Scott

Erin stood, unbuttoning her blouse and throwing it behind her. Her breasts fell free, pale and freckled. She took her skirt and panties down in one go, then stood in front of me, waiting. We'd switched off the lamps and lit some tealights, trying for a little ambience. Erin's skin looked golden in the candlelight. She didn't seem to know where to put her hands, and eventually rested them on her hips.

"Well?" she said. "Thoughts?"

"Honestly?" I said, drinking her in. "Miz Erin Halloran? No notes. You're gorgeous."

"Yeah? I've always hated being this pale, these goddamn… spots." She gestured to her face, the spray of freckles across her nose. "Fuck it, I'm blushing again. Irish genes, right?" She looked down at herself, ran her hands down her sides, then cupped a breast in each hand. "I'm glad you like it, but I'm… I feel, sometimes I…" She faltered. "Sorry. Getting in my head. We can–"

"Hey. Come here." I patted the couch cushion. "Talk to me."

She curled up next to me, her hand stroking my chest again. "Can I tell you something?" she whispered.

"Of course."

"I'm… I'm not a slut, alright? I know I dress like it sometimes. I just… I do like the attention. And I do like sex." She buried her nose in my shoulder. "And I really liked you. Even before…" She passed her hand down my chest. "Whatever this is."

I kissed the top of her head, ran my fingers through her hair.

"I don't…" she began, then paused. "I don't like how I look, a lot of the time. I'm too short, my tits are too big, my ass, my hips… I know a lot of guys like that. But my mom, my sisters, they're like fuckin' athletes. I just, I can't…" Erin sighed. "I don't know."

I brought her face to mine. "Hey. Erin?"

She blinked, her green eyes deep and shining. "Hm?"

"You," I said, "are goddamn perfect." I kissed her then, long and slow. She moaned, took hold of my hand and brought it to her breast.

"Even these?" she asked.

"Especially these."

"Play with them," she moaned between kisses. "I love that. My nipples. Please. Play with my big tits."

I palmed her breast, taking her nipple between my fingers.

"Yesss…" she hissed. "Harder. Rougher. Like that. Fuck, you're going to make me cum. Just from… ohfuck… just from… oh… Scott?"

"Mhm?"

"Tell me. Tell me to cum. I need it."

"Erin? Cum."

Erin and I lay cuddled on the couch. She was breathing hard, coming down from her orgasm.

"Fucking Christ, that was even better than the last one," Erin said.

I held her breast in my hand, teasing her nipple. She gasped.

"You know…" she said.

"Yeah?"

"You still have your pants on." She ran her hand down my leg. "I'm naked. And you're hard. I don't think that's fair." She kissed the outline of my cock. "For either of us. So."

"So?"

"So take them off! You got to see all of me, I get to see all of you." Erin dropped to her knees, reaching for my belt. "Plus, you still owe me a story."

I looked up at the ceiling as undid the button on my pants. "Fine," I said. My zipper came down. "But really, it's not all that interesting."

"I think I can find some way to entertain myself. I've been– " She pulled my jeans and boxers down, and my cock sprang free. "Fuuuuck, man!"

"What?"

"The fuck did this come from?! That time in the walk-in, I mean, you seemed pretty big, but this is something… it's…"

Erin climbed off the couch and dropped to her knees, wrapping her hands around my cock. She stared at it, transfixed. "You're… Scott, fuck… I don't want to sound like a whore, but your cock is so big…" she said. "And beautiful. And it smells so good. Can I…?"

"Yeah?"

"I want to suck you, Scott. Want to suck your cock. I want to feel you in my mouth. Can you tell me to–"

"Erin. Suck my cock."

Erin was on her knees, naked, my cock in her throat. She was moaning to herself, one hand on her breast while the other fingered her pussy. I closed my eyes, trying to gather my thoughts.

"Okay. Okay. Erin?"

"Mhmm?"

"I'm going to–" I groaned. "Fuck me, you're good at that."

"Mhm," Erin confirmed, keeping my cock in her mouth.

"Alright, I'm going to tell you what happened. Or, I mean, what's been happening."

"Mhm."

