Terry "Peacefully" finishes his food Tiny Terry chapter 7 by KoroKoroAi

"Yes, I am!" Terry declared, puffing out his chest. "Please don't eat this pile of food I'm practically standing on top of!"

 

Hazel's eyes went wide and sparkly. She pressed her hands together under her chin, fingers laced, and tilted her head in that way that made her look like an anime character come to life.

 

"Terry-Berry! I would never, ever accidentally eat my favorite big brother in the whole wide world!" (◕‿◕✿)

 

Terry rolled his eyes so hard he nearly fell over. "You literally did that last week. On the couch. With the popcorn."

 

"That was an accident!"

 

"You chewed, Hazel. You chewed."

 

Hazel's cheeks puffed out in a pout. "I was distracted! The movie was really good! And you're so small! And popcorn is so poppy and buttery and you just... blended in!" She waved her hands around dramatically. "It's not my fault you're the size of a sprinkle!"

 

"A sprinkle," Terry repeated flatly.

 

"A very cute sprinkle!" She beamed at him. "My favorite little sprinkle in the whole world!"

 

Terry sighed and turned back to his pile. The matcha crepe cake piece was soggy now from the tea puddle. The boba had rolled off into the honey. The macaron crumbs were dissolving. It was a mess. A delicious mess, but a mess.

 

He grabbed a piece of the mochi, the one Hazel had broken off for him, and took a bite. It was still good. Soft and chewy and sweet. He ate the rest of it in three bites, then reached for a crumb of the raspberry rose macaron.

 

Hazel watched him with her chin propped on her hands, her elbows on the table. Her eyes tracked every movement he made, every bite he took. She had that look on her face, the one she got when she was watching something cute. Like a puppy eating out of a bowl. Or a kitten playing with a string.

 

"You're so tiny when you eat," she said dreamily. "Your little hands and your little mouth and you take such little bites. It's so cute I could die."

 

"Please don't die. Then Mom would be sad."

 

"Mom would be sad if YOU died." Hazel reached out and stroked the table next to him with her finger, not quite touching him but close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating off her skin. "That's why I have to protect you so carefully. You're so small and fragile and precious."

 

"I'm not fragile. I survived your digestive system. Multiple times."

 

Hazel giggled. "That's true! You're my tough little brother." She tapped her finger on the table, making it bounce. "But you're also my squishy little brother. My soft little guy. My itty bitty Terry-Berry."

 

"Please stop."

 

"Never!" (✿◠‿◠)

 

Terry focused on eating. He worked his way through another piece of mochi, then a boba pearl that had rolled into a relatively dry spot on the table. The honey tea had dried slightly, making everything sticky, and his fingers were coated in sugar by the time he finished the boba.

 

He was getting full. Really full. The kind of full where his stomach was starting to press against the inside of his shirt. The kind of full where the next bite felt like a challenge rather than a pleasure.

 

But the pile was still there. Still towering over him.

 

"Having trouble, Terry-Berry?" Hazel's voice was sweet and syrupy, like the honey in her tea.

 

"I'm fine," he lied.

 

"You're slowing down."

 

"I'm savoring."

 

"You've been eating that same piece of mochi for like two minutes."

 

Terry looked down at the mochi in his hand. He had, in fact, been eating the same piece for approximately two minutes. He hadn't even realized it. His jaw was tired. His stomach was protesting. His whole body was telling him to stop.

 

He swallowed the mochi anyway.

 

Hazel giggled. "You're so stubborn. Just admit you're full! It's okay to be full! I'm full too! See?" She patted her belly again, which was still round and tight against her dress. "We're both stuffed little piggies!"

 

"I'm not a piggy."

 

"You're my piggy." She reached out and poked him gently with her fingertip, right in the belly, eliciting a sound from Terry like a balloon suddenly deflating. "My little stuffed piggy who can't finish his food."

 

"I-I can finish it."

 

"Then finish it!"

 

Terry stared at the pile. The custard smear was still there, congealing into a sticky puddle. The red bean paste was drying into a dark crust. The remaining boba were rolling lazily in a shallow pool of honey tea. The matcha crepe cake piece had collapsed into a soggy heap.

 

He couldn't do it. He physically could not put another bite into his mouth.

 

"I'm... taking a break," he said.

 

Hazel's smile widened. "A break? Or giving up?"

 

"A break."

 

"Uh huh." She tapped her fingers on the table. "Okay. Take your break. I'll wait."

 

She waited. For like five seconds.

 

"Okay, break's over! Eat more!"

 

"Hazel!"

 

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" She laughed, throwing her head back, her blonde waves bouncing. "God, you're so easy to tease. Your little face gets all scrunched up and you make that noise, like, 'uuuhngghhh,' it's so funny."

