by Lyn Gala
Max sniffed and shrugged one-shoulder style. “They mentioned something about ambassadors, but in my defense, they told me I had to represent Americans well, not Earthlings.”
Dee shook her head, her amusement evident.
“I take it you need a ride back to Earth.” Most of the good-will evaporated from Max’s heart. He had to go home—he had parents and a little brother back there in the chaos. But going back to Earth meant handling the prejudices of his own people. That was not Max’s happy thought for the day.
“It would be nice. Is Rick going that way?”
“Um, maybe. We can ask him.”
And Rick would say absolutely, and Max would have to figure out something to say to the Air Force. Well, he had to face his home world eventually. Max opened the door to the pool room. The computer interface table had been joined by a lower and larger table the family would use for shared meals, and that was where they were all waiting. Everyone except Rick. He was close to the door. When Max came in, Rick curled a tentacle around his wrist.
“Hey, everyone. You remember Dee. It turns out that I’ve scared everyone away from Earth and no one will give her a ride back home, not even with all the money the government gave her to apologize for their general shittiness.”
“Which was a lot, but that’s fair because it was a lot of shittiness,” Dee said with a smile. “It’s nice to see you folks again.” She smiled at Rick and then at the kids. They all watched, silent.
Max pulled Rick closer. “So, what do you say we give Dee a ride back to Earth?” After the fact, Max added, “Query.”
Rick’s tentacles curled. “Change of attitude toward Hidden ones is alarm for Hidden ones on Hidden planet. Change is unfathomable without unknown data.”
“Query. Do you want to go to Hidden planet and explain the changes to your people?” Max asked. He wouldn’t mind that... not a little. It would give him more time to figure out what he might say to his commanders... and his parents. He didn’t know how to introduce Richard and Velma Davis to their alien grandchildren.
“Hidden ones and unknown are not two great tastes that taste great together.” Rick’s tentacles were curling tighter by the second.
Dee gave Rick an odd look. Yep, that had pretty much outed them as having contact with Earth. However, Dee didn’t address that. “Hey, I thought I was going to die of old age out here, so if you can get me home to my family any time before never, that’s a good deal. I can wait.”
“Clarify deal. I require not compensation from Dee Friend of Max Husband. No deal.” That made some of his tentacles straighten back out.
“Dee uses the word deal in non-standard way to suggest gratitude,” Max said. “She is not suggesting compensation.”
“Nope, but I did bring a gift.” Dee put her bag onto the floor and dug around. When she stood, she had a box that made Rick’s tentacles go so straight that he gained several inches of height. Xander made a low bellow and Kohei started waving his tentacles. James actually dropped his food onto the table, where it rolled off and the slope of the floor sent it heading toward the water.
“Since a wedding gift is traditional and I can’t spend my settlement on a ticket home, I thought I would buy you guys a business translator.” She smiled as she held out the suitcase-sized object.
“Best present ever!” Xander shouted. Max couldn’t have agreed more.
Chapter Twenty-Three
As soon as the door to their private quarters closed, Max let out his breath. God, this had been the longest day ever, or at least the longest day in the last couple of months. However, now they were alone and they had the fancy new translator installed into the main computer. Dee knew how to gift right. He turned and looked at Rick. “Whatever will we do now?” Max asked in a teasing voice as he pulled his shirt off. He even threw in an eyebrow wiggle.
Rick rotated a few degrees. “We could do—” Rick’s suggestion ended in whale song. Having an improved translator didn’t mean perfect communication, and Rick didn’t get eyebrow semaphore.
“That didn’t translate. Can you describe what you mean?”
Rick began the explanation with whale song. “—is touching where partners pull on each other’s tentacles and attempt to cause pleasure until sexual orifices open.”
That sounded vaguely unhygienic. “Open? Query. Clarify open.”
“Similar to when you ejaculate and the hole the sperm and lubrication comes out of opens,” Rick explained in the universe’s least sexy description of sex. However, if there was an activity that would give Rick enough pleasure to make a sexual orifice open, Max was in favor of it. He unbuttoned his pants rather than risk another Rick-disaster with clothing. There was a small possibility that Rick’s people didn’t wear clothes because they couldn’t keep up with the mending.
“I’m down for it. And maybe after I do this, we can figure out a name for it. So, how do we start?”
That got a full quarter turn out of Rick. “You start pulling tentacles by pulling tentacles.” Max would have expected that to come with a “duh” tone, but the new translator made Rick sound cautious... timid.
Max sat on the edge of their bed and held a hand out. Rick slid closer, his center tentacle undulating. “Is there a particular tentacle I should pull or a way that I can do it to make you feel more pleasure?”
“All pulling is pleasurable with you.” Rick probably meant that as a factual reassurance, but that had to be the sweetest thing Max had ever heard. The casual way that he said it was the cherry on the sundae.
