((Warning for soft vore, but otherwise work-safe.))

The office door wasn't locked, so Dedan let himself in. "Yo Enoch, how's—"

"Ah, can you give me a minute?" Enoch leaned forward in his desk chair and tapped his throat. "Sorry, guys. Time to come out."

As Dedan watched, bewildered, the big guardian coughed up half a dozen Elsens into his hand. The tiny workers gave a disappointed chorus of "Awwww"s as he set them on the floor and patted their backs to send them on their way. "We'll have more quiet time tomorrow, dears," he promised.

When they'd gone, Dedan turned back to Enoch. "Okay, I think I speak for most reasonably normal people when I ask: What the fuck?"

Enoch tapped his throat again. "I decided to develop a crop, that's all. Japhet gave me the idea."

"Decided? The hell? You can't just decide to have a body part."

The big guardian shrugged. "Seems to be working out pretty well so far. I can make my body do plenty of strange things."

"So, what, you go around temporarily eating Elsens for fun? And they like it?"

Shit. There was Enoch's "I'm up to something" grin. "Mmm, it doesn't have to be just Elsens," he replied casually.

"Wha—" Dedan's eyes popped wide open as Enoch's meaning registered with him. "No. Hell no. Don't look at me like that, shitlord! I swear to God, if you so much as get up from—"

Enoch pushed away from his desk and stood. There was a mischievous glint in his eye.

Alarmed, Dedan backed up several paces. He held up his hands. "Look, man, inside-the-mouth stuff is fine but I thought we'd established that actually swallowing me just ends in general nastiness for the both of us."

"Come now, Dedan, don't knock it 'til you've tried it." The giant took a single, deliberate step forward, and Dedan felt its colossal weight rumble in his very marrow.

"You'd better sit your ass back down if you know what's good for ya!" Another bone-rattling THUD. Dedan held his ground but couldn't stop his voice jumping an octave. "I-I'm not kidding!"

"Neither am I," Enoch said, and he broke into a run, arms outstretched as if seeking a hug.

Screeching, the smaller guardian spun around and hauled ass. It was like fleeing a living earthquake—each of Enoch's footsteps shook the ground with such force that Dedan panicked he'd be knocked over any second. He was slowed down even further when he reached the hallway and had to evade huge vats of orange liquid plastic.

Enoch was much faster than anything his size had a right to be. Already the big guardian's cackle sounded like a roll of thunder directly above Dedan's head. "FUCK!" he shrieked when enormous fingertips snagged the back of his coat, halting him mid-stride, and lifted him effortlessly. Peppering the air with curses, he took a few fruitless swipes at his captor's fingers.

Enoch sat Dedan on the flat of his hand. "Oh, I'm just messing with you. Surely you know by now I'd never eat you without permission."

"Do I know that? Do I?" Dedan crossed his arms, scowling up at him. "You're a cheating dick, by the way. At this size you can just step over stuff that I have to dodge around."

"Heh. Fair enough. I'll keep that in mind for next time. However—" Enoch's gaze swept over him as if sizing up an appetizing morsel "—the fact remains that I won."

Dedan flinched. "I already said no!"

"I know, I know. And like I said, I won't force it on you." Dedan cried out as Enoch held him up to his face, but the big guy just pressed him flat on his back with a smooch.

The smaller guardian grumbled and gave Enoch's face a halfhearted shove, feeling obligated as always to assert just how anti-mushy-stuff and manly he was—though admittedly the way Dedan melted under his friend's affection did tend to cost his effort some of its impact.

This time was no different. Dedan gave in quickly enough and could only hope his sharp intake of breath with each kiss was too quiet for Enoch to detect. Uh oh. I'm on the highway to Bonerville. Better ditch the car while I still have a chance.

"All right, keep your pants on," he growled, trying to wriggle free of the kissyface action. Fortunately Enoch backed off without complaint. The dreamy look on the big guy's face made Dedan feel a twinge of guilt.

"Look," he said after a pause, "if you don't bring me back up the second I tell you to I swear to God I'll eat you from the inside out."

Enoch looked taken aback. "You changed your mind?"

Dedan shrugged, doing his best to give off an air of nonchalance. "Sure, why the hell not. I mean, how bad could it be if Elsens don't mind it?"

Enoch hmphed in amusement. "True. Elsens are about as pitiful as it gets, bless their little hearts."

After further reassurance of Dedan's willingness, he cautiously placed his friend on the back of his tongue. Dedan peered down that dark, cavernous throat and had to remind himself that everything would be under his control this time.

"Well?" he called up to Enoch. "You have a very nice-looking throat and all but that ain't what I'm here for."

In reply Enoch's tongue bucked beneath him, knocking him down that monstrous gullet. All his muscles tensed reflexively, desperate to struggle against the powerful wet constrictions of Enoch's esophagus that pummeled and jerked him down, down into infinite, terrifying blackness—then with one final jerk and a surprisingly gentle fall, Dedan arrived in the crop.

"Oh," he whispered.

Enoch hadn't been exaggerating about the strange things he could make his body do, for this crop was no ordinary food storage pouch. A faint glow, as if from bioluminescent cells lining the fleshy walls, revealed a space about the size of his bedroom back in Alma, and his claustrophobia dispersed like mist in warm sunlight. Even the pleasantly warm air seemed fresh.

He pressed his cheek against the smooth, fleshy wall; it pulsed gently in time with Enoch's heartbeat. No wonder Elsens liked it in here, he thought, so quiet save for the occasional soft grumble of Enoch's innards far below. On top of that he couldn't help feeling protected, surrounded as he was by his vast, powerful, almost godlike friend.

Thoughts wandering, Dedan hardly noticed how heavy his eyelids were becoming, and soon the rhythms of Enoch's body had soothed him to sleep.

"So how was it?"

Dedan sat up in Enoch's hand, flinging threads of saliva off his sleeves. "It was… nice," he admitted grudgingly. "I mighta dozed off for a minute or two."

The big guardian chuckled. "More like an hour or two. That comfy, huh?"

"Yeah, yeah, don't flatter yourself," said Dedan, but he was unable to keep the hint of a smile out of his voice.

"You're welcome anytime." Enoch sounded more serious now. "If you ever need to just get away from it all for a while. I understand, believe me."

Dedan raised an eyebrow. "You're offering to eat me to make me feel better?"

His friend suddenly looked uncertain. "Well, I just wanted to throw it out there in case—"

The smaller guardian silenced him with an upraised hand. "Hey, hey. I didn't say no, did I? It's unusual is all. Nothing wrong with that, right?"

Enoch's smile filled him with warmth to the very tips of his toes.