The Itten and the Lioness

Over time the two of them really got to know each other.

Lucía soon learned that Jaime is as clueless as they come. She has tried many times to give him a hint that she was open to some fun, whether it was touching his thigh when they were watching a movie or stroking his hair and gently wrapping an arm around his shoulders when they were sitting together, but lo and behold: No reaction apart from the deep blush. She was starting to fear that she had lost her game.

What she didn't understand however was just low Jaime's self-esteem was. When these attempts at physical contact started, Jaime found them so weird he spent the entirety of his shift by researching literature and determined that Lucía was some weird mix of an extrovert and a person with no concept of personal space. Yet even though it made him somewhat uncomfortable, he had so much fun just hanging around with her that he didn't say anything, too afraid he would offend her.

A month into this bizarre relationship, Lucía decided to pay her new friend a visit and to her horror, saw the rundown building he lived in. The entire area was littered with trash, there were several druggies and homeless people walking around and she was glad that she brought Bridget with her, dressed in her civilian outfit to attract less attention.

It was in fact her android, who removed her ex-boyfriend from her premises after she witnessed the man hitting her mistress. Say what you want about androids, but they can get ruthless when they witness something bad happening to their owners. Ever since that faithful night, Lucía made sure that her protector was never too far away.

After they reached their desired floor, it took them little time to find the correct flat with a small paper card displaying the name Hope next to the entrance. And after she saw his room, that was about as big as her first walk-in closet, she felt sick to realize that someone dear to her had to live in such inhumane conditions, especially with his health problems.

And so, with a call to a real estate agent she bought a very nice large apartment in a much better part of the city and then had her accountant create a special bank account which would handle property tax and bills for it in the foreseeable future.

At first Jaime thought that she was joking when she brought over the documents for him to sign the next week. But after she pulled him out of the small flat, loaded him into her car and led him into the apartment his doubts turned into confusion when she unlocked the door.

"What are we doing here?" Jaime asked a bit scared. For all he knew, they just broke into some very expensive building.

"Hey, you didn't believe me, so I had to convince you somehow, right?" She said with a slight smirk as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned on a nearby wall to watch the femboy's reaction.

Jaime looked at her gobsmacked, switching between observing his surroundings and her tall figure towering over him. The realization hit him like a ton of bricks.

"B-but I can't live here! It's too expensive!" He protested but Lucía only gave him a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry about it, it's already taken care of." She said as if talking about footing the bill in a fast-food place.

"How can you just..." Jaime tried only to be interrupted.

"Hey, do you like it here?" She asked suddenly wrecking Jaime's train of thoughts.

"W-what?" The boyish man stuttered.

"I asked, do you like it here?" She said again and gestured around the room while taking a step towards him.

"Well, ye-yes, but it's so expensive, I can't just..."

"Expensive, huh? Come here." She said casually before walking over to him. She gently wrapped her long arm around his shoulders led him to the living room.

"What are you..."

"Wow would you look at that crazy expensive TV! It was made only last year, how crazy is that!? Don't you agree?" She excitedly said whilst exaggeratedly gesturing towards large flatscreen on the wall.

"S-sure."

"Wow, that's got to be at least 2500 dollars right there! It would be a shame if someone..." She spoke calmly before quickly picking up a nearby lamp and hurling it at the device with great force.

The entire screen shattered upon impact.

"Jesus Christ! Why would you do that!?" Jaime exclaimed as he saw the damage take place and tried to come closer to inspect it, but Lucía kept a tight grip on his shoulders.

"The Statue of Liberty, a two-way ticket to Mars, to reanimate the bloody Beatles, now THAT would be expensive. But this..." She said as she pointed at his shocked face. "...is fucking priceless. Boop!" Lucía watched in delight as his face turned crimson.

Jaime tried to convince her many times that he didn't need something so big and expensive as this apartment and that it was all just a giant waste of money and Lucía enjoyed seeing him get so worked up over something so miniscule. It was like a chihuahua arguing about its new dog bed being too large.

