Silence hung between the two roommates, thick and heavy as blackout curtains over bedroom windows. The girls blinked at each other for a moment; Milla’s face was still twisted up by confusion, while Beck’s was frozen in a mask of alarm, flushed full up to the roots of her hair. She adjusted the blanket on her lap and rubbed her stomach fretfully, hoping against all hope that Simon’s big sister hadn’t heard the damning noise it had just emitted. From inside her, Simon gave a panicked little wriggle.

Please… Beck thought, chewing her lower lip. Please be patient. And please-please-please be safe…

“Sorry.” She blew a hair off her face and managed eye contact with Milla. “What… was the question?”

Milla rolled her green eyes—the same color as Simon’s, Beck realized with a guilty jolt. Only, far larger.

“You know—Simon?” she repeated. “My little brother? About two inches tall? The one I left you to look after while I was doing the shopping? This is ringing a bell, isn’t it?”

“Oh. Right. That Simon.” Beck palmed her forehead. “He’s… uhm. Well I’m sure he’s close by?”

“I would hope so.” Milla tapped her foot, sweeping her eyes around the room. To the couch, to the counter, to the kitchen floor and the hall beyond. “Come on now—where is he? Is this some kind of game he’s playing? Cough him up already, so we can eat. I’m sure you’re as hungry as I am.”

Beck’s stomach gave another guilty rumble. The back of her neck was starting to sweat.

Cough him up, she parroted to herself. Oh—if only I could…

But the words were enough to give her an idea, one that might save them both.

“He’s in the bathroom,” she said suddenly. “He asked me to bring him… just before you got in. I left him alone to give him some privacy. Is that how it usually goes? I mean, when he’s with you?”

Milla narrowed her eyes at her—then broke into a wide easy smile. “You’re handling him already, then! That’s really good, I was hoping the two of you would hit it off. Go on and get him then, I’m sure he’s finished in there by now. And it’s not like we’d hear him calling at that distance.”

Beck’s thoughts flew back to the sound of Simon’s voice coming out from inside her mouth—just before she’d swallowed him down. Like the world’s strangest ventriloquist act, she mused. But she’d been given an out. Without speaking again, she nodded and rose from the couch, keeping the blanket pressed against her lap to disguise the stain of hers and Simon’s lovemaking that had soaked through the crotch of her blue jeans. In her other fist she hid Simon’s tiny handful of discarded clothes. In this fashion, she waddled towards the single bathroom in the apartment. She felt Milla’s eyes on her every step of the way, boring into her back like a powerful laser.

Let her go on staring. Time was running out—for her and the tiny inside her both.

That is, if it hadn’t run out already.

Beck flicked the light switch, bathing the little full bath in an electric dusty glow. Shutting and locking the door behind her, she dropped the blanket on the bare tile floor and dumped Simon’s clothes out of her hand onto the little shelf beside the sink. Her heart raced; her throat felt tight as a twisted rubber hose. She couldn’t feel Simon in her stomach anymore. Not his squirming, not even his tiny weight…

Surely not, she tried to assure herself through a wave of white blinding panic.

Surely she hadn’t. Not already. Not that quickly.

She couldn’t have…

Not to delay any longer, Beck opened her mouth and thrust two fingers into her throat as far back as they would go. She’d never tried to make herself vomit before, but she’d seen the trick done on TV and in movies. And in all the stories she’d read, this was how you could retrieve a tiny from inside of you. Sure enough, it seemed to work. She gagged around her fingers, hacking and coughing, making horrible wet noises in her throat. Her stomach heaved; her throat tightened…

But nothing came up.

“No. Please no…”

Beck’s heart nearly stopped. Hot tears spilled down each cheek—but she didn’t give up. Simon was counting on her. Sweet, loveable, trusting Simon… and what had she told him? I can be brave enough for both of us. He wouldn’t make a liar out of her, not after what they’d just experienced together.

Stifling a sob, she removed her fingers, set her jaw determinedly, and thrust them back in once more. And this time—oh Glory, something moved deep inside her. Her stomach seemed to clamp like a squeezing fist. Then a hard tight lump began to move slowly up her throat. She felt him squirming weakly, emerging from her dark depths. He was beneath her breastbone now, and now her collarbone. Now he was making his way up through her neck to her waiting mouth. She could almost taste him…

But then, in a heart-stopping moment, his journey slowed. He stopped—and started to slip back down.

“SIMON!”

His name flew from Beck’s lips; she had to clap her hands over mouth to keep from crying out any louder. The panic was starting to overwhelm her now, but she still wouldn’t give up. She gagged herself again, in time to halt the squirming lump’s travels back down her throat to her hungry belly. She leaned over, concentrating on not swallowing, terrified by the thought that if Simon plopped back down in her stomach, it wouldn’t give him up so easily a second time. But luck was in her favor now: before she knew it, the tight hard spot inside her chest reversed course, moving quickly up her throat. She held her palm open under her mouth, and quite suddenly a tiny naked blur spilled out from her parted lips.

Beck wiped her mouth, choking back tears of joy and gratitude.

