No Longer the Louge

It was a typical day at the market. Outdoor stalls, many covered by awnings and tarps for shade, lined the street beside the harbor. Many of the vendors sold fish, freshly-caught just outside the harbor. The smell of fish was inescapable, sometimes insufferable, but the locals didn't seem to mind.

One of the locals did mind, in fact. He was at one of the market stalls, not as a vendor or a customer, but as a product. A tiny, expensive, living product. Warren was caught by humans earlier that morning, mixed up in a fishing net. He, like other merfolk, were sometimes captured and sold as exotic pets at local markets.

Passerby were mesmerized by him. He wasn't a typical merfolk, with his lower body being that of an octopus. Eight orange limbs stretched along the sides of a very small cup filled with seawater. He was originally displayed in a larger, glass bowl, but after enough escape attempts, the vendor had transferred him to a sealed container.

Regardless, Warren was not at all pleased with his situation. In fact, he was utterly terrified. This was something he had always dreaded to happen to him, after hearing stories about human beings capturing others of his kind. No matter how many times he tried to escape again, he was thwarted by the constant looks of passing humans.

Eyes. So many eyes on him. Yet so far, no one was willing to part with their money for him. He couldn't see the price tag, but he assumed it to be high. That did not serve to make him feel much better about himself, but… maybe he would be spared if he was left unsold by the end of the day.

The little merman had such limited space. He could hardly stretch his limbs out in the cup, let alone swim. If he dared to try and curl up and sleep, he was forced awake by the tapping of the vendor's finger on the sides of the cup.

Desperate, exhausted, and scared, Warren could only await his fate. And that was when he met eyes with one of the humans passing by.

He was big, taller than most of the other customers. Warren had never seen so many humans in one place before today, but even he could see that the man standing before him was larger than average, with a rugged, boxy jaw and short brown hair. He instinctively shrank back in the cup when their eyes met.

No… was he about to be bought by the human? No one else had looked at him with such… intensity.

The strange man stared at Warren a while longer before reaching across the vendor table and picking up the water-filled cup. His green eyes never wavered as he brought Warren right up to his face, staring him down.

Warren was frozen in place. He wanted to scream, to thrash around and escape the big man's grip. But he was stuck, trapped in that tiny cup. All he could do was plead with his eyes, his back pressed against the opposite side of the clear plastic cup.

John held the trapped merfolk up to his face. Long, sandy hair swept around the little one's head, and his honey-colored eyes were staring back at him, wide. John saw the label drawn on the white lid of the cup with permanent marker; "RARE Octopus Merfolk $800".

Well, he wasn't about to shell out that much money. Not when he could just take the little guy.

When the vendor's back was turned, John carefully unscrewed the lid. Warren's eyes widened. Wait, what was he doing? Shouldn't he be paying, first?

As soon as the lid came off, Warren's whole, tiny world was shifted- dumped from the cup into… no! The man's mouth.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Warren yelped, but he was quickly swept inside along with the saltwater.

John grimaced. Oh, it was salty. Of course it was salty! No matter. He closed his mouth and left just an inch or so of water in the cup as he screwed the lid back on and placed it on the vendor table as if nothing had happened. He walked away with a mouthful of water and one very frightened merman.

In hindsight, John wished he had had time to communicate the plan with the little guy first. He would set him free, of course, once he brought him back home and gotten him in a bigger aquarium to recuperate.

Warren was not aware of this plan, and used all of his many limbs to squirm inside John's mouth. He cursed at his rotten luck- of all the humans eyeing him up, he just had to get taken by the one that was hungry for an $800 merfolk snack!

John winced as tiny suckers gripped the inside of his mouth. He walked quicker, his boots thudding along the ground as he left the market to head back to his truck. The merman was tiny, sure, but he underestimated the grip strength of those eight little octopus legs.

Warren's oxygen was running out in the man's mouth, his thrashing only worsening it in such a cramped space, more cramped than the little cup was. But he had to try… he couldn't just let himself be swallowed.

And yet, the man swallowed.

John tilted his head back and gulped thickly, his throat pulling Warren down headfirst along with the salty water. His soft, slippery body made it easy, and he felt the little guy go down his throat. Good. John needed to get him inside his stomach for the ride home.

Except, he didn't make it down to his stomach. John coughed, wincing as he touched his throat. Oh god. The little octopus merman had a grip on his esophagus.

Warren felt himself get sucked down the man's throat. He screamed, then spread his arms out, using his eight legs to grip on anything they could. He felt himself halt in the human's gullet, no longer going down but… certainly not going up either. He was very much stuck in a giant throat, while all of the water he was suspended in was swallowed. That was not good for him, but… neither was being eaten alive. So Warren clung for life inside a giant man's esophagus.

John did not anticipate having such troubles with the little guy. He was tiny, almost entirely boneless! How did he mess this up? He took measured breaths and gulped in-between them, grunting with the effort of dislodging the sticky tentacles. Despite his large size and thick, muscular neck, Warren remained very much stuck inside of it.

Water. He needed water, a lot of it, to swallow him down. John jogged, now, his face full of worry as he hauled ass to his truck. Oh, the faster pace was not helping. He could feel the merman jostling in his throat, forcing an overwhelming need to gag. So John continued to swallow, despite getting the merman nowhere further down. At this point it was merely to stave off his gag reflex.

Warren was also panicking. He had been, but now even more so… trapped in an endless wave of swallowing that just squished him tighter in the man's gullet. What would happen if the human ended up choking on him? He couldn't bear the thought of being stuck in the big guy's throat or windpipe if he were to pass out.

"Let me out, please! I-I'm sorry!" He shouted, desperate to not go down, but with all of his efforts of sticking to his throat, he wasn't going up either.

John heard his pleas, hardly registering them as he reached his truck and dug out a bottle of water. He was aware that the merman was frightened and confused, but he couldn't just talk back to him. Not when he was lodged in his throat and couldn't see his signing. So, he tipped back the bottle and gulped.

Warren was washed over with cool, fresh water. It would have been refreshing in literally any other circumstance, but at that moment, he felt his suckers start to release. Oh no.

John groaned in relief as he continued drinking. The cool water soothed his throat and started to unstick the tentacles. He gulped several more times until… there he went.

Warren was swallowed down whole. His suckers relented under the pressure of water around him, and he was taken down, down, down the man's throat.

John sighed hard. That was rough, he thought. He felt the merman go down all the way into his stomach, where the rest of the water ended up. It was only slightly more roomy than the cup. John finished the rest of the water and hopped in his truck, one hand on his belly as he drove. Tiny little squirms fluttered against his stomach lining, letting him know that the merfolk still had plenty of strength left for the trip home.

"Hmmh." John muttered softly, patting his thick gut in reassurance.

Warren was definitely not feeling reassured. He was dumped in John's stomach, fresh water mixed with saltwater and mucous around him, forming a horrid concoction that had to pass over Warren's gills. He swam in circles, bumping into the velvety rugae that lined the man's gut.

This was it, then. He was swallowed whole, despite putting his best efforts in. Warren whimpered softly as the human's stomach sloshed around him, baptizing him in warm liquid that made him feel numb all over. All he could do now was wait to be digested, his limbs reaching out to cling to any surface he could.

Luckily for the little merman, John had no intention of letting that happen. His home was not too far of a drive, and his stomach had enough water inside that he wouldn't asphyxiate. Surprisingly, Warren had less room in the little cup he was displayed in for sale.

John pulled into his home, a cozy beach-type house just offshore. He swung his big legs out of the truck and walked through the door with his hand on his belly.

Tiny little flutters reminded him every now and then that the little guy in his stomach was alright. He got to work filling up a 5 gallon bucket with distilled water and salt, mixing it in until it dissolved. He then dropped a bubbler inside to aerate the water as well as a heater to bring it to tropical temperature. This would suffice as a temporary container for the merman to recover in.

John was well-versed in caring for aquatic life, and his home was filled with glass aquariums of all kinds. Though none of them contained merfolk or octopuses, he was quite confident that he could care for one.

Warren, meanwhile, was confined to a cramped, dark space inside John's gut. He could hear, faintly, the sounds of running water, but it was drowned out mainly by the human's heartbeat and breaths. No speaking, curiously. Warren assumed the human was by himself.

He was still alive in the man's stomach, so the little merfolk decided to try and speak up.

"Hello? Can you hear me…?" He called out while reaching around in the darkness for the stomach lining.

John paused, then submerged the hose in the bucket to make it quieter. He simply gave his stomach a few pats.

Warren jolted when a few firm thumps jostled his watery cage. So he could be heard! Maybe he had a chance of survival, after all.

"Okay, um, would you let me out, please?" Warren whined. He ached to stretch his limbs out and breathe cleanly again.

John hummed in response. He dipped his finger in the bucket to test the temperature. It wasn't nearly warm enough. The merfolk could go into shock if he was suddenly dumped from his warm stomach into cool water.

He couldn't quite communicate it to him, but John had to keep Warren in his stomach a little longer while the fresh saltwater warmed up. The big man grimaced, then, when he realized he should gulp down some of the salty water to replenish some oxygen in his gut.

Warren waited impatiently for the human's response. Why wasn't he just talking back to him if he could be heard? He was speaking a human language… maybe it was the wrong one?

Then he heard the man swallow a few times. Warren half-expected another unfortunate merfolk to enter the human's stomach along with him! But it was just plain water. Saltwater. The man actually drank saltwater… what in the hell?

"Hey, that's nice and all, but I really, really don't want to be digested…" Warren croaked as the colder water swirled around him.

John hummed. The poor little guy really thought he was just his snack, huh? He supposed it was fair. He was being sold at the fish market, after all. He smacked his tongue a few times, grimacing from the overwhelmingly salty taste before pulling up a chair and sitting down beside the bucket. He slid his palm up and down his gut as he waited, a small consolation for the aquatic captive in his belly.

When Warren didn't get a response back from the human, he started getting restless again. It felt like the big guy had settled down, rubbing his stomach to gloat. Oh, if only he did choke on him! It would have served his dumb ass right. Warren felt around for the entrance to the man's esophagus, panting in the little pocket of air that sat right up along the top of his water-filled stomach. The merman clawed at the sphincter, using his lower eight limbs to propel himself upwards.

John squirmed in his seat when tiny hands pried inside his stomach. He grunted in discomfort. That was not a sensation he had ever experienced before. It wasn't painful but it sure as hell didn't feel good. The little merman clearly wanted out! John forced himself to relax, concerned that he might hurt the little guy if his muscles spasmed.

Warren's efforts were met with surprisingly little resistance. He managed to get his head and shoulders past the strong ring of muscles that closed off the human's esophagus from his stomach. God, it was tight. How did he even fit down here in the first place when he could barely squeeze through?

While Warren continued to try and escape, John couldn't bear the sensation any longer. He stood up and paced around, trying to get his mind off of it. He wanted so badly to ask the merfolk to stop. So he inhaled and growled a simple "Quit it."

Warren froze as the human's deep, gravelly voice vibrated through his body. That was his first time hearing him speak, and it was the same language.

"S-so you can understand me! Why won't you let me out?" The merman cried, lowering himself back into the human's watery gut to breathe.

John felt the water's temperature again. It was warming up, but still not quite to temp. He wondered if he should just say screw it and cough up the little guy before he hurt himself trying to squeeze up his gullet on his own.

The man scooped some of the saltwater into a smaller container first. Then he stuck his finger down his throat and gagged a bit before bringing his stomach contents up in one go.

Warren was swept up along with all the water in the human's stomach. It all happened so fast that he felt like he teleported! After being surrounded by nothing but darkness for the past hour or so, he writhed uncomfortably against John's hand, now.

John groaned and swallowed, his throat stinging. But the merfolk was safe, just a sopping wet little bundle of tentacles in his hand, now. The rest of the water splashed on the floor beside the bucket… he could clean it up later. For now, he lowered Warren into the smaller container of saltwater first.

Warren twitched, his nerves all alight as he was dipped under water that was much cooler than the water that was as warm as a human's insides. God, he was cold. He curled up in a little ball on the bottom of the container that was in fact an old coleslaw tub.

John flicked the water and mucous off his hands, studying the merman in the container. He looked even smaller, all curled up like that. Impossibly smaller. And shivering, to boot. Sure, John had swallowed him whole and kept him trapped in his belly for over an hour. But he hoped that his warm hand dipped into the water and cupping around the little bundle would help.

Warren was furious with the human. He put him through so much stress, he felt like his hair was already falling out. Yet he couldn't resist pressing himself closer to that warm, submerged skin, wrapping his tentacles around the man's thick fingers. He shuddered.

