AN: Full disclosure, a large part of my motivation for writing the last three chapters was so that I would write one particular scene in this chapter. You'll know which one when you get to it. And with that, I've burned through everything I had planned for this story so far, so unless I get hit by another burst of inspiration, I might end up putting it down for a bit. We'll see.
guest: There is not. I need to be inspired to work on something and recently, most of my inspiration has been going towards this story. I'll get to Gigant eventually, but I don't normally set hard deadlines, especially for something I do in my free time for no money.
Skully13: Indeed, and that may or may not have have been a decision I already committed to at some point.
Tornado man: Look man. I'm not going to pretend to be an authority on how to write harem stories, but I can say that starting a story off with a laundry list of girls, most of whom have little to no canon interaction with the main character, and some of whom literally have zero established personality, or even a canonical name, is a terrible way to go about things. I don't write a story to go with a harem, I write a story and the harem just kind of naturally emerges as things go on. Which, and I say this in the nicest possible way, means I will never commit to a list like this. Especially when it includes characters like Thicc QT and Christina, who aren't even actual characters. I assume you find them attractive, and that's cool, but a story needs more than hot girls to actually function as a story, and I can only fill in so many gaps at once.
Just enjoy the story for what it is. Or don't, which is also an option. Though obviously, I'd prefer you choose the former :)
Guest99: I'm doing the thing where I pretend to lock my lips and throw away the key. No particular reason why.
When the miracle of science created Royal Woods' first giant citizen, the first question on everyone's minds was, "What is she going to eat?" Which was immediately followed by a round of nervous laughter, which grew increasingly nervous and uncomfortable as the seconds stretched on with no immediate answer presenting itself. But the second question, which seemed of paramount importance was, where would she live? Fortunately, as it so often was, necessity proved to be the mother of invention once more, and after a few awkward nights of Lynn camping out in the Louds' backyard, a solution was found.
They called it, "The Fort". A government-funded, man-made island that was constructed just off the coast. It started as a few interconnected platforms, designed to find the happiest medium possible between being large enough for a giant human to comfortably exist upon, while also remaining buoyant. The result was a living space large enough to accommodate hastily lean-to, and not much else. But once the concept was proven to be sound enough, and both Lynn and the citizens of Royal Woods were given some much-needed space from one another, there was now room for the original design to be innovated upon. Currently, The Fort was the size of a small city and considered to be both an architectural and engineering marvel the world over. And while work to expand it continued to this very day, its current state allowed for an enclosed, reasonably sized living space, and a number of amenities that made life as a Titan magnitudes more comfortable than it had previously been.
Such as the Titan-sized gym, of which Luna was presently availing herself.
"HAAAH!" Luna exclaimed, driving her fist as hard as she could into a gigantic heavy bag. Which, like most of Lynn's possessions, was painted in her signature colors and prominently displayed her stylized LZ logo. A chorus of electronics BLEEPs and BLOOPs drew her attention drew her attention to a display just off to the side, which currently showed an hourglass endlessly flipping end over end. After a few moments, the hourglass was replaced by a super-deformed version of Lynn, who firmly shook her head, and held out one tiny fist with her thumb extended and pointed towards the ground.
"You actually train like this?" Luna deadpanned.
"Of course," Lynn replied, giving the heavy bag a friendly pat. "I am, after all, my best critic. Ain't that right, Lil' Lynn?"
To Luna's surprise, her sister's electronic doppelganger briefly blinked out of existence before returning, now giving a nod of approval and a very emphatic thumbs up.
"...Whatever," Luna muttered, absentmindedly tugging at her sweat-soaked top. Given how sudden her and Sam's return had been, there hadn't been many options available for feeding, housing, or clothing the duo. While Lisa had assured her that alternatives were being explored, for the moment the only realistic option had been to crash with Lynn and sponge off the resources that had been allocated to her. Which, unfortunately for her, included sharing Lynn's wardrobe.
