Commission: Satellite Girlfriend

[Story Listing]

This is a commissioned piece for potatoshroom featuring my characters from the "Melty Mercury From Outer Space" story series. It is released for free to be enjoyed by whoever.

If you're interested in reading more, and perhaps learning more about what happened to Nikki and Brad, consider subscribing to my Patreon! The series is ongoing, with ten chapters already published.

If you like what you see and would like to commission your own content, drop me a DM and we can work something out! My writing prompt tier has openings starting at 25$ a month for monthly prompts.

---

Nikki had been assimilated by an alien creature earlier in the year, changing her life forever. No longer composed of flesh, organs, bones and blood, her entire body had been transformed into some sort of mercurial symbiote, one that constantly craved metals and natural minerals.

As it turns out, turning into an alien symbiote also fundamentally changed how she celebrated the holidays.

She was relieved that she could still spend time with Brad, but she opted to take a raincheck on dealing with family, spending a quiet Christmas with her boyfriend, Brad; so far, he was the only one who knew about her alien condition, and she was so thankful that he had been so cool and accommodating about the whole thing.

Besides that... there were always New Years get-togethers with family. Right now, she was content to be together with Brad, pushing aside the thought of broaching the issue with family. Still, she had her worries.

"You sure your family doesn't mind?" Nikki asked with a nervous look.

"Nikki, relax. It'll be fine." Brad grabbed her shoulder, pulling her close. "Honestly, mom's pretty thrilled with the arrangement. She's been pushing for grandkids..."

"G-grandkids? I, uh, I dunno about that..."

Nikki's hands settled into her lap. Brad had the effect of getting her to relax, which meant that she didn't have to keep up humanesque pretenses. Her eyes lowered, trailing how her torso snaked around the room, coiling into piles around the room. Her legs flopped on a recliner, seemingly neatly seated. And her belly, propped just above the legs, looked conspicuously plump and rounded.

Her arm elongated bonelessly across the room from the sofa she and Brad shared over to the isolated recliner, pressing against her belly with a bashful grin. It was hot to the touch...

"You look the part." Brad's eyebrow perked up, leaning over to observe the strange sight of Nikki's apparent pregnancy.

"I mean, I'm not baking baby batter in there, y'know!" She fussed. "It's our holiday dinner! For the holidays? I-I kind of... ate my oven."

"Yeah, you mentioned that before. Kinda ironic when you think about it." Brad tilted his head. "I thought something smelled good... are you roasting a turkey?"

"Oh God no, are you kidding??" Nikki chuckled. "I tried a turkey for Thanksgiving! It's easier when you can pop it in an oven and forget about it, but when you're carrying it around like an overdue child, oh God, I couldn't do anything! And it still didn't come out right! It was dry as leather..."

"Eh? I thought it was alright. Made for good leftovers." Brad shrugged. "Nothin' a spot of smokey gravy couldn't fix."

"Yeah but you'll eat anything that I put in front of you." Nikki smirked. She leaned back, folding her arms; they coiled together bonelessly.

"Guilty as charged..." Brad chuckled, scratching the back of his neck. "You can always ask me for help, y'know. I kinda end up doing most of the cooking at home."

"Ehhhh... I-I mean, i-it's one thing to let you borrow the kitchen, it's another to let you borrow... m-me." Nikki leaned back with a shy grimace. Her arms coiled together anxiously, tighter and tighter, until they merged seamlessly together into a single looping limb. She grimaced and pulled, pulling the appendages apart; she wiggled her reemerging fingers.

"I... I guess that would be an issue." Brad uttered in quite the understatement. His face lit up with a red pigment. He turned his head. "Okay, uhhh... I got something for you. For, y'know, Christmas."

"Ah! Presents! Right!" Nikki exclaimed, clapping her hands. "I-I made you something too, but you can go first!" She nodded enthusiastically.

