

“I mean, I don’t know. I’m sure I would have remembered if I knew.”

That. That makes no sense.

Well, no matter. That’s not his concern now. As long as he knows Jure is safe. He grabs Jure’s hand to leave.

“Wait, so my hypothesis was right after all!” Bojan crows, and Nace gives him an adoring look. “It's been 24 hours since Jure came over!”

“Does that mean you don’t love us?” Nace gasps, turning his hurt gaze to Kris. “Isn’t that what Bojan said? 24 hours with a loved one?”

Kris sighs.

They’re both idiots.