Common People

Jake sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes. It was dark, and sheets were loose around him. He wore an old, familiar shirt, with old, familiar pajama pants. Morning light drifted through the window of his old, familiar condo.

It was his condo. There was no island. No harem. He wasn’t a master. He was simply Jake; a hipster entering his 30s with a job he hated, but was good at, in a city he loved but was occasionally too large for him.

Jake stood. Stretched. Those were odd thoughts he’d just had. Harem? Master? Island? It was like he was waking up from a dream from which he could only barely remember the details.

He shook his head clear, forgetting all about it, and wandered into the kitchen. He got all the way to the fridge, opened up a bottle of orange juice and began drinking it, before he realized there was a woman in the room with him.

An exceedingly beautiful one.

“Uh, hi Leah,” Jake said, waving sheepishly.

He was acutely aware of the orange juice running down his chin.

“Hello, love,” She responded, her lips curling in the sort of smile that could mean anything, and hinted at everything.

“Uhm, hi,” He repeated, kicking himself for sounding like an idiot.

Her red dress clung to every curve of her body, with a neckline that started at her collar bone leaving both sides of her magnificent breasts exposed before descending to her navel. Her tan skin was flawless, her ass-length curtain of black hair brushed out perfectly fine and straight.

“What are you doing here?” Jake asked, once he’d recovered the power of human speech. “It’s…what time is it?”

Leah had helped herself to a bottle of his wine; one of the more expensive dry whites. It stood beside her, inexplicably full and corked. That thought brought another one of those waves of unreality; like he was on the cusp of remembering something important that was just out of reach.

She swirled her wine glass, then took a swallow.

“I’m here to see you, obviously. And New York.” She said. “I’ve never been, and I was hoping you’d take me out on the town.”

Jake looked down at himself, through a tangle of unkempt hair.

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind taking you out sometime, but i’m not exactly-”

She smiled and snapped her fingers. In a moment, his hair was not only neatly brushed and parted, but clean. His clothes had changed from pajamas to a dark blue three-piece suit with a gold and cream tie. His bare feet were suddenly covered in dress socks and warm brown Oxford dress shoes. He was perfectly clean, despite having just rolled out of bed.

Jake took a step back, blinking.

“It is…so fucking freaky when you do stuff like that,” He said, though he didn’t stop for a second to question how she’d done it. She just could.

Leah dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

“Pish posh. Come along. The day’s not getting any younger,” She said, moving toward the door.

“So, uh, where are we headed?” He asked, refusing for the moment to follow.

Even her shrug was sensual.

“I don’t know, love,” She said. “I’m the out-of-towner. You tell me.”

He smiled in spite of himself. He loved showing off New York to out-of-towners. He couldn’t think of where she was coming out of town from, or even how he knew her, but all of that seemed unimportant.

Still, he mulled over the prospect of playing tour guide.

“So, do you want a touristy experience, or something a little closer to the ‘day in the life’?”

“The latter,” Leah agreed at once. “I want to do what you do. See the things you like to see.”

“Live like common people. Do whatever common people do,” Jake agreed, with a smile. “I guess I can accommodate that.”

“Good,” Leah said, returning his grin. “Also, I have a surprise for you. Two, actually.”

Here it was. He didn’t know what ‘it’ would be, only that cavorting with Leah was sort of like cozying up to a sexy pit viper. There was always something in it to make him uncomfortable.

“Oh?” He asked warily. “You wanna provide any deets on that?”

Leah cocked her head.

“Deets?”

“Details. It’s an…it’s one of our idioms here.”

“I see! Delightful!” Leah said, “Well, one of the surprises will remain a secret until we get back here tonight.”

“Tonight,” Jake echoed, raising an eyebrow. “Someone’s got a high opinion of her company.”

“And one of them, I’ll give you right now,” Leah said, ignoring him. “Kiss me.”

Jake to fight - to physically stop himself - from flinging himself at her. Judging by the shit eating look on her face, he didn’t entirely succeed.

“Is there some kind of…trick, or something?” He asked.

Her dark eyes rolled.

“You know what your problem is? You spend too much time thinking and not enough time enjoying yourself.”