"Hehe, you're excited. I like that." He nodded, reaching for the coffee table. His hand hovered over the small wrapped gift. He hesitated, his fingers tensed.

"'Kay Nikki, uhhh, I should tell you that I had this gift figured out, like, a while ago. Before the uh... meteor dropped." Brad's mouth flattened.

"That long? Omigosh, that's so sweet of you! Thinking so far ahead!" Nikki's hands settled in her lap as she leaned forward; her neck elongated slightly. "I wanna see, I wanna see!"

"Uhh... eheh, okay. Merry Christmas, Nikki." He took a breath, and handed the parcel to her. She fussed with the wrapping, revealing a small box. And lifting the lid to that box revealed...

"...A pendant? Ooh, sapphire!" Nikki studied it closely; it had a pretty gold chain, with a large impressive sapphire installed into a dazzling silver casing.

"I remembered sapphire was your birthstone." Brad rubbed the back of his neck. He watched as Nikki raised the pendant to drape across her neck. She glanced down with awe as she looked it over. It really was very pretty...

"...ah-"

A shudder rippled through her body, catching her breath. It was very slight. She could feel the biomass of her shoulders and neck rippling, and the pendant's chain melted into her skin. She raised her hand quickly to the casing, but her hand brushed over the cut sapphire jewel that now lay embedded in her chest. nestled just above her cleavage.

"Oh..." She stared at the sapphire, watching it rise up and down with every breath she intentionally took. She grimaced. Brad stared, his mouth flattening.

"I... had a feeling something like that would happen." Brad shrugged. "Maybe I should've gotten it returned-"

"Oh no, no, I love it! Really!" Nikki straightened up. "A-actually, it's a bit funny, cuz of the thing I got for you, it's well, aha, ehm..." She rubbed the back of her head, chuckling to herself.

"Y'know what, it'd be better if you just opened it." Nikki elongated her arm, reaching past Brad, grabbing a small gift nestled in one of the branches of the small, plastic tree that sat on the coffee table. She presented it to Brad with a warm smile; he nodded, taking it and carefully unwrapping it.

"...whoa. This is..."

It was another pendant. But unlike the one Brad gifted to Nikki, this one was handmade. In a small, plastic container, there was a pretty, swirling bit of shiny silver substance. It flowed within the see-through, plastic orb, paint like streaks mixing into each other. It shimmered with an otherworldly quality.

"I guess we really were on the same wavelength, eheh." Nikki shrugged, her hands collecting in her lap. "Yeah, it's a piece of me. I-it sounded cooler in my head, but um... do you like it?"

"It's dazzling!" Brad looked it over carefully. He looked up at her. "But... i-it didn't hurt to make, did it?"

"Naaah. I thought it'd cute if I was with you wherever you go, but then I got to googling it, and it kinda felt like those crazy baker ladies that put their own blood in cupcakes, s-so I-I'm actually kinda nervous? Ahahah..." She chuckled nervously, fidgeting to herself. Her fingers seemed to bonelessly coil around each other.

One of her hair tendrils snaked upwards, next to her head, flattening to the width of a hand fan; she fanned herself as she tried to calm herself down. "It's not creepy?"

"No, not at all, it's... it's thoughtful." Brad smiled, nodding to her. "Romantic too. I love it. It's the homey, handmade touches I like..." He turned it over in his hand.

"Awww... Braaad..." Nikki smiled, relief washing over her. They leaned into each other for a kiss, Nikki's neck elongating to meet Brad...

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Nikki's face contorted, her jaw dropping as she let out a sequence of abrupt, electronic beeps! When it was over, she frowned, her eyebrows furrowing. The moment was ruined...

"...Ah! That's right! The roast!"

It didn't take long for Nikki's mood to lift back up again, a look of realization rising to her face. Her arm reached for the piled bundle of her coils, tracing a line along the exterior; the skin ripped, forming a seam, and a door flapped forward, revealing a perfectly done pork tenderloin roast. And some roasted carrots, potatoes, and broccoli too!

