Chapter 11
DADDY
I was relieved Twink didn’t hate me for abducting him. If anything, my misunderstanding seemed to have brought us closer together.
“So what have you been up to this week?” he asked me in his familiar, friendly way after handing the mocha to his customer.
“Fixing the Kaylog and listening to conversations in the park.”
“You do a lot of that. Is it just to pick up our language and customs?”
“More than that. It helps me see how humans spend their days. The little lies they tell friends to get out of plans they wish they hadn’t made.
How they obsess over the many ways to interpret the different signals your species give to one another on a variety of topics; if one of a parental unit is upset with them; if a potential mate is interested. ”
He chuckled. “Those last ones I really get. And don’t even get me started on my mother.”
“Furker mothers have an instinct to eat their young once they’ve breached the egg sac, so I can understand tensions around the subject of mothers.”
He started to laugh, but then his expression turned serious. “Wait. Did your mother really try to eat you?”
“It’s an important task in ensuring that Furkers can quickly adapt to new environments.”
He took a breath, as though he’d been holding it. “So she pretends to try to eat you, to make you adapt?”
“Oh, no. If she had caught me, she would have eaten me with my siblings. I was only explaining the evolutionary purpose behind the behavior.”
He gulped. “Well, maybe my mom’s not so bad after all.”
I intuited he wanted to discuss this further, so I went on, “Some other discussions I overheard involved the frustrations that come with housing—rent and mortgage payments. Trying to fit in a vacation within the restrictions of employers. Largely, I’ve heard about the unpleasant experiences humans have with other humans…
occasionally frustrations about their pets. ”
“Sorry you’re getting such a bleak perspective of humans.”
“I don’t feel that way at all. These are the struggles of being alive—some of them, at least. And there have been pleasant things I’ve had the privilege of hearing about.”
“For instance?”
“The courting rituals—dating and hooking up.”
I had encountered similar rituals among other cultures, and I definitely wanted to date Twink before hooking up with him.
Perhaps it was just part of my nature. Of course, a Furker would be more interested in bonding with a potential mate, and I considered that Twink likely wouldn’t be interested in this after what happened, though our interactions, the way he looked at me, and the pheromones he gave off suggested not only had nothing changed, but it had intensified.
“And what did you find out about those?” he pressed.
“That a date can precede a hookup, or that people can hook up without the date part.” From some of the things he’d told me about mating, I figured he wouldn’t have an issue with fucking and moving on to another mate, but it wasn’t that easy for a Furker.
He assessed my dishes—crumbs on my plate and remnants at the bottom of my shake cup. “Want me to make you another shake?” he asked with that inviting look in his eyes. “Or try one of my cookies?”
I wanted so much more than another shake or treat from him, in a way that rose up quickly within me, activating my Furker impulses, which I resisted.
“No, thank you, Twink.”
I was saying his name to evoke that familiar reaction—his cheeks pinkening—and was satisfied when I saw it was as effective as always. And it only intensified my natural impulses.
He grabbed my dishes, and when I tried to help him, his hand brushed mine, sending a rush through me that was so much more powerful than anything we’d exchanged before.
We locked eyes, and it was as though I was transported into this visceral connection between us, this power he held over me, something my cock wouldn’t give me any peace from. I needed to go, if only to take care of myself before I made a mess in these clothes.
“So as far as dating,” he said, “how does a Furker feel about the idea?”
Despite my insistence on avoiding getting close to him, hope welled within me at the thought of spending more time with him.
I considered how my ex had a similar power over me, how she managed to lure me with her unparalleled beauty, and all the trouble it had brought into my life.
Now here I was, potentially about to make a huge mistake.
What if, on this planet, Twink was some sort of parasite that would capture and torment me, force me to service his needs in ways that didn’t involve offspring?
Not that it sounded like such a terrible way to spend my imprisonment.
Really, it was hard to convince myself that anything I did with Twink could be a mistake.
I was tense and on edge, considering pushing further to make sure our hanging out would be a date for him. What stopped me was wondering if that would really be fair to him, given that I would have to leave as soon as I finished repairs on the Kaylog, to complete my mission.
That speck of fluorescent light in his eyes captivated me, nearly making me forget what I even wanted to ask. “I like the idea of going on a date with you.”
