Halo 5

Megan and David sat at the breakfast table in relative silence, a daytime soap droning on their 20" television accented only by the sound of flatware clinking.

She watched the show's insipid plot unfold while David just let his mind drift away. Another 60 hour week at his menial job had left him utterly drained.

"Why don't we have that?" Megan asked, mouth full of half-chewed pancake.

"Hmm?"

"That car. I want a nice car like that."

"Oh, yeah. That is nice."

"David! You're not even looking!"

"Megan, we just bought this new SUV! How are we gonna afford a..." he paused to look at the screen. A character's second ex-wife had just walked in on her ex-husband and the maid's lesbian lover in a compromising position. "...whatever the hell it is you wanted so soon?"

"The SUV is already 6 months old! And what do you mean, 'how?' We're not even making payments on it for a full year, so why can't we get another?"

David sighed.

"What?" she asked severely.

"Nothing."

"It's obviously not nothing! Tell me why we can't get another car!"

"Megan... I'm working so much overtime already!"

"Maybe you wouldn't have to work so much overtime if you got paid more."

"Maybe I wouldn't have to work so much overtime if you didn't want to keep buying things! I mean, how many more thousand dollar purses do you want?!"

"It's not my fault you don't have any ambition to keep up with my needs!"

"Me, not have ambition!? Why don't you get a higher-paying job then! And what the hell do you mean 'needs!?'" He was positively seething now.

They both sat in silent rage. David stabbed a breakfast sausage link violently with his fork and chewed it as loudly as possible. Megan's bottled-up anger boiled over first.

"Well, I need more than a gas station attendant for a husband!"

"How dare you!"

"You just sit at your job all day anyway! What happened to night school!"

"What happened to your nursing school!"

And so it went.

A blurry image speckled with static noise displayed David and Megan in a large empty space carved out by a hovering circular golden ring. Lala giddily watched the whole argument unfold as she ate her butter-saturated popcorn out of a chalice.

"How can she say that!?" she howled with laughter. "And what a deadbeat this guy is!!" She grabbed another handful with an open palm, her fingers absolutely drenched in yellow tallow. "60 hours!! Yeah, if going to the bar 30 hours a week counts as working overtime! Hahahaha!" Her abs crunched into view, laughter contracting her belly.

"Lala!" a masculine voice rang out.

"Eep!"

She hurriedly licked the butter off her hands before wiping them down with a towel. She dabbed all around her lips, her chin, before seeing that it had deeply stained her pearl-white tunic and dribbled down her flat tummy.

Lala waved her hand over the cloth, willing the oil stains out of it. The globules hovered in the air between her fingers and her chest, and she quickly swabbed it up with the towel.

Picking up her screwdriver, she tried to look busy as she took a defective halo out of the bin and tightened it onto a stand. She tinkered with it, poking and prodding, achieving absolutely nothing.

"How many left?" her manager asked as he stepped in.

"Oh! Umm... twenty... threeeee?"

He looked at the overflowing bin. Then he looked at her.

"Twenty... foouuuuuur?"

"Gosh darn it, Lala! Get back to work! Right now!"

"Yes sir!"

"And are you using our portals flippantly again?! They're not toys for your amusement!"

"I would never!"

He stood in the doorway and continued to give her the evil eye. She returned his gaze blankly.

"Um, anything else, sir?"

He shook his head in resignation and continued his patrol.

Lala sighed and sat back in her chair. As it tilted, the edge of her large, snow-white wings struck the workbench. The halo, which she had not properly fastened, wobbled and teetered before landing on the table and slowly rolled toward Lala's portal screen.

"Oh, shoot!"

Just as the halo was about to lose its momentum and collapse on the table, Lala flipped around and lunged for it, her clumsy movement making certain that it fell through the gate and straight to Earth. And to really seal the deal, her chalice of viscous butter and popcorn spilled all over the circular ring, causing it to crackle and spark, closing the portal after it.

"Uh oh. Boss isn't going to like this..."

David had stormed off into the bedroom and slammed the door shut. Megan stood listlessly in the living room, on the verge of crying.

Suddenly, she noticed a beautiful golden halo sitting on their end table. Its shine was so intense, its aura completely mesmerizing. It seemed to be hovering in mid-air! Had David bought that for her?

