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The Heart of an Animal

Men among Insects

The beauty of the world which is soon to perish, has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder.

_ --Virginia Woolf_

WHAP!

"Oh... Don't throw things at me..."

"Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead, I have some chores for you to do for me today."

The large figure underneath the bed sheets stirred with a grunt, the morning paper resting over his covered head. "Five more minutes..." the lump pleaded like a boy delaying the arrival of a new day of school.

"No way, big boy, it's almost one in the afternoon, get up," the blond woman scolded and smacked the butt of the giant man rustling under the sheet. With a defeated groan, Gado finally pulled the sheets from over his head and sat up and, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"You wore me out so well last night, I needed the sleep. I blame your bedroom gymnastics for my current condition," Gado said with a grin, clearing his throat. Jenny laughed and gave her lover a quick peck on the cheek.

"I wear you out every night. You should be used to it by now, dear."

Gado chuckled and nodded, swinging his thickly-muscled legs over the side of the bed with newspaper in hand. He glimpsed at Jenny, taking in her blue-dressed coke-bottle form scurrying about from one end of the room next as she collected her various trinkets and apparel. Standing up groggily, the blond, spiky-haired man stretched leisurely, joints crackling and muscles drowsy from the previous night. Gado yawned and then smacked his lips to get the dryness out of his mouth, idly scratching his temple. Her taste still lingered on his tongue from the previous night and a small delightful ache resided in his groin. Another night well spent.

He glanced with his one good eye at the mirror on the wall as Jenny hurried by clutching some jewelry and her purse. He was a mess. Not only did he have a severe case of bed-head, a large spike of blond hair jutting from the side of his cranium, but his nude bodybuilder physique had several angry red hickeys and mild scratches on his neck and chest, thanks to Jenny. A simple reminder of how well their lovemaking went last night, bringing a tiny proud smirk to Gado's face.

He truly loved Jenny. Not just because of her exceptional skills in bed or her exceptional beauty, but because she truly loved him in return. Flaws and all, from the tips of his toes to the deep scar over his left eye, she adored every bit of him, and he loved her just as much in return, if not more so. It was the only thing a couple ever needed to be happy together, mutual respect and mutual love. Gado felt a hand lightly squeeze his firm rump and glanced down to his side, finding Jenny curled around him from behind, hands on his naked hips. She winked up at him, the shooed him aside so she could check herself in the vanity mirror he'd been blocking.

"What's got you in such a hurry this morning?" he asked, looking over the bustling woman fixing her short, bob-style hair in the mirror next him.

"I have to take care of a few errands and Shina wanted to see me about something."

"Shina? What did she want to see you about?" he asked, interest piqued.

"Not sure, really. She didn't go into detail. I'm meeting her around four for an early dinner. I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about, so relax."

Gado gave Jenny an odd look. "I'm not worried," he replied, garnering a sharp laugh from Jenny.

"You can't fool me, Alan. I can tell you're at least a little bit worried. Don't fret, love, I'll take care of it."

"Fine," Gado sighed. "Maybe I am a little concerned... It's just that I wish she would come to me for help when she needs it once in awhile."

Jenny stopped fixing her hair and looked at Gado's reflection in the mirror, seeing the big man's brilliant eye averted ruefully, a disheartened expression on his handsome face. Jenny turned and gave her boyfriend a hug from the side, her slender arms barely fitting around the man's wide midsection.

"Aw, it's okay, dear. I know that you two have issues, but she's still your daughter, adopted or not. Time has a way of working things out. She'll be all right," Jenny said softly, placing a quick peck to his shoulder as her hand rubbed his back reassuringly. Gado began to smile, knowing her words were true. Sooner or later Shina would come to terms with him, or so he hoped. Jenny always had a knack for cheering him up.

"I guess you're right... Didn't you say you had 'chores' for me to do?" he asked, changing the subject. Jenny perked up and released her boyfriend, satisfied to once again successfully help him out of another slump.

"Yes, I almost forgot! Do you think you could do a little favor for me?" she asked coyly, going back to the mirror to apply some lipstick. "It's a hassle, I know, but I'd really appreciate it if you'd do it for me—"

"Out with it, Jen, what do you need?" Gado relented, sitting on the edge of the bed and crossing his massive legs as he read the headline on the front of the newspaper.

"Well," Jenny continued, getting to the point. "Could you perhaps run a letter to Long for me?"

"Shin Long? Oh, man..." Gado said with a grand moan. "He's all the way across town; it'll take hours to get there and back."

Jenny batted her eyes playfully with a classic "pretty please" smile. She already knew Gado was going to agree to do the deed, and all Gado could do was drop his head in defeat.

"Okay, okay, I'll run your letter to him. I don't know what's wrong with the mail service around here that you can't send your little love letters that way."

"Oh, please. The last couple letters I sent never reached him due to their incompetence. Besides, I thought it might give you something to do instead of lazing around here all day," Jenny added, a resounding chuckle coming from her nude lover sitting at the bedside.

"I am a lion, dear. What else do you expect? So, are you going to ask Long out for a night of romance again, or just if he wants to crawl under the sheets with you?" Gado smirked as Jenny made a mock gasp of shock.

"A night of romance and then jump under the covers with him, of course. Come now, you should know my style by now, my big kitten. Why do you ask? Jealous are we?" Jenny inquired with a sly tone.

Gado knew his girl wasn't the kind of person to joke about sex. Even though they were boyfriend and girlfriend, they sometimes liked to take out other partners to "keep the spice of variety in their lives", as Jenny put it. They didn't keep it a secret either. They've both asked many potential suitors of the opposite sex, and sometimes the same sex, to spend a little quality time together. Jenny seemed to take on more partners than Gado did, but then again, she had a sex drive that could rival a true lioness. Or possibly a bat, if Gado knew anything about that sort of thing...

But they did have rules, of course. They were obligated to tell each other exactly who they had slept with, and more importantly, to be completely honest about the time they spent with their paramours, right down to the very last detail. And above all, to be loyal to each other, and know that they and their previous lovers are just having some fun together, not falling in love. Jenny and Gado's relationship was solid as steel, and they cared for their partners as well, but it would go no farther than that. It had worked for quite awhile now without a bit of trouble, and that's how they wanted to keep it.

"Jealous? Maybe," Gado countered. "But you never know, I might decide to simply join you two instead. Shin has a nice body on him." Jenny laughed loudly and popped the cap back onto her lipstick, going for the eyeliner next.

"Long doesn't really seem the type to be into men. Or women. Or sex in general. But hey, I figure it's worth a shot. At the very least we can have a nice evening dinner and get an update on current affairs." Jenny said with a optimistic smile and slipped on some matching blue high-heels, Gado merely chuckling and shaking his head in awe at here persistence.

"You're incorrigible, my love," he affirmed affectionately, a relaxed smile on his face. Jenny grinned devilishly with a glint in her eyes, then turned and walked over to her boyfriend. She took the newspaper from his hands, tossing it on the bed and sitting sideways in her naked boyfriend's lap, looping her arms around his thick neck.

"You know it, babe," she cooed seductively, turning his head and planting a sweet, tender kiss upon his lips, her blue dress rustling against his bare chest as his hands held her slender hips. But before Gado had the chance to deepen the kiss, Jenny leapt from his lap to her feet, leaving a surprised Gado bewildered at the bedside.

"I'd love to stay and ride the lion until nightfall, but I have appointments to keep," she declared with haste and slung the strap of her purse over her shoulder, giving Gado another smooch on the cheek, winking one of her sea green eyes. "See you later tonight, baby. Don't forget about the letter!"

And without a second glance, Jenny hurried out of the bedroom and down the stairs, clicking heels echoing all the way to the front door, opening and closing with a slam moments later. Gado grunted heavily and slowly got onto his feet. He looked himself over in the mirror again. Jenny had once told him that he had the body of Hercules, and sometimes he wondered if he was somehow related the Greek god, although he was French. But who knows, lines crossed sometimes, right?

His body was built much like a professional football linebacker: a massively broad chest and chiseled 8-pack abdomen, muscled shoulders with three claw-like on each side, and a thick powerful neck. His arms sported biceps that most people couldn't wrap two hands around, and his legs were tree-trunk thick, tall as skyscraper with golden tanned skin, and last but not least, a ruggedly handsome face. The only thing that stood out more than those things was the scar over his left eye. The eye itself was useless, the cataracts whitened over time and eyelid damaged, resulting in it being closed most of the time.

Gado trailed his fingertips along the groove the scar left in his face. Though he knew not to be self-conscious, he often wondered how those close to him thought of the scar. He shouldn't care; he couldn't reverse the damage done to his face. It wasn't his fault. Still, the fear Gado saw in the eyes of strangers bothered him greatly, not that he blamed them. It took Gado almost a year to not flinch whenever he caught sight of his own reflection in the mirror. But what could he do? It's not like he actually wanted everyone to think he was some perfectly-molded god incarnate. But for once, he wished people would see past the mark and judge him by the caliber of his person instead of his mark. It was even a problem when he went to bat for Zoanthropean rights at the United Nations. They took one look at his scar and branded him a rebel; a man with no morals or principles that fights without purpose. They wouldn't even listen when he explained that he got the scar during the war, not during some reckless confrontation.

A hard life lesson: people judge with what they see instead of what they know.

But that is how things are. All you can do in the meantime is hope for change.

Gado shook off the bad thoughts. He was dwelling on the subject too long. Right now, his objective was to get that letter to Shin Long as fast as possible, come back home, and kick his feet up for the rest of the day. But first, he really needed a shower. Gado trailed an open palm down his disheveled chest and belly again, fingertips brushing through the thick thatch of blond pubic hair at his groin.

A sigh passed his lips. "Well... time to salvage the day," Gado mumbled to himself half-heartedly, striding into the bathroom with slight, bored grin.

Gado tapped his foot impatiently as he rode the elevator up to Long's luxury city apartment. The drive to the complex took about an hour; traffic was amazingly low for a Saturday afternoon. Maybe there was some kind of festival or sports match going on. It was mid autumn, so he decided to wear heavy clothes for the trip: black jeans and a heavy jean jacket over a long-sleeved, thick-knit white shirt.

The clouds were a dirty white blanket in the sky, not a bit of sunshine that day. The weather report warned of light snowfall and dropping temperatures. The very thought made Gado shiver. He hated the cold. And this particular day was the worst kind of cold, like the world had descended into a nuclear winter and everything, right down to the very soul, could freeze into a solid block of ice. Gado huffed irritably and zipped up his jacket a little more. The elevator was particularly slow, taking its sweet time to get to the 19th floor where Long was. He mumbled under his breath, cursing Jenny silently. A hot cup of coffee would have been so perfect right then... Perhaps he'd stay a little while at Long's place to warm up.

Shin Long. Gado hadn't seen the monk for quite some time now, always busy and never home. No one really knew where to find him at any given time. He was like a nomad. Gado grinned knowingly, folding his arms and leaning against a wood carved wall. No matter how hard Shin tired to maintain that neutral, green-eyed facade of his, he still had a caring face. Even after the hellish things he went through during his time as an employee of the Tylon Corporation, he still managed to stand tall. That was something to admire. But still, Gado wished Long would lighten up just a little bit and move on instead of living in the past...

The elevator doors opened, snapping Gado out his reverie. Good, now to give the letter to Shin and go home already, where the fireplace was and warmth reigned. Now which room is his again? Gado scratched his head for a moment. The lengthy hallway had to have at least a dozen doors on each side and all of them seemed pretty well spaced between one another.

"Each one of these must be the size of a small house," Gado mused to himself. Then he remembered the room number. Room 1909… at the far end of the hall. Gado let out an annoyed groan and jammed his hands in his coat pockets, gradually making his way down the hall, counting the door numbers as he went. When he reach the Shin's door, he didn't hear anything from inside. Maybe he was out again? Gado raised a fist to politely knock, but then he noticed... the door was slightly ajar. That was very unlike Shin, leaving the front door open so carelessly, the monk was far too regimented for that.

Something was wrong.

Cautiously, Gado eased the door open, stepping inside as silent as a mouse. He knew that calling the cops was the smart option, but it could have just as easily been a false alarm. Maybe Long was having a bad day. Even monks get sloppy when they are overworked. Gado crept into the darkened living room, and found the place notably disheveled. The couch had been moved and a few miscellaneous items were scattered about the floor. Signs of a struggle? Was Long being robbed? No… The TV and stereo system were untouched, and they were top-of-the-line electronics, though they still seemed to be collecting dust… What the hell?

Then Gado heard a loud thump, then some shuffling, making the big man's heart skip a beat. The sounds came down a hallway to the right of where Gado stood. He geared up, ready to confront a potential intruder, eyes rapidly adjusting to the dark room. He moved stealthily, deftly maneuvering around the fallen objects on the carpet, attempting to get a better view into the hall. Three doors, one open with a light on inside. He sneaked forward and crept silently towards the room, peeking around the door frame. Unfortunately, from his current angle, he couldn't scan the whole room with only about a third of the area visible to him. Whoever was inside was out of sight.

Was this a gym of some sort? There was matting on the floor. Maybe Long used this space to train. There appeared to be torn strips of dark clothing scattered all over the ground, and some of the cushioned flooring looked ripped, cottony fluff pillowing out from the gouges. But most disturbing, there were a couple smashed mirrors against the far end of the room, and he noticed some impact craters about the size of a body driven into the walls. Now Gado was on full alert. A brawl went down in here. More sounds, scuffling and grunts of exertion. Gado needed a better view.

Luckily, the door opening into the room was on the same side of the frame as Gado was. He should be able to see though the gap the hinges made between the door and inner jamb. Carefully, he lined up his good eye—

And Gado got the shock of his life.

There, in the middle of the dojo, was the tiger Zoanthrope Gado knew by heart to be Shin Long. But he wasn't wearing his usual attire. Topless and only in a pair of loose cotton pants, his orange and black-striped fur shined with a thin layer of sweat. He was kneeling over someone, jaws wrapped around their throat. It was another tiger, a blue one, who Gado recognized immediately.

Shenlong!? He's alive?! No wonder the place was a wreck! He must have come to seek revenge on his arch nemesis and finish what he started. Though it seemed Long had the upper hand in the fight. His paw-like mitts held Shenlong down by wrist and Shin's fangs were firmly pinched to his jugular. A quick bite from those teeth and the battle would be won.

Gado prepared to burst into the room and spring into action to help his comrade— but something felt… off. Shenlong's clothes… why were they missing? Were they ripped off during the battle? And when Gado looked closer at Shenlong's upturned muzzle, the clone seemed to be... smiling. Like he was loving every second of what was happening. But he was losing the fight. What was going on here?

Long released Shenlong throat from his deadly embrace, and if Gado thought it was weird that Shenlong looked so happy with his smile, that had nothing on how Long looked. The transformed monk was beaming, honest to god grinning from round cat-ear to round cat-ear, teeth and all.

"I win," Long said victoriously, and Shenlong slumped in defeat.

"Oh no, whatever will I do~" the blue tiger drawled, his orange counterpart chuckling down at him. Gado was certain he could hear their combined purr singing and echoing in the small dojo. Then Long lowered his head— and began licking the crook of his nemesis' neck, clawed hands roaming over the supine Shenlong's chest. The blue tiger let out a low moan of pleasure, paws lifting slowly to cup Long's backside, thumbs hooking into the waistband and tugging them down, stealing a gasp from the feline above him. Long lifted his head and the two tigers stared deeply into each other's eyes, both smiling warmly. Then their muzzles met in a dazzling open-mouthed kiss.

Gado's heart stopped, and it all came crashing down on upon his head like an avalanche. This wasn't a fight. This was courtship.

_They are fucking each other! Holy hell... I shouldn't be here. Time to go. Now! _

Gado slowly backed away from the doorway as if his life depended on it, legs moving on their own volition. As he turned, vertigo overcame him suddenly and he nearly tripped over his own feet, the sounds of the two tigers making out in the room behind him growing louder. So many questions raced through his head that demanded answers, but this certainly wasn't the time. He had barged his way in into Long's place thinking that someone had broken in, but it turned out the only who was trespassing was him.

