WWYK Ch. 1

Chapter 1 - Nothing’s Working Out

“And as noble Clarius drew his lower sword from his pants and approached his two lovely maidens, comma, who stared at him with bated breath, comma, open mouths, comma, and heaving chests, comma, he…” Nate paused, his brain freezing mid-sentence as he spoke into his expensive dictation microphone. He was seated comfortably in his office in his nice leather chair, but all the comfort in the world couldn’t ease his irritation at the unhelpful program.

It made another mistake- imagine that.

Nate highlighted ‘Drew’ as in the name ‘Drew’, deleting the capital d and replacing it with a lowercase one. For how damn expensive the software was, it always messed up one way or another about every other sentence, no matter how hard Nate trained it to recognize his speech pattern. ‘Nuance’… yeah, right. Feeding his writing to the program so it could analyze his style didn’t help, either, but the overpriced dictation software was far from the only thing driving his irritation up the walls.

He read the last few lines of his latest short story over and over again, wondering why none of it sounded all that good to him. Usually, his problems started after the sex scene began, but today he fumbled the lead-up, too. Nate had been working on this story for two days, slowly chugging along by following his brief bullet point outline, and it’d gone reasonably well until now. The story was set in a fantasy setting of his own creation he'd used for many different works, and like all of his bibliography, the content was exceedingly erotic.

That was the intention, anyway.

The idea was that this pervy nobleman with a heart of gold, Clarius Frallehelm, was about to sink his teeth into two new willing maidens he’d saved from slavery and have his fun with them after having wormed his way into their hearts. There was more to it than that thanks to some elaborate worldbuilding he'd thrown in that tied in to his other works, but it always came down to the naughty scenes with him. It excited Nate to think about being in that kind of position, but like with all his writing, he could never translate his passion for lewdness into anything of worth.

“Fuck it,” Nate sighed and scooted back in his rolling chair, ruffling his hair and rubbing his scalp. “Wait, no-” He deleted the words ‘fuck it wait no’ from his document and turned his microphone off, grumbling at the added frustration it heaped onto him.

No two ways about it; this writing session was a bust.

The latest short story from critically unacclaimed haremlit author Max Masters would have to wait, much to the disappointment of his seventeen-ish fans. Some ‘master’ he was. Nate couldn’t have picked a more ill-fitting pen name if he tried, but hey, everyone else in the haremlit sphere had overly masculine, Chad-like pen names that were just as bad- if not worse.

Nate knew that stewing over his writer’s block and beating himself up over it wouldn’t accomplish a thing, but it was hard not to be a little sour when this was a problem he’d had ever since the earliest days of his career all the way back when he was writing smut fics in high school. Other aspects of his writing had improved over the years, like his plotting, worldbuilding, dialogue, and character writing, but when it came to sex- the very thing he was most passionate about- it always felt flaccid.

Flaccid like the reviews on all of his short stories.

After two years of work and dozens upon dozens of uploads to his LewdPages account, a site where all of the best erotica and steamy romance authors gathered to sell their work after Amazon fucked them over one too many times, Nate had yet to have a single title that rated higher than three stars. The few reviews he got only vindicated his feeling towards his writing, parroting his inner thoughts like devils on his shoulder and whispering into his ear.

‘Story was okay but I had to stop reading at the cringy sex lol.’

‘Not sure why this author doesn’t just write normal novels. It’s not working out, and it’d be better without the lewd.’

‘Better luck next time.’

As a fellow cumbrain himself, Nate knew better than anyone that porn readers had lower standards than readers of just about any other genre. That his erotica couldn’t even appeal to desperate perverts who craved a woman's touch was just adding insult to injury, the fact stinging his ego like a swarm of angry hornets. The swine was too good for his slop!

In times like these, Nate always fell back on the words of wisdom his uncle gave him whenever something went wrong.

Friendship. Effort. Victory!

These words were the motto of the famous manga publication Shounen Jump, and to Nate Russell and his uncle before him, they were words to live by.

Admittedly lame ones, but a lot of people lived by worse.

He wasn’t doing so great in the friendship department these days- having become something of a recluse after the pandemic while most of his friends went off to college years prior- but no one could ever say that Nate slouched when it came to the effort. A sudden burst of energy came over him, like a hero in a battle manga getting his second wind.

