Chapter 5 Foot-In-Mouth Syndrome
FOOT-IN-MOUTH SYNDROME
Mathlin squawked and slammed the restroom door shut, horrified. “Oh gods, he heard.”
Elsewhere in the building, Hamilton cackled.
“Mathlin,” Titan said from the office, calm as ever. “Take some time to... process your embarrassment. After that, I’ll need your help again.”
Mathlin put his panicking on hold. “Help with what?”
“Healing.”
“Oh! That’s right, you’re hurt.” And suddenly Mathlin felt bad, because he had been slacking off on the job. He smacked his cheeks twice, then straightened his shoulders and opened the door. “We’ll just conveniently forget that I was playing with your—”
For once, he managed to shove his hands over his mouth before the truly incriminating words fell out.
Titan raised an eyebrow. “Played with my...?”
“Nothing! Nothing I shouldn’t be playing with!” Mathlin blushed and hurried into the office, wishing he could shift and tuck himself into a tiny corner. But he was on the job, and he was being responsible!
He chewed on his knuckles instead.
Titan watched him for a moment. “I have two injuries—my right bicep muscles have been severed, and my left forearm has two broken bones. Ideally, I’d like both to heal properly, ASAP.
That’s asking for a lot, though. So... focus on whichever will heal fastest. I need to get the bakery up and running again. ”
“Okay.” Mathlin gingerly pressed his fingers against Titan’s left hand, following the line of his cast. When he reached in with his magic, he felt the break in Titan’s radius and ulna. Both were clean breaks. His arm was set well, so it just needed time.
When he probed Titan’s bicep, he winced.
The muscles had been stitched together, but the healer didn’t have the kind of insight Mathlin did—the tissues didn’t line up perfectly.
“This needs a bit of rearranging. Do you mind if I reopen the wound to realign the muscle? It’ll help you heal better than what you have right now. ”
“Go ahead. Do what you have to.”
Titan helped Mathlin locate the first aid kit.
Mathlin set up a clean area on Titan’s desk, then carefully undid the sutures on Titan’s arm.
He sliced into the healing muscle with a scalpel and removed the bits of scar tissue that had started to form.
Slowly, he pushed healing energy into Titan’s bicep, reconnecting the muscle strands the way they had been originally.
It took a lot out of him. Mathlin’s energy began to flag; he had to stitch everything back up and rewrap Titan’s wound to keep it clean.
“More tomorrow,” Mathlin slurred, and slumped forward.
He woke up half-sprawled on something warm and solid. Mathlin nuzzled into that comforting warmth, purring.
“Before you do that, you might want to know what you’re sleeping on,” a familiar voice rumbled.
Mathlin twitched and snapped his eyes open. “My bed is sentient!”
“Thanks, I guess?” It was a man. An alpha.
Titan of the girthy thighs and huge cock.
“You!” Mathlin looked down and found a dark spot on Titan’s shirt, right over his pecs. “Was I drooling?”
“Yes.”
Mathlin cringed. “How did I even get here? I was... I was fixing your arm.”
They were still in Titan’s office, but on a couch in the corner that Mathlin hadn’t noticed earlier.
“You fainted.” Titan winced. “You fell on me, and I managed to catch you with my leg before you hit the floor. Hamilton carried you over here.”
“And you volunteered to be my... pillow?”
Titan shrugged. “Least I could do. You seemed to enjoy it.”
“Of course I did. You have very... big... pillows,” Mathlin mumbled, his face burning. Then he looked further down, and realized that his hand was wrapped around Titan’s bulge.
He squawked, releasing it immediately. “Sorry! I don’t know what my hand was thinking!”
“Rock climbing, possibly.” Titan grinned. “You grabbed it in your sleep and didn’t let go.”
Mathlin groaned. “I swear I don’t hold my own cock when I sleep. Maybe it’s too small.”
Titan coughed lightly. “It’s fine. It’s not the first time you’ve touched it.”
“I haven’t touched it enough,” Mathlin’s terrible traitor mouth said. He groaned in horror, thumping his face against Titan’s chest. Titan grunted. “You need to ignore me. Or pretend I said nothing.”