Awkwardly, Gado fished the letter from his pocket, and not thinking of the consequences, left it on the kitchen counter. He went for the front door and gently took hold of the handle—

A tremendous snarl ripped through the posh apartment, and Gado almost jumped out of his skin, his nerves wound tight as piano wires. Gado spun around. No one was there, and he sighed painfully quiet in relief. The bawdy snicker that followed told Gado that things between the two tigers were progressing quickly. Usually, Gado wasn't an anxious person, typically brave no matter the circumstances, but this was just plain surreal.

Gado crept back into the hallway, gingerly pulling the door handle to shut it behind him, the sound of the hinges creaking so deafeningly that it made the big man's blood run cold.

"Off, Long," Gado heard Shenlong order from inside the dojo, making Gado freeze in place. "I'm going to be late for work. I'll make up for it tonight— No, no! Not there! Ooh... Maybe one more time. I wanna top again, roll over."

"Not a chance, Shen," Long said, noble voice resolute but playful. "A deal's a deal. I won, so I get to choose. Besides, now you have me curious as to what it is like to have the shoe on the other foot. Lie on your back."

Shenlong groaned. "Fiiiinnne…"

That was all Gado could take. He stepped out into the hallway and delicately closed the door as if were made of glass, then ran like hell to the elevator.

Gado sat in the driver's seat in silence, trying to comprehend out of what he just saw.

Long and Shenlong. Mortal enemies, embracing each other like a pair of true lovers. Gado thought they hated each other to the very core, but now…? How in god's name did that happen? Just the idea of the great honorable Shin Long having sex— period— was enough to give anyone a head trip, but they fact it was with Shenlong, of all people, that made the whole situation seem even more mind-reeling. Jenny, the gossip queen, would've traded her soul to be the one who discovered this.

Yet the most distressing part of all was... Gado couldn't decide if he was perturbed by what he saw, or incredibly turned on by it.

Sure, being bisexual, he certainly took notice of Long's handsome features. And yes, he felt a small pang of envy for Shenlong, as well as a bit of jealously. Long never really seemed to be the type to be into guys. Or anything with a pulse. But Gado pegged him way, way wrong... and besides everything else he witnessed during that whole fiasco, one thing stood out above all. A certain curiosity he never indulged before, something he thought about in passing, but never acted upon.

Long and Shenlong were in beast form when they going to fuck...

That was the first time he'd seen anything like it in person. Not just online vids or ribald hearsay, but right in front of his very own eyes, and people he knew no less. The thought crossed his mind once or twice when it came to him and Jenny, but he debated whether or not it was a good idea. He wasn't sure how much control he would have as his lion self during sex. Same for Jenny and her bat form. He did not desire to have every drop of blood sucked from his veins, not a very appealing method of foreplay to him, though Jenny might disagree, the salacious little tart. But Long and Shenlong both appeared to be in complete control their tiger forms, just making love just like any normal couple. Maybe—

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr…

Gado startled and frantically scanned around the interior of the car's cabin, his paranoid mind imagining a certain orange tiger sitting in the backseat behind him about ready to tear his face off for spying on such a private affair. But it was only his stomach growling. He was so deep in thought and out of sorts from the shock that he forgot it was past lunch time. Man, he could really go for a tall, cold beer with lots of foam and a juicy steak sandwich. And he knew just the place to go.

Gado started the engine, but paused, sensing he should look up. He saw Shenlong trotting out of the apartment's lobby and towards a blue motorcycle, now redressed in a white shirt with a leather jacket, and what appeared to be Long's pants, a big grin of satisfaction on his face. Gado couldn't help but grin himself, albeit knowing it was a tad odd given everything he'd seen. Shenlong's typical cocky demeanor was absent from his smile... He looked genuinely happy. Gado wondered if Long's would ever smile in such a way. He hoped that maybe one day he would have the honor of seeing it for himself.

But for now, hunger was getting the better of him. After Shenlong tore away on his bike, Gado waited a short while before he drove out of the parking lot, destination eagerly awaiting him.

"Ah, good!"

Gado slammed his beer stein on the tabletop with a loud bang, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. The last of the ale went down with a single swig, and the sandwich went down just as fast. It was a good meal, as always. Sitting at his favorite window booth table, Gado sighed in relief, much more relaxed now and idly surveying the small, yet relatively crowded restaurant. The old joint was a well-known hot spot for delivering quailty food fast and cheap, always crowded full of starving patrons from noon till night. But "The Pounds", as the restaurant was called, was also known as a local Zoanthrope hang-out. The normal people that were regulars to the place were non-biased on Zoanthrope issues, and most newcomers were pleasantly surprised by the warm welcome.

The owners of the place, Mr. and Ms. Pounds, were kind and jovial as always. Gado knew them well. Their son was turned into a Zoanthrope due to Tylon's experiments. But they didn't blame all Zoanthropean kind for the company's horrid crimes. They were just thankful their son was rescued from their grasp and returned home safely. Ever since then, Gado was considered a family friend to Pounds', and every time he visited, he'd receive a free meal, though he still discreetly slipped a little extra money to the cashier.

Folding his arms behind his head, Gado closed his eye and simply enjoyed the atmosphere, though a certain orange tiger monk and Blue-striped Don Juan kept forcing themselves into his thoughts. In retrospect, he wasn't so shocked anymore, more or less happy that Long was finally letting his guard down enjoying life for once. Although his choice of partners could have been a little wiser. How those two got together was still a complete mystery to Gado. He truly thought that if Shenlong had survived the fall of the Zoanthrope Liberation Front and found Long again one day, the fight wouldn't end until one of them was dead. Yin and Yang weren't supposed to come together like that. Well, that's what Gado thought until that afternoon.

But the fact they did it in beast-form... Gado couldn't get over that. He had to admit, it was one hell of a turn on. He decided to ask Jenny her opinions on the matter later tonight, but he debated if he should he tell her about Long and Shenlong? Honesty was a big part of their relationship. No, he needed to know all the facts first. Once Long found that letter, he'd know it was either Gado or Jenny who sneaked into his place and likely found out about his secret relationship with Shenlong, and Long knew Jenny wasn't the type to traipse around town just to drop off an envelope. Meaning Long would get a hold of Gado soon enough, probably in person, as the monk didn't care much for cell phones.

Hopefully, Long wouldn't want to kick his ass. But then again, while Long wasn't the type of person to start a fight over trivial matters, he was learning to try new things. Obviously. Yet, somehow, from experience or whatnot, Gado got the feeling the two of them weren't keen on being boyfriends or a couple at all, so Long might not be that upset about being found out. They probably were going to be more along the lines of "fuck buddies", as the newer generation put it nowadays. It seemed more appropriate for them. Neither Long nor Shenlong seemed the type to be held down with a steady relationship. Gado could understand why they would be that way, too. It was why Jenny and himself never got married or engaged. It would have taken the spice out of the relationship, made it conformitive, and that was the last thing either of them wanted.

Either way, Gado had already decided that Long should be the one to choose who should and should not know about his private matters, so if Long requested it, he'd keep the secret.

A grin curled at the corners of Gado's lips. Maybe he should ask if either of them were interested in sharing a piece of the action, though Shenlong seemed the most likely to be into down for fooling around. It would be exquisite to roll under the sheets with both those tigers at the same time. Gado shrugged to himself. Time would tell for sure, when he got all the answers he sought.

It was approaching five o'clock when Gado finally got the will to get up from his seat and head on home. He left the waitress a pair of twenties, his usual tip for the good service as always. All the waiters and waitresses knew Gado well enough to expect such a tip, and tried their best to thank him in person when they could. Then after passing the cashier a little cash for the Pounds', he headed out the front door, and was immediately blasted by dry, frigid air the moment he stepped outside. Snow was coming. He guessed he picked a good time to leave.

Gado hurried over to his car and slammed the door shut behind him, shivering mightily. He was about to turn on the engine, when something caught his eye. Someone dressed in a heavy, raggedy, hooded coat darted past the front of his car and out into the street, as if fleeing from someone. The person bolted across the street with inhuman speed, but tripped over the curb on the other side and fell against the cold hard cement of the sidewalk. As the man scrambled to his feet, the man's hood fell back… and Gado was greeted with a familiar sight: a flash of a hot orange snow cap and violet skin.

"Steven Goldberg?" Gado asked aloud. Before he could take a better look at the reclusive man, he ducked into an alleyway. Gado started the engine to his car, contemplating whether or not to pursue Steven, or Stun as he had renamed himself. The former doctor was a bit short-wicked, after all. But when Gado saw three more men— three very big and strong men— tear around the corner and come to a halt in the middle of the street, their little pinheads swiveling about agitatedly, searching, perhaps looking for someone in an orange beanie, did Gado put two and two together.

They are looking for him... What has he gotten into now?

Gado knew Stun's temper all too well, having fought him once before, but he understood why Stun acted the way he did. The experiment he went through as Dr. Goldberg was a painful one. His splicing with an insect left him unstable, easily angered and confined to the body of half-beetle and half-man. But unlike most Zoanthropes, that was his constant "normal" form. He couldn't change back into a human shape. So not only was his humanity stolen from him, it almost seemed to rob him of his very soul, replacing it with an resentful, self-loathing creature that chose to lurk in the darkest of places with only sorrow and despair accompanying him. Gado couldn't even imagine what it was like not being able to interact with civilization and being labeled as a freak, although the scar over his eye gave him a degree of understanding. Some Zoanthropes could hide the fact they were afflicted with the change and live a normal life, but Stun could never do that. Or so he believed, resigning himself to a lifetime of penance due to the guilt of having his research used to harm other Zoanthropes and regular people, all because of that lizard bastard, Busuzima. Out of them all, Gado knew Stun really did have the worst experience in becoming a Zoanthrope. The poor doctor hated himself even more than Long did. And that was a lot of hate.

One of the men glanced towards the alley, then pointed and shouted, the other two thugs looking in that direction. As the men dashed into the alley in hot pursuit of Stun, Gado made a decision, though he wasn't sure if would regret it later or not. He turned off the engine to his car, opened the driver's side door, and stepped out into the cold...

Stun backed into the brick wall behind him, left hand clasped over a deep cut on the opposite shoulder, dark blood seeping between his fingers. A low hiss of pain passed through the bandage-wrapped mouth. The three men stood before him, rough and heavy-set, wearing old, worn clothes, dirt on their faces and rage in their eyes. One carried a pipe, the other a knife, the blade dripping blood. The alley he hoped to escape into was a dead end. He was trapped.

"So not only is the little fucker a thief, he's also a Zoanthrope," the thug on the right cackled, tapping the metal pipe in his palm.

"The hell are you? A lizard or something?" the unarmed one asked crudely. But Stun was silent, only the sound of his deep, throaty breathing echoing in the damp, dim alleyway, puffs of steam billowing out though the cloth binding his jaws. He simply averted his gaze from the attackers.

"I don't want to fight..." Stun said, though his voice wavered slightly.

"It talks! Don't want to fight, huh? Fine by us. It'll make our job easier," the one with the knife took a step forward, and Stun pressed harder against the wall.

"Please, don't... I just needed something to eat."

"So you stole our food?! You think we wouldn't notice?!" the one with the pipe, the leader perhaps, kicked a dumpster with the shout, his face boiling red. "You got balls, asshole!"

"Please, I don't want to hurt anyone..." Stun pleaded, holding his unoccupied hand up disarmingly.

"I don't give a shit what you want, Zoanthrope. You stole from us and now you have to pay the piper."

Stun was about to implore the man again, but a rock struck him between the eyes, making a loud crack as it ricocheted off the hard chitin. The doctor cried out in pain and dropped to his knees, burying the palm of his hand into his forehead, dirt and oil smearing into his pant legs, powder from the shattered chunk of cinder block drifting into his eyes, blinding him. Stun wiped his face frantically, tears running down the exoskeletal plates that armored his face, the sound of men laughing hanging cruelly in the air. When Stun could finally see again, the three men had closed in, standing around him.

"Please, I can't control myself if I—"

The leader slammed his boot into Stun's ribs in a harsh kick, knocking the wind out of him, the mandible plates over his mouth straining against the bandages around his face as his lungs burned for air. Gasping and curled forward in agony, Stun heard the men make disgusted noises at the sight before them, spitting curses and slurs at him.

"Jesus, you are one ugly fuck!" the leader bellowed. "We'd be doing the world a favor putting something like you out of your misery."

"Go ahead," Stun retorted back defiantly, the glaring up at the attackers in contempt. "I don't care. If you want to kill me, just get it over with already, you cowards."

"Have it your way, freak. Let's take our time, boys," the leader laughed coldly, then raised the pipe high in the air, his eyes filled with horrid glee, preparing to bring the pipe down with a mighty swing, yet the doctor's gaze never faltered, fearless and nerves unflinching as he awaited the final blow.

"Hey!" A voice shouted from the other end of the alley, and the three men spun around in surprise.

A tall, muscular man with swept back, spiky, blond hair stood not too far from group, his only good eye glaring forth menacingly and a severe look of distaste on his rugged face. The three assailants, now dwarfed by the immense height of the man, regarded the newcomer with sneers and white knuckles.

"Whacha want, asshole?" the attacker with the knife spat.

"Three against one doesn't seem like a fair fight to me," Gado replied with a glower.

"Piss off, Cyclops, this isn't any of your business!" The leader barked, tapping his pipe against the wall in warning.

"I think it is." Gado pointed at Stun. "That's my friend you're messing with."

"Oh, is that so? Did you know your disgusting little pal is a thief?"

"I don't care what he's done. Just leave him be or I will ruin your evening."

The leader and his lackeys chuckled arrogantly. "Think you can take us all, big man?" The leader grinned wickedly. Gado nodded.

"Easily. You can simply choose to walk away right now and save yourself the unnecessary trauma, but if not, don't say I didn't warn you."

"Fuck you! We'll teach you not to mess with us!"

Then they charged, shouting their idiotically battle cries. Gado sneered in disappointment as they got closer, and once when they were within reach, Gado casually back-handed the leader, the force of the strike so great the man twisted around and bashed headfirst into the brick wall to the side, knocking him out cold. The next one, the man with a butcher knife, took a wide swing at Gado, who in turn merely took a step back, avoiding the slash entirely. The attacker lost his balance, and in that small amount time, Gado front-kicked the man in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards like a rag doll down alley, smashing into a row of garbage cans about a foot away from where a shocked Stun sat.

WHACK!!

Gado felt something cold and hard strike the back of his skull, making him grunt in irritation and grit his teeth. While dealing with the first two, the third one slipped by Gado and grabbed up the leader's fallen pipe. He hit Gado on the back of the head with it, the bone-jarring crack resonating in the dark dingy alley. But much to the attacker's surprise, Gado didn't even so much as step forward. Gado, now slightly miffed by the infraction, whirled around, a massive hand wrapping around the punk's neck and lifting him off the ground. The attacker gagged for air, red face riddled with horror at how fast Gado moved. The pipe made a loud clang as it fell to the ground uselessly, the man's feet kicking feebly against the big man's tree-trunk legs.

"I give up! I give up! I'll do whatever you say, just don't hurt me!" the helpless man pleaded, his voice strangled and desperate, a look of utter terror on his face as he beheld the incredible strength the giant man possessed. Gado grinned and gave the wide-eyed, flailing man's throat a parting squeeze of warning him.

"Good choice." Gado stated resolutely, then dropped the attacker to the wet, grimy floor, the terrified man scrambling to his feet and running out of there like a bat out of hell seconds later. Then all was silent in the alley.

