A Good Stretch

It wasn't. It was bland. Likely decorated with items bought on sale, because they were on sale, at a Home Goods or Pier 51. Lacking any sort of flavor or personality. Odessa furrowed her brow, and was about to say something about how awful she thought the decor was, when Alex began to undress.

***

Odessa lay on the bed, blinking furiously. It would have been an overstatement to say she was panting. Her cardio and lung health had improved at the same absurd rate as her musculature, and she was in no way winded... but she was breathing very heavily.

She said, "I'm not gay."

Next to her on the bed, equally naked, Alex smirked. The tip of her cigarette glowed furiously, briefly, and then faded, and a long jet of silvery smoke wafted toward the ceiling.

"I'm not."

"I wouldn't dream of telling you that you were," Alex said, and took another long drag. "Except that--"

"I can't be gay."

"Oh honey," the other woman laughed, "slow down. You're making me wet all over again with all this amazing insight and self-awareness."

"But," Odessa said, grasping for any logic no matter how tenuous, "I like penises!"

"Some girls have dicks," Alex said, easily.

Odessa just stared at her, jaw working quietly, and reached for the disheveled bed sheet to cover her chest. For some reason the fact that her legs, or her middle, were uncovered didn't matter; what mattered was covering her nipples. It was irrational, of course. The whole business. Completely irrational, and if there was one thing Odessa hated it was being irrational.

But then Alex stood up and walked across from the bed to her dresser. There was a mirror, so Odessa could watch her reflection as she faced away, and the cigarette blazed to life at just the right moment to betray what Odessa could only describe as insecurity across Alex's features. Doubt.

"Well," Alex said, turning around and leaning against the dresser, her legs seeming to go on forever. Her expression was all cool calm again, and she crossed her arms and pulled the cigarette from her lips with two fingers. "You..." She'd started to say something, and then stopped as she stared at Odessa: specifically, at Odessa's arms. "Those weren't like that at the start." She gestured with the lit end of the cigarette toward Odessa's biceps, and narrowed her eyes.

Odessa blushed and sat up on her elbows, and tried not to care when the bed sheet slipped a little. "Don't make a big deal out of it, okay?"

"That's incredible. Do you always go through a physical transformation like that when you get all worked up?"

Odessa opened her mouth to respond but nothing came out, so she nodded.

"Make a..." Alex trailed off, and instead just raised her arm and flexed her biceps. Poorly.

Odessa mirrored her, except that her form was significantly better, torquing the wrist down to pull all tendons taut. Her biceps were good but it was her triceps she was really proud of, not that Alex would know which muscle was the more impressive..

Alex narrowed her eyes, and took another long drag from her cigarette. "Wow," she said, releasing a mouthful of smoke at the same time. The hole in the middle of the cloud billowing from those lips made Odessa shiver. She shook her arm and rolled her shoulders. For some reason, the transformation that hit her when she exerted herself wasn't dissipating like it usually did, and she still felt amped.

"Do you always grow that much?"

Odessa looked down at herself, twisting her arm to flex it in front of her torso, where she could see it a little more clearly. "No, actually. Most of the time, I don't... It doesn't last this long. I guess it takes a little while to really ramp up."

"Like with those two in the alley," Alex said, as she put out the smoldering butt and reached for the pack to pull out another one. "That took all of, what? Three seconds? Maybe?"

"I went easy on them," Odessa said, grumbling.

"I don't doubt it. If you'd gone in there like this, with the full Rambo, you'd..." Alex lit the fresh cigarette, and held it between her lips as she moved back over to the bed. She put her hands so that the tips of her thumbs were touching, and reached her fingers around, over and under Odessa's upper arm. "I bet you go through a lot of shirts," Alex mumbled, and gave her an arch look. "And your eyes. They're..."

***

Fifteen minutes later, Odessa was staring at the ceiling in silence. Her brain kept starting the process of having things to think about, but none of those thoughts went anywhere she was prepared to follow and so she shut them down one by one.

"Am I gay?"

"Darling," Alex said, as she reclined against the headrest of the bed, "that is the most pointless question I've ever seen someone have a complete freak out over."

"I'm not freaking out," Odessa said, too evenly, in an attempt to keep down some of the turmoil. "Are you gay?"