It was Simon—coughing and exhausted and quite bedraggled, but very much unharmed.

##

ONLY A FEW MINUTES’ PRIOR

With Beck’s lips closed tight, it was darker than a subterranean cavern inside Beck’s mouth. So when she began to maneuver him to the back of the chamber, he could hardly tell what was happening. Without visual stimuli, one place inside her mouth was very much like another to him.

But he felt it when her head angled back. He felt it when she tipped him down her throat.

He felt it when she swallowed.

Simon knew it was coming. She’d been kind enough to warn him, to ask his permission one last time. And while he’d been too exhausted to reply loud enough to reach her, he’d fought the post-coital fog inside his brain well enough to send her a signal, caressing her tongue. He thought he was prepared.

Nothing in the world could have prepared him for the sensation of a giantess swallowing him whole.

The base of Beck’s tongue lifted up beneath him like an ejector seat. His whole world went vertical—and he plummeted in near-freefall, her dangling uvula sliding across his face before the powerful muscles of her throat caught hold of him in a gentle yet inescapable embrace. “Gulp…” The sound of her muscular swallow nearly bust his eardrums as he was sucked down inside of her.

His heart jumped up into cut-time rhythm and for a moment, only a fraction of a moment, he panicked and fought, trying to clamber his way back up to the safety of her mouth. But it was like quicksand. The harder he struggled, the farther he slid down, deeper and deeper, traveling inside his lover’s body. So instead he tried to cool his racing pulse, breathing deeply and only squirming slightly to keep comfortable as Beck’s throat ferried him closer and closer to his final destination—her stomach.

“I’ll be brave enough for both of us,” she’d told him. All right then—he would let her. He had trusted this beautiful girl with his life. Now there was nothing more he could do but keep trusting her. If he was going to get through this strange adventure, it would be under Beck’s power and nothing else.

But if it was her arousal that made her swallow him—what was it that would bring him back up?

Simon slid further and further down, the muscles of Beck’s throat squeezing him all over. He was glad he was a little below average height for a tiny. Were he any larger, her swallowing him might have cracked a rib or two. But as things stood, inside her throat was almost… soothing. It was dark inside her, and warm, and the sound of her heartbeat passing him by was as lulling as the sound of crashing waves on a beach. And the tightness of the embrace was better than any hug he’d ever gotten. It was funny: he imagined that at any other time, this same experience would have terrified him. He remembered how scared he’d been when Milla swallowed him; the sensations at their base had been almost the same. But with Beck—something about being tucked so deep within her made him melt instead of tremble.

Could it be? he wondered as he slipped into her stomach at last. Do I… do I like being inside you, Beck?

Her stomach was mercifully empty, save for a small pool of warm fluid at the very bottom of the chamber. The walls flexed and shifted around him with muscular rhythmic action. The wall nearest him bowed in ever-so-slightly, seeming to search for him. Experimentally, he pressed his hand against it and was shocked to hear Beck’s voice respond, from high above him.

The words were muffled, filtered through layers of muscle and bone and skin. But he heard her say:

“Oh, Simon, yes…”

That moan stirred his blood; it seemed to stir Beck’s as well. All around him he heard her heart rate pick up and her breathing labor. He realized, first with embarrassment, then with delight, what his lover’s twitchy treacherous right hand must be doing. She’s pleasuring herself, he realized. And despite the darkness and heat, despite the terrifying nature of the trap he found himself in, he grinned.

Here was another challenge. Beck had already brought him to orgasm inside her mouth.

He would be damned if he’d let her please herself alone.

With all his strength, Simon threw himself at the walls of Beck’s stomach, squirming as hard as he can to make his presence felt. And Beck responded, rubbing her stomach with her hand and crying out each time she felt him kick or twitch or push. Her moans grew louder and louder, encouraging Simon to push himself to his absolute physical limit. Soon he was sweating and panting hard—but his efforts didn’t take long to pay off. Beck’s climax was like an earthquake for the tiny boy inside her. She bucked and thrashed, throwing Simon against one wall of her stomach, then the other, howling in ecstasy.

Then—it was finished. Both lovers collapsed backwards, their energy completely spent. Simon slid down into the pit of Beck’s stomach, slipping into the pool of fluids up to his waist. It didn’t burn exactly, but it did tingle on his skin a little, like his legs had fallen asleep. It reminded him of the carbonation inside a Coke, or a particularly frothy beer. High above him, he heard Beck’s labored breathing steadily begin to slow, and he smiled contentedly. He hadn’t been a virgin before, but he’d never been with a normal-sized girl. Now he was literally inside one, basking in the afterglow of their lovemaking.

And not just any girl. Beck—his Beck…

“Beck…” he whispered into the empty chamber of her stomach. “I think… I think I…”

“That were amazing,” her voice interrupted him from up above. “You were amazing.”

He smiled and shut his eyes, leaving his thought unfinished. Amazing. That was the only word for what they’d just done together. That was the only word for Beck.

With his heart full of that feeling, he slid deeper into the fluid in her stomach, and before long he was drifting off into a peaceful exhausted doze…

Until a sudden noise woke him. A voice. Milla’s voice.