The easy part over with, Gado wiped his hands clean and turned to face Stun, who still sat on the ground, staring aside at the unconscious hobo next to him. Gado closed the distance between them and knelt before the doctor, briefly checking over before speaking. Stun wore a heavy coat, marred by several uneven patches and holes, and appeared to be wearing a stained tank top underneath, the shoulder straps and bandaging around his chest and neck visible through the opening in the top of the jacket. That gaudy "Dang Dong" orange beanie still rested on his head, and the similarly hot-orange pants were darkened from wear and dirt. The wrappings around his feet and calves were shredded to tatters, ends dark with god knows what, likely unchanged for weeks.

"Are you all right, Steven?" Gado asked with genuine concern, but Stun just looked away shamefully in response. "Let me help you up." Gado reached out for the doctor's arm, but Stun slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch me, I'm fine." Stun told him with an incensed tone, his words slightly muffled by the bandages over his mouth. Slowly the doctor rose to his feet, a wince of pain washing over his face and he clasped his hand over his wounded shoulder once again. Standing in time with Stun, Gado immediately noticed the dark blood dripping from the doctor's shoulder and down his coat sleeve.

"You're bleeding," Gado said bluntly, mentally kicking himself for the blatantly obvious statement. Stun glanced at his shoulder and then at Gado, his yellow, almost cat-like eyes glaring coldly at him.

"I'll be fine," he ground out.

"You are not fine. Let me see the wound."

"Leave me alone!"

"Dr. Goldberg, if you don't let me see the wound, I'll have to knock you out in order to help you. Now let me see it," Gado commanded in a stern, firm tone, pointing obstinately at the wound.

Stun looked at Gado's finger hesitantly, then gave the tall man a wary once-over. They both knew Gado was the superior fighter, and in Stun's current condition, he would be useless in a fight. But Gado was one of the good guys, and he knew Stun had vowed never to harm anyone else ever again.

Reluctantly, Stun nodded, removing his hand from his slashed shoulder and offering up his upper arm to allow Gado an unobstructed examination. Carefully, Gado lifted the bloodied, coat-clad arm, looking at it closely. It was no wonder he didn't notice the cut before. The blood was deep purplish in color, much darker than the violet exoskeleton around the wound, almost impossible to see in the darkness of the alley, and the coat's exposed inner fluff had absorbed a great deal of it. Gado could see the wound clearly now. It was a very fine, yet very deep cut, and although the blood was clotting, some still trickled from the opening. Infection was likely… This wasn't good.

"You need help with this. Who knows what was on that blade when it cut you."

"I don't need your help or your pity. Leave me be. I can take care of this myself."

Gado closed his eyes, a flicker of anger rising up in him. Steven, or Dr. Goldberg, or Stun, whatever he wanted to be called, the man was so full of self-hatred it made Gado's heart ache.

Why won't he just let me help him? He could die from this cut if it isn't properly treated. What is the matter with him...? Then a question popped into Gado's head suddenly.

"Why were those guys after you, anyways? They said you stole from them." Stun lifted his head sharply and quickly glanced at a small brown paper bag sticking out of his coat pocket. Gado was quick to notice, and Stun realized too late his fatal error in pointing it out to Gado with his eyes. Before Stun could grab the bag, Gado snatched it from his pocket.

"That's mine!" Stun reached out to take the bag back, but Gado harshly shoved him back against the wall, the doctor's wide eyes quickly looking away from Gado, guilt rife in the sad yellow orbs. Gado opened the bag and took a peek inside, then reeled back from the smell emitting from within, his free hand cupping over his nose and mouth to shield his nose from the nauseous stench. Rotten bread with gray fuzzy mold all over it, an overpowering sour scent pungent in the air.

"Steven, this bread is rotten!" Gado scolded, giving Stun a look of dismay.

"It's edible. Things like me can't go into grocery stores." Stun was so honest with saying that, Gado wasn't sure what he should be more sickened by, the bread or Stun's self-loathing. He tossed the bag aside onto the unconscious thug lying against the wall, his mind already dead-set on what he planned to do next.

"Hey!" Stun made another grab for the discarded bag, but Gado shoved him back against the wall again, harder this time, his anger getting the better of him.

"What is the matter with you, Goldberg?! Stealing rotten bread from homeless people? If you were starving you could have come to me or Jenny! We would've given you food and a place to stay if you need it!" Stun just stared into Gado's eyes despondently, then looked away shamefully.

"You don't need to help me," Stun told him, assertive and truthful. "After all I have done... all the pain and death... all because of me. If anyone deserves this kind of fate, it's me."

Gado wanted to punch Stun so badly right then, it was almost painful.

"That's your reason?" Gado asked rhetorically, shaking his head. "Steven, whether you like it or not, you are coming with me. I'm going to fix that cut and you are going to have some food that isn't a month past the expiration date. Understand?"

Stun's head snapped to attention, yellow eyes wide in surprised. "What? Why?" he asked, dumbfounded. Gado grinned.

"Because it's the right thing to do, Steven"

"But what if someone—"

"Stop. I'll drag you there kicking and screaming if I have to, doctor. It's your choice."

Stun paused for a moment, as if searching for a decent comeback to Gado's ultimatum, but when he saw the unwavering, determined look on man's face, he could only sigh in defeat.

"You do realize how illogical this is, don't you, Alan?" Stun asked, and Gado shrugged.

"What's so illogical about it? I'm just helping someone in need. I'm sure you'd do the same for me if I was in your position."

Stun grumbled irritably and kicked an old soup can resting on by his foot, the metal container noisily rolling away. "Fine, I'll go with you. But if you run into trouble because someone sees me, that's on your head," Stun warned, giving Gado a dour glare.

"I can live with that," Gado replied, as casual as ever.

The drive to Gado's loft was relatively quiet and uneventful. Stun didn't say much, slouching low into his seat, paranoid someone might see him. Gado snickered at how odd the doctor looked curled up into a ball like that, receiving a couple sharp leers of irritation from Stun in return. The weather had changed since they started driving, turning from a light snow flurry with heavy early-evening clouds into a cold rain with an unnaturally bright night sky. Traffic went surprisingly smooth though despite the weather shift, and after fourty minutes of weaving through rush hour traffic, they finally pulled up into the building's parking garage. The lot was empty of people, but that didn't do much to ease Stun's nerves. He looked even more antsy now, still able to express his worry clearly despite his insectoid face, his hands clasped together tightly in his lap and feet shuffling nervously. Gado reassured him that the building was secure. He knew where all the cameras were, security was discreet, and the other tenants that who lived in the building were rarely home, most of them slaves to their jobs 24/7 or traveling the world on their company's dime. Stun didn't relax until they were finally within the safety of Gado's apartment, a big sigh of relief coming from the doctor, if that is what you wanted to call it. His sighs sounded like a flanged echo.

"Gado, this place is a palace. How can you afford this?" Stun asked, clearly impressed.

"There's a lot of money involved in politics, good doctor. Personally, I think it's too big for just me and Jenny. But it has its upsides." Stun tried to look apathetic, but he had a hard time doing so in the presence of such a luxurious apartment. It had two floors! The bedrooms were upstairs probably, a fully stocked kitchen, and a expansive living room with a huge fireplace. Stun guessed the latter that was one of those upsides. Living at the top of a thirty-floor building, a fireplace was nice to have on cold days just like this one.

A jolt of pain shot radiated up Stun's arm, and he couldn't hold back the sharp gasp that Gado's keen ears easily heard. Setting his jean jacket aside, Gado opened one of the kitchen drawers, fishing around inside while keeping an eye on the injured doctor.

"Take a seat in the kitchen and I'll clean that up for you," Gado politely insisted as he kicked off his boots, and Stun nodded, taking a seat at one of the chairs for the eight-person kitchen table as told. Gado was at the doctor's side in no time, holding a small medical kit in hand. He helped the doctor take the old coat off, carefully removing his wounded arm out of the blood-soaked sleeve. The bleeding had stopped, thankfully, but it still needed to be disinfected. He took a small first-aid spray out of the kit and held the nozzle over the cut, but hesitated.

"This is going to hurt a little," he warned Stun.

"I'll be fine," he chastised, making Gado smile. He always knew the doctor was tough. He sprayed it on, the wound foaming as the solution ate the infection away. Stun didn't even flinch, much to Gado's surprise. Gado had been through a lot in his lifetime. Vicious fights, shot, stabbed, battered and cut during the war, all that suffering he handled with grace. But the only thing he ever cringed at was those stupid little medical sprays. They had such a sharp sting to them. Stun must have one hell of an resistance to pain. Gado finished quickly, dabbing the cut dry with a cotton pad to wipe up all the junk the disinfectant flushed out.

"Okay," Gado said, tossing the cotton pads into a nearby wastebasket. "Next up is a hot shower to clean the rest of that blood and dirt of you."

Stun turned his head so fast, he nearly fell out off his seat. "What?!" Stun shouted. "I don't want to impose more than I already have!" Gado crossed his arms in his typical tough guy demeanor, a smug grin on his face.

"First off, you probably need one anyways. That tape you wrap your body up with needs to be replaced, and in order to make sure that wound doesn't get infected from the rest of your body later, you need to be cleaned up. If you have a problem with it, I could always get the garden hose," Gado chuckled, and Stun closed his eyes, aggravated once again by the man's stubbornness. Gado was a kind soul, he knew that all too well, but he wasn't deserving enough to be granted such niceties. Stun groaned, beaten once again.

"Fine... Where's the washroom?" Gado pointed upstairs.

"Upstairs, third door on the left. Leave your clothes and bandages outside the door. There are towels inside and I'll bring you some clothes I have laying around."

"You're just going to give me some of your clothes?" Stun sounded incredulous.

"Yeah. Well, not mine per se, but you're not the only person to have taken refuge here. Some left clothes and other stuff behind. I hang onto them in case they come back for them or if I may need them for future guests. Turns out I was right, huh?" Stun reluctantly nodded, his exoskeleton segmented fingers scratching his cap, making Gado's lower jaw shift contemplatively.

"You know, I can't understand why you kept that ugly hat," Gado told him honestly.

"Oh? I happen to like this hat," Stun replied, just as honest.

"For someone who wants to stay under the radar, an orange beanie and hot orange pants aren't the best choice of attire."

Stun narrowed his eyes. "Since we are on the topic of current styles, why can't you afford a barber to cut those sideburns?" Gado laughed full-heartedly, bringing a hand up to trail a finger through a long yet sleek sideburn.

"These have their pluses, my friend."

"Oh? For what, pray tell?"

Gado winked with a wide grin, pointing upstairs again. "Maybe after your shower, I'll tell you." Stun gave Gado an leery glance, stealing another laugh from Gado. "Off with you," he ended playfully, disappearing back into the kitchen with a wave over his shoulder.

Stun sat there for a second, absorbed in thought. He was so amazed by how casually Gado spoke to him, completely undeterred by his looks and just chatting with him like he were any normal guy. It felt strange and foreign, but for a moment while they were talking, Stun wasn't bitter about things for the first time in who knew how long. Stun took a deep breath and proceeded upstairs. A shower did seem a rather appealing.

Stun took his time rinsing off. He had forgotten how a invigorating a nice, hot shower could be. He guessed he really did need it, though it felt strange taking off his bandages. Over time, they became like a second skin to him, some of which hadn't been removed since he went on his crusade to hunt down get that monster, Busuzima. That had to be at least a year ago now. Stun sighed heavily as he turned the water off to the shower and carefully stepped out onto the bath mat. The bathroom was gigantic. Stun had never been in one so big in his entire life; it even had a built-in Jacuzzi and a sauna. If he was more selfish, he might have been tempted to try one of them out, but he refused to take advantage of the hospitality Gado had so graciously gifted him.

He used some towels to wipe himself dry. It was a rather simple task. The hard exoskeleton that covered most of his body was non-porous, so the water just rolled right off. He was finished in no time, politely placing the towels in a nearby hamper.

Stun looked at his reflection in the large mirror for a few moments. It had been awhile since he saw himself so up close and clearly. He didn't look any different since the last time he'd seen himself, though his appearance still triggered that fight-or-flight response in his brain that warned him that he was standing too close to something threatening, like he was of some kind of movie monster. The same purple-colored, bony exoskeletal scales were in the same positions on his body as last time, nothing new growing from some random spot thankfully, but the things were still everywhere. They seemed to cover and protect the major muscle groups on his body, like the dual broad plates covering the pectorals of his chest, or the chitin-like shells over the front and back of the thighs and upper arms. His abdomen sported a permanent solid eight-pack, and his shoulders were like a knight's pauldrons. He was practically encased in a suit of grisly, violet-hued armor. If it wasn't so disturbing to wear, Stun might have been awestruck by it.

Between the sections of hard plates, leathery dark green skin resided, allowing joints and tendons to flex and bend. The epidermis in those locations was dense, but still vulnerable to outside elements. That's how the knife from before was able to make him bleed by piercing the exposed area between the shoulder and bicep plates. He checked his wound. It was already mostly healed. Zoanthropes in general had a faster healing rate than the average person, but Stun's was in a league of his own. By the same time tomorrow, the cut would be long gone, not even a scar would remain.

He rubbed his thumb over the area, and his eyes inevitably saw his hand. It was a complex and dangerous appendage. The fingers were "segmented", as he could best describe its glove-like appearance, with a band of purple ringed around each phalanx section and a little cap of armor over each knuckle. The largest of said caps connected metacarpals to proximals, giving him a natural set of biological knuckles dusters. If he had thrown a punch at one of those attackers earlier, he could have very easily shattered their ribcage. That's why he avoided fighting so adamantly, he had enough guilt on his conscious.

Most notably though were the tips of the digits, elongated and almost claw-like, but lacked the sharpness to make them deadly. Instead, strength took up that stead. After he first changed, he had to completely relearn how to hold objects with his new hands, often accidentally crushing things whenever he tried to manipulate them. Since then, he made sure to handle whatever he touched with extra care, but it wasn't easy… He'd forgotten the amount doorknobs he inadvertently destroyed.

His eyes went back to the mirror. Gleaming, sharp fangs poked out from his cheekbones, white and chip-less, adorning the dual otherworldly facial mandibles covering his mouth like a mask. Three wide scales were located at the center of his forehead, arranged vertically and curling up over his cranium. The one at the top seemed scuffed, likely from the rock that hobo threw at him. Even the short, stout two-pronged "horn" on his head was still the same, shaped in V-formation and sweeping back from where it was attached between the frontal and parietal bones of his skull.

The only thing seemed to be different about him now were his eyes. For the first time, he was seeing them reflected without shock or rage in them, the golden yellow saucers calm, relaxed for once. They were actually kind of pretty, if one dared consider anything about his off-putting form beautiful.

He felt strangely out of place, casually looking himself over just as any other man would. He'd been isolated for so long that simple act of standing in regular bathroom felt akin to being inside an alien spaceship. Is this what he's been reduced to? What he reduced himself to…? He shook his head, not wanting to think about it anymore.

Cautiously, he poked his head outside the bathroom door, and saw a pile of neatly-folded clothes at his feet, the bandages and old clothes he left outside nowhere to be seen. He quickly scooped them up and shut the door firmy behind him, locking it. He tested the knob, making sure it was secure. That was something he always did, more than a little worried that someone could accidentally discover him, a fear he developed since the change. But if there was anyone he was worried about running into more than just some random person, it was Jenny. His old acquaintance already knew all about what happened to him, and how he looked, but since their last encounter, they hadn't seen each other, and he dreaded the day he would meet her again. He knew she wouldn't judge or be frightened, but he knew she'd make him sit down and talk about that day, saying it's therapeutic or something like that, and he just couldn't do that. The only thing dredging up the past did for him was make him angry, and anger triggered his secondary affliction to emerge, an even more hideous, powerful, and destructive insect form. If he lost control and let his other self rampage through their home… He didn't want to imagine it. Friend or not, it was best to keep off her radar.