Writer’s block was his Frieza, and Nate intended to Kamehameha that fucker in the dick… okay, technically, Frieza was pretty smooth down there, but that was beside the point.

Nate pressed the power button on his microphone again after scooting back closer to his computer. He looked back at where he left off and continued with his new, dictating, “Gave himself a single jerk out of anticipation, period. He wanted them, period. Their bodies, comma, their hearts, comma, everything about them, period. New paragraph. Gods, comma, his cock was hard. Harder than iron, comma, or the… the…”

Nope.

The magic still wasn't happening. Frieza won. Nate grumbled, his creativity locking up again as he was defeated in record time. He slumped his shoulders and shrugged.

“Sorry, Uncle Matt. Sometimes effort isn’t enough, I guess.” He said to himself, resigning to his fate and standing up to leave his office. Effort couldn’t make him suddenly feel like writing, even if that was what he wanted to be doing more than anything else.

Nate headed downstairs to his living room, intending to figure out what he wanted to do next with his day. It was a little past four in the afternoon, so there was plenty of time to do something else and try his hand at writing again a little later. At least he wasn’t lacking when it came to entertainment options.

When Uncle Matt died and left his favorite nephew his house, his money, and all his worldly possessions, Nate inherited perhaps the most bitching living room known to man. It had a giant 4K tv with an entertainment center built into the walls around it where game consoles of every generation were stored in little cubbies, and there were more shelves of games, movies, and anime box sets than one man could go through in a lifetime. Add in an expensive surround sound system, a pair of recliners, a big ass couch that was comfy as sin, tons of anime figurines, and even a mini fridge, and it was safe to say that Nate didn’t want for anything save for someone to share it with, maybe.

It was a big house made even bigger by the absence of his uncle.

Nate plopped down on the nearest recliner and pulled out his smartphone, checking the Discord server he and his friends had used since high school. Back in the day, he had five close friends he used to hang out with, but the most they did with each other now was talk online and play games on voice chat. It was still pretty early in the day to see if anyone was around, most would be busy with their part-time jobs or college, but it didn’t hurt to try.

‘Anyone up for farming some Gaismagorm?’ Nate typed. ‘@BetterCallPaul if you still need help with Astalos just hmu.’

He gave it a good fifteen minutes while he checked out some gaming news sites, but no one responded in the end, and he wasn’t feeling up to hunting monsters on his lonesome. There weren’t any games he wanted to play, really. No shows he wanted to watch or any anime, either.

Hentai it was, then.

Nate had a quick fap while browsing his favorite tag- harem, obviously. He’d read all his hentai manga favorites a dozen times over, and it always frustrated him deeply how much untranslated hentai there was for his biggest fetish. Still, Nate found something to enjoy after some searching, and enjoy it he did.

He even got something out of it beyond the transient pleasure he was looking for, too.

As soon as he’d cleaned up and disposed of his tissues, Nate sat on the couch where a hulking mammoth of a journal rested on the coffee table before him. On the cover, the words ‘Sex Note’ were displayed proudly, having been applied with stickers. The Sex Note was where Nate stored all the lewd ideas he wanted to eventually work into his writing someday.

It was filled with some profoundly filthy shit, and his latest find was no exception.

The hentai manga he’d just read featured an imaginative scene where the male character had to thrust his cock through the breasts of one girl to penetrate the pussy of another. It was utterly impractical unless you were pretty big, but practicality wasn’t precisely a fetish of Nate’s. The unrealistic sexual act was hot to him and might make for a fun gimmick in one of his scenes someday, so into the Sex Note it went.

When he finished writing the idea down, he closed the journal and sauntered into the kitchen to wash his hands and have something to eat. After a quick bowl of pretzels, Nate found himself in the same situation he’d been in an hour ago. He still didn’t feel like doing anything in particular, which went doubly so when he considered leaving the house.

His parents lived in town, but they were a bit estranged from him, and Nate didn’t want to drive halfway across town just to be told off for his career choice. He could maybe stop by the store and pick up some groceries, but delivery was so much more convenient these days, and he didn’t want to use his old, crappy Ford Escort if he didn’t have to. It was a certified junker about ten years ago, and the only reason Nate didn’t bother replacing it was because he’d always been an indoors person who didn’t care much for cars in the first place.

