M Academy: Lark's Encounters X

M Academy:  Lark’s Encounter’s X

Several days later Lark woke up with a scream for the second time that day.  It pierced the air and she scrambled to find her footing, only to find that she was tied down again.
Tied down.
What had that monster of a man who demanded to be called Mr. Micro want to do with her now?  She continued to scream and try to break free of her restraints only in vain.  It was so dark.  She broke out into a terrified sweat as she tried to figure out where he had put her now.
No.  No!
She wanted to quit, but then she’d never have a chance to see Julian again and apologize.  And she had to see him.  And if she wanted to see him, she had to get through this weekend.  As she started to cry, darkness opened up and a dark-haired man loomed over her.  Huge… but not a giant.
“Who… who are you?” she asked in a sobbing cry.  The man quickly came over and fumbled with her taped restraints.  He was twice the size as she was but that didn’t mean much.  Did that Micro guy order more than one tiny?  “P-please… please don’t make me go back to him…”
“Shhhh… shh….” He hushed her, gathering her into his arms like a child and standing up once she was free.  “You’re safe now…you’re safe.”  He started to move into the light and called out for someone.  “She’s awake,” he called loudly to someone Lark couldn’t see through her tears.  “But she’s incredibly freaked out.  Call him now and tell him to come over.”

Julian appeared short of breath at Evan’s front door.
"You told me you would call when you found her," Julian grumbled, breezing into the spacious apartment as his cousin opened the door for him. He had been sitting on pins and needles all night and now he could scarcely think about touching Lark again. He paused in the entryway by framed pictures of Evan's graduation ceremony almost a decade ago. They both had baby faces then. Different interests too. Yet here they were now, together discussing a pair of tiny people in the living room.
"Wait... how small is she?" he whispered.

Another pained and nervous cry escaped Lark when she heard the loud sounds of voices thundering nearby.  But they didn’t belong to this stranger.  And who the hell was this new man?  He was a giant to her, but nothing like… nothing like she had seen before.
“What’s going on?” she begged as the man as he rocked her gently.  “Where is he… that man…”
“He’s gone,” Justin said.  “Now come on… you’re safe now…”
“Safe,” Lark croaked out as tears filled her eyes.  “Unless he’s playing another game with me… and with you…”
“No.”  Justin’s voice remained firm.  “You’re not with him anymore.  My giant couldn’t get you out of the opening scene… but he did everything to get you out of there as quickly as possible.  You have to believe that.  You’re not even in his home anymore.”  He looked down at the woman in his arms and his heart hiccupped.  He had missed this.  Caring for a tiny woman. She looked so small and helpless in his arms and though Justin was only six inches tall, he felt like a giant to the girl who was just shy of four.