Another quick drag, followed by a breath drawn in through gritted teeth. "I don't really do boxes. I like what I like, and I don't waste time dithering on what things mean what. If I want sex, I go get sex. If I bring home a guy, or a girl, or... you know... whoever, I don't lose sleep over it."

"I already don't sleep," Odessa said, flatly.

"Oh, join the club," she replied, with a healthy dose of sass. "You know what I mean."

Odessa sat up and looked around. "Your place is really nice."

"Is it?" Alex asked, giving her a curious look in return.

Odessa shrugged and sat up. "I don't know. I'm just... making conversation."

"I don't do that either," Alex said, turning to look out the window. "So many people with nothing to say." Then she turned back to Odessa, eyes narrowed. "I liked that you were blunt with me before. Don't start disappointing me now by making conversation."

Odessa cocked her head. "You're kind of a bitch."

Alex smirked, eyes returning to the window as she said, "That's more like it."

"I'm sorry for not being good conversation while I go through something."

"Are you?" Alex asked. "Going through something? Compared to... you know... I mean, does this even compare to three weeks ago?"

Odessa looked down at her body, still so muscular even hours later now, and sighed. "No. It doesn't. I think I'm just... you're the first person I met that's... different. Like me."

"I'm not like you," Alex said, taking another long drag.

"You know what I mean."

Alex regarded her evenly, but said nothing.

"You know what I mean," Odessa repeated.

"Fine," she replied, rolling her eyes. "For what it's worth, you're the first for me too."

This prompted a moment of silence so heavy, Odessa was surprised the floor didn't collapse.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to--"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to--"

They both stopped, realizing they'd said the same thing, and just blinked. Then, Alex took a quick hit from her cigarette and put it out in a mug beside the bed.

"I was thinking. About your arms."

"Already?" Odessa said, turning slightly, eyes wide.

"What?" Alex blinked. "No, not... damn, you are the horniest woman I've ever met. No, I meant, your arms." She flexed her upper arm and grunted. "How big it gets."

Odessa tried to hide her disappointment, and then tried to hide her bewilderment at being disappointed at the not having more sex with a woman.

"You said you keep tearing your shirts?"

"Oh," she replied. "Yeah. All the time."

"You wear a lot of natural fabrics, then? Cottons, wools... maybe some silks?"

Odessa just nodded, and stayed hunched over.

"I don't know a lot about them, but I know some synthetic fabrics have a lot more flexibility. Nylons. Lycra. That kind of thing."

"Are you offering to make me some shirts."

Alex blinked. "Sort of?"

"What stage of the relationship is that?"

"I don't do relationships," Alex said, returning her attention to the window.

"Shocker," Odessa said, and was surprised that she was a little disappointed.

"Do you see that?" Alex pointed, out the window and over the city. To the horizon. "Dawn is coming."

"Oh fuck!" Odessa bounced to her feet, scrambling to find all of her clothes. They'd been shed in a trail, and how was it that her sweatshirt had made it into the bedroom but her sports bra was way out in the hall, and where was her other shoe, and--

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I've gotta get to work!" Odessa cried. "I can't be late again!"

"How far away is your apartment?"

Odessa stopped dressing, and gave the black haired woman, who was definitely at least a couple inches taller than her, a very flat stare.

"How far away from home is work?"

"I can make it."

"Do you even like your job?"

"Nobody likes their job," Odessa said.

"What do you do?"

"It's a call center," Odessa said, slumping. "It's not glamorous, but it's--"

"You moved to New York to work at a call center?"

"No, I--" This time, Odessa cut herself off. It was disturbing that the other woman had sorted out that she wasn't a native New Yorker.

Alex seemed to sense that something about the question had rubbed her the wrong way, because the follow-up came at her sideways. "Did you move to New York to be a part of something that was here... or did you move here to get away from somewhere else? Someone else?"

Odessa looked down, at the one shoe in her hand, and tossed it across the room in disgust.

"Don't scuff the wall," Alex hissed. "The wall didn't do anything to you."

"What the hell am I gonna do?" Odessa said, as she slumped down on the edge of the bed. Her back was toward Alex, but she could hear the other woman moving. Slowly at first. "I can't just be getting fired from good jobs."

"I might have an idea."

"I'm not going to be your bodyguard."

"My what?" Alex laughed.

