The Spell: The Experiment

"That was fast," she remarked, standing up and brushing any remaining threads and sensors off of her,

Peter groaned internally as she ran her open palm over her breasts and butt, giggling them slightly,

It occurred to him that if girls like Tiffany knew what Edna looked like now they would hate her for a whole new, more envious, reason,

"You can lose the belt," she said, "Gestation should be all done by now,"

As Peter unhooked his belt Edna walked over to her blood collection kit, hitting stop on the recording as she passed her laptop,

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she pulled out a fresh syringe,

"Fine I guess," he said keeping his legs crossed as his eyes were glued to her heart-shaped backside, "A little warm,"

As she walked back over she checked his vital monitor,

"You are running a little hot, and your heart rate accelerated," she observed before leaning over and checking her own monitor, "Ooh, so did mine,"

As she leaned over she stuck the ass he had been so distracted by right in his face, to be a gentleman he looked away,

"Oh, sorry," she chuckled, realizing what she had done and turning back to face him, "Let's get these blood samples and call it a night,"

He held out his arm once again as Edna leaned over to take his blood, her breasts hanging off her chest with the gentlest sway,

"All right, my turn," she said, sitting down, holding out her left arm and looking to her right,

Thankfully her uncomfortableness with needles allowed him some privacy as he temporarily tooling his hands off of his crotch to quickly acquire a sample,

"All done," he said, quickly putting down the syringe and covering himself back up before she could look at him,

"Awesome!" She cheered, standing up and quickly labelling the second pair of vials, putting them next to the first pair in the fridge, "Now according to the limited research that has been done, we can expect a few symptoms, itching is not uncommon, neither is the temperature spike we recorded on the vital monitors, some drowsiness happens in some cases, and there are some reports of people having heightened libidos for a little while afterwards,"

"You don't say?" Peter mumbled as he stood up from his seat, his erection having relaxed enough that he was confident he could walk across the room without poking her eye out,

"Pardon me?" Edna asked,

"I'm gonna go hit the hay," he corrected, quickly pacing towards the other side of the apartment where their bedrooms were,

"Oh, okay!" She said cheerfully, "Sleep tight, we'll take another blood sample in the morning, thanks for your help tonight!"

He finally felt comfortable enough to stop covering himself as he closed his bedroom door concluding perhaps the strangest night of his life,

His break up with Tiffany felt like it happened years ago after the psychological ordeal he just went through,

All he wanted to do was sleep but thanks to either the effects of the spell or the enticing surprise of how good Edna looked nude his arousal wouldn't let him,

He just couldn't get her out of his mind, instinctively he reached down to fix the problem but stopped himself before he could make any progress,

Edna was his friend, his completely platonic friend, how degenerate did he have to be to rub one out to her?

To try to rectify the problem he pulled out his phone and began searching for other images of women that might take his attention elsewhere,

None of these lifeless two-dimensional images could compete with the idea of one of the most attractive bodies he had ever seen, either in person or online, within his reach a few feet beyond his wooden bedroom door,

He stared up at the ceiling trying his best to count fully clothed sheep as the hours dwindled by.

***

Peter did manage to eventually get some sleep, only to be violently awoken by the sudden sound of Edna shouting "Shit!" Before glass shattering,

His mind instantly flashed back to two months ago when he woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom when he found a burglar in their living room trying to make off with the rather expensive vital monitor they kept there, he managed to chase him off but what if he came back to finish the job, only to find Edna now nude and defenceless in the kitchen,

Immediately leaping into action he pulled a baseball bat from his closet and stormed out the closet, immediately charging into the living room prepared to strike... breakfast?

"Edna?" He called out, looking behind the large collection of dishes that had formed on the counter, "You okay?"