John felt the shudder, the embrace around nearly all of his digits. He sat there, his hand in a recycled coleslaw bucket, cuddling a tiny merfolk that was taken from cup, to stomach, and finally to this. He was glad he released him when he did, looking back on it.

After another 15 minutes passed, John nudged the little guy curled around his fingers. It was time to transfer him to the warm, aerated bucket.

Warren just grumbled. He was comfortable, damn it. The human's big hand was hardly even warming him anymore, it was just nice to hug. It had been a long time since he had hugged like that. Yet, slowly, he released his grip on John's fingers and peered up at him from the shallow water.

"Thanks…" he said softly. Why was he even thanking the human? He swallowed him!

But… he did let him out. Eventually. Even if it was terrifying to get sucked up his gullet like that.

John just smiled down at him. He didn't expect any thanks from the scared little merfolk. His heart thumped as he held the small container a while longer, gazing down at Warren. He really was a pretty little merman, with long flowing hair and colorful, orange tentacles that curled and uncurled in a varied pattern, as if they were flexing fingers. John so wanted to touch him again, if he weren't so worried about getting him into a more oxygenated environment.

Warren couldn't help but stare back up at the massive man's face. He was smiling down at him in a way that would have been unnerving, if he wasn't already being treated so gently. Maybe, just maybe, Warren could believe that getting swallowed by him was the human's way of sneaking him out of the pet trade. Otherwise, he would have just left him to be digested… right?

John finally pulled his gaze away from Warren and dipped the little container in the bucket. He let some of the warmer water trickle in at the corner, slowly acclimating it. Then he dipped the whole thing in, and Warren was free to swim out.

And so he did. While the bucket wasn't the roomiest container, it sure beat being stuck in a display cup or… dare he say it. The human's belly. Even if that belly was much, much warmer.

While Warren swam around in the heated pail, John watched him a little while longer before pulling himself away to the kitchen. He pulled a plate of fresh fish from the fridge and got to work cleaning it in the sink.

Once Warren was more comfortable and feeling his energy start to come back, he peeked up at the top of the bucket, looking around for the big human. He spotted him across the house, messing with something out of view.

Once John started cooking the fillets in a pan, Warren finally remembered that he was hungry. Starving. The smell of cooking fish was so tantalizing, he almost wanted to climb out of the bucket and beg for some.

That turned out to be completely unnecessary, of course, as John plated up the fish and brought it back over to the pail to sit own beside it at a table. He eyed the merman in the bucket, who sheepishly eyed him back from the very edge, as he used a fork to cut up a small piece of fish.

John stabbed the fork through and reached it down towards the bucket, not putting it in the water, but just above. When Warren didn't take it, he shook it a few times, beckoning him.

Warren whined to himself, eyeing the food just above him. He had watched the human prepare it, so he was almost certain that it was safe to eat. He just… struggled to trust him, still. Why on earth was he being so nice to him?

His shyness didn't last, however, and Warren swam up to the piece of fish and grasped it. It slid off the fork easily and he took it under the water with him, taking bites out of it as if he had never eaten before in his life.

"Ohh, it's so good. It's so good." He hummed, using his tentacles to anchor himself to the side of the bucket while he ate a piece of fish that was nearly a quarter of his body length.

John hadn't even taken a bite of his own portion. He leaned on his hand, grinning as he watched Warren devour the little piece of cooked fish.

Once Warren had eaten it all, he looked up at the human watching him. He looked so… content. Just sitting there smiling at him. What did he want?

The human signed something at him just then. Warren recognized it as nonverbal speech, but… he had no idea what was being said. He just shook his head at the human.

John tapped his fingers on the table. He leaned away from the merfolk's sight and took a bite of his fish, then swallowed it before clearing his throat. "Name?" He asked, roughly, leaning back over to the bucket.

Warren pulled his head above water, clinging to the side of the container. He could breathe above water for a short period of time. "I'm Warren." He replied.

"John." The human said, nodding. He leaned away again to take more bites of his food.

Warren watched as John just sat down, eating quietly. He looked around the house for the first time, at least, what he could see from inside the tall pail. It was small, homely. The walls were an off-white color and lined with old fishing nets and dried sea stars. He trembled. The human, John, must have been a fisherman. Warren had mixed feelings about being in his house.

"Why did you save me?" Warren asked suddenly. "I mean, I guess you saved me. You did swallow me whole, but… hell, you didn't even pay the guy. You stole me."

John grumbled through a mouthful of food. He leaned back over and stared down at Warren with a sudden, intense look that made the little merfolk dip under the water briefly.

"It's cruel." John muttered. He gestured out the window. "Selling merfolk."

Warren watched John's big, muscular arms gesturing above him. "'Course it's cruel. But humans are bigger and stronger, and I got caught."

"I set em' free from my nets." John rumbled. "Supposed to. Some people just don't."

Warren squinted. He didn't believe that for one minute, humans adhering to some sort of code when it came to his folk. But, John did seem sincere. Perhaps he wasn't the type of human to capture a merfolk, but Warren had the misfortune of landing in the clutches of one who would.

"So you're saying that you'll set me free?" Warren asked. He noticed that John didn't maintain eye contact with him while he was speaking. "John?"

John just nodded. Then he shrugged as he stared out the window. "Or stay."

"Stay?" Warren scoffed. He looked around the man's place again. "Where?"

John shrugged again. "75 gallons, 90 gallons."

"You're talking about water?" Warren frowned. "You want to keep me in an aquarium like a pet."

John shook his head. "Not a pet." He looked down at Warren, finally. "Small roommate."

Warren's cheeks flushed. The way John was looking at him was… fond. Very fond. He had never considered being "roommates" with a human, before.

He let go of the side of the bucket and swam anxiously in circles for a bit. He wished he could see out of it, contained in a solid white plastic bucket with nothing but an aerator and a heater.

Warren sighed and came back up to the surface to talk to John. "Can I see the aquarium?"

John smiled and nodded. He pulled the wired heater and aerator out and picked up the 5 gallons of water like it was nothing.

Warren clung to the sides of the bucket as he was carried through the man's house. In a separate room not far away from the kitchen was John's aquarium room, lit up with lights under the lids of 5 filled tanks. His eyes widened, taking in the sights of beautifully maintained saltwater aquariums, all landscaped with rocks and corals and macroalgae. Colorful fish swam around, little reef fish that Warren recognized instantly.

"Oh, wow." He uttered, eyes glittering as they darted around. He didn't see any other merfolk in the tanks, just regular fish.

John looked proud of his setups. Each tank was meticulously put together by him, after all, to mimic natural marine environments. He was sure Warren would thrive in any one of them.

But Warren was unsure. Very unsure. John seemed like a nice human and all, but he couldn't forget that he swallowed him whole only a couple of hours ago. He squirmed against the side of the bucket, then turned to face John.

"They look very nice. But can you just put me back in the ocean? Please." He pleaded.

John's face fell a little bit. He set the bucket down and reached his hand in to scoop Warren up, only for the little merfolk to dart away from his hand.

Warren couldn't help but shy away from John's massive hand reaching for him. Even though he knew his skin to be warm and nice to snuggle up to… no! He wasn't going to let the huge man grab him and keep him in a glass box for the rest of his life.

John sighed and withdrew his hand, then picked up the bucket again. He walked it through the house and out the door, staring directly ahead as he hefted it over to the nearby pier.

The two didn't say anything along the way. Warren had to bite his tongue. He did feel bad for John, despite everything he had put him through. He seemed… lonely. But John did as he asked and carried him all the way to the shoreline.

John stepped across rocks until he reached the water's edge on the side of the pier. He tipped the bucket down and slowly lowered it into the water where Warren crept out slowly, a tiny splash of orange in the shallows of algae-covered rocks.

Warren swam out to freedom. A vast, cold ocean full of the unknown. He rose to the surface and slowly turned to look up at John, who was watching him with a pained expression.

"Be careful." John grumbled as his goodbye. He couldn't bear to think of all the predators lurking just beyond the pier that wouldn't hesitate to turn Warren into a meal.

"Thanks, I will." Warren said, then ducked under the waves and disappeared in the thick seaweed.

John stood on the rocks a little while longer, staring out into the harbor. His big hands gripped the edge of the empty bucket a little too hard. Then he exhaled and dropped his shoulders. Well, he did what he had set out to do, after all. The merfolk was free.

As John hopped along the rocks to leave, Warren peeked at him from behind the seaweed. The man's silhouette was distorted under the ocean's waves, but he could see well enough to know that he had gone back home.

And now, Warren had to do the same. He was released in a human's harbor, full of gigantic boats and hungry seabirds. Where was home, exactly? His lovely reef, where the water was crystal clear and the fish were small and colorful? Maybe he could ask John to take him somewhere more familiar…

No! John was a human! He needed to stay far, far away from humans, or else he'd end up in a little cup again… or worse. So Warren gathered himself up and swam through the seaweed and algae into the unknown.

Several days had passed, and each morning afterwards, John was seen sitting on the pier. Not too far out, just a little past the rocky shoreline. He often went out there to sit and watch the boats and birds, even feed the stripers that prowled the harbor for fish scraps. But he simply watched, looking out quietly before heading back to his home.

Then, one morning, a familiar voice called to him.

"John? Is that you…?" Warren peeped from below the pier.

John grinned and looked to his right. There, in the same spot he was set free, was Warren, looking particularly frazzled.

"Hey, I was thinking about your offer… and well, after much consideration… I've changed my mind." Warren said, averting his gaze from the human that looked down at him from the dock.

John tilted his head. He wondered what had happened to the little guy that made him come back. Nevertheless, he was very happy to see him. He got up and stepped down along the rocks until he could reach into the water to pick up the merfolk.

Warren squirmed as John's massive form approached him. He reminded himself to be brave, John was a friend! He even waited for Warren to come back… almost like he knew he would.

The merman didn't hesitate once John's fingers cupped around him. That same warmth as before, flooding through Warren's limbs. He clung to the man's huge hand, wrapping himself around those thick digits that lifted him out of the scary, big ocean.

John cupped Warren in both hands as he stepped back up the slope and started carrying him back to his home. He hummed happily, brushing his thumb along Warren's velvety tentacles.

Warren huddled closer to John's hand. Warm, so damn warm. His brown eyes glanced up at John's, who was fixated on him with a big grin.

"So… you expected me, huh? Even after all this time." Warren mumbled.

John shrugged. "Ocean's scary."

"I… yeah, it is. I lived in it my whole life." Warren slid himself along the man's palm slightly. "But, turns out I don't know how to get back home." He shuddered. "Too many close calls along the way, too."

John growled lowly and cupped his hands more tightly around Warren. He couldn't help feeling protective over the little guy.

Warren froze, then relaxed when he realized John wasn't going to crush him. He shrugged it off, forcing himself to focus. "S'alright. I still got all 10 of my limbs." He said wryly.

John glanced at Warren, mentally counting them himself. Most of Warren's tentacles were wrapped around his fingers, but he believed him.

The two entered John's house, and Warren was carried right back to the aquarium room. There, he saw the 5 saltwater tanks, and a 6th one that definitely wasn't there when he last looked.

"John…" Warren said in surprise as he looked up at the big man.

John's cheeks flushed as he looked away. Yes, he did go ahead and set up another tank specifically for an octopus merfolk. At least to the best of his knowledge. He had never kept an octopus before as they are solitary, hide all day, and escape everything. So, the tank was set up with live rock, fine sand substrate, and plenty of aeration.

"You tell me what to add." John grumbled as he held Warren at the surface of the water, just dipping his tentacles under.

Warren slid right off his hand and swam down, looking at all the rocks full of little hidey-holes. No other animals were in the tank, which made him feel so relieved. He couldn't bear the thought of escaping one more eel.

"It's already so nice! And there's so much space to swim." Warren said, turning to look at John through the glass.

John smirked and shook his head, pointing to his ears. He couldn't understand the merfolk's speech through glass and water.

Warren stared for a moment before realizing that. So he swam up to the surface and poked his head out of the completely open tank. "It's lovely, John! Thank you." He beamed.

That was all John needed to hear. He reached out and patted Warren's little head with the tip of his finger.

Warren didn't swim away. He clung to the side of the glass and let himself be petted by the huge man who hadn't stopped smiling.

Footsteps. Quiet, almost inaudible, the practiced stride of a hunter. The slight tick of ice-cleats on deck plating. The rustle of fabric. A low, deep sigh.

The sudden ring of metal vibrating as a knife sprouts from the wall, inches from his face. He yelps, scrambling away from the weapon, only to run into a solid wall of muscle. He tries to jolt away, but he's suddenly swept off his feet, dangling by the back of his shirt like he's in a suspension harness.

Long dark hair, dark eyes, a scruffy beard. A glint of impossible light. Sharp, inhuman teeth shining with saliva.