"Dinner's ready!" She cheered. Her head drifted across the room, fussing over the meal. "Ooh, I think I really nailed it this time, Brad!"

"Oh man that looks good..." Brad looked over with a hungry look in his eyes. "...Hey, wait a sec, y'sure this is gonna be enough for two people?"

"Oh, it's just for one! I don't have meat in my diet anymore. Or veggies." Nikki grinned; across the room, one of her hands patted her belly. "I'm a biiiig fan of those "wrapped chocolates" you made for me!~"

Brad smirked. He recalled the treats in question. They really weren't anything special; just some metal pieces dressed up in candy wrappers. But they had that homemade cutesy stocking stuffer appeal.

"I did work hard on those..." Brad shrugged with a grin. "Alright, you ready for dinner?"

"Mmhm! But once we plate up, we gotta say grace, right?" Nikki was already pulling the things out of the oven, plating things up for Brad.

"Oh, yeah, of course." Brad nodded. "Merry Christmas, Nikki."

"Merry Christmas Brad!" She beamed.

There had been a lot of difficulties grappling with Nikki's condition, but Christmas went off without a hitch. It was a perfect, romantic evening for the both of them. Nikki wanted this night to last forever...

---

Of course, things never worked out that way. Boxing Day was just another weekday for the working man, and Brad had to report back for a shortened shift. Nikki opted to sleep in...

"Mm... Brad..."

And she was having one hell of a dream. Her torso had sloooowly lengthened, her back pressing against the wall; her arms elongated, wrapping around her snake-like body like tightly-bound ropes, tensing and relaxing all at once. Her entire body was pulsing and tingly; her torso rocked swung back and forth in wiiiiide gyrations like a belly dancer.

"Ohhhh..." Her body continued to length, her head tipping over and plopping against the end of the bed. She stirred, her warm coils tightening.

Ahn... ahn...

She could hear it. The erotic, rhythmic grunting in her head, together in unison. Her and Brad, Brad and...

Ahn... ahn!

...wait, that wasn't her voice.

"...eh?"

Nikki opened her vibrant, glowing blue eyes. Her serpentine writhing ceased. She grimaced.

"...um... well that was a weird dream-"

GAGH!

The voice in her dream rang out in her head, startling her.

"Uwah!?"

Her body flexed in a strange, awkward way, straightening up and teetering over to the far wall. She grunted, her head banging against the wall, before collapsing in noodly heaps along the floor. She groaned, her tightly-bound coils melting away into puddles as she collected herself. She held her head.

"What is this, a waking dream?" Nikki rubbed her head. "Who even is that...?"

Keep pushing!

Hah, hah, aaaaaaaaaagh!

"What the hell? Brad!?"

The voices in her head were still there, and she could hear them even more clearly than she could when she was asleep. That was Brad and... another woman? She didn't recognize that voice.

The ooze around her collected; a tendril lashed out from her side, developing into an arm to grab onto the side of the bed.

Ahn, you can, uhp, do this!

I-I can't, I... ahhh!

"...what the hell is going on? Am I hearing things?"

She banged her head with her free hand a couple times, trying to urge herself to wake up again. Like she was in a weird, dream-within-a-dream, Inception-level trance.

...nnnnnnnnope, she could still hear Brad and the mystery woman. Both of them grunting and making... vaguely sexual noises. Her hand lowered to her chest, brushing over the gem that lay embedded in her chest. The one she received from Brad.

"...w-why am I hearing this? I-I'm not going crazy. It sounds real, but... no, Brad, he couldn't..."

Nikki reflexively reached for the side of her head. A pair of narrow tendrils slipped out from behind her ears, connecting in front of her, and forming a pair of bifocals. The lenses lit up with a streamlined UI.

The first thing she had ever assimilated was her cellphone. Since then, she was thankful she had reconfigured its inner workings into a truly hands-free device. She dialed Brad's cell...

