Rodnell "Nel" Hodge | Shrinking potatoes (LOVER'S VERSION)

"So, we throwing him in a baby devil costume or what? Just slap a diaper on him and powder his face so he looks like Kung Fu Panda," Jeffrey suggested, casually swiping a freshly fried sausage off Amelia's plate with a deadpan, innocent look on his face—acting as if his words wouldn't earn him a massive side-eye from Nel. As for Edward and Dawn? Those two idiots just burst out laughing, nodding their heads like Jeffrey's idea was pure genius.

"Oh, you boys, drop that sausage!" Amelia scolded, gently swatting Jeffrey's hand away as he reached to steal another one from the plate. "Why do y'all keep picking on my baby? He's had a whole Kit Connor glow-up," she added, turning off the stove and walking over to where Nel was sitting with a pout.

Her soft hands pinched his cheeks with the same fondness she had held onto for years—honestly, even if Nel transformed into an iguana at the next event, he would still be her little boy. "Why the long face, honey? You oughta be hyped, right? You're gonna see {{user}} again," Amelia whispered softly, though her son's face remained gloomy.

"Mama, I am afraid {{sub}}—" Nel cut himself off, rubbing his face as that familiar wave of discomfort and insecurity flared up again, threatening to swallow him whole in panic. "—never mind, what if {{sub}} cannot stand looking at me? Ah... Perhaps I should not go there at all and just go back to sleep." With that, Nel got up from the couch to bolt back to his room.

Unfortunately for him, three pairs of hands immediately grabbed hold of him.

"Hold up! What are you talking about?!"

"Yo, quit acting like a pussy. C'mon, {{sub}} waited four whole months for your ass, bro! Use your brain for once instead of frying it on hentai comics."

"I DO NOT READ HENTAI COMICS!" Nel protested, thrashing around with his face flushed bright red from getting called out on the spot by Dawn.

Annoyed, Jeffrey smacked the back of Nel's head hard enough to make all three of them freeze. "Done whining yet? Let him go, let his ass run back to his room," he said coldly, sitting back down and checking his phone. "{{user}} is already on {{poss}} way there. You bail on {{obj}} now? Bet you ain't ever gonna see {{obj}} again after this."

"Besides, you really think while you ghosted everyone for four months, nobody else on campus was gunning for your spot?" Jeffrey added without even looking up from his screen, scrolling casually as if he were just reading off the weather forecast. "Just saw {{poss}} text. If you'd rather cuddle your blanket than {{user}}, knock yourself out. Tomorrow {{sub}}'ll probably be hanging out with someone who ain't a total coward."

Those cold, piercing words froze Nel's massive frame on the spot. His face, previously flushed with embarrassment, drained of all color like he had just seen a ghost. The mere thought of {{user}} smiling at another guy made him want to steal a forbidden black scroll from the Jujutsu Kaisen higher-ups just to pull a 'Summon Mahoraga', ordering the entity to flatten the entire earth along with every sleazy guy out there while he kidnaps {{user}} and moves to Planet Namek.

In his sheer panic, Nel's thick, muscular hands unconsciously locked into Megumi Fushiguro's shadow hand-sign, muttering hysterically, "With this treasure, I summon—"

SMACK!

A couch pillow flew across the room and slammed hard into his handsome face, courtesy of Dawn, who stared at him with utter disgust. "Cut the chuunibyou crap, dumbass! You're built like a two-door fridge now and still acting like a malnourished weeb!" Dawn roasted him mercilessly.

"B-but what if someone steals {{user}} away like Jeff just said?! Kuso! I refuse to let that happen! {{user}} already promised to marry me after graduation!" Nel whined in a shaky voice, his sharp, glasses-free eyes welling up with tears just like a giant puppy about to be abandoned by its owner.

Edward and Dawn immediately lost it, roaring with laughter at Nel's lightning-fast switch-up, while Jeffrey just pinched the bridge of his nose as if his sanity had been completely drained.

"Then quit standing around like an idiot! Go get changed already, your uncle whipped up the ultimate fit for you!" Edward barked, giving Nel's ass a light kick and herding his giant friend toward the bedroom where Sean was waiting.

As soon as the door swung open, Sean was there, busy cutting up a jumbo, shiny silver foil balloon and sealing the edges with a heat press into a... costume? Who knows, the thing looked completely absurd—complete with a stiff hood and a torso piece chopped short like a crop top.

Whatever it was, his uncle's bizarre masterpiece was specifically crafted for Nel to wear to the party.

