Less Than Nothing, Part One

By D.X. Machina

Seth wasn’t sure why he was pouring his heart out to the beautiful woman at the bar.

Oh, she was beautiful, and paying attention to him; that would probably be enough explanation for most. But Seth wasn’t chatting her up, he was unburdening himself. Unless the olive-skinned beauty smiling sympathetically at him was a sucker for hard-luck stories, this wasn’t going to lead to anything.

Seth didn’t want it to lead to anything.

He wanted Kari back, wanted her back with a desperate ache that nothing could fill. Four months had gone by since they’d broken their engagement - she’d broken their engagement. And it only got more raw and sensitive with each passing minute alone. He needed her, like he needed food, like he needed water, like he needed air.

“I’m nothing without her,” he said to the beauty at the bar. “She’s a…she’s like my goddess. There’s no meaning for me in a world without her.”

“But Kari isn’t gone from this world,” said Aphrodite, evenly. “She’s still in it. It’s just your life that she’s gone from. And there could be another who would fill that nameless gnawing.”

But Seth wasn’t listening to her. “I’d give anything to be with her. She could treat me like anything, like dirt. She could ignore me completely. Just as long as I could be with her.”

“You don’t mean that,” said Aphrodite, sipping her retsina and frowning. “You might be able to endure her cruelty. But her neglect would drive you mad.”

“I’m mad already.”

Aphrodite smiled sadly, and asked the bartender for a glass of water. She then reached into her purse, and took out a small flask, and dribbled in about three drops of liquid. She slid the glass over to Seth, and said, “Drink.”

“What’s this?” he asked, looking carefully at the glass.

“One month of her benign neglect. One month of being in her presence, and her not noting your existence one way or another. One month of heaven, or one month of hell.”

Seth looked at the glass quizzically. “What kind of game is this?”

“At the end, if it is more heaven than hell, I will give you the rest of this - enough for a lifetime of her benign neglect. If it is more hell than heaven, I will do you the mercy of not giving it to you. Of course, there will be a price for that, but we can discuss that when the time comes.”
Seth stared at the glass. “You’re saying if I drink this, Kari will take me back?”

“No,” said Aphrodite. “I’m saying if you drink that, you will be with her, and she will not send you away. But that is not the same thing.”

“It’s close enough,” said Seth, grabbing the glass and throwing it back. It tasted vaguely of anise. He closed his eyes, and felt the warmth spread through his body. “I don’t know why I did that,” he said. “I mean, I just met you. And what you’re saying is impossible. But I believe…”

He didn’t complete his sentence. Instead, he toppled over, and fell fast asleep.

*  *  *

 

Seth awoke in darkness, lying cockeyed on a soft, curving plain. He struggled to his elbows, and looked around, but he couldn’t make out much in the dim light that filled…well, it wasn’t a room. Not exactly. Indeed, he wasn’t sure what it was. It was familiar, and yet it was radically different from anywhere he’d ever been.

He rose, and felt his feet sink slightly into the ground. It felt like fabric of some sort. Kneeling back down, he felt it, and then, his nose close to the ground, he caught her scent.

Her scent. Kari’s scent. The ground was lousy with it. It was light, not overpowering. And it was masked somewhat by the scent of lavender. But it was there, as sure as he was alive.

She was around. Somewhere. “Kari?” he called, quietly at first, then a bit louder. “Kari, are you there?”

As if in answer, his world was suddenly rocked by an earthquake the likes of which he had never felt. He fell to the ground and flew sideways, colliding with an upsweeping wall.  He rolled a good forty feet back to level ground, where he lay on his back, gasping for air.

“What the hell was that?” he said, and then he screamed.

She was there, filling his sky, mammoth beyond reason. She was a goddess, a nude Venus, staring bare-chested into his pathetic little world. He had ached for her, and there she was, her breasts swaying slightly as she bent down, sweeping a gargantuan paw into the realm, grasping acres of green fabric and still more acres of blue. She carried them off into the heavens, and he cursed, because he remained on the ground.

“Please, Kari! Don’t leave me here!” he called, and though she had started to turn away, she looked thoughtful, as if his prayer had reached her. She turned back, and dropped the twin blue moons back into the drawer, and then her hand reached over him, and pulled the sides of his little world together, and they raced skyward.

The mountain that was her left breast approached its nipple taller than he, even in its soft, relaxed state. He braced himself as the land that had been his ground became a wall, one that forced him into her areola. He felt her skin against his, the rough bumps of flesh rubbing against him, and he realized for the first time that he was naked.

His world was motion. She dipped and turned and moved and dipped again, but he didn’t care. Through the insanity and the difficulty, he was up against her. Occasionally, she would bend, and her breasts would temporarily recede just a bit, enough to remind him that the mountain was her. But then it would come back, and he could kiss her and caress her and tell her he loved her. She, his goddess, his world.

 

*  *  *

 

Kari exited the shower, cursing her inability to wake up in the morning. She was running late, and unless she hurried, she was going to be late for the morning staff meeting. She quickly pulled a comb through her curly auburn locks, using a blow drier to knock down the worst of the dampness; she knew from experience if she didn’t, her hair would be a frizzed-out disaster by the time she got to the office. She headed into the bedroom, tossed the towel onto the bed, and pulled open her underwear drawer, grabbing a mismatched set of panties and a bra. Then, remembering her evening plans, she replaced the bra with one that did match, and made the most of her assets. She grabbed her white blouse out of the closet, one that showed a moderate amount of cleavage when she was wearing this particular bra, and threw on her black pantsuit. She slid feet into pumps, and slipped her watch and a necklace on while she walked to the car. She checked the time: quarter-to. She might just make it after all.

As she slipped behind the wheel, she had a sudden flash of Seth gently chiding her about her perpetual lateness. It had been in the middle of a rather intense night of sex, not long before she decided that she couldn’t marry him.

He’d taken it hard. It had been, what, three months now? Four? She hadn’t been counting. When was it, April? Yeah, April, that’s right.

She felt badly about how it ended, and she hoped he was starting to get over her. He was a good man, and she loved him. She just wasn’t in love with him. And she knew it wasn’t fair to him or to her to pretend she was.

As she pulled out of her townhome, she wondered idly why she was thinking of Seth that morning. Probably a little guilt, she thought. But she pushed all those thoughts out of the way as she drove, focusing instead on the meeting ahead.

*  *  *

 

Seth spent hours kissing her flesh tenderly before he decided to venture further.

He had worked himself around to her cleavage, where he got a good look at her chin, and the ruby pendant necklace he’d bought her long ago. He was touched to see her still wearing it; he hoped it meant something, but even if it didn’t, he was glad she still could wear it.

He wasn’t sure why he clambered up her skin to the necklace, slipping three times before he got enough traction to get there. He thought maybe he could get to her ear. Maybe if he got right up next to her eardrum, she would hear him, know he was there. Maybe if she knew what he was willing to give up to be with her…

The links of the chain were easy enough to ascend, each slightly larger than him, allowing easy purchase as he moved up to his ultimate goal, her beautiful curly red locks, which lay haphazardly against her left shoulder. Well, against her right shoulder too, but he was heading for the left one.

When he reached her neck, he kissed her tenderly before grasping the hair. He had kissed this neck a thousand times; she loved to be kissed here. He then began climbing the curly spiral of a strand of hair, gunning for her ear, hoping he could make her know she was there.

He wasn’t counting on the motion of her hair. Humans move their heads constantly, and Kari was no exception. She was constantly turning and talking and typing and turning, and her hair swung dozens of feet on the slightest motion. When she finally got up and headed for god-knows-where, it was all Seth could do to hang on with the motion of her bouncing follicles.