Riiiiiiiiiiiing. Riiiiiiiiiiiiing. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.

"C'mon, pick up big guy..." She fretted anxiously.

"Hello. You've read the inbox of [BRAD MATHERS]. If you'd like to leave a message, please-"

"Rgh!" She ripped the glasses right off her head; they melted back into her hand effortlessly.

I-I'm so wet, I-I can't do another!

"UGH!" Nikki exclaimed, clutching her head. She had to find Brad, and she had to find him now!   Her hand elongated, slithering across the floor like a sleek, silver milipede, climbing the wall just below the window. Her fingers melted together, her palm flattening as it ascended the wall. And just outside the window, her flattened hand wrapped around itself. An antenna sprouted from the center like the stigma of a flower.

CLANG! Her hand rested against the windowsill. Forming her hand into a satellite dish, she rotated it left and right.

"C'mooooooon... where are you, Brad?" She muttered, worry raising in her voice. The sound of the strange woman making increasingly hot and bothered noises was getting to her, and she winced with every breathy sound she—and sometimes Brad—made together.

Her computer-integrated brain ran rapid calculations based on the feedback she was getting from the satellite. She felt like she was getting closer with each ping, until...

"Gotcha." She closed her eyes, trying to visualize. "At the corner of Adams and Third, that's..."

Her eyes widened with a look of realization. "That's the gym. The gym...?"

She tilted her head. Who was going to the gym on Boxing Day? She recalled that Brad was working a shortened shift there that day, but... this only seemed to raise yet further questions. Her mouth flattened.

"Well... should I check on him? I know where the gym is, I could... ah, wait, I don't think the buses are running today." She frowned. "I could walk, but... grgh, I gotta get over there right now, and see if he's..."

She couldn't bear to say it. She took a deep breath. She tried to calm down.

"Okay. Just calm down, Nikki..." She pressed a hand to her chest. "Brad loves you very much. And you had the perfect night with him. He can't be two-timing you. He's just... talking to a newbie. Yeah. O-or watching some kind of porno on the TVs."

She grimaced. "Porn? Really? Brad, of all people. He's got a crazy alien-symbiote girlfriend, but that doesn't satisfy him." Nikki rolled her eyes. "Get real, girl. He's not that horny. Not on the job. It's nothing to worry about, nothing..."

Nikki tried to relax, sitting down on the bed. She tried to center herself.

"Nothing to worry about. I think maybe I'll just relaaax... maybe watch some TV. Get some me-time in-"

AAAAAAAAH NOW THE SEAT'S ALL WET!

It's okay! We can clean it up, nobody has to know!

"ALRIGHT! THAT'S IT!" Nikki blurted. "I'M GONNA SEE WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!"

It was a good thing she knew the way. She could've ran straight there, but she knew a quicker way.

She got herself sorted, and marched straight to the washroom. She lowered herself to the porcelain bathtub, allowing her body to melt into a mercurial slurry. All save for her head, which lurched towards the faucet.

"Alright, this is gonna be a tight squeeeeeEEEEAZE!"

As the top of her head brushed against the faucet, she felt a pressure around her skull as it compressed and contracted. The world warped around her as her eyes pressed together, her head lurching up the faucet with a wet shlorp. She could feel her body stretching into a narrow noodle...

She cursed indistinctly as her breasts resisted the compression, before smooshing together and disappearing with her head. After that, it was muuuuuch easier getting the rest of her body into the narrow piping. As her toes melded together, slipping into the incredibly narrow piping; the walls murmured in a decidedly ghostly manner as she moaned, her sensitive regions tightly contained and compressed.

Nikki understood the city of Bismarck's water infrastructure connected every building. She had the odd bungle of taking a wrong turn at Albuquerque. But she knew which turns she had to take to get to the gym. Slipping to and fro, she effortlessly slid along like a current of water to her destination...