On the one hand, Luna appreciated having proper clothing again, since the animal hides she and Sam had taken to wearing out of necessity during their stay on the island drew entirely the wrong kind of attention now that they were back in civilization. Unfortunately, given Lynn's proclivities, and the difficulties that inherently came with clothing giant women, their now shared wardrobe consisted exclusively of slight variations on the tank top and shorts combo her sister had been wearing when she'd "rescued" them. Which were functional, and more importantly, actual clothes, but it still irked her that circumstances were forcing her to dress nearly identically to her little sister, something she hadn't had to worry about since they were very young, and which had annoyed her to no end even back then. Mercifully, Lisa had managed to get out a set for each of them which replaced Lynn's preferred red coloration with purple for Luna, and cyan for Sam, which made them significantly more bearable. And, most importantly of all, she'd removed Lynn's logo, for which Luna was, and always would be eternally grateful.
"Why do I even have to do this?" Luna asked, shooting a dour look at the heavy bag.
"It's part of the deal Lisa brokered with the Feds," Lynn replied. "They cough up food and clothes for you guys, and try to make this place a little more livable now that there's three of us crammed in here (feel free to thank me for agreeing to share my pad with you, by the way), and you guys agree to help out next time any kaiju show up."
"For now," Luna corrected her. "We only agreed to that while we're getting our new situation figured out. I'm not planning on doing this longer than I have to."
"And what exactly are you planning on doing now that you're a flipping giant?" Lynn asked sardonically. "Gonna get Lisa to rig up a giant guitar for you? Gonna put on a show with Sam, where people come from miles around to see two hot giant girls rockin' out and…"
She trailed off, blinking rapidly as her brain caught up with her. "Huh. That...actually sounds really viable."
"It does," Luna replied, flashing the younger girl a grin. "Thanks for the idea, sis."
"...Well, whatever," Lynn waved her hand dismissively. "For the moment, you're both on kaiju duty, and that means you put in the work to stay battle-ready. Which means we train."
"Speaking of which," Lynn added, glancing around. "Sam should be part of this too. Where'd she get off to?"
"She wanted some alone time with Linc," Luna replied, throwing a few jabs into the heavy bag. "I told her it was fine."
"WHAT?"
Luna flinched at the unexpected outburst and spun around. What greeted her was the sight of Lynn, her jaw clenched and her eyes twitching with barely contained fury. Almost without conscious thought, Luna found herself stepping a little bit further from her irate sibling.
"Why, would you tell her that," Lynn growled.
"Thaaaaat she could head out, or that she could have some Lincoln time?"
"Both! Either!" Lynn spat. She clenched her fists, took in a sharp breath...and exhaled. To Luna's surprise, her twitching lessened, ever so slightly.
"...Mostly," Lynn said, slowly. "I'm wondering why you gave her our little bro?"
"I didn't give anyone to anyone, Lynn," Luna replied, rolling her eyes. "Dude, why are you being weird about this? Us older gals have been sharing Linc for years. And I don't know if you've noticed, but Lucy's been making it pretty clear that she's going to be wanting a piece sooner than later."
"Sam isn't part of our arrangement!" Lynn protested. "She's your girlfriend!"
"And Lincoln's," Luna corrected her. "It's how we do things. And it isn't exactly a new arrangement either."
"Well, it's weird!" Lynn protested. "I mean, how could you possibly be okay with the two of them being involved? I barely tolerate you dopes horning in on our relationship, and I grew up having to share stuff with you!"
"It's...easier than you'd think," Luna replied, her lips quirking upward into a fond smile. "Those two are actually really cute together…"
A crowd had drawn at the Burpin' Burger. Surprisingly, the object of their attention was not the gorgeous, blonde giantess kneeling down next to the restaurant, though more than a few curious and/or admiring glances were thrown her way. No, the focus of everyone's attention was in fact, the white-haired young man who was standing in the drive-thru. Which, in and of itself would have been an amusing diversion, but it was actually the animated conversation he was having with the employee working the drive-thru window that had pulled in the crowd.
"WHAT, did we order?" Lincoln exclaimed. "I know you wrote it down, so PLEASE, just relay back to me the words that I said to you!"
"Y-you…" The hapless employee shot a worried glance at Sam, but the blonde Titan simply looked on, watching the exchange impassively. "Y-you said you wanted...uh, an order of curly fries, four Mega Mondo-sized colas, a-and a thousand Big Belcher burgers—"
"With NO, PICKLES!" Lincoln interjected, slamming his hand against the side of the building for emphasis. "My girlfriend specifically said she didn't want any pickles on her burgers! So, please tell me what I'm looking at here!"
