For the group of young students that had recently toured the facility, it was the final day of the trip back home from the Titan Outpost. It had been a long journey for them and most were eager to return home, even if that meant a return to classes the next day. In one of the cabins on the cruiser, three friends were busy discussing their experiences.

“You know, I do kind of wish I’d bought that human.” Mused the shortest of the three, a rather voluptuous blonde with emerald green eyes and suntanned skin. She was laying on her back staring up at the ceiling of the cabin, twining a strand of her already curly hair around her finger. “He was cute. …Not as cute as Jaks, but, I have always wanted one. And how often does one get the opportunity to buy a wild human anymore?”

“Not very often.” Agreed the tallest of the group, a pale skinned brunette with waist length hair. She was busy reading a novel off her data pad, and only half paying attention to what her friend was saying. “Although, seeing as I don’t think you can take care of a houseplant, Lita, I think the little guy is better off where he is.”

“Oh ha ha, very funny Nonik.” Lita grumbled, shooting a death glare at the other girl.

“I’m not being funny, just telling the truth.” Nonik replied with a smirk.

“Can we maybe talk about something else?” asked the third young woman, a dark-skinned girl with long silver hair and rose colored eyes. She was busy playing a holographic game, jabbing furiously at the ghostly images that floated in front of her face. She was most likely losing as well, if her expression was anything to go by.

“Sorry Uyli. We forgot about your general dislike of humans.” Lita grumbled rolling her eyes.

“We’ll try not to offend your delicate sensibilities in the future.”

“What’s your problem with them anyway?” Nonik wondered, putting her data pad aside and slouching further in her seat. “Did one bite you when you were a kid?”

“What? No! I just… they just creep me out okay?” Uyli turned towards the window in the cabin, and away from her friends. “I don’t know why, they just make me nervous.”

Lita sat up and turned to stare at her friend. “Uyli, are… are you afraid of humans?”

Uyli’s eyes widened and she turned away from her game. “What? N…No. I’m not afraid of them!”

“Oh wow… you ARE!” Nonik crowed with a laugh. “Oh man, you know what this means, right Lita?”

Lita grinned. “Obviously, we’re going to have to cure you of your fear.”

“Wait…What?!”

“Of course.” Nonik said with a grin. “What are friends for, after all?”

*.*.*.*.*

“I really don’t think this is a good idea.” Uyli whined as she was forcefully marched into Nonik’s house by her two friends, (Although she wasn’t feeling particularly friendly towards either of them at the moment.) Each had a death grip on one of her wrists.

“So I get creeped out by humans! Who cares? Is it really such a big deal? I mean it’s not like I’m thinking of becoming a veterinarian or anything! How often am I really going to have to deal with humans anyway?!” The slender, dark skinned girl’s voice was steadily rising in pitch as her panic grew, to the point she was getting closer to “hysterical” by the second.

“Uyli, that’s not the point!” Said Nonik as she and Lita shoved, pulled, and dragged the other girl. “It’s not just that you don’t like humans, you apparently have a crippling phobia of them. We can’t have you breaking down into hysterics every time you see someone outside with their pets.”

“But Nonik! The damn things are supposed to be caged when outside anyway!” Uyli muttered darkly. “I shouldn’t be seeing them, it’s against the law!” She paused as the rest of her friend’s statement finally registered.

“And it is NOT a ‘crippling phobia!’ I JUST DON’T LIKE THEM!”

“Don’t be stupid, Uyli.” The blonde on Uyli’s other side said, rolling her jade green eyes in exasperation, and using her free hand to tuck her curly mop back behind her ear.

“Oh that’s awful rich coming from YOU Lita!” Uyli snarled as she dug her heels in to stop her friends from dragging her any further. “Who was it who almost poisoned herself because she was playing with the humans? You or me?”

“Hey, I looked it up, that stuff is completely nontoxic. It’s mostly water vapor anyway!” Lita ducked behind her friend and began shoving against her back to keep her moving. “Now, quit stalling and get inside so we can start the fun!”

“Fun for whom, exactly?” Uyli retorted.

“For us, obviously!” Nonik replied with a grin.

“I hate you both!” Uyli grumbled as she lost the tug-of-war with her friends and was pushed into Nonik’s house.

Quickly the trio trudged up the stairs to Nonik’s room. Inside the walls were painted a light blue covered with posters for musicians and actors. In the corner was a bed with green sheets and on the opposite wall was a dresser and desk.

