I sat with Darcy, Jewel, and Mrs. Rarity eating some brought home dinner from a finer end fast food place. Darcy sat next to me, while Jewel and Rarity sat on either end of the table. Darcy kept her mouth to a glass, all the while secretly bumping my hoof or pushing her leg between mine. I stopped eating for a moment and looked up at her. "Darcy...really?"

Darcy looked off to the side and kept a glassful of juice to her lips. Her hoof forced itself between my own, nipping up and down, trying to get my shoe off. Jewel kept a hoof against her bright red face, giggling and laughing as she ate. Rarity glared at her child. "Jewel...what's wrong with you?"

I huffed softly as I felt my right shoe come off, Darcy growing a playful smile behind her glass, green eyes joining in. "Darcy is molesting my leg...I think jewel is peeking under the table."

Darcy pulled her legs back to herself just as Rarity leaned down. "Hmm? I'm doing what?" She wore such a smug grin, I couldn't help but feel a jolt of rage shoot up my spine. "You look mad." She smiled and dipped her head towards her glass. "Are you mad?"

I pursed my lips into a cartoonish frown. I kept staring as Rarity pushed back up. "Mr. Work, you're missing a shoe."

I sighed loudly. "I noticed. Like I said, Darcy is molesting me."

Darcy rolled her eyes. "Oh you're no fun." Darcy put her hoof against my right leg.

Rarity laughed into her good hoof, nearly falling once again. "Oh dear--"

"Are you alright!?" I hopped up, Darcy's hoof jammed up against the top of my shoe. "Darcy!"

"I'm gonna get that shoe off!" Darcy put her drink down and grabbed the table.

Rarity just kept laughing as she straightened out. "Oh dear, do you two need some alone time?"

I grumbled angrily and pulled my shoe off myself. "She's insufferable!" I tossed the shoe down, Jewel lost her shit as I did, bursting out laughing and pointing. "It's not playful--"

Darcy smiled wryly, "Yes it is."

"No, it's bloody not!"

Rarity coughed into her hoof. "Actually it is."

"No!"

Darcy pushed her leg between my hooves. "Yes."

"No it's not!"

Rarity closed her eyes and nodded. "It's rather cute."

"I'm not cute!"

Darcy grabbed my arm and pulled me back into my seat. "Depends on who you ask."

Rarity waved a hoof, again almost falling and causing Jewel to spit a chunk of food onto her plate. Jewel shoved her hooves in her mouth to stop herself. Rarity glared at her child before looking back to me. "You know, if you wish I could take Jewel to bed, give you two--"

Darcy smiled sharply. "I'd love to spend the night."

Rarity laughed. "Oh my, I think Glass might combust if I let you, and I must admit I'm tempted."

I held my arms out, "You want me to play?"

Rarity looked to me out of the corner of her eye. "It couldn't hurt to see you lighten up."

"Fine." I leaned back in my chair and grabbed Darcy under her knees. I pulled her sideways, laying her legs over my lap. Darcy held on to the edge of the chair, almost falling backwards on her way. I leaned back my shoes off, a mare in my lap, Jewel suffocating as she tried to keep from laughing. "Darcy...come here." I swung my arm around, keeping her from falling backwards off the side of her chair. "There, I'm light!"

Rarity and Darcy looked to eachother. Rarity covered her mouth with a hoof. "Glass, you look extremely uncomfortable."

"I'm trying!" I hurried and helped Darcy off my lap. "I'm trying...playing and touching hooves and--"

Darcy grabbed my leg and drew it over her knee, letting my hoof sit between her legs. "This alright?"

I sighed loudly and pulled my leg back, slipping it between the back of Darcy's. She crossed her hooves, trapping my leg between hers. "There...I'm okay with this." Darcy squeezed my leg, dipping her lips against her glass yet again, smiling as she moved her hand. I couldn't help but smile, she like to torture me, but something about having her squeeze my leg like that, and the smile, and even the shoe thing started to melt me. "Alright...enough with the smile."

Darcy made an absurd angry face. "Oh you're such a stick in the mud."

Rarity looked to me, levitating a bit of hay into her mouth. "So...who's staying where? Because, and I am sorry Darcy, but I'd rather not have some couple besides myself and Vintage sharing my sheets."