"Flunkie. Muscle. Thug."

"No, no, no," Alex said, as she came around the bed and sat down next to Odessa. She was still naked, and Odessa found herself staring down at her red polished toenails. "There are others like us, right? I mean... if you saw what I saw, then..."

"I saw others," Odessa said, voice becoming momentarily weak.

"Not all of them are going to possess a strong moral compass... like me."

Odessa barked. It was like a laugh, except without any mirth.

"Some of them are going to realize that they hate their jobs too, and they're going to start thinking about other ways they could get money because... we all need money. Some of them might even act on those thoughts, and some of them might be strong enough to get away with taking a lot."

She grunted, and paid very close attention to the way Alex was moving closer to her.

"Realistically speaking, it's just a matter of time until someone like that... someone like you or I, does something really dumb, and then..."

"And then what?"

"Then," Alex said, stretching her pinky finger over to brush gently over the back of Odessa's hand, "either the city descends into panic, because people like us will scare the hell out of a bunch of normies, or... the city will need someone like you."

Odessa scowled at her, but she also didn't move her hand. "Are you trying to figure out some kind of supply and demand scheme? Be the poison, and leash the cure?"

Then, for just a second, there was doubt in Alex's downcast eyes. A fragility. It was gone in a flash, but Odessa was sure she'd seen it. "No, but..."

"But what?"

"But maybe, if you're that woman, you know? If you're the one that saves the bus full of kids, or recovers the stolen money, or whatever, then... maybe there's a place for me to... help you."

Odessa wanted to be critical, but when she said, "Help me how?" it came out much softer.

When Alex looked up at her, finally making direct eye contact for the first time in what felt like hours, it was the last straw. She cradled Alex's cheek, drawing the other woman in, and kissed her. She kissed another woman, kissed her long and full, and the fire in her chest started to spread through her limbs.

Alex crawled backwards onto the bed, on hands and heels, and Odessa followed. On hands and knees. Kissing her. Meeting her. As an equal.

"Ah shit," Alex moaned, as Odessa crawled over her. She reached up, eyes wide, and ran her hands over Odessa's shoulders and arms. "Ah shit, look at the size of you!"

There was, buried in with the awe, a hint of fear, and Odessa was surprised to find that she was so in tune with that. That she noticed it among all the reactions. That she'd maybe even been looking for it. She twisted her arm, between their bodies, and brought her curled index and middle fingers to Alex's slick channel.

"Oh God," she moaned, back arching, as Odessa penetrated her. "You're fingers are fucking huge!"

Alex's left leg immediately spread out very wide. The right would have done the same, but it was trapped between Odessa's knees, so Alex wrenched her body sideways to open herself up. Tiny wrinkles at the corners of her eyes as she tried to deal with the strain. Jaw stretched out wide in a soundless wail.

And then Odessa did something she'd never done before in her life. She shifted her knees a little further under herself, for support, and brought her other hand up to Alex's throat. Very gently cradling it. Alex's eyes went wide, face already going slightly pink just from the effect her two inserted fingers were having, and she nodded ever so slightly.

With a slight twist of her wrist, Odessa was able to bring her thumb to bear on Alex's clit, blunt pressure with a slow swirl, as she worked two fingers in and out. Down to the webbing. Out to the fingertip. Dragging the pad along the walls. Alex made a sound somewhere between a croak and a sigh, air escaping slowly through her restricted airway, and her face went from pink to full on red.

"Oh fuck," Alex said, gasping, as Odessa loosened her grip. "Do that ag-nnnnnnnnngh!"

Odessa leaned in, kissing her full on the lips, shifting her grip so that her fingers were cradling the spinal column and just her thumb was curled around to press on the airway.

As she explored Alex's limits, Odessa found that with all the increased muscle mass she gained while her heart was pumping hard, she had also gained control. This, theoretically, made sense with how she hadn't ripped those two kids in half earlier, but she hadn't really considered that. Even then, as she brought Alex to her fastest, most cross-eyed orgasm yet, she was only really just beginning to grasp what she was capable of.

Alex stared up at her from under very heavy lids, sweating profusely and gasping. Odessa couldn't believe how quickly she'd overwhelmed the taller woman. She relaxed her grip, and in a moment of inspiration brought her two wet fingers up to Alex's mouth. The black-haired woman mindlessly sucked them deeper into her mouth, tongue working around and between them, cleaning them, and Odessa couldn't keep the smug grin from her lips.