She leaned over the counter, stretching the dress over her shapely form until he was afraid (or perhaps excited) that she’d pop out of it entirely. Helpless, Jake finally surrendered, leaning forward until their lips met.

Almost Immediately, an electric surge flowed through him. The morning fog vanished instantly, replaced by boundless energy. His senses came alive, seemingly heightened to new extremities. He became hyper aware of his surroundings, suddenly sensing every curve of the woman leaning into him, to the distant sound of his neighbor’s music, to a slight leak in his faucet he hadn't known about. Jake felt bigger somehow, like the world around him was less substantial; his place in it more special.

He withdrew, blinking. He expected the strange side effects of the kiss to fade, but they didn’t.

“What…the hell just happened?”

“I gave you my powers,” Leah said. “A rental, really. You’ll have them for the rest of the day. The way I figure, I’ll get a chance to see your world, you can have a little taste of mine.”

He nodded, considering that. It was just a rental, right? He didn’t have to use her powers unless he wanted to. And the idea of showing off New York with Leah on his arm all day was more than a little appealing.

“Alright. But if you’re gonna go to my type of haunt, you’re a little overdressed.”

Experimentally, he pictured her in something else entirely. The dress she’d chosen was positively stunning, but Jake couldn’t shake another memory: Leah in a plain white t-shirt and leggings. She always looked stunning but, to his eye, she’d never been more beautiful than in that unaffected, undressed moment. Even if he couldn’t remember where it was or when it had happened.

Her clothes began to reshape into that exact outfit, crawling over her body as they split and shifted into a new form. It was good; intoxicating even. But it wasn’t exactly what he wanted.

He re-directed his thoughts, forcing the clothes into an even more alluring shape. The plain shirt tightened along her large breasts, shrinking to expose her tight midriff. It took on a V cut that exposed a deep cut of olive cleavage. The leggings hardened into low riding, ultra-tight jeans that clung to her shapely legs and outlined the contours of her ass.

That ass swelled a bit, enlarging into a more pronounced heart shape that pushed the confines of her jeans even further. She startled, looking unsure of herself for a moment. But then her lips curled into a grin as she ran a hand along her expanded posterior.

“This is new.” She noted, turning to give him a better look.

“I…uh…I didn’t mean to do that.” Jake insisted.

“I’ve no doubt. Control over one’s powers takes some getting used to,” She said.

He winced. That seemed…ominous.

“Leah, I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“Oh, gods alive,” she said, exasperated.

She moved to him quickly, taking his hand.

“Let’s just go out and enjoy ourselves already!” She insisted. “Don’t make me drag you.”

Jake sighed, certain enough that he wasn’t going to win this battle that he didn’t even want to try. Truthfully, he was far from sure he even wanted to. He snapped his fingers again, this time picturing himself in a band t-shirt, sunglasses and a fashionable pair of shorts and shoes. HIs clothes changed from formal to casual just as hers had.

It was still pretty freaky, but now that it was under his control, it was exciting, too

*****

By the time the pair arrived at Jake’s favorite coffee shop, the early morning crowd had largely receded.

“What can I get for you?” Jake asked.

Leah screwed up her face and tapped her chin.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been in a coffee shop before.”

Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Not a coffee drinker?”

She gave him a shy smile.

“Well…I don’t drink it at all, truth be told. It’s not the best idea for my type of people to have mind altering substances. Alcohol, coffee…none of it, really.”

As they drifted through the line, Leah pulled his arm around her. It felt so damned normal, waiting in line for coffee with her.

“So is everyone where you’re from like you?” He asked. “Walking around with the power to do just about anything.”

Leah shook her head.

“Not everyone. And not everyone who can do what I do is as strong or as weak as me.”

Jake laughed.

“As weak as you? That’s gotta be something.”

The look she gave him in return had no humor whatsoever.

“Yes. I’m not that powerful, as these things go. What some of the ‘elders’ can do? You can’t even imagine.”

The day was warm, but Jake felt a chill. Thankfully, Leah ignored it.

“We’ve solved most of the material problems in my world,” She continued. “Resource management and disease and whatnot. All that’s left really is to entertain ourselves.”

“I bet that becomes a bit challenging when you can do just about anything,” Jake said.

“It does,” She admitted, “That’s why it’s so much fun to watch those who can’t.”