---

A showerhead in the changing rooms rattled and shook. The head bowed, dribbling a silvery, mercurial ooze. Various tiny threads coalesced together into a single strange, growing wider, longer. The bulbous end fattened quickly, sculpting itself into a human head—Nikki's head— floating at the end of an elongated neck.

She squinted, swivelling her head back and forth. No one was in right now. The coast was clear. She eaaaaaaased her body out of the showerhead...

Shplort. The rest of her unceremoniously splattered to the floor, collecting into a pile of ooze. Muttering to herself, she wasted no time pulling herself back together, brushing herself off, squeezing her floating twintails as if wringing them out.

"Geh, how often do they clean their stinkin' pipes?" She grimaced, her nose crinkling. "Even I have standards..."

She glanced to a nearby mirror, gliding over like a ballroom dancer. She stroked her twintails, watching their silvery pigments cascade into duller, more familiar brown tones. As her fingers glided across her body, her pinkish skin pigments replaced her glossy look. Her torso and legs puffed out, unfurling into a hoodie and sweatpants. She kicked her feet, watching a pair of sneakers emerge.  She smirked to herself. Putting on her human facade was getting quicker and quicker. She glanced at the mirror, stroking her chin.

"Mmm... loose hair is dangerous around the equipment. Maybe I can bring back the old ponytail?" She tilted her head curiously. Raising her hands to her hair, she attempted to bind them back together just by smooshing and coiling them together. She parted her hands to review her new... her old look...

Shleck. The ponytail split down the middle with a wet noise, before her twintails reemerged, flailing and writing, before draping behind her. Maybe a bit longer now for her troubles...

Her eyes narrowed, rolling her eyes. "Fiiiiine. We'll roll with this look." Her sneakers squeaked against the floor as she turned towards the door. "I don't have time to waste."

She pushed the door open, glancing both ways. Her eyebrow perked up, realizing she was emerging from the men's changing rooms.

"Um... oopsie." She blushed, scooching out and letting the door close behind her.

Okay, had enough of a breather? Let's keep at it!

GAAAAAAAAH!

Nikki clutched her head as the loud voices rang out once again. She looked around. They were here. They had to be, she could hear them, and just not inside her own head. They had to be towards the gym.

She poked her head around the corner. The gym was mostly empty, as she expected, but there were clattering, metallic noises in the back. It must've been towards the back of the gym, where they kept the weight-lifting gear. Nikki slowly followed the sound of the clanging... and the grunting.

...She grimaced. This sounded familiar. She hesitated to go further, but snuck a peek anyway.

"One... twooooooooo... threeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"   There was a woman at the barbell bench, her face an intense shade of red. She was somewhat heavyset with visible lovehandles and full, healthy cheeks. The effort she was expending was commendable. She showed up in a tracksuit and everything!

...The tracksuit was verifiably drenched in sweat, but Nikki supposed that was a good thing? And Brad wasn't too far off, spotting her reps.

"Okay, soooo... Margie? You don't exactly have as much experience as you figured, but we can work with that." He shrugged, taking the barbell from her. "Let's start you on some lighter weights, and work you up from there..."

"Y-yeah... okay... sure..." Margie admitted through weary huffs and puffs. Her arms slumped against the sides.

Nikki stood there and stared, watching Brad just... doing his normal trainer thing. She frowned—it occurred to her that the stuff she was hearing was decidedly out of context, and that maaaaaaaaaybe she had jumped to conclusions?

She winced, feeling a pang of guilt as she noticed what was hanging from Brad's neck—the pendant that she had made for him, that she had gifted to him. Of course he wouldn't run off that easily...

"Nikki??"

Nikki snapped into focus as Brad called out her name; she snapped to attention. Her mouth went flat, arms planted at her sides.

"Brad! I, um... howdy!" Nikki leaned to the side. "Ummmmm... how's it goin'... bro?? Eheh..." She fidgeted, giving him some casual finger guns.