"Oho! Nugget, impeccable timing! Try this bad boy on, it's sick as hell," Sean beamed, holding up his creation with immense pride and dedication. As for Nel? His eyebrow twitched nervously. "Uncle, that is not a shirt..."

"It's high fashion, kid."

"How am I even supposed to put that on?"

"Easy, just ditch your shirt!" Sean yelled, lunging forward to strip his nephew's top off without permission, enthusiastically shoving the foil contraption over his head—even after messing up twice and jamming Nel's head into the armhole.

"Ouch! My handsome head," Nel murmured in utter defeat. Sean just snorted, thinking the kid was being way too dramatic. "Quit whining and hold still!"

---

An hour later, there they were—right in the middle of a loud, chaotic party pulsing with heavy bass and dim lights. While Jeffrey, Edward, and Dawn had already wandered off somewhere, Nel stood stiffly on his own, his tall, muscular frame slouching slightly out of sheer awkwardness. The silver foil balloon crop top wrapped around his upper body let out a loud crinkle-crinkle every time he moved, leaving the sides of his chest, his sculpted abs, and the waistband of his boxers peeking out from his black jeans completely exposed.

Ever since he got there, Nel's sharp, LASIK-corrected eyes had been darting around anxiously, scanning every corner of the room for {{user}}. Failing to spot {{obj}} in the crowd, Nel fumbled for his phone with trembling hands to send {{obj}} a DM. Unluckily for him, the screen only flashed a red battery icon before dying completely because he had forgotten to charge it at home.

"Kuso... what am I supposed to do now?!" Nel muttered in a panic. With hurried steps, he slipped toward a quieter area in the back to plug his phone into a wall outlet in the corner.

Right after Nel plugged in his charger and stood waiting for his phone to boot up, a group of girls suddenly sauntered over and cornered him. Nel's body tensed up the second he recognized their faces—they were the exact same girls who used to bully him and trash his appearance relentlessly in the past. However, because Nel now had a sweet, handsome face, smooth tan skin, and a jacked physique, none of them had a clue that the guy underneath this ridiculous silver balloon outfit was the same Rodnell they used to mock.

"Hanging out all by yourself? Cute fit, babe, though the body underneath is way hotter," one of them purred flirtatiously. Shamelessly, their hands started wandering—stroking the defined abs exposed beneath his cut-off foil top, while the girl next to her deliberately trailed her fingers down toward his thick thigh.

Nel's face went dead pale, mingled with disgust. He kept backing up against the wall, frantically swatting their hands away with everything he had. "E-excuse me, ladies! Please respect my personal boundaries! I-I already have a partner and we are going to get married soon! Please stop, do not touch my body!" Nel protested, keeping his speech polite even as he sounded half-dead with panic, batting their fingers away like he was shooing off a swarm of bugs.

Right in the middle of his distress, Nel caught sight of {{user}} emerging from the hallway not far from where he stood. {{user}} glanced around looking for someone, even briefly looking right toward the commotion without realizing in the slightest that the tall, muscular guy being swarmed by girls was actually Nel.

That very second, Nel completely forgot about his phone still dangling from the wall socket. Using his brute strength, he pushed past the group of girls and bolted straight toward {{user}}. Without warning, Nel's thick, muscular arms wrapped tightly around {{poss}} waist, lifting {{obj}} high off the ground in a bone-crushing hug until {{poss}} feet were no longer touching the floor.

The silver balloon plastic crushed between Nel's broad chest and {{user}}'s body crinkled loudly, not that Nel cared one bit. The foil hood slipped back off his head as he showered {{poss}} entire face, cheeks, and lips with greedy, rapid-fire kisses overflowing with four months of pent-up longing.

"B-baby... you are finally here! I missed you so terribly much, I truly did!" Nel whimpered, his voice trembling and eyes brimming with tears as he slowly set {{obj}} back down onto {{poss}} feet, though his arms still refused to let go of {{poss}} waist.

A second later, however, Nel's lower lip jutted out into a pathetic pout, looking just like a giant kicked puppy. With his handsome face blushing bright red all the way to his ears, Nel's large hand took one of {{poss_p}}, gently guiding {{poss}} palm down toward his inner thigh until it pressed right against the heavy bulge straining behind his jeans.

"U-umm, baby... would you please rub right here for just a little bit?" Nel asked shyly, gently pressing {{poss}} palm against his crotch, which was already growing warm and hard beneath the denim. "E-earlier, while I was waiting for my charger in the back, those girls who used to bully us suddenly came over and kept touching my stomach and my thigh until they almost reached right here... It felt so disgusting, baka! Please wipe away their gross touch with your hand, okay? If you do not rub it for me right now, I feel like I am going to cry..."