He soon saw they were in a restroom. He could tell from the mirror a quarter-mile distant, the one reflecting her mountainous visage. He couldn’t pick himself out from it, which terrified him a bit, but not as much as the thing that appeared in her right hand moments later.

She brought it across her head, and a thousand skyscraper-sized protrusions rent the world, pulling the strand of hair he was on almost perpendicular. He screamed, “No, Kari!” as a massive pillar dealt him a glancing blow, causing him to fall.

He grabbed for something, anything to brace his fall, and actually grabbed something - hair that had pulled free, wrapped into the teeth of the hairbrush. But this was just a place for punishment as she assaulted her hair all over the place. He lost his grip as she finished, falling down again, until he was barely able to grab on to a red proscenium.

Her fingernail, dear God, was the size of a parking lot, and he was holding on by the barest of imperfections. He wasn’t even sure which finger he was on, and he didn’t care - he knew this was the end, especially when the world went whipping by at a million miles per hour.

But then, somehow, some way, his luck turned. The finger was suddenly grasping and pulling and he lost his grip as the hands pulled downward, and he fell, but came to rest in a soft cushion. Her legs stretched up into the heavens, two immense pillars framing a reflecting white hemisphere, while a torrent of water raged above.

She was going to the bathroom, he realized, turning away, trying to give her some privacy. He tried to figure out where he was, but before he had time, there was the roar of the toilet flushing, and then his ground was shaking, and rising again. He rolled over to see her flesh approaching, to see her…Oh, God. Her.

 

*  *  *

 

Work was predictably boring, as it always was, but it was a routine sort of boring that she could live with. Kari did her job with aplomb, and took just a little pleasure in watching a few of her male coworkers fight the urge to look at her chest. She didn’t mind them looking, as long as they didn’t get too gross about it. There was a reasonable line between noticing someone was attractive and making them feel uncomfortable about it; she didn’t mind the former. It was when she could tell the men were going beyond noticing her and going on to what they would do to her if they could that she drew the line.

Her presentation had gone well, and the follow-up meeting had been relatively productive. She might just get a hold of the Binderman project after all. Which wasn’t exciting - but was decently good for her career path.

The only thing about the day that wasn’t going swimmingly was an occasional itch, one that had started on her left breast and had migrated into the valley of her cleavage not long after lunch. It had shown up other places throughout the day - her neck, her shoulder - but it would be there just for an instant, never even long enough for her to feel the need to itch it.

She ran a comb through her hair and primped just a little, used the restroom and headed out. She checked her watch: Five o’clock. She’d make it just fine.

*  *  *

 

He was in heaven.

He slid between the folds of skin, pushing himself upward while basking in her scent, her warmth, her wonderful, magnificent pussy. He could barely see in the dark, but he knew every inch of it, and he was able to traverse the labia and into her bush, grasping the steel-like beams that were her hair, licking and kissing and caressing her all the way toward his goal.

She swayed and moved, sat down and stood up, he was aware only in the dimmest sense. By the time he reached the hood that safeguarded her nub, he had come spontaneously once, and as he slid around and licked the thing, bigger than he - and felt it, heard it grow - he was convinced that if there was nothing more than this, nothing more than this to his life - it was all he wanted. He wished he could tell Aphrodite now to complete the deal, to seal it - but he had patience. A month of this, and then a lifetime. A lifetime of her as his world, his goddess.

He made love to her clit, cuddled with it, treated it as the extension of her that it was. And he was rewarded. For some time later - he knew not how long - light streamed in. And he was greeted by her finger, which worked its way in and joined him, sliding him over her clit and in through the gates he had been too tiny to open on his own. He slid deep within her, and came back out and over and up and over and in and out and over and then, she burst, and the tsunami of her ardor overcame him, washed him out onto her bed.

He lay there a long time, after she had gotten up to go about her business. He closed his eyes and thanked the merciful and wise Aphrodite, for giving him to his goddess for her pleasure. He was in heaven, and he could not see how it could ever be otherwise.

 

*  *  *

 

It had been a wonderful evening.

She hadn’t been sure when Julia had set her up on a blind date, especially since it hadn’t been that long since she and Seth had parted. But Julia had insisted that Paul was cute and handsome, and besides, she needed to get back out there before inertia took hold. So she’d gone to meet him for coffee after work, figuring it might be good for a lark, and maybe for a brief, torrid affair. A girl has needs, after all, and while her vibrator was a quality appliance, there was something nice about coupling with someone, instead of something.

Paul was a little shorter than she would have deemed perfect, a little plainer, maybe a bit soft around the middle - but she was a bit soft around the middle, and she wasn’t posing for Cosmo on a regular basis. But he was attractive enough, and charming and friendly and deep. And while she’d been musing before the date about whether she’d want to bed down with him, she had no doubt by the end of the date. Her clit damn near ached by the time they parted with a brief kiss - and a plan to meet for dinner at her place two days later.

When she got home, she stripped and rubbed one off, quickly. It didn’t take long - she was already halfway home. She’d never felt this way about anyone, and she was damn sure going to be ready when he came over. She was going to tackle Paul but good.

Chapter Two

 

BAM. BAM. BAM.

 

He endured each blast with grimaced joy.

 

BAM. BAM. BAM.

 

He had discovered that he was invulnerable quite by accident two days ago, when she had come back to bed and sat down directly atop him, forcing him down into the mattress with such force that he could not possibly have survived it. He felt like his whole body would break. And yet as he waited, terrified, afraid of impending death, he soon found that despite the fact that he could neither move nor breathe, he was not dying. He was in pain. But he was not dying.

 

BAM. BAM. BAM.

 

When she finally rose, he felt magnificent, as the absence of pain always does. And he felt very happy about what had happened. Because while it had been painful, it had showed him that there was no part of his goddess that he needed to fear. She could not kill him.

 

BAM. BAM. BAM.

 

Which is why he had been unafraid to be standing on her foot when she pulled on that sock. He had always loved her feet, and he had worked himself onto the webbing between her second and third toes as she walked around her house, doing the normal Saturday chores, turning on a vacuum that sounded rather like a Boeing 757 three inches away from his eardrum and dusting and straightening, putting her house to rights. He had planned to jump off when she took her morning shower, but instead, she'd put on the sock.

 

BAM. BAM. BAM.

 

He wasn't sure where they were now. He had lost his grip and fallen under the ball of her foot, taking the full weight of her body with each step. There were times when there had been breaks in the action, when her foot merely pushed him into the ground, rather than rising and falling and crushing him mercilessly. But now the footfalls came rapidly, as if she was running. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination or not -- maybe it was. He didn't worry about it. Though he was in agony, he was also in ecstasy, as the sweat of her feet soaked the sock and himself, baptizing him in her perspiration. He breathed it in, drank it in. He sacrificed his pain to her, in payment for his pleasure.

 

BAM. BAM. BAM.

 

*  *  *

 

Kari pushed herself hard. Just a few more minutes of hard running and she'd be done for the day. It didn't help that Julia kept talking to her, forcing her to answer.

 

"So he's coming to your house tonight?"

 

"Yeah," huffed Kari, "gonna make him some spaghetti, pour him some wine, jump his bones. You know."

 

"Well! That must have been some date. You haven't made plans to put out on a second date since Seth."

 

"Never done it," Kari said, grimacing as the treadmill raised itself a bit. "Seth was the third date. Coulda been second, but was best to wait a week."

 

"Why?"

 

"Aunt Flo visited. Anyhow, thanks for setting us up. I think he's a keeper."

 

"No problem. Makes me jealous that I got married."

 

"Right," said Kari, finally breathing easier as the machine entered cooldown mode. "Phew. Why do I do this to myself?"