Friend... That was a word he hadn't thought about in a long time. Should he call Gado a friend, too? It would be the right thing to do since he did so much for him. Such a strange man… What did Gado see in him? Everyone else in the world looked at him with such disgust and horror, but Gado, he treated Stun like he were an old buddy he hadn't seen since college. Like nothing had changed, like there was nothing wrong with him at all. Normal...

He was dwelling on things for too long. He should get downstairs. Gado was probably waiting for him. Actually a little hungry now, food was on his mind, and he was rather thankful he didn't eat that moldy bread earlier. It actually was pretty disgusting.

He held up the clothes Gado left for him, examining them closely. He guessed they were once Gado's since they had about the same build and height, but it was a bit odd-looking. The top part of the outfit was a leather-like karate jacket of some sort, two short straps with large fasteners sewn into the front to keep the jacket shut tight around the midsection. The lower front of the jacket was left open in the iconic "gi" style, and a large flap sewn into the back of the jacket that apparently flips over one's head to fasten in the front chest area with a pair of metal snap-on buttons, acting like a modified poncho of sorts. Overall it was rather long, and would have covered more than the upper half of his body completely. Stun shrugged, setting it aside.

Next he picked up the pants, looking those over as well. They were even stranger than the jacket. They looked like basic dress pants modified for durability. The original slacks were cut off just above the knee, and thick leather, like the kind used for the jacket, was laid over top of it, wrapped around and held on with metal studs that ran along the insides of the thighs. The groin area was left open, probably to allow better maneuverability and convenience, since the slacks (thankfully) still had the zipper in the front. But it was the lower leggings that made the whole ensemble so unusual. They were a completely separate piece, meaning the pants made to be worn as either shorts or full-legged, akin so the zipper-at-the-knee type hiking khakis. The lower leggings covered the calves and were bolted together on the outside seam as opposed to the inside seam of the the upper part. But instead of a zipper at the knee to join the two, whoever made this thing used a pair of small adjustable belts to bridge the gaps between the the upper and lower halves. It kind of reminded him of the chaps that cowboys would wear. Rather clever, Stun thought. The original design must have called for kneepads, and luckily for Stun, he had his own built-in, hard as stone due to his exoskeleton. Gado picked an outfit that was apropos, that was for sure.

"Where'd he even find clothes like this?" Stun muttered to himself. He was sure he'd look ridiculous in this get-up. But throwing caution to the wind, he tried it on anyways. And to his surprise, it fit perfectly. Comfy and easy to move in, he didn't look half bad either. If he wasn't half-insect, he would've looked quite dashing. But in the warmth apartment, this wasn't the best choice of attire. Not having sweat glands anymore made him very vulnerable to heat, but cold he could handle, so the open gaps at the knees no problem in that regard. He also didn't really need shoes either, since his exoskeleton practically turned his feet into scale-made steel boots. He took off the outfit, replacing it with a white tank top and pair of gray sweat pants Gado had left outside the door with the other garments.

Warily, Stun left the bathroom and headed downstairs, awfully nervous for some reason. Likely because he wasn't covered by wrappings anymore, nothing left to hide his body from the outside world. But he knew this was a safe place, and Gado didn't mind seeing him for the way he truly was. It was relief not having to worry about that for once. Stun poked his head into the kitchen, and was immediately spotted by Gado waiting patiently at the kitchen table.

"Ah, there you are," he said warmly. "Come, sit. Did you enjoy your shower?" Stun nodded hesitantly, stepping into the kitchen and eyes darting about cagily.

Gado chuckled. "I'm sure all the ninjas have gone home for the day, Steven. Relax." Gado smiled in a welcoming manner, extending his hand to a chair across the table from him. The doctor snorted a laugh at Gado's casual joke, and indeed calmed down a bit, then took his place at the other end of the table with his hands interlocked politely. A small plate of food sat before him, two ham sandwiches cut in into four pieces, a tall glass of water, and what looked to be beer-battered French fries. Stun's hunger spiked, but he hesitated.

"What's wrong? Not a vegetarian, are you?" Gado asked, leaning back in his chair.

"No, no, it's not that. It looks great, I'm just… a little uncomfortable eating in front of others," Stun replied with a timid quiver in his voice, and Gado waved the bug-man's worries off.

"How bad can it be? I've seen worse things, I'm sure. Actually, I am a bit curious."

"Curious? About how I eat?"

"Well, yes. Mostly about how exactly your mouth works."

Stun blinked, then sighed deeply. At this point, he wasn't sure he had any secrets left to hide. "Promise me you won't be upset?" Stun asked coyly.

"I promise, doctor," Gado replied certainly, then leaned forward to get a good view, elbows on the table. Stun shook his head again. He couldn't believe he was going to do this.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Stun mumbled reluctantly, more to ease his own mind than Gado's, then relaxed the muscles in his jaw.

The violet-colored plates over Stuns mouth clicked, making Gado's bushy blond eyebrows raise in intrigue. Then the mandibles opened slowly, parting down the middle and swinging open like a pair of miniature doors, hinged by flexible joints located behind the jawbones. Once fully extended and exposed, Gado could clearly see Stun's mouth. It looked unassuming, but still slightly inhuman, wider than average with lips so thin and flat that they appeared almost seamless, deep purple in color like the rest of his exoskeleton. And when they forming into an uneasy smile, Gado could see why Stun felt the need to tape the area shut. His teeth were sharp, shark-like rows of fangs that looked like little razors.

Stun trepidly awaited blond man's reaction, half-expecting Gado to have a heart attack on the spot. "Satisfied?" he asked, unwittingly showcasing his dagger-like incisors as he spoke.

"Well, it makes sense," Gado replied carefree.

"W-what?" Stun stammered.

Gado didn't appear the least bit disturbed, merely tilting his head and curiously squinting his blue eyes. "You are more or less a beetle, right?" he asked.

"Uh... Yes. Right. But what do you mean by it making sense?"

"Beetles have little grabbers like those to catch food, don't they. You didn't learn this stuff in med-school?"

"I... never studied entomology. You're not frightened by this at all?" Stun asked bewilderedly, pointing at his face with a purple, segmented finger.

Gado shrugged. "Nope," he told the frazzled bug-man, folding his arms behind his head and relaxing back in his chair again.

"I don't understand." Stun said slack-jawed and absolutely perplexed.

"Say, can you hold stuff with those?" Gado questioned, ignoring Stun's previous statement and waggling a finger back and forth, gesturing at the spread mandibles.

"Hold stuff?" Stun asked, still in a stupor.

"Yeah, with your face thingies."

"Uh. Yes, I suppose I can."

"Can I see?"

Stun paused at Gado's request. Now it was his turn to be curious. "Why?" he asked.

"Because I want to see it," the man replied simply.

"Oh," Stun said, taking a moment to compose himself. "Well, I guess no harm can come from it."

Stun picked up one of the fries from his plate, held it up to his mouth, and closed the tips of his mandibles on it. The food stayed in place as Stun let go, the morsel swinging a little bit with gravity. A wide, bemused grin grew on Gado's face, and when Stun took notice, couldn't help but smile himself, though it was shielded from Gado's view by the mandibles.

"What?" Stun asked sheepishly.

"That's interesting, and kind of cute," Gado replied

"Cute?" Stun scoffed in amazement at the big man. Gado merely nodded, then gestured at the plate of food, his curiosity apparently sated.

"You should eat now. I bet you are famished."

Stun had almost forgotten about his hunger having gotten so wrapped up in their conversation, but he felt much more at ease now that they had it. Relaxed and without further ado, he tucked into his meal.

Gado watched on, letting the man eat in peace. The doctor really was starving, wolfing down his food rather quickly, much to Gado's amusement. And soon enough, Stun had cleaned his plate and he sat with a leisurely sigh, the mandible plates closing snugly over in mouth again.

"Full?" Gado asked, and Stun nodded.

"Thank you, Gado. For everything," Stun told him sincerely, Gado just giving a curt nod in return.

"Just doing my part. You know, you look much better without the bandages. You got better definition now and you look less—"

"Insane?" Stun humorously cut in.

"Yeah, that's one word for it." They both chuckled, Stun rubbing the back of his head shyly.

"Still, I'm surprised you treat me so normally," Stun said. "I may ask why?"

Gado's expression shifted to one of concern at Stun's question. "You mean why do I treat you just like everyone else I know?" Gado asked, Stun nodding in reply.

Gado scratched his chin, contemplating, as if he were trying to find the right words, before coming to a rather quick conclusion. "Why shouldn't I treat you like everyone else?" Gado finally asked. "We're not that different, you and I. And I believe I understand what you're going through a little more than others do."

"You... understand me?" Stun asked with doubtful hesitance, and Gado nodded back, a solemnly look in his eye. The blond man leaned forward, lying his hands flat on the tabletop and splaying his fingers out. Stun glanced at them. They were rugged and calloused, well-worked hands that had been much over the years. Maybe too much.

"Yes," Gado continued. "I know how it feels when others look at you without thinking, just fear and hate in their eyes."

Stun was quiet, and then his eyes narrowed. "Please, elaborate. What exactly about you makes people look at you like they do me?" Stun had a sour tone in his voice.

Gado let out a sardonic laugh. "You can't tell?" he said as he trailed a finger along the scar over his eye. "You'd be surprised how this thing can clear a room."

Stun turned his head away from Gado, anger slowly rising, and stood up before Gado.

"So that's how you understand me? A scar? Look around you, Gado. You still have a life. I can not. So don't humor me. It just makes me regret everything even more so," Stun's eyes, filled with despair, locked onto Gado, daring him to come back with something to make him think otherwise.

"Steven..." Gado said, voice fraught with sympathy, standing up as well. "I know I can't even begin to understand what you went through— what you're still going through. But even this minor scar and single eye is enough to make people cross the street when they see me coming. I am a strong man, doctor, been injured plenty of times, but no pain ever hurts as much as that."

Stun slammed his hands on the table, tableware clattering from the impact. "You're not something out of a circus freak show, Gado! I've been chased like a leper that escaped the colony. I give people nightmares when they see me, for god's sake! Do you do that? I'd give anything to have people just to cross the street to get away from me than run away screaming bloody murder. I am a monster, inside and out. All those people died because of me."

"Not you. Busuzima did that. You are a victim, not the culprit..."

"I should have known better. I even had my hands around his neck, and I still couldn't... I couldn't..." Stun hands were out in front of him, reaching out to grasp an invisible throat in the air, arms trembling. Gado walked around the table to Stun's side, placing one of his large hands on the doctor's shoulder in solidarity.

"You couldn't finish him because you're not a monster. Because no matter how many times write yourself off as this horrible creature you believe yourself to be, you're still a good man."

Stun looked on the verge of tears, gazing into his violet exoskeleton-plated hands. "What do you see in me that everyone else doesn't," he sobbed, voice wavering, sad and confused like a lost child's. "Why don't these hands scare you? Why aren't you afraid with my teeth and my claws?" Stun whispered hopelessly.

Gado closed his good eye and released a heavy sigh, giving the doctor's shoulder a squeeze of reassurance before letting go. The blond-haired giant walked in front Stun and turned to stand face to face with the insect-man, sorrowful amber eyes following him all the while.

Then suddenly he grasped Stun's hands with his own, startling the doctor with its abruptness.

Gado's eye flashed in a vibrant crimson glow, changing into a yellow cats-eye with a round black pupil. His golden hair and sideburns spilled out in every direction, forming into a voluminous, rusty orange mane as tawny, sand-colored fur sprouted from his skin and rippled down his arms. His muscular body bulged and expanded, straining against his rapidly tightening white shirt and black jeans, and his rugged face winced in discomfort before a short muzzle pushed out with a sharp crack, ears moving up the sides of his skull to come to a rest atop his head. Joints creaked and groaned, and Gado grunted loudly, the sound deep and powerful, a leonine tail with a tufted tip ripping a hole through the back of the jeans and the long sleeves of his shirt shredding from his thickening arms. At the same time, the lower half of his jeans burst apart, breaking along the seam as his legs stretched and popped, ankles extending into the digitigrade shape of cat's. Stun could feel the pinpricks of claws emerging from the man's fingertips, the already massive hands holding his doubling in size to envelope them entirely. In a split second, Gado had completely transformed into his lion form, radiating power and regal beauty, but still a beast one would dread facing in combat.

Stun froze under the gaze of the gigantic lion-man's burning golden gaze, eye glaring down at him, then the bug-man yanked his hands out of Gado's grip, taking several steps away from the transformed Zoanthrope, fear embedded on his insectoid face. He'd seen Gado change before, but never this up close and personal. It was terrifying.

"See?" Gado asked calmly, his voice much deeper and rumbling as he spoke. Stun paused, realization dawning on him. How he reacted, instinctively with primal fear, backing away like so many others had done to the doctor himself. Stun stared at the floor wide-eyed, still in shocked by what he just witnessed, but more so in absolute shame of how he responded. He never thought he would behave like that, but Gado's lion form, so gigantic and ferocious, a beast capable of tearing him limb from limb, he couldn't help himself. Just like others did to him...

"Do you understand now?" Lion-Gado continued. "It is human nature to fear what it does not understand, what is new and different. But I ask you, even if I was in my human form, even if I didn't have this scar and useless eye, if I was normal like everyone else in the world, and I told someone I was a Zoanthrope, do you think it would matter how human and normal I looked? I would get the same response: fear. Fear and hate. All us Zoanthropes have to go through that. It doesn't matter what you've done in the past, our kind will forgive you and help you, if you give them a chance. You can still have a life."

Stun covered his eyes with his hands, tears dripping into his chitinous palms. "Alan... I can't have a normal life," the doctor sobbed. "This… thing that I am. This horrible body... I am stuck with it. How do you expect me to simply just rejoin society? I'll always be alone and I deserve it! I will forever be unloved. Look at me. Who would want to touch this face…?"

"I would," Gado replied sincerely.

Stun lifted his head and stared dumbly at the lion. There was an stagnant beat, then the doctor found his voice again. "You... What?" Stun blustered, more thunderstruck than upset.

"I would. I think you're handsome, in your own way. Exotic. You have a well-built body, a strong aura, and a kind heart. If someone is too shortsighted to not to notice such things about you just because your looks, then they are truly foolish," Gado told him, honest through-and-through, glancing aside in uncharacteristic modesty. The lion took a deep breath, then locked his only good eye on Stun's quivering amber equivalents. "If there's anyone who understands how you feel, it's us, Steven. It's me."

Stun couldn't believe what he was hearing. His mouth moved wordlessly behind the mandibles, and for once in his life, he was glad there were there to hide how overwhelmed he felt. "You're not… are you offering—?"

"Yes," Gado answered him. "Yes I am, doctor."

"But what about you and Jenny?"

"We have an understanding. You don't need to worry."

"But… of all people... me?!"

Gado nodded resolutely, a sly grin splitting his muzzle. Stun would've been blushing himself to death if his exoskeleton would've allowed it, then his face lit up in sudden confusion. "Wait, how did you even know I would even consider—"

"Just a feeling. Also, you didn't transform and immediately attack me when I brought it up. So there's that." Gado flicked his rounded ears smugly, and Stun shook his head in astonishment.

"I didn't even know you were into men," the bug-man muttered

"Bisexual, actually. Jenny and me both," Gado answered nonchalantly. "I'm surprised you didn't know that."

Stun huffed and folded his arms defensively. "Jenny never told me. And in case you haven't noticed, I'm not privy to gossip. I mean, I always had hunch that she was but…"

"A hunch now?" The big lion asked, tilting his head to the side, thick mane rustling with the motion. "Do tell."

Stun startled, then feeling suddenly put on the spot, fumbled over his own words to try to explain himself. "W-Well… I might have told her, once or twice, when we out drinking that I was… uh, kind of more into men than women…" The doctor admitted, voice barely audible by the time he got to the last word. Stun then averted his eyes and shuffled in place, mortified he just confessed this to Gado, mouth mandibles twitching in agitation. Stun paused, as if he was allowing Gado time to let that info sink in, but the lion just looked at him like it was common knowledge, albeit pondering why the man was stalling.