"It's kind of weird."

"Mhm."

"And I don't really understand it, and I don't want to fuck things up between us, and–"

"Scott." Erin popped her head off of my cock. "My guy. You have a hot, naked redhead here in front of you, on her knees, sucking your dick. I get it. You're weird, I'm weird, this whole fucking… situation is weird. I don't care. I like it. I promise, you aren't going to fuck anything up." She licked up the side of my shaft. "And when you're done, you're going to fuck me." She took me into her mouth.

"Okay, so, this was a few weeks ago…"

*             *             *

It was six-thirty in the morning. I'd just come back from a jog. I'd been getting up early, before it got too hot. I'd put in three, maybe three and a half miles, pretty much had to drag my way to the entryway. I was in the stairwell, dripping with sweat, waiting on the elevator. It arrived, dinged, I opened the gate, then I heard –

"Can you hold that? Please?!"

A young woman came in backwards through the front door, three bodega bags on each arm. She entered the elevator, dropped her bags, and stood, hands on her knees, out of breath. She was wearing an oversized MCU sweatshirt in spite of the heat.

"Thanks," she panted. "Appreciate it. Give me… whew… give me a second."

"Take your time," I said. "What floor?"

"Nine. Please."

"You got it. " I slid the gate closed and hit the button for Nine. "I guess we're neighbors," I said.

"Oh yeah?" she said. She had a faint British accent. "I just moved in last week." She held out her hand. "Nine G."

We shook. "Nine C," I said. "Always nice to meet the new–"

The elevator shuddered to a halt. The lights dimmed.

"Fuck my life," the woman muttered. She took out her phone and dialed. "Hey, Zelda, yeah, this is Madi from Nine G. I'm stuck in the elevator with… hang on, what's your name?"

"Scott," I said.

"With Scott, from Nine C. Yeah. We're stuck. Between, I don't know, maybe two and three? Three and four?" She shot me a glance. I held up my hands. "I mean, yeah, it's kind of urgent. I have to be at the lab in–" She paused, listening. "Okay. No, I–. No. Yes. Yes. I get it." She hung up, leaned against the wall, and slid to the floor, burying her face in her hands.

"Are you o–" I began.

"Fffuuuck!" she said, her voice muffled. She took her hands away, her eyes wet. She took off her glasses and rubbed at the tears with her sleeve. "Of all days. Of all the goddamn days." She sniffled. "Sorry. Don't need to put this on you."

I sat down next to her. "It's okay. What did she say?"

"Two hours, maybe three. The super's on a call in the outer boroughs, and won't be here 'til at nine at the earliest." She sighed. "And I've got work at eleven, and I was going to make fucking pancakes! For her birthday!" She kicked at one of the bags on the floor. "Chocolate fucking chip fucking pancakes!"

I started to reach out to put a hand her shoulder, then held back. "I'm… I'm sorry," I said. "Sorry. That all sounds like a lot. And I was out for a run, I probably stink, and now you're stuck with me in here. Sorry."

She wiped her nose with her sleeve. "You apologize too much," she said.

"I'm s–"

"Fucking don't!" she snapped, then her anger dissolved. "Shit. Now I'm sorry. And for the record," she said, and sniffled again, "you actually smell pretty good."

We sat in silence, staring into the middle distance.

"Want to take this from the top?" I said after a while. "Start over?"

"Sure."

"Scott. Scott Walker. Nine C." I held out my hand.

"Madhuri. Madhuri Singh. Nine G." We shook. "You can call me Madi. You hungry?"

"How did I not know about these?" I said, taking another handful. "Crab chips?! How is that a thing?"

We had our backs to the wall in the elevator's emergency light, splitting a bag of potato chips.

"New England, man," Madi said. "Cradle of civilization. Crab chips, lake trout, cheese steaks, garbage plates. We got it all. Had to go to six different bodegas to find these bastards." She crunched a chip. "But, y'know. Anything for Nadja."

"Nadja?"

"Yeah, she's my… partner. Whatever you want to call it. Give it a name. Loves these things."

"She won't mind that we're eating them?"

