Melody was officially hiding from the world. But that’s what Little-space was for, right? Modern problems require modern solutions, and all that. They wondered if there was a diaper-girl version of that meme. Probably not. Not a ton of memes for ABDL stuff in general. Maybe that’s something Melody could fix.
Elden Ring was the perfect thing for a long escape. A brand new run to sink hours into. With no work for a whole break, Melody realized they might be able to try to do a complete clear of the game. They were too far behind the rest of the community to do speed runs, but the game was so huge that almost nobody had hundred-percented it.
Briana was back from her outing in time to watch the Godrick fight. When he grafted a dragon head to his arm, she declared it too scary. Melody gave their sister some good natured ribbing as she retreated to the living room to play on the Switch. It was okay to have a filthy casual for a sister, Melody supposed. It was great to have a sister, whoever she wanted to be.
As Melody worked their way towards the next boss, distracting notifications kept popping up. Someone was blowing up their PlayStation Plus messages. Finally, when the distractions got their character killed, Melody teleported back to a safe spot and opened them up.
They were all from Beatrix. Frantic messages begging Melody to respond to her. Asking if Melody was okay. Nervously, Melody sent a quick reply that they were okay. Almost instantly Beatrix replied: i’m going to call u
Like a boomer? Melody wondered.
It took Melody a moment to find their phone. It had a billion notifications too. Before they could check to see if there was anything more substantial in the text messages, the phone lit up with an incoming call. Beatrix.
Melody ran their thumb over the phone to accept the call. “Bea?”
“Melly!” Beatrix said. She sounded upset. “What’s been going on? You aren’t on discord or anywhere online. I had to track you down on the fucking PlayStation.”
“I’ve uh – been having a hard time. I’m sorry Bea, I just haven’t been up for talking to people.” Melody said.
“You didn’t think that I’m having a rough time, did you?” Beatrix said. “You were so freaked out when you came out as gay. Now I’m doing it, and I’m just supposed to be okay without any support?”
Melody’s gut churned with guilt. “Oh shit, Bea, I’m really sorry.”
“You should be. Or instead of being sorry you could be something useful, like here with me.” Beatrix said.
“I – I’m not supposed to. I got in trouble with Veronica…” Melody stammered.
“Melly, what the hell? This thing Veronica does is so fucked up! You’re really going to let her turn you into a baby? Like Briana?”
“Don’t bring her into this. You – don’t get to talk about her. Ever.” Melody said with force that surprised themself. From the pause on the other end of the line, it surprised Beatrix too.
“Okay, fine, fine. I’m just worried about you! It’s not normal to be a baby. It’s not normal to abandon your friends when they’re having a hard time. It’s not okay to avoid – your girlfriend.”
Melody’s heart thumped hard in their chest. “You – you really want to be my girlfriend?”
“You keep getting me off, I get turned on when I think about you, you’ve been in my life forever, what the hell else do we call it?” Beatrix asked.
Typical Beatrix. Melody sighed. Avoiding all her emotions. A girlfriend with no emotions wasn’t going to work out.
“Bea, that’s just sex. I – damnit, I love you. I have for a long time. Ever since you saved me from my stepdad. I can’t be the only one that has feels, if we’re going to actually date.”
“I need you.” Beatrix said. Her voice was raw, free of all the usual control and careful tone.
“You need me?” Melody asked, their voice cracking.
“Yes, stupid.” Beatrix said in a shaky voice. “Is that what you wanted to hear? That it hurts when I can’t see you? Does it feel good to know that I’ve been thinking about you like ten times a day?”
It felt really good to hear that, actually. It felt amazing. Melody’s heart thumped again. “The part about you needing me feels good, yeah. You hurting doesn’t feel good, of course.”
“Ugh, this is retarded!” Beatrix cried. “Emotions are stupid. Relationships are bullshit! Why can’t it be like before, but better? We used to hang out all the time. You were always with me. It could be like that again, except you could be mine all the way. My Melly. My girlfriend.”