Darcy shook her head. "Um...we haven't even kissed."

Rarity cocked an eyebrow and turned to me. "Glass, really? After all the time you two have spent together I'd thought you'd been going at it like bunnies-- Jewel, room, now!"

The filly bolted upright and sprinted out of the kitchen. Everyone watched the filly scramble away, her voice shrill, still never speaking a word aside from roaring laughter at my physical anxiety. "...Little monster. Rarity, your--"

"I know." Rarity tossed a bit of food into her mouth with a graceful show of magic. "Believe me, I didn't raise her like that." Rarity dabbed her lips, leaving purple smears on her napkin. "Now, it is a bit late, and I think it's time you saw Ms. Macintosh home." Rarity stood up and turned to the door. "Stay the night with her if you must, but be ready in the morning. I'm tailoring a few outfits and I need a model, so come home showered." She whipped her tail around. "No need to come home sweaty and spent, if you are sweaty and spent, perhaps a shower might help, hmm? A quick wash? Soft skin, touching-" Rarity waggled her hips, looking back at me and Darcy with a smile. "-or maybe just kiss her and keep things innocent. Either way, enjoy your night, both of you."

I watched Rarity leave. "Gods...she really lays it on thick, doesn't she?"

Darcy rubbed my leg between her hooves. "A little bit." She let my hoof go and stood up. "But it is pretty late." She looked to the back door, out into the market. "Did you want to come over? I'd appreciate if you spent the night."

"Why? I'm not about to rush in and stick myself between your legs after a week." I stood up, grabbing a few bits of meat as I did.

Darcy smiled at me. "First off, I think you did." She looked towards the door, her headband's ends flopping against her head as she turned. "Hoofsies aside, I meant cuddling." Darcy rubbed her arms. "I get lonely, I mean, if you--"

I sighed loudly, the prospect of not having to sleep alone lit up my heart. "I used to sleep in the same bed as my brother, you have to when it gets cold enough...." I turned to the doorway into the boutique. "I'll go grab some clothes."

Darcy grabbed me before I could leave. "Glass, you trust me right?"

I carefully removed Darcy's hand. "As much as I can, considering you're asking me."

Darcy swung herself around me. "Then wait here. I wanna get your clothes."

I rubbed my face. "Do I get to pick yours?"

Darcy smiled as she slipped out of the kitchen. "If you want." She disappeared into the dark room, leaving me standing alone in the half empty kitchen. My mind drifted to Cider, to Applejack, to Darcy's mother. It seemed that the orchards bred women of superb form, even if that meant they came with a bit of hick and far too much comfort with strangers.

I sighed loudly. "I suppose...it's not a terrible price." And, in the back of my mind, I couldn't help but be excited. As much as I hated it, as much as I loathed their excitable ways, their overly happy ways, their everything, I was excited. The heat was subsiding, the grass was green like I didn't even know existed, and I could actually roam if I ever had the time. Back home, you stuck to the corridors or went out into the ice in some sort of tank or car, carriage, something to keep you from freezing to death, but here I could just walk.

I could go outside, I could walk my mare home at night without having to run through corridor after corridor, I could breathe fresh air and walk at the same time. Darcy popped back into the room with a bundle of clothes. "Here, I didn't make it weird."

I took the clothes and tucked them under my arm. "I'm sure. Now, can we go?"

Darcy took the lead, holding the door as I hurried outside. "Excited?"

"Been thinking more and more about life down here. I mean, life outside Storm Side, Crystal Empire, Canterlot, anywhere the sun actually shines." I rubbed my arm, bare white skin for the first time in years. "It feels good to be able to touch the air, and not have to get treatment for frostbite."

The town was quiet, the street lamps lit, a few thestrals milling around as the sun set. Even at night his town had life, much smaller in number, but life all the same. Shops only lit during the night, dim red lights to soothe the eyes of the night dwelling kinds. A town with two lives. I carried along, following Darcy through the streets. "Glass, sorry."

I hurried up to her, having fallen a bit behind in my gawking. "Hmm? For what?"