"Aaannnd?" Gado implored, the word rolling forth. Stun cleared his throat awkwardly, sounding like a low-pitched buzz.

"And she didn't seemed fazed, by me telling her that. She just started rating guys at the bar with me. She took the news too well, like she knew all along what it was like to…be that way. So I thought she might, you know, swing both ways…"

"Very astute, doctor," Gado congratulated, then the big lion scratched a claw under his chin in thought. "Now you've got me wondering, Steven. You have had sex, right?"

Stun balked. "Wh— of course, I have!" he nearly shouted. Gado, as usual, didn't act surprised. He simply smiled wider, flashing his fangs.

"I figured as much," he drawled out with a purr. "Then it's been well over a year now since you last got laid, am I right? Maybe that's a reason you're so wound up all the time."

Strangely, Stun's didn't become more flustered at the statement. Instead, he turned his back to Gado, arms still folded, and said nothing more, as if hiding himself. That didn't look like shame. If anything he appeared… guilty. That special kind of guilty. Gado's tail lashed so suddenly it hit a nearby wall with a thump.

"No." Gado's jaw dropped. "Less than a year?! So you did it after—"

Stun spun around, hands clamped around his hard-coated skull. "Oh my god, Gado stop talking!"

Gado couldn't look more delighted. "You did!" he declared loudly, the giant lion's eyes dilated like a massive pet cat with the biggest pile of catnip known to mankind.

The next thing Stun knew, Gado had darted forward, snatched up the bug-man's hand in his own and practically dragged him to the kitchen table. The lion yanked a chair out and plopped the doctor down on it, then made a beeline the opposite side of the table. In a scene not too different from a TV crime show, Gado slammed both hands on the expensive hardwood, and leaned forward to stare directly into the doctor's eyes interrogation style.

"You have to tell me everything," Gado all but begged, and Stun shrunk back in his seat. Although perturbed by Gado's straight-forwardness with such a touchy subject, he knew that the lion wouldn't quit dogging him about it until he got the whole story. He didn't seem the type to give up easily. So, reluctantly, Stun nodded, still in disbelief that he was admitting everything so readily. He sighed deeply...

"Uh, s-since you asked so nicely…" Stun swallowed the lump in his throat. "It was about 6 months ago now…"

"I live in an abandoned warehouse, number 2045 in the port district. It's big, dozens of old abandoned freight containers inside, along with some twenty or so offices. A lot of homeless people live there. To hide my appearance, I used all the wrappings and tape I could find to cover my face and limbs, but that facade only lasted so long. It was obvious there is something wrong with me. I have purple skin after all. Still, I am relatively tolerated, one of those people everyone knows but nobody talks about. I have a whole office to myself, and since many of the people living in the containers and offices were former mechanics and handymen, they keep the furnace going warm in the winter and the air conditioners cold in the summer."

"No one has tried to chase me out or kill me... at least, not yet. And I have a name there: 'Doc.' That's it. Just Doc. Sometimes, those who've gotten hurt or fallen ill come to me, willing to overlook my appearance for aid. I help them, of course, fixing them up and sending them on their way. And sometimes, when there's nothing more I can do, I'll prepare the bodies of the deceased and bury them in the yard out back... It still surprises me how someone can go from being in complete and total fear of me to believing I'm a saint after I mend their wounds. It's probably why I didn't take my own life in the months after the ZLF disbanded, that feeling of usefulness and being accepted. It means the world to me."

"The kids like me the most. They are so young; they have no idea how dangerous I can be. To them I'm just another adult who looks a little weird... The nicknamed me 'Dr. Bug.' Children being children, whenever they got banged up rough-housing or messing around, they'd come to see me and I'd patch them up... Such innocent souls." Stun smiled behind his mandibles, glancing at Gado, who stood at attention, hanging on the doctor's every word, his warm gaze watching the doctor intently.

"Go on," Gado insisted, leaning back against a counter as Stun propped his elbows up on the kitchen table, continuing his story.

"Well... It happened that spring, around the time most of the homeless population moved out, heading to other cities in hopes of finding work or a better place live, so the warehouse was relatively vacant except for me and a few other permanent residents. No one else stayed in the offices other than me for about a month. Then this man who worked at the steel factories, a big strong guy who everyone called Ursus, mostly because he was portly and burly like a grizzly. He was one of those people who I helped once. He got in a brawl and broke his nose, so I realigned it and procured some pain relievers for him. He was kind to me ever since. But this one day, the weather was nice and everyone was outside, enjoying the fresh air. I stayed inside, for obvious reasons."

"I decided it was a safe time to swap out my chest and thigh wrappings as they had been falling apart due to age. So I undressed and began to change them, but when I had finally removed all of the old bandaging, Ursus came stumbling into my office. He scared me half to death, but I don't think he noticed. He was totally smashed on cheap wine, the green half-empty bottle in hand proved it. He told me his job at the local steel plants had promoted him and was starting his new position as a manager in another city next week. He was over the moon, but I sure as hell wasn't. I was naked in my room with a huge, intoxicated man blocking the only exit."

"He came over to me and gave me a massive hug. If it wasn't for my exoskeleton, my ribs would have broke. I suppose this ugly thing does come in handy for some things. But I was panicking. I hardly let anyone see my face and there I was, not a scrap of clothes on me with this big lummox squeezing the life out of me… And that's when it started. He didn't just hug me... He began to feel me all over with those strong workman's hands, and then he started pushing me back onto the desk in my office. I know it sounds like he may have forced himself on me, but that's not true at all. I didn't try very hard to fight him off. I guess I wanted it, too. It was the first time I felt the touch of another in very a long time."

"So we just… did it right there. He was drunk but careful. His big arms pinned me down, and he started kissing my neck, then lower until… you know… And the things he said to me made me feel so good. That he always found me attractive and always wanted to see what I looked like in the light. And when we finished... God, I felt amazing. It took all my energy away. I passed out, and when I woke up, he was already gone. He left a small note thanking me for a great farewell gift and that he'd always remember me... And that was that."

Gado had a warm half-grin as Stun finished his tale. "Sounds like you enjoyed yourself," he told the doctor. Stun looked down at his hands sheepishly.

"I did. But I'm not sure if it was a good idea. Was I wrong in to let it happen?" Stun asked the reclining lion.

"I don't think so. It sounded like you both had a good time, and I'm sure you felt a little better afterward, right? Less stressed?"

Stun gave a sharp laugh and nodded. "Like you wouldn't believe. I thought it was a figment of my imagination at first. I kind of pushed it to the back of my mind and pretended it didn't happen. I suppose I really lucked out finding someone who would be into me, or Zoanthropes in general."

"You'd be surprised," Gado quipped, making Stun look at him quizzically.

"What do you mean?" he asked. The big lion pushed himself off the counter and cracked his knuckles, stretching out with a grumble.

"I suppose you don't use the internet much. Since Zoanthropes are becoming more commonplace and larger in numbers, there are now whole communities out there devoted to Human-Zoanthrope and Zoanthrope-Zoanthrope relationships. It's not a regular occurrence, but it exists."

Stun's mandibles twitched. "Are you serious?" he asked, to which Gado winked with his good eye.

"If you ask me," he rumbled provocatively before licking his chops. "It seems like fun."

"Fun? How could a normal human survive it? I know better than anyone that some can't control themselves in beast-mode, and you've seen what I can do."

"True, true. But I've seen it in action, and they seemed pretty damn in control to me."

"…In person?"

Gado paused, a certain blue and orange tiger couple dancing in his head. "Uh... yes, actually. But they were talking clearly to each other and giving instructions. A completely consensual exchange."

Stun paused for a moment, his scientific mind working. "Yes... All living organisms have two basic instincts: the drive to eat and the drive to procreate. Even in Zoanthropic transformation state, our sentience and intellect allows us to mate without our urges overriding our mental abilities, so then romantic relationships becomes possible."

Gado looked up at the ceiling, thinking. "Maybe in half-animal form," he mused. "we have that much control because the beast inside us is really getting what it wants."

"I… never though of it that way," Stun murmured, then stared forward blankly in thought, his mind milling over the subject.

A smirk grew over Gado's feline muzzle. He walked over to where Stun was hunched over the table and tapped Stun on the top of his hardened head, snapping the doctor out his trance abruptly.

Stun grimaced and rubbed the spot in his head where clawed finger had touched him.

"You think too much," Gado told him. "It's just sex. Speaking of which…" the big lion lightly tugged on Stun's shoulder, urging him to turn in his seat to face him. "Do you want to spend the night with me?" his asked, point blank but tact, and Stun flinched, slowly craning his head up to look to his friend, concern rife in his eyes.

"You still…?" he delicately probed, and Gado nodded his great leonine head, mane swaying like a breeze through a willow tree.

"I do. And before you say anything, no, I don't want a better person to do this with. I want to spend my time with you," Gado spoke softly, his large, paw-padded hand rubbing Stun's purple shoulder reassuringly.

"You're sure you're sure?" Stun asked a final time, his astonishment stealing a small laugh from Gado.

"I told you before, doctor, I like how you look. I think your body is one of a kind. I have a thing for strength, and you've got it in spades, physically and mentally, even if you may not believe so. You're a good man, Steven. What more do I need?"

Stun's eyes told Gado everything, wide and grateful. He nodded. "Last chance to change my mind," the insect-man warned, though his heart wasn't in his words. "With a creature like me?"

The lion smiled broadly, bringing his other hand up to stroke the doctor's plated chin between soft-padded thumb and forefinger, gazing down with his single golden eye

"You are not a creature," the lion told him, words etched in stone. "You are Dr. Steven Goldberg, no matter how you look. Never forget that."

Stun stood up slowly, Gado's hands retracting to let him rise. The insect-man's amber eyes eyes drifted to the expansive, sweater-clad chest before him, white fabric drawn tight over the muscles. He then gently placed his segmented-fingered hands over the lion-man's chest, feeling untamed power thrumming underneath, and spoke with quiet words.

"I've… only been touched on my mandibles, you know. Never underneath," he hinted at the big lion.

Gado brushed a padded thumb over the seam between the facial plates, appendages quivering at his touch. "Open them and I will. I'm not afraid."

Promptly, Stun let the mandibles part, swinging open like a set of barn doors, revealing a timid smile. Gado's massive leonine head slowly descended, golden eye closing as their lips met sweetly and gently, stealing the very breath from the doctor's lungs. Stun felt his heart thump and his body tingle, whatever stress and doubt he had lingering gone for good.

It was quick, a simple lip-lock before they broke apart. Stun could see the lust burning in Gado's remaining eye, whiskers wiggling and his smile morphing into a robust smirk.

"Did you like that?" the feline asked, to which Stun nodded emphatically. "It only gets better from here."

Gado was about to go back in for another, but paused when Stun's hand slid behind his feline head, fingers delving into the feather-soft mane of the surprised lion, and pulled him down again to a deep kiss. But Gado didn't miss a beat. Unflinchingly, as Stun's mouth opened, Gado's did the same, slipping his barbed tongue inside to greet the doctor's own.

Stun gasped around the probing muscle as Gado fearlessly attacked the sharp teeth of his maw, simply witnessing such bravery sending a rush of pleasure storming over him. The insect-man returned the favor, slipping his own tongue, thinner and narrower but astonishingly nimble, inside the lion's short muzzle, feeling over fangs and teeth as much as possible. Gado's strong arms wrapped around the doctor as their tongues danced, pulling the man firmly to his broad chest and leaning forward into the kiss while Stun reclined into the lion's embrace. Stun felt the giant cat's heart beating robustly and hooked other hand onto his lover's denim-clad hip, letting the transformed man ravish his mouth.

Normally, human Gado and half-insect Stun were built the same, tall and muscular with broad shoulders, but with Gado in his lion form, his body practically dwarfed the doctor's by at least double the weight and width. Stun felt so small in his arms, but also, oddly safe. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he felt so safe. Here, swathed up in the arms of his ally, he was finally free to let go of everything and enjoy being alive. No more fear, no more stress. It was such a precious gift. Stun couldn't believe this was still happening…

Together, their hands roamed and fronts pressed together tightly, mouths working wetly over one another as the large paw-like hand cradling the insect-man's lower back slid down to feel the hardened backside though the gray sweatpants. Stun's surprise was muffled into Gado's muzzle, and on cue, slightly raised the leg as the giant mitt caressed over the curve of a unyielding cheek, sliding under and firmly encompassing the globe. The doctor's segmented hands gripped tightly to the lion's mane and hip in response, latching on as Gado claimed his mouth passionately. Stun tried to keep up, but Gado was ravenous, barely able to explore the lion's muzzle as the bristly tongue of his compatriot had already discovered every crevice of his own mouth.

Gradually, their faces moved apart, both creatures left breathing heavily and eyes clouded over with excitement. Stun swallowed the taste Gado left in his mouth, the mandibles snugly closing over his face again as Gado gestured with a nod towards the living room.

"Couch," he stated simply, rumble so deep the doctor could swear he could feel its reverberation through the tiled floor with his feet.

Stun didn't need any further encouragement. He turned and walked into the living room, glancing at the closely-following Gado over his shoulder, who reached up to shut off the kitchen lights upon his exit. The huge six-seater sofa faced an unlit fireplace and away from the kitchen. It looked made for comfort rather than style, which was a relief. Gaudy, art-piece furniture didn't seem fun to fool around on.

"So are we— Hey!" Stun was spun around and Gado pressed against him, chest to chest, and the two of them fell over the armrest of the couch to land on the cushions with a soft thud, the big lion on his hands and knees over the supine, wide-eyed doctor. Gado grinned playfully, heady purr rising in pitch as he touched his wet feline nose to one of the fangs poking out from Stun's cheekbones.

"You were saying, Steven?" he asked, grin becoming smug.

Stun stammered. "I-I was going to ask if we're really going to do this with you as a lion."

Gado tilted his head mirthfully. "Why not. I figure it's only fair. You can't change forms, so neither should I."

Stun nodded after a moment, glancing away nervously. "And if Jenny shows up?" he queried, and Gado chuckled deeply.

"One of two things will happen, my good friend. She'd either join us, or take out her phone to start recording."

Stun blinked. Yeah, that sounded right for Jenny. "Oh," the insect-man said evenly, then decided it was time for him to stop dragging things out. "In that case." Stun ran his segmented fingers along Gado's taut arm muscles, finding a strap of shredded sleeve and twirling it around his finger. "You want me to help you undress?" he asked coyly, catching Gado off guard with his sudden forwardness, and received a wide, toothy smile and a hearty laugh in reward. Gado raised up and sat back, massive knees astride of Stun's hips, then bent an arm at the elbow like a strongman showing off his bicep, playfully wiggling the ribbons of cloth hanging from his sleeves like a hanging flag.

"I should really learn to take off my clothes before I change like that. It's such a waste," he joked, then hooked a finger from each hand into the neck of his of his shirt and yanked down, ripping the fabric apart like tissue paper, shredding a line down the front until he turned his old ruined shirt turned into a new ruined jacket. Gado peeled himself out of the torn clothing then tossed it over the backrest couch. His grin became even more lordly as he loomed over the insectoid doctor.

Stun's eyes immediately dipped downward, raking over every inch of Gado's torso. With the whole of his front overlaid with a thin layer of tawny fur, he was built like a Greek god, weightlifter-heavy, thick and sinewy, and had abs like no other. Like a range of sculpted mountains, they looked stacked and solid as a brick wall. Stun thought he could cut diamonds on those things. And his mane was beautiful, the flowing fur enshrouding Gado's kingly feline head like downy fire. He was of the most handsome men, human or not, Stun had ever seen. The doctor couldn't stop himself from lifting a hand and touching the lion-man's wide pectoral. The fur was just as soft as he imagined, just like a warm blanket out of the dryer.

"You're… quite impressive," Stun complimented the towering lion, whose purr hiked dramatically.