 

Terry's face was, in fact, scrunched up. He could feel it. His eyebrows were furrowed, his mouth was a thin line, and he was pretty sure his ears were red.

 

"I don't make that noise."

 

"You literally just made it."

 

"I did not."

 

"You did! You went 'uuuhngghhh' and your little hands balled up into fists!" Hazel demonstrated, clenching her own hands and scrunching her face in an exaggerated impression. "Like a grumpy little hamster!"

 

"I am not a hamster."

 

"You're MY hamster." She reached out and stroked his hair with the very tip of her fingernail, just barely brushing against his head. "My grumpy little hamster who can't eat a girl's scraps."

 

That stung. That stung more than it should have. "I can eat a girl's scraps," Terry said. "I've eaten plenty of scraps."

 

"Then eat THESE scraps." Hazel gestured to the pile. "They're RIGHT there. I gave them to you special. I chewed some of them up myself to make them easier for your tiny little mouth."

 

"I didn't ask you to chew them!"

 

"You're welcome!" (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ

 

Terry grabbed a piece of the matcha crepe cake and shoved it into his mouth. It was soggy and too sweet and it made his stomach lurch. He chewed and swallowed and immediately regretted it.

 

"There," he said. "Happy?"

 

"Ecstatic!" Hazel clasped her hands together. "Now eat the custard!"

 

"No."

 

"Eat the custard, Terry-Berry!"

 

"No! Hazel, you didn’t even finish your food!"

 

Hazel pouted. That big, exaggerated pout that made her bottom lip stick out and her eyes go wide and watery. The pout she knew he couldn't resist. The pout she used whenever she wanted something from Mom or Dad or, apparently, whenever she wanted her tiny brother to eat congealed custard off a table.

 

"Please?" she said, drawing out the word into three syllables. "Pleeeeease? For me? Your favorite sister?" She leaned closer, her face filling his entire field of vision. "Come on, Terry. One bite. Just one little bite. For meeee?"

 

He ate the custard.

 

It was cold and thick and tasted like vanilla and egg and sugar. It coated his tongue in a way that made him want to gag, but he swallowed it anyway, forcing it down past the protest of his overfull stomach. He felt like he might throw up soon.

 

"There!" He threw his hands up. "I ate the custard! Are you happy now?"

 

Hazel's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Yes! Very happy! You're such a good boy, Terry-Berry! Such a good little eater!" She patted his head again, a little harder this time, pressing him down until his knees buckled. "Now eat the red bean paste!"

 

"No!"

 

"Just a little bit!"

 

"I said no!"

 

Hazel's pout returned. "You're no fun."

 

"I'm plenty of fun. I'm just full. And grossed out. And tired. I want to go home and vomit my entire insides out."

 

"But we just got here!" Hazel looked around the boba shop as if seeing it for the first time. "We haven't even been here that long! And I haven't finished my drinks yet!" She reached for the oolong tea and took a long sip, her eyes never leaving him. "Just... hang out with me for a little longer? Please? I'll stop making you eat stuff."

 

"You promise?"

 

"I promise!" She held up her pinky. "Pinky promise!"

 

Terry sighed and bumped his own tiny pinky against the edge of her massive one, around half his height. It was the best he could do.

 

"Fine. But I'm not eating another bite."

 

"Okay!"

 

"And I'm not going back in your bra."

 

"Also okay!" she lied.

 

---

 

Once she was finished, Hazel started wiping down the table, gathering up the crumbs and the sticky puddles and the empty cups. She was efficient about it, working quickly, her hands moving in broad sweeps across the white surface. Terry watched the pile of his uneaten food get swept up into a single napkin. She bundled up the napkin with all the food inside and tossed it onto the tray with the empty cups and the crumpled wrappers. She tossed everything and returned to Terry.

"Okay!" Hazel, said, stretching her arms above her head. Her dress rode up slightly, exposing a sliver of pale skin above her belly button. "Come on. Let's go do something fun."

She grabbed him off the table before he could say anything, scooping him up in her palm and lifting him to eye level. "The mall has, like, a million stores. And I haven't been shopping in forever. And Mom's credit card is still in my bra, and it doesn’t technically have a spending limit." She grinned. "Let's do something fun! Now get comfy, because you're going back in!" She pulled out the neckline of her shirt, revealing a deep look into her cleavage.

 

“What? Wait, no, no - You promised."

 

"I promised you wouldn't go in the bra, silly! Cleavage is still on the table."

 

"Hazel!"

 

But she was already tucking him into her cleavage, shoving him down between her breasts with her finger. He was squeezed from both sides, pressing him against the soft warmth of her skin.

 

"Hold on tight!" she chirped, and then she was walking, faster now, her heels clicking on the tile floor, her chest bouncing with each step, back into the mall.