"Nah. Got five more bags in there." She nudged her shopping bags with her shoe. "Bought out their whole stock."

Madi took a breath. "Nadja, she's from Baltimore. Today's her birthday. She's a nurse, works nights, so we don't see each other too much. Mostly just breakfast, some weekends. She'll be home in…" Madi checked her phone. "Damn it. We had a… a pretty bad fight a couple days ago, and I wanted to make it up to her. So…" She nudged the bags again.

"So pancakes?" I asked.

"So pancakes," Madi said. She laid her head on my shoulder.

"Can I confess something?" Madi asked.

"Sure," I said. I'd lost track of time. We'd finished off the chips, and she was still leaning against me in the dimness.

"I'm… I'm really attracted to you." She straightened and looked up at me. "I don't understand it. It's… I'm a scientist, and I've been turning it over and over in my head. But ever since I stepped in here with you I've felt this… this pull towards you. Which is weird, because I normally don't go for men, I mean I have before, but with you it's like... I don't know, I mean you smell so good, you're handsome, sure, but, I just, there's something…" She trailed off. "I'm rambling. Apologies. I do that. But there's something… different, I guess? About you? Are you… do you feel anything like that? Like, attraction? For me? At all?"

I looked at Madi, really looked at her for the first time. She wore a pair of cutoffs, and her long, bare legs were flawless, her skin like coffee with a hint of cream. Her eyes, dark and endless behind her glasses, seemed to be pleading. Her upper body was swimming in an oversized sweatshirt, and I briefly envisioned running my hands up under it, stripping it off her, entangling my fingers in her long, dark hair before I–

"Fuck me," I grumbled to myself.

Madi went blank for a second, then shook her head. "Scott? Still with us?"

"I… what were… hm?" I managed.

"I will take that," Madi said, giving me a peck on the lips, "as a yes, Nine C." She checked her phone, then licked her lips. "We've got another forty-five minutes or so 'til we get rescued. Wanna make out?"

"All clear!" called the voice from below. "You guys should be good!"

The lights flickered on. The elevator lurched, came to a stop, and we stepped out. Floor three.

"Guess we're walking it," Madi said, straightening her sweatshirt. She gathered up her bags.

"Guess so."

We arrived on the ninth floor. I reached for my keys. The sweat from my jog had long since dried, and I felt slightly sticky. All I wanted was to get home, get a shower, and–

"Hey," Madi said. "Nine C."

I turned. "Madi?"

She hefted her bags. "You going to give me a hand or what?"

"I mean, I could really use a shower."

"Fuck your shower. I need you like this."

"What? Like what?"

"I have some questions. Come on." She started walking toward her apartment. "For science!" she called over her shoulder.

"Okay, okay, so," Madi said, unloading her bags. She tossed me a bottle of sports drink from the fridge. "What have you been – hang on." She took her phone out from her cutoffs and laid it on the counter. "You cool if I record this?"

"Um, I guess?" I said.

"Awesome." She tapped the screen. "Let's go. Scott Walker," she said, her voice going clinical, "please describe any recent abnormalities you've observed. Anything, physical, emotional, et cetera."

"Well, I have noticed some in the last few months," I began. "I've been getting… bigger."

"Okaaaay. Details. Bigger how?"

"I – I'm taller, for one thing. I used to be five eleven, back when I had my last physical."

"And that was?"

"February."

"And now?"

"Six two. Ish."

"Good. I'm listening, keep going." Madi cracked open a box of pancake mix, measured and poured it into a steel bowl. "Anything else?"

"I've – my muscles have developed. Like a lot. I've always been a runner, but lately it's like my metabolism has gone crazy. I'm always hungry, and I've put on like twenty, thirty pounds of muscle."

"Interesting," Madi said. She whisked eggs and milk into the bowl. "And when did you first notice this was happening?"

"Maybe… around May?" I said. "Late May?"

Madi set the bowl on the counter. "Hm. Yeah. That tracks," she said to herself, seemingly lost in thought. "Hm. Alright, Scott. Let's keep it going. What about… sexually? Any changes there?"