Melody swallowed hard. It sucked a little to be called a girlfriend. That irritation was crashing hard up against Beatrix’s acknowledgement of their relationship.
“That sounds like something I’ve wanted forever.” Melody said. “Except now uh – I don’t really use female pronouns.”
“Oh come ON.” Beatrix sighed. “We used to laugh about woke bullshit like that. What happened to my Melly? That house fucked you up.”
Melody sighed too. Why did this have to be so hard? Why was everything about themself a fight with Beatrix? She’d come around eventually. It was incredible how much ground she’d given up to Melody already in this one conversation. They just had to give her some time. It hadn’t been that long since they’d been railing against ‘woke’ stuff before Veronica called them on it.
“There’s a lot of good stuff here.” Melody said. “You didn’t want me to live with you, remember?”
“Oh come on, that’s because I only had one room left, and Gurpreet offered to pay almost half the rent on her own.” Beatrix made a frustrated growl. “That was my fuckup, okay? I should have booted Mikhail for you. I – I’m sorry.”
An apology? From Beatrix? Any minute now Jesus was going to come down from the sky and tell everyone to get out of the pool.
“If I’m with you, can you be cool about me being a different person than I was at Boston College?” Melody asked.
“Let me ask you this, Melly. What the fuck are you wearing right now?”
Melody looked down. They sighed. “A one-piece pajama.”
“And a diaper?”
“And a diaper.”
“That’s who you want to be?” Beatrix snapped her fingers near the phone’s mic. “Don’t expect me to go all AOC overnight, okay? If you want to do some kind of Enby pro-gamer or programmer thing, that’s cool. Do it. You look good in button ups. Hot actually. Just don’t be a baby. What a fucking waste.”
It didn’t feel like a waste. It felt good, safe to be little. Or at least, it did when Melody was little. When they weren’t little, like this moment, there was still some worry. Part of them couldn’t help but agree with Beatrix. What would people say if they saw Melody like this?
“I guess I could get changed and meet you somewhere.” Melody said cautiously.
“Come to my house, Melly, for real. Just come here. Stay with me.”
“Overnight?” Melody asked.
“I want you here all the time. There’s room. Just – come to me.” Beatrix hesitated for a long time, finally adding. “Please.”
“I can’t just – Bea I have a lease and everything.”
Not to mention the actual family they had at the house. That wasn’t something they could imagine explaining to Beatrix yet though. Not for a while. Ironically, or to be more honest, sadly, they could easily imagine explaining it to Rosa.
“So break it. Or pay rent there until it’s done, and then you can get on the lease here. Just be my girl. Enby, whatever. Melly, I need you. Come over. Tonight.”
Melody’s hands and lips were trembling. She was making an effort. It was such a huge thing for Beatrix to do that.
“I can come for tonight at least.”
“That’s my Melly.” Beatrix said in relief. “When can you get here?”
“I have to change and stuff.” Melody said.
“Yeah, yeah. So get all that baby crap off, shower, dress, and drive here. That’s like – twenty five minutes.”
“Uh – it might take a little more…”
“See you in thirty minutes. Please Melly. I need you.”
“Okay.” Melody said. “I’m on my way.”
Beatrix blew a kiss over the phone and hung up. Melody stared at their phone. What was even happening? Nothing about this felt comfortable. They weren’t excited like they had been to stay at Rosa’s. It’s not like there wasn’t any excitement at all though. It was a long-sidelined dream come true, in a lot of ways. Plus who else did Melody have, when it came to romance? They weren’t likely to find another super tolerant girl like Rosa who would be cool with their diapers.
The tipping point was Bea needing them. They’d needed her, and she’d delivered. More than once. There was a lot of fucked up stuff that had happened between them since then. A lot of things that had to be talked about. Right now though, they had to be there for her. Or what kind of person were they, anyway?
Melody stripped naked and went straight to the shower. Not like people hadn’t seen them naked in the house plenty. Briana called across the living room, asking if they were okay. Melody pretended they hadn’t heard.
