Farr’vye
But there was a problem.
Desire was an understatement. I wanted to pin the tiny human to the ground and ravish him until his beautiful voice grew hoarse from screaming in pleasure.
I controlled myself. Barely. Each exhaled caress became a battle to keep my cock contained. On the outside, I managed to keep up appearances. The scales between my thighs were smooth and chaste. But inside, my arousal was close to bursting. My cock was a trapped beast raging against its confines.
I chuckled. His silly comment was a good distraction from my lust.
“You are a weak little human,” I said fondly. “My feeler mane weighs more than you.”
“Rub it in, why don’t you,” he muttered, annoyed but lighthearted.
“I enjoy your small size. You are easier to protect, and I like holding you this way.”
That was an understatement. Best not to elaborate, though, lest I lose control.
“Y-you do?” he squeaked.
The loud pitch of his voice made his breath exhale harder, and I nearly shivered at the contact.
“Yes,” I said, quieter than intended. “You are…”
Words escaped me. Another fascinating side-effect of Assistant 23’s presence.
Then, to my shock, he said, “I’m like the Ripgrass. Is that it?”
I stopped walking and stared down at the back of his head. Could he feel the rapid beat of my heart? Could he feel the throbbing aura of my desire looming over him?
“You were not frightened by my tale?” I asked, still softly.
Assistant 23 squirmed. “No.”
“But you ran away.”
“I didn’t run. I…” A frustrated sound slipped out of him. “I had to go. Deal with something. Privately.”
At first, I did not understand. But I was not naive. I found him collapsed on the ground in a prone position. His body was warm, practically steaming when I picked him up.
“Ah,” I said, unable to stop a grin from forming. “Then, the wet spot on your suit—”
“You saw that and didn’t say anything?” he squealed. Groaning, he buried his face deeper into my chest as if it would help him disappear. “This is so embarrassing…”
My nostrils flared as I took a deep, calming breath. He was oblivious to the myriad ways in which he affected me.
“You may be ashamed over masturbation, but Maeleons have no such feelings,” I reminded him.
“That’s not it,” he mumbled. “It’s the fact that I touched myself after you confessed to… that.”
I laughed as understanding washed over me. At the same time, my arousal raged harder. If I had not been constricted by laughter, my cock would have sprung free against my will.
“What’s funny?” Assistant 23 demanded, his voice muffled against my scales.
“Ah. You are sweeter than any fruit, little human. Do not be ashamed over what you did.” Since my hands were full of him, I stroked the back of his head with my tentacle.
He made a faint sound of pleasure. Then I brought my snout close to his covered ear and purred, “It was not the accidental killing, but my obsession that affected you. Is that true?”
Assistant 23 began to tremble, but I sensed no fear. Then he nodded.
Arousal rolled through me in a wave. I bit down on my tongue. The sharp rush of pain was the only thing stopping me from claiming him where I stood. It would have been so easy to lift him into the air, strip away the fabric scraps, and plunge into him.
I forced myself not to indulge.
“Sorry,” Assistant 23 murmured. “I’m so fucking weird.”
“I am also fucking weird,” I said, borrowing his curse word.
The human laughed softly. For a moment, he paused as though he were going to tilt his head up toward me and expose his smile. But he did not.
Instead, he said, “Thanks, Farr’vye. For being so understanding.”
“Anything for you.”
He let out a muted sound that went straight to my groin, but I managed to control my urges. Assistant 23 had already opened up to me more than I expected. I could wait a bit longer.
Once we reached the village, I led Kookee back into its pen. We were right on time—Paz and Kur’tok, holding Chey’ish, were visibly fretting by the wooden stakes.
Paz gasped. “KOOKEE!”
He ran toward his pet, throwing himself into its fur. I noticed that Paz was smaller than the other two humans, Levi and Jaeyoung, but still had more meat on his bones than Assistant 23. I tightened my grip on the human in my arms.
Patience.
Kur’tok ran toward us while carrying his youngling. My red sibling glanced at his pet, then back at me. “Farr’vye… Did you find Kookee?”
I was not surprised by the confusion in his voice. Although he had not yet been born when I committed my wrongdoings, he had no doubt heard the story from others. Killing a creature for any purpose other than self-defense meant instant notoriety in our society.
Before meeting Paz, Kur’tok was a meat-eating pariah. He and I were not so different. But while he was manipulated into his actions, I was not. I pursued them out of my own curiosity.
“Yes. Assistant 23 and I found Kookee together,” I explained. “We were forced to stay the night outside the village, but Kookee fared just fine.”
Kur’tok’s feelers lifted in gratitude. “I see. Thank you.”
