• Amazing covers made by randomsweetstuff - thank you, self-proclaimed bff, lmao. Bless you •

I had been on the phone most of the next day.

After having comforted Charlie and apologized immensely, I'd promised him that that had been the last dose of that drug he'd ever get. I couldn't even imagine what his head had to feel like now. Every time he tried to think about something, his brain fought against the drug. We were back to square one when I met him in the lab, his replies having slowed down and his apprehension drastically decreased.

I was fuming mad. Hence the reason I had been on the phone with C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S most of the following day, laying my case down for them. Finally, after nearly three hours of negotiating, we had come to an agreement. Making headway with stubborn scientists was a near impossible task, but this wasn't my first rodeo. And for Charlie... there was no way I was losing my case.

So I had signed a deal with the devil. They were sending over paperwork one of the following days to confirm that, but until then, all I could do was wait. And then wait some more.

They'd informed me that the drug they had given him lasted a whole month. Charlie had gotten his first shot before he got here, and had over the past month slowly been wearing it off. After getting this shot, it would take another full month until he'd be back to where he was before; regaining his true self. I was at my tethering point, but sadly, what was done was done. All I could do was work with- and make the best of it.

And try and ease Charlie's discomfort in the meantime.

"So," I said as I came into the living room a few days later and found him lying on my couch with his prosthesis standing next to it, his one foot slung up and his blunt leg resting comfortably on the couch cushion. At the sound of my voice, he pulled his head out of his Spider-Man comic book and blinked at me. "It's a lovely day outside today. I was wondering if you wanted to come out with me to play some ball in my garden?"

His brows creased ever so slightly and he slowly sat up. "Play some ball?"

"Yeah. Remember how we talked about the different types of sports there are, that we humans play?" I reminded him, referring to one of our many conversations where I had introduced him to sports. "Most of them involve some sort of ball, but you don't have to be professional to play. A lot of humans throw a ball around in their yard for pastime, but also for the amusement – especially if the weather is nice. So what do you say? Are you interested?"

Charlie looked at me, fighting with his slow brain for a moment, but then nodded, swinging his leg down and reaching for his prosthesis. "Yes."

"Alright then," I smiled brightly while he quickly secured his mechanic leg and smoothed his trousers down over it. "I figured we should throw a ball instead of kicking it, you know, since we haven't fully found out how strong you are. Did they ever test that in the facility?"

Charlie stood up to his towering height and frowned a little again, thinking. "I am... strong." He replied, carefully.

"How strong?" I asked, raising a brow. "Can you give an example?"

He thought again for a moment, but then looked down at the comic book in his hand. He opened it and slowly begun leafing through it until he stopped at a page. He held it out for me to see.

The image was of Doctor Octopus with one of his many mechanical arms bashing about, one of them picking up a car he was throwing after Spider-Man. It wasn't a small car, but I think what Charlie tried to convey was that he... well, he had enough strength to lift a motorized vehicle.

"Uh... alright then," I said, clearing my throat a little. Absorbing that. Shifting my eyes back to Charlie and now eyeing up his impressive size with a whole new view, I nodded and tried to come up with words. "So, uh, I guess we're gonna have to teach you to control your strength, learn how you can find the right amount of power to use when you're just doing simple things, like throwing a ball." Or kicking a pebble.

Charlie slowly nodded back and put the comic book down. Then, after reassuring him with another smile, I led him outside, through my kitchen patio door, to the fairly big yard behind my house that recently had gotten the grass cut. C.E.N.T.U.R.I.E.S payed me enough to hire a gardener, but I preferred to do hard labor myself. The day before Charlie got here, I had sorted out my garden.

We stepped into the sun that today had decided to warm up the air enough to clear away any clouds. The breeze was warm and almost summery for a spring weather, and you could hear the birds chirping everywhere, building their nests and attracting their mates. The instant we stood there on my lawn, Charlie looked around in amazement, blinking up and around to see it all.

While he took it in, I walked up to a small plastic basket I kept outside under my roof, wherein I kept outdoorsy things like balls, rackets, jumping ropes, an old box of chalk and, because I liked to barbecue, a beer opener. Instead of going for that, I picked up my oval football and squeezed it a little to check the air. It seemed good to play.

Turning to Charlie with the ball, I tossed it up into the air and caught it with my hands again, offering him a smile as he watched me curiously. "You ready? Have you ever played ball before?"

I knew the answer, but still felt a small pinch in my heart when he shook his head. What the hell had be been doing as a kid during free time?