That thought disturbed him, somehow, though he couldn’t put his finger on why. By then, they’d followed the line into the shop.

Leah took a long, slow breath.

“Gods,” She exclaimed. “It smells incredible in here!”

Jake grinned in, the discomfort from a moment earlier entirely forgotten.

“Why don’t you grab a seat?” He said. “Take in the sights and smells while I get our order in.”

“You got it, handsome,” She said with a wink.

Before he could think to stop her, she stood on her toes and gave him a kiss. While he was still too surprised to react, she turned and took off toward a nearby table.

He was at the counter now. Nora was the girl behind the bar; a cute, pixieish girl with short dark hair, a willowy figure and a cute, button nosed face that he’d ordered from more times than he could count. She smiled up at him.

“Heya, Jake,” She said. “The usual?”

He nodded.

“For me, yeah. And a…”

He thought quickly. What would blow Leah’s mind?

“A latte. Any flavor you think would impress someone who’s never had coffee before.”

“I told you she was someone special,” Said Mercedes, the curvy Latin American girl behind the counter.

Bronze skinned, with gorgeous, wavy, balayaged hair, and the sort of posterior that Jake coveted, Mercedes was his other regular barista. She worked on his order as Nora arched an eyebrow.

“Uh…who? Leah?” Jake asked sheepishly, “No…she’s just an out of town…”

What? “Friend” might have been putting it too strongly. “Woman I like, but not like that” would have validated precisely what he was trying to deny.

Nora giggled before he could answer.

“Don’t worry,” Mercedes said with a grin, “We won’t tell anybody.”

Jake blushed, and stepped around the corner of the counter to wait for his order.

“So how are you guys?” He said, addressing Nora specifically. “How’s the masters coming along?”

Nora rolled her eyes.

“We’ve entered the ‘I’d rather die than look at the document’ stage,” She said.

“It’s good, though!” Mercedes objected. “I didn’t think it’d be so interesting, but it’s awesome.”

Nora gave a cute little blush and muttered a polite thank you.

Jake’s mind wandered to Emily, though he couldn’t say why. Was it her ambition of an art masters? Guilt over his flirtation with Leah? Whatever the cause, he remembered her as he’d last seen her, in nothing but an apron as she worked behind the counter of a different coffee shop.

As his brain turned that image over, there was a shimmer around the two girls in front of him. Their clothes rippled, then vanished, leaving both Nora and Mercedes in nothing but their barista aprons. As his gaze settled on Mercedes’ perfect, brown, peach of an ass, Jake’s jaw dropped.

“Here’s your order,” Nora said, placing the coffee cups on the counter in front of him with a shy smile.

He stared down at the mugs, and then into her cleavage. How had he never noticed how busty she was before? Probably because she didn’t dress to show it off when she was serving people coffee. Whatever the cause, he sure as hell noticed it now, though.

“Is…everything okay?” Nora asked, confused.

He thought fast. She apparently wasn’t aware of the situation, and he wasn’t about to inform her. He desperately willed her and Mercedes back to normal, but nothing happened. Finally, he did manage to stop gaping.

“Nothing…sorry. Just staring off into space,” He said, then added. “You and Mercedes look very pretty today.”

The smile she gave him was the same one she always did; a little shy, a little sweet, extremely “girl next door”.

“Thanks, Jake,” She said.

Her next action, though, was nothing like the Nora he knew at all. She slipped the apron down to expose a large, full breast. She cupped it for him, bit her lip, then hastily stowed it again before turning to the next customer.

He looked down the line toward Mercedes. She was bopping along to the beat of the funky ambient music, wiggling that amazing ass of hers as she worked. She caught his eye, and smiled with a wink, then blew him a kiss, and put an extra, performative sway into her hips.

Jake turned away sheepishly, grabbing the drinks and he retreated to the table Leah had chosen for them.

“Good work up there,” Leah said, admiring the girls.

“I didn’t mean to do it,” He muttered quietly. “And I can’t make it go away.”

“That’s because you don’t want it to go away,” Leah said with a grin. “It goes like that, sometimes. A thought creeps into your head, and you will it into reality. You learn to control it in time, but the steadfast rule is that things only go back to normal if you want them to.”