"I don't–" I started. "I don't know if we should–"

"Scott." Madi faced me, and stripped off her sweatshirt, revealing a white sports bra that barely contained her large breasts, then pulled her cutoffs down. She straddled my lap in her underwear. "We just made out in an elevator for almost an hour. You said 'fuck me' in this low, growly voice, and I had to stop myself from jumping you. Something's up." She pulled me in for a long kiss. "You can tell me," she whispered, grinding on my leg. "Please. It's for science. Tell you what," she said, kissing me again, "you tell me your secret." She moved my hand to her breast. "I tell you mine."

*             *             *

It was late night at the bar, middle of spring. I was pouring drinks. Erin was waiting tables, collecting tips. She sidled up with an empty tray and tucked her long red hear behind one ear.

"Table nineteen," she said. "Need an IPA and a vodka cran."

"Got it." I went to make the drinks.

"That's your girl there, isn't it?" Erin said. "What was it, Lily? The one who–"

"That's her," I said, cutting her off.

"The balls on her, coming here with a date during your shift. Although you know, she does keep looking over at you, though. And the guy she's with? Seems like kind of a dick. I mean, an IPA? Honestly, I think maybe you and her could give it–"

"Erin," I said. "Really don't want to talk about it. We're done. We're… I'm past it." I set the drinks on her tray. "There you go."

"Alright," Erin said. "I mean, I'm going through it too, if you ever want to talk. Just saying."

"It's… I'm fine." Erin gave me a look, then walked away. "Everything's fine," I said to myself.

"Scott."

Lily. Leaning on the bar, holding her half-finished vodka cranberry.

"Lily. What do you want?"

"I thought…" She took a sip. "Since we're both here, I thought we should talk a little."

"Nothing to say, Lil. Now, do you want another, or can I go back to work?"

"Scott, I…" She seemed maudlin, teary, slurring her words a little. "I wanted… wanted to…"

"Lily." I leaned forward, lowering my voice. "You cheated. We're done. Honestly? You can go fuck yourself."

Lily's eyes widened. She downed the rest of her drink. "I… sorry. I need to go," she mumbled, and headed straight for the restrooms.

"Erin?" I caught her eye and motioned her over.

"What's up, boss?"

"Not your boss. I need a few minutes. Need you to watch the bar. Call it a smoke break."

"You don't smoke."

"Okay, fine, just… need some air. Can you handle things?"

"You got it." Erin smirked, then punched me lightly on the shoulder. "Boss."

"Scott."

Lily, again. I was propped up against a wall in the back alley, trying to get my head straight, when she stumbled out the back door. Her hair was a mess, her makeup smudged. I caught her by the shoulders as she came toward me.

"Lily. Hey."

She collapsed against me. "I'm really sorry," she said. "I just… fuck it. I was just in the bathroom, and I couldn't stop thinking about you. About how we used to… how you used to… to make love to me. I…"

"Lily. Lilybell," I said, using my pet name for her. "Slow down. I got you."

"I know, I f–" She hiccupped, then clutched me tight, pressing her body against me. She felt familiar, and I found myself growing hard, hating myself for it. "I… I fucked myself. Like you said. It was like I had to. And I came, right there in the stall. I couldn't stop. I kept, how we used to…"

She reached for my crotch. "You feel…" she said. "You're so hard. So big. You feel sooo much bigger. What's happened, did you–"

I pushed her hand away. "Bell. Leave it."

"I'm sorry, Scott. I miss you," she sobbed. "A lot. I fucked it all up."

"I mean, not going to fight you on that one. So hey. Lil. Your guy in there, what's his name?"

"Travis. Trevor. Something like that. I dunno."

"Sure. Let's get you back to him. Let's get you home. "

*             *             *

Madi had grown still on my lap. "That's… hm. Sad, and yet…" She took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "So, let's see, you see this girl, your ex, you both hate each other…"

"I wouldn't say–"

"Shh. Thinking. And you tell her to go fuck herself. And so she does," Madi continued, talking to herself. "Fucks herself. In the bathroom stall. Fantasizing about you. And then she's all up on you, feeling your dick–"

"Madi–"

"Shh! I'm almost done." She planted a quick kiss on my cheek. "Be patient. So she says you feel bigger. How long was it since your breakup, when all this happened?"