“You should be relieved,” Evan said from another room as he glanced over his shoulder towards the living room.  “Micro… apparently he’s on thin ice with the academy so he didn’t play games with this one.  He made her a little over three inches so it’s not much different than your first time… but I’m warning you, Julie.  If this works out, I would recommend you not go this small with her again.  She’s… she’s pretty freaked out.  I could hear her crying when she was brought in.  I’m having Justin deal with her… less of a shock that way.”
He rubbed the back of his neck.  “Julian…” Evan said in a slow voice, still blocking his cousin from barging into the room just yet.  Justin would let him know when she was calm.  “She was taped to the bottom of his shoe as an opening scene.  Apparently he was just walking around his apartment with her taped to the sole… that little dip just under the heel so she wouldn’t be crushed.  All she could see was the floor… she’s… she’s really freaked out.”
Julian visibly paled in the dim entryway. He just stared back at Evan, willing him to take back what he just said. But it was real.
"What kind of a sick..." Julian drug a hand over his face and gazed longingly at the living room. "I'm gonna go in gentle from the start. I think she… needs that." Confident as he was, he still glanced to his cousin for backup on the decision. Evan sent him a small nod, and Julian coiled his hands into fists before relaxing.
Show time.
His slow, measured steps began to quake and tremor through the shelf under the ebony coffee table. He got onto his knees and lowered himself until he could see the tiny and even tinier person waiting there.
"She's still shaking," Justin informed him quietly. Julian nodded.
"Lark," he said softly. "Look at me, please. It's... it's just me, Lark. It's Julian, remember?"
Lark sniffed when she heard thunderous steps approaching the room.  He’s back…he must be coming back!  As she went to struggle, Justin held her even more tightly in his arms until a powerful voice fill her ears.  Him?  Was that guy back?
“N-no…” she squeaked, pulling herself to the man who was closest to her size.  He was all she had at this point.  “Please… please don’t give me to him.  I don’t want to be on the shoe again…”
“It’s not him,” Justin’s voice said, trying to coax her gently.  “He’s gone, sweetie.  He’s gone.  Didn’t you hear?  That’s Julian.  Remember him from last week?”  He looked up at the massive man watching them intently with grey eyes.  It was nice that while he was still enormous, he wasn’t nearly as big as before.  He would have to thank Evan for his brief bout of kindness… this was definitely something he wouldn’t do often.
“J-Julian,” Lark said softly, blinking and slowly regaining her sanity.  The man holding her walked towards something and she clung to the fabric on his chest with tightened fists.  “No…” she muttered, burying her face into the strangers shoulder, “…he’s… he’s mad at me.  I bet that guy called him here.”
“It’s not like that, sweetie,” Justin said, stepping closer to the edge of the shelf.  He could tell that Julian was worried and Evan was frustrated for wasting time.  But Justin needed this.  This moment to care for someone smaller than him… he lived for it.  Even if there was a man right in front of him who could easily enclose him in his fist.
“She’s… she’s coming out of it,” Justin called over to Julian.  He looked down at the young woman like a worried father.  “What that man did to her… I don’t know what else he would have done if Evan didn’t make the call…”  He started to pull the woman away from his chest.  “Do you want to try and hold her?”
"Yeah," Julian said quietly. His face pulled away a little and his hand came up beneath the edge of the shelf. Justin knelt down, still murmuring reassurances as he pried Lark off of him and laid her down in the massive palm.
Julian frowned, unable to help but feel insulted as the tiny thing writhed to be free of him.
"Shhh..." he crooned, rocking back on his heels and pulling the tiny girl close. Even smaller than last time. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you, Lark. I'm here to take care of you." He held Lark over his beating heart out of instinct, feeling her slight weight put up no resistance to its pounding.
At first she wanted to fight the larger being.  After what happened with Mr. Micro it took everything she had in her body not to think that that gigantic palm was going to start lowering and she would find herself taped to the bottom of a shoe again.  But there was no movement downward… in fact… she was going up.  And eventually she was pressed against something warm and soft.  She inhaled deeply.
Julian.
The overwhelming of scent of grapefruit and bergamot calmed her immediately and she stopped fighting.  He… he was here.  But why?  Why had he come here?  And where the hell was here in the first place?  She remembered being on the bottom of Micro’s shoe and then a door flew open and a loud, rich and overly confident voice yelled for her to hit the button and no consequences would come.  She listened to the voice without thinking… but now… she was more confused than ever.
“You don’t have to stay here,” Evan’s voice came behind them.  Lark winced because this new loud voice was familiar, but also didn’t bother to lower the volume.  A warm hand continued to hold her close.  It wasn’t Julian’s voice.  “I may have said the right thing to the higher ups, but at the end of the day, I do what I want.  If you don’t want to keep her here, you can take her back to your place.”  He smiled.  “I’d like to see the Academy stand up to me.”