A shiver went through Jake’s spine, though he was rock hard in spite of it.

“I…you went through this too? Just…doing stuff without meaning to.”

Leah nodded, taking a tentative sip of her drink. Her eyes widened.

“This is heavenly,” She cooed. “What even is it?”

“It’s just a regular latte,” Jake said, “Leah…You’ve got to tell me how to fix this.”

“Hang on a bloody second,” She objected. “I’ve never had this before.”

“Leah,” Jake said urgently, “This is serious!”

“Is it?” she questioned, motioning to the girls. “They don’t seem to mind.”

Jake turned to look at his mistake. The two girls were chatting as usual, making friendly conversation with the customers. If you ignored their obvious flirtations, or the way they showed off for extra tips, it almost seemed normal.

“That’s not the point,” Jake objected. “They’re not themselves.”

“No,” Leah agreed. “They’re the versions of themselves that you want them to be.”

Her foot massaged his leg beneath the table.

“You’re in command, love.”

He stiffened involuntarily, in more ways than one. He knew it was true; he could make this all go back to normal, he wanted - really wanted - to.

But he didn’t. He wanted Nora, and Mercedes, and Leah, when it came to it. He wanted them despite being with Emily, just like he’d wanted Emily, even when he’d still been with Hannah.

But that, he knew, was a wrongheaded aspect of himself, and one best ignored.

“Leah, no…it doesn’t matter what I want. It…”

She leaned forward, gently stroking his hair.

“It’s all pretend, love,” She whispered. “Indulge yourself.”

Somehow, that soothed his remaining doubts. All pretend…why shouldn’t he act up?

The crowd had thinned out, and they were alone in the shop. The girls were chatting casually, both gorgeous, and all his for the taking. He tried to focus on them; to reshape them with his power. But before he could completely let go, two coworkers entered. One was a bubbly pink haired girl he’d seen a few times, the other a tall, fit, brunette who was a stranger to him.

“Shift’s up, y’all,” the brunette said cheerily, “Relief’s here.”

“Thanks guys,” Mercedes said, sliding out of her apron.

“Bye Jake!” Nora said, giving him a wave.

The relief shift began to undress, while Nora slid on a pair of leggings and a skirt. It could have ended there, with the two dressing, leaving and going about their lives. But across the table, Leah gave him an expectant look.

Indulge yourself, she’d said to him.

His will cracked, and he did.

Mercedes, only half dressed in a tight fitting baseball tee, stopped, her plain cotton panties shrinking into a tiny thong. Nora, who’d been strapping on a bra, abruptly tossed it aside.

Jake decided he liked the two of them like this, showing their best respective assets to the world. They walked out of the shop, and into the rest of their lives, that way. His heart skipped a beat at what he’d done.

“Y’all need anything?” The now similarly disrobed brunette called out in a light southern drawl.

Leah reached out and squeezed Jake’s hand.

“We’re fine, love,” She said to the naked barista. “About to leave, actually.”

*****

They walked, arm in arm, through Shore Road park. The Narrows Bridge loomed ahead, providing a picturesque backdrop on the gorgeous day.

“So how did it feel?” Leah asked.

Jake sighed. She knew perfectly well what he’d done. He didn’t see any reason to be dishonest about it.

“Wrong. But amazing.” He admitted, shaking his head.

A jogger ran by them; a beautiful, yet strangely familiar looking redhead. She wore a long pair of leggings and a tank top as she approached them, but a pair of microshorts and a flimsy sports bra by the time she passed.

Jake hadn’t even meant to do it. He shook his head.

“How do you do it?” He asked. “How do you keep a lid on doing whatever the hell you want to everyone?”

“Well, I’ve had my powers since I was a teen,” She said. “You learn to catch yourself after a while. The fact that it’s illegal to alter anyone without their consent doesn’t hurt anything.”

Jake raised an eyebrow. That statement begged several questions, but he fixated on one in particular.

“Since you were pre-teen?” He asked. “And how long has that been?”

Leah’s grin was downright impish.

“Some secrets even _my _power’s not capable of revealing,” She said. “But long enough.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, walking through the park, hand in hand. They weren’t a couple, he knew, but they almost felt like a normal one. Jake had to suppress a chuckle. With most women, Jake enjoyed normalcy, with sexual tension only intermittently interspersed. With Leah, it was exactly the opposite.

