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Author's Chapter Notes:

Okay, I know, I know... I said that the next chapter would be out tomorrow or even Tuesday mere hours ago in the rewiew section. Well, scratch it, it's out now !

Also, I've taken some liberties with the ancient history of your world NotSirk, so let me know if you're okay with that ! I'll edit accordingly.

Chapter 22: Embarrassment

The titanic teenager felt a rush of relief when she dropped her soon-to-be boyfriend on the ground. Her little act had worked perfectly, and she was quite happy to see him returning to a more amenable behaviour. It wasn’t fitting for him to be all grumpy and closed, he needed to be happier and open to the whole world surrounding him, to make up for those ten years he had lost. He was so much sexier and attractive that way, and it made her all exited. It was patronizing on her part, she admitted it freely, but she knew better than him what was best for him. It didn’t mean that he was stupid or knew nothing, of course. His ideas just needed to be refined, and his petulant resistance overturned at times, for his own good.

Not that she could say it to him right now, if ever. For starter, he was probably still a little warry of her; his reaction to her –mostly- fake anger was proof enough of that. And, even more importantly, it was only a last ditch option, only needed because they weren’t a couple yet. She was quite sure that she wouldn’t need this whole anger thing once they would have grown accustomed to each other. And they would have the bond, once she would have earned his trust.

“Shannon?” asked the Minor when reaching the door made for his own kind.

“Yes my love?” chirped the MAJOR, relishing in the embarrassment still etched on his face.

“Your little act… you don’t plan to make it into a habit, right? I mean, when I’ll want to do, or not do, something and you want the opposite, you won’t go all angry giantess at me, because I don’t think that it would works between us otherwise. I really hate that kind of behaviour.”

“I…” begun Shannon before stopping herself. How does he always manage to take me by surprise like that! Everyone I know who’s with a Minor says they are easy to deal with, how come I can’t ever be sure to have the upper hand or to keep it for more than five seconds when I finally manage to have it? “When you mean that you hate it, you mean that you don’t like it but can understand it, right?” she tried, with a false smile plastered on her face.

“No. I mean that I’ll cut you some slack here because… well, because I like you, I guess. Otherwise, you would have blown away any and all chances you had and spending the remainder of the week in Old Creek would have been a waste of time. My time, which I like to be productive, like reading and drawing and building productive.”

“Oh… A, well, okay… I’ll… I’ll keep that in mind. But you know it was for your own good that I did it! You’re bright and very smart, so formal education would obviously be a plus for you, it could open up new possibilities, so it’s something you must seriously consider. And with, let’s say, my help, you can get anywhere you want. I mean, you’ve been able to build things despite your… handicap, so clearly, with…”

“Shannon Matthewson’ interrupted the minuscule teenager, his tone harsh, “just so you know… I really hate the “it’s for your own good” line. It reeks of arrogance, superiority bias and the idea that I’ve no fucking idea about what I can do or want to do later in my life. If I want to end slacking at home, it doesn’t mean that I’m not independent, or different from the usual Minor pet you may know. I can be a stay at home and do work there, to keep it clean, go to the grocery store, that kind of things. Independence isn’t the same thing as being all by myself. It means that my choices get to be respected. So, cut the crap.”

“I wasn’t implying that I would use this act all the time!” pleaded the black behemoth, her mane flowing around her as she shook her head left and right. "I mean, some arguments will inevitably happen in any relationship, it's a given and I wouldn't want to impose my will on you at all cost. It’s just that if you stubbornly refuse to even hear or discuss about something, well, in regard to the impossibility to make use of... of the alternative solution, this kind of action will be necessary. So, only in extreme situation, and only with your best interests at heart, I swear.”