Then, the whole world-changing event happened, and now Nate was even more of a recluse than ever. At least he made it through those scary times. Becoming a shut-in was a pretty cheap price to pay in exchange.

Still, Nate couldn’t sit around and do nothing for the rest of the day in good conscience. Before making his decision, however, he pulled out his phone and gave into a compulsion that was constantly chewing away at the back of his mind- the urge to check his LewdPages reports tab to see his earnings for today.

After seeing the result, he wished he hadn’t.

No new sales today, and only around two hundred pages of his stories were read with LewdPages Unlimited. All in all, he was looking at just under a single dollar. It was Wednesday, the 22nd of March, 2023, and he didn’t see himself making more than $150 by the end of the month- and it was only that high since he'd had a few releases already.

Uncle Matt ensured Nate wasn’t hurting for money, but his lack of progress in his career still soured him. Worse, he couldn’t help feeling like he was letting the man down after everything he did for him. Only because of his inheritance could he chase his dreams and live the way he did, and what did he have to show for it?

Knowing that train of thought to be poisonous, Nate abandoned it and made his plan for the rest of the night. First, he’d shower, and then he’d chill out in bed for a few hours reading manga before seeing if he could sneak in another writing session before midnight.

It was his habit to grind out his word count as high as possible for any given day, so he at least had to try and raise it a little more. On a good day, he could reach 5k, and on a fantastic day, 10k. Currently, Nate was sitting at 3k and was thus unsatisfied.

Nate had his shower and ended up developing a few ideas in there that were worthy of the Sex Note, so he jotted them down after he was nice and dry before heading to his bedroom on the second floor. It used to be Matt’s, and although he replaced the bed not long after he died, the place mostly remained untouched other than that. It shared similar stylings with the living room, having a decent tv, cool posters, and tons of shelves, though instead of games and anime, the shelves up here were filled with manga and the rare few Western comics that Matt was a fan of.

The ones in the bedroom were mostly Matt’s favorites- but there was a whole reading room across the hall filled with nothing but manga. Nate had practically grown up in that room, much to the displeasure of his parents.

While other kids were watching pranks channels on YouTube or soaking up the no doubt quality content on the Disney Channel, Nate was reading about exploits of the Band of the Hawk to the tune of ‘Tell Me Why’. It sure was nice growing up around an awesome, inexplicably rich uncle that Nate’s parents didn’t want to risk upsetting. If they wanted help with groceries or whatever expenses came up here and there, they had little choice but to let their son visit Matt whenever he wanted.

Matt’s influence could be felt in every aspect of Nate’s personality, and when Nate settled in bed to read something, it was manga and not other haremlit like he arguably should’ve been reading. It wouldn’t hurt to study the technique of other authors, and he did do so from time to time, but he wasn’t feeling like it tonight. He had to be in a certain mood for that since, although he respected many of his fellow writers, Nate had extremely specific tastes regarding the erotica he consumed.

Not only that, but he was very picky with his harems in general.

That’s why whenever Nate found something lewd that matched his tastes, he clung to it hard. Such was the case with a recent series he'd found by the name of Chained Soldier.

The plot was roughly about a society where women were in control because an alternate dimension in Tokyo appeared with peaches that gave women superpowers. In that dimension, there were also demons and junk, and the main character is almost a victim of one but is saved by the first girl of his eventual harem. Her superpower is to temporarily make others her slaves and empower them by riding on them, but it resonates super strongly with the MC, so he’s enlisted into the all-female defense corp as her pet. Oh, and the heroine’s power also forces her to give him sexual rewards equivalent to whatever he did for her as her slave.

Great stuff.

Nate loved it because the MC was open to all these lewd things happening to him and didn’t avoid them, wasn’t spineless, and although the heroine got a little too much attention for his liking, he mostly didn’t play favorites between all the girls who were after him. Nate couldn’t stand any harem series where the MC had to pick, but it was almost as bad when there was one girl the MC loved more than all the others yet still kept them around as hanger-ons he occasionally pity fucked.

It didn’t seem like the series was heading in those directions, and while that was subject to change as the series was still ongoing, Nate currently loved it.