“My sister was my first real target,” Leah said, unprompted.

Her voice was quiet, and somber. Gone was the breathy affectation she normally wore as easily as clothing.

Jake had learned early in his sales career that a contrite question, or even silence, often got one farther than a hard pitch.

“Oh?” Was all he said in reply.

Leah walked to the park railing and stared out at the bay. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“You have a sibling. I’m sure you can understand how we can get on one another’s nerves.”

Jake thought about Megan and smiled.

“Honestly, mine was only occasionally annoying,” He said. “And we were pretty far apart, agewise. I dunno…she didn’t bother me much.”

Leah nodded.

“Andrea wasn’t. She was only two years older than me,” She said.

She sighed.

“I was 15, when it happened. She was…very beautiful. And I was very jealous.”

Jake found that difficult to imagine, but he let her continue. Instead of answering, he slipped an arm around her waist.

She leaned into it.

“I’d stolen her clothes. A dress for…well, some dance I’d wanted to go to,” Leah said. “It’d have been fine if I hadn’t spilled punch all over it and ruined the bloody thing.”

Jake let out a low whistle.

“Cardinal sin, that.”

Leah nodded, looking out at the water rather than at him.

“She was…much prettier than me,” She said. “But I was strong in the power, and she wasn’t.”

She shook her head.

“At some point, she was yelling at me. And I just got angry. I thought, Gods alive…wouldn’t it all just be easier if she just did what she was told.”

She gave a demonstrative snap of her fingers.

“And just like that…she did,” Leah said. “I knew I shouldn’t have, but…”

“You really wanted her to,” Jake finished for her. “Is that where this is going?”

Leah nodded.

“Eventually, I was able to change her back,” She said. “Though she’s still more…amenable to my suggestions than she probably should be.”

Jake watched her carefully. If there was any affectation, he couldn’t see it. She seemed genuinely contrite about it; genuinely vulnerable.

“Do you feel bad about it?” He asked her.

She paused, considering.

“For what I did to her? Yes,” She admitted. “But it was also the first time I ever used my powers to take what I wanted.”

She turned to face him.

“And do I feel bad about that? Never.” She said, forcefully, “What’s the bloody point of having power if you can’t do what you want with it?”

Jake thought that over. Several retorts sprang to mind, all of which amounted to “Helping people”. But he remembered Nora and Mercedes. How easy it had it been. How good it felt.

“Yeah…I guess I get it,” He said. “I still feel bad, though.”

Leah pulled his other arm around her, leaning in close.

“If you had enough time, you’d get over it too,” She assured him.

Something niggled at him.

“It’s kinda hard to imagine someone so beautiful that you’d be jealous of her,” He said. “Makes one wonder what she must look like.”

Leah’s grin was shy.

“You’re looking at her, actually,” She said. “Eventually I decided I was better off as Andrea’s twin.”

He supposed he wasn’t surprised, though it begged the question of what she must have looked like in the first place.

She stretched, standing up on the balls of her feet to give him a light kiss.

“I think I’m ready to head back to your place,” She said. “If you’re alright with taking me, that is.

Of course, he was.

*****

They didn’t walk through the front door, so much as explode through it. The kissing and groping had started in the elevator, the sexual tension of the day exploding in the tiny, enclosed space.

They half stumbled, half tackled one another down the hallway to his flat. At some point, Jake’s shirt and sunglasses, and Leah’s crop top had all been discarded, and were abandoned without remark.

The second, the door closed behind them, Jake began working at her bra; clumsily, thanks to how aggressively he was attacking her neck and ear.

“Mmmm…stop,” Leah groaned.

It took a moment for the request to register, but eventually he relented with a groan.

“Is something wrong?” He asked, his voice more petulant than he intended.

She separated herself, straightening.

“Not at all” She said, “But I did promise you another surprise.”

Jake thought back to her sudden appearance that morning. She had promised him two. The first had been her power. But the second? Despite wracking his brain, he couldn’t think of a thing.

Ultimately, his curiosity outweighed his baser instincts.