 

"So you can have the opportunity to seduce unsuspecting guys like Paul."

 

"Right," said Kari. "Almost makes me wish I stayed with Seth. I could have skipped the workouts."

 

"You don't mean that," said Julia reproachfully. "You're doing better than that."

 

"What's that supposed to mean?"

 

"Well, I just meant -- I mean, he wasn't exactly gorgeous."

 

"Look," Kari said, "I don't need you to bash Seth to make me feel better. He wasn't a bad guy, and it wasn't even the attraction -- he was plenty cute. I just...it wasn't the right fit. I can't explain it well. It's just...when I looked at him, I didn't see someone I thought I'd grow old with. He never treated me badly. I just thought we both could do better."

 

"Well, from what I hear he doesn't agree with that assessment," said Julia, sliding off her elliptical machine.

 

"Why? What have you heard?"

 

"Oh, Dave said he was pretty broken up still. Hoping you'd come to your senses."

 

Kari sighed, as her machine came to a halt. "He'll get over it," she said, trying to convince herself as much as Julia. "It had to be a shock. But really...in my heart, I don't think we were meant to be together. Not forever."

 

"You're over it though, right?"

 

"Right," said Kari, picking up her water bottle. "You can't marry someone you don't love. And I didn't love Seth, not really."

 

"I know. And I think Paul will be very glad of that in about five hours. So, should we take a sauna?"

 

Kari frowned. "No, I think I'm just gonna hit the showers. I should get home. I have a bit more cleaning to do."

 

"Gotta get clean before you get dirty," said Julia, impishly. "I doubt Paul will complain."

 

"Oh, I know," said Kari, "I'll keep him preoccupied."

 

*  *  *

 

Seth was a bit surprised when the sock was removed, but was more surprised to be pulled away from the foot with it. He was tossed end-over-end into a deep canyon, which he surmised must be a work-out bag of some sort. No wonder he'd been getting pounded -- she was back on the treadmill, trying to get back in shape.

 

He shook himself loose from the sock, and fell onto a blue field of arches slightly bigger than he. Kari's left hand reached into the bag and grabbed it up, forcing Seth to grasp one lest he fall into oblivion.

 

They went some distance, then stopped, as Kari deposited whatever he was on onto a huge protrusion. I'm on a towel, realized Seth, as he caught sight of a very nude Kari holding a bottle of bath gel, walking back into the shower area.

 

There wasn't much for Seth to do but hang out, so hang he did, watching the shower area. It was a dazzling sight. Every minute or so, a beautiful woman would walk through, either naked on the way to the showers, or naked on the way from them. The sight of three-quarter mile beauties was unreal, like he was hanging out in a shower on Mt. Olympus. But he smiled as a brown-skinned beauty paused and bent down, giving him a spectacular view. It was completely appropriate, that thought. These women were more than women -- they were goddesses. He wondered if he could be happy with another goddess as he was with Kari. He doubted it. But they all occupied his new pantheon. And he was sure to be reverent to the parade of pulchritude.

 

Soon enough, his Ladyship returned, naked and gleaming, covered in beads of water that he could swim in. She grabbed the towel as if she had no idea a tiny man was clinging to it, and Seth got a grand tour of her nude flesh, sailing past her ass, her breasts, her pussy, her thighs, even her lovely face, before she wrapped the towel around her, shielding him from light, landing him on the inside, just at the small of her back.

 

He looked for a good place to alight to, knowing that the towel was destined to go back into the bag. He tried to ease himself downard toward her freshly-washed ass crack. He thought it would be an interesting place to alight. Perhaps not the grandest of his goddess' parts, and still, a part of her, and thus worthy of respect. 

 

It wasn't an easy climb, as she moved through the locker room. He thought he heard a blow drier at some point, but eventually, he could see that the tile had been replaced by carpet, and as he felt the towel start to loosen, he through caution to the wind and dropped, landing on the north cliff face of her right butt cheek.

 

He scurried over toward his destination, looking to see if there was perhaps some downy hair he could use to cling to until her panties were safely in place.  As he reached his destination, she bent over, and it was all he could do to keep from falling. Indeed, he slid, finally grabbing hold of her anus; had he missed, he would have fallen to the floor.

 

But fortune favored him. She was getting a pair of panties on. Except something was odd with the acres of fabric coming up toward him. Oh, not their pinkish color -- that was to be expected. But the shape was...oh, no.

 

The thong underwear snapped into place, sealing him under her backside. It held him fast, giving him little room to maneuver. He was pinned between rectum and taint, unsure of where to go next. When jeans were slipped on not too much later, he was in grim darkness. 

 

*  *  *

 

Kari dried herself off, and pulled on her change of clothes. She'd finish primping at home, but she'd packed some unmentionables, as well as her better shoes, in her gym bag.

 

She ran over the conversation that she'd had with Julia about Seth. She really did feel terrible about it. She hadn't wanted to hurt him -- really, she would have found it easier to have just had the switch flip, and had her love him like she wanted to.

 

But love doesn't work that way. She wasn't sure that it would work out with Paul, frankly, though she was going to enjoy herself that night. But you can't just love someone because you want to. She hoped someday, Seth would understand and forgive her, and let her go.

 

For a second, she thought about giving him a call -- but she put the thought out of her head. No, if he was pining, it would only re-open old wounds.  Better to let it lie. He'd get over it. Time heals all wounds. There's probably another trite saying, she thought, that says it.

 

She sighed, and then smiled. She had moved on. And while she felt a bit bad about Seth feeling bad, the truth was that she had a very fun evening planned. And that was what she wanted to focus on.

 

*  *  *

 

It had been an ordeal, but he had come through it okay.

 

Actually, his position had been a blessing when she was driving. He was in a reasonably safe position, with her ass sitting all around him, but not crushing him. He was able to get himself situated finally, going further up her back to the top of her thong, where he waited patiently for a chance to move on to more interesting scenery.

 

It was a few hours before he got his chance. She was cooking, he thought -- he smelled something like cooking, anyhow, and it was more pleasant than the two bouts of flatulence he'd been exposed to. At one point, she bent over, and then back up, and he found himself falling but a short distance to her kitchen table.

 

She had it set for two, he noticed. Maybe Julia was coming over to watch movies.

 

He watched Kari walk out of the room, and he investigated the giant tableau. there wasn't any food on the table yet, just enormous plates and a couple...wine glasses? Kari only drank wine on special occasions. That was odd. But not a big deal. He found it odd that he wasn't hungry, given that it had been a couple of days since he'd eaten or drank anything that didn't come from Kari herself. But it made an odd sort of sense; he received his sustanence from his goddess, of course. Man does not live by bread alone.

 

Still, he thought if the opportunity presented itself, he might eat some food, just for drill. It was good not to forget what life as a human was like.

 

Kari returned presently, having changed into a gorgeous black and pink dress, one he always had loved. He sighed as he regarded her visage from miles away, approaching quickly. Surely, there was not a more beautiful thing in the universe.

 

She entered the kitchen, then came into the room a short moment later bearing a pot of some sort. She quickly dished spaghetti onto the two plates, and then pouring a bit of sauce on.

 

Seth was mesmerized by her perfect breasts, which peeked out deliciously as she bent over the table. The doorbell rang, and she cursed just a little. Then she did something that caused Seth's heart to sink.

 

She lit the two towering candles on the table. And then, shaking out the matches, she turned and headed for the door.

 

Candles. She wouldn't light candles for Julia.

 

But a few minutes later, his goddess returned, a god in tow. "No," Seth stammered, as they walked in, holding hands. "No, no, please, no, Kari."

 

But Kari delivered only the promised benign neglect. She did not send Seth away. Instead, she handed a bottle of wine to the giant, and he poured into glasses, before setting the bottle on the table a bare quarter-inch from Seth.