“Why would I? You’re bringing light to what’s possibly one of the worst times of my life.”
“You don’t act like it’s the worst time of your life.”
The alpha’s smile dimmed. “That’s because you hadn’t seen me before this.
I was a mess right after I’d broken my arm.
The doctors said my bicep would take a year to heal.
And the broken bones would take somewhere between three to eight weeks.
I can’t shut my businesses down for that long.
I don’t even know what to do with myself, with both my arms out of commission.
It was so bad that Hamilton went out on my behalf to find a helper. ”
And now that lost, desolate look was back in Titan’s eyes.
Crap, I caused that. Mathlin’s heart sank. “Sorry!”
“What do you have to be sorry for?”
“I reminded you of bad things.”
Titan huffed. “It’s okay. There are worse things.”
“Nope! We are not thinking about worse things,” Mathlin blurted. “Would you like a hug?”
Oops. He hadn’t meant those words to fall out, either.
Titan’s mouth twitched. “Sure. I can’t hug you back, though.”
In an incredible display of core strength, Titan sat up without using either of his hands. Mathlin climbed onto the alpha’s lap, carefully slipping his arms around Titan’s chest, careful not to jostle his injuries.
“Mmm.” Titan leaned in, pressing his solid chest against Mathlin’s front. Then he tucked his nose into Mathlin’s hair and sniffed. “You smell good.”
Mathlin blushed. “Uh, you’re built like a brick wall? But with pillows on top of the bricks?” Immediately after, he cringed. “Sorry!”
Titan grinned again. “Don’t be. I’m curious what else you think of me.”
“You have a big cock?” Mathlin froze and whimpered, burying his face in his hands. “Just kill me already.”
“Unfortunately, I’m keeping you around.” Titan laughed. “You’ve already said I’m big. That’s not new.”
“I don’t want you to think that’s the first thing that comes to my mind!” Mathlin cried.
“But it is, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Mathlin admitted, ashamed.
“What’s the second thing you think about me?”
“That your balls are big?” Mathlin rocked himself back and forth, his horror growing. “You will never respect me after this.”
Titan coughed. “Who said that?”
“Me! On behalf of you!”
The alpha rolled his eyes. “Don’t put words into my mouth, sweetheart.”
Then he froze, and Mathlin was so thankful he wasn’t the only one saying weird stuff.
“Well, what can I put in your mouth, then?” Mathlin asked, only to cringe again. “I didn’t just say that to my boss.”
Titan grinned. “Let’s follow that thought for a second. What would you put in my mouth?”
“My cock.” Mathlin stiffened. “No! I meant my cockatoo! I have a cockatoo, he’s pink and he’s round at the head, and he sings very loud!”
The alpha looked amused. “You know I can tell when you lie, right? Your heart skips.”
Mathlin wanted to burrow under the floorboards. “I don’t remember all the things I’ve said to you.”
“Don’t worry. Between your words and your heart, I’ve figured out the truth, anyway.”
“This is terrible. It’s the worst.”
“Don’t forget, you were in the middle of hugging me. And describing your... cockatoo. Very pink and round at the head.”
Mathlin buried his face in Titan’s shoulder. “My dignity is gone.”
“Was it ever there?” Titan’s chest quivered; he was laughing again. “I kid. Don’t stop, Mathlin. You’re amazing.”
Mathlin focused on the hug so at least he was doing something right.
“Mmm.” Titan rubbed his jaw against the side of Mathlin’s head. “You can hug me tighter, if you’d like. I don’t break easily.”
Mathlin wrinkled his nose. “You say that, but you literally have two big injuries.”
He tightened his arms around Titan, though. It felt good, pressed snug against the alpha. If they knew each other better, maybe Titan would even let Mathlin shift into his other shape, and curl up on his chest. That way, Mathlin wouldn’t drool all over him.
“I like this,” Titan murmured.
“We can have more hugs if you want.” Something tickled the back of Mathlin’s mind. “Wait. I said I was going to help you find a good omega.”
Titan blinked. “Oh.”
Was it Mathlin, or did the alpha sound disappointed?
