A/N: Thanks to @120backup for the inspo! 😉

"I'm sorry, what!?" I stared at the devious look on my girlfriend's face, the same one that matched both Harper and Charlie's expressions. Eyes flashed and lips curled up into untrustworthy smiles at the small, white, rectangular box in Harper's hands.

"I'm in." Wes stood up and pulled a smug grin across his face. To add further insult, he rolled up the bottom edge of his T-shirt, exposed his abs to Charlie, then clenched them tighter for more definition. "Just another excuse for you to touch these, babe."

"I can't wait," she murmured and ripped what looked like a piece of wax paper off a small gray rectangle with a white wire attached in its center, then stuck the non-wire side under Wes' navel. Three rips later, he looked like he had stickers that ran horizontal right above his underwear line.

"Best damn thing I've ever heard of." Charlie gave Harper a bright smile, then patted her hand over the... whatever those things were on Wes' stomach. "Always wanted to try it, thanks Harper."

"Have a feeling I'll enjoy this just as much," Harper chirped back with a smirk that none of me trusted.

If that girl's behind this, it can't be good.

And how is this even a thing?

"And you're okay with this." I stared straight at Wes, who shrugged and threw himself down on Charlie's sofa with a small bounce. Once there, he leaned back, tucked his hands behind his head and propped his feet on the coffee table.

"I don't think it'll be that bad," he replied casually. "I've got a high pain tolerance. Bring on the period cramps."

"Right..." My voice faded out and I turned to Ellie. "I'm not sure why I need to prove anything, I believe you that they're bad."

"I think..." Ellie paused while she rolled her lower lip under and chewed on it for a few bites. "You might have some room for improvement in your tiny house of empathy."

My eyebrows lifted at the word 'tiny,' which wasn't often used in reference towards anything about me.

I think she's calling me insensitive.

Harper took the more direct approach and challenged me with raised eyebrows. "I don't think you can handle it, Logan."

Of course she goes right for the verbal nut punch.

"Fine," I relented and shrugged my shoulders. "I'm in."

"Good because it's your turn, ten-pack." Harper's eyes flashed at me as she stepped closer with the same sticker-things that reminded me of the heart rate sensors we wore during our conditioning tests in her hands.

"I'll do it," Ellie spoke up with an unexpected level of excitement that gave me reason to pause, so I did.

"I don't know..." My feet faltered and I stumbled backwards a step when Ellie approached me eagerly, if not more eagerly than Charlie had with Wes. I was anything but comfortable when she guided me until I sat down on Charlie's sofa, where she rolled up the edge of my T-shirt.

"How about we do it together then?" she offered, took the sensors from Harper's outstretched hands, and stuck two of them on either side of her abdomen below her navel. "I'll let you know if it's the same level of pain."

Shit, now I can't not do it.

"Great idea!" Charlie spoke up and, with one flick of her wrist, ripped off two of Wes' stickers and, by his reaction, most likely some of his stomach hairs and the top layer of skin.

"Ugh!" He groaned and flinched from his seat, then rubbed the now red marks on his skin.

Charlie only rolled her eyes, positioned the sensors on her lower belly, and mumbled, "High pain tolerance, my ass."

"Here, Logan..." Ellie sat down between me and Wes and my lips curled up on their own as she looked up at me from under her lashes. "I'll be gentle."

Ellie's light fingers tickled the skin under my navel and my muscles contracted on their own as she wiped a layer of a cool liquid on me. With a few light presses, she stuck on two sensors in roughly the equivalent position as hers, plugged wires into them, then gently stroked the top of her finger over the skin in between them and shot me a wink.

"Careful," I warned her as the soft strokes of her finger led my mind in a different direction.

"Behave Logan or I'll put them on your balls," Harper teased with that same damn smirk, then hooked up the other ends of the wires into two white plastic controllers, one attached to me and Ellie and the other Wes and Charlie. "Who's first?"

My thumb jerked sideways and I answered, "Pain tolerance on the end."

"Okay, Wes and Charlie..." Harper held up the two controllers on the ends of the wires, then typed in something with her thumb on the one in her left hand. "Level one."

All eyes shifted down to their end of the sofa, where Charlie sat impassive and Wes kept his smug grin on his face. After a few seconds, I barely registered Harper's, "You too Ellie and Logan."

"That's nothing," Wes declared and chuckled quietly. "Bee sting tickle. I've so got this."

A gentle tugging sensation vibrated through my pelvis, which was odd. It definitely grabbed my attention, but wasn't painful.

I've had dehydration and muscle cramps worse than this.