"Not fast enough, Jackrabbit."

Hot breath ruffles his hair and clothes as a slick, wet, bottomless pit opens wide beneath him, ringed with curved white fangs.

Everyone always said Edenites were cannibals.

With a sickening lurch he's falling, and-

It’s not a question, and it’s enough of a surprise to get Simon to look up at the window. Trying to hide the tension the words elicit as best he can, but between that and the frustration he’s not sure how well he manages.

The Captain stands on the other side, holding a pad in her hand and staring at him with an unreadable expression. He can’t even imagine what she’s thinking.

The COI was full of rumors about the Children of Eden being cannibals. And he knew that shifters had already been rare before the Quiet Rapture—it was possible he was the only one left. Something he hadn’t shared with anyone since shortly after his mother-

“... Yeah?” His voice is rougher than he expected it to be. But he hadn’t really talked much since he’d been pulled up—shouted some, when they’d dragged him in here, but not much talking. “What about it?”

A strange look crosses her face, scars dragging it into something he’d almost call confusion.

“So… you knew? You were in prison for sixteen years, and not once made an escape attempt.”

“Right. Because being six inches tall and surrounded by assholes who get off on power and want me dead is smart. Besides, where would I even go? Eden- Eden abandoned me.”

They’d done more than that. Sometimes he still wakes up feeling his Brother’s hands around his throat. But she doesn’t need to know that.

She sighs, pinching her nose and looking at something on her pad.

“Okay. Well, there’s… something else. You took almost three hundred pictures, so even with the shielding you should’ve had some symptoms of radiation exposure, but…” A quiet, baffled exhale and a slight lift of her hand as she looks up at him. “Aside from the dehydration and starvation, and your injuries, you… might be the healthiest person on this ship.”

That- 

That didn’t make any sense. He’d been coughing up blood on the way back from the wreck, but now- well, just like she said. Aside from his bruises and scrapes (and the sores on his arms, and a persistent headache), he feels fine.

“So? Maybe I just got lucky.”

The Captain hums noncommittally, glancing back down at her pad for a moment. “No. I don’t think so—not entirely, at least. We exposed some of your blood to a sample of irradiated blood, and somehow it… absorbed the radiation. I don’t know how, but… do you know what this means?”

It means whatever happened below that fucking ocean made him some kind of freak, but he doubts that’s what she meant. “No?”

“You might be able to- to heal radiation exposure. You could save Jack.”

He’s not sure the emotion he’s experiencing has a name. His ears are ringing and his body feels both weightless and impossibly heavy as grey-blue eyes staring at him over a strip of red, blistered skin spark through his mind. He hadn’t meant to hurt anyone, but he’d sentenced a man to a slow, agonizing death regardless. But if he could fix it-

“How.”

A pause. When he glances towards the window she looks almost stunned, lips parted slightly like she’d expected to have to convince him. But she shook it off quickly, returning to a simulacrum of her closed, commanding expression.

“Have you ever…” For one she actually looks uncomfortable. Funny—she seemed perfectly fine sending him off to die, but a simple question is too much.

“Have I ever what.” The frustration he’s feeling leaks into the voice, turning it sharp and acerbic.

The Captain closes her eyes for a moment and takes a breath, looking almost like she’s trying not to strangle him.

Good. The feeling’s mutual.

“Have you ever eaten anyone.”

He’s on his feet before he even realizes it, arm slamming against the window as he glares down at her with fire singing in his veins.

“Ask me that one more fucking time, I swear-” He snarls through gritted teeth, all but shaking from the anger coursing through him. How many fucking times did he have to say they didn’t even have meat on Eden, let alone-

“C- Simon! I meant as a shifter.”

That’s not all that much better.

“No.” The word is spat out like poison, still glaring through the window at her. He was just on the taller side of average for a Martian, but among Terrans he felt like a giant. Standing several inches above almost everyone he’d encountered on the ship, and the Captain was no exception. But if she was intimidated she didn’t show it, staring up at him with nearly as much thinly-veiled vitriol as he felt.

She closes her eyes for a moment, pinching between them as she lets out a sigh.

“Okay. Come with me.” And at that the door unlocks with a click. He flinches slightly at the sound, taking a step back and glancing between her and the handle.

“Just- walk out of here? Just like that?” He’s skeptical—this feels like a trap, but he can’t figure out why. His hand reaches for the handle, hovering in midair as he gives her a narrow-eyed look through the window.

“I could have someone bring cuffs if you’d rather.” A raised eyebrow that doesn’t quite feel like a threat but doesn’t quite feel like a question, either. He shakes his head almost immediately, curling his fingers around the handle and turning it.

The door opens with ease. It’s a strange feeling, after all the pounding and screaming of the past few days.

Simon steps through, feeling strangely unbalanced as he stands in the hallway. Like he’s on an EVA and slipped loose from his tether, floating free in the ghostlit abyss.

“This way.” The Captain speaks, shattering the illusion as she starts down the hall. Just expecting him to follow.

He could run, but where would he go? He’s stuck on the ship, and if there’s a shuttle it’s probably locked down. Just as trapped as he was in that room. So he follows, his long, loping stride quickly eating up the distance between them until he’s caught up with her.

It’s not far, just a few nearly identical doors down the hall. But this one isn’t locked, and through the window he sees the foot of another—occupied—cot and several medical machines pushed up against the walls.

The Captain opens the door, and after a second of hesitation he steps inside.

The man in the cot barely looks like the same one he’d seen before being sent down. He’d been wiry before, with a shock of silver hair hidden under a bandanna despite not looking any older than Simon himself. But now he was barely more than a skeleton, hair thin and fragile and falling out from the radiation.

“Why-” His voice catches in his throat as he turns away from the proof of what he’d done. He takes a second to gather himself, but his voice is still thick with regret when he speaks. “Why did you bring me here? I mean- you said I could heal him, right? What do I need to do?”

She doesn’t respond. For long enough that he turns back towards the door, wondering if she’d left, but no, she’s still standing there, looking like she’d rather be anywhere else.

“If the tests are to be believed, then… He’ll need to be, um. Surrounded by you.”

“The fuck does that mean.” He snaps, but there’s a churning nausea already growing in the pit of his stomach. Dreading the words that he knows will come next.

“It means- it means you’ll need to swallow him.”

Some half-hysterical part of him feels a sense of relief that at least she hadn’t said eat. The rest of him is sick to his stomach and absolutely furious.

“Is this some kind of sick joke? Or- or a hazing ritual? I know what you all think of me, I’m not a fucking idiot. And I’m not a fucking cannibal, either.” Despite the anger, he just sounds exhausted, even to himself. Eight years of accusations weigh on him like heavy iron chains, turning his limbs to lead and sapping the energy to fight them.

“Simon, this isn’t about that, I swear. But you’re the only one who can do anything to help him.” She sounds honest. But she’s lied to him before.

At least this time she called him by name, though.

Fine.

A heavy breath escapes through his nose as he turns towards the cot again.

“And you’re sure this is safe.” A glance up through the window, fingers tapping against his thumb with frantic energy. The body—don’t call it a body, he’s still alive; for now—on the medical cot is pale and gaunt, his slow, raspy breaths the only sign of life.

“It’s safer than the alternative.” She hadn’t said shit about an alternative.

Probably because she’s trying to goad you into proving those Consolidation bastards right, a familiar voice whispers in the back of his head. One he’s been hearing long before he was sent down in a would-be metal coffin.

“Alternative? What, uh- what alternative.” A heavy sigh, her hand coming up to rub at her brow as he watches.

“Either you do… this, or we give him a blood transfusion from you. But with everything else going on, that seems like an unnecessary risk.” She gestures as she talks, before fixing him with a look that feels uncomfortably like she’s pleading with him.

She’s right, he doesn’t want to risk exposing anyone else to whatever the fuck the ocean did to him. It’s probably in his blood, with everything else it did. But that didn’t mean he was all too enthusiastic about this, either.

“I thought you said you wanted to make amends.”

He tenses, jaw tightening and hands curling into fists as he lets out a sharp breath. 

“And I thought you said I’d be free once I brought the black box back. But I’m still locked up.”

“That’s not-” She sighs, frustration clear in her tone. “You were in medical quarantine. We needed to be sure it would be safe for you to be around us, and vice versa. With how much radiation you were exposed to, it should have decimated your immune system. Not to mention-”

“Call it whatever you want, the result is the same. I’m still locked in a cell.”

Granted, it was a much nicer one than he was used to—had an actual cot, instead of just a thin mattress on the floor, with a blanket and a pillow.

“Look. I can’t physically force you to do this, but if you don’t then either we give him your blood, or he’ll be dead within two weeks. Please.” The Captain’s mask slips, and for a moment he hears Ava again. Exhausted and desperate, begging him to save the life of someone she cares about.

He sighs, teeth digging into his bottom lip as he flicks his gaze between the window and the cot. “Is he sedated?”

“Yes. I figured it was better than leaving him in pain. Should be out for several hours.”

A deep inhale, as he feels his insides twist with anxious nausea. This still feels like a trick, like she just wants an excuse to put another muzzle on him. Can’t trust the Edenite, don’t you know they’re all cannibals?

“... How long.” He can’t believe he’s considering this, but if it’ll make up for what he did to the man, he has to.

“I’m sorry?”

“How long would I have to-” He cuts himself off, making a vague gesture. This wasn’t something he talked about, ever. It wasn’t something he’d thought about beyond quiet, lonely nights years ago forcing himself to learn how to control it. Suddenly ending up a few inches tall would be deadly, so he kept his abilities on a tight leash. Crushed down that instinctual response to fear until the only thing left was to fight.

“Ah. I don’t know, a- a couple hours at most? It’s not like this is an exact science.” Ava responds, sounding almost as uncomfortable as he feels. “And- I don’t know how much you know about shifters, but unless you actively wanted to hurt him, it should be safe.”

There’s a question there that she’s not asking. But he understands it regardless, shaking his head. “Should?”

“There’s not exactly a lot of shifters left to ask. But the records we still have from before the Rapture say so.” She sounds unsure, but what choice did she have? It was highly unlikely the man would recover without an intervention of some kind. Between a long, slow, painful death as his cells break down from radiation and the chance of either being healed or dying quickly while sedated, the choice is obvious.

“You just keep coming up with ways to use me.” Simon mutters, turning his back on the window to fully face the cot and the thin, pale specter of a man lying on it.

He lifts his hand, hesitating for a moment before lowering it onto Jack’s arm. This isn’t something he’s done before, he hasn’t even used his abilities in years. And that had always only ever been on himself.

He hasn’t done it since-

A shake of his head. Doesn’t matter. Don’t think about how terrifying it had been. How much it’d hurt.

It takes a while to dig out, years of ignoring it and crushing it down leaving him feeling like there was a welded-shut door in his head, one he just kept stacking things in front of to hide from view. Ironic. But eventually he closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and then, with a feeling like something splitting open in his chest, he pulls.

A brief, mild wave of dizziness overtakes him, like the head rush of standing up too quickly. It soon fades, however, and after a few seconds he opens his eyes again. Looking down at the cot, his first thought is that Jack had vanished, but no. He was still there, just reduced to only a few inches tall. His fingertips gently rested on the man’s arm, the bone within feeling fragile as a twig beneath his light touch.

What the fuck am I doing.

He already knows. He didn’t forget. But there’s a difference between thinking about having to- to swallow someone to save their life, and suddenly staring down at a tiny person whose life was in his hands.

It’s not the first time he’s held a life in the balance. It might be the first time he’s saved one, though.

As delicately as he can, he slips his fingers under the tiny welder, doing his best not to shift his position too much. He’s not sure how fragile he is, and would really not like to find out like this. But after a nerve-wracking few seconds, the little man is laid across his hand, and Simon is left staring down the barrel of his next step.

“This is fucking insane. I’ve completely lost it.” He mutters to himself, dragging his free hand down his face with a low groan. It doesn’t help that he can still feel the Captain watching him, but if he thinks too much about that he’ll lose his nerve.

This is your fault. You need to fix it. Just fucking do it, Simon.

His hand trembles slightly as he lifts it to his face, pausing for a few seconds to run his tongue over his teeth. His blood wasn’t the only thing the ocean had changed—several of his teeth had turned into large, sharp, sturdy fangs that felt almost too big for his mouth. It was worse on the left side, what had once been his molars turned into something more suited for ripping through meat and crushing bone, but his canines and the teeth on either side on the right hadn’t been spared, either. He’ll have to be careful.

The sudden mental flash of a tiny body crushed between jagged spires of bone is almost enough to make him back out, a nearly overwhelming wave of nausea hitting him like a cargo hauler, but he manages to breathe through it.

Come on. Stop stalling. Or are you really this much of a coward, B-

A sharp shake of his head before he raises his hand to his lips. He takes a deep breath, opens his mouth, and tilts his hand to gently slip the welder onto his tongue, flattened carefully over his teeth.

He tastes like sweat and sickness and metal, the same nauseating taste that’d eventually filled his mouth when he’d taped down the camera button. Radiation. Not quite the horrible cloying copper of blood, but not that far off, either.

Simon screws his eyes shut, sucking in a deep breath through his nose. He has to be careful, Jack is in a fragile enough state already.. Tipping his head back, he tries not to shudder as the limp form slides towards the back of his mouth. This just feels wrong, even if he knows it’s the only real option. The Captain won’t let someone irreplaceable die, and it’s his fault he’s in this condition.

If he doesn’t do it of his own volition, they’d probably just drug him and do it anyway. Despite what she said.

With a faint whine he swallows once, twice, and then shivers at the feeling of something solid and heavy sliding down his throat. The taste lingers, even as he feels the weight slipping beneath his collarbone, deeper into his chest. It feels like swallowing a too-big bite of food, a stretch that’s almost painful with nothing to do but wait it out. And then-

He fails to bite back the breathy whimper that escapes when he feels a weight slide into his core. Feels heavier than in his hand, even though he knows that’s impossible. Dense and warm, radiating out like his foggy recollections of eating stew when he was young. How the heat warmed him from the inside.

It makes him nauseous. But the next realization is worse.

For the first time in years, he feels satisfied. Like he won’t be hungry again in an hour or two. He clamps a hand over his mouth, breathing slowly through his nose and forcing himself to swallow the overwhelming urge to gag.

“I, uh. I did it.” He mumbles, once he no longer feels like he’s about to vomit. And then has to cover his mouth all over again because it shouldn’t feel good. But he feels warm and soft, like he just wants to curl up around himself and fall asleep. His other arm wraps around his middle, not even the slightest sign of what had happened noticeable from the outside. Unless someone already knew, it was like Jack had just vanished without a trace.

The thought was horrifyingly satisfying. He can taste bile in the back of his throat, but forces himself to swallow it back. A few hours. He just has to last a few hours, and then he’d be done. He could do that. He’s survived worse.

“-mon? Is everything okay?”

He blinks at the sound of his name. The Captain- Ava. She sounds concerned, and he can’t blame her. She’d had to hand over complete control of her friend’s life to a piece of Edenite scum.

“I, uh.” Another heavy swallow, and a slight shudder in his breath. He can still taste metal and salt. “Fine. Just, um. Weird. Nauseous.”

He waves a hand in the air, taking a deep breath and turning to look at her again. She seems… concerned, and a little pale.

Right. He might be the last shifter left.

“Alright.” She looks down at her pad, looking almost relieved to break eye contact. “Just- stay here until- for a few hours. If anything happens, there’s a call button by the bed.”

A glance towards the cot shows a device that looks like- he’ll just call it a remote. He hears her footsteps shift away from the door slightly, before pausing.

“Oh. And Simon?”

His gaze snaps up at the steel in her voice. The Captain is back.

“What?”

“Whether or not this works, I expect to see him again.” Her stare is harsh, the clouded white of her left eye like ice as it slices through him. He just nods.

If anything happens to Jack, he’ll end up right back in the next fucking sub. Or maybe she wouldn’t even bother, just throw him into the ocean as-is. Why waste the steel on him, right?

“Good.” And with that she turns, disappearing from view and leaving him alone. Except for-

No. Alone. If he thinks about it he’ll gag again.

There’s no clock in the room, and his grasp of time has been fuzzy ever since the second hit to the head in the sub, so he’s not sure how long he stands there before eventually sitting down against the wall. Less than half an hour, probably. He draws his legs up, wraps his arms around his middle, and lets his head tip back until it’s resting against the steel behind him.

Boredom is an old companion, at least. Means he’s safe for the moment, or as safe as anyone can be. The only pain is the dull ache of his healing scrapes and bruises, and he’s not cold or hungry. As long as he doesn’t think about why, it’s almost pleasant. Warm and heavy and satisfying. Enough to lull him into a soft daze, eyes sliding shut and humming softly under his breath, curled loosely around himself.

Footsteps in the hall outside. He’s on his feet before they even fully register, left arm wrapped around himself and right clenched tight in a fist. The door clicks, and he tenses-

David steps through, head low and gaze on the floor. Simon relaxes only slightly, watching silently as he steps in and closes the door before glancing towards the cot and freezing. His breath catches, loud in the quiet room, before his head suddenly snaps towards Simon as he shifts. For a second he looks startled, then furious. He storms toward him, hands balling into fists.

“Fucking Edenite shifter.”

Well, that news got around quickly.

It’s a clumsy swing, easy enough to sidestep and grab the man by the wrist. Twist his arm behind his back, shove him forward until he’s pinned against the wall with Simon’s other forearm pressed against the back of his neck.

“Don’t touch me.” He hisses, leaning a little heavier when David tries to squirm free.

“I knew we should’ve left your ass down there—what, the radiation wasn’t enough? Had to finish the job yourself, Butcher? Or did you just miss the taste of human flesh?” The man snaps back, throwing his free elbow into Simon’s ribs.

That gets a snarl out of him, grabbing him by the back of the neck and squeezing his wrist tight enough to feel the bones grind together before twisting to throw him halfway across the room. One hand hovers over his middle for a moment before covering the bruise forming on his side as he jabs his finger at the door with the other.

“Get. Out.”

David looks sick for a moment, then scared, then enraged, grey eyes flicking from Simon’s middle to his face and straightening up. He’s almost as tall as Simon, but lankier, lean without much visible muscle. Not a difficult fight, if it came down to it, but he’d rather avoid it entirely. Too risky, and not just for him.

“Do you seriously think I’m just going to walk out and let you-” His voice cuts off with a choked sound, and he gestures at Simon with a heavy swallow. “He’s my friend. You probably don’t have those on Eden.”

He bristles, lips curling in a silent snarl. “I’m trying to- fuck, not like you’ll listen to me anyway.” Dragging his hand down his face, he takes a deep breath and glares, gesturing towards the door again. “Talk to your Captain. She’s the one who put me up to this.”

“Yeah, pull the other one. Goddamn Eden freak.” David sneers, before lunging again. Unsteady, uncoordinated, poor footing. Emotional. Simon ducks, twisting away again before driving an elbow into David’s gut. He retches, breath driven out in a sharp wheeze as he crumples to his knees with his arms wrapped around himself.

“Fucking stop!” Simon snaps, throwing his arm out in a furious gesture. “I’m trying to- I’m trying to help him!”

“What, by putting him out of his misery? That’s all you Edenites know how to do.” The other man scrambles to his feet, wavering and holding his stomach with one arm.

“I’M NOT TRYING TO-”

A sudden strange fluttering feeling makes him choke, hand snapping to rest on his middle as a shiver runs down his spine. He stumbles back a step, fingers curling into the worn fabric of his shirt before having to swallow what would’ve likely been a truly embarrassing sound, free hand clamping over his mouth to be sure nothing escapes. David stares at him with wide, horrified eyes, still half hunched over his bruises and seemingly frozen in place but whatever focus Simon might’ve had drops clean out of his skull at another light, fluttering movement.

Why does it feel good. What the fuck is wrong with me.

David says something, but it’s lost in the fuzzy haze in his head—tiny touches sending electricity dancing under his skin, a warm dense weight moving and pressing against his insides. A wall behind him and hands balled in the collar of his shirt.

He blinks, dark gaze sharpening to meet the wide, grey stare boring into him.

“What the fuck are you doing, you monster.” David snarls, furious and terrified. Close enough Simon could probably break his nose if he headbutted him, but even the thought of blood makes him queasy anymore.

“I’m not- I-” It’s a struggle just to string words together, but as soon as he speaks the fluttering goes still.

Oh.

Oh, fuck.

“God, fucking Edenites, are you all this stupid? Whatever you’re doing, cut it out!”

A spark of anger flares, and he opens his mouth to snap back, but it’s quickly smothered by a sudden, frantic burst of movement that forces a strangled squeak of a noise from his throat. For a second his knees go weak, and he’s pretty sure he only stays standing because of David’s hands fisted in his shirt and the wall at his back. He feels like he’s burning up, like he’s being tased, but none of it hurts. Just electricity dancing along his spine, warmth under his skin.

“I think- I think he’s awake.” He manages to force out through the fog. Swears he can feel little hands shoving at him, scrambling like someone desperately searching for an escape. He tenses without even realizing it, and oh that’s worse, every frantic, shaking  movement pressed up against sensitive flesh, overwhelming him with sparks behind his eyes. By the time his vision clears David has retreated a step or two, still staring, but with more confusion and dread than anger.

Whatever.

Jack doesn’t seem to be on the verge of death anymore, and he wants to be done with this. He shoulders past the man, half-crumpling over the cot at another burst of squirming with one arm bracing him upright and his other hand pressed to his stomach. This was all completely new, but somehow he still had a feeling of what to do.

Tensing his stomach, he shudders at the feeling of a warm, wriggling lump being forced back up his throat. It’s worse than swallowing him had been—like a live wire tracing all the way up to his mouth, squirming helplessly against the muscles surrounding him. Simon gags, a limp, trembling form spilling onto his tongue—the taste of metal and sickness is gone, leaving only salt and the faint hint of something else he can’t quite put his finger on—before lifting his hand and dropping him out of his mouth onto his palm with a wet splat.

The welder is absolutely drenched, sprawled face-down and shivering in a puddle of clear fluid with his hair and clothes plastered to his body from how saturated they are, but he looks better than he did before. Still gaunt, but no longer quite as pale, and he’s moving. He sputters and coughs, pushing up to his hands and knees.

“Told you I wasn’t trying to kill him.” Simon mutters, feeling the tiny man freeze at the sound of his voice, before lowering his hand to gently deposit him back on the cot. The same strange pulling feeling in his chest, and he’s back to normal size as he pulls his hand away, wiping saliva and whatever else off on the leg of his pants.

“Wh- you-” David sputters. Seemingly finally out of words. He doesn’t give a shit.

With a sharp huff Simon shoves past him again, stumbling through the door and slamming it shut behind him. Back down the short walk to his room, where he drops to the floor and curls up in a corner opposite the door, hands tangled tightly into his hair.

It worked. Everyone was fine. He’d fixed his fuck up.

A booming sound sent a flock of birds scattering, and combined with the frantic flapping it snapped Fern out of her work. She was used to a staggering variety of wildlife sounds in the Kypros marsh, from myriad bird calls to bellowing frogs and the whispery rattle of snakes, but that didn’t sound like anything she’d ever heard before… and most concerningly it sounded almost human.

Lots of careless humans had ventured into the marshlands with no idea what lay in store, and the sound’s source seemed to be near the river.

Awfully close to croctaur territory…

She vaguely remembered hearing some snapping before too… someone could be in serious trouble.

She dropped the rhizomes she’d been harvesting and hurried as quietly as she could towards the river, hoping she’d make it time to help whoever was in need.

By the time she reached the river the original sound had long faded, but she could hear distant muttering and what seemed like muted groans of pain coming from further upstream, away from where the crocs converged. Probably not a croctaur attack then, but an animal or insect bite was still very possible and no less dangerous. Thankfully the botanist always carried medical supplies when she went collecting, ever hopeful for the best but prepared for the worst.

As she reached the riverbed she pushed up her glasses and surveyed the area. There was clear evidence of a hunt, from bloodied markings on ground to the bones of some unlucky animal she didn’t care to further examine, and the lingering sounds were getting closer. Following her ears she realized she was also following an unusually wide trail of disturbed vegetation leading directly into the thickest part of the marsh.

Nobody ventured in that far.

It was something of an open secret that anuids of all types would snatch up humans given the opportunity. Legally speaking there was no such activity, but it was well known that humans were valuable commodities in Kypros, which was why the expedition team strictly prohibited crossing the swamp line into the major settlements. Just exploring the coasts and borderlands of anuid territory was dangerous enough, but walking straight into a croctaur settlement was like asking to be grabbed.

The more she noticed about the width and shape of the trail the more she felt her heart pound. Only a croctaur could have left a trail like that… but anuids didn’t sound like humans… at least, not as far as Fern was aware. As far she knew, nobody had ever met one and returned to tell the tale. Allegedly other humans had ventured into Kypros and studied the denizens of the planet, but the textbooks she’d read had shockingly little to say about croctaurs or anuids as a whole.