Holy shit. They hadn't had free time, had they?

Shaking the thought from my head, I brought my smile back and watched Charlie. "Well, it's pretty easy. It's kind of like learning to eat with a fork; You just gotta get a good grip and aim. You ready for the first one?"

Charlie nodded this time and looked down at the ball. "Yes."

"Alright. Here we go then."

I went super easy. Like when you threw a ball to a six year old. I underarmed him and threw it softly, and wasn't surprised when I saw him easily catch it, now holding it with pride in his hands.

"Good job, Charlie! That was excellent! You wanna throw it back?"

Nervously eyeing me out, then the ball, he nodded again and then imitated me; he threw the ball back gently, swinging it to me in a surprisingly soft throw.

I caught it easily. "Good one! You totally got this! I'm gonna try throwing it a bit harder this time, are you ready for it?"

When he nodded, I threw the ball a little harder like I told and watched as he caught that one easily as well. I saw the light in his eyes shine brighter than the sun, and carefully he threw it back again, mimicking my exact strength. I was betting he was calculating inside that head of his, measuring strength, speed, wind and weight. Like the genius Creature that he was.

"Good job, Charlie," I continued to praise him as we threw the ball back and forth a bit. "Try backing up a bit, I'm gonna throw you a long one. You good with that?"

Charlie nodded almost excitedly. He looked over his shoulder and then backed up almost as far as my yard was and then held up his hands, ready to receive the ball with a small bounce to his feet.

I bit my lip. He reminded me so much of puppy in that moment.

I threw the ball long and watched as it traveled through the air, towards him. Charlie watched it closely, measuring its landing and took a hurried step forward; the ball landed perfectly in his hands, like he had played pro for years.

"Awesome!" I cheered at him, clapping my hands. If I wasn't mistaken, I think I saw his lips twitch – it wasn't a smile, but it was so damn close. "Throw it back to me, you can do it!"

Charlie lined me up and readied the ball, took aim and then threw.

– And then watched as the ball flew all the way up on my roof, landing on the tip of my gutter.

"Oh," I said and looked up, shielding the sun with my eyes to get a better view. It was too far up for me to reach, even Charlie with his Neanderthal genes. "Whoops. That happens, don't worry about it. I can get my ladder, I'll be just a moment."

"Wait." Charlie said and made me pause up and look questioningly back at him. I saw his eyes squint, then look up at the ball.

The next moment, my football levitated carefully down to me. I watched with my jaw scraping my freshly cut grass as it landed in my outheld palms, going from hovering midair to resting safely in my hands.

"Oh, wow."

"Throw?" Charlie eagerly asked. He was having too much fun to even realize what he just did. Out in the open. My eyes quickly darted to my neighbor's houses, which were thankfully separated from mine with a tall wooden fence. Still, if any of them had been inside and glanced into my yard in that very moment...

It would be hard to find an explanation that didn't involve a bribe.

"That was very nice of you Charlie, but remember, you can't do this in public," I told him, holding up the ball. "It's not normal, humans can't do that. Do you understand?"

Charlie looked at the ball for a moment, but then nodded, slowly. "Yes... t-throw?" He tried again.

I couldn't help but draw on my smile. He was just too precious. Too happy. I didn't think he even realized it, but he was experiencing fun for the first time, true amusement. I could totally picture him becoming a football fan, wearing a Red Sox cap when football season was in.

I therefore threw him the ball and he excitedly caught it. He threw it back, and for fun, I started moving around to test his mobility. It quickly turned out he had a knack for ball games, both throwing and aiming. Even as I began running around, throwing the ball to him from different angles, he never missed the ball once. He caught it and easily threw it back, calculating his every throw perfectly; no more roof incidents.

After a while of running around under the Sun's warm rays, I started to feel the heat dripping off my neck and arms. It had been a while since I had played catch with someone so energized, so after about 45 minutes of catching and throwing, I was feeling my body; lungs, legs and arms.

Charlie didn't seem bothered, though. He moved surprisingly agilely for someone with a prosthesis, but then again, the mechanical piece wasn't just any prosthesis; it worked with him, not against him. It thumped against the grass as he moved around as well, tossing the ball to me, never showing even as much as a drop of sweat. If I didn't know better, I never would've thought he was missing the lower part of his leg.