The only problem was that Nate read through the series so fast that he didn’t realize he was so close to catching up to the current chapter. Not even an hour later, he was done, subjected to that awful emptiness that came with finishing an ongoing story and wanting to know what would happen next. It was a truly horrendous experience where he could only reflect on what he’d just read and wonder, what now?

Inevitably, such thoughts and ennui only led the mind to places dark and foul- like Twitter.

Nate booted up the app on his phone and felt ashamed of himself for doing so, wondering what kind of wackiness had ensued ala the new management since his last visit. Thankfully, his timeline was primarily filled with fan art of sexy anime women of every shape, size, and hair color. He liked many of the ones he saw, as being a harem fetishist left him weak to just about every archetype of girl.

However, as he scrolled the fanart, Nate was a little upset. He wished he could make something that inspired people to draw things for him one day. Of course, that just made him start thinking about work again, and his mood took a hit. It was dangerous when the tweet button was in plain sight, tempting him to vent his frustrations to his scant number of followers, assuming they even saw it. Knowing it was more akin to tweeting into the void, he drafted up something simple to express himself at the risk of sounding whiny.

‘Not feeling great about a lot of things today, but mostly about my writing. Don’t feel like I’m improving a lot despite how long I’ve been doing it, and it sucks me into a depressive loop. Hate feeling like this.’

After hesitating momentarily, Nate pressed the send button and sent his frustration into the world for all to see. Paranoia got to him a moment later, though, and he felt the need to tack on a follow-up tweet.

‘Still, I can’t complain too much. Things are otherwise okay besides being in a rut.’

Nate wasn’t sure who he was trying to reassure with that. Himself, probably, but that bastard wasn’t easily convinced. He sighed and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling idly with a blank look on his face. It wasn’t long until his post-tweet regret started to creep in, and Nate struggled with the idea of deleting what he’d said. No one liked people who fished for attention, and the more time passed while he stared blankly, the larger Nate’s desire to scrub the cringe from his timeline increased.

Frowning, he pulled up his phone again and returned to Twitter, only for it to vibrate before he even got back to his profile. The notification at the top of his screen informed Nate that someone had replied to his tweet- something he hadn’t expected to happen in the slightest.

When he saw who it came from, though, it made a little more sense.

It was from CagedBirdSings01- someone who’d been following Nate since he first started posting his fanfiction publicly way, way back in his freshman year of high school.

While Nate had never talked with them in an extended capacity beyond replying to their comments on his work here and there, he knew this user to be generally supportive, if a little blunt with their critiques. They never held back on what they perceived could be improved, but they also praised him in their reviews whenever there was something worth praising, which meant a lot to Nate.

Constructive criticism was always invaluable, especially when it came from people who knew how to soften the blow.

It read, ‘U good, Max? If things are rough rn, my DMs are open.’

Nate stared at the reply for a while in contemplation. He felt happy that this fan of his was looking out for him, but he was still embarrassed for having sent the tweet in the first place. Part of him didn’t want to trouble CagedBirdSings01, but since it was someone who’d been commenting on his crap for eight long years, he was a little more open to the idea of maybe talking about his problems with them.

He swallowed his pride and sent them a DM.

‘Hey, sorry. I try not to vent, but… I dunno. Crappy day, I guess. Thanks for hitting me up.’

The response came quickly, almost like they were waiting for him.

‘Don’t be sorry!! Fr, can’t keep everything bottled up all the time lol. And dw about it, happy to lend an ear.’

Nate smiled at the friendliness of his fan. Though it might’ve just been words on a screen, a spot of kindness was deeply appreciated right about now. Really showed how starved for attention he was that something so simple could perk him up, but Nate was happy all the same.

‘That means more than you think, lol.’

‘Why, don’t got anyone else to listen to ur bitching lmao??’

‘Sadly, no.’

‘Fucccckkkk. Ye u prolly have a lot on ur chest then dude. Lay it on me! I can take it!!’

‘Well, I was trying to do some writing earlier today on a new short story I’m trying to put out, but I kept freezing up, and now I’ve wasted several hours doing fuck all.’