Another grunt, this one accompanied by something like snapping branches, followed by a growl…

They’re definitely still alive, and still in need of help…

As the sky suddenly darkened her heart dropped. Dark clouds had gathered at an alarming speed along with a burst of wind, much like monsoon season back home. If there really was a storm brewing it would explain the sudden lack of visible wildlife, but it would also mean an even worse situation for whoever was stuck out here wounded. Even if she reported someone in the deep brush the rescue team probably wouldn’t venture out until the storm cleared, and that was time an injured person didn’t have.

Dangerous or not, someone needed her, and she couldn’t just abandon them.

Taking a deep breath she tied back her frizzy hair, pushed up her glasses, forced her feet forward and ran directly into the depths.

/-/-/-

Gaspar growled softly to himself as he settled inside a dense quinzy of branches and tried to pick at his swollen gums. Unfortunately his claws were far too large to pry out whatever bit of bone was stabbed between his teeth. Still, at least he’d managed a meal before the storm set in. The turn of weather had come far more quickly than he’d expected, forcing him to build a shelter to wait out the storm. He’d already spent most of his energy hunting, and with how fast of a turn things had taken he didn’t want to risk getting caught out in the cold rains and harsh winds. Since he’d gone hunting at the outermost edge of the border his own home was still a ways off.

Thankfully he was good with his hands and had plenty of experience with making things. As he settled in he grabbed a smaller branch and tried to extricate whatever was stuck in his gumline again. It was hard to believe something so tiny could be such a literal and figurative pain… frowning at another failed effort to remove the bone he crushed the branch between his fingers and tossed the splinters into the wind.

“Whoa!”

His ears pricked up at the voice. Who was foolish enough to be out in a coming storm?

Leaning out of his shelter he spotted a tiny flicker of light in the distance.

A human.

Humans rarely ventured this close to croctaur territory, much less in this weather… the winds were picking up, and he could see in the distance a crack of lightning split the sky. The thwack of thunder nearly drowned out the human voice, but he could still just make it out.

“Hello?! Don’t be scared, I’m here to help you!”

The voice was getting closer, almost like it was coming straight towards him.

“I know you’re hurt! Where are you?!”

Surely they weren’t looking for him… was there another human lost somewhere in the marsh? That seemed highly unlikely, not so close to croctaurs…

The light started to flicker, not merely from the winds and rain blurring it but in a distinct, rhythmic pattern, like a signal light.

Now that was extremely stupid. Any nearby anuids would recognize that and happily venture short distances to snatch up a human out in the open, even in a storm like this.

“Please! I heard you cry out!”

Suddenly the pieces came together; it had indeed been Gaspar who’d inadvertently yelped in pain at the stubborn bone still stuck in his teeth, but the human had mistaken his cry for that of another human.

“Hello?!”

He heaved a sigh. On one hand, nobody had told this human to go wandering into croctaur territory in the middle of a lightning storm… but they were just trying to help someone they thought was wounded and stuck out in the elements. They were risking their own life to help another, and Gaspar just happened to be the person they thought was so in need of help.

He couldn’t just leave them out there.

“Stay where you are,” He called, reluctantly standing to leave the makeshift den.

“Where are you?! Are you okay?!” The light wavered but did not stray from its location as he slowly walked towards the human.

“Huh?!”

“Don’t move,” He warned, “Stay exactly where you are.”

-0-0-

Fern felt her heart thump with each thud of a footstep, each one just as audible as it was palpable. An outline of utter blackness towered over her so that even craning her neck at a full vertical left her unable to see the sky above the figure. As she lifted the lantern closer she could see what looked like the feet of a crocodile, but on a terrifyingly larger scale. Each claw alone looked to be at least size of her head.

Between the dark, their current proximity and reduced visibility from the storm it was impossible to see the croctaur in its entirety, but if she had to take a guess she’d mentally estimate it to be at least 50 feet tall… and if she were to be completely honest with herself, that was lowballing. Currently all she could see was up to the knee- joint? Was it an actual knee? She wasn’t exactly familiar with crocodile biology, but whatever it was called, it was only a fraction of the creature’s full form. From the outline of the upper half it looked not only like a human male’s torso, but like it belonged to a power lifter, with a thick neck and bulging arms.

It cane to a stop around a good distance away from her, much farther away from her than she would have expected, but then the top of its outline began to move as it lowered its upper body towards her. She moved her back foot and shifted her weight to move away, but then she saw a pair of yellow eyes come into view against the backdrop of shadow, and a chill ran down her spine.

It was watching her. It had told her not to move. Running now would be useless.

Her mind raced, running fruitless circles of probabilities around the inevitable conclusion: there was no getting away from the croctaur.

Slowly, painfully slowly, she watched as it lowered an inconceivable mass of hulking muscle towards her, lowering one hand to the ground to support itself just a few feet away from her. Without thinking she lifted the lantern higher, illuminating the grey skin of its human half in contrast to the typical greens of the lower crocodile half, and minus the coloring and a pair of what looked like tiny teeth protruding from the corhers of his lower jaw its face was shockingly human. In any other context she might have even said it belonged to a handsome man.

Without thinking she let go of the hood of her jacket as she squinted to get a better look, and instantly the wind ripped it back to soak her head. She tried shielding her eyes with a hand, but it did little as the rain now directly pelted her glasses, leaving her nearly blind as the creature continued its agonizing descent. She could almost feel the shift in the air as his weight approached, the yellow blur of his eyes growing larger and larger as he came closer and closer towards her.

“What- who are you?!” Her mouth was suddenly dry as she felt herself shaking.

“Just hold still.”

Before she could even blink she was moving, suddenly seated on a slightly warm surface that felt almost leathery. Somehow he had picked her up not only startlingly fast but with shocking gentleness. She’d managed to hold onto her lantern, but she almost wished she hadn’t as he brought her towards his lips and opened his mouth wide.

“WAIT! NO! PLEASE! DON’T!”

She skittered away as fingers curled around her, back pressed against the wall of digits. Time seemed to slow as her eyes darted in search of any possible escape, finding only sharp teeth framing a sea of glistening pink… except… there was also a spot of red. At the back of his mouth, between the molars, was a dark red area that even with her current vision she could see was swollen.

An old trick surfaced in her memory as she created a pinhole with her fingers and peered through it, glimpsing the unmistakeable sight of not only blood but a pale object sticking out of the gum.

“Wait… you?! YOU’RE the one who cried out in pain?!

His mouth stopped moving, and without thinking she leaned forward with her lantern to look through her makeshift pinhole, slowly realizing what had happened.

“I get it, you’ve got a bone shard stuck that you couldn’t get out yourself!”

A switch flipped in her brain, blocking out everything except the injury and putting her into work mode as she moved forward, further into his mouth. The shard was embedded between the molars furthest back, leaving the soace both between around both teeth inflamed.

“Ah?”

The creature sounded almost… confused? Had he not expected her to help?

She grabbed the bone and gave it an experimental wiggle, making the croctaur exhale sharply in apparent pain.

“Hold on, I think I can get it out!”

Setting the lantern down she gripped the bone with both hands, planted one foot against a lower tooth and pulled as hard as she could.

The force was so great she wound up stumbling backwards and landed seated in the creature’s palm, still clutching the bloodied shard.

“Well I’ll be damned…”

“Ha!” She laughed, though she hardly even recognized the curt, high pitched sound of her own voice as she found herself smiling up at the croctaur. Hysteria? Probably, she thought. She couldn’t believe that just an hour ago hadn’t even known they could talk… Her own ignorance was hilariously frightening, and she had to mentally push away the thought for now. “That should feel better, right?”

The adrenaline was still coursing through her veins as she looked up at the grey-skinned face before her, though now she could feel her heart trying to ram its way out of her ribcage. Survival instinct screamed in her mind to run, jump, something, anything to get away… but her eyes were somehow transfixed on the face of the croctaur holding her.

He multiple scars, including one running horizontally across the upper bridge of his nose and one vertically slicing the left edge of his lip. Somehow you always see wounds first, she mentally chuckled at herself. A pair of thick eyebrows and a set of darker grey suboccular splotches framed his golden yellow eyes. Her chest felt tight as she tried to force herself into eye contact, but instead of staying on irises her eyes kept drifting back to his full lips and sharp, ivory teeth.

“You’re a strange one,” He remarked, almost chuckling, warm breath drifting over her from the proximity to his mouth. Without thinking she leaned in closer; the wind and her rain soaked clothes had left her half-frozen.

“How does it feel?”

He ran his tongue experimentally over the area, and she instinctively backed away at the sight.

“Better,” He smiled, though something about his expression felt slightly unsettling. Even with his lips closed she could see two smaller teeth protruding, and whether intentional or not his face had a certain neutrality about it that made it impossible to know what he was truly thinking.

“That’s good, I-“

A crash of thunder interrupted, along with a howl of wind ripping right through her clothes. She pulled her knees closer to her chest and hugged herself, teeth chattering as she shivered.

“Let’s get you out of this storm.” His fingers curled closer around her as he lifted her back up to his lips. “Just trust me, alright?”

“What are you going to do?”

“Keep you warm.” Without any further warning he opened his mouth, tongue quickly slipping under her feet.

“WAIT NO! DON’T-“

Before she could even finish the word she was sliding between his teeth across the pale pink floor. She tried to scramble back towards his lips as quickly as she could, but his tongue curled to keep her back. She could only watch in helpless horror as the gate of bone cut off the light of her lantern as his teeth closed, sealing her in humid darkness.

/-/-/-

“Settle down,” He rumbled softly, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“You ATE ME!” She clambered towards his lips, but he quickly nudged her back towards the middle of his mouth.

“Relax. If I really wanted to eat you I’d have already swallowed.”

“Then why are you doing this?!”

“You won’t last long outside exposed in this weather. You’re already soaked and shivering.”

“Wait… so… you did this for me?

“Of course.”

“But… why your mouth?!”

“It’s warm, and safe. Crocs carry their young in their mouths all the time,” He shrugged.

“Oh right, you’re part crocodile… I guess that does make sense,” She chuckled nervously, “In that case, thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.” He tried to shake off as much of the rain as he could beneath the canopy before lying down inside the quinzy. “You’re just lucky I’m the one who found you first.”

“Oh… so… just to be completely clear, you’re not going to eat me?”

“Nope,” He smiled softly, “Though I would like to know what a human was doing out here so close to croctaur territory.”

She paused a moment. “I was collecting plant samples.”

“Pretty bold of a little human like you to venture this close to croctaurs in the middle of a thunderstorm just for some plants.”

“I heard that someone was hurt. I couldn’t just leave whoever it was behind.”

“You weren’t afraid of being stranded yourself?”

“I had to try, someone needed help.”

“And you don’t regret coming out here now that you see who it was?”

“Why would I? You were hurt.”

Gaspar blinked in surprise. There was no hesitation in her voice, and not a hint of deceit. She answered so simply, as if the answer was so obvious. It wasn’t often he came across such a guileless human.

“Would you have come out if you’d known from the start I was a croctaur?”

“Knowing me, probably.”

A small smile crossed his lips. “You know, I think I believe you.”

“I would have been a lot more hesitant about it though.”

“Now that I don’t believe, considering you waltzed right up to my mouth once you saw the wound.”

“I didn’t waltz!”

“Yeah you did,” He chuckled, “Nothing hesitant about it.”

“I was terrified!”

“You still did it, though, straightaway. You’re a brave little thing.”

“Oh no, not really, I just did what anyone else would do, just trying to help!”

“Trust me, I’ve never seen a human just walk up to a wounded croctaur and start helping like you did,” He replied, tone softening a bit in response to her flustering.

“It wasn’t anything special.”

“I’d say it was pretty special.”

“I wouldn’t say that, not at all,” She answered quickly, “Now anuids, you guys are special! You’re so unique and huge, I’d love to learn more about you.”

“Curious, huh?” He chuckled, “I wouldn’t try chatting up any other anuids though.”

“Right… I’ve heard they kidnap us and sell us on the market.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Do anuids… really eat us?”

“Some, but not all. Personally I don’t unless I haven’t eaten in weeks. Humans in our territory are rare to begin with, and not very filling.”

“Oh…”

“Don’t worry, you’re off the menu. For all anuids.” He added firmly.

“I am?”

“I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

She was silent for a moment, seemingly surprised.

“Thank you… really… I appreciate that.” She gently patted his tongue, inadvertently giving him a small taste of her as her hand rested on the muscle.

“You’re a good kid. I don’t mind protecting you.”

“You’re very kind.” She patted his tongue again, hand lingering on a tastebud for a bit before she suddenly drew her hand back. “Sorry, I didn’t- I mean, is that okay?”

“Of course,” He chuckled, “You’re welcome to poke around as much as you like.”

“Did you keep my lantern by any chance? It’s awfully dark in here…”

“Hmm? Oh, I guess I did,” He replied, only now noticing he still had it clutched in his hand. He opened his mouth and placed the lantern on his tongue beside her.