"Me? Uh, well, I have to close up the gym again in an hour. I thought I mentioned to you that I was working today..." He scratched his head pensively.

"You did! Yes!" She nodded enthusiastically. "And the gym was open, so I, I... IIIII..." Nikki glanced around for something, anything...

Ooh, some dumbbells. She grabbed one without realizing that it might've been a touch above her paygrade—gosh, did that read eighty pounds!?—and lifted it effortlessly, doing a couple of presses with her arm. Brad's eyes went bug-eyed at her grip!

"J-just came to pump some iron, haha!" She chuckled unconvincingly, flashing Brad a crooked look. "Um, well, who's your friend??"

"A-ah... Margie..." She sat up slowly, groaning stiffly, rubbing her lower back. She cracked a weak, but earnest smile. "Brad's just helping me work off Christmas dinner... gah, I'm bleeding gravy, aren't I?"

"...u-um..." Brad blinked, eyeballing the dumbbell with caution. He glanced back to Margie, flashing her an encouraging smile. "W-well, Margie, it's okay to walk before you run. You don't gotta go full barrel on your first day."

"Yeah! You don't gotta beat yourself at all!" Nikki nodded. "Never too early to start on a New Years Resolution. But you ought to pace yourself too! And drink plenty of waturk."

Nikki's mouth flattened. A familiar creeping sensation washed over her, centering in her arm. She quickly moved her arm behind her back, her face going pale; her arm was rapidly deforming, melting into a formless mass that clung to the heavy dumbbell.

"...w-water. You drink-"

Shlorp. "You gotta drink water!" Nikki was trying to talk over the wet sucking sounds her body was making as she quickly tried to back away.

"Um... yes! Thank you, I-I'll keep that in mind." Margie smiled politely. Brad squinted; he had an inkling of what exactly was going on with Nikki.

"D-did you eat anything funny on the way here??" Brad phrased his words carefully.

"...m, maybe???" Nikki continued to back for the door. "I'm gonna... ahn~... I need to go-"

Nikki shuffled backwards to the changing rooms, not showing her back to neither Brad nor Margie. As the door slammed behind her, she collapsed to her knees, reaching for her back with her free arm, her fingers tensing and flexing.   Centering around her lowerback, her clothes opened up to reveal an ooze of mercurial slime, lurching and writhing. The enormous dumbbell she picked up jut out from her backside like a decidedly blunt dagger. She moaned, feeling her body slowly wrapping itself around the metal, slowly reducing its matter to marry to her own.

She moaned, feeling naked and exposed. But her mind buzzed with euphoric energy. She bit her lips, pushing the dumbbell further into her, allowing it to sink right into her center. She raised her chest as she felt her body completely encase the dumbbell within itself. She fell to all fours, rocking her hips back and forth, staring at the silver slime pooling around her, spreading across the floor.

"F-fuuuuck..." She moaned. She raised her head—quite literally, her neck elongating upwards—to catch a glance into a mirror.

She frowned; her human facade had faded away yet more quickly than she could summon it. She pooled across the gym floor... she was naked. She could feel her crotch rubbing against the floor.

She couldn't stay here. She hoped Brad would keep Margie busy long enough so she could calm down and pull herself together. She tried to steady her excited breath to keep things a secret from Margie... and from Brad.

There was no reason for her to be at the gym now. She staggered to her feet, using the mirror to prep her human facade once again (trading silvery skin for healthier pink hues) and made for the door...

---

Nikki was thoroughly embarrassed by her display in the gym. She couldn't well up the courage to go back inside, so she spent some time wandering the streets on her own. Killing time, pacing about, checking out some of the sales. It was nippy, but she didn't mind much; it's not like she could feel the cold.

She took this time to collect her thoughts. She wondered about everything that came to pass. Brad was constantly in her thoughts.