His sister had come home—and he was still inside Beck’s stomach!

Simon jumped to his feet and climbed up the slope of Beck’s stomach wall, pressing an ear against the muscular flesh. The voices outside were muffled, but he could track the conversation well enough. He knew Milla’s first question would be to ask after him… and sure enough, poor Beck’s heartbeat began to pound. She was panicking. Neither of them had thought this far ahead, and now they were both caught in the same trap. He heard Beck stammering, lost for words, starting to choke on them…

So he did the only thing he could think to do. He rubbed her stomach wall, reminding her:

“You’re not alone. I’m still here. For better worse—we’re in this together.”

Well—more or less…

It seemed to have the desired effect. Simon’s world shuddered and flopped as Beck got to her feet and hustled into the bathroom. He heard her gag; her stomach convulsed around him—then suddenly he was hurtling upward the way he’d entered, up her throat and into her mouth. Light poured in, nearly blinding him. Then he slid down the length of her tongue and landed softly in the palm of her hand, looking up into her relieved and tear-streaked face.

“Are you all right?” she squealed, her eyes brimming. “I thought I’d… I mean, I couldn’t…”

For a moment, Simon just stared up at her, catching his breath. After the darkness of her stomach, her beauty was like the break of dawn. He stared into her pale blue-gray eyes admiringly as they searched him up and down, her lower lip caught in her teeth. Simon let the moment linger; feeling the heat of her hand beneath him and the heat of her breath on his bare chest and legs. Then he rubbed his face clean of her saliva and he uttered these words:

“Accommodations roomy. Hostess was charming. Bit damp. Bit dark. Still—five stars.”

Beck’s face broke open with relief; the noise she made was something between a nervous laugh and a despairing sob. And suddenly Simon felt himself crying as well—not from sorrow or fear, but from a sheer overwhelming emotional release. He and Beck had experienced something together that few would ever dare attempt. Simon felt light and heavy all at once, but more than that he felt as though an unbreakable thread had tied one end of itself around his heart, and that the other end had fastened itself tightly around Beck’s own heart. It was madness, he knew. But in that overpowering moment, he truly believed that he would give himself to her again, surrender his body and his life to her hunger and remain within her forever if only that cord would remain bound to them both.

But soon enough, that fever faded, replaced by a more mundane kind of elation. Simon leapt to his feet in Beck’s huge palm, and soon they were talking breathlessly over each other, waving their hands and struggling to keep shy, elated grins off their faces.

“…you’re sure you’re all right, I thought for sure I…”

“…I’m fine! You didn’t hurt…”

“…but you were inside me so long, I…”

“…not burned at all, I didn’t even feel…”

“…but when you went in, when you went down, it…”

“…like magic, like nothing else I ever…”

“…feeling you squirm all the way down, it…”

“…hearing you moan, and feeling you move all around me…”

“…it was…”

“…it was…”

“…perfect,” they finished together.

With an almost desperate fervor, Beck cupped Simon in both hands and brought him swiftly towards her mouth, pressing him against her lips so hard he was nearly drawn between them once more. But she broke off the kiss before he was swallowed up again, a thin strand of saliva trailing between their faces for a moment. Then suddenly, Beck’s eyes widened in a panic once again.

“Your sister…” she whispered. “Si—what are we going to do?”

A funny thought flashed through his mind—we could always tell her. He shook his head, slapping himself across the cheeks a few times to center himself again. “The sink. Run me under the warm water. It won’t get me completely clean, but it’ll get off most of your…” He gestured shyly to himself; he was still naked and covered in her saliva and digestive juices. “You know.”

Beck did as she was told. Carrying Simon gently in a web of her crisscrossed fingers, she quickly rinsed him off, then brought him the corner of a washcloth to dry himself with. While he was toweling off, she brought him his handful of clothes. He imagined it must be a funny sight, hopping on one foot to slide into his pants at the size he was. Once he nearly slipped on the smooth surface of the porcelain sink and was relieved when the cushion of Beck’s palm caught him nimbly.

“How do I look?” he said when he was clothed, taking a few catwalk steps that got a giggle out of Beck.

“At least you don’t look like you’ve been…” She trailed off, running her fingers across her stomach.

Simon peered up at her, catching her eye with a smile.

“That’s got to be good enough. Come on and bring me out of here—before Milla gets suspicious.”

“I think she’s already suspicious,” Milla whispered. But she laid her hand flat on the counter, letting Simon scramble up onto her palm once more. But instead of simply walking out of the bathroom, she lifted him up to her shoulder, offering it as a perch. Simon grinned and stepped off onto the padded surface of her sweater, taking his usual place near the crook of her neck. Beck shivered and purred at his touch, then blinked hard, seeming to steel herself. “You ready?” she asked the tiny boy on her shoulder.

“I don’t think anything scares me now,” Simon replied.

Beck put her hand on the knob; but before they left, both lovers turned to each other with one accord.

“Thank you…” they breathed with one voice.

Then Beck opened the door and they walked back into the waiting world together.