"Yeah," She called out from behind the counter, popping her head out with a broom and dustpan in hand, her breasts bouncing with the quick movement, "I broke a plate,"

"What are you doing?" He asked,

"What's with the bat?" She responded in kind,

"I thought that moron in the ski mask came back," he explained, now feeling very foolish as he put the weapon down by the coat rack, "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm making breakfast," she said proudly,

"It takes all this to butter a bagel?" Peter chuckled, sitting down on the opposite side of the counter as she worked,

He enjoyed watching her nakedness bounce around the kitchen as she quickly loaded the dishwasher, his erection surging back to life as she bent over,

"It's not just for me," she smiled, opening a waffle iron, "I realized my thank you last night might've been insufficient, so I made you your favourite breakfast,"

She placed three of the six waffles on a plate in front of him and the other three in front of herself, they seemed to be a little burnt but he didn't care,

"Oh thank god, I'm starving," he remarked as he began to scarf them down ravenously,

"So am I" She concurred, "I went through a box of pop tarts before this, previous studies said subjects reported after the fact being exceptionally hungry after being infected, that seems to be accurate, speaking of which..."

She pulled out a pen and paper as she continued eating, he could see a list running down the left side of the paper,

"Any changes you've noticed since yesterday?" Edna asked, "Or rather just, how are you feeling?"

"Other than hungry?" He said, thinking for a moment, "Well actually, better than in a long time,"

"Anything else?" She asked, beginning a list on the right side of the page,

"Not really?" He shrugged,

"I'm just gonna run down my list then," she said, "Do you feel it's easier to breathe?"

"Kinda,"

"Less fog on the brain?"

"Now that you mention it,"

"Heighten libido?"

"I..." Peter hesitated,

"No need to feel uncomfortable," she assured him, "I need an honest answer for the study,"

"Yes," he sighed,

"Okay," she said, smiling ever so slightly, "Were you sweating during the night? I expect given your body odour..."

"I guess so," he said, quickly smelling under his arm, "And for the record, you're no fresh daisy yourself, alright,"

"Fair enough," she said, quickly sniffing herself, the slightest sheen of sweat against the underside of her breast catching the sunlight coming in through the window, "How about we quickly collect another blood sample and you can go grab the first shower?"

"Good idea," he nodded as she pulled out another pair of syringes, the two had become experts at drawing each other's blood by now so it went by quickly and painlessly,

Allowing Peter, much like last night, to escape to the other side of the apartment.

He prayed the cold water of the shower would save him, but unluckily for him and in turn luckily for Edna, he made a scientific discovery, no matter how much he turned the taps he couldn't get it to the point where it was cold enough to distract him, he still felt the cold, in its current setting he would normally be turning blue right about now, but for some reason, likely the Spell, it didn't seem to bother him in the same way.

Peter sighed and rested his head against the wall, he had no other choice, cold water didn't work, Internet porn didn't work, and if he didn't want to traumatize Edna he would have to jerk off to her,

With righteous indignation he reached down and began getting to work, imagining every inch and curve of her sumptuous body, the bounce of her breasts, the wave of her behind, the folds of her-,

He was pulled out of his trance by the sound of the door opening,

"Hello?" He called out, his voice cracking in surprise,

"Don't mind me," Edna called out, "Apparently accelerated digestion is one of the side effects,"

His eyes bulged as he heard the toilet seat go down,

"How'd you like breakfast?" She asked,

"Really?" He questioned, "You're asking me this now, with me in here and you... doing that?"

"Fine," she huffed, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Not talking would be nice," he sighed, looking at her shadow through the curtain,

"Fine," she sighed, "I'm done anyway, don't worry, I won't flush, last thing we need is you getting a blast of cold water and screaming like a little girl,"

"I don't think that's gonna be a problem," he explained, "Found a new side effect,"

"Really?" She said with fascinated excitement as she pulled open the curtain,

"Edna!" He shouted, recoiling from her with hands shooting down to cover his crotch as she climbed into the shower with him, but not before placing her glasses safely next to the sink,

"Relax," she said, dunking her head under the flow of water, "Look at that! I guess that's handy, since we can't wear coats anymore in the winter, wonder if it works on the other end of the spectrum?"

Without hesitation, she turned the valve to the other side, soon after the shower head began pouring out boiling hot water, and aside from their skin turning a little red due to the heat neither felt any pain or discomfort in the slightest,

"Well, there you have it!" She cheered, "Excellent find Peter!"

"You're welcome," he cringed, "Now if you'll excuse me, I... what are you doing?"