"I dunno, about three weeks? A month?"

"Yeah, that fits. And that was the first time this happened, something like this?"

"The first I noticed, I guess. There've been other times since–"

"Okay. Give me a sec." She closed her eyes and resumed grinding on my lap. She cupped her breasts through her bra. "Need to think. Meantime, just enjoy the view."

"Alright," Madi climbing off of me. "I've got a plan."

"A plan?"

"Yep. Stand up. Take off your pants." Madi turned and started rummaging in a drawer.

I stood, then hesitated.

"Aha! Found you!" She held up a cloth measuring tape. When she turned back around, she saw me standing there, fully clothed. She rolled her eyes. "Scott. Pants. Down. For. Science. Now."

"I'm not… not sure if I should…"

"Fine," Madi huffed, dropping to her knees, "I'll do it myself." She whisked down my pants and boxers in one go.

My cock came free and Madi cupped it in one hand. She leaned in, taking a long breath through her nose. "Fuck me, that's nice," she said, exhaling. She toyed with my cock, weighing it in her palm. "You're not even all the way hard, are you?"

"Not quite."

"That's okay," Madi said, giving a long slow lick down my length. "I can help with that."

Madi was bobbing her head on my cock. She made a happy humming sound, and I could feel the vibrations in her throat.

"Madi?" I said. She kept sucking. "Madi!"

She pulled off. "Right, right the plan," she said reluctantly. She reached for the measuring tape and wrapped it around my throbbing shaft, then stretched it from base to tip. "Hm. Interesting."

"What is?" I said.

She ignored me and got to her feet, then picked up her phone and started dictating as she wandered around the room. "Subject's length at full erection is eight-point-seven-five inches, circumference six-point-two five, so diameter…" She paused, calculating in her head. "Let's just call it two," she said, the ended the recording.

Madi came closer and wrapped her hand around my still-hard cock. "Scott," she murmured in my ear. "You have an amazing dick. When I had it in my mouth, I felt like I was… outside of my body. All I could think about was how big you felt in my mouth, what you would feel like my stretching out my pussy, even my…" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "My arse."

Madi's phone rang. She pulled back suddenly, like a switch had been flipped, and let go of my cock. She answered the call and started pacing. "Hey, babe."

With nothing else to do, I just stood there, half-naked, watching this woman I barely knew walk around in her underwear.

"Are you kidding?" Madi said into the phone. "It's your birthday! They can't… okay, yeah, no you're right. No, it's fine. I'll see you tonight. Love you too." She hung up. "Fuck!"

"Bad news?" I said.

"Huh? Oh. Right. You," Madi said, annoyed. She looked me up and down, did a flapping motion with her hand. "Strip off the rest. You look like a twat. Nadja's pulling a double, and I gotta put the batter in the fridge. Be right back." She vanished into the kitchen.

I let my track jacket and t-shirt fall to the floor. When she came back, Madi scooped up my discarded shirt and held it to her nose, breathing deeply. "I'll need to keep this," she said, and inhaled again. "For science."

"So what now?" I asked. "More tests?"

"Scott," Madi laughed, "You have no idea."

Over the next half hour I was poked, prodded, weighed, measured, and swabbed. I stood, still naked, in front of the couch as Madi put a blood sample into a vial. I rubbed my arm where the needle had gone in.

"There," Madi said to herself. "Almost done. Take a seat."

"Almost? What else is there to –"

Without a word, Madi put a hand on my chest and shoved me back. She grabbed a sample cup from her kit bag, then knelt beside me on the couch. Her fingers played with my balls, then wrapped around my cock and started stroking.

"Oh," I said, eyeing the empty cup. "Got it."

"Mhm." Madi said, putting her head on my chest. "I've still got about an hour before work. You think you can last a while? I think you can."

"I… I think so," I breathed. "But… fuck, Madi, you… you're really good at that."

"I know." She kept stroking me. "So, Scott."

"Yeah?"

"Here's what I'm thinking. You get a little taller, a little bulkier. Your cock," she squeezed it playfully, "gets a lot bigger."