“Mind if I take a look at your gums again?”

“Go right ahead.” He opened his mouth wider to allow her easier access, and he quickly felt her tiny fingers palpating his swollen gums.

-0-0-

“Does it still hurt?”

“Just a bit.”

“I can help with that.” She let her backpack slide off her shoulders and rummaged through, looking for the zippered bag she kept with various herbal preparations. Holding them close to the lantern she sifted through countless vials until she found one containing a thick yellow liquid that smelled like a sweeter variant of eucalyptus.

“Aha!“

The fluid cooled her palms and fingertips as she poured it into a cupped hand. The round yellow flowers in the extract were similar in appearance and anti-inflammatory effects to toothache plants on Earth, but instead of capsaicin like compounds the Kypros version were menthol like.

“This should dull the pain pretty quickly.” She carefully spread the liquid across the swollen patch of gumline, fingers gently grazing the slick surface.

“Are you a doctor?”

“Botanist, with a special interest in herbalism,” She explained, “It’s no substitute for modern medicine of course, but when you’re lost in the marsh a sound knowledge of medicinal plants comes in handy.”

“Ah.”

She spread the remains of the liquid into the hole left by the shard and softly rubbed the swelling around it. It felt surreal, surrounded by massive teeth and touching Gaspar’s gums, how it seemed so familiar and yet utterly foreign. Internally he was very much like a human, but in a staggering larger scale, and she could only imagine how different the rest of his insides had to be.

“Thanks, trying to get that bone out would’ve been a real pain without you.”

“You’re welcome! If you ever need a pair of smaller hands again I’m happy to help.”

“If I ever see you again I’ll be sure to let you know.”

“You probably will, I come out here to collect plant samples pretty often so I’m sure you’ll see me again sometime.”

“You shouldn’t go anywhere near croctaur territory again though. It’s not safe.”

“I wouldn’t normally get this close…” She bit her lip. It didn’t feel right to make it sound like she never wanted to see him again, not when he’d been so kind to her. “I’d take the risk to come visit, though,” She added softly.

“You shouldn’t.”

“Why not?” She frowned, “I’d like to see you again, and you did say you wouldn’t let anyone else eat me, right?”

“What if another croctaur found you first and I wasn’t around?”

“I guess I’d have to hope they’d be as kind and sweet as you are.”

“I guess I’ll have to be on the lookout to keep you out of trouble,” He grumbled, then paused a moment before rolling his tongue beneath her.

“H-hey!” She clambered towards his teeth again, feeling a small chuckle just as clearly as she heard it.

“It’s alright, you’re safe, remember?” He nudged her back towards the middle of his mouth.

“I know, you just startled me.” Without thinking she gently patted the muscle beneath her. This time she noticed a few gray splotches amidst the floor of soft pink. That definitely wasn’t human, but was it crocodilian? Or was it a croctaur specific thing? The more details she noticed the more she wondered…

“I’m serious though, you really shouldn’t be out here. Any other anuid could have grabbed you in a heartbeat and either sold you or kept you for themself.”

“Are we really so valuable?”

“They’d pay quite a sum for a cute little thing like you.”

“C-cute?”The word felt foreign as she stumbled across it, “No, no I’m not- you don’t see many humans, do you?”

“I’ve seen enough to know you’d fetch a pretty price at the market.”

“Well… with such a bad storm you probably didn’t get a good look at me,” She chuckled, rubbing the back of her head. Why did her cheeks suddenly feel warm?

“Or maybe you need new glasses.”

“How-?!” She blinked in surprise. “I don’t know what’s crazier, that you know what they are or that you noticed mine!”

“You think anuids don’t know anything about humans?”

“You certainly seem to know more about us than we know about you,” She sighed, “I didn’t even know anuids could speak human languages until today.”

“You must be very new to Kypros, that or whoever brought you here left some serious gaps in your education.”

“I’ve been here a few weeks, but I’ve never gotten close to anuids before today.”

“It’s just as well. Are you from Earth?”

“No, Kep42.”

“Where’s that?”

“It’s in the Kepler system, it used to be a penal colony for Earthborn humans. The informal name is Primus Oz, if you’ve heard of that.”

“Don’t think so, no. It would explain why you know so little about us though, I’ve never heard of humans coming from that planet before.”

“I have so much to learn, about everything in Kypros… I’ve never felt so helpless and ignorant before,” She sighed.

“It’s not exactly ignorance, you’re just new here.”

“Still… I may have come to study plants, but I wish I knew more about anuids now that I’m actually here. There’s so much I don’t know!”

“Nobody is born knowing everything.”

“I feel like I don’t know anything… I wish I was at least familiar with the croctaurs since their settlement is right near where the-“ She suddenly bit her lip. “The plants I study, they’re so close to the settlement,” She added as quickly as she could.

“You’ll learn.”

“Gaspar…” She pursed her lips again, caught between not wanting to be anymore of a burden on him and the feeling that she’d never get another chance at finding an anuid amenable to hearing her out. “Do you think you teach me?”

/-/-/-

“Teach you?”The croctaur raised an eyebrow at her request.

“I mean if it’s not an imposition on you or anything!” She added quickly, “I don’t want to be a bother of course, I wouldn’t take advantage of your kindness and of course I’d repay you once I-“

“Easy, girl,” He interrupted, “You want me to teach you about anuids? There’s plenty I don’t know myself, and I’m not exactly a teacher.”

“I actually meant more about croctaurs, since they’re the ones I’ll be in close contact with during my expedition.”

“I thought you were going to minimize croctaur contact.”He frowned.

“I mean, in my line of work it’s inevitable that I’ll be around them at some point just based on location. You live right in the middle of one of the most biodiverse areas I’ve ever seen, prime real estate for studying the countless plant species on Kypros.”

“What exactly do you want to know about us?”

“Everything! Morphology, ecology, ethology, sociocultural development, I don’t know anything about croctaurs except that you’re half crocodile and half human!”

“I’m not sure how much I know about those things myself, but I don’t mind answering your questions,” He chuckled, “I still don’t want you getting so close to our territory though.”

“I’d like to come back and see you though, even if you didn’t want to teach me,” She added softly, sounding disappointed.

“Hmmmm… we’ll see about potential arrangements for future visits after I take you home.”

“You mean it?” He couldn’t help a small smile at the joy in her voice, though it quickly dissolved to confused concern. “Wait, what home?”

“Your home.”

“My home?!”

“Of course. Did you think I was going to let you just walk out of croctaur territory alone and unprotected?”He frowned, “No, the only way to ensure you make it back safely is to bring you there myself.”

“Oh no, you can’t- I mean I couldn’t- that’s far too much for me to ask of you!”

“You didn’t ask. I’m telling you.”

“You don’t understand-“

“If you’re really worried about exposing where your cohort is, I promise your secret is safe with me.”

“How did you- I guess I gave it away before,”She sighed.

“Not really, its no secret that humans never come alone.”

“It’s not just that, though, we have armed security guarding the perimeter of the base. If they see you they could shoot you!”

“I’ll drop you off at night, just outside your base, in a spot where they won’t see me.”

“I don’t know, I’d hate for you to get hurt because of me.”

“I’d take the risk to come visit,” He smirked, so widely he was sure she could practically hear it.

“Why are you so sweet?!”

“Besides, there’s only so much a human weapon can do against a croctaur.”

“You haven’t seen our weapons, or any Primus Ozians except for me. Do you know how trigger happy they can be?”

“I’ll be careful.”

“There are some Ozzies back home who wrangle regular crocodiles just for fun! What if they see you and take it as a challenge?”

“I’d like to see them try,” He chuckled.

“I’m serious! I dont want you to take the risk!”

“It’s cute you think I’m at any risk to begin with,” He chuckled, “Don’t worry about me, I’m a lot more durable than a human.”

“I still wouldn’t want to go out of your way even more just to take me back, especially not with armed guards waiting for you.”

“It’s no trouble. Besides, it wouldn’t sit right with me if I didn’t escort you home.”

“I don’t think-“

“This isn’t a discussion.”

He could practically feel her wilt at the finality of his tone.

“I just want you to be safe…”

He sighed quietly, tone softening as he continued.

“Once the storm lets up and it’s dark enough outside you’ll guide me back, and maybe on the way we’ll discuss future visits.”

“So you will let me come see you again?”

“If you stop arguing about me taking you home.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

“Thank you!”She rubbed his tongue again, not an absentminded touch but an intentional massage.

It was certainly not a sensation Gaspar was accustomed to; on previous occasions when he’d eaten humans they hadn’t exactly been willing, much less affectionate. It wasn’t unpleasant though… quite the opposite, in fact. The gentle feeling of tiny fingers was oddly soothing, and he found himself relaxing at her touch.

“Is this bribery?” He chuckled, resting his head on folded arms.

“Well I do need some way to repay you for everything, will this do?”

“Perhaps.”

She continued for a while, occasionally shifting a bit so that she could reach every inch of his tongue. Tension in his neck and jaw muscles melted away as she continued, and he smiled softly around her with a pleased sigh. His eyes gradually shut as he let himself sink into a pseudo-sleep, letting his mind rest as the sounds of the storm seemed to faded into the distance. If anything major were to suddenly happen he’d be no less alert to it, but his current focus was solely on Fern’s small voice, her sweet flavor, and her tender touch.

“Is this alright? I mean, does this feel okay?”

“More than okay.” He gently licked her cheek, a small gesture of appreciation. It initially startled her, but she seemed to quickly realize the intent and let her cheek briefly rest on the slick surface, giving the edge of his tongue a soft squeeze. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m… okay. More okay than I expected to be,” She admitted, “How’s the storm?”

He forced his eyes open, reluctant to leave the half-dreamlike state he’d drifted into. The thunder was more distant now than before, but far from gone, and the rains were just as heavy if not even worse.

“Still going. You might want to make yourself comfortable and try to rest for now.”

“How long do you think this storm will last?”

“During the wet season sometimes the rain doesn’t let up for days, even weeks.”

“Weeks?!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t keep you that long. I’m sure your people will worry about you if you’re away too long. Once the thunder dies down I’ll take you back.”

“How long will that take?”

“At least another hour, maybe more.”

“Another hour… I guess that means no chance of a break for a little fresh air?”

“You want me to let you out?”

“Just for a few minutes, please?” She begged, giving his tongue a tiny, pleading rub.

“Hmm…”On one hand the storm was far from over, and even with the quinzy for shelter she’d still get cold if she went back outside… but she had also spent quite a while in his mouth, and even if she was outwardly calmer now she had been terrified before, and it wouldn’t have surprised him if she was still on edge even now. “I suppose a few minutes won’t hurt.”

He propped himself up on a forearm, lifted his free hand to his lips and opened his mouth, gently sliding her off his tongue into an open palm.

Fern instinctively moved away from his mouth, took a deep breath as she briefly looked out at the storm and turned to look up at him, pushing a wad of slimy curls out of her eyes.

“Thank you, for everything.”

Even soaked and slimy, Gaspar could only imagine how fast any other anuid would have snatched her up. There was something oddly endearing about her, from how softly she wrapped her arms around a finger to her dimpled smile that seemed somehow contagious.

“Is something wrong?”

He shook his head a bit, briefly lost in his observations upon getting a real look at her.

“Nothing.”

“You seemed lost in thought, what were you thinking about?”

“Just that you’re adorable.”

“What? No I’m not!”Her tanned skin did little to hide the redness rising in her cheeks. “You probably just think that from my size.”

“It’s not just size, trust me. I’ll have to keep a very close eye on you to make sure no one tries anything.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” She tried to chuckle in spite of the obvious flustering, before suddenly hugging herself and pulling her knees in close to her chest.

“Cold?”

“Just a little, I’ll be fine!”

His fingers curled closer around her, and she quickly huddled into the curve.

“Better?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Remember you only have a few minutes. It’s still too cold and wet for you to stay out here.”

“I know… I feel a little guilty that you’re stuck out here too though.”

“That’s entirely my own fault, not yours. Whether or not you’d ventured out here I’d still be here.”

“Still, I feel bad I can’t help you stay warm… aren’t you cold too?”

“Croctaurs are better at retaining heat than humans, especially bigger ones.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m not going to freeze to death out here. You, on the other hand, can’t afford to take the risk.” He frowned as he felt her shivering anew, and he quickly brought her back up to his lips. “I think you’ve had enough fresh air.”

-0-0-

“Alright, I just needed a few minutes,” She sighed, already moving towards his mouth even before he opened it. He stretched his tongue over his teeth and breathed slowly to keep it still as she climbed back inside. Her brief reprieve had been reassuring and helped ease the anxiety she’d been stewing in, but it had also left her freezing again. Once she was settled in he gently licked her icy arms and face, the heat of his mouth melting away the chill, and she softly rubbed his tongue in return.

