As he sat at the dinner table having a meal with his family, Ryan Carey felt nothing but butterflies in his stomach. The meal, which was probably excellent (as anything his father made was,) went untasted even as he ate it.

Finally, the young man couldn’t take it any longer. He put his fork down on his plate and turned towards his parents, who were talking quietly about the business at Alex’s bar.

“Mom, Dad…” Ryan spoke out. “There’s something I need to ask you.”

His parents fell silent and turned towards their son expectantly.

“What is it, son?” Alex asked.

“Well, uh, you see… Manto and Joseph are going to Archavia to visit their aunt for a week…” Ryan began. “And uh, since school is on break and Odin is back from the Academy… they asked us if we would like to go with them.”

His father raised an eyebrow and his mother… well, Rixie’s expression remained inscrutable.

“So… you know… can I go with?”

Ryan fidgeted with the food on his plate nervously. He was well aware of what he was actually asking them. He was asking them to be able to leave the sanctity of Avalon and voluntarily go into a place where he was no longer a person, and to do so without their protection.

Rixie looked down at Alex, who looked back up at her. Ryan’s shoulders fell. He figured the two of them were trying to think of a way to let him down easy.

“Who will they be staying with?” Rixie asked after a moment.

“Their Aunt Yurea.” Ryan answered, feeling hopeful that if they were asking questions, it meant he might still have a chance. “You’ve met her, at the wedding.”

Alex nodded. “Sure, she seemed nice…”

“Did Pryvani let Odin go?” Rixie folded her hands on the table and leaned forward.

“I… I think so, but…” Ryan clamped his mouth shut, remembering just in time to not undermine his own arguments.

“He’s Titan-sized.” Rixie muttered. Ryan mentally cursed himself, although he doubted his parents would have forgotten that little detail anyway.

“Look son…” Alex began. “I don’t think we can give you an answer until we’ve had a chance to think this over. When are they leaving?”

“In three days.” Ryan responded nervously.

“Okay. That will give us a chance to talk to everybody’s parents and see what they think.” Alex picked up his fork and went back to his meal.

“It’ll also give us a chance to discuss it without having to look into your puppy-dog eyes.” Rixie said, rolling her eyes with a smirk.

Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. Okay. He hadn’t gotten a yes, yet. But he hadn’t been told no either. There was still a chance.

*.*.*.*

It took seventeen hours before Ryan finally got his answer. His parents had spoken to everybody involved. Taron, his sister, Pryvani and Zhan, Odin, Joseph and Manto. They’d weighed the pros and cons and every possible scenario until they’d finally come to their conclusion.

They’d said yes.

Ryan could tell that his mother wasn’t entirely happy with the situation, but that wasn’t too surprising. She was always the more protective parent. She was, after all, a Titan. It’s what they did.

But, still, even his mother acknowledged that keeping Ryan locked up in the proverbial tower wasn’t a good thing for him, and so she’d acquiesced to him taking the trip with his friends.

After hearing the news, Ryan thanked both his parents profusely- and his mother especially- and dashed to his room to pack.

*.*.*.*

The flight to Archavia was rather boring, but short. Before the teenagers knew it, they were disembarking from one of Pryvani’s shuttles and stepping into the terminal of the spaceport in Paeri.

“Do you see them?” Manto asked from her perch on Odin’s shoulder as she scanned the crowd at the spaceport terminal. Joseph sidled up next to them with Ryan peeking out of his shirt pocket.

“I do not.” Odin stated flatly. “Of course, seeing as I do not have a clue what your Aunt Rea looks like, nor your cousin, I suppose I could be looking directly at them and it wouldn’t make much of a difference.”

“Man, you really need to get away from that boarding school for a while.” Joseph rolled his eyes and laughed. “You’re starting to sound like such a nerd.”

“’Cultured,’ my dear Joseph.” Odin replied with a self-deprecating grin and dialing up the slight Aementi accent he’d picked up while away at school. “The word you’re looking for is ‘cultured.’”

“No I think Joey’s right.” Ryan piped in with a snort. “It’s ‘nerd.’ ”

“There she is!” Manto called out, point across the spaceport terminal and glad she could cut off the posturing before it got too extreme. “Over there!”