Darcy put her hand on the back of her neck, popping out the bright orange streak that ran through her otherwise black hair. It seemed odd, I'd never really put much thought into her hair, I should have. "I feel like I went a bit overboard--"

"With the hoof thing? A little." I caught a look at her face, tanned skin still dotted with freckles across her nose. Her hair sported a bright orange bang, sitting wide and strong amidst the pale black. "It's fine though.... I asked you, out, for lack of a better word.... Oh, and I really don't mind too much, just enough to say something."

Darcy looked me up and down. "So you're not mad?"

"I was flustered, but mad, no not at all." I stretched my free arm as we approached her street, the constant clop of hooves reminding me I had no shoes. "The shoe thing, the shoe thing did piss me off quite a bit...."

Darcy laughed softly. "Sorry."

I shook my head. "If you want to do that, please, not in front of Rarity. She's letting me stay there, she's a potential business partner, and I've been sneaking a few petty gems from her stock."

Darcy's eyes went wide. "You've been--"

"I leave packets of bits in her work room, so...I am paying for them. But yes, I'm stealing gems." I put my hand up. "Sue me."

Darcy nudged me with her shoulder. "Or I could just keep kicking your shoes off."

I turned away. "I suppose you could. Again, it would have been fine if I wasn't trying to eat, and keep up appearances of professionalism. Yes, Glass Work, pinnacle of professionalism! Watch as my marefriend plays hoofsies with me under your dining table!"

"Are we doing impressions now?" Darcy puffed out her chest. "Oi I'm no fun, I work all day and complain about humidity like I'm ninety! I asked Darcy out but when she tries to play and help me adjust I just huff and puff like some blustering mule!"

"A mule, really!?" I walked backwards before her, clearing my throat before attempting my girl's voice. "I'm Darcy, I'm so excited, everyone in my town is so friendly I can just walk in and pee while somepony is taking a shower! Oh, sorry, I thought you were my dad!"

Darcy rolled her eyes, her tail, tied off at the end, wooshed around wildly. "Alright, alright, I said sorry! Me and my dad are the only ones who use that shower, and that's only when mom is using the upstairs one! I had no I--"

"If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to see me naked." I jeered, trying to steer the conversation into a calmer mood.

Darcy scoffed. "Oh please, I've had to take care of my cousins, and after you've seen one nude little kid run around, you've seen them all."

I shook my head. "Nude? Like--"

"They play in the mud, then strip down and go play in the orchard." Darcy shrugged. "Everypony tells me and Cider to watch them, but I'm not fast enough to catch them all!"

I frowned hard. "You know, you saying you don't care about me naked...it hurts my pride." I coughed roughly and turned around to check if I knew anyone out. "No? Alright...Darcy, something I should tell you if this ever goes past innocence...I've--"

Darcy shot her head back, leaning away from me. "STD?"

"Oh god no!" I shook my head hard, making myself dizzy. "No, no, I- god no." I stopped shaking my head and turned to face Darcy's street, her house plain as ever. "I had issues with...size, as a younger stallion." I rubbed my lips with my wrist. "Nothing like getting laughed out after your first time...."

Darcy cringed hard and walked past me. "Oh, man.... That's rough."

I shrugged and cocked my head. "Needless to say my ego was annihilated, so...I uh--"

"I won't laugh--"

"Well it's not a problem anymore!" I felt my face start to burn. "Bloody-- piss.... I could ask any mare out, but this is always a pisser." I took a deep breath as Darcy stepped up onto her porch. "I took potions to, increase size. So, I just thought I'd share if it seemed disproportional...."

Darcy grew a bit pink, standing there, one hand on her door, one on the railing to her porch. "Uh...is it like a foot?"

I shook my head. "No- no, I'm not stupid, it's.... Can we go inside? I'd rather not talk about my issue out in public."

Darcy puffed out her cheeks and pulled the door open. "Sure, Mac might here and stomp you like a watermelon, but okay."

"Heah." I walked in after her and hurried down her hall. "Anyways, it's, above average, but not stupidly so." I stuffed my hands in my pockets. "They actually warn you about it, that if you drink too much of the potion it might be too big, and it might rot." I felt a shiver run up through my spine. "Nothing more romantic than talking about somepony's penis rotting off."

I turned to face Darcy. She was bright pink across her freckled cheeks. "Uh, wow. Why'd you tell me this now?"