‘Hey, doing fuck all is like… basic self-care. It’s good to just lay around and shit every once in a while!! Better than forcing it when ur not in the mood.’

‘I know, I know, but it happens all the time lately, and I feel like it’s just not getting better. Worse, I don’t even feel like doing anything in particular when I’m not writing. I just kinda lay around, fap, or read manga.’

The response was a bit slower this time, making Nate worried he had made things too real for a second until he saw the display change to indicate the other person was typing.

‘Bro that sounds yikes. Are u depressed? That would explain liiiike... a lot.’

‘I mean, probably?’

‘Shiiit. Sorry if any of my reviews have ever got u down or anything.’

‘No, don't worry. I always look forward to seeing you chime in lol. The negative reviews I get aren’t what really drag me down. It’s more of a general thing, I think?’

‘Fair. U know why u get those kinda reviews tho, right??’

Nate bit his lip. ‘Because my sex scenes suck.’

‘P much, ye. I’m not gonna talk down to u and ask why u keep insisting on writing smut when u could prolly dream up some half-decent isekai bullshit and hit that sweet, sweet market over on Scamazon, u obviously write what u do cause ur a perv and enjoy it, but fr. Something has to give if ur ever gonna get any better.’

The bluntness of CagedBirdSings01’s message hit Nate hard, but not as hard as it would’ve if he hadn’t seen it coming. He nodded along to it as he read it and was thankful they didn’t bother telling him to pack it in and try something else. Since he was already opening himself up, Nate took things further and asked, ‘Do you have any ideas?’

‘Well, the biggest thing I wanna know is if u have an editor or not. Someone who reads ur junk early and points out where things suck and aren’t working, you know? P sure u don’t but I’m just making sure.’

‘No. I have some friends who sometimes read my stories if they have time, but it’s mostly just idle praise from them.’

‘That’d be the first thing I’d recommend, then. There’s no writer alive who wouldn't benefit from a good editor!!'

Nate thought this all made a lot of sense, and it’s not like he’d never thought of it before. It was just that he was sparse when using his uncle’s money. Besides bills, groceries, and occasional purchases he made here and there that added to the house’s nerdy shit, Nate only dipped into it to pay for cover artists to make his stories look presentable. If there was anything that was a worthwhile expense, though, it was probably an editor…

‘I think you’re right.’

‘Good. When do I start lol?’

He laughed at that, but the follow-up took him off guard.

‘Being dead srs tho. I’d love to get hands-on with u and help out a little if you’d let me!! I know I’m typing shorthand and shit, but I went to college to study English lmao. Won’t charge anything, either.’

Nate considered this offer for a minute, the most extended delay in his messages so far. He had nothing to lose by accepting their offer, but he wasn’t entirely sure yet. Just as he was on the verge of telling them he would think about it, another curveball was thrown, one even more unexpected than the first.

‘We could even hang out together and do it in person if u want, ‘Max’. It would be nice to see u again after so long! It’s been like… since fucking graduation lol. Wait u do still live in Willowbrook, right? P sure u do but just making sure.’

What the fuck?

Nate stared at his phone in disbelief.

Did he know this person for eight fucking years and somehow never picked up on that fact? The timeline didn’t even make sense to him. Besides his friends, only one other person even knew Nate was writing that long ago. As far as he remembered, she should be off at some fancy college far away from Willowbrook, Iowa. He also couldn’t entertain the possibility that she'd been reading and commenting on his body of lustful work ever since, of all people.

It had to be one of the guys playing a prank on him. CagedBirdSings01 was one of their alt or something. It had to be. But… if it really was her…?

‘Wait, you can’t just drop that bombshell on me like it’s no big deal and expect me to go along with it. Who are you?’ He asked, feeling a wide range of conflicting emotions.

‘Wanna hint lol?’

‘I’d really prefer if you just told me.’

‘Nah I think u’d like the hint a LOT more lmaoooo trust me.’

Nate sighed, then made what would become a shockingly great decision in retrospect. ‘Fine. I’ll take the hint.’

Not even a few seconds later, Nate was suddenly staring at the first lewd selfie of his entire life.

The photo featured a girl with bronze skin standing in front of a mirror with her phone held out in one hand. The other hand was drawing up her black tank top, exposing the underboob of some really, really impressive tits. She wore denim shorts, the thin strings of her panties clinging to her wide hips, and her midriff was entirely on display, exposing a tight tummy with a silver navel piercing.