They all turned, and looked where Manto was indicating. They saw a woman with a bushy mane of reddish-brown hair and pale skin. Next to her was a younger girl, who appeared to be roughly the same physical age and them, with tanner skin and blonder hair, which was just as bushy as her mother’s.

“Grand.” Odin led the way over to where their luggage was being unloaded and hefted the strap of his bag onto the shoulder that wasn’t currently being occupied. Meanwhile, Joseph was busy flagging down their aunt and cousin. Odin grabbed Joseph’s bag for him bag and carried it over to where they were gathered and unceremoniously thrust it at the other boy.

“Well! If it isn’t my favorite niece and nephew!” Yurea gushed, pulling Joseph into a side-hug while being mindful of the human in his pocket.

“We’re not your favorites, Aunt Rea.” Manto reminded her, rolling her eyes in amusement.

“You are too;” Rea told them with a grin. “You’re just tied with all my other nieces and nephews.”

“Right.” Joseph laughed.

“So who are your friends?” Rea asked, turning to Odin.

“Right, sorry.” Joseph muttered. “This is Odin Tarsuss and Ryan Carey.” He pointed to each of them in turn.

“Thanks for having us over.” Odin smiled politely. “It’s nice to be able to go somewhere that isn’t Avalon or school.”

“Yes, thank you.” Ryan agreed, nodding.

“You’re both welcome.” She turned and indicated the young woman who was standing silently behind her. “This is my daughter Rehvanon.”

“Hi.” The young woman smiled. Ryan noticed her gaze seemed to linger on him a little longer than on Odin.

“All right, now there’s no sense in staying here in the dusty spaceport. Come on, I’ll get us a shuttle ride back into town.” Yurea said, gesturing towards the spaceport’s exit.

With the two Titan-sized boys carrying their luggage, the group fell into step behind Yurea. Within moments, they were deep into a rural area of Paeri. Yurea’s house was on the edge of a former farmland, which had gradually returned to wild save for a medium sized yard. The sun was setting behind the house, leaving the entire area cast in shadows.

“Wow.” Odin muttered as he climbed out of the shuttle, with Manto still clinging to the collar of his shirt. “You don’t see homes like this too often, anymore.”

“It is kind of out of the way.” Rehvanon agreed with a grin. “Which is always not the best if you want to actually go do something, but it’s great if you need to find some place to be alone for a while.”

“Grab your things.” Yurea called as soon as she finished paying the driver. “It’s getting dark out and I’m sure you’re all tired, so I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.”

They entered the farmhouse and Yurea directed them up the stairs.

“Odin, Joey and Ryan; you all will share the guest bedroom.” She said as they climbed the stairs. “Manto, you’re in Rehva’s room.”

“Don’t worry.” Manto grinned. “I don’t take up too much space. “

Joseph dug Manto’s luggage out of his bag and passed the tiny cases to his cousin, who held them in the palm of her hand with a delighted expression on her face. A moment later, Manto hopped from Odin’s shoulder to Rehva’s other hand.

“All right Aunt Rea.” Joseph yawned. “We’ll see you in the morning.”

“Uh, Aunt Rea…?” Manto mumbled. “There’s a slight problem here…”

Yurea’s brow knit in confusion, but then she smiled. “Don’t worry. I know you and Ryan will need to eat before morning. I’ve made arrangements. I’ll make you something in eight hours or so, all right?”

“Thank you!” Ryan said with a smile.

“You’re welcome. I certainly couldn’t do any less! Now, off to bed, all of you!” Yurea yawned as she trudged down the hall to her own room.

*.*.*.*

“So what should we do today?”

The question, spoken by Odin and directed at the group at large, was answered by a series of shrugs. It was around noon the next morning and the group of young people were sitting on Yurea’s porch gazing out at the forest around them.

“Shall we go for a walk?” Rehva suggested, pulling herself to her feet. “The forest’s actually really pretty this time of day.”

“I’m in.” Manto said, jumping onto Odin’s shoulder.

“Sure.” Ryan shrugged, before climbing into the hand that Rehva offered.

“Nah.” Joseph shook his head, and stretched his arms over his head. “Actually, I think I’ll go take a nap. Maybe I’ll catch up with you all later.”

“Lazy!” Manto called to her brother’s retreating back.