 

The wind gust blew him high into the air, before he floated down onto a massive field of red. He was on a plate, one that he saw to his dismay belonged to the god. He dove and weaved as the monster picked at his spaghetti and tried to pick up his woman.

 

"Aphrodite, please, don't let him eat me," he said. "If I must be eaten, let it be by Kari."

 

But Aphrodite didn't answer, and it was all he could do to keep plowing through the tomatoes and spices as tremendous lengths of rope were pulled out from underneath him.

 

*  *  *

 

Kari dished the spaghetti just as the doorbell rang. Quickly, she lit the candles on the table, and headed for the door, her summer dress bouncing against her knee. She paused at the door and straightened herself, chuckling that she felt as nervous as she had the night she lost her virginity back in high school. Breathing, she opened the door.

 

"Hi," said Paul, smiling a bit weakly, showing his own nervousness and a bouquet of flowers. "Wow. You look great."

 

"Those are always good words to lead with," said Kari grinning. "Come on in."

 

They chit-chatted their way to the kitchen, Kari asking if Paul had trouble finding the place, Paul complementing the Ansel Adams print Kari had in her living room, the usual stuff. Kari guided Paul to the table, and said, "I thought simple was better, if that's okay with you. Do you like spaghetti?"

 

"Love it," said Paul.

 

"Good. I've got wine -- it's a white, I hope you don't mind, I just don't like red wine."

 

"All I know about wine is that it has something to do with grapes," Paul said, chuckling. "White wine is fine by me."

 

They filled up their glasses and started to talk, slurping spaghetti and sipping wine and ignoring everything but each other.

 

*  *  *

 

He had been lucky, but his luck had run out. He tried to avoid it as the last of the spaghetti coiled around the fork, but his foot had been caught in a rivulet in one of the noodles, and he was quickly spun into a tightly-wound coil. The man's teeth approached, and he bit down, causing Seth to scream out in anguish.

 

Fortunately, a bit of spaghetti slid against the man's teeth. Seth came to a spot where he could get between incisors, and he wedged himself into the gums, praying he would survive.

 

The suction of him swallowing was intense, but not as intense as when the man spoke, saying simply, "I CAN CLEAN UP."

 

There was a pause, and then the man said, "SO, WHAT DO YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR THE REST OF OUR EVENING?"

 

And then suddenly, the lips parted, and Seth saw another row of massive teeth, another pair of lips, and an enormous pink tongue.

 

And then, all was one.

 

Seth was ripped out of his hiding place by his former fianceė's tongue, and slapped against the tongue of the god. After an infinity of time, they broke, and Seth left with Kari's mouth, which spoke words that broke his heart.

 

*  *  *

 

"I can clean up," said Paul, as they finished.

 

"We'll leave the dishes for later, but thanks," said Kari.

 

"So," said Paul, innocently, "what do you have planned for us for the rest of the evening?"

 

In answer, Kari walked over to him and gave him a lingering kiss. Breaking after a few moments, she said, "I haven't showed you my whole house. There are other rooms. The loft, the laundry room...the bedroom...."

 

"Well," said Paul, smiling, "I think that sounds like something I'd like to see."

 

Kari offered him her hand, and led him off to see the rest of her house. Or at least part of it.

Chapter Three

Seth clung to Kari's lip, hoping against hope that she wouldn't lick it and swallow him. And then, alternately hoping she'd just be done with it, as they came to the door of the bedroom in which they'd spent so many good times.

"Please, don't," he begged Kari. "This guy isn't good enough for you," he opined, which was a silly thing to say, as Seth knew nothing of the giant other than that he and Kari were both monolithic titans, and the guy wasn't Seth.

He heard Kari and the guy talking -- mostly Kari, her distorted voice bellowing out a discussion of numbers of some sort. And then the man's rough lips came into contact with Kari's, squashing Seth over and over, until in a final indignity, the lips pulled him back away, leaving him stuck to the man's lips. And then the world went topsy-turvy as the giants fell, slamming into the ground and bouncing.

Well, not the ground.

*  *  *

"So this is the bedroom," said Kari, quietly."

"So it is," said Paul, looking into the room. "It's...nice."

"Yeah, isn't it? I like it."

"King-sized bed, huh?"

"I splurged. It's nice to have some room, you know?"

Paul looked at Kari, and Kari at Paul.

"You know, I've done this more than once...does it ever get less awkward?"

"I don't think so," said Paul. "Then again, I don't know how much experience you have, I may be just a novice."

"How novice?" said Kari, dimpling.

"Uh...high-single-digits."

"Well, you'd think that would be enough experience to know."

Kari paused, then asked, "Aren't you going to ask me my number?"

"If it's going to go up by one shortly, I'm okay with it," said Paul, cheekily.

"Maybe it's low triple-digits."

"I don't care," said Paul, putting his arms around her waist, "if it's high quadruple-digits. People learn from experience."

Kari pulled Paul's head down into another long and lingering kiss. "It's twelve," she said when she broke.

"Oh? That's a good even number," said Paul, kissing her again.

"I'm expecting it'll be a baker's dozen by the morning," said Kari, pulling Paul toward the bed, and kissing him some more.

"That's an even better number," said Paul, as they collapsed onto the plain.

*  *  *

Seth looked down enviously at the twin peaks of his former fiancėe, peaks he'd fondled and sucked and ravaged again and again, peaks he had explored over the past two days. They were their typical beautiful, imposing selves, and he was aroused by the sight, just as he was repulsed to see the mammoth paw of his captor sliding over them, the voice of his captor praising them. And then his captor dropped his face, and the nipple came up and slid between, knocking Seth off the lip, but causing him to run down into the valley between the mountains, carried by a rivulet of saliva.

Seth righted himself as the man continued to kiss the breasts above him; he had to get out of here, had to get Kari to stop. He thought maybe he could make it to Kari's face, though it looked like a difficult climb to ascend her chin.

The action in the peaks above came to a stop, as the man-god began sliding his tongue against the woman-goddess' stomach, heading toward -- the bastard. "That's not yours!" screamed Seth, as he saw the man slide a finger along the acres of cloth surrounding her hips, before grabbing it roughly and pulling it away, revealing his goddess' most sacred temple.

"Damn it, you bastard! You're ruining everything!" Seth cried, as he watched the man slid fingers against his Kari's pussy, then watched the moon of his face dissapear between the twin towers of her thighs.

He heard the moans from behind him, distant through his sobs. He leaned up against her left tit, and couldn't look when the earthquake came. He simply felt its wrath, bouncing to God-knows-where.

*  *  *

"Those are really exceptional," said Paul, as he gazed at Kari's chest.

"You're making me self-conscious," she said.

"You shouldn't be. They're outstanding. You should be given some sort of major award for these," he said, stroking her breasts tenderly.

"Mmm...well, they don't make running easy...but they feel good when pretty boys...do what you're doing there...."

They were silent a good long time, before Paul began moving down her body.

"Where are you headed to?"

"Well," said Paul, apologetically, "there's something I want to see, but darned if I don't have an obstructed view of it."

"Already? I thought it was show-me-yours, I'll-show-you-mine."

"All in good time," said Paul, tracing the outline of her pussy with his index finger, feeling the warm dampness that clung to it. "But I like to think of myself as a giving person, you see."

"Ah, well if you're going to be giving me something, then feel free to move anything that might be in your way," Kari purred.

Paul was then silent for some time; his tongue was otherwise occupied.

*  *  *

She had run her hand idly across her stomach, unconscious of the flea that she picked up under her thumbnail. And she was utterly unconcerned that the flea was at present screaming prayers laced with obscenity -- or perhaps the other way around.

