#deathsh

Ryou probably needed to re-evaluate his priorities.

He’d been in plenty of strange situations before, and perhaps it had warped his sense of what was really bad, but after something stuffed a tentacle up his ass and pumped a huge egg into his stomach, he’d been more disappointed that he hadn’t managed to get any footage over the fact that his stomach was taut and swollen.

Maybe he was just in shock.

By the time the boat had steered back to shore and the egg had creaked his skin out further, he was a little more worried.

“So, how was it?” Mariku was waiting at the beach, but his face fell when he saw Ryou’s torn clothes. “What, did you get attacked by the sharp end of the equipment, or did a giant monster actually show up?”

“Monster showed up,” Ryou said, one hand cradling his sore belly. “And it left me a present.”

“What?” Mariku rushed forward, ready to catch Ryou when his knees buckled. “What did this to you?”

“Pretty sure it was Cthulu, could be some other tentacle monster, though- gah!” Ryou gritted his teeth as there was an audible cracking noise from his swollen stomach. It looked like he’d swallowed a big hamster ball, and Mariku immediately set his hands on it.

“What did it do?”

“Felt like an egg…” Ryou’s back arched as there was another crack. “Oooooh, fuck…” The cracks coincided with stabs on his tender stomach walls, and he curled in on himself.

“You- you can do this.” Mariku said, eyes wide and clearly panicked himself. He slowly moved his hands around Ryou’s belly, feeling movement. There was definitely something hard in there, and he swallowed. “You’re fine, you’re fine.”

“Ooooh…” Ryou’s toes curled inside his sneakers. He fought the urge to hug his stomach close as jolts of sharp pain continued. He was beyond nauseous, and his stomach was both overfull and queasily sticky and slick. They were lucky the beach was empty since it was getting late, or he would have been giving quite a show.

A minute later, however, it just… stopped. His stomach still stabbed into itself when he moved, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it had been. He slumped unto his back.

“W-what…?” Ryou stared down at it until there was crunching like birds gnawing on bone and his stomach began to grow. He watched as his skin squirmed, distending with long bulges.

“I don’t think it’s an egg,” Mariku said somewhat numbly, and Ryou hiccuped, slime soaking his tongue and dripping down his cheek as his consciousness wavered. The last thing he remembered was Mariku reaching for his face.

_________

When Ryou woke up, he was tucked into bed, belly beyond sore and skin uncomfortably itchy. He could feel movement inside of him, the creature clearly restless. It had more than doubled in size since he’d passed out, putting him at what any normal human would look like at the end of a pregnancy as his stomach wriggled. More slime soaked his lips, and a nauseous burp had it dribbling onto his chin. “Oof…”

“Ryou? Oh, thank the gods you’re alive.” Mariku had been waiting just outside. “I made you some fish, figured after that you’d want to kill something ocean-related-”

Ryou’s stomach roared, and the desperate hunger hit him a moment later. “Yes, please.” He managed, the beast growing even more energetic as the smell of the cooking fish made it to the room. It was entirely possible that was what had woken him up.

He forced himself to sit up, realizing his belly was almost down to his knees now, and he groaned.

“This is what I get for wanting to focus on something other than ghosts for a while…”

Mariku brought him a plate in bed, and he scarfed it down. His stomach grumbled, and his mouth started watering again. “Do you… have any raw fish?”

“A few sardines, why?”

“Can you bring them to me?”

“Ryou…”

“Please.” Ryou’s puppy eyes were enough to convince Mariku, who brought him the tin. He tore it open and dropped all three remaining fish into his mouth. The salty flavor tickled his tongue, and the creature gave an appreciative clicking noise and slowed its frantic movements.

“If this wasn’t so horrifying it would be cool,” Ryou said, watching it sway his stomach from side to side.

“It’s an interesting kind of grotesque.” Mariku admitted, wincing as another wet burp from Ryou brought up more slime.

Ryou started feeling at his belly, realizing the parts that weren’t thick tentacles when he pressed down were sloshy. The thing must have pumped him full of ooze to make itself at home.