Alright, Margie, next week we'll start you on the dumbbells. I got a couple nutritional pamphlets...

...She had been hearing his voice all day now. She had mostly been drowning the health-oriented conversations he and Margie were sharing, somewhat relieved there was nothing going on.

Nikki sighed, waiting outside the gym for Brad, leaning against the wall. The quiet creaking of the door hinges alerted her to Brad. She turned her head, pushing herself from the wall. Nikki briskly jogged over him.  "Hey Brad, um... all done for the day?" Nikki smiled, perhaps somewhat crookedly.

"Uh, yep." Brad glanced back. "All locked up. Didn't expect to see you at the gym today, something wrong?"

Nikki blinked, then sighed, her shoulders dropping. "That easy to tell, huh?" Nikki prodded her fingers together. "Well, I... I kinda goofed with something."

"...Aw jeez, did you eat something important at home?" Brad grimaced. He looked down the street. "Y'know, boxing day has sales, we could probably pick up a replacement-"

"Nooo, no, nothing like that, eheh." Nikki rubbed the back of her head. The two of them walked next to each other, going down the sidewalk. Nikki's eyes drifted to the pretty pendant around Brad's neck.   "Hm... you wanna talk down at the park? The weather's pretty nice today." Brad smiled invitingly; his casual attitude and consideration for Nikki only made her feel worse about the whole thing.

"Mm... good idea. There probably won't be any eavesdroppers there." Nikki shrugged, before hurrying forward, setting a decidedly insistent pace; Brad blinked, and hurried along after her.

They picked out a spot near the central plaza, near the base of a giant Christmas tree that had been installed in the middle of town. It was a rather gorgeous sight, all lit-up at night, and it was bespectacled with tinsel, decor, and ornaments donated from all sorts around town.

The pair took up a park bench together. Nikki paused to take in the tree, admiring its beauty; or perhaps she was just delaying the talk.

"Well, um..." Nikki prodded her fingers together. "Okay, um, so first of all... I goofed up your present."

"Eh?" Brad tilted his head. "I don't understand, it looks fine to me..."

"W-well, um... well, that's a piece of me in there, and um, I can hear everything through it." Nikki tried to explain, stumbling over her words. "I-I just thought I was making a pretty trinket at the time, b-but I think I just ended up ID tagging you like a pet..."

"...oh, uh... hm." Brad looked it over one more time. "That... is strange, wow." He turned it around in his hands.

"...you... you're not mad?" Nikki turned to Brad. "I-it's a gross invasion of privacy, so I understand if you'd be-"

"Well, let's not go that far. You said it yourself, it was an accident." Brad shrugged with a light chuckle, stuffing it back into the collar of his parka. "That's all you came out to the gym to talk to me about?"

"...well... no..." Nikki grimaced, shrinking back against the park bench. "I mean... maybe it could've waited, but... I heard your voice in the morning. And the voice of a woman... a-and the sounds she was making..."

"...um... 'sounds'?" Brad's mouth flattened. "How much did you hear?"

"Everything. Grunts. Moans. S-something about being wet... and getting everything wet." Nikki tripped over her words a bit.

"...oh." Brad's cheeks turned scarlet. "W-well, it was just the two of us, so, um... we usually have a gym policy about noise, but it was her first time, so she wasn't used to it and-"

"I-it's not about what she was doing Brad, it... it's about me." Nikki's eyes lowered to the ground in front of her. "I-I just woke up and I was all frazzled, and my mind jumped to the worst conclusions and I... I thought you might've been cheating on me."

"...what?" Brad uttered, astonished.

"I-I dunno, I thought it was a possibility and I just, I just had to see!" Nikki exclaimed, burying her head in her palms. "Gaaah... I feel like an absolute tool, and this is after our perfect Christmas together, and I had to go ruin the good vibes by being paranoid and untrusting and I hate it!"

Nikki wanted to pound a fist into the bench, and raised her hand to do so...