"You're quite a catch yourself, doctor," he replied with a crafty undertone, his clawed fingers trailing down Stun's white cotton tank top, nails clicking whenever they caught a snag in the fabric. The lion's hand went lower until it met the bottom hem of the tank top, then the blunt, now claw-sheathed fingertips slid their way under the shirt to spread over the hard, exoskeleton-clad stomach. The padded ends felt over hard ridges and flawless curves, drifting along the doctor's taut abdomen. The thumb of his other hand hooked under the hem of the garment and tugged it up to get a good view at what was hidden to Gado's eye.

Stun had sleek yet strong armor-like scales over each abdominal muscle, soothing purple hued like the rest of him. Forest green skin laid between the exoskeleton plates, appearing almost black under Gado's shadow. The lion's digits skimmed over Stun's belly, as if cautious. Perhaps Gado was unsure of how his plates feel, if the they might be abrasive or cold. But Stun knew Gado would find they weren't the least bit rough or icy. The plates were smooth as polished glass and radiated heat, likely absorbed from his earlier shower and stored within. Or perhaps the warmth was instead due to the good doctor growing increasingly aroused, which he definitely was. Either way, even Stun had to agree his exoskeletal shell felt soothing, akin to a warm therapy stone.

Stun gasped as Gado's strong hands kept carefully examining his front. The great lion lowered his maned head, nose and lips touching the plated stomach just above where the navel would be and he took a long, deep breath. Stun's scent was a sweet and earthy, like sliced apples and tree leaves. Gado exhaled into the area, a devilish smile overtaking him. The lion's muzzle parted, and his tongue snaked out to taste the verdant flesh between the lavender abs of doctor's belly. Stun unwittingly flinched the moment the moist, bristly thing met his skin, but quickly relaxed, closing his eyes and let out a small moan suppressed by the mandibles over his face. Gado traced his tongue up through the canal of the doctor's stony belly, leaving a slick, shiny trail of saliva in its wake as the thumbs of both his large hands hiked the shirt up higher to expose more of the bug-man's front. But then Gado felt the cotton cloth being tugged out from fingers, and he glanced up at Stun in query.

The doctor sat up and slipped the tank top off over his head, then dropped it over the side of the couch. He lay back again, Gado's glowing yellow eye watching the whole time. Stun nodded at him, giving the go ahead, and big lion grinned in approval, returning to the violet expanse of the insect-man's chest. His muzzle moved upwards, hands now splaying out over the large plates that covered Stun's pectorals, sensing the rapid heartbeat and the rise and fall of each breath. The perfect shape of the insect-man's body was entirely his for the taking... Gado was really going to enjoy himself.

"You look amazing, Steven," Gado praised, wide paw-hands roaming along Stun's lavender front.

"I'm very glad you think so," he replied bashfully, truly flattered. Gado gave Stun a purring chuff of approval and a pat to his armored side. Then Gado removed himself from Stun's body and got up from the couch, taking a few steps away from Stun with his back to him. The doctor quickly propped himself up on his elbows, eyes inspecting the lion's magnificently structured back and jean-covered rear. Gado turned around slowly, and Stun understood what the big cat had planned. Gado had already undone the top button of his jeans, and with his clawed fingers on the zipper, began to pull the tab down, metal rivets making their own sort of purr as they parted.

But then Stun noticed Gado had something in his other hand. A remote?

The fireplace behind Gado instantaneously erupted into flames and the lights dimmed in sync. The tall lion remained unflinching, focused squarely on the violet-colored man on the sofa, but Stun just about jumped out his exoskeleton when the ignition whooshed through the air. And when his eyes adjusted to the contrast of firelight and darkened room, what he saw took his breath away. The heart-stopping sight of the inferno burning behind the massive silhouette of the lion Zoanthrope, his single eye shining eerily in the dark like a glowing ember. The striking image, terrifying yet gorgeous, was burned into Stun's memory forever. Then in the next moment, his eyes caught the big cat's hand departing the front of his jeans, the zipper now completely opened. Stun swallowed hard, his pulse racing faster as his anticipation grew, the air around him growing swelteringly hot, though it wasn't due to the fire.

What a showman… Gado certainly had a flair for the dramatic. Stun bet he drove Jenny crazy with his antics, but the doctor enjoyed it immensely and savored every moment of the lion's performance. His insectile eyes gleamed with the intensity of the fire, cast forward at the disrobing lion. Gado tossed the remote away, then spread the flaps of denim apart to reveal the black underwear he wore, a bit of reddish fur peeking out from the top of the waistband. His feline expression became lecherous as he gave his notable package a purposeful squeeze, then the lion hooked his thumbs inside the sides of his jeans and waistband of his boxers.

Stun leaned forward, a growing hardness moving down his pant leg. Gado licked his lips enticingly, fangs glinting with firelight, then began to slide the tight jeans and underwear down his hips and meaty legs all at once. But much to Stun's dismay, Gado upper body bent over with the movement and blocked his view of anything salacious. Stun's mandibles clicked and exhaled his frustration at the lion. Upon hearing the doctor, Gado glanced up and smirked in that distinctly haughty cat-like manner, his good eye greeting Stun as his hands worked the jeans down the rest of the way until the articles finally piled around his digitigrade ankles.

Gado leisurely stood upright, stepping out of his jeans, boxers and shredded socks, then pushed them aside with a foot-paw. Stun's round eyes went wide, pupils reduced to near nonexistence. Completely nude, Gado was the perfect incarnation of an ancient animal deity. The musculature of his entire body was immaculate, perfectly formed bulges clearly seen under the tawny fur that covered his great, virile frame. His maleness, only partially hard, had to be at least seven inches long and maybe two thick, a thick tuft of red fur, akin to what made up his mane, rested above the base of his shaft, looking just as silky. Two heavy stones in a lightly furred sac hung proudly below the shaft, which itself was slightly unusual, having a slightly tapered tip and what looked like several small bumps or nubs around the shaft beneath the head. Stun imagined it would feel wonderful to feel, both inside and out, and doubted he could even fit a hand around the thing when it was at its fullest. His own cock grew firmer and longer at just the sight of this godlike lion-man, but still, he was a bit apprehensive. He'd never seen someone so well endowed in person. Would he be able to even handle such a beast?

Gado calmly strode over to the sofa again with a seductive gait, tapping Stun's feet so he would move his legs. Stun sat up, watching in complete awe as the unclothed lion's majestic form sat next to him. Gado gazed warmly at the gawking insect-man, who tried his best not to stare at the erect shaft throbbing in the lion's lap. Gado on the other hand, had little shame ogling the prominent cylindrical outline inching down the inner thigh of Stun's sweats. The lion laid onto his side, then sidled up next to the doctor's legs to get a better view. The doctor followed the lion's line of sight and knew exactly what the man wanted. As if asked directly to do so, Stun began to undo the knotted drawstrings of his pants.

"I hope I don't look too strange..." he murmured, then pushed the sweatpants down his exoskeletonized hips and thighs. He shimmied the garment off his feet then nudged them off the sofa to crumple to the carpeted floor. Stun knew he was pretty gifted below the belt, even before the experiment that changed him, but afterward, he only got bigger, and the moment Gado took a look between Stun's legs, and his good eye widened like it never had before. The lion's tail made a sudden lash, smacking the backrest of the sofa with a resounding thump.

"God damn," Gado gawped, making Stun tilt his head.

"Huh? Erk!" Stun didn't get to say much more than that, for Gado wrapped a large hand around the shaft, feeling it's weight in his paw-padded palm. The thing was a woman's wet dream, easily surpassing nine inches and Gado could barely fit two fingers around it. It was segmented, like one of Stun's fingers, with very pliant, very flexible lavender rings about an inch thick wide wrapped around the shaft, nothing like the dense, resistant plates overlaying the rest of his body. The spaces between the rings were smooth and green-skinned, melding seamlessly where the areas met. The end of the shaft even had a mushroom-shaped head, a human feature likely carried over during his transformation process into the half-insect man he was now. Below all this, his balls hung proudly in a pouch of satiny, leathery dark green skin, the two hefty eggs large in size and human-like in shape.

Gado's eye glazed over and he immediately gave the shaft a firm stroke, then almost gasped at what he saw, and moreover, felt. The violet rings moved with his hand, not anchored to the flesh rigidly at all, and when Gado released the pressure, they sprung back into position. The bug-man's cock was a ribbed, exotic monstrosity of the best kind. The lion leaned closer and steadily began to fist his hand along the insectoid rod, Stun's breathing deepening by the second.

Stun knew how weirdly designed his cock was. It functioned a lot like how a telescope would extended and collapse, the rings composing the shaft sitting close to one another when he was unaroused, but when the flesh would become engorged, the areas between them expanded and the penis as a whole would elongate, giving it this rippled, wavy appearance. When Stun first saw it after waking from a particularly pleasant dream, it scared the shit out of him.

But Gado didn't appear bothered by it at all, clearly amazed by what he was holding, the lion completely absorbed in his ministrations. Gado pumped his hand around the shaft a few times, getting a feel for it, single yellow eye studying closely how the fleshy rings moved and connected. He played with it like a kid with a fascinating new toy, and Stun wasn't about to tell him to stop, the doctor's blood running hot, electrified by the lion's touch as dopamine flooded his system. Stun's sigh sounded like a trill and he relaxed into the cushions, lust pooling in his lower belly. A bead of clear fluid formed at the tip of his cock and Gado's captivated expression became one of prideful accomplishment.

"I... I suppose you like it then?" Stun asked, his voice laden with excitement.

"I love it," Gado affirmed, giving the shaft a squeeze and bringing his head close to it. He could smell the doctor's arousal, different from before, stronger, sweet and tangy like sliced fruit and cinnamon. But before moving forward, he paused, and gave Stun a look, silently asking for permission to continue to the next step.

Stun nodded in an instant, and Gado's purred revved. The lion's muzzle opened, and Stun, without even the slightest degree of fear, watched the maned head descend. Gado's moist, hot breath fogged the shiny plates covering the doctor's groin, and Stun's hands gripped the cushions under him. He felt the familiar, rough tongue press against the underside of his throbbing shaft, cradling the upper half in a wet embrace before slithering down, and then the the lion's mouth closed completely over his cock, ebony feline lips sealing around the base of his hard staff. He swallowed the head into his gullet, enveloping the entirety of the doctor's rippled manhood in a hot, steamy cavern of sopping flesh, tongue slathering around its thickness as Gado's cold, wet nose pressed into the insect-man's groin.

"Oh god... Alan," Stun breathed, all the tension and apprehension he had accumulated over the day leaving his body in a single wave of relief. Stun's hands went to Gado's head, talon-like fingers combing through his elegant mane. Gado moved his muzzle up along the shaft before gradually lowering back down, keeping his lips fastened tight around the doctor's impressive manhood. His velveteen mane brushed over Stun's thighs and belly, stealing a sharp moan from the doctor. Stun had never experienced anything like this before in his whole life. The way Gado so expertly handled his cock sent a spike of lust into Stun's heart, the incredible suction and cloying throat hugging his length impossible to describe. He closed his eyes and moaned louder, his quivering voice seeming to spur Gado on even more, tongue coiling faster in response.

Soon, Gado had a steady rhythm of bobbing his head while swirling tongue along sensitive shaft, and he shifted his body to kneel over Stun's legs and resting his big hands on the hard-plated thighs of the doctor's lap. Once, Stun hypothesized that having an exoskeleton dulled his sense of touch, even in his intimate regions, but as Gado worked his magic, knew he couldn't be more wrong. It actually seemed heightened instead, each wisp of hair from of Gado's mane sending little tingling sparks of pleasure through Stun's body. Did sexual simuli increase the sensitivity, or had he always been that way and he never noticed before? Stun's scientific brain started to kick into gear, but shut his musings down before they could steamroll ahead. He wasn't going to miss out on any of this by retreating into his mind. Tonight, he was going to feel everything.

Stun kneaded his fingers through the soft mane of Gado's scalp, carefully rubbing the pleasure-giving feline's cute, round ears. Everything about Gado's fur was so soft. Just touching it made his imagination drift into a hazy, sweet fog. How would it feel when all that downy fur-covered muscle laid over him, big strong arms all around, unequaled lion cock driven inside him like a spear... Stun mandibles flicked open and shut with a clack. His was getting ahead of himself. Lions could mate several times a day, but the doctor was unsure if the same applied to insects. He had one shot at a perfect climax, and he vowed to strive for it as if his life depended on it.

Gado released Stun's member from his muzzle for a moment, then moved his large frame off the the cushions to kneel next to sofa on the carpeted floor. Stun followed the lion's lead, sitting up himself and swinging his legs over the front of the sofa to plant his feet flat to the floor. Gado scooted between Stun's exoskeleton-clad legs and parted them, his enormous paw-hands entirely coving the doctor's plated kneecaps. He rubbed the area reassuringly, then dipped his muzzle back into Stun's lap as soon as he got comfortable. Now Stun had a front row seat to watch Gado's leonine muzzle gliding down his hard cock, violet flesh effortlessly passing through the lion's shiny ebony lips and into the welcoming, suckling maw. The lewd scene turned Stun on to a new degree, and his hands went right back to where they were before, buried in the lion's mane, but this time he spread his fingers over the broad skull and gently pulled the massive head onto him. Gado rumbled in approval, proficient feline mouth loudly slurping faster, plunging the head of the insect-man's cock directly down his throat to be squeezed by undulating throat muscles vibrating with the lion's thunderous purr. Gado's furred chin tapped against Stun's smooth ballsac, now damp with spittle, and the lust-racked Stun emitted a raspy moan each time the two made contact.

Violet hips began to move in time with Gado's ducking head, slowly rolling up into the nursing, doting muzzle, chitin-clad hands more firmly, yet still carefully, tugging Gado down onto his cock, thumbs rubbing over the rounded, swiveling ears once more. Gado hummed approvingly, sending more tremors down the doctor's pulsing member, and washed his tongue more obscenely over the shaft, occasionally slicking his tongue out from underneath to taste the smooth pouch below.

Then, in a single deft act, the teasing muscle curled under the insect-man's balls, hefted them up, and fed them into the lion's muzzle, lips sealing around Stun's entire package at the root. The doctor's resulting gasp was loud and shocked, his whole body going rigid and hands fisting rusty-colored mane fur. He practically yanked Gado's head down, holding the lion-man's muzzle flush to his groin. But Gado, ever the professional, went with the flow, and ensured the doctor's cock quickly became slick and engorged in the vise-like chamber of his mouth, tongue nimbly adoring every inch of lavender and pine-green flesh. Furred paws spread the bug-man's thighs further apart to better fit his massive head between, and Gado's tongue twirled and swept between the stone-smooth balls held captive in his maw, heavy and full to the brim with boiling seed. The evergreen-skinned spheres were rolled and turned over lovingly as Gado kissed the man's lavender hide, sucking while slightly tugging back to mimic a blowjob, just with all of Stun's goods instead of just the shaft.

Stun groaned and squirmed under the lion's care, head falling back over the sofa and eyes squeezing shut tightly, hips humping forward on their own accord. The passion-stricken doctor knew he had to slow down, but he couldn't help himself. His body was on autopilot at this point, the primal parts of his brain demanding he release his seed onto that busy, bristly tongue. He had to, he needed to… No. No, he would not lose control. There was so much more he wanted to experience. But if the lion didn't stop soon—

Suddenly, Gado let the pulsing purple staff and saliva-shined balls free of his muzzle, giving the cock a long, wet lick in farewell. The doctor sighed in relief and his gauntlet-like hands languidly fell away from the thick auburn mane, eyes half-lidded with passion as watched his partner rise to his feet. Gado wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then grinned amorously at the doctor, fangs bared proudly.

"How was that?" the lion asked in his deep baritone voice. Stun weakly nodded. He then took sight of Gado's own manhood, fully erect and throbbing in anticipation, eagerly yearning for what awaited.

"My turn?" the bug-man asked breathlessly, amber eyes locked onto the lion's magnificent cock.