Joseph only waved back.

The four of them made their way into the forest. Rehva was right, it was indeed very lovely. The canopy above them cast dappled shadows on the forest floor. And a slight breeze kept annoying insects at bay.

Rehva suddenly realized that Odin and Manto had fallen back quite a bit. Glancing over her shoulder, she realized the two of them were talking in hushed voices and Manto seemed to be especially giggly.

“Come on Ryan.” Rehva whispered to the human in her palm; “There’s something over here that I want to show you.”

“Oh.” Ryan muttered. “Okay.”

The teenage Titan carried Ryan a fair distance away from where Manto and Odin were talking before sitting in the shade underneath a tall tree and leaning back against the trunk. She placed Ryan on top of her knee.

“Uh, what did you want to show me?” He asked her, while looking about in confusion.

“Nothing, really.” Rehva giggled. “I just thought maybe the two of them would appreciate some alone time.”

Ryan blinked, his brow knit in thought before comprehension dawned.

“Oh. Right.”

Rehva giggled again.

“So, Ryan, tell me what life on Avalon is like.” Rehav rested her arm on her other knee and rested herself against the tree again.

“Well, I uh…” Ryan scratched the back of his head. “It’s… it’s weird, sometimes, being in a place built for human size. I mean, everything just seems really small…”

“Even for you?”

Ryan chuckled. “Especially for me. I normally live in a titan-sized house, with my mom and dad. I’m actually more used to Titan-level gravity than what Avalon typically is.”

“Really?” Rehva leaned forward, her eyes glued to the human in front of her. “I’d love to hear more!”

Ryan grinned, pleased at having the pretty girl’s undivided attention. He was just about to elaborate on what life on Tayas Mons was like, when-

“Well hey Rehva. What an odd coincidence, seeing you here.”

Rehva sat up suddenly, surprised at the voice. Behind the tree came a young man with short-cropped dirty blonde hair and a scraggly goatee. He face was weathered, like he spent too much time outside, and his eyes were thin and beady, like he was constantly squinting. The grin he wore on his face was also somewhat unsettling, as if he constantly had ugly thoughts on his mind, but still found them amusing nonetheless.

Behind him came a group of four boys, each only a little less unpleasant than their leader.

Rehva sneered at the newcomer, with a look of open revulsion on his face. “Tezzo, get out of here. I thought my mom told you to never come back here.”

“I do what I want and when.” Tezzo growled, taking a menacing step forward. “And ain’t nobody going to tell me otherwise, least of all you or your mom.”

Rehva’s palm dropped over Ryan protectively. “I said leave Tezzo!” She snapped angrily.

“I don’t want to.” Tezzo replied, as his goons cackled in support.

“The lady said to leave her alone, friend.” A voice spoke up. “I suggest you move along.”

Tezzo’s eyes narrowed and he turned around to glare at Odin, who was leaning up against a tree, projecting a practiced aura of nonchalance. Manto was in her usual perch on his shoulder, glaring daggers at the giant bullies in front of her.

“Nobody asked you.” Tezzo sneered contemptuously.

“Nobody had to.” Odin replied, standing up straight and moving closer.

Tezzo’s eyes lit up as Odin stepped out from the shade underneath the tree. “Oh well, look here everyone. It’s a little Aementi fancy-boy.”

Tezzo grinned nastily and his cronies snickered behind him. “Shouldn’t you be balancing a bank account or something?”

Odin twitched slightly, but that was the only reaction he gave.

Tezzo reached into his pocket and dug out a plastic “one credit” chit. He waved it in front of Odin’s face. “Ooh… Does fancy boy want the credit? Does he? Go get the credit, boy! Go on!” Tezzo, encouraged by the mocking laughter of his friends, threw the credit off into the woods surrounding them.

The young hybrid didn’t move, only raised an eyebrow.

“Now then,” Odin continued as if nothing had happened. “As I was saying, it’d be best if you all moved on and left us alone.”

“You think you can make us?” The teenager sneered. “I thought Aementi were good at counting. Can’t you see you’re outnumbered five to one?”

Odin smirked. “Well, I can wait for a bit if you’d like to go round up a few more. To make it a little more fair.”