I cocked my head. "If you wanted to leave. I want to be transparent here, and if it's something that you don't like I'd rather we cut it off now then draw this out until I'm dug in like a tick."

Darcy smiled at me then turned to the wall. "I'm not really worried about it. Not sure if you're used to this, but I'm not here trying to have sex. I like you, you're fun to play with and you seem nice." She stuck her tongue out at me. "And I've got a few things to take care of the whole, sex, thing."

"Eeeyup."

I locked up and immediately started stepping back. "No...no...no, no, no--no-no." I backed into the bathroom, barely catching a glimpse of a red face peeking over the edge of the hall. "I'll be in here for the night!" I clutched my clothes to my chest as Darcy and Mac talked. We'd talked before, but getting caught like this was going to end with someone in the ground or in a trashcan.

The door slowly creeped open, Big Mac's orange mane showing first. "Glass, come on out." Mac swung his head down the hall.

I bit my tongue hard, letting it jut from my lips as I followed. "Sure, I've lived long enough." I sauntered behind the massive pony, lurching towards my death with each step. "Sir, if you're going to kill me, just do it. I'd prefer to end it quickly."

Mac turned around, blocking me from the exit. "Nope...." He looked me up and down. "Open."

I ran through a quick list of things I could open. "My mouth?"

Big Mac nodded. I popped my mouth open. "Hmm, smoke?"

"Nuh sur."

Mac leaned in. "Breath's okay.... You're the one at the old workshop...you talk with Darcy much?"

I nodded and closed my mouth. "Almost every day for the past two weeks, few days missing. I think she--"

"Mmmhmm." Mac walked around me, his short cut tail low. He looked up at me, glaring at me. "Ya got plans?"

"Get changed into something warm, spend the night in your guest room."

Big Mac's expression changed in a flash to something tired. "...Really?"

I took a deep breath. "You asked if I had a plan. My plans, far different than Darcy's."

Mac cocked an eyebrow. "How so?"

I shifted from hoof to hoof. "I would be fine staying under the same roof as her, but she wants me to sleep with her. And when I say sleep...I mean sleep. I mean laying down, clothed--"

"I get ya." Mac turned to the window, accidentally bumping me with his flank. "Sorry." He turned back to me, blocking me from the exit. "You the reason she's been out a lot?"

"Part of it." I stretched my neck. "I'm not--"

Mac looked over to a small piece on the table under their pictures. "This yours?" He nudged his head to a solid glass apple I'd molded.

I bit my tongue. "Can I see it?" I walked over and picked up the glass bit. Green crystal, molded with spun stem and leaf. "I believe so."

Mac walked up next to me. "Ya work hard?"

"I try. Seems this town conspires to see me relax more than I wish, but I'd say so."

Mac huffed softly. "Eeyep...." He turned to me with his normal flat expression. "...Try and get her to clean up."

I snapped my head to him. "Wha?"

Mac shook his head and turned to the door outside. "Filly's room is a mess, you get her to clean up I'll...do somethin' nice."

I made a tsk sound with my lips. "I can certainly try."

"Eeeyup. Ya seem like the neat type...ain't seen the workshop that organized in...hmm, ever."

I felt my cheeks heat up. "A clean shop is a productive one."

"Hmm, good words." With that the Goliath walked out, leaving me trembling in the hall. My legs felt like they were going to collapse.

Breathe Glass, breathe or die.

I took a deep breath and turned to Darcy's door. "Jesus, Celestia, Celsus, my heart." I leaned against the wall and hurried over. I slipped inside, Darcy already changed into a pair of panties and a shirt that went past her ass. "Your dad let me live."

Darcy turned to me, her breasts seeming larger than before. "I didn't hear any screaming, so I figured."

I couldn't help but stare. They usually weren't noticeable at all, and even when she was popping buttons on her shirt they didn't seem large. "Uh.... Bra?"

Darcy looked down at her chest. "Nope."

"I could tell." I sighed loudly and turned to the door. "How does it feel? I mean, you hide them well or have them pulled against your chest whenever I see you, but this is--"

Darcy put her hand up. "I'll tell you the same thing I tell everyone else. You lay a watermelon on your chest, then once the day's over, you take it off."