"Hey!" I said. "Not a lot bigger."

"Fair." Madi leaned down and kissed the tip. "It gets slightly bigger. Your voice gets deeper, more resonant. It makes people want to do what you tell them. And you start smelling really good. Some kind of pheromones, is my guess. And suddenly all these women start getting horny around you. Even people who normally wouldn't." She rubbed her face against my chest. "Like me."

"Like you," I said. I looked down at her, her waves of dark hair, her free hand playing with my nipples, the smooth brown skin of her breasts as they strained against her top, how the deep shadow of her cleavage moved with her–

"You were looking at my tits, weren't you?" Madi stopped stroking and blinked up at me through her glasses. Her voice got breathy. "My big… soft… tits… weren't you?"

"I mean, I –"

"It's alright," she said. I could feel the smile in her voice. "I don't mind. I'm just teasing you." She settled her head back down, her hand moving on my cock again. "I'm kind of like, it even, I'm just…" Madi sighed.

"Scott?"

"Hm?"

"You're… I don't know what it is with you. I haven't felt like this about a guy in… tell you the truth? In ever. I'm so confused." Madi's voice softened. "I do want to fuck you. So, so badly. It'd be wrong, I mean, I love Nadja, I do. But I'm… thinking about having your cock in me. Having your hands on my tits, running my lips over your cock. Ever since the lift. Sorry, 'elevator'. You said Fuck me with your voice… thingy and it's like I can't get it out of my head. It's all I can think about. It's like you could make me, if you wanted to, and that," she shuddered, "that makes me so wet."

"Hey," I said. "Madi. I wouldn't do that to you."

"No, I know, I know." She nuzzled my chest. "You seem like a good guy. Mostly."

We sat in silence, her hand stroking my cock.

"So," she said eventually, "are you close to cumming or what?"

"I'm," I breathed, "I'm pretty close.

"Well," she said, dropping to her knees, "let's see if we can get you there a little quicker." She ran her tongue up my cock. "Let me know when it's time."

"Fuck me," Madi said, holding the half-full sample cup up to the light. "Is this normal for you? Every time?"

"For the last few months, yeah. Why is it a lot?"

"This is like, four, five times the normal amount, so yeah. How many times a day would you say you can cum?"

"I haven't really tested it out." I shrugged. "Six? Maybe seven, if I'm bored. I'd say a lot."

She looked at my glistening cock, still hard after cumming. "And you can just stay hard like that?"

"Pretty much."

"Hrm." She picked up her phone and checked the time. "Think you can go again?"

I was back on the living room couch, naked and hard. Madi came in from storing the samples in the fridge and put an empty specimen cup next to me. She sat down cross-legged on the carpet, still in her underwear.

I looked at her, puzzled. "I thought we were going again…?"

"We are. We're just doing it a bit differently this time. You're going to take care of yourself. And I," she tapped her phone, placed it next to her. "Begin recording, Walker trial one-one-B. I am going to fight you."

I stared.

"Christ," Madi said. "You are a bit thick, aren't you?" She looked at my cock and smirked at her own joke. "So. You're going to wank yourself off. I'm going to watch you. You're going to do… whatever this thing is with your voice, and you're going to use it on me to try to make me do what you say. And I. Am going. To fight you. Ready?"

"I guess?"

"Alright then. Scott? Fuck yourself."

Madi had her legs spread, eyes unfocused, her left hand down her panties, her right kneading one of her breasts. "No, I can do this," she muttered to herself. "Fuck! You!" She pointed at me. "Give me more!"

"You want to take your top off," I said. "You want to show me your tits."

"I want…" Her right hand went to her midriff and toyed with the hem of her bra. "Show you my… no…" She stopped herself, and her hand went back to her breast. She pinched her nipple, letting out a long, low moan.

"Good," Madi panted. "Like that. Hit me again!"

"All you can think about is my cock. How it would feel in your pussy, fucking you. You feel it now, Madi, you feel me inside of you."

Madi gasped, imagining my cock inside of her.

"You want me to fuck you, Madi," I said, "Don't you? You're so wet for me."