But the atmosphere changed quickly once the reality of it all finally hit her friend.

"You...you are serious, aren't you?" He finally said looking up into her eyes and after seeing no trickery in them, his own started tearing up. These emotions were too much for him to handle and so he sat down on the ground, covered his eyes with his hands as few powerful whimpers escaped his lips and shook his small body.

Lucía rushed over to Jaime and reassuringly put her hand on his shoulder as she kneeled next to him.

"Hey...are you okay? If you don't like it, we can look somewhere else." She gently offered. However, Jaime just quickly snapped his head in her direction with tears in his eyes and clasped his hands on her shoulders, which caught her bit off guard.

"N-no everything here is perfect, it's just..."

"Hm? Come on, you can tell me." She said quietly as she stroked his back.

"It-it's just that, I never thought I would have something so pretty..." The boy forced out before burying his head into her shoulder and sobbing uncontrollably. When Lucía saw this her face adopted a gentle smile and she enveloped his small body into a tight warm hug.

It took maybe two minutes until the tears stopped coming and by that point Jaime was tired but also extremely happy.

They went on a tour of the large apartment. Lucía was very entertained by watching her small friend get excited over things, she saw as ordinary. She honestly thought that Jaime was going to have a heart attack when she showed him the jacuzzi and the huge balcony, which came with a tiny garden.

He must have said the words "thank you" at least a hundred times, but each time she heard those two magical words, she felt this pleasant warmness under her skin. Of course, she has given expensive presents to people before, but for the first time she felt this way whilst doing so.

(15 minutes later)

Bridget was installing the new TV she brought from a nearby electronics shop with the efficiency of an experienced technician, while the two friends sat in the kitchen and drank tea.

Lucía enjoyed watching Jaime as he tried to take in every detail, but just kept getting more and more excited, like a puppy that just learned how to see for the first time.

"This is all real, right?"

"Want me to pinch you?" She asked with a smile.

"Ye-yes I-I mean no- it's just so hard to believe... I can't ever repay you for this..."

"You sure about that?" She asked, slowly got up from her seat and walked over to him.

The mood in the room changed instantly. Jaime quickly noticed that she had this weird look on her face and so he immediately began to feel nervous.

"How about a kiss, baby?" She asked and softly tapped her cheek with a finger. This freaked the small guy a lot and his shocked face would be something she would treasure forever.

A kiss!?

"B-but I-you..." He said as he tried to get his screaming thoughts back in order.

"What is it? Don't tell me you haven't kissed a girl before..."

The way Jaime quickly averted his gaze and blushed was all she needed to understand that she just struck gold.

"Oh my god, that's so adorable!"

"No, it's not... it's embarrassing. I'm already 19 and I never even kissed anyone." He admitted gloomily whilst still looking away from the woman in the room. However, his gaze became centred on her just a second later when he felt her hands under his armpits, he was then gently but swiftly lifted up from his chair until he was face to face with Lucía. He was shocked by the fact that she was able to lift him so easily without showing any exhaustion on her face.

"Let's change that." She said with a sultry tone as she brought him closer and gave him a soft kiss on the lips.

Several things happened as she did this, Jaime's body went stiff as a board, a wave of electricity rushed down his spine, his heart skipped a beat and a pleasant tingling overtook his stomach as if thousands of butterflies that were kept there as prisoners for his entire life suddenly got their wings back.

The feelings of happiness which he experienced just a while ago from getting the apartment of his dreams were nothing when compared to the emotions that were wrecking his brain right now. They were fierce, powerful and primal as if he was dealing with a wild grizzly bear and not the most beautiful woman he has ever seen.

It was the first kiss in Jaime's life. Most people can say that they were kissed by their parents as children, but since he was in state's care his entire life it was a secret to no one that such a simple luxury was withheld from the boy.

Jaime himself could never hope to describe this feeling since it was only comparable to an angel gently touching your very soul.

Inconceivably beautiful and otherworldly.

It was everything he ever dreamed of, only better.