The massive woman felt her breath quicken and sweat form in the palm of her hands. She had taken a great risk here, she knew it perfectly. She could have chosen to lie, or even pretended that she didn’t understand what the problem was, but it would have insulted him far more than her show of superiority had done, and would have destroyed all of her hard work, she knew it with absolute certainty. Delivering heart crushing lines to her Alejandro when she only wanted to smother him in her wonderful curves had been hard enough when she had had to shake him up. She just hoped that he wouldn’t understand the insinuation hidden in her words. Bonding was a solution to all of this, but he wasn’t ready yet, she was sure of it.

“I’m not sure I like what I hear… what’s this other solution you’re talking about, for instance. Is it bonding?”

Shannon’s mouth opened and closed without producing any sound. Once again, she was taken aback by the way the minuscule and cute teenager before her so often managed to strike at the most problematic part of her ideas. Bonding wasn’t something she was too keen to even talk about right now. She had mentioned it because she was nervous, otherwise she wouldn’t even have insinuated anything related to it. Alejandro’s personal history meant that it was still taboo in her mind. Yet, in her rush to appease him, she had fucked up. Badly.

Of course, she had probably already affected him, since she had been able to read his mind in the bathroom, but it had been involuntary, the result of her Tier 2 status and their mutual excitement, which had weakened his spectacular mental defences enough for her to peer inside of his mind. But there was a world between skirting at the periphery of a Minor’s psyche, or even the deep scrutiny in his mind she had experienced and actual bonding. In the latter, minds joined and nothing the Minor was or felt was off-limit for the MAJOR, if he so desired, she had heard it so often that she was quite sure of this truth. Now, she had to thread very carefully.

“Well… Yes, that’s the solution I talked about, but as my sentence’s structure implied, it’s not exactly a possibility, right now anyway. So, nothing to worry about, am I right?” She hoped she was convincing enough, but somehow, she doubted it.

“Shannon, be honest. Do you think that we have to be bonded to be together?”

“Uh?” replied the behemoth, rather stupidly.

The young woman was totally lost by that question. Of all his possible reactions, it was the one she hadn’t even considered, and she didn’t know how to react or answer. All MAJOR-Minor’s relationship had to have a bond to last, she hadn’t ever heard of any other possibility if it was meant to work long term. Obviously, she wanted to bond with him; heck, all MAJORS did, in this town, or this State even! It was more of a long term goal, the final proof that they would be an item, but of course, they would bond. In her mind, there was no other possibility anyway. It would be quite the magical moment, when she could know all he was and he could bask in her love for him, but it wasn’t something doable right now.

“I mean, do you think that we can’t be a couple if we aren’t bonded” explained the Minor, clearly irritated by that reaction.

“Of course not! I’m sure we can make it work without the bond…” she replied, trying to fake it.

“Yeah, well, judging by that reaction, you also think that I would be able to breath without oxygen… So, better to tell you this now and be done with it than to let it out in the closet to fester. I don’t want to be bonded Shannon.”

“What?” almost shrieked the horrified MAJOR. “But…”

“Let me finish” yelled the Minor, mildly angry now. “I don’t want to be bonded long-term. I don’t like the idea of anyone messing around in my mind, especially for a long period. Perhaps that I could be open for short-term bonds, let’s say to spice things up a little but that’s it, so bonds lasting around thirty or so minutes. And even then it’s a big if.”

His face was red with embarrassment but Shannon’s was now livid. Her baby didn’t want to bond with her and it made her knees weak. She tried her best to keep calm and carry on, but it was a harsh blow. She didn’t want to be with him to be bonded, obviously, but it was meant to be the coronation of their relationship, the crowning moment where their minds would be as one, where she could always know what he was thinking, how he felt… The bond was supposed to allow her to make him happy all the time, by fulfilling his needs without him having to tell anything.

“Earth to Shannon. Is it really so bad that I don’t want to be hardwired on your mind 24/7?” asked Alejandro, a hint of worry on his face now.

“No…” weakly replied the giantess. “I don’t want to be with you just to be bonded, I assure you. I don’t want to brag, but if all I wanted was a bond-mate, I could get a dozen quite easily.”

“Yeah, well, you’re bragging right now lady” smirked Alejandro. “So put a smile on your face and let’s return to the table. I’m hungry and the sooner you’ll eat your entry, the sooner I’ll get my plate!”

He exited the restroom, leaving Shannon to follow him, trying her best to hide her current turmoil.

------------------------------------

The discussions around the table had resumed and everyone had enjoyed a fine diner. Shannon had done her best to remain joyous despite her discussion with her little crush, but her heart wasn’t in it. It was only when Alaric begun to talk about his brother’s eye for building things, be they furniture or buildings, that her attention was brought back fully to the present situation. It’s stupid to worry about the future, she decided. People changes, so he may come to like bonding with me, and even if it isn’t the case, I can still be with him, he said so himself. Even without the bond, he'll be the perfect boyfriend and then husband, I just know it.

“You’re exaggerating things” said Alejandro, yet he was smiling proudly.

“As if! You’re the one who actually drew the plans for the floor’s level when we redid it completely four years ago.”

“Well, yeah, but I was helped by the estimate made by that professional. He had drawn most of the good ideas, really.”

“No false modesty son” laughed Jules Ferrand. “You redrew almost half of it, and your ideas made a far better use of the space we had, with a lot of potential for future accommodations, such as new cupboards, cabinets and the like.”

“To tell the truth, it was possible only because I spend so much time alone, wandering the house” smiled Alejandro.

“You’re left alone at home?” asked a bewildered Andrew. “Isn’t it dangerous?” he added, to the Minor’s parents. “Anybody learning this could come by, break into your house and snatch him away. In your situation, I would have hired someone…”

“I don’t want a babysitter!” growled Alejandro.

“Not at all” replied Auntie, ignoring her son’s reaction. “We’ve taken measures to make sure that he’s safe. We reinforced the walls, doors and windows, and there are alarms all around the house, that we set on when we leave it. So far, it has worked pretty well. I honestly don’t think that being overprotective of a Minor is good for them, you know?”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t like the idea of Joshua alone at home” interjected Derek. “I mean, he’s cute, in a chubby way that is perfect for Minors… sorry man, but you’re to lean and fit for my taste, you’ve got serious muscles in this arm of your” he added laughing at Alejandro’s benefit, who took it with a smile. “As I said, Joshua’s kind of the typical Minor canon of beauty, so I would always worry about someone snatching him away.”

“But then, how do you deal with it?” asked the elder of the Ferrand's children, quite curious now.

“Well, usually, he comes with me everywhere, including High School, three days a week. The rest of the time, he’s at his folks. And even then, thanks to our bond, I can be sure that he’s okay.”

“Wait, you remain bonded with him even when he’s away?” asked the small teenager in astonishment.

“Nah, it only works for a short distances. He doesn’t live very far from our home; he could almost come by foot, we're almost neighbors, so usually, I manage to keep the connection on. I’m Tier 2, like Shannon, so that kind of things is possible.”

“But shouldn’t your boyfriend need some respite from the bond. I heard it’s quite taxing” intervened Alaric, perhaps a little grumpily.

“Don’t listen to him” said Lindsey with a smile. “He’s just jealous because he’s Tier 1! Not like me, I’m also Tier 2! We can do things he can only dream about!” she added, flashing an arrogant smile at her tallest older brother.

“What’s there to be jealous at!” barked Alaric as tension flared. “I’m still smarter and stronger than you anyway, and I don’t need Tier 2 to feel good!”

“Oh yeah? Well, tell me that once you’ll have found a Minor who won’t be bored to death waiting for you to bond her!” snapped Lindsey, seething now.

“Guys…” tried Shannon, really embarrassed by this heated discussion. It wasn’t a subject she wanted to talk about right now.

“Come on, tell him Shannon! I mean, you’ve got to have experience right?” said Lindsey, her voice forceful while she glared at her MAJOR brother.

“I…” stammered the giantess, before a powerful laugh from her father cut her off.

“Sorry to disappoint you Lindsey, but my Small Shan don’t have experience with Minors. Truth been told, they are too afraid of her to really interact with her. And she’s such a romantic; she wants a pure and deep relationship, with a prince charming, to whom she could give her everything, share their minds and live happily ever after… Even if I suspect her to be the Prince and her romantic interest the princess to be saved”, he added with another fit of laughter.

“Dad!” yelled Shannon, her cheeks burning.

“Well, anyway, when she’ll find the right, she’ll be able to bond him right over” firmly said Lindsey. “Not like a certain someone” she added, glaring at Alaric.

“Well, at least she’ll be able to find someone to bond with” growled her brother, “unlike you. Seriously, I doubt any Minor would want to go with an hyper-aggressive brat like you.”

“Oh you’re on now!” roared Lindsey as she shot up on her feet, taking a boxing position, followed by her brother, while the Ferrand’s parents just sighed. As for Alejandro…

“I swear to God that it’s always incredibly entertaining to see two wild boars go at each other throats like that” said the Minor with such sarcasm that all eyes at the table turned toward him. “By all means, keep going. I’m sure that it’ll work so well in your resume. Two morons levelled The Wife’s Mariners because of Tier’s heated debate. With some luck, you’ll even send me to the hospital in the process.”

“Bro…” tried Alaric just as Lindsey let out a wimpy “’Rando…”

“No, I’m serious, keep going. I mean what a wonderful debate. It’s not as if that eventual Minor would have his or her say in all of this after all, right? You’d got a fine mate that way, a perfect relationship. Once you’ll have determined the proper time required to bond someone and be sexually attractive doing so, you’ll be able to pass to other subjects, like what your doll should wear, that kind of things. You’re two very generous and open minded MAJORS, so I’m sure you’ll let him or her decide what he wants to eat, once a week… or two maybe. Awesome, right?”

His younger siblings opened their mouths to defend themselves, their faces red with shame, but remained silent when he cocked an eyebrow. Finally, they sat down on their chairs, the head low and mumbled a weak “Sorry” before playing with their utensils. It was incredible. Shannon had never seen anything like that and neither had the rest of the Matthewson. She had been readying herself so she could separate the siblings should their argument end in a full-blow fist-fight, because she had the strength and resistance to endure a lot more than anyone else around the table, but Alejandro had defused the tension with witty sarcasm, and well worded cynical and harsh sentences.

“What the fucking hell was that?” whispered Alexis, her mouth agape.

“The reason why we haven’t eaten much outside the house for the last ten years” joked Ofelia. “You’ve no idea of many brawl were avoided because my Little Miracle was there at home. Honestly, our two others kids are barely fit to go outside!” she added, glaring at her MAJORS’ babies.

“Mom” yelled the aforementioned Ferrand children.

“You’re mother’s right” said Jules sternly. “Every time we eat outside, or we do any activity like jogging, or Sunday stroll in park, you two always find the most peculiar things to compete about and blow them up out of proportion. I know you’re youngs and that it’s a really tough time to control one’s feeling and aggression, but you really need to keep it in check, especially if you want to find one day a bond-mate. Not all Minors are attracted to highly aggressive MAJORS.”

“Damn right. Honestly, you guys often times come out as just insane” stated Alejandro, quite matter of factly.

“Insane? That’s ludicrous” tempested Shannon’s mother. “You small stuff likes dominant partners, how best to prove it than by a good old fight?”

“Just to say, if there was actually a healthy and sizeable population of Minors around the world, I would probably be more attracted by a woman my size than by a MAJOR one” responded the small teenager, his voice as cold as ice.

Shannon couldn’t help but shudder. He has to be telling it to make my mom back off. Seriously, you stupid hoe, I told you to watch your tongue in the car. Have you learned nothing? She glared at Alexis, with pure hatred in her eyes. The older MAJOR had to make things rights or she would be up for a really rough night and at least one day in the hotel to heal. Thankfully for the Matthewson’s women, Auntie came to the rescue, perhaps unwittingly.