“You’re so arrogant—” Justin started but Evan arched a brow at him as he knelt behind Julian and started to reach for him.
“Your time of playing the giant here is over, Mr. Carmichael,” he said in a warm voice.  He couldn’t deny that he was still proud of his tiny.  “Thank you for your help,” he said, as he plucked him up and stood to his full height.  “Now you, Julian… take her home.  It’s like I said… all G/t relationships are different.  It’s up to you to figure out what you want out of yours.”
Julian nodded, knowing the purpose and power behind those words.
"I'll be in touch soon." He stepped towards the front hall, prepared to see himself out. Evan didn't follow and Julian didn't expect him to; they both had their hands full at the moment.
"Lark," Julian said quietly to her, lifting her up to his face briefly to give her a look of pleading sincerity. "There's only one way to get you out of here. I'll make it as painless as possible."
With that, he lowered as much of his hand as he could fit into his shirt's breast pocket and released Lark to the bottom. Shortly after, a folded up tissue was lowered in after her. It unfolded a little in its landing, ending up half on her lap. She was set into motion as Julian exited the apartment with brisk but careful strides. Every movement he could feel her brushing up against his chest. The drive to his house wasn't long in reality, but it felt like eternity this time around.
Stirring slightly as the car roared to life, Lark started to feel a bit safer.  Julian. Julian was here with her… though she still didn’t understand why.  She had assumed that he would be pissed at her and Kennings certainly didn’t lead her to believe otherwise after her ‘discussion’ about the events of last weekend.  Lark had begged to get his home address so she could explain her actions but Kennings basically informed her that it was unprofessional and if she wanted any chance at seeing him again… it would have to be through the Academy.  So she took an assignment thinking it was Julian.  Who else would want to be with a newb?
But she had been wrong.
So very, very wrong.
She shuddered slightly against Julian’s chest as he continued to drive in silence.  Finally, she worked up the courage to look up at him, nearly gasping when she was only met with the underside of his chin and just a hint of his lower lip.  He seemed bigger than last time.  Swallowing, she tried to regain her courage.
“Are you taking me back to the Academy?” she asked softly.  She felt the man’s heart thunder at a quicker pace in her ears and felt the heat in his chest greatly increase with her question.  “I guess you are… considering you must know what happened to me with that man who likes micro play.”
"No. God no."
Julian made a face at the notion, momentarily lapsing in lowering his voice. "Lark, I wanted to find you because I figured it out. You can't let me in until you let James go." He parked the car and looked down at his pocket. He hadn't buckled up, lest he squish her fragile body against him. He lowered his hand into the pocket, softly ordering her to grab onto his fingers. He pulled her out and set her in the other palm. They stared at each other in reverence and conflicted emotions.
"I can't undo what that bastard did to you... but if you want me… I'm here for you."
Her tears were only just beginning to dry again as she listened to his words.  It was odd to see his face look a little larger than before.  She saw just a few more faint lines in the corner of his mouth as he spoke and his eyes were just as intense and large as ever.  But he was still beautiful.  And he was still willing to talk to her even after everything she had done?
“But what I did to you,” she said, softly at first and then remembering that she had to speak up more now.  “I could have ruined everything.  And you… you could have lost your chance to hang out with other tinies…” she laughed drily, “… more fun tinies.  I still can’t believe that you…” she blushed, “… I can’t believe you’re even here talking to me after what I’ve done.  You don’t even know me.”
“I… I’d like to get to know you, Mr. Cameron,” she said in a careful voice, still not sure what he was offering.  It was unclear, but maybe that was intentional.  She couldn’t deny that she was interested.  The man was flat out gorgeous.  But after what had happened with the Micro guy…she wanted to believe that Julian would never push her as hard as he had.  “Do you think maybe we could just sit down for a little a while?  Maybe talk for a bit?”  She blushed again and lowered her eyes.  “Unless you have another tiny upstairs in which case… I don’t want to disturb your weekend.”
Julian laughed gently, shaking his head at her suggestion.
"No, it’s just you. I think one tiny is enough of a handful for me." He sent her a warm smile, like they were sharing some personal knowledge. "Talking... I'd like that.  Though for now, I need to hide you again. Don't be scared. I won't drop you." Julian got out of the car, cupping his hand entirely over his abdomen and keeping Lark concealed against him.
After some jostling for her end, Lark was finally sat on a large pillow next to Julian. He bent over the side to unlace his shoes.
"Alright, Lark... let's talk."