“Yeah, get out of here, you dumb slag!” Rehva spat, stomping over to where the two boys were squaring off. “You’re on my family’s land anyway!”

“Shut up!” Tezzo whipped around and with the crack of flesh on flesh, sent Rehva staggering back.

The young girl stumbled, but didn’t fall. Her only concern at that moment was for the human in her hand, and not of the stinging pain that sliced through her face.

Ryan, on the other hand, had a different reaction. Before even thinking about it, he found himself running across Rehva’s open palm and launching himself through the air towards her assailant.

Odin, also found himself angrily advancing on Tezzo. Before he could get anywhere close, Tezzo’s goon friends stepped in front of him and pushed Odin back.

That didn’t stop Manto. Like Ryan, she jumped from her perch on Odin’s shoulder and landed somewhere on Tezzo’s shirt, quickly gripping the cloth in her hands to stop herself from falling.

Tezzo was too busy laughing at Odin having to deal with a four on one fight to notice the two humans landing on his person.

Then he turned towards Rehva who was blinking tears of pain out of her eyes.

Manto and Ryan, meanwhile, were busily climbing up the front of Tezzo’s body and towards his face. Ryan made it to his shoulder and caught Manto’s eye. She nodded and indicated her path to his other shoulder.

Ryan flashed her three fingers and made his way to the giant teen’s neck.

Odin, meanwhile, was having his arms restrained by two of his attackers, while a third drove a fist into his gut. He reeled back from the punch to the stomach, his vision momentarily swimming. Gritting his teeth he wrenched his arms free and grabbed the fist that had struck him and pulled down with one hand and lashed out with the other, catching the other boy across the jaw. The boy reeled back and fell flat to the ground, Odin’s superior strength having sent him for a loop. Then Odin had to twist out of the way as a second teen tried to grab him around the torso.

Rehva recovered from the blow she’d taken and ran towards the melee, throwing herself on the back of the tallest of Odin’s opponents and wrapping her arm around his neck. She held on tightly despite every effort to throw her off.

Ryan jumped up and grabbed the small hoop pierced through Tezzo’s earlobe. He used it to pull himself up into the titan’s ear where he threw a punch as hard as he could at a very specific location in the ear canal in front of him.

Tezzo only had a second to register the weight on his ear before the entire side of his face exploded in pain and his left eye went blurry.

At the same time, Manto threw herself from the other shoulder and grabbed ahold of the scraggly beard hanging from Tezzo’s chin. Using the momentum from her jump, she swung across his neck and kicked him directly in the throat, mere milliseconds before the hairs she gripped lost hold and ripped from his chin.

Tezzo let out a strangled choking sound as his throat closed and breathing became a bit more difficult.

Manto managed to grab hold of the hem of his shirt and slow her descent. She let herself fall a second later and slid down his leg to the ground below. At the same time, Ryan hopped down from the earlobe just as the giant became aware of his presence. A shadow fell over him as Tezzo tried to swipe him away. Ryan jumped over the Titan’s hand, running along his arm until he made it to the other shoulder. Before Tezzo could react, Ryan leaped up onto the other ear and punched at the exact same spot he’d struck before.

Another lance of pain shot through Tezzo as his eyes watered and his vision blurred again.

Down on the ground, Manto was keeping a wary eye on Tezzo’s boots as the giant stomped around, groaning in pain.

“I’ll kill you, you little rodent!” The giant roared and tried to grab at Ryan. The young human was too agile, and jumped up on top of Tezzo’s head.

“Gross… take a shower once in a while.” Ryan muttered quietly as he found himself ankle deep in a pile of greasy hair.

His momentary distraction cost him, as he found himself pinched between a pair of dirty giant fingers.

“Gotcha now, you insect.” Tezzo sneered. Ryan was brought up to his face. The boy was squinting and holding his head with his other hand. His voice sounded hoarse, as if he were finding it difficult to speak. He glared at Ryan for a moment longer, before turning his eyes to the ground. “As for you…”

Manto looked up as the sole of the giant’s hovering boot blocked out the sun, and flecks of dirt rained down on her. Slowly, the boot lowered down until it was almost on top of her.

Then, suddenly, it shot back into the air. Manto blinked in the sudden light and looked up to see her brother easily holding the titanic bully aloft with one hand.