Nate could hardly stop staring at the girl’s outrageous curves, but when he finally pulled his eyeball from them, he looked up to see the frame cut her upper face. The girl must’ve had really short hair because he couldn’t see any aside from bright blonde bangs framing the sides of her cheeks. While that was awesome, and Nate loved him a girl with short hair, the most unbelievable part of the entire selfie was the girl’s lips.

Thick, luscious, coated in purple lipstick, they were practically begging to be kissed… if it weren’t for the lollipop stick jutting out from the corner of her smile. All these years later, and she still hadn't broken her habit, huh?

Nate was already harder than he’d been in his entire life, but… knowing who the photo came from somehow made it even more arousing. Still, though. If this was really who he thought it was, then what the hell happened to her in college?

A sudden vibration of his phone snapped him out of his lustful daze.

‘omg stop jacking off and say something LMAO ive never done that before holy shit I’m so nervousssss ahhhh’

‘I’m not jacking off.’ Was all he could think to say in response.

‘Well u can if u want to, lol. Why do u think I sent it??’

‘Uh I don’t know, actually. I was kind of hoping you would explain why you sent that, tbh. Not complaining- but like… I thought this was about editing?’

‘Can’t it be about more than one thing, Nate?’

‘Look, I’m not convinced this all isn’t a hallucination summoned forth by my sad and lonely mind. Everything feels super surreal right now, so if you could spell out the other thing this is about, I’d be really grateful.’

‘lol so cute omg. I think it’d be a lot easier to explain in person tho. Tell me ur address, and we can start editing as early as tonite, and maybe we’ll have time to talk about why I sent u a naughty pic when we’re done… if you’re a wuss tho we can meet up somewhere else tomorrow. Up to you~’

Nate was a weak man, his brain addled by years of hentai consumption to the point where the corruption was terminal. He could only see what was happening as the erotic opportunity of a lifetime. Hell, this entire situation was like something he’d write about in one of his stories.

But was he a wuss? Could he really just give out his address just like that to a girl he hadn’t seen in years who, for all he knew, could’ve been running some kind of elaborate catfishing scam? Yes, he could, and that’s precisely what he did.

Nate sent her his address.

‘Fuck this is actually happening lmao!! Kk, give me like an hour to get readyyyy. U should take a long look at that pic before I get there tho and make sure u get it all out of your system. Never know what might happen XOXO okay srsly tho be there soon bye!!’

Nate waited another minute, but no other messages arrived. He was stunned at what he’d just done, but… what other option did a guy like him have? It then hit him that he only had an hour to get ready for her, if that. Although the house wasn’t super dirty or anything, he still would’ve liked to tidy up a bit- assuming the insane amounts of need shit on display didn’t make her pussy drier than the Sahara the moment she saw it, that is.

But… if he didn’t take care of his erection of a lifetime, he might be in a different kind of trouble by the sound of things. Jacking off to the selfie he was so kindly sent was the easiest decision he’d ever made. He’d jacked off to her many times in high school and even in the years since, so it wasn’t like this was anything weird for him… even if the visual stimulation was new.

Fuck.

Between her new tanned skin, makeup, jewelry, and naturally blonde hair, she reminded him of a gyaru girl- one of his absolute favorite archetypes of girls in Japanese media- especially its porn. They were a staple of his own writing, for that matter. Nate had pretty good stamina even when using one of his various onaholes, but staring at that picture of her got him going so fast that he couldn’t even grab a tissue in time from off his nightstand.

“Shit!” He cursed, cleaning it up after the fact. It didn’t help that he always came like a horse, and the mess he’d made spread far across the bed and his thigh. If they ended up in the bed, she’d definitely smell it, and…

Jesus Christ, there was a non-zero percent chance of a girl ending up in his bed tonight. Nate couldn’t afford to waste any more time. He went to the bathroom and rinsed himself off, put on some deodorant, brushed his hair, put on some nice clothes, and then rushed off to tidy things up downstairs.