Lincoln held up an unwrapped burger, peeled back the bun, and held it out for the employee's inspection.
"I see…" He swallowed audibly. "Some...pickles?"
"SOME, PICKLES!" Lincoln shouted, slamming the tainted burger down upon the window's attached countertop. "When she specifically asked you NOT to include ANY! You know you can't even just take them off, right? When they're this hot the juice seeps into the burger and the whole thing just marinates in it. It's more pickle than burger at this point!"
"Sir, please," The employee pleaded, shooting another glance Sam's way. "It was what, one burger out of a thousand?"
"It's the principle of the thing!" Lincoln replied, gesturing at the stone-faced giantess. "I promised my girlfriend a proper meal, and...what? Now I only get to deliver 99% of one? Are you trying to make me look bad? Is that your game?"
He slammed his fist on the counter and leaned in as close as he could manage.
"Why do you hate love?" He hissed. "Is it because she's differently heighted?"
"S-sir, I can assure you. Neither I nor Burpin Burger Incorporated hold any views, negative or otherwise toward the—"
Suddenly the employee froze in place, one hand reaching up and adjusting his headset. By straining his hears, Lincoln could hear a series of sharp squawks emanating from the tiny speaker. But not being able to discern anything more than that, he settled for simply letting the exchange play out. Finally, the now ashen-faced employee gave a small nod, and turned his attention to Lincoln once more.
"Ah...sir," He said, licking his dry lips. "As an...apology, I have been authorized to issue you another thousand burgers. Free of charge, of course. And I will be...personally inspecting them to make sure they comply with…"
He shot another worried glance at Sam. "...your order."
Lincoln pursed his lips, considering the offer. "Throw in one of those David Steele collectible cups. I still need the one with Patty Whack.
"C-consider it done," The employee replied, giving him a grateful smile. "The kitchen is working full force to fulfill your order, j-just come around to the loading dock out back, and we'll be with you shortly."
And with that, he fled back into the building. Lincoln was almost certain he could hear the sound of sobbing coming from within.
Turning back to Sam, Lincoln gave the big blonde a wave, and she leaned closer, holding her hand out so he could step aboard.
"You...were...AMAZING, Linc!" She exclaimed as she drew herself up to her full height, lifting Lincoln up to her face so they could converse. "Seriously! You just...KICKED DOWN THE DOOR! And took no prisoners!"
"Is that how it looked?" He asked, as his legs gave out on him and he collapsed to the soft ground that was Sam's palm. "Because I couldn't tell from where I was standing."
"Dude! You had them eating out of your hand!" Sam replied. "You even got that cup you wanted!" Which, BTW, very smooth that you were able to finagle that. Color me impressed."
She fluttered her eyelashes at him, and Lincoln could feel the sudden influx of heat flooding into his cheeks.
"But...seriously, Linc," Sam's face softened as she gave him a grateful smile. "Thank you so much for taking care of that for me. I would have done it myself, but…"
"But you can't be seen going off on random people," Lincoln said. "Because if people see you getting upset over a burger order, they're going to start worrying about what minor thing is eventually going to push you into going all, Rampage: World Tour on the town."
He reached down and placed his palm against hers. "I know. So I was happy to jump on that grenade for you." Lincoln reeled back as Sam's eyes began brimming with barely contained tears, the sheer cuteness of the sight slamming into him like a giant fist.
"I love you so much," She cooed, pulling him close a pressing her lips against his. When they parted a few moments later, Lincoln was wheezing from the exertion, but he could feel the grin that may very well have been permanently inscribed on his face from that point on. Their eyes met, but Sam quickly looked away, her cheeks turning pink and she began to wrap her hair around one finger.
"Guess we should go check on those burgers," She murmured, as she began making her way to the rear of the restaurant.
"You're going to share a few of those with me, right?" Lincoln asked. "Because I could definitely eat after all this."
"Of course," Sam replied, before biting her lip. "Though...I wouldn't say no if you wanted to trade a few of those burgers for that cup of yours."
"No dice. That's mine."
"Awww…"
For a few moments, all was silent between the pair save for the sounds of Sam's titanic footsteps. Then, Lincoln spoke.
"Hey, Sam?"
"Yeah, Linc?"
"I...uh, I...love you too. A lot."
"He….heeeeeeeeee!"