“I wonder how long it’ll be in here.”

“It better not be long.” Mariku said. “Nothing gets to hurt you.”

“If you can believe it, the actual experience wasn’t that bad. To be fair, I think some kind of aphrodisiac was involved since it’s hazy but hey, how many people can say they’ve been fucked by a tentacle monster and live?”

“We’ll see on the ‘live’ thing once that thing gets out of you.” Mariku said, prodding at it and getting a hiccup from Ryou this time.

————-

Soon, Ryou didn’t have a single shirt that fit in the house and had to wear a bathrobe. The most dramatic growth spurt had been soon after the egg had hatched, and it had somehow either eaten or absorbed the bits of the shell because it stopped poking at his tender stomach muscles from the inside soon after.

The bigger problem, though, was just because the growth spurts weren’t big didn’t mean he wasn’t getting bigger in general, or that having a squirming tentacle monster inside of him was comfortable. By the end of the week, he could barely get up, stomach hanging like a dead weight. It didn’t help that his hips were skinny, and the thin layer of fat around his stomach didn’t do much to camouflage the tentacles that were always moving. He had to walk slowly and lift his belly, which was hard to do for long- the angle was awkward and it was heavy.

He’d also developed an appetite for not only raw fish but whatever meat he could get his hands on. Sausages, steak, even the bits of chicken in his rice- it was the only thing that could make him feel even partially satisfied.

“Still nothing?” Mariku asked, rubbing lotion into the growing angry red stretchmarks that marred Ryou’s belly.

“Other than trying to see how far I can- urp!- stretch before I burst… Nope. It’s still stuck.” Ryou wiped at his mouth with a towel. The slime was a constant now, sliding up his throat to the point where he could barely taste anything besides the salty sludge anymore.

“It won’t burst out, will it? I don’t want to lose you.” Ryou waved a hand at that.

“I’ll be fine… you know how to resurrect me, right?”

“I’d rather it not come to that.” Mariku said dryly.

____

By the tenth day, he was stuck on the bed all the time, and his stomach had inched past his knees, He’d pulled a shirt on to stay warm, but the bottom of the fabric rested at the top of his massive gut. Trying to pull it down would just end with it torn.

His skin was even paler than usual, and when he tried to soothe it with rubs, he could see the blue veins in his hands. The more he ate, the more his stomach grew, with none of the nutrients going to the rest of his body as the parasite of a creature siphoned both his food and his energy. He was shaky and sweaty by the end, goosebumps covering his arms and legs.

Mariku was more than ready to just get someone to cut the thing out, but Ryou worried that it might just kill both of them once it was out if they tried.

It wasn’t until he started to mix up saltwater to chug that they both agreed they probably needed to get back to the water.

Mariku helped Ryou stand on wobbly legs, helping him lift his overstrained stomach long enough to get to the car. Any space left that wasn’t crammed with tentacles was thick ooze, and Ryou kept giving wet, queasy burps whenever the thing moved.

“How is it coming out?”

“Same way it went in, I assume- urrgh!” When Mariku made a sharp turn, it slammed against the side of his stomach, nearly driving him off the seat.

“I’ve got a knife in the glove compartment, the second it’s out, I’m killing it.”

“Let’s see if it tries to go- to go after us first…” Ryou groaned, hugging his stomach as much as he could to try and get it to stop pushing through his skin.

“You’re going to be fine, I’m going be fine, this is going to be fine…” Mariku quietly chanted to himself, over and over until they reached the water just after the sun had sunk below the waves. The few stragglers on the beach were packing up.

Ryou peeled his sweaty yoga pants off before Mariku rushed around the car to help him out.

“Does this feel right?” Ryou had never seen him so worried, and it drew a weak smile to his face even as he had to wipe more slime away.

“As long as you’re here, I’ll manage.”

Step by step, they managed to make it down to the edge of the water, with foam lapping at Ryou’s feet as he sat down. Sand itched at his legs, and the sweat running down his side made his fresh stretchmarks burn like hot peppers had been rubbed into them.