"Yessss!" she cried out, her hand speeding up. "Oh! So wet! Please! I want… I want your cock! I want you to fuck me, please!"

"I'm not going to fuck you, Madi," I said. "You love Nadja. You're not going to cheat." She whimpered.

"I want you to make yourself cum, Madi. You're going to cum, imagining me fucking you."

"Fucking me. Yesss…"

I stroked myself faster, getting close. "You're going to cum with me now. Cum hard for me, Madi."

"Cum…" she moaned as she orgasmed, eyes clouded with lust, her body convulsing. "Cum… for you."

Madi had curled up on the carpet after she came. I let her be, placing the new sample next to her and going into the bathroom to put my clothes (minus the T-shirt Madi had confiscated) back on.

She was looking at the sample when I came out. She'd removed the lid and was swirling it around. "Oh hey," she said absently. "Good work on this one. I think there's even more than the first."

"Thanks…?"

"It even," she sniffed it. "It smells really good." Her eyes grew distant. "Like… like you…" She raised the container to her lips.

"Madi!" I rushed forward and grabbed her wrist. "Don't!" I took the container from her and screwed the lid back on.

"But I wanted…" she mumbled.

"Madi. We need it. It's for science, yeah?"

"For science. Yeah." I watched the light return to her eyes.

"All good?" I asked.

Madi shook her head, clearing out the cobwebs. "Yeah. Yeah, fine. Can I… can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"It's stupid. Can you… will you hold onto me for awhile? I'm all fucked up, I'm trying to get my head…"

I sat, pulled her into my lap. I put my arms around her. "It's not stupid. I don't think you're fucked up." I held her tighter and rested my chin on her head.

"Madhuri Singh?" I said. She sniffled. "I think you're a genius."

"Thanks," she said into my shoulder. "Thank you, Scott. Let's just… stay like this for a bit, yeah?"

Madi came out of the bathroom, fully dressed in a skirt and blouse, her hair done up in a loose bun. She still looked amazing.

"All right?" she said.

"All good. It's been a… strange morning."

"I mean, yeah. Putting it mildly. I get stuck in an elevator with my neighbor, who it turns out has some kind of sex-god superpowers, and then we spend the rest of the morning doing science and cumming our brains out. I'd say it qualifies."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that," I said. "Do you have a minute?"

Madi checked her phone. "A few." She grabbed a cooler bag off the counter. "I need to get the samples to the lab."

"Right. So. Earlier, when I was telling you about that time with Lily behind the bar. You said 'That fits', when I told you about when it happened. What was that all about?"

Madi lifted her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Yeah," she said, resigned. "Kinda hoped you'd forgotten about that. Okay, so back in May, late May, like you said, something started happening. 'Unexplained phenomena'." She made air quotes. "Or 'weird shit', in scientific terms. You haven't heard about any of this?"

"Some rumors. Some people at the bar. Like there's some guy at MCU who took control of an entire sorority house?"

"That's one of them. He's on the list. There are lots more. People being controlled all kinds of ways, eye fixation, crystals, magic pendants, subliminal broadcasts. Some lady in the outer boroughs who can make you her slave just by touching your skin. Mad science, comic book shit. "

"And you think I'm one of them?"

Madi shrugged. "Working theory. Nadja's helping out, kind of like my Watson. She works the hospital, I work the lab. Speaking of," she said, lifting the bag. "Time to go. Need to get these analyzed."

I stood in the hallway as Madi locked her apartment door behind us. "Alright, Nine C," she said, turning to face me. "This was fun. Keep me updated. I put my number in your phone. I'll let you know what I find out."

"Madi?"

"Scott?"

"One more thing? Before, you said something about I show you my secret, you show me yours?"

"Yes."

"So what's yours?"

"Oh yes. That." She stepped closer, putting her arms around my shoulders. "So, remember how I said how there are other people out there who're like you?"

"Yeah."

She pecked my lips. "I'm one of them," she whispered. "I'll tell you more next time."

I watched dumbfounded as she walked away. "But I–"

"Next time!" she called, waving over her shoulder, not looking back.