The pink in his cheeks deepened to red, but he was beaming. “I thought you’d never ask, Daddy.”
“Yes? Even knowing that I have to leave?”
He nodded. “I enjoy spending time with you. Talking. I’d like to get to know you more.” His eyes lit up. “So where do you want to take me?”
I didn’t have to consider it, since I’d already thought about it too much. “Would you want to go to Après?”
His brow creased. “How do you know about Après? Oh, right. Listening to people at the park. Yeah, that’s a nice place, and they have a great balcony. Weather’s nice right now for it.”
Even though he was naming aspects of the location that would be appealing, the main appeal for me was him—the object of my Furker fixation.
*
After we settled on a time, I practically skipped out of the café from the excitement that coursed through me.
I finished up what repairs I could manage before getting ready to meet him.
I had learned the sorts of clothes that Twink appreciated on me, so I wore a tight-fitting polo and shorts that hugged my thighs, then headed out to meet at the designated spot for our date.
I was a little early, and he was right on time, no longer in his work clothes, but in a tee that revealed his physique, as though he was also attempting to weaponize his appearance to make himself irresistible to me—not that he needed to try.
I salivated at the view before he greeted me with a hug.
We headed into the restaurant, the host seating us.
A waiter arrived to take our drink orders.
Twink ordered a margarita, which I agreed to try, and when the waiter headed off, he said, “They have really good chicken schnitzel here…basically fried chicken. I don’t know why I qualified it like that when maybe you have about the same amount of experience with either. ”
“I’ve had some fried chicken. There’s a burger joint not far from the ship that I stop by to partake in the local culture, and they offer fried chicken.”
“Oh, well, let me know what you haven’t had, and we can go from there.”
“I’ll need your help,” I said, looking at the nearly unintelligible menu.
“You can’t read this?”
“I can read some things. Burger and chicken I recognize from what I’ve picked up at that place, but overall, Furkers aren’t as good at reading as we are speaking.
As you can imagine, there’s an evolutionary advantage to picking up spoken language.
Reading would be useful, but from an evolutionary perspective, it was usually unnecessary to get to the point of mating. ”
At that last word, Twink’s gaze on me intensified.
“You find a lot of reasons to talk about mating, don’t you?”
“It is at the top of my mind most of the time. I’m sorry. I can modulate that, if that would make you more comfortable.”
“I mean, I’d rather we not talk about it.”
The way he emphasized talk, I sensed he didn’t mean it literally, and if anything, what I detected from him was that sense of humor that delighted me. “No talking about it?”
“Talk is cheap.”
I knew this idiom from my park visits, and hearing him say it left me intrigued.
“You shouldn’t say those kinds of things to a Furker,” I teased back.
“Well, if you’d keep my mouth busy, then I wouldn’t be able to say anything.”
As my mind went to all the ways I could keep that mouth busy, he smirked, as though pleased with himself for planting these naughty seeds in my mind.
“Well, that all has to come after you show me what an amazing date you are,” he went on.
“Not sure how to do that.”
“Don’t worry. I’m like your official guide to Earth, so it’s my job to make sure this date is a good one. So we can sprinkle some flirting in, but we also need to get to know each other.”
“Yes, of course.”
“Don’t sound so serious about it. It’s supposed to be a fun, playful thing.”
“Of course.”
“You still sound too serious.”
“A Furker is—”
“Always serious? Okay, I get it, but chill out. Let’s just start with ordering.”
He walked me through the menu options, and when the waiter returned, at Twink’s request, he provided recommendations. Twink reaffirmed his interest in the chicken schnitzel, and I ordered a steak with mashed potatoes.
“How would you like your steak done?” the waiter asked.
“Oh…” This was not something Twink had discussed with me, but the waiter seemed to notice my confusion and offered, “Rare, medium-rare, medium…”
“How difficult are they to find?” I asked, and Twink laughed. This was not like his usual laugh; there was tension in him.
“Oh, he’s a real clown, isn’t he?” This seemed like a performance for the waiter. “He likes his steak medium.”
I took that as Twink’s way of helping me out of a tricky situation, so I nodded, smiling to play off my misunderstanding.
The waiter headed off, and when he was out of earshot, Twink said, “Well, before that comment you almost sounded human.”