"Well I figured since we're already in here," Edna explained as she pulled her body wash off the shelf and began pouring some into her hand, "We might as well save some water, right?"

"Aw hell," he groaned,

"I'm surprised no one's noticed this side effect before," Edna remarked as she tan shampoo through her long brown hair, "Perhaps it'll take time before the Spell reaches the colder parts of the world, although I don't anticipate it will long, out of curiosity did any of your sheets or bedding show any sign of dissolving last night?"

"No, not really," he admitted, suddenly finding the ingredients of his shampoo fascinating,

"Mine either, that's curious," she said, glancing over at him, "Aren't you gonna wash up?"

"I already did," he lied rather obviously,

"Oh..." she said, her eyes flashing downwards, "I meant what I said earlier, I don't want you to be uncomfortable,"

"Pardon me?" He asked,

"You're erect, right?" She asked as if it was the most normal question in the world, "You've been covering yourself since we were infected last night,"

"I... What?" He stammered,

"I'm not offended," she continued as she began rinsing out her hair, "You can't help it if your libido has been temporarily amplified, it should only last a few more hours, until then there's no need to be modest like this, you are infected now after all, I'm hardly going to be the only one seeing your penis,"

The two locked eyes, she nodded impatiently,

"Fuck it," he growled, raising his hands in a faux surrender, "Better?"

"Much better," she smiled, "Can you do me a favour and get my back?"

She turned to face away from him as she handed him the bottle of her body wash, the curve of her ass hovering about an inch away from the tip of his penis,

'Damn this woman' he thought to himself as he opened the lid.

***

While he had a close call when he was washing her back and an even closer one when she dropped a bar of soap, Peter was able to get through the shower without incident,

He was about to escape to his room when Edna invited him to watch tv with her, again unable to think of a reason to say no without revealing too much about what she was doing to him he agreed and met her in the living room shortly after towelling off,

When he found her again she was pouring two glasses of water with a towel bundled around her head, a large cube-shaped device on the counter,

"What's that?" Peter asked, striking up conversation to distract himself from the overwhelming urge to conceal his erection,

"A blood analysis machine," she explained, hitting a few buttons that seemingly started the device based on the noises it made, "Heavily modified with a few other things to track contaminates and such, sit down I'm right behind you,"

Peter, as casually as he could manage, sat down on the couch and flipped on the tv, turning on HBO and flipping to an episode of Game of Thrones, a show they had watched together in their entirety at least three times over,

He hit play as Edna approached carrying over two bottles of beer, handing one to him before flopping down on the couch as carelessly as she always did.

As the episode played and both continued to drink their beer Peter finally was able to calm down for the first time since he was infected, without the stress of making sure he was covered he was able to enjoy both his drink and the show, that's not to say his erection calmed down nor was it any less uncomfortable, with the amount of nudity in a typical episode not to mention Edna sitting next to him with her legs open he knew that not having one was an impossibility.

"I wonder what Monday will be like?" Edna asked, ignoring the show in favour of watching the silhouette of their university through the window,

"Well if that thing works," he pointed to the blood analyzer on the kitchen counter, "You're probably gonna write some sort of revolutionary paper on what it finds and get your face in all the science magazines, we're probably going to have to make some awkward phone calls to our parents,"

"Not me," Edna corrected,

"What do you mean?" Peter asked,

Edna refused to answer,

"Look," Peter began, "I know you've never really wanted to talk about your parents, but, and I've said it before, if you ever wanted to talk about it I'm here, nothing you say will be repeated,"

"You mean that?" She asked, nervously analyzing his face for signs of deception or disloyalty,

"Edna, look at me," he said bluntly, "If I wasn't on your side do you think we'd even be in this situation?"

"My father is..." she said her father's name, spitting it out like it had been weighing on her for years,

Peter just about damn near did a spit take,

"Wait, the billionaire? The one who hangs out with the president?"

"Exactly," she explained spilling it all out, "I am his illegitimate daughter, I've never actually met him, he just sent checks every month, first in child support and then when I turned 18 to me directly, with the subtle message to keep my mouth shut about who I was, it's how I'm able to afford all this equipment, this apartment, tuition,"

"What about your mom?" Peter asked carefully,

"When child support stopped and I went off to university she went down to party it up in Vegas," Edna explained, "Haven't heard from her since,"

"Edna..." Peter stammered, struggling to think of the words,

"Don't say you're sorry," she interrupted, "I hate it when they say they're sorry,"

"I bet there gonna be sorry," Peter said, "When you're out there changing the world without them I bet they'll be sorry, I know I would be,"

"Really?" She smiled, "You're not tired of being stitched to the unwanted 'Odd Edna'?"

She inched closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder,

"Didn't you get the memo?" Peter said, putting an arm around her, his body felt electric as her naked flesh pressed into his, "They call me Freaky Pete now,"

"I heard about that," Edna said softly as they both continued to half-watch the television, "There are worse things to be called,"

"And worse people to be stitched to," Peter assured her,

Edna looked up at him, Peter could feel her breath on his face as hers slowly came closer,

He wasn't sure what to do here, did he want to kiss her? Did she actually want to kiss him? Or was it just the somewhat involuntary actions brought on by whatever the spell was doing to their body chemistry?

Peter damn near leapt off the couch as his phone beeped, quickly crossing the room to check the notification, leaving a heavily blushing Edna to compose herself and clear her throat,

"Oh my god," he gasped upon reading,

"What is it?" Edna asked, pressing the cold glass of her beer bottle into her face,

"Turn on the news," he requested, pointing to the TV,

Edna shrugged and turned on cable news,

"My fellow Americans," said the president in his typical slurred barely literate speech, "It has become increasingly clear that the Plaga-Gymnos, more commonly known to most of you as 'the Spell' is spreading out of control, and in an effort to slow the spread until we can get a better handle on the virus and its effects, the government with be putting into effect a lockdown on business and public areas, we ask you to stay in your homes, especially if you are already infected, starting tonight, for the foreseeable future,"

Edna paused the TV as they both took in what was said,

"Well, that's convenient," Edna sighed,

"How is that convenient?" Peter questioned, "Sounds like we're not allowed to leave the apartment,"

"Well... at least we can minimize variables in the experiment," Edna said,

"Edna, we can't go outside, I can't go to work, how am I supposed to pay my half of the rent?" Peter asked,

"Don't worry about rent," Edna assured him, "Besides what you've been paying me isn't even close to half the rent,"

"You're kidding?" Peter asked, doing the math in his head,

"I'm not," she confirmed, "You were just the only person to answer the ad in months so I gave you a deal,"

"Well I can't freeload," he said, "I've gotta do something to pay you back,"

"Other than let me infect you with a life-altering virus?" She questioned before her eyes widened with realization, "Actually, there is something you can do for me,"

She walked over to case which held the blood collection kit and pulled out a stack of files from the top lid,

"What are these?" He asked as he began to flip through them,

"Those are first-hand accounts of other people infected by the spell, they were collected by my professor to give to his colleague in the psych department," she explained, "I thought you could look at them from a nudie psychologists perspective, as novel as you may be in both counts,"

"Sure," Peter smiled, "If that's what you want,"

"Great," Edna cheered, "You get started on those, I'll go order us a pizza while we still can,"

"What like now?" Peter questioned as she walked down the hall to find her phone,

"No time like the present," she shouted from her bedroom.

***

Only taking a moment to stop and laugh at the pizza guys jaw dropping once Edna answered the door in all her glory, Peter read through the large stack of files until sundown as they are their pizza while Edna analyzed the results of her blood tests and typed away on her laptop,

"What are you seeing?" Peter asked after an hour of silent chewing,

It was important to interrupt Edna's train of thought from time to time so she didn't get stuck in her own head,

"I think I know what the spell is," Edna said, sounding unsure of herself,

She fell silent soon after that as if that were the end of her thought,

"Well?" Peter demanded,

"It's just a theory," she began, "The test is showing higher than average blood oxygenation, higher cell counts, and improved viscosity, all of which have been observed in previous studies so there's no surprise there, what is surprising really is how much is not there,"