Nonik crossed the room to the dresser and peered into the top drawer which was partially open.

She smiled and gave a soft whistle. “Hey there boy, are you awake?” Promptly a tiny head peeked over the top of the drawer. Her human was pale, but covered (almost head to toe) in tan freckles. On top of his head was a shaggy mop of flame colored hair. He waved up at Nonik who grinned down at him. “Good. I want you to meet some friends of mine. Up!”

No sooner had she given the command than the tiny human leapt out of the drawer, latched onto her sleeve and climbed hand over hand to her shoulder. He seated himself in the hollow of her collar bone and rubbed against her cheek affectionately.

Uyli shuddered.

Nonik brought her pet over to where her friends were standing; Lita was leaning against the closed door to the room, effectively cutting off any escape. Nonik reached up and gathered the pet into the palm of her hand and slowly presented him to Uyli for her to inspect. “Okay Uyli, this is Sparkles. He’s completely tame, and I promise he won’t hurt you.”

“There, see?” Said Lita. “They’re perfectly harmless and…” She turned and gave her taller friend an incredulous look.

“Sparkles? You named your pet human ‘Sparkles’?”

Nonik rolled her eyes exasperated. “It wasn’t my idea! When we first got him, Mom and Dad said my little sister could name him, and she chose… that.”

“Sparkles. …Really?”

Nonik sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand, as if she had had this exact conversation far too many times already. “Yes. Sparkles. And she gets really mad if anybody calls him anything else. She throws a fit! So… he’s Sparkles.”

Lita nodded, fighting very hard to keep the grin off her face. “Well, okay then. Sparkles it is.”

Nonik sighed, and rolled her eyes again. “Anyway… Uyli, go ahead and give him a pat, just use your finger. Go on, he won’t bite you.”

As Uyli extended her finger towards the small creature, everybody could tell she was very nervous about the situation because her finger was shaking uncontrollably. Her finger lowered until it was just above the little human’s head.

“I can’t do it…” Uyli whined, staring fearfully at the finger sized man in her friend’s palm

“Oh come on!” Nonik growled and lifted her palm until the human made contact with Uyli’s finger. …Perhaps a little too forcefully, but Sparkles was unhurt, for the most part. “There! See, it’s not so bad. Isn’t his hair soft?”

Uyli tentatively stroked the hair on top of the human’s head for a brief moment, and then jerked her hand away as if it were on fire. “There!” She shot her friends a glare. “I did it. Now can we stop this?”

“Of course not!” Lita replied with a grin. “This was just step one.”

Uyli’s eyes widened. “Wh… What’s step two?”

Nonik grabbed ahold of Uyli’s wrist and turned it palm up. “You have to hold him now.” Her grip tightened, more as a way to hold Uyli’s hand steady than anything else, and she carefully lowered Sparkles into Uyli’s hand.

Nonik kept her grip on Uyli’s wrist, but slowly and tentatively placed her other hand back down by her side. “Okay Uyli. Deep breaths now. Keep your hand steady.” She locked her gaze with her friend’s eyes. “I’m going to let go of your wrist, okay? On the count of three. One…Two…”

As soon as her wrist was released, her entire forearm began trembling. Sparkles was forced to a kneeling position in order to maintain any semblance of balance. “Okay… I’ve really had enough of this you two.” Uyli groaned, her voice rising in pitch from fear.

Lita walked up behind Uyli and grabbed her shoulders reassuringly. “It’s okay. You’re doing fine. And look! He’s not hurting you, and you’re not hurting him. …Unless he gets motion sickness.”

Nonik squatted down until she was at eye level with the human in Uyli’s palm. “Sparkles, why don’t you give Uyli a little kiss to help calm her down?” Sparkles smiled and carefully climbed up Uyli’s fingers and planted a small kiss on the tip of her middle finger.
Despite herself, Uyli let out a small giggle.

“Aha!” Lita cried. “I heard that! You’re starting to enjoy this, aren’t you?”

Uyli cleared her throat self-consciously, and covered Sparkles with her empty hand. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” She scoffed.

Nonik grinned and pried open Uyli’s hands so she could retrieve Sparkles. “Well, then you’re going to absolutely hate this next part. Lie down on the bed.”

