It was morning, finally, and Natasha stirred to check if everything was as it was left.

Five other living girls on the table, check: although everyone was asleep, Natasha could see the rise and fall of their chests from their breathing- and Paris outright snored, but Natasha would never tell the girl that.

Two corpses on the table, one intact, one mangled. The mute honestly didn't know what to make of the fact that Diana had simply left the bodies there, but hoped that they'd be disposed of (hopefully given some respect and buried) before they started to stink.

And, high up on the refrigerator, Val trapped beneath an empty glass. The manipulative bitch herself, the murderess. The brunette honestly couldn't reconcile the mental images of the blonde as a friend who taught her chess, and of the manipulative monster who'd murdered five people by proxy.

Just after she finished with her inventory, she felt a small rumbling in the table beneath her- Diana was awake, her footsteps heavy on the ground. "Morning," the ravenette whispered, setting up the processes needed to make herself yet another toaster waffle.

Natasha simply waved back, before picking up her graphite length and asking, [Are you feeling any better?]

Diana walked over, read the question, and shrugged. "Still hurts to move," she whispered, "and my head still feels like it's on fire, but I have to go," she continued, slightly sadly. "To get more than one day off without my grades starting to drop, I need a doctor's note, or one from my parents. And, well . . ." she gestured to empty air. "Neither one is happening anytime soon."

Natasha frowned. To her, that particular rule had always been a little inconvenient, but to Diana it was downright cruel- no matter how sick she was, or what was happening with her job, she'd only get off a single day from school at a time because her parents ditched her, and she couldn't afford a trip to the doctor's if she saved up for a decade. [That's bullshit.], she wrote. [I never thought about what that meant for you before.]

Diana waited patiently for her waffles to pop up, and shrugged. "I don't blame you. I thought it was fair at first, but then, at the beginning of the year . . ." she sighed sadly. "Life just started to shit on me. But it's alright. Life will get better, I'm sure of it."

[If you say so.] Natasha winced at the sound of the toaster going off, and watched the other girls stir at the sound, one by one, starting with Val on the fridge.

"Babe, please, I'm sorry," Val pleaded on her knees from within her glass prison. "I said something stupid when I was scared, but I swear we can-"

"You broke up with me," Diana barked, silencing Val in an instant and taking a bite of her waffle. "So I'm not going to hear any of your bullshit. Okay, I get it, it's funny to play with my feelings, it's convenient to use me to do things you'd never do." She angrily continued her breakfast in relative silence, before finally concluding with, "I won't let myself be played again. So, I think I've come up with the perfect way to punish you. You don't wanna touch me? Fine, you won't- never again. You think you're feeling cold now? Winter hasn't even started, bitch. In about a week it'll be so cold I think I'll put everyone to work working the knots out as a mercy thing," she said idly, rotating her shoulder as she spoke, "but since you hate touching me, I won't have you do it."

A tense silence followed while Diana got dressed, broken by Rei saying, "Damn. She is feisty after a breakup." She grinned, and added, "I kinda like it. Wish I could be that awesome right after getting my heart ripped out."

"I don't know," Tamara said idly, "something about this feels off. She's bounced back way too fast."

Paris nodded. "I'm thinking the same thing. It might have something to do with Natasha getting shoved in her face."

Before Natasha could write a comment, she got picked up and returned to her place in Diana's shirt.

Diana left, a light smile on her face.

Val finally recovered from her shock. "So, where's your fucking moral superiority now?" she asked testily. "Who put her up to making me into a popsicle? Was it you, Rei-tor? Sham-mara?"

Rei giggled, interrupting Val's anger: "Rei-tor, that's . . . that's actually pretty funny."

"Whatever," Val muttered, "point is that you're just as bad as I am, you hypocritical cunts."

"Actually," Becky butted in, "Diana came up with this by herself. All we did is make sure she was still mad at you when it looked like she forgot."

"She fucking hates you now," Tamara said smugly.

Kayla grinned, and added, "And you won't get Diana back. Natasha's smart enough to be a decent girlfriend for her long enough to make sure you really do freeze out."

Val simply sat back and laughed. "I know something you don't know," she singsonged, "and it'll fuck up yor plans!"

*** DIANA ***

The tall ravenette bore her headache to the best of her ability, tried not to sneeze or cough on anyone, and in general tried to keep control of herself throughout the day.

This was not helped by Natasha squirming around between her breasts, and so she had to get herself excused from Physics to rush to the bathroom. "Look," Diana said, her face flushed, "I get it. I'm hot, I'm sweaty, it's uncomfortable in there right now. But please, I'm begging you, please stay still," she whispered.