They even managed to get back to their room before Briana could confront them. Melody was in their best jeans and picking a shirt when their sister opened the bedroom door and let herself in.
“Melody, what’s going on? Are you going somewhere?” Briana asked, with obvious worry in her tone.
“I’m staying at Bea’s tonight.” Melody said, as firmly as they could manage.
“Sib no!” Briana said in alarm.
“She needs me.” Melody said. “I have to go.”
“She’s a liar!” Briana said. “A really scary one. How can you believe her? Please, please don’t go.”
“I’m sorry sis, I gotta.” Melody said, grabbing their wallet and stuffing some clothes in their backpack.
“I’m telling mom!” Briana shouted. When Melody didn’t react, she sprinted out of the room in a panic.
Melody made it to the door before Veronica called their name from the top of the stairs.
“Melody! Do NOT leave without talking to me.”
The doorknob was so tempting. Melody’s shoulders slumped. They turned away from the door to face Veronica. They didn’t have to wait long, she hurried down the stairs and was at the door in no time.
“Briana says you’re going to spend the night with Beatrix. That is a terrible idea.”
“She needs me.” Melody said softly. “I have to go.”
“Do you still consider me your mother?” Veronica asked.
“Yes.” Melody said, biting their lip.
“What will you do if I forbid you to go?” Veronica put her hands on her hips.
“You told me you wouldn’t stop me from seeing Bea by force.” Melody said.
“I also said I’d strongly disagree with you.” Veronica said, pinching her nose. “Briana thinks Beatrix is manipulating you. I agree. Please, don’t go to see her. Talk to her on the phone if you have to, but don’t go to her house.”
Melody shook their head. “I have to go. She was there for me when I needed her.”
“She’s also done terrible things to you.” Veronica said. “Things that should make you re-evaluate your relationship with her.”
“I talked to her on the phone. She was different. I even set some boundaries. It’ll be different this time.” Melody said. They hoped they were right.
“What if she’s not? At least let’s agree to an emergency out, and an end-time for this trip over there.” Veronica said.
“Uh, I guess that’s okay.” Melody said. “What would that be like?”
“After you’ve been over there for two hours, you have to call me from somewhere private. In a bathroom or outside the house.” Veronica said. “Tomorrow morning you have to be back here by ten am at the absolute latest.”
Melody shifted their weight from one foot to the other. It wasn’t a terrible plan. Comforting really, like a safety net.
“Okay, I’ll do it.” Melody said.
Veronica lost a little of her frantic worried look, but only a little. “I still wish you wouldn’t go. It’s not too late to change your mind.”
“Please stay, sib.” Briana said plaintively. “For me?”
Melody winced. “I have to go. I’ll call in a couple of hours.”
“Be safe, Melody.” Veronica said. “Please keep your eyes open. If something feels wrong, listen to yourself. You’re a smart, wonderful kid. I know your history with Beatrix is complicated, but don’t let it blind you.”
“Okay.” Melody nodded and turned to the door.
Before they could open it, Veronica wrapped her arms around them from behind. “What are you going to do? Tell me.”
“Keep my eyes open?” Melody asked.
“Yes. If it feels wrong, LISTEN to that feeling. Promise me.”
“I – I promise, mom.” Melody said softly.
“You can call me any time. Not just at the two hours. Any time of the day or night. I will have my phone with me and it’ll wake me up if I’m asleep.” Veronica said.
“It’s going to be okay.” Melody said.
“I hope so.” Veronica said. “I’m very afraid that it won’t be.”
There wasn’t anything left that they could say. Their will to go was teetering on the edge. It just felt impossible to abandon Beatrix when she was hurting. What if this was the thing that finally helped her be a better person? It made sense that she’d have all kinds of anger and messed up stuff if she’d been gay the whole time and didn’t realize it.