"Nikki! Nikki, calm down, okay!?" He reached over to grab her hand. She gasped, her bright blue eyes glancing to him. She frowned, lowering it slowly.

"...when I got to the gym, I realized that you wouldn't do anything like that, and I... I felt awful... I feel awful, Brad." Nikki lowered her head in shame. "This is all my fault..."

"Hey, Nikki, honey, it's okay," Brad placed a hand on her shoulder, massaging it with his large, chafed hands. "It was an accident, and... honestly, Margie was making me blush a little too, with what she was saying."

"...really?" Nikki blinked, turning her head.

"Well... you said it yourself. She needs to work on... not making those noises." He grimaced, scratching his head. "If you didn't have the full picture, I... I can see how your mind might've jumped to the wrong conclusions.

"Mm..." Nikki moaned noncommittally. "I-I dunno, I feel like... you've been so good to me, and I... I depend on you a lot, s-so the idea of another girl... scares me. I... I should trust you more. I should trust you implicitly..."

"You trust me plenty. You trust me with your secret, yeah?" Brad replied.

"...I... I did. I do." Nikki stirred. "You... you're the only one I can trust. I haven't even told my parents yet..."

"This whole thing just feels like an accident. You've been dealing with a lot, so... I get it." Brad smiled earnestly. "Look, I... I get why you'd check up on me, hearing that. You know I wouldn't do anything to hurt you, right?"

"...uh huh..." Nikki nodded. "I... I'm sorry I freaked out at you."

"Apology accepted. I think we can put this whole incident behind us." Brad wrapped his arm around Nikki's shoulder, letting his pendant dangle. Nikki looked over to it with a quizzical expression.

"I... I can get you a different gift if you want." Nikki offered meekly. "I... I basically gave you a tracking device so your crazy, clingy girlfriend can chase you anywhere... that doesn't frighten you?"

"Honestly? Not quite as scary as the first time I saw what the slime did to you." Brad shrugged.

"Braaaaaaad." She pouted. This got a cheap laugh out of him.

"What? It's true! I dunno how else you could surprise me." He laughed, turning the pendant in his hand. "Besides... I like this gift just fine. It's like you said, it's carrying a piece of you wherever I go."

He shook it gently, before dropping it. Nikki saw Brad smiling so earnestly as he said that. It lit up her own spirits.

"Aw... Brad..." She cooed, smiling radiantly in return. She raised a hand to her own chest; the skin of her neck rippled, a blue sapphire sliding out from within. Before long, a silvery chain zipped around her neck; a pendant mirror the one that Brad had.

Brad's eyes widened as the pendant materialized before his eyes. He glanced around to see if anyone was nearby.

"Nobody's watching us..." Nikki leaned a little closer, kissing him on the cheek. "Let's spend a little bit longer out here."

"...yeah." Brad nodded. "We'll make Boxing Day another day to remember. Just like Christmas."

They cozied up together, enjoying the view of the tree. Nikki's body was so warm as she cuddled up in Brad's embrace... strangely warm. She was like a heated pad for a bad back, absolutely glowing with radiant heat.

One of her hair twintails shuffled to embrace Brad in turn. She giggled, hiding a big, goofy smile.

"You still owe me a new barbell." Brad clarified with a knowing tone.

"O-oh... yeah." Nikki's cheeks flashed a red scarlet. "You saw that, huh? I-I'll order a new one. The manager's not gonna be mad?"

"What he doesn't know can't hurt him." Brad squeezed Nikki warmly. "We can check out those holiday sales. And I might get you a treat if you behave."

"I-I always behave." Nikki muttered obstinately, pouting for a sec.

...She relaxed quickly, giggling like a ninny; Brad was quick to join her, and they hugged each other a little closer.

"Merry Boxing Day, Brad." Nikki whispered, wearing a contented smile.

"Merry Boxing Day." Brad replied, holding Nikki close.