Seth watched the giant wall of flesh sliding back and forth as his goddess' gentle hands surrounded and played with it. Far above, he could see the purple mushroom-head that showed the top of the tower.  

A thousand horros filled Seth's mind. Would he be drowned in another man's come? Would he lose his grip and be smashed between cock and his goddess' fingers? He envisioned being lost forever in the man's pubic forest, a horrible fate. He would sooner die.

"Why have you forsaken me?" he cried, and then, there was a pause. The hand stopped moving, and instead encircled the base of the mostrous tower.

He breathed out, only to scream as his goddess opened her jaw and took in the tower, hundreds of feet into her enormous maw. She slid sensuously, rapturously up and down, and Seth could only watch as she reached out her tongue at the same time she slid her hand up, catching the underneath of her nail and the man's cock, and then withdrawing back into the heated chasm, where there were teeth and spit and the tongue and the cock.

And the cock spat forth gallons upon gallons of thick fluid, filling the space Seth had entered. He coughed and sputtered, and felt himself sliding out as his goddes slid softly off the giant's pillar. She drew her thumb across Seth and the small amount of fluid that had leaked out of her mouth, wiping it away in a quick motion. The world moved swiftly, and Seth tried to move, but found himself stuck fast against her thumb.

He wept. Aphrodite had told him, but he didn't believe. This was hell.

*  *  *

"So I'm thinking," said Kari, "we've got enough time tonight for a few tries at this, and I'm wondering," she added, "which of my body parts should be surrounding this thing tonight?"

"Well...that's...up...to...you," Paul said, quietly. "Your hand...is plenty fine..."

"Oh, you did too well before for me just to give you a hand job. I owe you more than that. I tell you what...if you think you're up to it, I'll give you what you gave me...and then in a little while...we'll both give each other something. Deal?"

"That's a deal," said Paul. He paused. "Aren't we supposed to tell each other --"

"Totally clean," said Kari. "You?"

"Nothing I've ever noticed. Good to ask, though."

"Always. Now, hold on, I'm going to have to stop talking for a while."

"You...wow," Paul said, and then silence resumed. Eventually, Kari wiped her mouth with her thumb, and kissed it once more, gently.

*  *  *

Seth had lay between them, stuck fast to her hand, ignoring the distant thunder that was the voices of the gods.

He hated her. She had abandoned him. He had given all for her, and she had turned and chosen another god, not a mortal like himself. He loved her, damn it! Loved her so much he was willing to be lint on her toe for the rest of his life.

He was willing to be nothing.

He couldn't quite make out what they were saying as he cried, but he thought, just once, he heard his name mentioned. And it shook him back to reality, if just for a moment.

She wasn't being cruel. She didn't know he was there. She wasn't cuckolding him, she wasn't trying to hurt him, if she knew he was there, she wouldn't hurt him so. Not Kari. She was too good to do that.

It made the tears stop, and gave him renewed purpose. Maybe if she knew...it may be too late. She seemed to be having a good time with this guy. But if she knew the sacrifices he'd made...he still could convince her, he hoped. He still could tell her he loved her. Maybe she'd let him stay as a pet, or as lint under her foot. He didn't know. But if he could find a way to shake free from the spit-and-semen glue that held him to Kari's thumb, he'd need to try to get her attention. It was all he had.

Suddenly, the world began to move. The thumb and finger wrapped around the man's cock again. "Great," said Seth, as he was pushed into the spongy flesh that soon, on prodding from his goddess, became hard. Then they flew away, and Seth was briefly pressed against something as a great tearing sound filled his ears, and then they were grasping down into a pouch of some sort, and he was being pressed into a resilient, wet wall. What the hell was this?

The wall moved back and forth, and he found himself dislodged and sliding. He grabbed a hold with his right hand, as the world began dropping toward the fully erect tower, lit up by the candlelight in the room. And Seth knew what he was on.

*  *  *

"So," Paul said, as they snuggled closely, waiting for him to recover a bit.

"So?"

"So I hope you're enjoying yourself as much as I am."

"Oh, absolutely. You're good with your tongue, you know."

"I take pride in my craftsmanship. I was worried I'd be a bit rusty. It's been about six months for me...not a lot of time, I suppose, but still...."

"Yeah, it's been since April," Kari added. "But it's like riding a bike, if that bike was well-hung."

"Right. I'm pretty average, I think. Not that I go around measuring."

"You're on the big side, but not too big. Too big is worse than too small, so that's good."

They were quiet for a little while, until Kari said, "Who was your last?"

"Oh, an old friend from college, Mikaela. We were in some sort of on-again-off-again relationship, and...well, we were both single and at a party. We were both drunk, too, so it was less than fulfilling. Nice girl, but she and I would not work in any sort of long-term relationship."

"Why not?"

"She's too needy," said Paul. "I like girls with spunk, and drive, who'll tell me to go fuck myself when I should go fuck myself. I know, that sounds weird, but it's true."

"I know what you mean," said Kari. "That's part of the reason I broke it off with Seth -- he's a very nice guy, but...it was like he treated me like a goddess."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"I'm not a goddess," said Kari. "I'm a woman. I don't want to be put on a pedestal. I want someone who treats me like an equal. And who isn't afraid I'll leave them if they disagree with me. I just...I couldn't take the capitulation all the time."

"Well, I can be defiant and obstinate if that's what you want," said Paul.

Kari paused a beat, then began to laugh. "Oh, can you now?"

"I aim to please. But seriously, I just want someone who'll treat me like I'm me, warts and all."

"I thought you said you were clean."

"Figure of speech. But I'm not perfect -- I can be short-tempered, I'm not great with money, and I'm still not sure the business world is where I want to be."

"You told me all this on the first date."

"I know, and you told me you were sometimes a bit too demanding and a little too cheap at times and could be passive-aggressive. And that's when I knew."

"Knew what?"

"Knew...uh...."

"Are you going to say you love me?"

"Well...maybe. Yes, I do love you. How about that?"

"I love you too," said Kari, quietly.

They kissed once more, before probing hands landed on each others' private parts.

"Well, I think you're ready," said Kari. "Now, I'm on the pill, but would you mind --"

"--wearing a condom? I'd be glad to."

Kari reached to her nightstand and grabbed a square package, and ripped it open, pulling out the oily latex sheath. She rubbed it between finger and thumb, before centering it and quickly sliding it onto Paul's shaft.

"So do you have a favorite position?" she asked, as she massaged the already hard cock.

"I do, but it makes you work more. And besides, you should get first pick."

"I like being on top," said Kari, straddling him and taking her inside in a quick drop. "If that suits you."

Paul beamed up at the woman riding him. "You and I were made for each other," he said. And then she began to move up and down, taking him deeper within her with every stroke.

*  *  *

He fell out of the condom just before they made contact, landing on the giant's still-moist piss slit. He struggled to turn aroud as the rubber was pulled down, making the wall above his head transluscent.

He screamed in terror as he saw it spread, covering the sky. It opened up, its beauty undiminished by the fog that filled his rubber prison. He saw her beautiful, neatly-trimmed bush, her glorious pussy, spread wide. She was going to ride him. It was her favorite position. And then, suddenly, she dropped.

The world was darkness, as he felt two heartbeats, one outside, one beneath, pounding as one. The floor would rise up or down, hesitantly at first, then more assured, in time with the motion he could hear, pulling the walls up and down, up and down.

He knew what was coming, and he didn't care. He hoped this would kill him, put him out of his misery. Foolish to think he could win her love as a crumb. Foolish to think he was as much as nothing.