I felt a strange sympathy pleasure radiate from my ribcage. "So, like when you let me go from a bear hug?" It felt like breathing, it felt like letting tension go, it was letting tension go. Like shooting a rubber band or stretching a spring.

"Yeah, now are you gonna change, or what?"

I looked to the door. "I'll go change in the--"

Darcy rolled her eyes and grabbed my wrist. "Oh come on, I'll face the other way if you want."

I groaned loudly and waited until she turned around. I changed out my clothes in a flash, stuck in a pair of boxers and no shirt thanks to Darcy. "Fine, there, done." I threw my hands up. "And really?"

Darcy turned back to me, smiling. "Trust me, you'll thank me." Darcy looked me up and down. "Just trust me."

I looked to the windows. "Sure. Now how is this gonna work?"

Darcy frowned. "Uh...yeah...probably like before." She turned to the bed. "I always end up as big spoon." She looked down to her hooves. "Being tall isn't great some times."

I looked up at her. "Do you want to be?"

Darcy looked back to me. "Well, it's just how it-- Whoa hey!" I walked up behind her and put my arms behind her legs and back.

"I'm going to be a cripple by the time I'm forty...." I grumbled, dipping her back and catching her in my arms. It felt like someone had placed a alligator clip on my spinal column. "Alright--" I hoisted her over the bed and put her down. "Oh god--" I rested my hands against the bed as Darcy rolled onto her back. "Yes, stupid, I know!"

Darcy looked a bit worried. "Are you gonna be okay?"

I stretched my back. "I'm going to need a chiropractor later, but for now I should be alright." I ran my hand along Darcy's bed. "Ugh." I pulled back the covers and laid down behind Darcy. "Here." I placed my arm under Darcy's head, my other hand under her arm around around her side. I wrapped my leg over her thigh and between her hooves. "Hmm.... alright?"

Darcy shifted around as I sloppily pulled the covers over us. "...Glass, I've never been little spoon," she whispered softly, grabbing my left arm and adjusting it to her stomach. "It feels weird.."

I pulled my arm free and tugged her bow out of her mane. "And I'm holding a six-something mare, it's weird all around." I tossed her hair tie aside, placing my hand back on her ribs. I let out a long sigh and nestled in against her. She was warm, her mane smelled faintly of sweat and leaves. I felt her move my hand under her shirt, against her stomach.

I ran my hand along the border of her coat and bare skin, both soft, one smooth, the other velvety. "Glass...what's it like up north?"

I felt her head rest against my right forearm, pinning me. It was no longer my arm, simply a pillow for Darcy. "Cold, lonely, lots of people rushing through life."

Darcy held her left hand against my wrist. "Oh...." She guided me down, placing my hand against her thigh. I could feel something smooth amongst her coat. "Glass, thank you."

"Mmmhmm."

"Thanks for...well, a lot."

"Mmm."

Darcy nestled against my arm and squeezed my leg with her hooves. "Do you like me?"

I buried my face in Darcy's hair, darkness finally overtaking my vision. "Darcy, what a dumb question." I moved my hand back to her warm stomach and squeezed her against me. "Kindness...presence, talk all of it goes a long way." I kissed the back of her head. "Now get--"

Darcy swung herself around, face to face with me in a flash. My right arm was still pinned, my left hoof was spat out then rewrapped by Darcy's thigh, my left arm found a new place against Darcy's back. She looked at me for a moment, the jostling sheets going quiet. "I love you."

My heart stopped. Love was something I kept in, love was something I reserved. I'd known her about a month, and already this. No matter how much could be attributed to kindness, closeness, or time spent, it burned me. I found myself caught in a fork. Do I let go, forget what I was and try to build something new, or do I cling to what I am, what I know, and what is honest?

I slid my hand up her back, accidentally lifting the back of her shirt as I slipped to her head. I had no idea how long this would last. A month, a season, a year, who knows. But in that moment, I let go. "I love you too." I dipped forward, turning my head slightly to keep from slamming our noses together.

It was soft, benevolent and without lust. Closed eyes, only opened after. Her lips were gentle, her arm wrapped around my shoulders as I held her against me. I broke it off silently and left Darcy to tuck under my chin. She tucked her arm against me, my left hand resting against the arch of her back. Darcy sighed loudly. "Thank you." Next Chapter: Brush Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes