Page 117 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

I grabbed the handful of green beans and threw them at him, watching with satisfaction as they hit his massive chest and bounced in all directions. "No! You're not listening!" I shrieked. "We have to go to Venus. We. As in both of us. Right now!"

He stared at me, his expression full of doubt. "I fit here. By some miracle, my house grew with me and ended up here in the clouds. I won't fit there."

I shook my head. "Never mind all that. It's not important." My brain was jumping all over the place, contemplating possibilities I couldn't put into words. I couldn't explain to him what I was thinking, what I was hoping. I just needed him to trust me. I hoped I wasn't wrong.

"Maren…" He trailed off looking defeated. He wasn't going to follow me. I could see it in his sad eyes.

I stared at him, looking for words to convince him, without getting his hopes up. None came.

"I'm going to miss you," he said. "Never forget me."

Thinking quickly, I ran over to the giant vine that had brought me here. I knew I was bringing Todd to Venus with me one way or another. I had tried the easy way; now it was time for the hard way. "Come give me a hug, Daddy," I begged. "Kiss me one more time. I never want to forget the way your lips feel on mine."

With a sad smile, he obliged, wrapping giant arms around me and pulling me tight against him. I melted against him, breathing deeply and savoring every minute, every feeling, even his scent, just in case my plan didn't work.

When he released me, he kissed first my lips and then my forehead, lingering with each soft kiss. Finally, we parted, and I took a deep strengthening breath. It was time to put my plan into action.

"I'll miss you," I told him. I waited only a beat and then gasped loudly. "Wait! I forgot something!"

"What did you forget? You didn't bring anything," he stuttered in confusion.

Without answering, I ran back toward the house, grabbed a pile of green beans off the floor, and shoved them back into my pocket for the sole sake of making my lie more of a ruse. Then I ran back outside and plowed into his back with all the force I could muster, sending him flying into the hole in the clouds created by the giant beanstalk.

"Marrrrrreeeeennnn," he shouted as his free fall began. His voice sounded tiny and far away. "I love youuuuuu."

"I love you, too," I shouted after him, knowing he wouldn't hear me. Leaning over the hole in the clouds that his body had widened when he fell, I gripped the beanstalk and wrapped my legs around it like it was a fire pole. I would climb down if I had to, but I was hoping for more of a slide. Faster, and I might be able to do it with my eyes closed.

"Please let this work," I prayed as I pushed myself off the cloud and slid, somewhat slowly and awkwardly down the stalk.

Sliding worked, somewhat, but every few minutes I would encounter a leaf, and I would have to push out my body, and sort of shimmy past it, so that I could slide another ten feet or so. I lost track of how many times I did this. Far too many. My arms were tired and sore from gripping the stalk so tightly and my back ached.

I looked down, hoping to see the village beneath me, but all I saw were leaves and clouds. I had a long way to go. With a sigh, I remembered my abandoned breakfast and pulled a green bean from my pocket, plugging my nose with one hand as I crunched down on it. It tasted better raw than it did cooked, but really it just made me think of Todd.

What if my plan hadn’t worked, and I never saw him again? Worse yet, what if I had killed him? Fuck. I couldn't wait to find out. With a whispered prayer, I unwrapped my legs from the vine and pushed my body off, starting my own free fall.

The air around me pushed hard and fast into my lungs as I fell, making it hard to breathe. The wind was both holding and pushing me. My body was spread eagle into a back flop and I couldn't move if I wanted to. I tried to yell out, like Todd had, but I couldn't do that either. I could only fall.

And, so, I fell. I fell hard and fast and hopelessly, dreaming of a future with my jolly green daddy back in Venus. On the ground. Regular size. Able to eat food other than green beans.

My mind wandered to my stepmother, and I wondered what had become of her, but even hurling through the sky, thoughts of her made my stomach twist and left a sour taste in my mouth. Pushing her out of my mind, I remembered my conversation with Arianna that day at the castle and giggled. She had done as she promised, she had found me a daddy. He was, of course, jolly and green, and inexplicably fond of green beans, but no one was perfect, and I didn’t need Todd to be either. I just needed him to be alive and in one piece.

I filled my head with thoughts of happily ever after, and pretended I was floating in the lake near the castle with Todd beside me.

Suddenly everything changed. The air was light around me, and I was no longer pinned flat. I was falling faster and faster, hurling toward earth. Please, please let Todd be there.

With one final prayer, I opened my mouth to yell, and found that I could do that now. "I love you, Todd," I shouted. "Big, green, green bean dick and all!"

The last word barely left my lips before I landed with a thud, on something hard, yet flexible.

"Oof," the ground muttered beneath me.

Opening my eyes, I scrambled to my feet. Tears sprang to my eyes when I saw it wasn't a something I had landed on; it was a someone. And not just any someone. A big green someone. Todd, tangled in a huge mess of green bean vines that appeared to have broken his fall. And he was alive. Big, green, dead giants did not oof in pain when someone landed on them. The green beans, and that stupid seed that brought them here, had saved him.

“I guess those stupid beans were finally good for something after all,” I muttered as I worked to untangle the both of us.

When I had freed myself, I fell to my knees beside him and began to inspect his body for injuries. "Todd! Daddy!" I cried through happy, relieved tears. "Are you all right? Are you hurt? Can you talk? Can you sit up? Can you open your eyes? Oh Daddy, please be okay!" I sat back on my heels and stared at him, waiting with bated breath for a response, any response. I was about to start making blind and ridiculous promises about being good forever and eating green beans without complaining for the rest of my life when he did all three things at once. His eyes popped open, he sat up, and before I could even react, large hands grabbed my waist and pulled me face down over his lap, pinning me in place.

"You couldn't just calm down and explain what you wanted, and ask me to go with you?" he growled, smacking the whole of my ass with one giant hand. "You had to wake up and choose violence?"

---