Then the small gentle kiss ended and Lucía focused her sight on Jaime's face which was once again crimson. "So what do you think?" She asked flirtatiously with a grin.

The boy softly returned from his cloud nine state, and just as his eyes regained focus he uttered a simple response.

"The air is so much thinner up here..." He proclaimed dreamily.

Whether it was the perfect comedic timing or his delivery itself it had an immediate effect on the tall woman.

"Pffft hahaha..." She giggled as she lowered Jaime back on the ground before almost keeling over in laughter. It took nearly a minute for her to stop laughing and by the end she was panting.

"Oh wow...I really needed that..." Lucía said as she finally calmed down after taking a sip of her tea.

"Mistress, the new television is successfully installed according to your instructions. Are ready to leave for your meeting with Mr. Curran?" Bridget cheerfully chimed as she stuck her head into the room.

"Oh right, thanks Bridget I almost forgot." She said as she straightened her posture and tucked her blouse. She felt disappointed since she had to leave so early but this meeting was extremely important, since it would most likely determine the success of securing a massive military contract for her company.

Although she often seemed like a nice and easy-going person to others, she was an outright ruthless and coldblooded capitalist when it came to business.

Since she inherited the company half a year ago, she managed to successfully bring down two other tech companies, buy and integrate their assets at a rock-bottom price without attracting any negative attention from the media.

She always tried to copy her grandpa as much as possible and it paid off incredibly. The man had just three simple rules.

Keep your customers happy.

Keep your workers happy.

Don't fuck with the law.

He repeated these same three rules to her many times, despite his daughter's never-ending protests against teaching swearwords to children. She missed the old coot sometimes.

However, all her thoughts now were centred on a different person. Just now she spent about 4 million dollars just to get on the first base. There was nothing practical or logical about it, yet when she remembered his excited smile and his flustered face, it seemed like a good deal, a great deal even. Besides, this was pocket change and she was hoping to start a real estate business next summer, so this was also useful experience.

'Damn, is this what simping feels like?'

Jamie meanwhile spent a big chunk of the day just exploring the new apartment all the while afraid he would accidentally break something, although this fear didn't stop him from jumping on the Wyoming King bed for a minute straight like a little kid, with the new mattress perfectly cushioning his every fall. He didn't even know that they made beds this large and soft.

After a while, he became winded and laid down on the bed. It was a weird feeling to be able to stretch your limbs in every direction and still feel the mattress under each of them. Weird but also extremely comfortable.

As Jaime laid there the memories from today started repeating in his head. This had to be the best day of his life. First there was the excitement from getting a new home, which was then promptly dwarfed by the storm of emotions he experienced during his first kiss. He just could not shake these feelings off, it was as if they were completely embedded in his mind and every time, he closed his eyes, he saw those two beautiful sapphire-like like gems starring at him which then swiftly closed as she leaned in to deliver the kiss.

The deep sensation of her firmly holding him in the air.

The warmness of her breath on his face before their lips made contact.

Her soothing womanly fragrance in his nose when they were oh so close to one another.

The boy's eyes shot wide open as he realized that he was getting a hard-on. He mentally slapped himself. This was wrong, Lucía was probably the best and only friend he ever had. Jaime felt that it was extremely weird to think about a friend like this. This brought guilt, shame and anger on the man, because... he just couldn't help himself.

Ever since he first saw her, Jaime kept getting wet dreams about the giant lady. He often found himself fantasising about her at work, before falling asleep and even when riding his bike which nearly led to several accidents.

She was just... well... perfect.

She was nice, polite, friendly and also pretty smart and that was just scratching the surface. She had a body out of this world which combined pretty much everything he found attractive about women. Lucía had the musculature of a professional volleyball player on a body of a porn actress, yet her height gave her this powerful unique charm and authority which he had never witnessed before. Even when walking, she kept her back completely straight without appearing rigid at all and carried herself with dignity and alluring elegance, which he previously associated only with royalty.

Her laugh was warm and wild and every time she gave him one of her signature smiles, he could feel his head fog and his heart melt like a sundae in a car seat.