“Spending any time together is pleasurable with you.” Max caught a red-tipped tentacle and gently pulled. When he didn’t get a reaction, he pulled a little harder. Rick wasn’t fragile. Hell, he was stronger than Max, but Max still hesitated. “Could I hurt you doing this?”
“Unlikely.” Rick paused, and his tentacles got a little curlier. “Query. Could I hurt you by pulling on your tentacles?”
Max doubted that Rick would ever get rough enough to do harm, but he also didn’t want to encourage any carelessness. “If you pull too hard, you could damage my joints.”
Rick trumpeted and yanked most of his tentacles away. Max held onto the one he had been trying to pull. “That is why unboned tentacles are more practical than boned ones. Had I known I could create damage, I would have worried about ways I have pulled your tentacles in a past.” The translator let all the concern and horror come shining through. It was sweet. However, the concern was overkill.
“I enjoy the way you pull my tentacle.”
Rick noticed that he had switched to a singular noun. “Query. You reference your one logical tentacle.”
Max laughed. Rick had commented on the lack of bones in Max’s dick more than once. “Yes, I am. You are very good at pulling that tentacle, and you have always been careful to avoid damage. If you have never broken my dick, you’re not going to damage my arm.”
Rick’s tentacles didn’t relax. “If we are pulling tentacles and not seeking genetic release, I anticipate pulling more. Query. Would more pulling damage your logical tentacle?”
“Well, maybe take it easy pulling my cock,” Max admitted. As strong as Rick was, if he applied force to Max’s cock, that was not going to end well. “It is a fairly fragile tentacle. My arms and legs are tougher, even with the joints. So, back to my original question, how hard can I pull on your tentacles before damaging them? I am uncomfortable doing something which could cause harm.” Max ran his fingers along the underside of the tentacle he was holding captive.
“I will tell you if the unlikely chance the pulling is too much. You will not hurt me.” Rick curled a red tentacle tip around Max's wrist. Max started pulling, gently at first. When he didn't get a reaction, he pulled harder, and harder. Rick shivered.
“Good?”
“Exceptionally. It is more good because it is you that pulls.” Rick brought a few more tentacles around to curl around Max’s arms.
“You are a sweet talker.”
Ri
ck blew raspberries. “I believe that translated incorrectly. My talent does not include talent with speech.”
“Really?” Max put a little more muscle into tugging, and Rick shivered so hard that his tentacles came loose, falling off Max’s arms. “I would say you are very talented with speech.” Max waited until Rick recovered and brought a few of his tentacles back up before pulling as if he was in boot camp and his drill sergeant was watching. Rick grunted and shimmied.
“Too much?” Max let go of the tentacle.
“No. You pull wonderfully. I didn’t expect such goodness with pulling,” Rick said.
“I need you to talk to me and tell me you’re okay,” Max said.
Rick blew a raspberry. “I have no ability to think logical thoughts when you pull my tentacles.”
“Then I am going to pull your tentacles more often. However, I need some reassurance that what I’m doing is good, and you don’t need to be logical.”
“You should demonstrate.” Rick pounced on Max, curling tentacles around his arms and pushing Max back onto the bed. Before Max could formulate a plan to counter-attack, Rick tugged on Max’s arm. For a half second, Max was eye to enormous eye with Rick, and then Rick braced other tentacles on Max’s torso and pushed.
“Oh yeah.” Max’s shoulder popped and muscles stretched. “Fuck yeah. More.”
Rick pushed until Max was turned partially on his side, a tentacle braced against his ass. Max wiggled, and Rick pulled on his leg and arm at the same time. Max arched his back and groaned.
“Is that positive or negative feedback?” Rick asked as he eased the pressure.
“Positive. I think you popped my back, and that feels glorious.” Max used Rick’s temporary distraction to counter-attack, tugging the tentacle that was wrapped around his wrist. Max put his back into it and strained. Rick shimmied with pleasure, releasing his hold over Max. Then several of his tentacles stiffened before turning to jelly. Max had found the sweet spot. He jerked the tentacle again, and Rick made an unfamiliar gargle-grunt. “Do you like that?”
“Fuck yeah, positive feedback. More.” Rick echoed Max’s earlier words. Awww. Max had taught his sweet little octopus to swear.
Max reached for a shorter tentacle. The minute he caught it, the red tip curled around his wrist and Rick shivered. “Tell me if I am close to hurting you.”
“I do not have illogical joinings of bones to make weakness.”
Max experimented by jiggling the tentacle he was holding. “How does that feel?”
“Jerky movements are more odd than pleasurable,” Rick said. And he sounded much more coherent, which meant Max was going in the wrong direction. He wanted to drive Rick to the point that he couldn’t form rational thoughts. He pulled the tentacle, but Rick countered with a sneak attack. The tentacle under Max’s back caught Max’s wrist and yanked it. Max lost his hold on the tentacle he’d captured.
Rick pushed Max’s hip away while tugging his arm closer. It meant Max was twisted oddly on the bed, but his back was getting the best stretch ever. “Fuck yeah,” he said with a groan. Tensions that had set into his bones leaked out every pore. “Do the other side,” he begged.