"I have to agree with the boys here." Charlie crossed her arms over her chest. "I've sneezed and felt more in my pelvis."

"Okay," Harper murmured and flicked her left thumb first. "Level two."

After a brief pause, Wes' entire posture changed like he'd been struck by lightning. "Ohh... Ugh!" Wes' brown eyes stretched open wide and he released a weird strangulation-like sound right when Harper's right thumb flipped the other controller.

Wes coughed for a minute like he recovered his initial reaction and choked out, "That's... f-fine."

Charlie's only reaction was she rolled her eyes, then tapped her fingertips on the nearest armrest.

After a few seconds, a stronger sensation halfway between a pull and a nudge ran through me. It wasn't a sharp pain, more like how I felt after I'd eaten a food that hadn't agreed with my stomach.

"Oops, sorry Wes." Harper laughed quietly and gave him a visual inspection. "I hit three on yours. Let me get the other golden couple up to that level."

Uh-oh.

"Wait -" I started when a sharp stab into my pelvis froze my voice and continued over and over at the same intensity level. My brain stopped for a moment as my abdomen muscles felt like something had been jabbed in between them, then separated with a continuous pulling apart.

Oww.

My hands tightly clutched my stomach, which earned me a soft giggle on my right from Ellie. I clenched my teeth against the pain, exhaled sharply, looked sideways, and met her curious gaze. Her relaxed shoulders and even breathing pattern showed she definitely hadn't shared my surprised reaction.

She knew what to expect. That must be it.

"Level four," Harper called out with another few clicks of both thumbs.

In two seconds, Wes' whole body tensed, he shot forwards, hunched over, and groaned like he'd had the worst food poisoning or kicked in his crotch. "Oh fuck! That's - fuck!"

I hadn't sat there for more than a split second reaction before a dull, needle-like tingling sensation spread over my entire abdomen. It throbbed outward like a spiderweb, to both sides of my hips and even down my quadriceps.

This isn't so -

My own thoughts halted when a razor-sharp, twisted feeling lurched from below my navel to the bottom of my pelvis. Within a blink, I was folded over in the same position passengers assumed on a nosedived airplane, with my forehead almost pressed into my knees. A diarrhea of, "Ow's" left my mouth and vibrated warmth into the tops of my legs.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow," I pressed out between gritted teeth and sharp, staccato breaths. The pains ignored me, or most likely Harper, and continued stab after stab, twist after twist like knives jabbed into me like a fucking jack-o-lantern.

Fuck, this is worse than getting kicked with cleats!

"Level five, halfway there!" Harper chirped out with way too much enthusiasm. Her light blue eyes flashed over the torture devices she held in her hand at us and my eyes widened as they tracked her thumbs' movements.

"Aaaaaaahhhh," Wes rasped out in one long, strained grunt. His face was entirely red and a vein protruded from his forehead that I'd never seen in any practice, training session, or game.

Fuck, that's not good.

If I hadn't already doubled over from my own pain, I might've laughed. Before I reacted to Wes' reaction, my own breath was sucked out of my lungs from how the stabs of pain reached a level I hadn't known existed that was sustainable after an impact. My insides clenched and pain throbbed out from all points of contact with those damn stickers.

"F-F-Fuck," I cursed and squeezed my eyes shut, which only amplified my pain. My elbows hugged my stomach, my hands wrapped around my sides and clenched into my shirt like that would've helped and at this point, and I groaned shamelessly. Even nausea crept into my stomach and coated a horrible, bile-like taste on my tongue.

"Six," the devil woman called out.

"Fooo... foo... foo." Wes breathed out in harsh, sharp breaths and pursed lips. Out of the corner of my cracked open eye, Charlie's only reaction was a hearty round of giggles as one of her hands patted his back.

"Oh fuck!" My abs clenched inward on their own as a higher intensity pain struck into me. I clenched my eyes tighter shut, sucked in a sharp breath, and string after string of curse words left my lips. The knives turned into a fucking chainsaw massacre on my abdomen as wave after wave of pain crashed over me.

Another soft giggle was enough that I pried open my eyes again and saw, next to me, Ellie's small frame sat perfectly still and completely undisturbed. Her only reaction was a small smile flinched across her lips, like she waited in anticipation for... I didn't know what.

"It's not so bad, like electric vibrations," she murmured quietly. "Mine are a lot worse."

How can they possibly be -

"Worse? Coming up!" Harper chimed in and pressed her thumbs quickly. "Here's seven."

"Oww!" Wes cried out, rolled off the sofa, and landed onto the floor, where he twitched like he'd been shot with a taser. "Ohh... oww! Hey! What are you doing!?"