Uyli looked like she was about to protest again, but rolled her eyes and with a resigned sigh, threw herself, face up, onto the bed.

Nonik winked at Lita, and then carried the little human over to her prone friend. She stood over Uyli and held the human between finger and thumb over her body. “Now then, where should we put him…?” Nonik wondered aloud as she considered the landscape of Uyli’s body.

“Start him at the top and have him work his southwards.” Lita suggested with a grin.

“Good idea. Okay Uyli, this is the final test. You have to lay there and let Sparkles climb over your body, and you can’t move at all, okay?”

“I still hate you both!” Uyli reminded them, sweetly.

“Uh huh. Noted.” Nonik replied as she placed the human on Uyli’s creased brow. After taking a moment to find his footing, the little human began climbing his way across the young woman’s face. When he started to climb across her lips, however he tripped and fell across her chin. Looking back over his shoulder, he discovered his right foot trapped firmly between the titaness’ lips.

Uyli glared up at her friends and spoke around the limb trapped in her mouth. “Get him off of my face, or I will bite his foot off!” Sparkles’ eyes widened in fear and he looked up at his mistress, Nonik.

Nonik rolled her eyes. “No you won’t. You’re not nearly mean enough to take your irritation with us out on an innocent and harmless thing.”

There was a tense pause while the two titanesses locked eyes, then with an exasperated sigh, Uyli spat out the tiny man’s foot. “Fine. You got me, let’s get this over with.”

Sparkles let out a relieved sigh and climbed down Uyli’s chin. He paused at her collarbone, as if considering his options.

“Ooh. Big decision time. Does he go over the mountain or through the valley?” Lita wondered with a big grin on her face. “What’s it going to be little guy?”

After a brief moment more to make up his mind, Sparkles decided to burrow under Uyli’s shirt and through her cleavage. Uyli let out a tiny gasp and Lita and Nonik quickly pinned her wrists to prevent her from retrieving the little man.

“Uh uh Uyli!” Lita chided. “No interference from you!”

“But he TICKLES!” Uyli wailed. “I can’t stand it!”

Nonik laughed. “Relax, he’s almost out. You need to learn to let yourself enjoy things.”

Uyli stuck her tongue out at both of them. “My revenge for this will be swift and unexpected!”

In another moment they could see the little lump under her shirt that was Sparkles escaping her cleavage and crawling down her stomach. He seemed to be making good progress until suddenly Uyli started squirming wildly again, frantic laughter escaping from her mouth.

“What’s he doing now?” Nonik wondered with a grin as she and Lita fought to pin Uyli down again.

“He’s kissing my bellybutton!” Uyli gasped around her laughter. “It feels so WEIRD!”

Lita shook her head, wryly. “I never knew you were so ticklish Uyli.”

Nonik reached a finger down and poked the Sparkles-lump lightly. “Alright, that’s enough now. You should move on before she catapults you across the room.”

Reluctantly, the human emerged from underneath the giantess’s clothing. He stood up and stretched his back, before climbing on top of Uyli’s belt buckle.

“Good idea. Better stay above her clothes for now. We can introduce her to that part later.” Lita said with a suggestive wink. “Baby steps.”

Carefully the little human paced down Uyli’s thigh and clambered over the curve of her knee. He paused for a moment at the hem of her pant leg and then the small creature scampered over Uyli’s ankle, climbed up her instep and buried his face between her toes. The three titanesses watched the little human incredulously, then Uyli broke the silence.

“Is… Is he licking my feet?” Uyli she asked, hesitantly.

“Oh, uh, yeah. I sort of forgot he has a thing for feet. Hang on, I’ll get him off.”

“No wait!” Uyli yelled, without thinking.

The other two paused and looked at their friend, the merest ghosts of smiles on their faces.

“Yes Uyli?” Nonik asked innocently. “Is there a problem.”

“Oh, well no… it’s just…” The rest of her sentence faded into a mumble.

“I’m sorry?” Lita grinned. “What was that?”

Uyli growled her frustration. “I… I kind of like it, okay?” She sighed. “There. I said it. Are you happy now?”

The other two girls exchanged grins and discrete gestures of victory, which made Uyli roll her eyes.

“Extremely.” Lita answered.

“So…” Nonik nonchalantly leaned over to give her human a pet on his back. “Do you want to borrow him?”

Uyli grumbled and covered her eyes with her forearm.

“I hate you both.”