“Alright,” He said. “Shoot.”

Leah shot him that classic, sultry, could-mean-anything grin, and cocked her head toward his bedroom door.

“Follow me, love.”

She threw open the door, and followed her in. What he found there took his breath away.

The girl on his bed was, in the wrong way, painfully familiar. The sight of her, her olive skin, her long dark hair, her beautiful brown eyes…it all brought a faint remembrance of distaste.

Yet it was all wrong. More of that smooth, tanned skin was revealed than it should have been. The confidence in her posture was gone. And those eyes were warm and inviting, rather than sharp or probing.

“Amelia?” He asked, dumbfounded.

“Oui,” She answered, with a perfect French accent that matched the tiny black nightie and white apron she wore.

“She looks good, doesn’t she?” Leah asked, slowly pacing around him.

Despite speaking the language with some fluency, Jake utterly failed to comprehend what Amelia said to him next.

“What the hell happened to you?” Jake asked.

“I should think that was obvious,” Leah answered instead. “I did.”

Jake shook his head.

“You did this to her?” He asked, stupidly.

Amelia stood up, one strap of her mockery of a dress sliding off a shoulder.

“Maître, je suis à toi.”

Jake’s breathing went ragged, and his cock went hard. It took all the willpower he had to turn away from her and toward Leah.

“What did you do to her?” He asked.

“Oh, stop being such a bloody Boy Scout,” She said, stepping back toward Amelia.

"How do you know Boy Scout, but not Deets?" Jake asked, incredulous.

Leah ignored him. She snapped her finger, pointing her side. Amelia dutifully shuffled up to it.

“This is your greatest rival,” Leah said, wrapping an arm around her.

She traced a finger down Amelia’s midriff. The captive girl gave a tiny moan.

“How many times has she embarrassed you?” Leah asked, turning Amelia toward her.

She slid her hands down Amelia’s back, hiking up her miniscule skirt. Amelia offered no resistance whatever.

“If she had it her way, your career would be destroyed,” Leah said. “She’d have forced you out of your firm just to improve her own self image.”

Leah squeezed Amelia’s ass with both hands, so hard that the girl actually cried out.

“Isn’t that right, you little slut?”

Amelia nodded quickly.

“Oui…”

Jake, who’d been watching slack-jawed, only barely registered when Leah turned from Amelia back to him. Her dark eyes bored into his.

“Tell me, love,” she said, gripping Amelia even harder, “That this isn’t something you want.”

Jake felt a flash of real anger then. At Leah’s presumption. At the wrongness of what she’d done to Amelia. But more than anything, because she had exposed him. Manipulated, and played him perfectly.

Because she was absolutely right.

“I’d deny it,” He said, stepping forward. “But I know you know better.”

He snapped his fingers, asserting his will over her.

Leah gasped as several things happened at once. Her jeans vanished, replaced by tight leather panties that could only be removed by a locked zipper. Her bra shifted to match, shrinking against her already tight chest. Her arms forced themselves around her back as too-tight leather bracers formed around her wrists, then chained themselves together. The sensible shoes she wore disappeared, replaced by cuffs around her ankles that chained her shapely legs together.

“I want this” He added, “You’ve been playing with me all day. Maybe the whole time I’ve known you. Now, it’s your turn.”

But rather than looking frightened, or even surprised, Leah only grinned up at him.

“That a boy,” She said, “Do your worst.”

He thought about unzipping her panties and taking her right there, but then he thought better of it. With a wave of his hand, they began to vibrate instead. Leah gasped, writhing.

Jake ignored her, turning to Amelia, who stared up at him wide eyed.

“Are you okay?” He asked her.

She bit her lip. God, he was such a sucker for that.

“Comment aimerais-tu que je sois?” She asked.

Jake knew what it meant. He cupped her chin gently, feeling a thrill as she shivered against him, and looked down into her eyes.

It was a rigged game. There was enough power flowing through him, that he knew what she’d say when he asked, “Do you want me?”

But when she answered with a quick, simply “Oui,” knowing didn’t stop him.

He pressed her against the wall. Tore the flimsy little nighty off her body. Lifted her off her feet as she pushed up inside of her. Took her.

When he woke up in the dream pod, he was in a cold sweat.