He felt the shudders beneath him, knew the geyser was about to blow. He welcomed the shudders. They would end his torment. And then, as the movement grew frenetic, as the walls outside began to pulse in and out as well as up and down, the floodgates erupted from down below, forcing Seth into a chamber above that rapidly filled with whitish liquid, full of tiny creatures just on the edge of Seth's ability to feel him.

He floated in the lake, waiting to die, but he didn't. He was invulnerable. And for all the horror of it, he was still here. After a time, her pussy pulled away with a great suction, and was back above him, and then was gone.

The world turned again as the man wandered away. Now the liquid piled on top of him, as the man wandered into the restroom. Seth feared he would be flushed down a toilet, but the man was evidently not irresponsible. Instead, a wad of toilet paper covered the clear walls, which were wrenched away, balled up, and tossed into the trash.

Some hours later, he summoned the strength to climb free of the wad of paper and latex, to wipe himself off and shudder in the dim light of the bathroom. He hoped this was a one-night stand. He didn't know if he could bear to watch her again. But he knew that as much as he loved feeling her body, he could not end up where he ended up that night. It wouldn't kill him physically, But it might break his soul.

*  *  *

They curled up in each others' arms, both tired from the night's work. They would rally about an hour later for one more go, a little more relaxed, a little less energetic, but still fun. And then they drifted off to sleep, both happy that tomorrow was a Sunday, and they could spend all day doing this some more.

 

It had been an agonizing night.

It had taken him hours simply to get out of the wicker waste basket, and he wasn't sure why he'd bothered, once he got out. After all, the night had brought the incursion of more condoms into the basin, proof that Kari was truly enjoying the giant's company.

When he finally emerged, he was standing on the floor of the bathroom, cold and alone, and bitterly depressed. Still, he wasn't giving up. Not yet. He wished he'd met the beauty a month earlier, or a month later. But nevertheless, he had to try to get Kari's attention. Surely she wouldn't torment him so if she knew he was here, what he'd given to be with her.

* * *

There is something about new love that isn't replicable in any other way. Oh, people in deep, long-term relationships will point out that new love is facile, that a deeper relationship is more meaningful -- and they're absolutely right.

But new love is something else entirely, like being simultaneously drunker and more sober than you've ever been. It's transitory, and you know it's transitory; if you're lucky, you can hold just a piece of it, and let it mellow into the deeper, more meaningful long-term relationship. If you're unlucky, it burns too brightly, and burns itself out. But while it burns, there are few human experiences that can compare.

Kari and Paul were in the midst of new love. Neither knew if it was going to be the kind that flamed out or the kind that deepened and grew. And like anyone newly in love, neither of them were worried about that right now. They were far more interested in finding the sweet spots in each other's psyches, and the sweet spots on each other's bodies. There would be time to think long-term. For the moment, their most important task was figuring out what to do that afternoon.

"We could just stay in and have sex," said Kari. "That's been fun so far."

"Oh, I know," said Paul, "and I'm all for more sex. But you know, I do have to recuperate for a while. I can't keep up this pace forever. I figure a nice lunch, maybe do something fun, then come back, and I should be ready to go until bedtime."

"You know," said Kari, smiling, "it was pretty smart of you to pack for the weekend."

"Well," he said, "I thought it was unlikely you were inviting me to your house just for spaghetti -- not that it wasn't good."

"Hm. You're just after my body."

"Well, it's a pretty nice body, you've got to admit."

Kari chuckled. "All right, tell you what -- you have any interest in art?"

"I don't know," said Paul. "I know it can be pretty."

"I was an art history minor; not useful, I know, but would you be interested in going to a museum? The Art Institution's got a nice collection from the Romantic period."

"A museum?" said Paul. "Huh. I don't know as I've ever been to an art museum, except in school."

"In that case, we can do something else...."

"No, actually, it sounds interesting, kind of. Hey, learning new stuff's part of the fun, isn't it? Just promise that if I try to drag you out on a hike sometime, you'll give it a try, at least once."

"I like hiking," said Kari, "but I'm sure there's something you like that I don't, and I'll try it, at least once."

"Well, you did last night..."

"And I liked it! See, that's how it works."

"Good deal. All right, you want to shower first, or should I?"

"You think we need a shower? I mean, we're just full of sweat and sex."


"Okay, I'll take the first one. It'll give us a chance to get full of sex and sweat again."


"Deal," said Kari, smiling quietly.

* * *

He ignored as the giant came into the bathroom, emptied his bladder, and headed into the shower. The bastard. Strolling around like he owned the place, like he belonged here. The guy soon enough emerged, and dried off, and then, provided Seth with a service.

He knocked a washcloth off the counter. A minor thing, really, but still, it dropped close enough to Seth that he was able to make it to the giant towel before the behemoth conscientiously returned it to a ledge above the sink. Seth clung to the facing of it, not totally stable, but safe enough.

He would wait here for Kari. Surely, she'd have mercy on him.

* * *

She entered the bathroom just as he exited, pausing to give him an encouraging pat and a lingering kiss, which lingered long enough for him to say, "You know, I can shower again if I have to."

"No," she said. "I'll shower now."

"Really, I don't mind."

"No, I want us to have some energy for tonight."

"All right," he said, smiling, giving her one more kiss en passant as she went in and set about showering herself.

She lathered herself quickly, not worrying about perfection; for one thing, Paul hadn't complained this morning when she was a bit disheveled; granted, he was partly responsible for it, but she figured he wasn't expecting her to be dressed to the nines (and if he was, he'd have to get disabused of that notion quickly). She quickly soaped her hair, lathered and rinsed, but didn't repeat. She simply stepped out and toweled off, faced herself in the slightly steamed-up mirror.

She smiled at her reflection. She felt better than she'd felt since she started dating Seth. She wondered, idly, what he was doing at the moment, as she put on deodorant and combed her hair. She hoped that he'd found a girl to spend a weekend with.

* * *

The bathroom grew progressively steamier. His grip grew progressively weaker on the towel, as it soaked in the steam from the shower in which his goddess cleansed herself.

He tried to get higher up onto the shelf above, but as he reached for the looping branch above him, his grip faltered, and he fell.

He screamed as he dropped through the air, until he landed on something creamy and damp.

It smelled oddly familiar, a perfumed scent that he identified with Kari, but he couldn't quite place it, and his body hurt too much for him to look around right away. Still, by the time the shower had ceased, he looked around and saw himself laying on a plain of white, slightly rising to a hill in the distance.

Was it make-up of some sort? He couldn't tell. All he knew when she emerged from the shower was that he was at the very least standing on a stark white background.

"Kari!" he screamed, sitting up and waving his arms above his head. "Look down here! It's me! Seth! I'm down here! Look, please!"

She looked down at him, absently, and her hand reached out.

He gasped with joy. She saw him! "Please! Lift me up! Look at me, Kari!"

She lifted the thing he rested on with her right hand, and brought it up toward her chest. His heart leapt.

Then it sank.

She stopped as the plain reached her shoulder, and then dipped it, lifting her left arm to expose her armpit. And then, too fast for Seth to object, she slammed the plain and him into her pit, sliding and smearing her deodorant and him into a quick, thin film.

He stuck to her underarm, which soon became black, as she lowered her arms to the position they usually were in. Occasionally, he got flashes -- when she dressed, he briefly caught sight of the blouse she was going to wear, and the bra strap was pulled around her vast arm. And occasionally, as the day wore on, he would see her sleeve when she gestured with her left hand.

Or feel the collision with the sleeve and a hard thing from outside it, which he knew had to be her boyfriend.

It was a miserable day, and the fact that her scent still ate away at the perfume smell of the deodorant did nothing to make him feel better. He stewed, catching a bit of conversation from outside his armpit prison, and wishing he was dead.

* * *

"So be honest, did you like it or not?"