Natasha held out her hand, and Diana supplied her with a square of toilet paper to respond on: [What's wrong? Am I getting you off?] the mute asked, grinning as she showed Diana her question.

"A- a little," Diana blushed. "I mean, I haven't ever been . . . touched . . . by anyone but myself, so it's not hard, but . . . don't make me . . ." she sighed, whispering even quieter: "don't make it so I cum in the middle of class, okay?"

Natasha stopped for a pulse-pounding moment, before quickly responding: [Yeah, that wouldn't be fair to you. I just thought that I should be as nice to you as you've been to me. It's actually really cozy in there, and I should thank you.]

"Th- thank me?" Diana whispered, a smile beginning to form on the miserable girl's face. "Tell you what: after all this is over, I wanna know how it feels, so . . . can you thank me by giving me a ride after I grow you back?"

Natasha let out a rush of air- her equivalent to a laugh, Diana supposed, wondering if this meant Natasha didn't even make much of a sound when she was coughing- and responded: [Sure. In like February you can have a whole day cooped up in my bra], she pushed her chest together, [but I warn you that I don't have a bra that fits. There won't be room to breathe.]

"If I could die between your perfect tits, I'd die content with life," Diana laughed, a genuinely happy sound.

It was finally Natasha's turn to blush, and it looked like she had too many thoughts running through her head to write. She finally settled on, [You can do better.]

Diana scoffed. "In what reality do you live? First off, no I can't. The only girl who's ever expressed any interest in me was Val, and she was a liar who used me. Second off, no, I seriously can't. Have you fucking looked in a mirror? I didn't really notice all that much before, because . . . Val . . . but you are seriously hot as fuck, and if you slapped me I'd be glad for the privilege. You're . . . better than me, millions of miles out of my league, and to do better than you I'd have to find a fucking Goddess."

*** NATASHA ***

The raw guilt Natasha felt from hearing the comparatively titanic lesbian heap praises on her gnawed at her soul. [You don't get it, do you? Rei wants me to be a replacement Val that won't kill anyone. The only reason I'm telling you this is because I'm a coward who can't stand to see your heart get broken again. I love you, Diana, but I'm no good. I'd probably still be too chickenshit to admit we were dating if we started.]

Diana sat back in shock. She almost spoke, then bit her lip. She contorted her face in rage and raised a hand, but hesitated. "So let me get this straight," she breathed, obviously confused. "You . . . love me."

Natasha nodded. [I wouldn't have the first clue what to do, even after you made me big again, but yeah.]

"Leave that to me . . ." Diana said softly, and shook her head. "Rei put you up to this?"

[At first. At first I was scared of you, and was just going along with her plan so you'd stop killing us.] Natasha shrugged. [But, I don't know. I started being less scared and more like you were a friend that needed my help. But now]

"Stop right there," Diana sighed, starting to cry. "Don't do this to me. You're not in love with me, you're just having your fucking emotions amplified. Apparently, six days is 'sustained exposure'. Look, you probably feel like you love me now, but the moment you go back to normal you'll start hating me again, don't worry. You can be safe in your perfect fucking heterosexuality."

Natasha was confused and indignant. [Explain. Now.] She was not about to have her (admittedly kinda confused) love spurned just because Diana was on some self-pity trip.

"It's a side effect," Diana said dimissively, and decided to recite the list of side effects: "One's digestive and homeostatic processes cease function while under the effects of Shrinking Violet. Not for use on women who are pregnant or may become pregnant, or with people over age sixty. Sustained exposure may distort or amplify emotional reactions, induce psychological disorders, and/or reduce higher brain function. These effects vary from person to person: consult one of our specialists before using Shrinking Violet."

[You know what?] Natasha wrote angrily, her usually neat handwriting disrupted. [I just had my birthday before we all shrank. After class, get my bag out of the trash. There's $600 in there. Buy some of this shit, make me normal, and when you're wrong you'll owe me something expensive when we're DATING on Valentine's Day.]

Diana was too stunned to respond to that, except by muttering, "That'll get me a four-dose bottle . . ."

[And, on the itty-bitty, nonexistent chance you're right, and my love goes away the moment I get back to normal,] Natasha promised, [drop trou and I will literally kiss your ass for wasting your time.]

Diana silently returned Natasha to her spot between her breasts, and started returning to class. To herself, she said, "I've never wanted to be wrong this much in my life."