Charlie threw the ball at me in a steady throw, but just then, my aching legs decided to do a skip and trip over a small rock hiding in the grass. I lost footing and fell sideways with a yelp, thankfully managing to brace my fall with my hands before impacting. Still, I couldn't help but let go of a small hiss when I scraped my legs across the grass and knocked my hip against it. That would definitely bruise.

"Carly!" I heard Charlie's scared outburst, and the next second I heard his footsteps near me. He was kneeling besides me before I had even fully landed on the grass in a bundle of limbs. "Carly!"

"Don't worry, I'm okay," I said and tried for a small smile as I turned over on my ass and winced slightly. "It was just a fall, it happens. Especially if you're clumsy like I am," I chuckled and shook my head, brushing my hands off that were green and brown from bracing my elegant landing.

Before I could finish doing that, however, Charlie pulled me in for a bone-crushing hug and clutched me tightly like my life depended on it. He buried his head in my hair and breathed calmly into it.

This was a new thing of his that he had begun doing; Ever since I gave him his first hug and had comforted him like that, Charlie now believed a hug was the answer to everything; I bumped my knee against a table, he hugged me. I knocked over a glass of water, he hugged me. I got a paper cut, he hugged me.

I chuckled lightly and hugged him back as we sat there on the grass. It was really too hot to be hugging, but this was such a major progress for him that I couldn't help but hug him back. He wouldn't let me go until my heart was beating normally again or until my breathing had evened, so while we sat there and hugged, I took the liberty to pat his back, acutely feeling his deltoids. I really shouldn't love how thick they were.

Finally, after about two minutes, he slowly pulled back and looked expectantly at me, scanning my face for my approval.

"Thank you, Charlie," I smiled and now slowly straightened out, flexing my legs to get up. "That was very sweet of you."

"Do you feel better?"

"I do, yes."

He exhaled relieved. His eyes then fell to my chest that was still moving up and down a little too fast, but that was from the heat. Or was it?

I shook my head, but then began to get to my feet, Charlie standing up with me, helping me. I hardly did any work myself. "Thanks again. I, uh, think maybe we've played enough ball for today, though," I chuckled and looked down at myself, seeing how my clothes had been stained green from the grass and how my legs were dirty from the soil. "I need to go take a shower. You could probably do with a glass of water, too, am I right?"

When Charlie didn't answer straight away, I looked up and found his eyes still trained on my chest – my breasts. Again, I could hardly fathom it when I swore I saw his pupils dilate a bit as they stared at my cleavage that glistened with perspiration. He licked his lips and I realized he probably was thirsty. Just not for water.

"Uh, Charlie?"

"What?" He blinked up to my eyes.

"You, uh... got distracted again."

"I did?" He asked, blinking again, but this time confused. A frown quickly replaced it. "But... that's human, right? It's... okay?"

Again, this wasn't really the moment to tell him about the birds and the bees, so instead of pointing out how he shouldn't keep letting himself get distracted by body parts, more specially mine, I gave him an easy smile and nodded shortly. "Yes. That's very normal, but as I was saying, I'm gonna go take a shower and you should go have some water. It's a hot day." Or maybe it was just him...

God, stop it!

Charlie nodded. "Okay. I will."