Ryou felt it start to press further forward, as if it could sense the waves nearby, and yelped it suddenly made a violent turn, forcing up enough slime that he gagged on it, having to spit it out on the sand in order to not choke.

“Ryou!”

“I- I think it’s coming out.” He wriggled his legs, but Mariku had to help him get his boxers off. It moved fast when it wanted to, and right now it was squeezing through his intestines. Ryou tasted copper, and spat blood on top of the sandy slime. Mariku grabbed the knife, using his other hand to ease Ryou’s legs open.

“Come on, you son of a bitch…” Mariku said. “You don’t get to hurt him and make it out of this alive.”

“Mariku, we’ve talked abOUT THIS!” His voice pitched up as it violently shoved itself through something that had probably torn.

“This thing isn’t human.” Mariku argued. “And it’s hurting you.”

“True, it- it is.” Ryou finally admitted, slumping back in the sand, not even caring it was getting in his hair. He could see his stomach starting to shrink as it moved along his body, but his legs twitched, thighs slicking with the squeezed-out slime when it started getting close to exiting. “G-get ready…” His eyes widened- it felt bigger than ever when a single tentacle prodded through. “Get out of the way, I- I can’t let you get hurt!”

“No way in hell.” Mariku growled out, grabbing the tentacle. It curled around his wrist, another forcing through Ryou’s hole, and Ryou gritted his teeth.

“C-come on…” He wished he’d prepared somehow, but he’d avoided thinking about how it was going to get out, and now a third tentacle spread him wide. Already it was bigger than the one that had put the egg inside of him. His head tilted up, and he couldn’t hold back a scream as four, five, six tentacles shoved out and pulled him wider than he thought possible. Either it was slime or blood dripping from them, and with the hot pain he could believe either.

Ryou panted, sweat now soaking him as he desperately tried to push, tried to get it over with. Mariku started tugging, which pulled another scream from his throat as the bulk of the mass made it to the exit. His vision was starting to bleed black, and he barely heard Mariku yelp himself as the creature started grabbing at him.

“Die, you stupid- gah!” There was a sticky squelching noise and Ryou was empty, feeling more liquid gush from his thighs. He wasn’t sure how long he lay there, before he leaned up on one elbow to see Mariku holding a single writhing tentacle with a trail of green blood leading to the water.

“It got away?” Ryou asked, and Mariku nodded.

“At least daddy dearest didn’t come back for it.”

“Shame. I kind of wanted a picture.” Ryou tried to smile, but every muscle in his body was exhausted.

Mariku handed him the tentacle  and his boxers, and scooped him up. “This will have to do.”

“This works.” Ryou watched it move whenever he squeezed it.

“But, the next time you see a giant monster?” Mariku said as he headed for the car. “Ask it to buy you dinner first.”

Ryou wasn’t sure how this was supposed to work, but was sure that it had somehow gone wrong.

He groaned, hiccuping up more slime- it was practically overflowing now, stuffed so full that it slid up his throat to try and make room for the monster inside. A monster that had stretched him so thin his skin was practically translucent, and peppered bruises across the bone-white surface.

Blue veins crossed his body, and he chugged the energy drink Mariku had brought him. He couldn’t keep down anything solid anymore- it just didn’t fit.

“How much longer?” Mariku asked, worry etched into his face as clearly as the scars on his back, and Ryou curled up, before gasping.

“Right n-now.” He hacked, throat burning, and this time instead of a pale green the slime mixed with bright red.

“Oh fuck, Ryou?” Mariku grabbed him as his eyes rolled back. The tentacles inside thrashed like crazy, and Ryou let out a long sustained groan as they pummeled his poor stomach.

“M-mar…” Ryou tried to gasp out, but his speech was choked off by what must have been a bowl full of goopy slime. He tried to reach up, but his hand fell as he screamed, something pointed slamming up against his skin.

It chewed through the weakened muscles and skin like tissue paper, but Ryou’s twitching body compelled Mariku to grab the nearest weapon- a knife- and hack at it the second a beak thrust out of the body.

Ryou wasn’t sure what to do when Malik’s other half came stumbling into his apartment four years after he’d been banished to the shadows.

The fact that he’d barely managed to get a word out before collapsing on the couch certainly didn’t help matters.

So Ryou tested the heartbeat on his wrist- it was slow, definitely a not-healthy kind of slow- and tugged his ragged shirt up to check for wounds that might need to be bandaged. (He had blood all over, but from the erratic colors, a lot of it probably wasn’t his.)

He sucked in a breath at the sight, wincing. “Oh boy.”

Malik’s other half was wasting away- thick muscle had turned lean, and his ribs could be felt easily when Ryou brushed his fingertips across the dry skin. Ryou rushed to prepare something for him to eat, stirring together eggs and bacon for protein.

He knew that Malik’s other half was dangerous, of course. Because of him, he’d been knocked out for… a day? Two? Time had been funny in the shadows. Too long, that was for sure.

But no one was dangerous in the condition that he was in, at least not a dangerous that couldn’t be negated with a good slice to the throat, and the spirit’s skills with a knife hadn’t entirely faded when he did.

Besides, things had been awfully boring lately, and this was something new.

Ryou finished the eggs, pouring them into a bowl and settling down on the couch, passing it just above the other Malik’s face. He sniffed before his eyes blinked open- one and then the other. He jolted up, scrambling back and trembling.

“I made you some eggs.” Ryou said, holding the bowl out with a spoon. “You looked hungry.”

He stared for a moment. The hanging scraps of his clothing looked so pitiful that it almost hurt, like Ryou was the one who’d had his insides wasted away. Then, he lunged forward and grabbed the bowl, holding it close. He sniffed at it one more time before digging in.

Ryou simply watched as his guest wolfed the eggs and bacon bits down. He stood up to grab a comb and an extra shirt when the other Malik slapped a hand to his lips, pupils shrunk to pinpricks and cheeks ashen.

There was a garbage can close enough that Ryou managed to grab it just before the other Malik started retching, and he dropped the bowl of eggs in favor of curling his fingers around the rim of the can. Wet splatters sounded from it as he vomited into the plastic bag, and Ryou sighed.

“Maybe next time you could try going a little slower. I’m going to guess that you haven’t been able to eat in a while.” Ryou’s hand hovered over his back, but… somehow he knew that wouldn’t be a good idea from the scars he could see through the tears in the fabric.

He nodded slowly. “I… don’t know why I’m here.” He said quietly, voice laden with ash and scratchy from survival. “Did you summon…?”

Ryou shook his head. “I haven’t tried to summon anything in a while. It’s Friday the 13th and last night was a full moon, maybe the barrier was weak and you fell through.”

“Maybe.” He said, wiping at his mouth with his bare arm. Ryou stood up.

“I’ll get you some water. Swish it around and spit it into the trash, then I’ll change the bag.” Ryou said, feeling eyes follow him as he grabbed a glass and filled it up. He brought it back and the other Malik chugged the first half of it, before seemingly realizing that his mouth still tasted disgusting and using the rest to swish and spit. He shoved the can further down the couch towards Ryou and away from him, and Ryou pulled the bag out.

Other Malik curled a hand around his side, letting out a low hiss. “Feels even emptier… like fire.”

“That’s what happens when you throw up.” Ryou said, tying the bag off and bringing it over to the door so he could throw it out later. “From the look of your stomach, you’re malnourished, and your stomach probably couldn’t handle that much. I’ll make some toast.”

“Why are you… being so kind?”

Ryou shrugged. “You haven’t tried to kill me yet, have you? I can protect myself if you try, and I’d feel bad I pushed you out and you died on the street. So, toast.” He grabbed a bag of bread and untwisted it, slotting two pieces in and sliding the lever down. “Do you prefer butter or jam?”

“Jam.” He said, still sounding bewildered.

There was nothing for a few minutes, just the gentle thrumming of the heating system above and around them, before the toast popped up and Ryou spread some strawberry jam over it. He carried a plate over to the couch. “Try to have this one a little slower?”