However, when Jaime looked at himself, he knew that he had absolutely zero chance to ever capture the interest of woman like Lucía. He was a sad little midget, who lacked the courage to ever approach such a beauty and even if he didn't lack such courage, what did he have to impress her with?

His prestigious education from an American public high school?

His old rusty bike, he bought for his first paycheck so he could get to work without feeling lightheaded?

This beautiful apartment she just bought for him?

He felt worthless when he came to the realization that she was probably just acting this way around him out of pity, but he still wanted to be her friend. He wished he could repay her somehow, but there was no way he would get his hands on that kind of money. But he had to do something...

(Two days later)

Jaime arrived at the mansion like every Saturday, but this time holding a medium sized box in his hands. After being greeted by Bridget he was allowed inside and met with Lucía like always. She was immediately curious about the package.

"Hey there Cutie, what have you got there?" She asked playfully, which made Jaime feel flustered. He still wasn't used to someone giving him any other nickname than "nerd", "fag" or "bitchboy".

"It's um-for y-you." He said gently and offered her the plain paper box with shaky hands.

"Oh? Let's see..." She said with a disarming smile as she took the package from the boy and placed it on a nearby table. Jaime watched nervously as she opened the box, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw an expression of pleasant surprise cross her face.

The sweet smell of vanilla spread through the room as she pulled a beautifully looking cupcake from the box and inspected it in her hand. The dough was moist yet fluffy with brownish colour from the added cacao and the frosting looked very creamy with little particles of chocolate sprinkled over it.

It was a recipe Jaime learned when his class participated in some charity bake sale back in middle school. It took him a few tries to get it just right, but the result was well worth it.

"That's stunning... did you make this?" She asked as she took another good long look at the pastry in her hand.

Jaime gave her a quick nod just as she took a bite. Flavour erupted like firework on her tongue, it was so delicious...

"Wow..."

"A-are they good?" Jaime asked hopefully, only to see Lucía plop the rest of the pastry into her mouth.

"Delightful... It's like a nice warm bath after a good cunnilingus." She said dreamily with a bit of the cream on her upper lip. Jaime wasn't quite sure what the word 'cunnilingus' meant, but he assumed it was some fancy rich people dish and accepted the compliment with a smile.

She gave him a few more praises for his culinary abilities while eating two more cupcakes before they moved into a different room with a home cinema, three sofas, a fridge and a small mountain of snacks. Today was a movie night and both of them were looking forward to it. There was no real planning to it, they just selected some random movie on a streaming service.

"Hey, look at this 'The Green Man Finds Love', wow these Marvel knock-offs really got out of control..." She said as she came over a really bad movie poster where a guy with green skin and torn clothes screaming at some slutty looking women who were surprisingly smiling seductively. She skimmed over a few titles until a familiar one appeared.

Her smile slowly shifted into a grin as she recognised the picture of a figure heavily dressed in winter clothes with light shooting out where the person's face would normally be with two words under his feet proudly displaying the mysterious title.

THE

THING

"What's that?" Jaime asked clearly perplexed by the strange title. Lucía in turn gave him a surprised look.

"You have seriously never seen John Carpenter's legendary cult classic The Thing?!" She asked bewildered only to receive a slow confused head shake.

"I honestly don't know whether I should be disappointed..." Lucía proclaimed with dumbfounded expression before it shifted into a thrilled smile "...or excited, because I will get to see your first reaction!" She finished ecstatically before plopping herself next to Jaime, grabbing a bowl of popcorn and starting the movie.

The young man felt a bit nervous by how close she was sitting to him, basically shoulder to shoulder, but then his focus shifted to the movie. It started like an old-timey sci-fi film, but he soon realized that they were watching a horror movie.

He has seen many horror movies during his life, and most were just... well... boring. A dumb blond, who is the first one to die because she chose to wear high heels into the forest for some reason, a dumb musclehead who insists that the group should separate, because they can cover more ground that way and a weird CGI monster who looks about as real as the personalities of these characters.