Chapter 11 #2
“I’m not doing great on this date thing, am I?”
He reached across the table and rested his hand on mine, which sent a jolt through me.
“You’re doing fine, Daddy,” he said, his words a whisper against the backdrop of sensation soaring through me at his touch.
He must’ve noticed the change in me because he pulled his hand away, and I sensed his discomfort.
“Sorry, was that not okay?” he asked. “You seem to get weird when I touch you.”
“I think you’d prefer not to touch me. For me, it activates a very strong desire, which only seems to get stronger the more time we spend together.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound so bad. Unless you can’t control your impulses and it’s dangerous for me…?”
My chest knotted up at the thought that he would even think that.
“You aren’t in any danger with me,” I assured him quickly.
“And strong as my desires may be, Furkers are disciplined creatures, by the very nature of having to integrate with other species, so there’s no way I’d ever snap and harm you. ”
His tension dissipated, which was a relief since I didn’t care to cause him any distress.
“Well, you make it sound very sexy,” he said.
“So you mentioned we should discuss other things, get to know each other.” I offered this as a way of changing the subject. “I feel like you know a lot about me already. Very few know how many children I have, and since I only just escaped my ex recently, the details of our breakup.”
“I’m not talking about those kinds of details. More mundane and boring stuff.”
“Why would we discuss anything boring if I’m trying to impress you?”
Twink considered this briefly before replying, “Because the way we partner up here on Earth, we know most of our time is gonna be spent in the more boring parts of life. Every day isn’t going to be an adventure, so we want to get an idea of what a typical day looks like for each of us.”
This correlated with conversations I’d overheard, which sometimes seemed to be more about bonding than about achieving an objective.
“I guess mine depends on the form I’ve taken on and the environment I’m in,” I explained.
“Then maybe just what you did during your downtime with your ex.”
“There was lots of planning.”
“Planning? Like for the future?”
“My escape, really. She spent most of her time and energy laying eggs and protecting me from our drone offspring, so while she did this, I worked on weakening a wall in my cage. I realized that if I cut my tentacle, the acid it secreted could eat through the material she’d created, but I don’t produce much, so I had to milk myself over the course of what to you would be several years, eventually breaking through the chamber. ”
Twink stared at me blankly before saying, “Okay, while I appreciate you sharing that—and really, Daddy, I do; that sounds like a lot—that wasn’t the kind of thing I was thinking about. How about I go first and you can see what I mean?”
I appreciated his patience with me. “That would work well.”
“So, I like to hit the gym about three times a week, though I’ll probably go twice and make a big fuss about why I wish I would’ve gotten that third one in.
If you were a human guy, I’d probably say some bullshit about being outdoorsy and liking going on hikes, when really I’d rather spend the day in bed, watching TikTok videos, maybe cuddling with my man. Does that make more sense?”
“Hmm…so humans engage in deception to mate, same as Furkers.”
“I think sometimes we’re only deceiving ourselves, but sometimes we tell little white lies because I don’t think anyone would be interested in knowing that I’m still hung up on my ex. That’s not a very attractive quality to humans. You’re supposed to get over assholes and move on.”
“The cheating asshole?”
He nodded.
“From things I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like you’re the only one who has experienced something like this. Wouldn’t being open about your feelings mean you were more likely to encounter someone with similar experiences, which would ultimately lead to bonding?”
“Maybe…but that’s not how people typically talk about stuff like that. You’re not supposed to mention that on first dates, or at all, even if all you can think about are the excuses he made to get out of spending time together, only for you to find out he was spending his time with someone else.”
Instinctively, I reached across the table and rested my hand on his, the way he’d done with me. I barely had time to consider it; it was something I’d intuited as part of how humans bonded, and I was assured by the way he relaxed into my hold.
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to touch you.”
“I didn’t mean you couldn’t, only that you might prefer that, and if this makes you feel better, I don’t mind what it does to me.”
He licked his lips, and my gaze settled on them, fixated as I considered the many ways I could explore his mouth.
I pushed those impulses aside, focusing on our conversation. “I’m sorry Cheating Asshole treated you like that. It isn’t the way a mate should be.”
“On Earth, it’s not exactly a rare experience. My dad cheated on my mom when I was younger, and sometimes I wonder if it can be anything else. Is there a lot of cheating with Furkers?”
“We don’t really have that capacity.”
“Sounds too good to be true.”
“If we had not severed ties with our previous mate, we would spend the rest of our lives in agony and despair as the sting of loneliness overtook us. Our links are very strong when we partner.”
“Sounds clingy. Is that what all the tentacles are for?”
Once again, I could feel he did not mean to be taken literally. Still, my logical brain wouldn’t allow me to reply other than: “They’re best against predators, but they do have their advantages when mating.”
A sharp sensation, like electricity, moved from Twink through me, pulsing in a way that intensified the energy between us so that I had to release him once again, but I noticed his surprise at my pulling away.