My comment did not elude Paz. He grinned, eyeing Assistant 23 in my arms.
“You were forced to stay the night outside together, huh? Any reason why?” Paz teased.
Assistant 23 did not turn to face Paz as he stiffly replied, “No.”
“Aw, c’mon. You can tell me.”
“N-no, thanks.”
Paz pouted. “Please?”
As Paz continued to tease him, I rested my tentacle on Assistant 23’s back. A reminder of my presence—and my silent encouragement to assert his boundaries with others.
Assistant 23 huffed against my chest. “No, Paz. It’s private.”
Paz blinked, then smiled. “I get it. My bad for bugging you.”
“Thanks… Um, by the way. Do you know if Linn’ar has more of those fluffy coverall things?”
“Yeah, he has a bunch! Why, do you want one?”
“If it’s not too much trouble…”
“Not at all,” Paz agreed. “Kur’tok and Chey’ish were gonna brush Kookee together, so I don’t mind swinging by Jae’s place.”
I smiled at the perky human. “Paz. It would be wonderful if you could leave the covering outside Assistant 23’s hut later today. We will be inside, so a knock will suffice.”
Paz wore a knowing grin but said nothing. “Sure. See you later.”
When he bounded away, I felt Assistant 23 relax in my grip. He clearly enjoyed the other human’s company, but I suspected he found him a bit much. Personally, I preferred Assistant 23’s subdued yet frantic energy. A nervous pet to tame.
“By the way, did you get in a fight?” Kur’tok asked gruffly, glancing at the crisscrossed markings all over my body.
“Nothing that exciting.” I smiled. “I fell into the thorn bushes.”
“You fell,” Kur’tok repeated.
“Yes.”
He snorted yet sounded amused. “Okay.”
I carried Assistant 23 back to his hut. When we were alone and the door was shut behind us, he let out a huge breath. The warmth of it tingled across my scales.
“Hey, Farr’vye? Why’d you lie to Kur’tok?” Assistant 23 asked.
“Because I felt like it.” I smiled serenely. “I am not a very good Maeleon, am I?”
He laughed. “No. But I’m not good at being a human, either.”
Warmth blossomed in my chest, and it was not because of Assistant 23’s body heat. He was trying to connect with me. A pair of oddballs, the two of us.
“I will not make a habit of lying,” I clarified. “But you are the only one I feel obligated to be fully honest with.”
His shoulders tightened as if trying to shrink in on himself. When he spoke, his voice came out as a mewl. “I just don’t understand. Why me?”
“Why not you?”
“Because I’m awkward, and weird, and kind of a bitch sometimes, and…”
My tail flowed contentedly behind me. “What else?”
“And I don’t have anything to offer, except a linguistics degree and—okay, I’m pretty decent at hacking, I did wipe Eukaria off the literal map—”
“Yes, I have heard this from others,” I interrupted. “That was a great kindness you did for us.”
Assistant 23 paused. “Kindness?” He was quiet. “I never thought of it like that before. Originally, I did it so there wouldn’t be another Unit 44 situation…”
The name was vaguely familiar, though I did not know the details. But the way Assistant 23’s voice darkened made me hesitate to push him for an explanation.
“And anyway, I don’t have many good qualities, so it makes no sense for somebody to like me this much!” he finished blurting out.
“That is your flawed opinion,” I said. “I think otherwise. And my opinion is correct.”
A beat of silence hung in the air before the human laughed again, wild and breathless. When he was done, he shook his head against my scales.
“Farr’vye. Can you put me down, please?”
I placed his feet gingerly on the ground without meeting his gaze. It took an active effort not to rake my hungry eyes over him.
“You said you were totally honest with me, right?” Assistant 23 asked.
“Yes. I will not lie to you.”
He let out a shaky breath. “In that case, I should be honest with you, too.”
The human slowly turned his back to me, then reached for his face. A second later, a sharp cracking sound split the air, followed by Assistant 23’s heavy breathing.
My heart rate spiked. Had he hurt himself?
I could not stop myself from glancing at him. His back was still turned to me, but I saw the dark shards of his face shield cupped in his gloved palms. He crouched down in the corner and placed them in a pile on the ground. Then, with uneasy hands, he pulled back his hood to reveal his head.
Finally, Assistant 23 turned to face me, and I saw him for the very first time.
Skin pale as the moons, dotted with flecks like stars.
A messy fringe of reddish-orange hair fell across his forehead.
Eyes greener than any grass.
Cute pink ears, and a long, speckled nose.
He was more beautiful than I had imagined.
And I could not control my arousal any longer.