Rick crawled over Max, his weight leaving Max breathless for a second before he slid over to the other side. Then Rick repeated the push-pull-twist maneuver on the other side. Max’s spine crackled and he groaned in pleasure. Knots he’d had since college all melted away. “Hell yes.” Max grunted when Rick curled a tentacle around his thigh. With the walking tentacle firmly in the small of Max’s back, Rick stretched Max’s right arm and leg, making his spine crack.
Max turned his body over to Rick’s care. “Oh fuck yeah.” He sighed the words as his muscles yielded. Shivers travelled up his spine and Max’s eyes fell closed as Rick manipulated him. Time slid past as Rick rolled him around the bed, and Max was too blissed-out to care. When Rick finished stretching Max’s last finger, Rick settled on top of Max, resting against Max’s sweaty shoulder. Max had no idea why he was sweating because Rick had done most of the work. However, he was too relaxed and comfortable to care.
“Did you enjoy—?” more whale song.
Max thought about it for a second. He considered massage, but there was more muscle work involved, and he had stretched in ways that didn’t match that idea. He said, “Sexy yoga. That was very, very sexy yoga.” Max groaned as he tried to shift his ass over an inch. His muscles protested that he was too loose and relaxed to move.
“Did you enjoy sexy yoga?”
“I loved it,” Max said. He had never enjoyed intimacy without his dick getting involved, and he had been missing out. “Did you enjoy it?” Max felt a niggle of worry that he had not been very good at pulling tentacles. He was more the pullee.
“It’s grrrrreat!” Rick trumpeted in a good imitation of a cartoon tiger. He was watching too much television, and coming from Max, that was saying something. Rick stroked Max’s side, his tentacles warm against Max’s skin. “Humans and Hidden ones are exceptionally compatible.” Rick settled in against Max . He was an island of heat as the rest of Max’s body cooled.
“You and I are compatible, that’s for sure. But I feel guilty because I gave up pulling on your tentacles somewhere in the middle.”
“That always happens,” Rick said. “I don’t often win, but I like to win.”
Max pried one eye open. “Win? What did you win?”
“I won the—” whale song.
“You won? I didn’t know it was a competition.”
Rick trumpeted. “You tried to win.”
“I did not.”
“Did too.”
Max smiled and curled his arm around the closest bunch of tentacles.
Rick slid tentacles down Max’s body and between his legs, but Max was too damn relaxed to get hard. He had never thought that was possible, especially not when he was in bed with Rick. He had a real thing for his minty-green octopus. “So,” Max paused to kiss the tentacle that teased his lips. “What was I trying to win?”
“You hoped to pull my muscles until I was too full of pleasure to move.”
Max chuckled. “True enough. And instead, you did that to me.”
“Point!” Rick said, his voice full of joy. “I won. I almost never win. And I did not realize humans were competitive in same way as Hidden ones were competitive.”
“You can win with me any time,” Max said. “But right now, I am too tired to talk.” He let his eyes drift closed again. He had never been so relaxed in his whole life.
“Because you are compatible with Hidden ones. I am sorry you do not have a place for putting genetic material, but I enjoyed producing inseminating fluids.” And that was a smug voice.
“You... haven’t you come in the past?” Max asked. That disturbed him.
Rick blew raspberries against Max’s shoulder. “We played at egg implantation. Egg implantation does not produce inseminating fluids. I enjoy greatly egg implantation, but I also enjoy greatly pulling tentacles, and being the one to produce inseminating fluids was unanticipated joy. I enjoy all roles of sexual reproduction with you, even when we are not reproducing.”
“Me too.” Max rolled onto his side and threw an arm around Rick’s torso. “Definitely.”
They lay as the lights automatically dimmed because of their inactivity. Max was almost asleep when Rick added. “I would also enjoy egg implantation without playing.”
Max waited for the shock or the distress at the idea of Rick putting more eggs in him, but that feeling never materialized. “Maybe later.” Max wanted to get his first set of kids settled first, and then they had to take Dee home and Max had to deal with Earth after they visited the Hidden world. They already had a full agenda, but the day might come when another egg implantation would be nice. But this moment was for the two of them. He tightened his arms around Rick and sighed when tentacles tightened around him in return. For now, this was all Max needed.
Also by Lyn Gala
Aberrant Magic
Derivation
Divergence
Echoes of Deviance
Mafia and Magics
Texas Charm
Durance
Claimings
Claimings, Tails, and Other Alien Artifacts
Assimilation, Love, and Other Human Oddities
Affiliations, Aliens, and Other Profitable Pursuits
Expedition, Estimation, and Other Dangerous Pastimes
Earth Fathers
Earth Husbands are Odd (Coming Soon)
Turbulence
Turbulence
Drift
Standalone
Bitter Blood
Blowback
Two Steps Back
Clockwork Pirate
Earth Fathers Are Weird
Ends, Means, Laws and an Angry Ship
