Happy Voreday (Chapter 1) (Patreon)

“I seriously can’t wait,” Elise explained with a cheeky smile, sprawled over the couch and running her fingers through her hair. The blonde batted her dreamy eyes, clearly half-lost in her imagination. “I mean, I’ve been waiting for this day ever since I was a little girl, and now that it’s almost here… it still feels like it’s taking forever. In less than a day, I’ll be twenty-one, and I’ll be… big. Huge. Taller than any house I’ve ever lived in, big enough to jump over ponds and crush cars and make a whole town just stop dead in their tracks when they feel my footsteps coming. You know?”

“I think I know,” Marcus jokingly replied from the other end of the sofa. He, more than most, understood all too well how much Elise valued this milestone, since as lifelong friends, he’d listened to her fantasize about the possibilities for years. While as a man, Marcus just had legal drinking age to look forward to at his next birthday, the person closest to him in the world would soon inherit the benefit all women enjoyed in their twenty-first year of becoming powerful, sky-high giantesses.

“Yeah, yeah, you probably want me to shut up about it already. Don’t be jealous, Marcus,” Elise said with a playful wink. “Listen, it’s not that different when a girl grows into a giantess. Not really. Except for the fact that every guy on Earth will suddenly be smaller than one of my fingers. You included.”

Marcus blushed a little, but not necessarily from Elise’s good-natured ribbing. The truth was that things were about to change. He knew it, and it wasn’t even all to do with his friend’s upcoming growth. For years now, he’d harbored a little crush on his sweet, funny, intelligent BFF. Over time, that feeling developed into full-blown desire, and recently, Marcus had found himself deeply conflicted over his wish to be with Elise, forever if possible, and whether he was insane to even think of revealing this to her.

“So what are you even going to do once you’re that big, huh? Play dolls with all the houses?” Marcus taunted. He’d heard her go over her plans many a time before, of course, but delighted in prodding her about it.

“Maybe! Well, sometime, but I’ve got much more important things to do, first.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

“Well, for starters… I think I finally decided who my first swallow is going to be.”

Marcus’s eyes couldn’t help but bulge. The two friends hadn’t really discussed this before, as it was such a strange subject. Though the giantesses peacefully coexisted with their tiny human counterparts, there was a bit of an unspoken privilege that came along with their scale and strength advantage: the fact that most giant women, at some point or another, indulged in eating bite-sized citizens alive. Perhaps not wishing to know, Marcus had avoided asking Elise who, if anyone, she might decide to eat once she swelled into her new form. Plus, given his feelings for the girl, it wasn’t easy to ask who she might like to consume against their will. Feeling as though they were both reaching a crossroads, the young man prepped himself to spill the beans at his first chance.

“And who might that be?” Marcus questioned, mentally running through the list of people Elise could possibly choose.

“Well, it’s… you,” Elise said somewhat bashfully, but with a determined smile all the same. “I’m going to eat you, Marcus.”

“I… y-you’re…” he stammered, studying his friend’s face for a hint of a prank. Yet Elise couldn’t have looked more sincere, watching him with such warmth and affection that Marcus couldn’t cough up another word.

“I know that might come as sort of a shock to you. It’s a big decision,” Elise continued. Her tone kept low and compassionate, even shy. She reached out, taking Marcus’s hand in her own, a gesture that sent tingles up his spine, despite the lingering confession of her intent to make him into her lunch. “At first I thought it should just be a stranger, or somebody who’s been rude to me from college. That’s what most girls do when they come of age. But… the more I thought about it, and the fact that this is my special day, I realized I wanted the first person that I eat to be equally special. It’s… significant, for me, to grow like I’m going to tomorrow, and I couldn’t think of a better guy, or anyone more important in my life, than you. After that, I just… knew it would be you that I swallowed. Nobody else would be right. It has to be you.”

Struck utterly dumb, Marcus tried to find the words, but just ended up sweating and stewing in a silent funk, while Elise held his hand. He supposed a logical response might have been to protest, to plead with the girl to choose another first meal; after all, they were still on the same level now, and she had no real power over him at this size, but come tomorrow, his wishes wouldn’t matter if her desires contradicted his. No matter how much he didn’t want to be eaten, so long as Elise wanted to eat him, there was nothing Marcus could do to stop her, nowhere he could hide from her hunger. Surely, then, he ought to ask her to choose someone else, not only for his will to live, but because of his feelings for her: feelings he was only just now realizing were, in fact, a deep and abiding love.

That love was also the reason why Marcus couldn’t bring himself to try denying Elise’s choice. He wasn’t strong enough to tell his favorite person on Earth that she couldn’t have something, even if that something was him in her belly. The bombshell of this turn had also made it impossible for him to squeeze out the truth of his feelings. Settling into an eerie calm, Marcus sighed and nodded in sordid acceptance, watching Elise’s pretty pink lips curving into another hopeful smile.

“I… understand,” he said.

“I’m so glad you’re taking it this well, Marcus,” Elise said. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be angry with me for doing this, or sad, or just upset. But I want you to know that you’re going to be the best meal I’ll ever have, and I know I’m going to remember you forever, no matter what else I do with my new size. I promise. And you’ll always be with me.”

“Y-Yeah, that’s… that’s true,” he fumbled, too conflicted to say anything more.