Maybe Mathlin was imagining things. “I’ll help you take a good dick pic the next time. We can use that to attract omegas like flies to honey.”
“Wouldn’t they want to see my face?”
Mathlin squinted at Titan’s face. “Your face should be a surprise.”
Titan snorted. “So they should be attracted to my cock first?”
Mathlin nodded. “If they’re going to sit on your cock for the rest of their lives, then it’s extremely important.”
“Not my shining personality?”
“I don’t know how to condense a personality into a profile picture,” Mathlin admitted. “Maybe if you squeezed six things on there. Like a wolf eating a donut while jumping through a ring of fire, except the wolf is also wearing a chef’s hat, and he has a huge eggplant strapped to his belly.”
Titan was laughing again, silently, his entire body shaking. “You forgot the milking business. And I also have a pretty popular social media channel.”
“You do?” Mathlin pulled away to look Titan in the eye. “What is it?”
The alpha almost seemed self-conscious when he said, “Look up HeHowlsHeBakes.”
Mathlin glanced around for his phone.
“You can use mine.” Titan told Mathlin how to unlock it.
Mathlin held the phone up to Titan’s face. Then he opened the video app, carefully navigating to Titan’s channel. “Wow, you’re naked in them.”
“Topless,” Titan said dryly. “I’m not allowed to post videos of me fully nude.”
“You can on OnlyFangs. You mean you haven’t done that?”
Titan lifted one shoulder. “I was going to try it next, if the milking business didn’t take off.
But to tell you the truth, I’m growing a little tired of all the comments telling me how hot I am.
No one appreciates the technical aspects of my videos, like the snappy editing and great lighting. But hey, it brings in cash, I guess.”
He sounded so weary that Mathlin leaned into him. “Let me watch a video or two.”
One of the thumbnails showed Titan’s hand cupping some glistening cherries, right in front of his bare abs.
Mathlin played that video and watched in stunned silence as Titan’s back muscles flexed in the low light.
In the video, Titan whisked flour into some yeasty water and kneaded it, his powerful shoulders rolling.
It was followed by several close-ups of Titan’s fingers pushing into the soft dough, just like how he might push them into Mathlin.
Mathlin bit his lip, transfixed by Titan’s large hands smoothing oil all over the dough. Everything looked so slippery and seductive. There was even a close-up of Titan squeezing the popped cherries so their holes gaped open.
“Wow,” he whispered. “I didn’t know you made food porn videos.”
Titan’s smile was lopsided. “I do have a lot of omegas in the comments volunteering to be my helper.”
“And you haven’t picked someone from there?”
Titan shrugged. “They don’t know me. They only know me through my videos—what they think I’m like. But they don’t know that I’ve been tweaking these videos; my goal was to make them appeal to as many people as possible. They were created to sell a fantasy. And my buns.”
Mathlin snickered. “Are you pimping out your buns?”
“I’ve sold some with the help of these videos, yes.” Titan grinned. “But you know more about me from the few hours you’ve spent here, than my viewers do from the tens of videos I’ve posted. I don’t talk in them.”
“Huh. So what you’re saying is, you need to meet an omega in person. Someone who doesn’t know who you are. And you’ll show them your dick pics first.”
Titan blinked. “Maybe,” he said slowly. “I’ve been thinking. Right now, with my arms out of service, what I can focus on is the cream production. With you around, my output doubles. I can sell more of that.”
Mathlin’s heart leaped. “That’s good. Your cock feels very nice in my hands.”
Then he groaned, thumping his head against Titan’s shoulder.
“I appreciate you sharing that,” Titan said with a roguish smile. “It would be terrible if you hated the feeling of my cock in your hands.”
Mathlin grew warm inside. As long as he didn’t tell Titan just how much he liked that feeling...
“It made me come,” Mathlin blurted.
Why oh why is my mouth so terrible?!
He winced, hunching to hide his face. “Pretend I didn’t say that too!”
“I heard you come,” Titan said quietly. “That’s hard to forget.”
Mathlin’s entire head burned.
Before he could put his foot back into his mouth, a squawk came from elsewhere in the building.
“My hair is on fire,” Hamilton cried.