Of course! It all made sense! How could she be so silly! Megan might not approve of his taste in accessories, but by God, it looked beautiful. And valuable. She had yelled at him when he had been this considerate the whole time. An apology was in order. But first...

She approached the golden halo, finally seeing the thin support it was resting on. Its mere presence was totally overwhelming. Megan's hands trembled as she reached for it.

Picking it up by the thin stem of its stand, Megan felt a pleasant jolt of electricity. She wondered how she was supposed to wear it--too large for a bracelet, too... weird to be a necklace or choker. There didn't seem to be a way to remove the golden bauble from the stand, so she just put the whole thing, base and all, on her head.

A warm feeling coursed through her body as the glow slowly drizzled down her figure and enveloped her. The thin stand and the wide outer edges of the halo began to melt into her. Megan shuddered as it massaged every fiber of her body, infusing every cell with earth-bending power. It was nice--really nice--but she wished it were a diamond-studded tiara that her favorite Welsh princess wore.

With a satisfied sigh, Megan opened her eyes and headed to the bedroom. As the tiara configured itself to her will, she knocked on the closed door softly.

"David? David? I'm sorry about earlier."

Walking in, she saw David lying on the bed, an arm draped over his face. He lowered his guard and peeked at her, a weary look of resignation on his face.

"I really like this present you got me," she said softly, eyes apologetic and pleading, body swaying back and forth.

"Yeah, I uh, what?"

"Reminds me of when we were in high school, you remember? But that prom queen crown was just some plastic and glitter. This is really nice. I haven't thought about that in so long. Our lives have been so busy. And I guess... things just didn't turn out the way we expected, huh?"

David peered at the glittering gemstone studded tiara that sat on Megan's blonde locks. Where had that come from? Still, he loved when she was being so soft and gentle, and he was tired of all the fighting.

"Yeah, I guess not. Listen, I'm sorry too. But we do okay, right?"

"Yeah, it's okay. I just remember that day at the dance, you couldn't take your eyes off me. I spent forever doing my makeup and hair that day, you know? Oh, to be that young and beautiful again..."

...And the tiara finished its fine-tuning with an inaudible click.

Time froze for just a brief moment as a glowing golden Megan lost just a couple of inches of height. Her waist slimmed as her belly and thighs lost the excess fat that she had put on over the last few dull, yet testing years of adulthood. The stress creases on her forehead and around her nose smoothed and evened out as the dark bags under her eyes vanished, pupils bright and twinkling, ready to take on the world.

"What do you mean, Megan? You're as beautiful as you've ever been. You don't look a day older than that fateful night."

"Aw, that's nice, honey. But I actually thought I looked a lot better in my early twenties. No more acne, baby fat, and more mature, all that stuff. And a better sense of style!" Megan shuddered at the thought of the edgy print tees she used to wear.

Time stopped again amidst her little shudder of disgust. Her blonde hair grew past her shoulders, reaching her lower back. Her face cleared up, and her longer legs lost that awkward gait of a teenager, standing proud and confident.

"Come on Megan, you know I always thought you were beautiful!" He was getting seriously aroused. How lucky was he that his wife didn't look like she had aged a day past her early twenties?

"I like when you're being sweet!" she gushed. "But remember? There was a time when you couldn't keep your hands off me! I wish I could make you feel that way again!"

Something subtle shifted in Megan's stance and demeanor. It made her ever so desirable. Suddenly he was upon her, arms wrapped around her back, groping roughly and humping with all the grace of a teenage boy.

"Mm! David! It's not even... mmf... Tuesday evening!" Even in protest, her voice seemed lower and thrilling.

"I don't care, Megan!" he uttered between sloppy kisses. "You're so hot, I need you! Let's never fight again!"

"Oh David, you're so romantic!" she cooed, making him that much more desperate.

He ceased his horny schoolboy groping, instead, focusing his entire attention on her pleasure, attending to her every need until she was satisfied.

Finally, they collapsed side by side, breathing hard and fully satiated. Megan couldn't help but voice one last greedy request.

"I still wish we had that nice Mercedes convertible with the vertical doors, though."

David groaned.

"Why would we need another one?!" he lamented.

After a full Sunday of rekindling their love, Megan headed to work in her bright red sports car. Putting the pedal to the metal, she showed up to work on time for once, and punched her timesheet.

"Morning, Princess," she heard some co-workers snicker.