"No, doctor. I think it's time to step things up," he purred at the sitting insect-man with a lust-ladened voice. Slowly, Gado reached down and took the doctor's hands in his own, and with a a gentle tug of his powerful arms, pulled Stun to his feet. In an instant, Gado crouched, and before Stun even had the chance to wonder what he was doing, the big cat wrapped an arm around the doctor's middle and hauled the very surprised Stun over his shoulder, stealing a sharp grunt of surprise from the lavender insect. Gado secured the insectoid man's legs in a tight hug and calmly proceeded to climb the stairs up to the bedroom, the shocked bug-man simply dangling along for the ride.

It was a surreal feeling being tossed about like a sack of potatoes and forced into a near upside down state. But on the plus side, Stun got an bird's eye view of the lion's powerful thighs and immaculate backside at work. The way those muscles flexed below that swaying leonine tail was almost hypnotic. Stun couldn't help but think that Jenny had seen this particular view plenty of times before, going through the exact same thing ritual as he was now, and he quietly laughed at how truly playful the big lion could be. Stun allowed himself be carried caveman-style all the way to the master bedroom, slung over the tawny furred shoulder as if he weighed nothing more than a wet towel.

"Sure you want to do this in your own bedroom?" Stun asked the back of Gado's mane.

"Yep," Gado replied, "A lion's den is where the magic happens, you know."

"Ooh, I see." Stun said with a mischievous undertone. He grinned devilishly, and noticing Gado's tail wagging below, reached down to grab it at the base. He gave the elegant thing a stroke and a squeeze, getting a great rumble out of the big cat, who quickly went from a lazy stride to hurried trot, his mane and erection bouncing with each step. Gado hurriedly opened the bedroom door and stepped inside, Stun glancing back and forth to check out his new surroundings.

But Gado wasn't keen to let insect-man to enjoy the scenery. Gado went to the foot of the bed, promptly bent over, and promptly deposited Stun onto the sheets. The doctor took a deep breath as he hit the mattress. They smelled like Gado, musky but clean at the same time, like expensive aftershave. The scent made Stun's heart thump, and he slowly sat up. No longer inverted, he could get a better idea of how the room was laid out.

Gado wasn't joking, this certainly had to be his personal bedroom. The area was lit by a few dimmed ceiling lamps, giving the room a nice, cozy atmosphere. Many expensive-looking paintings, some of which the doctor even recognized, lined the walls and antique furniture garnished the room. But the bed he was sitting on, it was massive! Way beyond a king-size, apt for a giant lion-man like Gado, and looked unmade from the last time it was slept in. A large floor-to-ceiling mirror with a clear view of the bed seemed to be the major decoration of the space. Stun wondered why Gado needed such a thing, surely it was for more than fixing his sideburns.

A rustling nearby caught Stun's attention, and found the big hunk of a lion digging around inside a drawer to the nightstand beside the bed.

"Still want to do this in your beast form?" Stun asked him. The lion guffawed and tossed what looked like a glasses case over his shoulder.

"Uh huh," he quipped. "In order to tame the beast within another, you need to be a beast yourself. Or something like that." Gado mused, then finding what he'd been looking for, turned to Stun and waggled a bottle of lubricant oil, most likely a full container that looked as small as travel-sized one in his big mitt. He winked with his good eye, mirth clear in his smirk. "Besides, it seems like fun," he stated nonchalantly.

"I like that reasoning," Stun agreed, making Gado's grin widen, sharp teeth glinting in the light. Wasting no time, the lion growled seductively before crawling onto the bed, quickly making his way over to Stun's side. Gado touched his nose to Stun's mandibles, and the plates moved apart on cue. Gado leaned in and pressed his lips to the insect's once again. Plated arms swiftly coiled around the big lion's thick, muscle-bound neck as they kissed passionately, the doctor pulling his lover's furry frame on top of his own. Gado's increasingly heavy purr became like a jet engine, a powerful yet comforting hand brushing over his lover's plated, lavender chest while Stun's segmented fingers roamed through the pelt of Gado's lower back. Their throbbing members lined up alongside to one another, pulsing with their heartbeats and growing need, more than eager to proceed. Gado broke their kiss, still grinning widely as he held up the lube bottle to point playfully at the doctor.

"Ready for this?" he asked, and Stun's uncovered mouth upturned in a thrilled grin.

"Never been more ready," Stun resolutely affirmed. With an excited rumble, Gado rolled off the doctor and crawled in a circle behind the supine man, looping around to the other side, like a predator lording over its prey, and down to the sabaton-like feet. He wedging himself between, urging the violet-hued limbs to separate. Stun spread them on que, bent at the knees, and swallowed the dryness that rapidly formed in his mouth. Carefully, Gado scooted forward on his knees and, after setting the bottle aside for a moment, sat back on his haunches and grasped the doctor's ankles to draped them over his thighs. Stun opted to remain sitting, propped up with his hands behind him. The jitters he was getting were enough to make him want to lay back, but he had to watch. It's not everyday he would witness a giant lion-man prepare him for the ride of his life.

Gado popped the cap on the lube bottle with a thumb claw, and Stun's facial mandibles clapped back onto his face at the sound, getting a chuckle from the lion Zoanthrope. Casually, Gado poured some of the clear, viscous liquid onto a couple fingertips, claws sheathed and secure. Gado scooted up a little more and Stun leaned back farther, relying on his elbows rather than his hands to keep him up. He saw the lion was focusing downward intently, rubbing the tacky fluid between his fingers idly as he examined what was between those lavender legs and below that throbbing ribbed cock.

Stun knew what Gado was seeing. One of the first things the doctor did after he changed was check himself all over, everywhere, to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be. So that particular area he knew pretty well. Covering his gluteus maximus, Stun had pair of soft-looking lilac-colored plates, perfectly curved and more pliant than expected. Their shape reminded him of a beetle's shell, or like a hardhat, protective but somehow still flexible, though the nature of the biological armor made it appear constantly taut. Admittedly, his ass did look pretty nice, if one could even imagine there being a benefit to such a traumatic event.

But that's not what Gado was looking for. The areas between the buttocks and around the perineum, just like his ballsac, were covered the same dark green skin as the kind that resided between the plates all over his body. For some reason, no scales grew there. Whatever happened during that accursed experiment, the biology of the insect deemed these areas to be vital to mobility, so no plates and no friction. Strangely, the texture of the skin in those places was more svelte than anywhere else, smooth like butter. It was actually kind of mind boggling. But in conclusion, if there was any place on Stun's body that still remained mostly human, it was his nether regions, which at this moment, Stun was thankful for.

At least Gado seemed to like what he saw, reaching down with his non-lubed hand to spread and expose his opening. Stun didn't even have time to flinch at the touch, because in the next second, Gado's coated fingertips brushed against the tense pucker. Gado let out a near inaudible Ooh once he made contact. The lion must have agreed with him about how pleasant the area felt. With two finger pads, Gado began kneading lukewarm oil into the satiny flesh, the pair of thick-as-hell fingers gaining more and more ground with each pass. The doctor released a shuddering breath the greased digits nudged insistently against the rapidly loosening ring of muscle. Fuck… Not even with Ursus did he feel like this.

Soon, one of the digits was on the cusp of slipping inside, and Stun abruptly tensed up. But Gado didn't stop, instead placing his free hand upon the good doctor's thigh to give it a comforting stroke.

"Relax," Gado consoled him. "I've got you."

So Stun did just that, the lion's words steeling his nerves like he never expected.

Then the fingertips penetrated him, only a little, but enough to make the insect-man cry out. The digits circled and stretched out the trembling ring until a few more inches were moving in an out of him fluidly. Gado repositioned his hand so the heel of his palm pressed to the green-skinned perineum, balls resting on his wrist. At the this angle, Gado could finger the yielding hole faster and deeper. And that he did, with gusto, sinking past the sphincter and coating the cooling lubricant over searing, clenching inner walls. Stun's cock pulsed and flagged in the air, bobbing with his speedy pulse, and a spurt of precum sprung from the tip, dripping down his shaft and seeping between the purple bands of chitin.

Both fingers embedded in to the knuckle, then swiftly withdrew and drove back in fully. Stun's heart pounded in the cage of his chitin-coated chest, the many twists and turns of the lion's thick, furry fingers sending zaps of euphoria down his spine. The doctor whimpered, spreading his legs as wide he could, and Gado took this as a sign to pick up the pace. He curled the two digits deep into tight passage, searching until he found that special bundle of nerves hidden within. The millisecond Gado touched area, Stun's entire body constricted and the doctor sat up with a gasp, hands instantly shooting forward to grasp Gado's finger-blasting paw-hand to hold it to the spot.

"There!" Stun demanded huskily. Gado grinned in victory, then began to fingerfuck the insect-man's insides mercilessly, scissoring open the flesh until he was smoothly moving in and out within the pliable tunnel, digits working with such zeal that the bug-man's hips lifted up into his hand, wet schlicking noises drifting up to their ears. The doctor let out a sharp moan and hunched over, forehead thumping softly onto Gado shoulder, every fiber of his being quivering like a guitar string.

"K-Keep doing that…" Stun begged, his free hand wrapping around the lion's massive bicep.

"Oh, I plan to do more than this," Gado told him, and withdrew his fingers completely from Stun's trembling ass, a few thin strands of clear fluid bridging feelers to opening momentarily before they broke apart.

Then the doctor did something unexpected. The insect-man's hands pressed to Gado's broad chest and he shoved the lion onto his back. Gado fell to the mattress with a grunt, and looked up to see the doctor clamber over top of him, knees straddling Gado's sides, barely able to fit the man's massive furred waist between his bent legs. Stun settled into Gado's lap, segmented cock standing proudly like a sword at the ready while his dangling sac nestled into a forest of rusty-colored pubic fur adoring the lion's crotch. The insect-man scooted back, and Gado's tapered feline cock wedged between his lavender ass cheeks, riding up into the silky green area. Gado huffed loudly though his nose and set his hands on the doctor's plated thighs, Stun's sudden display of strength impressing, and more importantly, greatly arousing the leonine Zoanthrope.

At some point during their switch of positions, Stun snatched up the bottle of lube from the bedsheets. He showed Gado the bottle, and just like Gado had done to him, teasingly wiggled it at the prone lion.

"I have an idea," the doctor said mischievously, then popped the cap off the container with a talon and reached back. He drizzled a stream of cool liquid over the two plates protecting the small of his back. The space between acted like like a canal, routing a river of lubricant right to where his ever-firm cheeks met. In a waterfall, the fluid drenched the valley down below, soaking Gado's trapped upright lion cock and coated the loosened hole it kissed shiny and wet.

Gado let out a resounding rumble of a moan, his large paw-like hands going from Stun's thighs to wrap around his armored waist and knees bending to anchor his feet to the mattress. His furred hips began a steady roll, working his cock between the greased purple glutes, glazing the oil over their interlocked middles. Stun gasped sharply, then tossed the empty bottle aside and braced his hands upon Gado's expansive chest, palms possessively spread over the firm muscles with uncharacteristic greed. The insectoid doctor rocked back into Gado's lap to meet the lion's upward pelvic swells, gyrating a lewd dance upon the hot leonine flesh sliding up against his opening, evergreen skin tingling with excitement.

Gado's hands began to roam once again, padded fingers trailing up over Stun's rippled abdomen, admiring how the scales were symmetrically laid out over his belly, watching the verdant skin flex between the sections as the doctor rhythmically swayed against his rod. The lion brushed his thumbs over where Stun's nipples would have been at the edges of his pectorals, lost to his transformation, but the bug-man still shivered regardless. The lion dragged his splayed paws back down the permanently hard front to the man's hips, claws barely exposed to tease the lavender plating, and his thumbs ghosted over the outline of the exoskeleton-protected “V" the pubic bones made on the front of the doctor's pelvis. Stun shuddered fiercely at that, and Gado quietly chuckled, successful in finding yet another erogenous zone on his companion's complex yet captivating body.

Suddenly, Stun lifted his hips and reached behind himself. He delicately took the lion's dribbling shaft in hand and lined it up his hungering hole. Then, with a downward glance of determination to his feline lover, he sat back, and the head of Gado cock sunk inside him with a muted, slick squelch. Even with all the preparation, it was still a squeeze, but Stun didn't care. Nothing was going to stop him from going all the way. Gado grunted, trying his best to keep his hips from thrusting up into the delectable heat of the doctor's tight passageway, spine arching low and teeth bared in a strained grimace. Slowly, proud leonine cock spread the insect-man open, further and further down, Stun feeling each and every one of those delicious nubs on the shaft slipping inside him, until finally he was fulled seated in the lion's lap. Stun released a heavy sigh of relief, hips shifting into a comfortable state while his insides adjusted to the new, yet still vaguely familiar, feeling of having a hard throbbing cock inside him.

"Feel good?" Gado asked, voice gravelly and thick, breathless from the incredible heat and cloying tightness surrounding his dick.

"Wonderful…" the doctor murmured, head reclined and amber eyes blissfully half-lidded.

"We're just getting warmed up," Gado said, then jerked his pelvis up, lifting the doctor's body with the motion. Stun's gasp caught in his throat, and in the next moment, a tidal wave of pleasure crashed over him, a long drawn out moan following suit. He leaned back, and Gado rolled his hips once more, sinking his maleness inside the moaning insect-man embedded in his lap. Gado managed to pull back about an inch of shaft from the vice-like grip of Stun's passage before quickly jamming it back in, a little more of his cock escaping each time that perfectly sculpted, exoskeleton-clad ass clapped into his lap. Stun's arms looped around Gado's bent knees, clawed hands gripping onto the fur of his thighs as he leaned back farther, riding out the rapturous assault bombarding his senses. He pushed himself down onto Gado's calculated thrusts, segmented cock leaping with his racing pulse and leaking a steady flow of clear precum onto Gado's roiling abs.

The naturally sweet smell of the insect's lust enveloped them, and the doctor was swiftly reduced to a jostling, moaning mess. The lion's hard flesh filled him to the limit, like a living dagger into its scabbard, over and over. The tiny buds on Gado's cock massaged his insides and trembling ring each time the shaft crammed through the gates, almost all of his kingly shaft freed to withdraw before immediately ramming back into Stun's rippling innards. The lion's giant paws moved from Stun's thighs to his backside, clamping over the hard curves of his ass. He squeezed, and felt them give a little under his fingers, like incredibly taut muscle instead of impenetrable exoskeleton. The doctor's moan cut through the air, mandibles creaking apart, and Gado grinned triumphantly. He kneaded the cheeks wantonly, hands encircling the violet glutes and holding the doctor tight, manipulating his incredibly dense body as if he weighed no more than a feather, then began to fuck the insect-man like a desire-driven beast.

The doctor bounded in Gado's lap as the lion's cock invaded him over and over again, his impossibly rigid ribbed cock slapping against his lower belly and smooth balls thumping into thick, fiery pubic fur with every downward drop of his hips. They moved together in sync, like waves on the ocean, dripping lion cock encased in Stun's scorching gut. A low moan passed through the gap in Stun's mandibles, prostate nicked over and over by the massive shaft fucking him, jolts of pure passion ravaging his lust-addled brain.

"You look incredible, doctor…" Gado moaned fervently, and when Stun managed to unscrew his eyes to look at his lover, he found the lion's regal face turned aside, starting ahead with jaws parted in awe. Stun followed his line of sight, and within the floor-to-ceiling mirror, saw the reflection of their conjoined, writhing bodies.

Gado's ruggedly handsome lion form, easily double Stun's own size, under him, fucking him with all he had, every bronze-pelted muscle pumping and undulating as the insect-man bounced up and down in his lap, fur damp with sweat. And Stun himself, near insane with lust, grappling onto Gado's bent knees for dear life. He indeed looked incredible, riding this massive, bucking animal beneath him like a roller coaster, glimmering lavender exoskeleton shining with the low light of the room, knightly shape elegant in motion. He could even see the lion's heavy balls lurching upward and smacking into the curved globe of his ass, clasped greedily in giant paw-like mitts.