“You should try to sleep for a bit. It’s late, and I’m sure you’re exhausted from the day you’ve had.”

He wasn’t entirely wrong… but in the grand scheme of all the expeditions she’d been on, somehow this wasn’t the worst. She hadn’t gotten sick from accidental toxin exposure, she hadn’t broken any bones… this was at the very worst barely top three.

“You know what… I’ve had worse days,” She chuckled.

“Worse than getting eaten by a croctaur?”

“I lived, and he turned out to be really sweet and caring,” She grinned and briefly rubbed his tongue again. “Besides, he didn’t really eat me.”

“Not yet,” He teasingly grumbled.

“You wouldn’t!” This time she was more hurt than frightened.

“No, I wouldn’t,” He admitted, giving her a small lick, “I wouldn’t mind swallowing you for a while though.”

“Why would you want to do that?!”

“In an emergency my first stomach would be the safest place for you, even safer than my mouth.”

“First stomach?”She blinked in surprise, though in hindsight it was perfectly logical for a croctaur to have both a human and a crocodile stomach. “You mean it’s like a storage pouch?”

“Exactly. You’d be just as warm and safe, and I wouldn’t mind some belly rubs.”

“Oh, so that’s the real reason why,” She chuckled with another soft rub, “I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet though…”

“No, of course not. I wouldn’t ask that from you right now. Not unless you were actually in danger.”

“I promise you belly rubs when the time comes though,” She smiled softly.

“I’ll be looking forward to that. For now just lie down and make yourself comfortable.”

“Are you sure? I mean, it’s only an hour away, right?” She clenched her teeth as she felt a yawn trying to escape.

“It could be more, and you must be tired. I’ll wake you when it’s time to head home.” He nudged her softly, soft flesh rippling beneath her like a water bed.

“I don’t know… won’t it feel weird for you if I just fall asleep in here?”

“Not at all. It feels no different than if a baby fell asleep in your arms.”

“That’s completely different!”

“Not to me. You’re just as small a hatchling, and there’s nothing strange about carrying sleeping hatchlings.”

“I keep forgetting how normal this is to you, just holding someone small in your mouth…”

“You’re not still frightened, are you?”

“I wouldn’t say frightened, just… a little nervous,” She admitted, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You have nothing to fear, I promise, I’m not going to swallow you in your sleep.”

“I know you wouldn’t,” She sighed, “It’s just the adrenaline still circulating.”

“At least lie down, even if you don’t want to sleep.”

Begrudgingly she uncrossed her legs and slowly turned onto her side. His tongue shifted to meet her so that instead of slowly lowering herself through air she was sinking into the soft muscle, practically cradled in its warmth.

“That’s it, just relax. You’re safe with me.”

Conflicting feelings swirled as she let herself lie down. She’d expected to feel a new wave of anxiety, and to some extent she did, but what she hadn’t expected was to feel her muscles relax, alongside a kind of calmness battling with her instinctive nerves. She was lying in a giant mouth, surrounded by massive crocodilian teeth, and yet she felt so… comfortable? If she closed her eyes she could almost imagine she was lying on a heated bed, the soft flesh beneath her feeling almost plush.

His tongue tilted very slightly and the lantern rolled towards her in silent suggestion.

“I guess I should save some battery for later…”

“Trust me, if you do nod off I’ll wake you when it’s time. Just get some rest.”

Trust… yes, she trusted him. He’d proven himself trustworthy countless times already, and he had been nothing but kind and chivalrous towards her. He was helping her, sheltering her from the storm, and she could no longer doubt for even a second that she was safe in his care. Gaspar had been so good to her, and he had earned more than her trust… he was a friend to her now.

She took one last glance around the pale pink room and turned off the lantern, and within seconds her eyes fell shut under the sudden weight of exhaustion.

“I’ll try,” She yawned. Her muscles felt heavy, a deep drowsiness falling over her as her mind began to drift.

All she could manage to move was her arm to give one last little rub of thanks before her body went limp, and before she knew it she had succumbed to sleep.

/-/-/-

Gaspar smiled fondly as he felt her dozing off, finally letting herself fully relax. It had been quite some time since he’d held a small creature in his mouth like this, let alone had one sleeping inside him. A long forgotten feeling warmed his chest as she lay nestled atop his tongue, one he could only describe as… satisfaction.

Fern was safe, warm and well protected within his jaws. He’d been careful with her, and she had rewarded him not only with her delightful little rubs but with a trust so deep she’d let herself sleep in his mouth. She was so sweet she’d not only gotten the bone out of his gums but rubbed his tongue and even promised belly rubs, and she so eager to learn about him and croctaurs…her kindness and curiosity were a rare combination amongst humans, and he shuddered to think what might have happened if another anuid had found her first.

Despite his repeated warnings to her about getting close to croctaurs, he found himself wondering already when she would come back. It was nice having a little companion to talk to. In a way he’d missed having hatchlings to hold in his mouth, and holding Fern had filled that need. Having a cute and cuddly little human to protect had been far more fulfilling than he could have imagined.

Especially the cuddles… already he was hoping for belly rubs next time, and perhaps he could return her affection with some hand hugs and gentle tasting.

As he settled in himself he kept his mouth as still as possible, trying not to disturb his tiny guest. She must have been drained to fall asleep as fast as she did, especially inside a croctaur’s mouth for the first time. She’d been so frightened at first… but now she was sleeping soundly inside him, unafraid, unmoving in peaceful slumber.

He looked out at the storm again. Still just as thunderous and rainy… and yet he was almost glad it hadn’t improved. No reason to wake her if the weather was still this bad, and no reason for him not to let himself rest in the meantime. Besides, it wasn’t like he truly slept, and at most it only lasted a few hours at a time. She’d have a nice long nap, and he’d get to hold his newfound friend a little longer.

Sleep well, little one.

The morning sun was just starting to warm Fern’s skin as she anxiously paced the water’s edge. Gaspar had said to meet him at the delta an hour after sunrise, but she’d been so nervous she’d headed out much earlier than necessary and arrived an hour too soon. She’d spent all night planning the route, picking a suitable gift, deciding on and baking an ungodly number of pavlovas, packing her bag and writing a list of questions and topics of study. She’d then spent the morning fretting so much over being on time, if she’d get the right place, if he’d even show up, that she’d not only gotten no sleep whatsoever but she’d let all her worries boil over into an anxiety that somehow felt even worse than being eaten.

She couldn’t even enjoy looking at the myriad plants growing in the delta, instead pacing a figure eight around a pair of trees. The rich soil allowed for all sorts of flora to grow, from saltwort to swamp rose and spider lily, but none of it was enough to distract her. What if she’d gotten the wrong place? What if she had misremembered the time or date? What if someone had secretly followed her? What if he just didn’t show up? Every possible mishap muddled her mind, keeping her from enjoying an otherwise perfect sunrise.

The sky was a beautiful canvas of yellows, pinks and blues blending seamlessly in a way only nature could manage, the waters burbled and birds were twittering. The world seemed so colorful and inviting… except that Fern was too busy trying to calculate Gaspar’s estimated time of arrival and doubting herself at every step to enjoy it. She was in fact so engrossed in her mental mathematics as she paced that she lost all track of time, and she certainly didn’t notice a long while later when the waters nearby suddenly grew choppy as something began to surface.

By the time she felt the ground shake and turned towards the sound of the thud her brief excitement turned to horror.

That was not Gaspar.

Instead was a croctaur that seemed quite a bit smaller in both height and musculature than Gaspar, its lower half a deep gray instead of Gaspar’s dark green, eyes unmistakably fixed on her.

“Hello, sweetheart.”

Her legs worked faster than her brain as she bolted, running straight towards the nearby mangroves lining the shore.

“C’mon now, darling, you know you can’t outrun me!” He chuckled, in no way quickening his pace as he followed her. She almost wished he would speed up, but she knew all too well why he wouldn’t: he didn’t need to. He could take his sweet time and still have no trouble catching up on those massive legs. He may have been smaller than Gaspar, but he was still much bigger than Fern.

“Be a good girl now, if you come quietly I might just keep you for myself.”

That was exactly the motivation she needed to find a second wind, darting between the tangled roots of a mangrove and throwing herself against the largest inner branch to catch her breath.

“Aww don’t be shy, sweetheart! One more chance, come on out quietly and I’ll be nice and gentle with you.”

“C’mon, where are you?” She whispered to herself, trying to telepathically summon her friend.

“Well? I havent got all day, luv!”

Staying as close within the tangle as she could she slowly maneuvered away from the croctaur, trying to figure out some kind of exit as ste felt him continue his approach. As his shadow fell over her she realized he was, by his own scale, less than an arm’s length away.”

“Don’t make me come get you, I don’t like hurting my merchandise.”

Chills wracked her spine as she tried to avoid his gaze and silently work her way through the root system, but she couldn’t hold back a tiny gasp as she heard the smash and felt the spray of splinters behind her.

“Where are you?” He asking, his voice mockingly sing-song.

Caution was quickly abandoned as she heard more breaking roots, bits of mangrove flying as he tore it apart in search of her. She raced to find any possible hiding place deep within the mangled network of roots, going all the way to where they were fully submerged in the river and wading in until the waters reached her thighs. She briefly wondered if perhaps she could swim away if there were some route through the roots, but all hopes were dashed as the shadow turned to darkness and the branches above her shattered.

She stumbled into the water with a cry, coughing and gasping for breath as she floundered back to the surface.

“There you are.”

It was no less than a miracle she managed to dodge his hand as she threw herself back underwater and darted forward, this time going towards the outer edge of the mangrove feeding into the river where the waters were deeper. At least she might be able to dive deep enough underwater to avoid capture…

“Stop struggling!”

She swam as fast as she could towards the dappled light ahead, but just as she surfaced for breath her view was engulfed by teeth tearing away the roots just in front of her.

How?! The croctaur had been above her seconds ago! How could it suddenly be biting through the side roots?! Unless…

“Gaspar?!”

She just managed to catch a glimpse of a yellow eye and a blur of grey skin before the overhead roots burst into a shower of splinters. She dove back below the surface but this time she was caught in a net of fingers and yanked back into the blinding sunlight.

“Gotcha, sweetheart!”

The fingers quickly tightened around her, holding her flush against a giant chest and unable to see what was happening as a great flood of water crashed as something surfaced, and a far more familiar voice growled at the croctaur holding her.

“Let her go.”

“Hey, I had her first!”

“Let. Her. Go.”

“Sod off, she’s mine! Find your own human!”

A short growl, something like an attack sound, a scream of pain, and a squeeze so tight she screamed herself. In her periphery she could’ve sworn she saw a tiny spray of red.

“Let. Her. Go.”

Straining grunts, then an almost defiant huff.

“You want her? Fine, go fetch!”

Suddenly she was being tossed directly back into the river. She heard the start of a growl just before plunging back into the water, too fast to realize what was happening until she was already below the surface. Her arms waved frantically trying to swim upwards, but the world went dark once more as she was suddenly scooped up by something soft and warm cutting through the cold water.

Everything happened at once, too fast to process as she found herself being dragged- no, sucked further under the water, as if she’d been caught in a riptide. Suddenly the water seemed to drain as she was squeezed further downward, a constant compression that was terrifying and yet somehow not actually painful, and from what she could feel the walls were weirdly flexible… almost soft… and warm…

Only then did it click: she had been swallowed.

The world around her tightened and twisted from above, and she felt like icing in a piping bag as she was kneaded further and further down his throat. It felt agonizingly slow, as if the fleshy tube was leisurely sliding her down despite the constant constriction. Her chest ached, lungs burning and heart pounding from the combined sensory nightmare and relative lack of oxygen.

By the time the tube relaxed to release her she felt ready to faint, but her body forced her to cough and hyperventilate as it finally found air in what felt like an open chamber.

His stomach.

No sooner had she landed when the room rippled, gravity shifting as he seemed to be lowering his body… underwater?

Her mind was still muddled as she struggled to breathe, but somewhere she retained just enough cognizance to realize he must have been trying to get her away from the other croctaur. She didn’t feel right at all, but on some level at least she knew she was safe.

The slimy flesh surrounding her suddenly closed in on her, not tightly but enough to give her a small squeeze. She was startled at first, instinctively squirming away despite having nowhere to go, but as the gentle pressure lingered she realized he was merely holding her in place. There was no stinging or burning, no churning or grinding of the stomach walls. It was as if he’d simply flexed his abdominal muscles for whatever reason… maybe reassurance?

She wriggled a little into a more comfortable position and pressed outward with her hand against the wall, softly running her fingertips along the almost velvety lining. She wasn’t certain if he could reply underwater, or if he could even hear her from inside him, but she couldn’t help calling out for some kind of response.