The other Malik nodded, taking a big bite but also slowing his chewing a bit. He worked through the two pieces of toast and set a hand on his stomach. “Ugh, why do I feel full already? I need more.”

“You’re adjusting. If days pass the same there as they do here, you haven’t eaten well in four years. You’ll be able to eat more as time goes on, I’m sure.” Ryou hurried over to the closet, then tossed him an oversized band shirt. “Here, put this on. Your clothes are down to scraps.”

“You’re not taking them!”

“I’m not going to, but you’re shivering- at least put the shirt on over it.” Ryou said. The other Malik took his cape off, tugged the shirt on, then immediately pulled the tattered remains back around his neck, even though it was really more of a suggestion of a cape than anything at this point.

“The guest room has the monster world field in it and I don’t have a cot, but you can sleep on the couch.” Ryou tossed him a blanket from the closet. “If you’re really hungry, you can make yourself something, but be careful of the takeout leftovers, they’re like a week old.”

“You aren’t-”

“If you want to run, you can run, but I’ll be here in the morning.I’m locking the door to my room, but the front door’s open. ” Ryou said.

The other Malik gave a grin, but it was half-hearted and lopsided, like a broken doll. “As if that would stop me.”

“A good gust of wind could stop you, right now.” Ryou said, closing the door to his shocked expression.

__________

It was difficult to sleep. Not a surprise, with the guest he had, but Ryou had locked the door and propped a chair against it. He wasn’t getting in without Ryou knowing.

He turned over in bed, unable to get comfortable- all he could see was the scared look in those amethyst eyes as the other Malik had stared at him before collapsing.

“He’s fine. You fed him, he can figure the bathroom out.” Ryou said to himself. “As long as he doesn’t go out and drag a corpse back, it’s fine.”

Ryou managed to reassure himself enough to almost slip away to sleep, until at 3am he heard something slam in the living room, and he had the chair out and the door open before he even realized he was doing it.

Half the lights were on, and the bowl that had contained the eggs was sitting on the counter. The fridge was half-open, and the other Malik was gagging over the sink.

“What did you do?” He just heard more gagging and thick splatters.

Ryou grimaced at the sound, treading carefully as he walked over. Upon closer inspection, a few things had been pulled out of the fridge. A cup of yogurt was half-empty, there were about four slices of bread gone from the bag, and the cup of noodles he’d made to figure out what to do with later was gone. The little box of cookies he’d bought a few days ago was torn open and had crumbs scattered around it.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened.

“I told you not to eat any more.”

“There was… no food. I… took it where I could get it.” He groaned, spitting out brown saliva. “There was so much, I…”

“So you ate yourself sick.” Ryou finished. “Come here.” He wet a wad of paper towels and dabbed at the other Malik’s face. He looked worse than before. “You’re not going to get any better if you do this.”

“My stomach hurt, I’ve been hungry for so long.” He mumbled.

“It was probably already full from the toast.” Ryou said, tossing the paper towels into the bin before leading the other to the couch again. He tugged the bin closer in case of any accidents, before setting his fingers on top of the other Malik’s stomach. He used his fingertips to gently massage it, feeling as much as hearing the acids inside gurgling as they tried to digest food no longer there.

“Not so hard!”

“If you don’t make yourself sick, this won’t hurt.” Ryou said, but softened his touch a bit. “Just… stick to simpler foods in small quantities for now. I know it must have been hard, but just throwing it all up again is going to be worse.”

He got a nod, and pulled back. “All right. Your stomach is going to be really upset right now, so just a glass of water would be best.”

“I can get it.” He stood up on slightly wobbly legs, but managed to fumble for a glass and fill it up. He took it in a few big gulps, but didn’t throw up, so Ryou sighed but didn’t say anything.

Ryou used the faucet to clean the sink a bit. Then, Ryou decided to leave the door unlocked, and by next morning Malik’s other was sleeping on his side, hugging the pillow and with no sick in the bin. Small victories.

________

The next few weeks were give and take. Ryou had to concede a few times to giving Malik’s other something sweet or meaty, but only if he’d managed to keep from binging on whatever he could find, which included vegetables in the shared apartment garden. Slowly but surely, he lost the sharpness in his limbs and chest, started to look a little more human again.

Ryou didn’t mind sharing his space or his food. He made enough from his side job selling custom figurines, and had a tidy sum he’d set aside from when he’d gotten an allowance as a teen.

The other Malik was much better conversation when he wasn’t starved and half-feral, and Ryou found himself laughing at his jokes. They were often dark and creepy, and sometimes they were just bad puns that reminded Ryou of the Ring Spirit, so he grinned and made bad jokes right back. It was nice, not getting strange looks when you thought something was funny. They’d both been through hell, thinking clouds looked like roadkill sometimes wasn’t the worst way of coping.

Together they learned that he liked all kinds of sweet things, especially with honey, as well as burgers, and noodles with lots and lots of butter. Anything with lots of spice, although he usually had a big glass of milk ready in case it was too much.

He chose a name for himself- Amir, prince. They both liked it.

Sometimes, he still went overboard. When he’d forgotten to eat because he was playing video games with Ryou for too long, he’d raid the fridge while Ryou was in the shower, and Ryou had to soothe his stomach with soft rubs and reminders that there would always be enough food The words were never too harsh, though- Ryou remembered what it felt like when he awoke after the spirit hadn’t eaten in days. He couldn’t imagine having to deal with that for four years.

Amir ended up softer than Malik had been- not fat, but there was a definite bit of squish around his midsection before his eating habits started to level out. Ryou didn’t mind, and Amir didn’t seem to either, so Ryou just kept as many healthy foods around as sweets and things were fine.

Ryou liked having someone to cook for, and after a while, Amir insisted on learning, so he could make things for Ryou. That was nice too. He was a pretty good cook when he put his mind to it, and Ryou was more than happy to sample whatever he offered.

Two months after Amir had stumbled into his kitchen and passed out, Ryou brushed his fingers as they both reached for the popcorn at the same time. Amir glanced over at him, considering for a moment, before pulling the popcorn away and setting it on the side table next to the lamp.

Ryou was about to protest, before Amir tugged Ryou unto his lap and then set the bowl of popcorn on Ryou’s lap.

“There we go, now I’ve trapped you.” He grinned, wrapping his arms around Ryou so he still had easy access to the popcorn. Ryou leaned back against him, feeling a bit of cushion instead of the frighteningly skeletal figure that had been there before, and smiled.

Ryou was way too good at this.

He realized that even with his relative inexperience. Being in the shadows and then blocked off from everything Malik didn’t want him to see did that.

But Malik had insisted that he'd like this, and so had Ryou, so Malik had pulled back for the night and he felt everything.

Ryou had doused his pale cock with enough lube to make entering the tight ring of muscle as smooth as possible, and with every wet thrust, dark fingers curled against the sheets.

He wasn't sure if Malik had ever been entered before. Some things were still fuzzy, if one of them didn't want to share. But whether he had or hadn't, it felt like the purest ecstasy that could exist, the heat of a sun concentrated to his nethers and the inside of his body.

Ryou paused, leaning forward to pepper kisses up his stomach while still inside, and when he leaned just the right way, his tip brushed the prostate and his stomach pressed the rock-hard cock against the man it belonged to, and he whined.

"Like that?" Ryou's voice was teasing, just heavy enough to tell that he was close to the edge as the other felt.

"Y-yes..." He probably should be ashamed of how his voice cracked, but then Ryou kissed his tip and he arched his hips up, shoving it past Ryou's lips. Ryou made a noise of surprise, before pulling all the way out with a slick 'pop' to focus on the thick length in his mouth.

The loss of Ryou's heat was nothing compared to having warm lips wrapped around him, and he clutched the sweaty sheets like a lifeline as Ryou sucked, barely having a chance to call out in warning before climaxing directly into his mouth.

Ryou swallowed it all, looking up with a grin and wiping a bit of sticky cum off his lips. He crawled over the quivering body, and he felt Ryou's own cock leaking pre over his stomach and chest.

"Think you can put that tongue to use?"

He managed to work up a grin.

"Think so."