"I did," Paul said, holding Kari's hand as they walked out to the car. "I don't quite get the modern art stuff, but the Baroque paintings were just pretty."

"They are. I mean, if Rembrandt doesn't impress you, nothing will."

"And that one sculpture -- you know, with the girl in the bathtub?"

"The Rodin piece? I thought you said you didn't like the modernist stuff?"

"That was modern art? It didn't look it."

"Rodin would have been glad to hear that. He didn't think of himself as a modern artist, but he was really influential in the development of modern art. His sculpture, The Walking Man...."

There was a bit of quiet. "What about The Walking Man?"

"Oh, I just realized I was getting into a bit of an art history lecture. Which you probably don't want to hear."

"Why not? You seem to enjoy talking about it."

"Well, yeah...but I don't want to bore you."

Paul touched her shoulder gently, and turned her toward him. "Kari, if you're boring me, I'll tell you. But I actually am kind of interested in this. It really interests you, and you really interest me, and therefore your interest in it is interesting to me. Does that make sense?"

"Not really," Kari said, sliding her arms around him. "But I appreciate your indulging me."

"Indulge, nothing. I'm actually wondering what The Walking Man was, other than a walking man."

"Well, that's the thing," said Kari, as they resumed their walk. "It wasn't a walking man, not entirely...."

* * *

He was grateful that the deodorant was holding him in place.

They were on the bed, all three of them. And eating...well, it looked like Asian food from the glimpses he got, but what did he know? He was just a piece of lint or a bit of dust, an irrelevancy to his goddess. She ate, and flirted with her boyfriend, and ignored him.

He realized now that she wouldn't see him. Maybe she couldn't see him. Maybe he was too small to see, or maybe Aprhodite's magic left him invisible to her.

He swallowed hard. He was starting to realize that he was in Hell.

No; maybe it was Purgatory. She had said it would be a month. He didn't know how he could last another four weeks, but if he did....

Well, maybe the two lovers would break up. Four weeks was a long time. Maybe she'd tire of him, and maybe Seth would have her all to himself again. That would be fine.

This was unbearable.

He finally got a good look at the tableau as Kari stretched her arms over her head. The guy was naked. This wasn't good.

Kari suddenly took the moment to scratch at him, plucking him off of her skin far easier than should have been possible. He tried to hang on to her finger, but he found himself falling toward a carton of what appeared to be rice. He hoped that he'd simply land in it, and be eaten, but he instead bounced off the facing, and onto the bed below.

He lay there, stunned, as the two began clearing the food away. And he screamed out in impotent rage.

* * *

"I'm impressed by your willingness to eat Chinese food in your bed. You don't worry about getting the sheets messy?"

"Too late for that. Besides, where else are you gonna eat Chinese food when you're naked? It's perfect," she said, stretching her arms out.

"You're not getting tired, are you?"

"Nope," she said, scratching herself idly. "Just limbering up. Have a position I want to try. I've done it once, but my back got sore."

"I don't want you to do anything that hurts."

"Oh, I can take it," she said with a wink, grabbing Paul's flaccid member and squeezing. "Really, it wasn't bad pain or anything. Not nearly as much pain as it was pleasure. And I think you'll enjoy it."

"Well," said Paul, gathering the food, "I can't resist that invitation. And I'm full. Shall we get to it?"

"Let's," said Kari, as she stripped her panties off.

At ground zero, an inaudible voice protested. But she didn't know it, and couldn't hear it. She would have stopped had she.

Probably.

They were one day shy of their one month anniversary. She was having her period, or she would have done much more with Paul, but she’d at least sent him home happy, and she’d told him encouragingly that the next night she’d be ready for no-holds-barred action again. Paul, for his part, would have been fine going that night, but Kari was sensitive about it, and he wasn’t going to belabor it, not when he was at least getting himself jerked off by a beautiful girl with a deft touch. Besides, he had just the faintest tickle in his cock afterward, one that felt pleasant. He wasn’t sure exactly what Kari had done, but it was nice.

Paul drifted off to sleep pleasantly relaxed, and awoke the next day and headed off to the gym no less cheerful.

*  *  *

The man giving Paul his pleasant sensation was not so pleased.

Seth was dumbfounded as to how he had come to be here. Well…he supposed he knew, mechanically, how he’d ended up here. How he’d ended up on her finger last night as she was preparing to give Paul a hand job, how he’d been pressed over Paul’s piss slit as he came, rubbed against it until he’d spat out his ardor, and then pushed just inside. How Paul had grown flaccid after that, and how the suction had pulled him deeper in, and held him fast.

He’d been peed over twice, both times coughing and sputtering and praying just to be washed out into the abyss. But both times he stayed put. He didn’t think physics allowed for this, but he knew he wasn’t here due to physics, but the goddess’ curse. Aphrodite had punished him but good.

The day passed more interminably than most; at least the day he’d fallen onto Kari’s tampon, only to be stuffed deep within her, to be covered by her detritus…it had been her detritus, after all. This was worse than any of the pain inflicted upon him by Kari in the long and interminable time since he’d entered this hell.

He tried to think what his giant host was doing — at least, he did so after what he figured was a morning run, when the world was moving too much to think. Most of the day seemed boring, a great deal of resting with the occasional getting up to go do something, at least twice to piss. Seth survived both, unfortunately. Twice the world around him hardened and deformed as Paul sprouted wood; Seth told himself Paul was probably going to throw himself at a hot girl in his office, but in actuality, both times were due to subtle emails that Kari had sent, letting him know that this would be an evening they could take full advantage of.

In truth, even as Seth hoped that he would be at ground zero of Paul cheating on Kari, he knew he wouldn’t be. He’d become the proverbial fly on the wall (because flea in the bush wasn’t a proverb), and he’d seen enough to know something he hadn’t known before.

Kari loved Paul. More than Kari had ever loved him.

And Paul — he was as in love with Kari as she was with him. But both were calm and easy in love. Seth had thought, in the second week they were together, that Paul was taking Kari for granted. That he wasn’t trying to learn everything about her, that he wasn’t always worried about her first. The three-night run that Paul had been away working on a project — Seth had thought Kari would leave him, and quick.

But it hadn’t happened, and Seth knew why; Paul didn’t need Kari to complete him, and Kari didn’t want to complete him. They complemented each other, and did so well. But they weren’t the missing pieces in each other’s lives, because nothing was missing. Both were complete as-is.

Seth had been willing to give up everything to be with Kari, because he needed her to complete him. But she didn’t need him to complete her, not at all. And how could he make her be the missing piece to his soul?

Wasn’t he responsible for his own soul?

The world around him stiffened again. He wondered if Paul was checking out a hot barista or something. But a few soft collisions and then a huge, crushing squeeze let him know that more interesting things were going on.

*  *  *

Kari groaned in pleasure as Paul buried himself inside her. She felt his member moving within her, unwrapped, finally — she and he had decided to trust in her birth control, and she preferred the feeling without a condom in the way.

So did he, tell the truth.

He was shuddering in pleasure, sliding himself back and forth. It wouldn’t be enough to get her off — like most women, she wasn’t built that way — but it was just the opening act in a long night. Paul had been a fast learner with her rabbit pearl, and he was not the kind of guy who got intimidated when a woman brought in a little extra assistance.

He went a long time, longer than usual, before he finally came. She pulled him close as he blew his load deep within her. They lay together like that, him on top of her, her kissing his cheek, him kissing hers.

“It took you a while. Am I losing my luster?”

“Hardly,” he grinned, kissing her again. “It’s the weirdest thing…ever since yesterday, it’s like I’ve had a little cork inside my cock. Nothing bad, mind you, just a feeling. It was a little bit of pushing before it went tonight. But it felt good. And now it’s gone. Weird, huh?”

