They were stuck in a locker. Together.
Creeping through the school, they had dodged many traps together. Buckets tied to trip wires, falling lockers, all of it baited with toys. All of it left behind by someone.
The Bullies.
Whoever these ravenous figures were, wherever they came from… They wanted to hurt and torment them both.
They preyed on the weak and the lonely.
So Mono kept his hand around Six's. Made certain that she kept close.
That may have been a mistake, in retrospect.
When the locker fell toward them, he had been certain that was it. They would be crushed.
But the door was open, and so they weren't crushed. Just stuck.
It wasn't as though they didn't have plenty of room in the locker. It was taller than them both by several feet.
No, they had simply been too close together when it had fallen. And so Six and Mono were pressed tightly against one another. Cloth against cloth. Skin against skin.
If they wiggled and twisted and pushed they probably would be able to untangle themselves from one another.
But that would be noisy. And the Bullies hadn't left yet.
Maybe they knew Mono and Six were still alive, and were just waiting in a noisy sort of ambush.
Maybe they were fighting over who would tip the locker over. Who would retrieve their prey.
Maybe they were just bored.
Whatever their reason, there they stayed doing nothing at all but grunting and growling in their usual manner. Waiting for the Teacher to whisk them off to class.
Whatever the case, they dared not move for fear of attracting their captor's attention.
It was easy at first, with fear and adrenaline still coursing through their bodies. The Bullies could strike at any moment. They needed to be ready.
But time passed, the Bullies didn't leave, and they began to calm down.
It wasn't a comfortable position. Mono's arm under Six's had long since fallen asleep. Her leg under his was numb. And they were too close together.
Mono tried to ignore that fact. It didn't feel right to be so close to someone else. Especially so close to a girl, one he hardly even knew!
So he tried to focus on something else, anything else.
She smelled nice.
This made no sense to him. Neither of them were clean by any definition of the word. In fact, they had spent nearly every moment since meeting each other wading through swamps, crawling through mud, and drenched in sweat having so often been forced to run for their lives.
By all accounts they both should have reeked.
But in such close quarters, even through his own stench, even through his paper mask he could smell her.
And she smelled nice.
Were all girls like this? Or was this just unique to his quiet companion? He certainly did not have much to compare her with. It had been quite some time since he had travelled with another. Quite some time since he had been close enough to smell them.
And she was warm.
Mono felt his cheeks redden underneath his mask. He needed to break away. He needed to get some distance. This was too close. Had the locker always been this small?
As Mono tried to shift away from Six, as best he could in these tight quarters, almost in response Six shifted as well.
Now she was on top of him. Too close. TOO CLOSE!
Without thought for the bullies, Mono pressed his arms against the sides of the locker and pushed up and away from her.
Her head bumped against the roof of the locker above them and she released a quiet yelp of pain.
Not quiet enough.
The Bullies seized upon that noise and began shaking the locker madly.
Were they trying to lift it up? Or were they just trying to torment the captives inside?
Mono and Six held onto each other tightly, all feelings of discomfort drowned in fearful anticipation. What would they do when they were uncovered?
There were too many Bullies out there for them to fight.
Mono knew he had seen a hammer just a few feet from the locker. Perhaps if he could just reach that, if Six could just draw their focus long enough for him to grab it and take a wide swing, maybe they could get out of this alive.
Yet as he opened his mouth to vocalize his plans, she clenched down on him tighter.
What was it? Why the sudden burst of shock and terror?
Then he heard it. The silence. The Bullies had stopped their riotous chanting. Though some of them still held to the locker, the shaking had slowed almost to a halt.
Footsteps. Loud footsteps. Coming down the hall. And the Bullies feared their approach.
The smack of a ruler rang out as she beat it against her own hand threateningly.
Naughty children would be punished in her school.
And these little monsters had been very naughty indeed.
Some bowed their heads in obedience and began walking down the hallway toward their classroom. They would face punishment most severe.
But not as bad as the ones who ran.
With a slither and a crunch, they were gone. Smashed to pieces between her jaws.
And then, more footsteps. Fading out down the hallway.
Trembling in fear, Mono and Six waited for what felt like an eternity. What could be so fearsome that even those awful Bullies fled in terror?
Finally daring to risk exposure, the duo split apart. Together they gripped their fingers under the locker's edge, preparing to lift it and then dash away, all in one go.
Hearts racing, they threw themselves out from under their metal prison. Mono took off running down the hallway only to realize then that they weren't being chased. The Bullies and that thing were gone.
Six stood atop the locker and looked down at him through her tangled mess of hair. She beckoned him to hurry up. Sheepishly, Mono followed after her.
Finally free one another's embrace, he felt strange. It had been a very long time since he had been that close to another person. As uncomfortable as it was, he missed that close feeling of her warmth against his. Her breath on his body. Her heartbeat in tune with his.
Familiar feelings of embarrassment returned. Why? Why? They were both survivors, there was nothing more to it! The locker was a necessity for survival!
So why did his face feel so hot? Why was his stomach rolling?
And then he had almost gotten them killed!
Mono was glad he wore a mask, if only because it hid the redness of his face as he reflected on his actions.
As they walked down the long hallway, Mono tried to muster up the courage to say something. An excuse, an apology, ANYTHING to cut through the pervasive silence between the two of them.
They didn't talk much as they travelled together, of course. But now the silence felt thicker than usual. That look she had given him while standing atop the locker… was that something else than a silent call to follow? Something accusatory? Mono's insides seemed to be tying themselves into knots.
Just as he had been about to speak up, unsure exactly of what he was going to say, he noticed Six had stopped. She had heard it before he had. The sounds of punishment. Long periods of silence, and then that of Bullies crying out in pain.
Right. His worries would have to wait until later. They needed to get out of this place first. He could confront his embarrassment then.
Thus ends the first chapter of Monosixual: Innocent Enough. For those unaware, this is a rewrite of a story I posted a couple months back. The original had some rather... lemon-flavored scenes in it, which I know isn't really everybody's cup of tea. I had always intended to go back and write a censored out, cleaner version along the way buuuuuuuuuuuut... I was busy with other things (video games, mostly).
With that said, I don't intend to take down the original or anything in case any of y'all are worried about that. Just wanted to make the story itself available to a wider audience. With thaaaaaaaaaaat said...
As for the story itself, let's recount that age old tale of what spawned this. I couldn't sleep one night back in February, shortly after having completed both games (again). I got thinking about Six's progressive hunger in the first game, and Six's progressive cruelty in the second. Things like the Bully, her breaking the mannequin's fingers, and of course that ENDING... There's certainly a shift over time.
Anyway, I got thinking about what conceivably could change the ending (other than just a straight rewrite "No one died and they all lived happily ever after".) I got thinking about little events here and there that led to that final moment. And somehow their seperation in the school resonated with me. The thought that something different there could make all the difference later on.
Anyway, that brings us up to speed as far as the original story at least. Now for the rewrites. I didn't want this to be a straight out copy/paste, delete a couple lines, insert a fade to black or whatever. That felt lazy to me, especially with this being a story I have a great fondness for.
So I retyped the whole thing, modifying things here or there. Proofreader gave it the go ahead, and so THUS here we are.
If any of you see any glaring flaws in this, or the future chapters, drop me a PM. I try and respond, generally speaking. Help and assistance is always appreciated.
Finally, keep any eye out for further chapters. Considering most of it's already written out, that makes this job a WHOLE lot faster, haha.
-Lee