Nate did all kinds of little things to improve his living room in a total rush, not limited to spraying some air freshener to hide the scent of his earlier masturbation session in the recliner. He was in a frenzy, even though the house wasn’t even that bad in the first place. It didn't matter- too much was at stake. This would be the first time a girl ever came over to his place, and if she was looking for a hookup like it sounded like she was, then…

The sound of a motorcycle engine blared from his driveway. No, it wasn’t quite loud enough to be a motorcycle... maybe it was a scooter? Fuck, why did it even matter?

She was here, and Nate was out of time.

He looked at the state his living room was in and begrudgingly accepted this was the best he could do. Maybe if he hadn’t jacked off to the selfie, Nate would’ve had more time, but hey. He was only human.

Dread, anticipation, and excitement filled him as he went to the foyer to greet his visitor. Just as he reached it, the doorbell went off. Nate’s hand shot forward, opening the door without even checking through the peephole to see who was on the other side.

Nate stared at the young woman on his porch, openly gawking at her in less of a perverted, creepy way and more of a stunned, silent way. It was exactly who he expected it to be, though that didn’t make it any less surprising.

“Nicole?”

The girl greeted Nate with the brightest smile he’d ever seen. “Sorta. These days, I’d prefer ‘Nicki’ if you don’t mind!”

“Uh, yeah. Sure thing, Nicki.” Nate scratched the back of his head and offered a much less impressive smile as he not-so-subtly took in the sight of the girl in his doorway.

Nicki was wearing a pink, unzipped puffy coat with a fur collar and cuffs, pink tennis shoes, a black crop top with the word ‘BAKA’ written in red with an aggressive font, and the same denim shorts she had on in the selfie she sent. Just like he’d guessed from the pic, her hair was super short now, but in a stylish and trendy way. Adding to the fashionable look was a single silver earring on her right ear and a silver chain necklace with multiple heart-shaped pendants hanging from it, not to mention the navel piercing he’d seen earlier that night.

Though her skin was deeply tanned, Nicki still had the same bright blue eyes now marked by heavy purple eyeshadow, the same tender smile, and, as always, a trademark lollipop sticking out of her mouth.

Nate was wondering about the baka shirt, though. As far as he could remember, Nicki was never into anime. If that was no longer the case, maybe the whole gyaru girl look was intentional?

“Breathe it in as long as you like, dude, but I’m gonna have to charge if you keep staring!” Nicki crossed her arms and playfully cocked her hip.

“Shit,” Nate awkwardly laughed and stepped back a bit. “I’m sorry, it’s just… I figured it was you, but you looked a lot different in… the, ah, the picture you sent, and now that you’re actually here, it’s a lot to take in.”

“Four years is a long time, Nate. People change.” Nicki teased by stepping into his personal space. “Maybe not for you, though. You look pretty much the same! Or… actually… is it just me, or did you fill out a little more?” She wrapped her hand around his bicep and gave it a playful squeeze as she asked.

“I mean, I have a dumbbell I lift sometimes, but… uh…” Nate stumbled mid-sentence, then admitted, “Fuck, you haven't even been here for more than a minute, and I'm already kind of choking here, if I’m being honest.”

“Aww!” Nicki took her hand away and smirked. “It’s pretty cute that you’re all, like, nervous and shit, but you really don't have to be. Don’t sweat it.”

“Trying my best here,” Nate smiled appreciatively. “But you’re making it pretty hard.”

“Am I, now?” Nicki playfully drew her lollipop from her mouth and wagged it at him, the corners of her mouth lifting up in a catty smirk.

“God fucking damn it,” Nate had no choice but to laugh at that. “Case in point.”

Nicki responded with an even wilier grin and said, “Hehehe. Anyway, are you gonna invite your new editor inside, or what?”

“Yeah. I can’t believe it, but I guess I am. Come on in, Nicki. I’ll show you around.”

“Dope! But first things first, get over here!” Nicki got in close again, and before he knew it, Nate was pulled into her substantial chest as she gave him the tightest bear hug of his life. “God, it’s so fucking good to see you again, Nate…”

The Nicole he remembered was nowhere near as affectionate as the one standing before him, but Nate could hardly find much to complain about from his current position. Somehow, he summoned the courage required to hug her back, and from the confines of her tits, he said, “You too, Nicki. You too.”