"Princess?" Megan gasped. She'd forgotten she was wearing her tiara! It just felt so natural.

"Good costume party, was it?"

"Yes! And that's 'your highness' to you," she played along with it.

"Your highness," both men echoed in full earnesty, bowing deep and low.

Megan gave them a little nod and shooed them away with a little gesture. Nice to see her subjects behaving with the proper etiquette!

She took her seat at the front desk and placed the little television she stashed there right on the counter, in full display. With a few clicks of the dials, her daytime soap drama was broadcasted loudly to the entire waiting area.

Of course, customers never bothered her or asked much of her. She was a princess, after all. They greeted her with a little bow or curtsy, and she smiled at them and waved them to the seating.

Today's episode was a special one. The network had advertised it loudly for weeks--an episode where the entire cast had superpowers!

She gasped and tittered over all of the dramatic twists and reveals, now with... superpowers! Megan oohed and ahhed as characters who were caught in compromising positions could now turn invisible, or morph into a little puddle!

Of course, the one she envied most was Evangeline, the trophy housewife to Tyler who was actually Ethan all along until season 4 revealed that it was just Ripley who had undergone plastic surgery pretending to be Ethan so that he could hatch a revenge plot not knowing that Ethan was pretending to be Tyler who didn't even know it himself.

They finally gave the long-suffering Evangeline her due by granting her all of the best powers any of the characters had! She got her payback against Ethan-Ripley-Tyler--but not actual Tyler, who she loved--with her superstrength, saved her adopted daughter's sister (who was actually their real daughter) from a car crash with her flight powers, and saw through Peyton's disguise with her x-ray vision!

Megan whooped and hollered as the episode came to a close.

"I could totally be a superhero like Evangeline!" she announced, putting all eyes on her. "I could fly around, stop speeding cars with my palms, see-through stuff!"

Everyone in the reception area rolled their eyes. The world already had a superhero, and it obviously wasn't Princess Megan.

When her long shift finally ended, the last two of which were intensely boring due to lack of shows, she put her little television away. Another Monday down. Glancing to make sure that no one was within line of sight, she ripped off her blouse, revealing the pink latex costume underneath.

She disappeared in a burst of speed, sending all of the magazines on the table fluttering into the air. With her new super vision, Megan could see that Brad was on his way home, and she wanted to be ready for him. It wasn't Tuesday evening, but a little advance wouldn't hurt.

David sought leverage as they hovered parallel above the bed. He tried to thrust into Megan's floating form, but his arms were sore from fatigue and he didn't have the dexterity to keep his balance while being suspended 6 feet in the air by nothing but his wife's invulnerable, superhuman body.

"Don't you think we should be making more money?" Megan asked over David's wheezing.

"Megan... help..."

"I mean, I do all this superheroine stuff pro bono. Which, I know, I know, means not getting paid. But you'd think being born a princess and doing all this good should come with some karma, no? They barely give us anything. Yeah, I think we should be making more."

David collapsed on his wife's harder than steel torso, completely spent and unable to hold himself up anymore.

"Oh, sorry honey, let me help."

She grabbed him by the hips and began to push and pull him up and down. David gasped as he grabbed her firm breasts, using her huge orbs as handholds to keep his head and torso from slamming into her invulnerable body with every repetition.

She could feel his desperate need to erupt inside of her, but she wasn't ready yet, so she tightened her intimate hold and paused, causing him to flounder as he tried to achieve his own pent-up orgasm.

"David, are you trying to come? You know you can't if I don't let you."

He whimpered, his fiery need for release no less great. But he knew nothing he did would trigger it, no matter how much he rubbed against her strong, slick, invulnerable, powerful beauty. Only Megan could.

"Mm, that's better. I love how you fill me up so completely," she encouraged him.

David moaned even harder as his penis abruptly thickened and grew in length.

Megan's eyes widened. "Oh, my little hubby, you're excitable tonight, aren't you? Have I not been taking care of you enough?"

He was too exhausted to do anything but wheeze, but his eyes were desperate with desire.

"Okay hun, you have to give me just a little more." This time, she held him by the hips, but instead gracefully floated up and down, movements so elegant and delicate. Her long blond locks flowed beneath her, swaying in the wind.