“You’re saying it now, because it’s purely hypothetical, but from a genetic point of view, I highly doubt that you would be right, should you interact with a lot of Minor women, mijo.”

“What does genetic has to do with it?”

“Well, MAJORS are mostly descendant from carnivorous and massive ape-like simians, which evolved over time alongside the omnivorous apes which became Minors over time. Our two species have intermingled for hundreds of thousands of years, if not more, and while every MAJOR in the world probably possess Minor DNA –and the reverse is also true-, the genetic history found in Minor’s skeletons from areas where MAJORS were rare indicate a disproportionate increase in MAJOR’s DNA over time, indicating that Minors were actually attracted by the more massive specimens surrounding them.”

Auntie Ofelia had spelt out this whole tirade in a very professional, almost professorial tone, which had caught the undivided attention of everyone. Shannon could see that her father and her brother were greatly interested, while Alexis had more a look of obvious superiority as she looked at Alejandro. It made her want to punch her in the face and make her spit out blood. What a fucking bitch you are! Al’ and Lindsey were hesitant, looking at their older brother with a mixture of satisfaction and shame, while Mr. Ferrand kept his cool and composed look which gave him this soothing aura.

“Yeah, but let’s be honest Mom” replied Alejandro, clearly not deterred by what Auntie had just said. “Most of those areas with a few MAJORS and a lot of Minors were actually fiefdoms where one or two families of your kind ruled over my own, kept as slaves or serfs; there is a lot of historic evidence about it. In fact, places which did not fit this description like 11th Century Languedoc in France or Wales from the 6th to 9th Centuries, suffered a lot of invasions from the regions where MAJORS where dominants. In those conditions, it’s obvious that headstrong Minors, or the ones who weren’t attracted by their MAJORS masters were weeded out. In that regard, even if there is now a genetic predisposition for Minors to be attracted by more massive partners than themselves, it’s probably due to the more independant-minded or unattracted by MAJORS being killed routinely until the end of the Dark Age.”

“You shouldn’t even joke about such ideas son” said Jules, frowning his brows as Ofelia’s face grew pale.

“Who says I’m joking?” retorted Alejandro. “Come on dad, it’s not exactly conspiracies theories. I may not know what happened during the Dark Age, because everyone here becomes quite skittish, which is both suspicious and infuriating by the way, but I’m a history nut. I know all of our town and country, and most of our world, since I had to understand from where my grand-parents come from. Even if I’ve never met them.”

“You’re right my heart” said Ofelia, very carefully. “But going as far as to say that all situations where Minors were attracted to MAJORS in the past is the result of... of our kind's tyranny or the like is a little… exaggerated, to say the least, don’t you think?”

“Sure. And yet, in the what, forty or so books I’ve read about history of the world or other countries in the Old World or Asia, I’ve failed to find any evidence of any proper Minor civilization… except Lemuria, Mu and the other island nations in the Pacific or the Caraïbes of the Ancient World. And they were all destroyed at the very least 2500 years ago, and what we know about them is almost nothing beyond that. They were civilizations were MAJORS weren’t in charge or even present. Otherwise, there was always MAJORS overlords who, had best, offered a greater degree of respects to their Minors' servants.”

“Yes, but we can’t conclude that all Minors were slaves of MAJORS, you know” said Ofelia, fidgeting on her chair. Shannon decided to help her out.

“And even if that was the case, attraction to peoples taller than you isn’t some freak fetish or shameful, even among our kind. And one can be bonded to a MAJOR and not treated as a pet but as an equal, you know? The bond isn't necessarily an act of servitude which prevent independance or autonomy...”

“I know” calmly said the Minor teenager. “I’ve never wanted to imply that one needed to be unbonded to be autonomous or respected in this world we live on. I just don’t like the idea of bonding, that’s all. What? Why are you all looking at me like that?”

All the MAJORS around the table were watching Alejandro as if he had grown a second head. At least, Shannon knew that it was how she felt.

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