This was power. Nevermind that she could bend rebar one handed, she could do this. Odessa had had a few lovers in her time, all men, and none of them had ever looked at her like Alex was, right at that moment, with two fingers in her mouth. There was such... adoration. It was intoxicating.

Without a warning, Odessa ripped the pillow out from under Alex's head, kicked her leg out, and brought her hips around and over Alex's head. The other woman only had time to give a strangled whimper before Odessa lowered herself into place, and sighed when the first thing she felt on her labia was a tongue.

God bless that woman, Odessa thought, and God bless her tongue.

The feeling of warmth spread through her again, like a fire catching from branch to branch, as Alex suckled at her clit. It felt really good, and it got even better when Alex reached up to grab her thighs for leverage. It didn't improve the sensation, directly, but there was something about how completely Alex was throwing herself at the task that stiffened her spine and made her skin pebble.

Odessa rocked her hips slowly. The blood sang in her veins, tingling and prickling beneath the skin from her head to her toes, and there, stretched out before her, was a delightful buffet of woman. When she pinched Alex's nipples, Alex groaned into her. When she rolled them between her fingertips, Alex moaned even louder. When she delivered an open-handed slap right over Alex's mound, the black-haired woman bucked, squeezed, and then spread her legs even wider, inviting more of the same. After three more slaps, more spanks than anything because of the lack of follow through, Alex's lips were puffy and swollen and so, so, so incredibly pink. Odessa swore she could see them pulsing, throbbing in time with the beat of Alex's heart. It was a revelation.

Odessa leaned forward, eyes full of hunger, and buried her face in Alex's gorgeous pussy. Her lips and mouth targeted the other woman's swollen pearl, and her nose slipped between slick labia where the scent was so strong it made her light headed. As she licked, and lashed, and swirled, her hands came around the sides of Alex's hips. Alex instinctively lifted her legs up into the air, knees coming back slightly, and Odessa immediately grabbed Alex's cheeks. Alex had a full, round bottom, and yet somehow each cheek was only a handful. She was gripping each in her palm, with fingers outstretched.

Suddenly, Alex's reaction to having two fingers inserted into her made more sense; her hands were bigger.

She couldn't see much, between Alex's legs in the low pre-dawn light, but she could feel, and little by little her fingers crept inward toward each other until one of her index fingers touched the spot it had been looking for. Alex's other hole. It puckered and tightened at being probed, and Alex herself groaned loudly, almost in protest, but she wrapped her legs around Odessa's ribs and pulled her in all the same.

There was plenty of fluid. On her back, and as wet as she was, some had been leaking down between Alex's cheeks for a while, and Odessa merely had to press gently to start moving inside.

Each millimeter inward made Alex groan louder, and louder, amidst everything else Odessa was already doing to her, and it didn't take long until the taller woman clenched and squeezed with a force Odessa hadn't thought her capable of, in the throes of another amazing orgasm.

For all of Alex's poise, and for all of her composure, and for all the stamina she'd shown through the first four orgasms of the night, the fifth took everything out of her. Alex went as limp and spent as every man she'd ever been after just one, but unlike with them Odessa had already had two orgasms of her own and was on the verge of a third. She pushed herself up and sat back on her heels. Between her thighs, Alex was panting and staring up at her.

Odessa bit her lip and swiped her fingers quickly over her engorged clit, back and forth with more wrist action than anything else, and the dam burst.

Once the stars faded from behind her eyelids, Odessa found herself on her back, with her legs twisted at an odd angle. She felt... different. More limber than she had been before. More flexible. Less... massive. When the thought hit her, she tried to raise an arm, but she was tired and it was easier to turn and tilt her head. Her arms were their normal size. The new normal, anyway. Still larger than she had been three months ago, but not the size she grew to when she was worked up. Not as large as she had been a few minutes ago. Had it only been a few minutes?

Alex was using her thigh as a pillow. She looked up at Odessa, winked, and closed her eyes, and suddenly staying awake felt like the most unnecessary thing in the world.

***

Odessa woke up some time later. Alex was still asleep in the bed, though she was using a regular pillow now. She stirred when Odessa got up, but no more.