“Joey!” Manto cried happily.

Joseph purple eyes glared into the face of his sister’s would-be executioner. “Give me the human.” He growled menacingly.

Tezzo, who was still confused at this sudden turn of events, and not quite fully understanding why he suddenly found himself unable to touch the ground, reached out with a trembling hand and dropped Ryan into Joseph’s palm.

“Good boy.” Joseph growled. “Now tell me why I shouldn’t rip you apart for trying to hurt my sister.”

“I uh… sister? What?” Tezzo mumbled incoherently.

“Don’t do it, Joseph.” Manto called up from the ground. “He ain’t worth a trip to a penal.”

Joseph glanced down at his sister. “Your call.” He muttered. He paused to glare at Tezzo again, before casually tossing him over to where his friends were lying in a groaning heap at Odin’s feet.

“About time you showed up.” Odin smiled, dusting off his shirt. His left eye was blackened and he had a split lip which was bleeding slightly, but otherwise seemed no worse for wear for having fended off four attackers.

“I was sleeping.” Joseph said with a shrug. “Anyway it looked like you all had it handled until the end there.”

He bent down and scooped Manto from the ground.

Rehva rushed over. “Ryan! Manto!” She gasped. “Are they okay?”

“I’m fine.” Ryan called over.

Rehva held out her hand and Ryan jumped into it. He suddenly found himself crushed gently into her chest. “I’m glad you’re all right!”

“Uh… yeah…” Ryan muttered distractedly. “Me too…”

“Well, I don’t know about you all, but all this brawling has made me famished.” Odin chuckled. “What say we leave this lot to sort themselves out and go see about getting some lunch?”

“I could go for food.” Joseph replied.

“Shocker.” Manto muttered from her brother’s shoulder.

“Uh… you know… I think I’ll go for a walk first. Clear my head.” Rehva smiled as she turned to walk in the other direction.

“Uh… she’s still got Ryan with her.” Joseph muttered.

“Of course she does, Stupid.” Manto sighed. “And she knows it too.”

“Oh.” Joseph blinked, and then grinned. “Ohh… Well. Good for them.”

Manto rolled her eyes. “Come on you two. Let’s go.”

*.*.*.*

“That was pretty brave, the way you threw yourself at Tezzo. You could have gotten yourself hurt!”

Ryan shrugged. “Manto and I have been training with the Jacks. So it wasn’t like we didn’t know what we were doing.”

“Jacks?” Rehva asked quizzically

Ryan nodded. “Yeah, they’re a squadron in the Avalonian military that deals with defending the city against Titan attacks. I don’t really know why they’re called Jacks though. My dad says it has to do with a story from Earth, or something.”

“So you learn to fight Titans? Have Titan attacks happened often?”

“A few times,” Ryan muttered. “But it never hurts to be prepared.”

Rehva smiled gently. “Still… That was pretty amazing.”

“What’s his deal anyway?”

Rehva shuddered. “He’s this gross townie who thinks he has a crush on me, so he won’t take no for an answer. Mom’s tried to drive him off, but…”

“I see.” Ryan sighed. “Well, if he tries anything again, you can just remind him of the time he got his ass kicked by humans.”

Rehva laughed. “I still can’t believe you were willing to take on someone, what, a hundred times your size?”

Ryan rubbed the back of his neck and tried to hide the blush on his face. “Tezzo is a bully. And if there’s one thing my parents taught me, it’s that you don’t let bullies get away with it, no matter how big they are.”

“Well, thank you for… for standing up for me.” Rehva muttered, a slight blush appearing on her cheeks.

“Oh, well, that’s-” Ryan’s sentence was cut off as he found himself pressed into the soft flesh of Rehva’s lips. His conscious mind went blank as he absorbed the novel sensation of a titan-sized kiss.

After a few moments, Rehva broke the kiss and Ryan was left stunned. The Titan girl giggled at the sight of the bemused little human in her hand.

“Are you okay, little hero?”

Ryan blinked and shook his head. “Yeah, um, of course. I just… I’ve never…”

Rehva giggled again and brought Ryan to her lips once more. “Well, Did you like it?”

Ryan swallowed and nodded mutely.

“Good” Rehva brought him to her lips for a third, much longer, kiss. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”