Melody might not be the best at figuring people out, but they didn’t abandon a friend. Not when something like this was happening. Reluctantly, they disengaged from Veronica and slipped out the door. Briana’s little wail as the door closed was like a knife in the heart.
There was no way out of this Kobayashi Maru. Somebody was going to be upset with them. Might as well go for the play that could save somebody. Beatrix was fixable. She just needed refactoring. So much refactoring.
—–
Melody pulled up at Beatrice’s house. Bea’s sleek blue Mazda was the only car in the driveway. That was a good sign. With some actual privacy, they might be able to work things out. As expected, they didn’t have to knock on the door. It was open before they’d set foot on the steps. Melody hoped that Beatrice wasn’t pissed off. Thirty minutes to arrive had been a pipe dream, never mind twenty five. It was a good forty five minutes since they’d hung up the phone.
“Hey Bea…” Was as far as Melody got.
Beatrix yanked Melody into the house, slamming the door. As Melody was bracing for a temper tantrum, Bea’s lips met theirs. The kiss lit a fire in Melody’s belly. It was hungry. Beatrix was kissing them like the world was ending. Pressing against them, like Melody was her air to breathe. When Melody joined in, tangling their tongue with Bea’s, everything went away.
Melody’s phone and backpack were somewhere. They didn’t care. All that mattered was the intensity of the passion they shared. Bumping into pictures, stumbling down the hall, they neared the bedroom. All the while their lips were locked, never coming apart for longer than it took to gasp for air.
Clothes came off fast and rough. Even the brief time it took to fling their shirts away left them whining in need. BOTH of them. Gloriously bare, Beatrix tackled Melody to the bed. Everywhere they touched it was skin to skin. The kisses had somehow escalated. Beatrix’s taste was liquid cocaine. There was a spark running between them like a Tesla coil, roaring and crackling to drown out all other sensations.
It wasn’t going to be a quick romp, a tension-breaker like they’d had in their clandestine encounters on campus. Beatrix had barely touched Melody’s chest, or let them touch hers. They spent an unknowable time writhing together, breathing each other’s breath.
Finally, Beatrix grabbed Melody’s hair, a good fistful of it. It would have hurt at the door, but that was a lifetime ago. The pain was welcome now, it sharpened Melody’s focus on the elegant curves of their girlfriend’s face. Bea was about to put them to work. Unlike their school encounters, Melody was one hundred percent up for it. They were eager to please the elemental sex spirit that had somehow agreed to date them.
Except that wasn’t what happened. Beatrix held Melody’s gaze for a moment, then dipped her head to their neck. Teasing kisses, tantalizing licks, and rough bites alternated from Melody’s jawline to their collarbone.
The ecstatic sensations kept going down. When Bea’s tongue flicked over Melody’s nipple, they tried to reach for her. She pinned their arms to the bed, forcing a desperate moan out of Melody. Beatrix spent a long, hot time on Melody’s breasts, licking, sucking, and kissing. From out of nowhere, the bright sensation of Beatrix’s teeth would reset the whole rollercoaster. Soaked in sweat and moaning like a porno, Melody could hardly believe they had been pushed to the edge of ecstasy on their breasts alone.
Impossibly, Bea’s mouth wandered lower. Melody had hardly touched her yet. It was all out of order, out of the bounds they’d expected. Drowning in a torrent of confusion and pleasure, Melody gave up on thinking and let themself enjoy the ride.
When Beatrix reached their sex, any remaining higher functions went offline. Bea had her tongue curled around Melody’s clit – when had she learned how to do that? She had fingers inside Melody, front and back. Everything was tingling and on fire. All those tingling nerves were being stroked, sucked, licked, or massaged.
Beatrix was unphased by Melody’s first orgasm. Nor did she hold back after the third, or the fifth. She put her unbelievably dexterous tongue and fingers to work on Melody until they were wrung out, gasping, sore-throated from their cries.
Only then did Beatrix give them respite. Melody fought to catch their breath between bouts of tasting themself on Bea’s lips. The break was over before it had properly begun, with Beatrix guiding Melody’s hands and mouth across her body.