"Alright then. I'll see you when I get out of the shower."

~~~

Stepping out of the steaming shower, I grabbed my towel and wrapped it around my body. Even with the water turned colder than usual, my mirror still fogged up and I had to wipe it to get a view of myself.

I had gotten all of the mud off my skin, but if I could get all the stains off my clothes was yet to be revealed. Drying off quickly, I lowered the towel and then automatically let my eyes fall to my breasts. The ones Charlie had been staring at.

They weren't small, but they weren't particularly big either. With a solid D-cup and husky nipples, I couldn't brag about much else. Then again, that didn't matter to Charlie who knew nothing about insecurity complexes yet. I had never been ashamed of my body, except for the obligatory teenage phase where my body was going through puberty, but in my adult life I had always taken good care of it, exercising and eating the right things. My breasts were round and my hips were pretty decent, my rear padded with a good layer of healthy fat and my thighs were lush.

And yet for some reason, I remained single.

Sighing, I shook my head and was just about to hang up the towel when a voice behind me suddenly spoke up.

"What are those?"

I screeched and wheeled around and quickly covered myself up with my towel again. Charlie was standing in my doorway, for how long he had been there, I had no idea. "Charlie! You can't just barge in! Remember how we talked about privacy?"

Charlie didn't seem to be listening, instead his eyes were zoned in on my towel, more specifically the area where my breasts sat. "Why do they look like that?"

I realized then that the peeping in on me while I was drying off had to be the first time he had ever laid eyes on female lady parts. Naked, that was. "They look like that because I'm a woman, Charlie. They're called breasts."

"Breasts," He repeated, still staring at them. "Can I see them again?"

My stomach clenched and I nearly choked. That was very boundary breaking to ask, but of course he didn't know that. He probably didn't even know that as a full-grown man, what he was looking at was suppose to arouse him or spark a primal fire within him. He just looked at me with a childish, albeit intense interest.

I hesitated for a moment. "In the normal society you can't ask that question, Charlie. Humans keep the gender defining parts of their bodies hidden from each other unless they are intimately involved, remember?"

"So that's a... no?"

I thought about it. He didn't know what he was looking at, and since he was here to learn... oh, what the hell. "Alright... you can see them. But just for a moment!"

I slowly lowered the towel around my waist and then watched as Charlie's eyes expanded with a puzzled interest. He took a small step closer, not blinking, then stopped up in front of me. "Why are they so... big?"

I automatically blushed; I couldn't help it. "Uh. Some are big, some are small. Everyone is born differently with different measures, but none are better than the others."

"Can I... touch them?"

"W-what?" I had to clear my throat. The bathroom suddenly got very hot. He might have been a Creature, but he was a handsome one, and he was asking to touch my very sensitive breasts. "I don't think that's appropriate, Charlie. As I said, in normal society—"

Without my permission, his hand cupped my right breast. I gasped in shock at his brazen act, but even more so at the zing of heat that shot through my body at the touch of his soft palm. His thumb ran across my nipple, twirling around it until it peaked into a sharp point.

"C-Charlie..." I whispered, fighting for my breath. My nipples were so extremely sensitive.

"It's so... soft," He murmured, now also bringing his other hand to my other breast. Together he weighed my heavy lumps. Why wasn't I stopping him? "I like them. Is that good?"

I had to bite my lip not to moan. "Charlie, y-you should let go. Now."

He didn't. Instead he kept caressing my breasts, his eyes never leaving them. He was drinking them up, completely hypnotized. His eyes were darkening. "I feel something inside me... I... I can't explain it..."

My eyes automatically dropped to his pants where a thick bulge was rising, probably without him even realizing it. He was completely absorbed with me and my breasts. I, however, was very aware of the situation. "Charlie—"

"I have all these thoughts in my head... how I want to taste them. Lick them. Maybe even bite them." He frowned. "Does that make me bad, Carly? Am I a monster?"

His eyes finally met mine and all I could do was let out the tiniest of moans. I pictured him doing those things to me, teasing me with his undoubtedly skillful tongue. He didn't know what he was saying, but his body was responding for him. Perhaps sending signals to his primal side.

He suddenly squeezed my breasts and it ripped another moan from me. I trembled when he stepped even closer, our skins now touching each other. "C-Charlie—"

"That sound you made... I like it." He ran his thumbs over my nipples again, pressing on them like buttons. I shivered again. "Carly... make that sound again."

He squeezed my breasts once more, and this time I felt the sweet spot between my legs moisten and puff up at his touch. It tore another moan from my lips. "Oh God, Charlie..."

Suddenly the lights started flickering. The furniture started clattering. Even the windows started vibrating, and that's when Charlie suddenly stumbled away from me, crashing into the door. He was shaking; he had snapped out of his haze.

"Charlie!" I quickly covered myself up and crouched down to him when he slowly sunk to the floor. "Charlie, are you okay?"

"I don't know what's happening to me," He said, now looking down at his crotch when he maybe finally felt the straining member in his pants. His eyes widened to saucers and he immediately cupped himself, feeling what was happening. "What's going on? What is this? Carly?"

His voice was panicked. I knew then there was no postponing it anymore. I couldn't.

I had to move him to phase six.

"Charlie. I think it's time we move on to a new phase of your learning. Are you okay with that?"

He looked up at me, puzzled and afraid, but he nodded carefully nonetheless. "O-okay..."

I nodded, too. "Go wait outside in the living room then, I'll come to you when I'm dressed, okay?"

He slowly nodded again. Without saying more, he then got up and left, walking out of my bathroom with his silent grace and the giant bulge than made his pants look like a tent. To think that that man knew nothing of arousal...

Well, that was about to change, I thought. Stage six initiated. Introducing: Sex.

• • •

So I guess Charlie got to play with two different kinds of balls today.