She reveled in the desperate grimace on his face as she prodded herself with his fully engorged manhood. Every thrust caused her body to flush harder, as her slick, velvet steel began to squeeze and vibrate along his prodigious length. She could feel David dripping sweat, not just from exhaustion, but from the intense flush of her body. Just one more bob, just one more stroke...

"Unnnnnnng!!!! FuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUCK!" she screamed, as she fell out of the air like a stone and landed back in bed. David held on for dear life as her arms trembled and her legs spasmed, flailing about and scattering their furniture.

Megan recovered instantly from her earth-shattering ecstasy, seeing that David was still hard inside of her. His eyes were squeezed shut, his arms covering his head. His hips were still bucking, wiggling, so close to release but choked off by her tight inner coils and his lack of permission.

"Phew, that was nice, baby. Go ahead and blow your load, my helpless, sexy, big man." She emphasized the word with a fluid swivel of her hips.

"Megannnnn!!!!!!!!!" he screamed, as he jetted rope after rope of hot seed inside of her.

When David finally came to, his super-powerful wife was still nude, checking herself out in the mirror. She combed her fingers through her luscious locks. As he followed the path of her hands, he noticed that she was still wearing the tiara.

"Wow, you really like it huh?" David asked.

"Yes David, I like it a lot."

He could see her smile in the reflection of the vanity mirror.

"Don't you feel weird wearing it all the time though?"

"Yeah, I'll give it a break. I guess I don't need to wear it all the time." Megan set her precious tiara on the dresser.

David clocked out of work and picked up his twice-a-month five-digit paycheck. He hoped Megan would be happy... but he knew that whatever he did, it wasn't enough. Not that he could complain. Their marriage had been going well--better than ever, in fact--and what could he really say, being married to royalty who also happened to be the planet's most celebrated and sole superheroine? He'd have to find some way to please her.

"David."

Sometimes just a little extra effort was enough. It was a Tuesday evening. He resolved to perform more satisfactorily for once, even though he couldn't wait for her to utterly exhaust and ruin him again.

"David!"

"Uh wuh!?" he was startled out of his sexy reverie.

"David, my name is Lala."

He turned around to see a woman with a porcelain complexion and long blond hair. Her face reminded him of Megan, except somehow even more beautiful. For some reason, she was dressed in a large trench coat on a hot summer evening.

"Um, hi Lala? Do I know you?"

"No, but I know you. We need to talk."

"Hey lady, sorry, but we're closed now. I already closed the register." He picked up the pace. It was a lot of money he had in his pocket, and he didn't want to be late for their sex night.

"It's not... hey!" Lala cried after him as he jumped into his car and peeled out of the parking lot.

David peeked in the rearview mirror, seeing a look of utter frustration on the mysterious woman's gorgeous face. With a flourish, she removed her trench coat to reveal... a large pair of wings unfolding!? David rubbed his eyes and checked again, but she was gone.

Over a lovely evening meal of Chinese takeout, Megan and David uncorked a nice bottle of red wine and cuddled on the couch.

"I got paid today, honey."

"Ooh, my good man! Thanks for providing so much for us."

He pulled out his check. Quite a large figure for a gas station attendant.

"Don't you think we should move to a larger place? I think we've outgrown this apartment," she probed.

"Yeah, I guess we have enough money in the bank to consider something."

"Yay!! Yeah David, we should definitely move into a bigger place! We'll live in a high rise downtown; plenty of square footage, super convenient, super swanky."

"Definitely. Oh, I saw the strangest thing today, Megan."

"What's that?"

"I ran into this woman as I was getting off work. She was dressed in a trench coat, and she knew my name."

"What!? Who is this woman? What did she look like?"

"Actually, her face was really remarkable..."

"Remarkable? What do you mean, 'remarkable?'" Megan cut him off.

"Er. Um. It was very... Nordic?" Now he'd done it.

"You mean she was really pretty," she stated flatly.

"Okay, okay, she was pretty! But that's not the point!"

"Well, what is the point then?!"

"I was getting there..."

"Even after I fuck your brains out on extra days, you're still pining over other women! When will I ever be enough for you!?"

"I wasn't checking her out!" David roared, standing up in fury. "It was just a comment! Guys notice these things! It doesn't mean I don't love you!"

She wilted at his genuine outburst.

"You... you mean it?"

"Of course I do."

His whole body relaxed as the situation defused. Sitting back down on the couch, he wrapped his arm around her svelte frame.