They would have done anything for her, even before she’d blown their mind out with pleasure. They worshipped her body, first chest and belly, then deep between her legs. Beatrix was insatiable, thrusting her hips up against Melody’s mouth, then riding their face as she screamed again and again.
Time lost its meaning. There was only their bodies and the mind-bending pleasure they gave each other. They could have been on stage, in a stadium, and Melody wouldn’t have cared. Nothing existed except Beatrix.
At some point, they must have stopped. Melody found themself waking up. Everything was sore. Especially between their legs. But the miracle still held. There was a warm, lithe, unspeakably defiled body cuddled up against them. Melody smiled, nuzzled their girlfriend to wake her.
“Melody.” Beatrix said, lifting her head immediately. She hadn’t been asleep. “You kept up with me, on the first time.”
“I – did?” Melody wasn’t sure about that. Didn’t remember enough details to be sure about anything that had happened.
“You didn’t collapse until I did.” Beatrix’s eyes were wide, dilated, manic. “You’re the one I was looking for. You’re perfect. And now you belong to me.”
Deliberately, Beatrix lowered her mouth to Melody’s shoulder and bit, hard. Melody cried out, all their nerves jangling again. When Bea raised her head again, Melody was surprised there wasn’t blood on her lips.
They stared into those intoxicating, crazy eyes and felt themself drowning again. Melody belonged to Beatrix. Completely. The sheer intensity of the experience, of Beatrix’s gaze, and of her charisma took Melody to a place that felt religious.
“I’m yours.” Melody said, and meant it.
Beatrix shivered along her full body at those words. Melody had seen plenty of people in religious ecstasy at her bio-mom’s crazy churches. They were seeing it again in bed now. Feeling it for themself, as they’d never felt it under a cross.
“We are going to be unstoppable.” Beatrix said. “Do you feel it, Melody? Can you feel what we have?”
Melody felt Beatrix grab her hands, hard. Their fingers laced together. It felt like unlimited potential. Glorious excitement rose in Melody’s chest.
“The world better watch the fuck out.” Melody said.
Beatrix’s face lit up. “Amazing. You do everything right, the first time. I can’t believe I ever called you a fuckup. What a waste of five years.”
Before Melody could answer, Beatrix kissed them again. This one was quick, a punctuation mark. She rose from the bed and stretched. Melody watched her, every neuron they had activating from the power of their disrespectful gaze.
“I’m going to shower.” Beatrix said. “Then you will. We’ll order in something. Then we can figure out what your submission to me is going to be like.”
“My – what?” Melody asked. More brain functions were coming online. There wasn’t regret, exactly, but a lot of the last – however much time felt like it needed evaluating.
“We’re done with the diaper thing, remember?” Beatrix said, hand on her hip. “I offered you slave, pet, or pony. We’ll talk about it over dinner.”
“Uh-buh.” Melody’s brain, so newly booted up, went right back to BSOD.
Bea blew them a kiss and walked naked to the bathroom. That probably meant that roommates weren’t home, Melody hoped. Especially after what they’d just done together. How LOUD it had been. With the door open, even.
Submitting to Beatrix would be hot, as long as it was negotiated and agreed on properly. It sounded like Bea actually wanted to negotiate. All this because they had pushed Bea away a little and set some boundaries with her? Melody wished they’d had the guts to do that ages ago. Wished they’d had a Veronica to force them to set boundaries five years ago when they’d confessed their love to Beatrix.
Veronica! Melody had no idea what time it was. It seemed a little absurd that the sex had gone on for two hours, but they’d napped after. Stumbling to their feet, Melody threw the soggy sheet around their shoulders and made for the door.
They found their phone flung onto one of the couches, with a lot of notifications. They were all from Veronica. It was almost fifteen minutes past the check in time. Melody craned their head down the hall. The shower was roaring away and Beatrix was singing. Badly. She loved her long showers, there would be plenty of time for a call.
Melody pressed the call button and was almost instantly connected to Veronica. “Hi…”
“Melody! Are you alright?”
“Yeah, everything’s good. I’m sorry I missed the call-back time.”
“What happened? Are you sure things are okay?”
“Um – I just lost track of time because uh – we were – you know.”
“Melody. Are you telling me you had sex for over two hours?”
“No – it was probably just an hour, but I fell asleep – anyway everything is good here.”
“Is it? Have you talked to her at all? Or has it been purely physical?”
“It’s been physical, but we’re going to talk during dinner. Her words.”
Melody very deliberately left out the exact topic of the conversation. That was a little too weird to share with Veronica. Even if they were close enough for Melody to call her mom, that just brought talking about sex back into a weird zone. ‘Mom, she wants me to be her pony-girl’ was not a conversation that was going to happen.
“Mel, please listen to me. Talking should have been the first thing that happened. I’m worried that she’s trying to string you along with intense experiences until you do something that puts you in her power again.”
“Can’t you just be happy for me?” Melody said, more bitterly than they’d wanted to. “She told me that I’m the thing she’s been missing. That I’m perfect. That we can take on the world together. She said that to ME.”
“You are amazing and anyone would be lucky to be in a relationship with you, not just Beatrix. I can be happy for you. I even will be, if I stop seeing red flags. I’m still seeing them. That sounds very sweet, but it could be more manipulation.”
“It’s not!” Melody said, their voice cracking. “It’s not manipulation! She means it! She loves me!”
“Melody, please. Oh goddess, please, Mel, my child, listen to me. I’m so afraid for you right now. You are not thinking clearly at all. Beatrix is not helping you look at your relationship clearly. She’s doing the opposite. There’s a chance it’s just new-relationship excitement, but there’s so much danger based on her past behavior, and how she’s treated people the whole time she’s been at ABDU.”
“How do you know how she’s treated people?” Melody asked. The phone rattled against their head with the shaking of their hands. “You’ve never met her.”
“I have had a lot of conversations over the last few weeks with people about Beatrix. Starting after she tricked Briana into letting her into the house. One of my colleagues helped me build a psych profile on her. It’s got a lot of concerning things in it.”
“You – profiled her? Like a criminal? You’re not giving her a chance!” Melody lashed out with a hand, smashing their knuckles into a wall. “It’s not her fault! She didn’t know she was gay! She’s neuro-atypical! Just like me!”
“Melody, please stop shouting. I’m sorry if I upset you. I wanted to know more about the person who forced her way into my home, frightened my daughter, and hurt my child. She is NOT like you. You are so loving, you care about people so much. I don’t see those qualities when people talk about Beatrix.”
“You don’t know anything about her.” Melody was shaking all over now. “I thought – I thought you’d be happy for me. She makes me feel so wanted. It’s finally – she’s finally mine. She can love people. SHE LOVES ME.”
“Mel…”
Veronica’s voice was gone with a quick swipe of Melody’s thumb over the end call button. The phone rang again, immediately. Melody declined the call, and the phone rang again. Opening the phone’s quick-settings, Melody put the phone in airplane mode. It didn’t ring again.
“You say something, lover?” Beatrix called from down the hall.
“No, just checking my phone.” Melody said. “My turn for a shower?”
“All yours. You care what we get for dinner?”
Melody tossed her phone back on the couch and walked down the hall. “Are your roommates gone all night?”
“All night and a couple more days. Some of them won’t be back until the end of the break.” Beatrix said, tracing the bite-mark on Melody’s shoulder. “The house is all ours.”
Melody felt the stress of the conversation with Veronica melt away. It really was going to be perfect. A romantic getaway, just the two of them.
“Order whatever you want. I’ll put myself in your hands.”
“That’s my Melody. My obedient love.”
Melody sighed happily, letting the sheet drop. There was another tingle of joy when Beatrix visibly checked them out. She wanted them. It was real. Finally, completely, gloriously real.
It had to be real.