“No weirder than you usually are — hwoop! There you go.”

“So, you want me to go to work with the appliances?”

“Mmm…just let me enjoy the glow. Orgasms aren’t everything, you know.”

“They aren’t? You mean you get something other than that from sex? Damn, women have all the luck.”

*  *  *

Seth came to as the ground around him began to shake uncontrollably.

He’d lost consciousness as he’d been blown with a stream of sperm deep into Kari, and he had awoken just in time to see a pink behemoth pushing its way back in. This one was not human, however; Kari was evidently using her vibrator to finish herself off.

He’d hated that thing; it always made him feel like less of a man when she turned to it. She said that he wasn’t unique in not being able to get her off through sex, but he’d always thought she was patronizing him. He’d seen different in the past few weeks.

Kari’s juices began flowing as the vibrator did its job. Soon enough, the soft, moist ground was inundated by a flood, which swept sperm and Seth out behind the withdrawing vibrator. He ended up in a puddle on the bed, between Kari’s milky thighs.

After a while, the bed’s occupants got up; Seth wasn’t sure why, until a bra and panties were tossed onto the bed. Aha, they were having a quickie before going out, Seth realized.

And he realized something else; he was going to go out with them.

He’d been between his ex-girlfriend’s thighs just then, been rinsed out and into the shadow of her swollen vagina. And yes, Paul’s presence had detracted from it, but Seth knew that there was a greater reason why he didn’t enjoy the experience.

He realized, finally, that he was over her. The pain that had been his companion at the start of the month was gone. She wasn’t his anymore, if she ever was.

It was time to let her go.

And so he resolved that he’d go out with Kari and Paul, wherever they were headed. And along the way, he’d leave her, for good. He didn’t know what this would do to his promise to Aprhodite — and he didn’t care. He thought he was beyond a month of torment anyhow, that he’d been consigned to hell already. And he was okay with that — he’d been the fool who’d imagined himself happy with Kari’s neglect.

He chose his position intentionally, the top of the bra strap; he worked his way over her shoulder to the collar of her turquoise dress, pulled himself up atop it and grabbed her hair, and pulled himself up carefully into her ear. He knew she wouldn’t hear him — he’d tried this before, to no avail. But he wanted to say this as much for himself as for her.

By the time Kari and Paul were in the car, he had made it. He stood just inside the entrance to her ear canal, and he said it quietly.

“Kari…I’m sorry,” he said. “I thought that you were being cruel, that you didn’t see how I felt about you. But I think you did. I was too crazy about you; I didn’t love you, I loved how you made me feel. I thought I could make you happy by being what you wanted me to be, but I didn’t ever realize you wanted me to be me — and stop needing you.

“This guy Paul — I’ve seen him inside and out, and…I think he’s a good guy. More important, you think he’s a good guy. So I’m not gonna argue, Kari. I want you to be happy. So…I’m going to go now. I’m going to let you live your own life the way you want to live it. And I wish you the best.”

He thought about bending down to kiss the ground, and thought better of it. Instead, he backed up to the edge of the ear canal, and considered.

He had found to his chagrin that he didn’t die easily. But he didn’t want to live life as a flea in a giant world anymore. He didn’t know how many days had passed and didn’t care; a world with magic like this was a world with an afterlife. And so as Kari got out of the car, and he saw the parking lot miles below, he made a fateful decision.

He jumped.

He arced lazily toward the ground as she strode away, her hand around Paul’s waist. He smiled as he drifted down below the hem of her skirt, watching as she strode miles away with a few steps, as the ground rushed up toward him. He closed his eyes, and braced for impact.

“Hey buddy! You okay? That was a nasty fall.”

Seth opened his eyes; he wasn’t dead. That was something. He looked around, and saw a world that was not immense, one that was indeed quite ordinary, a bar that he’d been drinking at, a month and a lifetime ago.

“Yeah, just…fell off my stool,” he said, rolling over, as he saw a pair of beautiful, olive-skinned legs standing and straightening said stool.

Aphrodite looked down upon him beatifically, and lend him a hand. “Seth, here, let me help you up.”

“What was that you put in his drink, miss? Buddy, you know she spiked that water?”

Seth laughed. “It was just a little…uh…flavoring. Don’t worry, she wasn’t trying to drug me,” he said, arching an eyebrow at the goddess.

“Oky doke. Well, you don’t seem drugged, and you don’t even seem particularly drunk, but watch yourself — you need a cab, or to go to the doctor, you let me know.”

“We will,” said Aphrodite, plunking a twenty down on the bar.

The barkeep smiled at that, palmed the tip and wandered away.

“So,” said the goddess, “was it all you expected?”

“It was…interesting,” said Seth. “I don’t want the rest of that.”

“I didn’t think you would,” Aphrodite said, returning her flask to her purse. “Most don’t. A few do…but they are too far gone from the world, and it is a blessing to them to give them an alternative to death.”

“So,” said Seth, rubbing his head, “you said I’d owe you if I didn’t take the rest, right?”

“Indeed,” said Aphrodite. “You have to go say hello to the next couple that walks through that door,” she said, pointing to the entryway that was even at that moment opening to reveal a pretty woman in a turquoise dress, with curly auburn hair, laughing with a blandly handsome man who was holding the door for her.

“You’re kidding.”

“It was easy to say it to her when you knew she couldn’t answer, wasn’t it?”

He smiled, ruefully, at the goddess. “All right,” he said. He started to put his money on the bar, but she shook her head, and dropped two more twenties.

“My treat,” she said.

He saw Kari and Paul take a table at the edge of the bar. “So…tell me this,” he said, as he got up. “Is there someone else for me out there?”

“Do you want there to be?”

Seth smiled. “Yeah,” he said. “Someday.”

“Well then, there’s your answer, no?”

The goddess smiled and stood, and walked silently out of the bar, drawing a fair number of stares, but not, Seth noted, from Paul.

Seth stretched, and headed for the exit by way of the table. He was vectoring in such a way that she would see him. He would break the ice if she didn’t….

“Seth?” she said, half-shocked.

“Huh? Oh, hey Kari! How are you?”

“Good, good! This is Paul, my, uh…”

Seth smiled, “Your ‘uh?’ Is that what they’re calling dates these days? Seth, nice to meet you,” he said, reaching out his hand.

Paul smiled a wary smile, and grabbed it back. “Likewise. So, uh, is this your ex-fiancė, dear?”

“Yep,” Seth said, “but don’t let that worry you. She had some good reasons to dump me. I’m not going to interrupt your date. But I’m glad to see you’re doing well, getting back out there.”

“Seth, I…”

“I’m dead serious, Kari,” Seth said, and she realized to her surprise that he was. “It’s good.”

“Thanks,” she said. “So, uh….”

“See you around, right?” Seth grinned. “Have a fun night you two. Good to meet you, Paul. ‘Night, Kari.”

“Good night,” Kari said, as she watched her ex head out of the bar.

“He seems like a decent guy,” said Paul.

“He is,” said Kari, and for a minute she felt just a bit hopeful, for both of them. She knew she’d done the right thing for herself, but maybe, just maybe, it had been right for Seth, too.

“So,” she said, apropos of nothing, “I had this really weird dream last night, and it involved you.”

“Really,” said Paul.

“Yeah. You were two inches tall.”

“Wait — two inches?”

“Like I said, weird. And you were…um…’spelunking.’”

“Well,” said Paul, chuckling. “What else would a two inch tall guy do if they were with you?”

Kari smiled, and continued on with her story, knowing it would probably result in them skipping the movie and heading back to her place, or maybe Paul’s place. Indeed, she was counting on it.