Stun's arm went weak, and he fell back limply, letting out a ragged moan all the way down. His bent knees folded until they could go no further, and lower legs swung out to relieve the pressure, feet coming to rest astride Gado's waist. He crashed onto the bedding between the the lion's gargantuan legs, and even while lying supinely on his back, he still impulsively ground his pelvis down onto Gado's fantastic cock, clawed hands sinking clean through the sheets and into the mattress below, burrowing in deep.

"Oh, god! Gado! I'm—!" the insect-man almost screamed. Then Stun made a noise, one he'd never heard himself make before. It was like a rattling hum, akin to Gado's purr but but more resonating, his moans mixing with the reverberating sounds into a strange yet impassioned cacophony— a mating call to celebrate their union.

Gado drank in the doctor's sounds like the finest nectar, fueling the pressure rapidly building up in his loins. Then a raging fire ignited within his chest, and a curtain of red haze enshrouded his vision. The hulking lion growled ferociously, ebony lips curled into a savage snarl, and he drove himself into Stun at a feverish pace, hips pounding the violet rear so hard the bed shook with his thrusts. The lion's tail, once laid out lazily between his legs and behind the doctor, wriggled free to curl around a chitin-plated forearm, thick tuft on the end swaying like a cobra to a snake charmer's song. Gado hands clamped around Stun's ankles like a set of manacles, and fought hard to prevent his claws from digging into the twitching limbs.

The doctor cried out in pure ecstasy, mandibles opening more and more until they were fully extended, the lion meeting the insect-man's brays with guttural bellowing roars of his own as orgasm encroached upon both of them. Stun, for his part, was just along for the ride at this point, sluggish and overwhelmed, letting the lion use his body like a sleeve. His cock didn't even need to be touched at this point, simply the humid air of the room wafting over his erection enough to make it throb and loose a bolt of clear essence onto his hardened belly, sinking into the network of channels between his ab plates.

Stun could feel the moisture building under his armored rear, damp with both sweat and precum seeping from his hole, coating the lion's tan-furred balls and around the thick base of the amazing cock plowing into him. Friction of pelt on exoskeleton faded with the added wetness, and Stun was able to take even more feline cock inside him, lavender-hued ass near seamless against the lion's pelvis as it plapping audibly into his hairy lap. He was so, so close…

Then one final time, Gado's back arched, and he rammed to the hilt inside the insect doctor's passageway. The tremendous ROAR he released shook the walls, hands around Stun's ankles in an iron grip to keep the insect-man from being thrown off him from the magnitude of his climax. His cock pulsed, and a river of lion cum poured into the clenching canal, flooding the fleshy walls up so fast it literally burst from around the shaft drilled into Stun's hole, spurting out to soak sandy-furred groin and balls with sticky white essence. It just kept coming and coming with nowhere else for it to go…

Splap-splap-splap! Lion jism seeped between exoskeleton-clad ass and cum-drenched furred pelvis, squishing so lewdly it made the doctor's head rush. Stun could take no more. He peaked, and let out a strangled ear-splitting scream so loud Stun thought the angels in heaven could hear him. His rigid member thumped in time with the rapid spikes of his explosive heartbeat, and a blast of cum launched from his flaring cocktip, flying clear over his head and landing with a heavy plop on the sheets above him. The next bolt dashed a line of pearly ejaculate across his lilac-colored face, from forehead to chin, between his open mandibles and over his orgasm-contorted features. The gooey seed splashed into his open mouth, still wide in a cry, as the next one hit his chin, then going lower to plaster his chest. Another splattered onto his abdomen and belly, cum oozing down the purple hide to pool between the chitin plates into verdant-skinned channels. Eventually, the spurts reduced to a drooling stream, running down Stun's hip and dripping like icing down the side of a cake onto the lion below.

Stun's body gave out, and he let himself sink into the inviting softness of the bedding below. He closed his mouth, still filled with his own semen, and without so much as a thought, swallowed the thick cum in a single gulp, barely tasting it as it went down. Having deprived his burning lungs of much-needed oxygen for too long, his first deep unobstructed breath felt as refreshing as a spring breeze, and a wave of coolness settled over him, calming and vibrant. A second later, Gado slumped down to the bed with a massive grunt of relief, the lethargic Stun still impaled on his cock.

The two Zoanthropes lay there for what felt like forever, listlessly lounging in afterglow, emotionally serene as the calm surface of a lake. Other than their ragged, puffing breaths, nothing was said, then Stun began to stir. The bug-man shifted, lifting his pelvis up, and Gado's softening cock slid free, steaming cum flowing out in a steady deluge. With a weak push of his legs, he removed himself from Gado's lap with a weak groan, crawling backwards until his tender rear came to rest between the lion's burly thighs, their legs criss-crossed over one another. And there they stayed, until one of them caught their breath first.

"Wow…" Gado said at last, voice dry and thirsty, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of his paw-hand. "Sex in beast-mode is amazing."

Stun didn't reply, too fucked into a stupor to bother, drained so thoroughly that he could barely keep his eyes open, mandibles partially closed over his face. His mind was obliterated, scattered and adrift, but after a few moments, his senses came back to him and he found the will to speak again.

"S-Sorry… 'bout the bed…" Stun uttered. Gado sat up, and noticed the gouges punched clean through the mattress under Stun's taloned hands. He could even see the springs inside, the insectile claws having scooped out the material as if it were wet sand.

"Don't worry about it. You'd be surprised how many beds we go through." Gado chuckled, shaking out his mane fluff to wick away any moisture.

"Okay," Stun said, exhausted. He craned his head up to watch the big lion-man shuffle off the end of the bed and stretch, crackling his thick neck with a satisfied grunt. The sight brought a small smile to the corner of Stun's lips. Gado: the king of the jungle and the bedroom, he thought quaintly. Stun considered joining him and getting up as well, but he was just too wiped and the bed was just to comfortable. He hadn't felt this good in ages, all warm and snug, every extremity tingling pleasantly. He let his head fall back with a thump. God, he was tired.

"Thank you, Gado..." Stun murmured.

"It was my pleasure, doctor. Normally, I'd ask if you want to go again, but I'm not sure you can handle much more tonight, right…?" There was no reply. "Steven?"

Gado brushed the mane hair from his eyes and looked at the insect sprawled out on the bed, a hint of worry on his feline face. Stun's eyes were closed peacefully, his chest rising and falling steadily with slow breaths, already fast asleep. Down for the count. Gado huffed an amused laugh through his nose. He supposed he went a little hard on his half-human friend, but the good doctor must have really needed it. All that months-long built up stress released all at once practically knocked the poor guy out cold. Not to mention he came like a fire hose. Gado's eye wanderer over the dozens of thin white stripes painting the exoskeletonized chest and belly. The man looked like a lilac strudel.

"Guess that answers my question," Gado whispered as to not rouse the doctor from his rest. "Goodnight, Steven."

Seeing the insectoid man sleeping so soundly made Gado want to take a nap himself, and he lazily let out a enormous king-sized cat-yawn. He smacked his lips, idly scratching his chest with a large furry paw, then glanced at the headboard of the bed. There he saw a crumpled blanket from the night before. Perfect. He deftly scooped it up and draped it over Stun's snoozing form with a caring smile.

Satisfied his friend wouldn't catch a chill, Gado stepped back, then looked down his at his waist. He was a mess. Again. Not that he minded, but having semen mixed into his fur was a new experience he was fairly sure he didn't enjoy very much. He needed a shower, asap. If Jenny saw him like this, she would absolutely lose her mind. In a good way, of course. She'd be so upset she missed out on the fun. Speaking of Jenny, what time was it?

Gado glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. It was 9:17... She was out pretty late tonight. Probably nothing to worry about. Jenny knew how to handle herself. He thought maybe he should call her, but then he remembered he had left his cell phone downstairs. And as much as wanted to, due to his current state, he knew going back to the kitchen wasn't the best idea. Nothing worse than having those particular stains on the carpet, as he once regrettably found out. Gado shrugged and lashed his tail. No reason he couldn't sneak in a quick ten-minute shower, and Stun certainly wasn't going anywhere. Also, his power was waning. Already, he could feel his hands and feet shifting back to normal. He had to hurry. He didn't want to know what the congealing mess on his belly would do once it no longer had fur to stick to.

Still (mostly) in beast form, Gado quickly and quietly trotted out of the room, gently closing the door behind him.

A blaze crackled in the fireplace as a human Gado stared into the flames, swirling the red wine in his glass, calmly bringing its rim up to his nose to smell its aged scent before taking a sip. He sighed loudly, relaxing completely into the couch, hair still wet and combed back. Fitting for his suave appearance. He wore his blue evening robe, tied at the waist, his legs crossed leisurely over the ottoman.

He succeeded in showering quickly, then checked on Stun, finding him still asleep and that he hadn't slipped out unannounced. Then the sound of a footsteps coming down the stairs echoed in the living room.

"Already…?" Gado quietly said to himself, glancing at the grandfather clock next to the doorway. It was only 10:00 pm. Why was the doctor up after such a short rest?

Stun walked into the living room, wearing the new outfit Gado have given him: the customized leather top with the fasteners along the chest and the slacks with the knees cut out with thick leather chaps sewn over them. They were a prototype ensemble gifted in thanks by a previous Zoanthrope survivor and inspiring fashion designer who Gado had aided in the past. It was… interesting, but Gado would never wear it, not really his style, but was glad he kept it. Stun did look pretty fetching in it.

Gado smiled warmly, tipping his glass in greeting. "You look absolutely stunning, Stun," he chuckled at his play on words. "Rest well?"

Stun nodded back "Thank you, Gado. And yes I did."

"You sure you don't want to spend the whole night? Jenny and I would gladly let you take the guest bedroom. Can I get you a drink, by the way?" Gado offered, and Stun waved a violet hand in protest.

"No, but thanks. I don't need much sleep, anyway. I guess it's the insect in me."

"I didn't hear the shower running. You didn't need to clean up?" Gado asked incredulously, setting his glass on a small coffee table next to the sofa, and Stun shook his head.

"I did but only for a minute. My exoskeleton doesn't absorb liquids. Most of it just shed right off after it dried. But I wouldn't recommend sleeping in your bed until you change… everything, though. We made quite a mess," Stun's mandibles fluttered in amusement and Gado replied with a laugh. They sure did, didn't they.

"How do you feel?" he asked the insect-man, who smiled back, and although it was hidden behind his face plate, Gado could feel its presence.

"Better... Much better. This all still feels like a fever dream," Stun said, walking past Gado and over to the large windows on the other side of the room, silently gazing at the vibrant lights of the city skyline. "It's beautiful," he whispered.

"Yes," Gado concurred, rising from his seat and strolling up to Stun's side, enjoying the city's glow with him. "This is the main reason why we stay here, Jenny and I. The view is just magnificent. I love watching the sun set over the buildings in the evening. It takes my breath away every time."

Stun nodded solemnly, his eyes drooping slightly. "It's amazing the things I took for granted, before all this... Sometimes, I feel lost without them."

Gado gave his friend an sympathetic look, placing a hand on the doctor's leather-clad shoulder. "You will have those things back again someday, my friend," he told the man comfortingly. "You just need to stay strong,"

Stun glanced at the hand on his shoulder wordlessly, and then placed his own lavender, exoskeleton plated hand over it, gently grasping it in solidarity. He turned to Gado, a mix of sadness, relief, and gratitude.

"Thank you, Alan. For all you've done. But I must depart soon. I'm sure Jenny will be back any minute and I should return to the warehouse. I have some thinking to do," Stun told his friend regrettably, and Gado nodded with an understanding smile.

"Anytime, Steven. Don't be afraid to come back if you ever need a place to stay or a someone to talk to. You are always welcome here," he chuckled warmly, then gave the bug-man a wanton smirk. "And I know I wouldn't mind an encore of what we did tonight."

Stun looked away bashfully, and if he still could, his cheeks would have flushed a deep red. It made his heart swell to see that such kindness still existed in the world. He nodded, knowing he wasn't on his own anymore.

Gado returned to the sofa and collected a clean set of cotton shirts and sweat pants laying on the armrest, then returned and offered them the Stun, who took them graciously. The doctor tucked the clothing under his arm, and after a moment of silent goodbyes, headed together toward the front door. Gado opened it for him, and Stun was just about to step into the hallway when—

"Oh, wait! I almost forgot," Gado said suddenly, remembering something vital. He quickly jogged back into the kitchen.

"What is it, Alan? I can't stay out in the hallway too long, someone could see me and call the police," Stun called to him as quietly as possible, holding the heavy door open by the knob.

"Found it!" Gado shouted back, trotting to the doorway with something in his hand. He slowed to a halt, holding out a small item out to the doctor

"I thought you might want this," Gado said. It was a roll of bandaging tape, like the kind Stun wrapped himself up with. Stun give the roll of tape a blank stare for a few moments, then smiled sincerely with his amber eyes.

"No, thank you," Stun told him, voice overflowing with dignity. "I don't need it anymore."

Gado's surprise was momentary, quickly replaced by a beaming smile. The blond man nodded proudly.

_Finally... He's learning. _

Stun made a curt bow of farewell to his friend, then stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him. Gado chuckled, looking at the small tape roll in his hand, then playfully flipped the thing up in the air like a coin and caught on the return, his smile widening. He locked the door, heading back to the sofa. He took his seat with a satisfied sigh, scooping up his wineglass and downing the rest in a single swig.

What a night...

Stun quietly walked past elaborately decorated walls and posh carpeted flooring as he made his way to the double elevators at the end of the hall, reflecting on the events of the evening, unable to shake the goofy smile he wore behind his mandibles. Gado was such a kind soul, and Jenny was one lucky woman. Lord knew, if he ever gained a relationship like those two had, life wouldn't be such a hardship... with time, maybe that would become a reality.

Stun pressed the elevator call button, leaning against the wall alongside the polished, steel elevator doors. He always thought that old saying about how beauty comes from within he was romantic nonsense. But now he knew it to be true, and sometimes, it can only be seen by those who understand you, and care for you with all their heart. It was a simple thing, but simply to be understood, what more a person ask for? Sure, not everyone was like Gado or Jenny, but the fact there people like them out there in the world brought great comfort to his soul.

The doors opened, a loud ding announcing the arrival of the empty elevator. Stun pushed off the wall lazily, calmly stepping inside the wide elevator with a heavy sigh.

"What a day..."

Then the doors closed, and Stun began his descent.

Ding!

The doors to the second elevator opened, and Jenny strode out with a confident gait, a crafty little grin on her face. She unlocked the front door to her apartment and found her boyfriend lounging on the sofa, casually pouring himself another glass of wine.

"Hey, baby," She cooed to her lover. Gado looked up in surprise, and smiled pleasantly.

"Welcome home," he greeted her, the lanky blue-dressed femme fatale trotting gleefully over to her lover and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I had the most unbelievable day, love," she told him with a giggle.

"Well, I guess it's contagious," he replied with a sly smirk.

"Oh?" Jenny's delighted expression shifted into a playfully quizzical one. "So you didn't just lie around the house all day? Did you give my letter to Long?" she asked with a bit of good humor.

"I sure did, my beautiful little creature of the night. I got a very interesting surprise when I arrived."

Jenny smiled and pressed her lean body firmly against her boyfriend's blue robe. "Oh, do tell," she cooed.

"I will. But for now, I'd like to jump into bed... in the guest bedroom." he winked at her, making her laugh and give him a nice squeeze.

"Oh my, did the tiger turn? How scandalous! I know how you like that mirror," she teased. "You must tell me all about it."

"Honey, I will tell you every single detail in the morning. But Jenny?" he asked her with a hint of curiosity.

"Yes, love?"

"Can we try something... special tonight?"

Chapter 2

~Fin~