“Gaspar?”

/|_/|_/|_

Gaspar slowly clenched his abs, gently squeezing her in reply. He couldn’t speak to her as he traversed the riverbed, but he hoped it would be enough for now.

“So you can hear me?”

He briefly squeezed again.

“That’s good… I can’t believe you swallowed me!” She flopped against his inner walls, feeling smaller as she seemed to curl into herself.

He clenched softly, apologetically. He could only imagine how frightening it must have been, but he hadn’t had any chance to forewarn her. That fool of a croctaur hadn’t given him a choice; when he’d thrown Fern into the river she’d plunged far too deep for a human to surface fast enough. Not only had he nearly drowned her, but he seemed a little too persistent and liable to come after her again… no, diving underwater to whisk her away was the best option, even if it had scared her.

“I know, you were just protecting me from that other croctaur… but you almost gave me a heart attack!”

He gave her another longer, soft squeeze.

“I know, I understand,” She sighed, “I’m sorry, you must think I’m such a coward… at least try to warn me next time, please?”

He replied with a long, slightly tighter squeeze. She seemed anxious, initially trying to make herself even smaller, but when he didn’t release her she seemed to realize he was trying to comfort her and relaxed a little. Feeling her so panicked and fearful left an odd ache in his chest. Gaspar had heard of humans using weighted objects to relieve anxiety, and the gentle pressure seemed to be the next best thing. He slowly felt her uncurl, straightening her legs as she leaned back and carefully shifted into a more comfortable position.

“Thank you… again… you really are a life saver.” She worked her fingers in between the folds of his belly and started to rub.

The walls of his stomach smoothed as they instantly relaxed at her touch. He hadn’t actually expected belly rubs- or, at the very least, he didn’t expect any this soon. It was such a rare sensation, sweet and soothing and stopping him in his tracks to take a moment to savor it.

“Oh you really like that, huh?”

However it was she’d noticed, there was no point in trying to deny it. Not that he could reply anyway.

She continued awhile longer, tenderly massaging his tummy with both hands. It was a good thing he was able to hold his breath for so long, else he wouldn’t have been able to let himself stop and enjoy as he stood on the riverbed. He briefly let himself sink into the silt as his eyes fell shut, feeling warm and relaxed and almost drowsy with delight.

“Did you already surface?” She paused her rubs to ask, and he quickly resumed crossing the river.

“Oh… I was distracting you, wasn’t I?” She chuckled, softly patting the muscle surrounding her. “I’m sorry.”

He softly clenched his abs again to briefly squeeze her.

“At least now I know exactly how to repay you for the rescue.”

He gave her another small squish, inadvertently quickening his pace.

“Did you just speed up?”

Very briefly he flexed his abs, just enough to gently jostle her.

“I’m not getting out of here anytime soon, am I?”

He gave her a long squeeze in reply.

“Guess I’d better get comfy, then,” She sighed and moved towards the nearest wall, settling in between the folds.

Fern’s movements felt so different than other humans; instead of struggling to escape or panicked thrashing, each shift was made with careful intent as she made herself comfortable and cuddled his belly. Feeling her small weight softly curl up inside him was so… calming…

“Will you let me know when you surface?”

He squeezed again and started swimming upwards as he neared the opposite side of the river. He wouldn’t fully surface yet, not until they were far enough downstream to be comfortably out of view amidst the trees, but he figured if she could feel the upward motion it would help reassure her. As he continued his slow strokes his plan seemed to be successful; not only did she feel more relaxed but he heard a tiny yawn from his passenger.

“Sorry, I didn’t really sleep last night, and this is weirdly kind of… cozy? When you’re swimming it kind of rocks your stomach like a hammock.”

He smiled and gave her a gentle squeeze. She’d had quite a morning, especially coming off a sleepless night, and he could imagine the crash in energy now that the adrenaline had worn off. If anything he was glad she felt safe enough to let herself calm down to the point of crashing. He certainly wasn’t going to stop her from napping, and if she did doze off it would be rude to wake her. She could sleep as long as she liked, and he could keep her in his belly even longer.

“Don’t worry, I won’t fall asleep,” She yawned again, giving him a small rub. “It’s just the dark and heat.”

Little did she know that was the least of his worries. If anything he would have encouraged it.

She was silent for a while as he swam to the other side, so still and quiet he almost hoped she had fallen asleep. He took his time crossing, swimming slowly and carefully and breaching the surface as softly as he could. Instead of shaking off the water he used his hands to brush off as much as he could and headed towards a nearby clearing to bask in the morning sun.

“Are we there yet?”

“I only just surfaced,” He replied, “Still tired?”

“Just a little,” She yawned with a light rub. “Where are we going?”

“Right now I’m going to warm up and dry off in the sun after that swim.”

“Sorry…”

“Don’t be. Once I’m dry I’ll take you home, I’m sure you’ll want to clean up and change.”

“Whose home?”

“My home.”

“Your home?”

“That’s right, I’m taking you home with me,” He teased, softly clenching his abs.

“Is this a tummy hug?” She gently squeezed a fold of his stomach.

“You could call it that,” He chuckled, “I thought you liked hugs.”

“I do! I just never knew you could hug someone with your stomach,”She patted his belly in reply. “I wouldn’t mind some real snuggles when I get out…”

“I think I can handle that,” He smiled, “but don’t be so hasty. I still need some time in the sun first before I let you out.”

“I know, I know, it’s just… I could really use a hug after this morning.”

He softly squeezed her again. “You’ll get a proper hug later, I promise.”

“Thank you,” She yawned again, “Sorry, I guess I am still a little sleepy.”

“Why don’t you close your eyes while I’m basking?” He settled on an especially sunny spot and slowly laid down on his side, careful to ensure his own weight wouldn’t squish his stomach or his precious passenger inside.

“I might be tempted, but first I have a promise to keep.”

Tiny fingers suddenly flew across the folds and ridges of his belly, kneading and massaging his inner walls. His eyelids fluttered shut as he laid a hand on his middle, feeling as if his whole body was melting with pure bliss.

“You’re so cute when you’re happy,” She giggled, working her hands deep into the muscle.

“Me, cute?”

“Yes, you, you’re very cute,” She chuckled.

“You’re calling a croctaur cute?”

“Why not? Hasn’t anyone ever told you?”

“Certainly not to my face,” He chuckled, “Isn’t there some saying humans have against that?”

“What saying?”

“Never smile at a crocodile?”

“That’s just a nursery rhyme.”

“Clearly not one you listened to.”

“I’m glad I didn’t, or we might not have been friends.”

He smiled softly and patted his stomach. “And you tried to say you weren’t adorable.”

“I’m not!”

“You are without doubt the cutest human I’ve ever seen.”

“You just haven’t seen enough humans!” She replied, audibly flustered as she started moving more, feeling around the grooves of his belly. As she reached a particularly sensitive spot he sighed with pleasure, and to his surprise she seemed to notice and lingered there.

“You’re so cute… I could just eat you up.”

“You- that- I-!”

“Can’t argue with that,” He smirked, “Besides, now you’ve had two croctaurs fight over you, isn’t that proof enough?”

“You’re just being sweet to me,” She huffed, crawling around again.

“Was the other guy trying to snatch you being sweet too?”

“Of course not, but you really are sweet.”

“You’re sweeter.” She stopped as he sighed again, and he realized she was listening for audio cues from him to find his favorite spots for rubs.

“You saved my life twice already!”

“I’ve also tasted you before.”

“I- why are you like this?!”

He chuckled softly, gently squeezing her once more, “It is true. Besides, it’s not often I have someone to tease and cuddle.” Admittedly he wasn’t particularly touchy or affectionate with most, but she was so snuggly and cute it was hard not to let a bit of it rub off on him.

“Well… if teasing is the price of cuddles, I’m happy to pay.”

“You can’t just say that and not expect me to call you a cutie.”

“I’m not!” The intensity of her rubs suddenly deepened at a particularly pleasant spot, and he dissolved into a happy hum. “See? You’re cute!”

“You’re cuter,” He almost growled, trying not to let his own pleasure distract him. “You’re only proving my point with all the rubs.”

“I owe you, remember? Plus I promised, and even if I hadn’t I wanted a way to repay your kindness.”

He heaved a sigh, ostensibly out of annoyance but in reality he was very much wrapped up in enjoying the rubs. She returned to a favorite spot from earlier and weaved her fingers between folds as she massaged, drawing an even deeper sigh.

“I’ll have to try to draw a map for myself next time, so I can mark all your sweet spots.”

“You mean you want more tummy time?”

“I mean, I sort of assumed you would.”

“Oh I would, but I didn’t expect you to volunteer,” He chuckled, “I certainly wouldn’t say no to more rubs.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t,” She massaged a little deeper.

“I wouldn’t mind if you took a little belly nap either.”

“A mouth nap wasn’t enough? You want me to nap in here too?!”

“Just a suggestion,” He chuckled, “I know you were fighting sleep before, and you did say you were comfy curled up in my belly.”

“Wouldn’t you be bored just keeping me in your stomach?”

“Not at all. Just holding you feels nice, keeping you warm and safe.”

“Are you sure you’re not just saying that because you’re trying to look after me?”

“I’m sure. Even if you weren’t in need of a nap, you’re always welcome to rest inside me, mouth or belly.” He softly squeezed her again for emphasis, and she immediately rewarded him with a gentle rub.

“How is that somehow both the scariest and sweetest thing you’ve said?”

“You aren’t actually scared, are you?”

“Not now, but if I didn’t know you that offer would be terrifying.”

“Lucky for you I only make that offer to cute little friends.”

A flustered squeak was her sole reply this time, aside from a stronger rub at one of his sweet spots. He could feel she was moving slower now though, and the rubs were generally softer.

“Feeling sleepy again?”

“I’m trying to keep myself busy so I don’t.”

“You can relax now, I think that was more than adequate repayment,” He chuckled.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure. While that was delightful I think you’ve spoiled me enough for one day.”

“I don’t mind spoiling you,” She squeezed a fold with a tiny rub.

“Any more and I might develop an addiction,” He chuckled, “Besides, there’s always next time. I think you could use a belly nap.”

“You know, for someone who doesn’t sleep you sure seem to like nap time.”

“We may not sleep like humans, but we still need to rest and conserve our energy when we’re not hunting, so in a way we do need nap time.”

“I guess that’s a fair point.”

“Humans who don’t sleep all night also need nap time, especially when they spent the morning getting chased by a croctaur.”

“Alright, I get the message!” She leaned back and turned onto her side, lightly nuzzling a fold with her cheek as she moved one hand under it and rested her head atop it like a pillow. Very gently he squeezed her, and she softly ran her fingers along the fold she was lying on.

“There you go, now we can both rest for a bit.”

“How long were you planning to bask?”

“Long enough to dry off, and long enough for you to get some sleep.”

“I can’t believe I’ve only seen you twice and both times you not only had to save me from immediate danger but wound up forcing me to nap like this…”

“I see no issue with that,” He smiled, “It would be nice to see you when you’re not stressed out and hyped up on adrenaline next time though.”

“Maybe the third time will be the charm…”

“Next time I’ll be earlier so nothing has a chance to spot you before me.”

“It was my own fault, I was so nervous I got here way too early and I didn’t think any other croctaurs would be around.”

“You were nervous about seeing me?”

“Well yeah, this was supposed to be a nice social visit and my first time really getting to know you, I even brought- my bag!” Only now did she realize it was gone, probably lost during the chase.

“Your bag?”

“I must have lost it by that mangrove thanks to that stupid other croctaur,” She groaned, “I had a little gift for you, but it’s probably ruined now.”

“I’ll look for your bag later, but you really didn’t have to give me anything.”

“It wasn’t anything special. I made pavlovas, it was the one sweet treat I figured would be safe for you since it’s mostly eggs.”

“That was thoughtful of you… but I think I’m fine without a second sweet treat.”

“I-!”She made a tiny noise of flustering.

“Besides, the rubs were a gift all their own.”

“Still, I spent so much time making enough for what’s probably just one bite for you and you didn’t even get to taste them!”

“Maybe another time. I’m sure they were delicious, but right now this sweet treat needs a tummy nap.”

He couldn’t help a soft laugh at the high pitched, flustered sounds that followed.

“C’mon, just close your eyes. You’re safe with me, remember?”

“I know,” She yawned, “You’re still taking me to your place once you’re warm and dry, right?”

“Of course.”

“Just remember you promised me a real hug later.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” He chuckled, “You’ll get your hug after you get some sleep.”

“Fine, I’ll try,” She sighed, softly rubbing a fold again, “At least I can cuddle you like this.”