Right when my mouth parted, a pain struck into my abdominal area like I'd been shredded open. My internal organs felt like they exploded, over and over.

"Holy fuck," I cursed and found myself in a similar half-fetal position as Wes, then pursed my lips and breathed through the throbs of pain that exceeded my worst Charley horse cramps. They started in my abdomen then radiated outwards, up to my navel and down my hips.

And why the fuck do my legs hurt?

Harper's voice hit my ears, along with rounds of hearty laughter from all girls, "Are you tapping out, boys?"

"No no no nope, I'm g-good," my ego cried out when internally my body voted for a tap-out.

"Really? 'Cause you're on the floor, you realize?" she asked with a thread of completely faked innocence in her voice. The smirk that hadn't left her lips while her thumbs hovered above the torture devices revealed how much she actually enjoyed this.

"Yep," Wes groaned out. "We're cool. F-floor's more c-comfortable. It's... fuck! ...fuzzy."

"Cool, comfortable, and fuzzy, hmm..." Harper's voice sounded completely unconvinced, so I pried open my eyes.

My view of her blurred a few times under the pain and pressure that attacked me worse than any food poisoning I'd ever had, but I stupidly blurted out, "We got this."

"Huh." Harper's face came into view, her eyes scanned down over us, then she disappeared again. My lower lip trembled with my uneven breaths but I forced myself through the pain.

"Alright." Harper stepped back into place. "Quick girl conference says we're going to level ten so we can put you guys out of your misery faster."

"Ten!?" I croaked out between panted breaths. My throat burned from how dry it was but I choked out, "Wait, let's -".

"Ahh!!" Wes half-groaned, half-screamed in a tone of voice that sounded more like Charlie's than his interrupted my negotiations. "Ahhh! AHH! Get it off! Offff!"

Oh fuck, this -

My thoughts again were swallowed up under the harshest pain I'd ever felt struck into my abdomen and my entire body reacted. My legs felt poked with a thousand needles, my breath escaped my lungs and the short, sharp gasps I wheezed in and out felt like a chore, even exhaling out a breath felt incredibly painful. I kicked my legs straight but they fell limp onto the floor like wet noodles that wouldn't have moved no matter how hard I tried.

After a few seconds of unrelenting pain, numbness overtook my senses. Sounds muffled around me, like I'd dipped myself underwater, and the faint echoes of laughs faded in and out of my ears. Blackness dotted around the edges of my vision and my view of Charlie's coffee table blurred in and out of focus.

A faint ringing hit my ears and my mouth moved on its own, but I had no idea what words came out. I just know that with a few absolutely torturous moments, where my body nearly shut down against the pain, a soft sense of quiet and peace came over me.

Soft fingers rolled me onto my back, then brushed a texture surface over my abdomen. I cracked open and focused my eyes on the dark, blurry shape over me, which eventually focused into Ellie's face. Her eyebrows were drawn together and eyes flooded with concern as she looked down at me. Two slender hands held up unattached sensors into my line of vision.

"Ellie..." I gasped out, pushed my palms so I sat up, then pressed my lips tightly against hers.

Her body stiffened for a moment, then she dropped the sensors in my lap, wrapped her hands gently around the back of my neck, and kissed me roughly. At that moment, I couldn't have cared that Wes, who probably was roadkill anyways at this moment, Charlie, or Harper saw us. I was just sorry if my girl felt anything remotely like this, over and over, month after month.

"Are you okay?" she whispered softly and broke off.

My hands cupped around her cheeks and I stared into those beautiful, dark brown eyes. "I don't know how you do it Ellie, really. I couldn't."

Her only response was she gently kissed one of my cheeks, then patted the other with her palm. "No offense, but it's actually worse. Throw in the bloating, tiredness, aches, back pack, bleeding, mood swings -"

"- and an asshole comment from someone that just makes everything worse," I whispered and ran my fingers over the outlines of her cheeks. "I'm sorry Ellie."

"I don't need you to be sorry," she said quietly and sat back onto her heels. "Just maybe a bit more understanding?"

"I do," I promised her before I pushed up to standing. With a look between Ellie's concern and Harper's smug smirk, I assured them, "I get it now."

I don't ever want to feel that again, poor Ellie.

"Good." Harper nodded tightly, then pulled on the white cords until she held our sensors. "Brody made it to level fifteen on the plane, by the way."

___________________________________________

Q: Are there going to be any more books?

A: Yep, Harper's book comes out as soon as this one is done. Depending on how much writing/thought planning I do, I have 2-3 more in mind but we'll see how saturated the IHFP world gets. I'll give an update once this book is completed.