by Delaney Rain
When Ty came, it was like a firehose suddenly sprayed a burst of come up into the air. Eric laughed and held Ty as they clung to him, hearing the splash somewhere behind him. Had it made it to the beach, too? Eric kissed Ty’s cheek, feeling a bit proud of them.
“That was…rather intense,” Ty said between panted breaths. “My goodness.”
“It was intense. It was…like a celebration. We’ve had an absolutely amazing few days filled with tiny babies and all kinds of discoveries.” His throat grew thick with emotion as he held tightly to Ty. “It’s been the best time of my life,” he managed to whisper.
Ty nodded and held Eric in their strong arms, even their tentacles wrapping around his legs, too. After a few minutes, Ty whispered, their voice strained, “I wish to remain with you always.”
Eric’s breath caught. Was that a promise? He made Ty lean back and cupped their flushed face in hands that shook. Eric smiled. “Yes,” he said. “You and me. Always.”
Ty chuckled a bit breathlessly, but a smile lit them up now. When they kissed this time, Eric swore it felt like he’d just gotten married. Crazy, fast, and impossible, but they were doing it. He couldn’t have been happier.
After a few minutes of bobbing in the gentle current, Eric started to feel waterlogged. He hated to leave the lagoon, but sighed with resignation because he couldn’t stay much longer. “I think I need to get out of the water.”
“Would you take some elixir,” Ty whispered, “so that you might stay the night with me? A small amount should help your tolerance without compromising your clarity.”
Eric laughed a little at that. “Yeah, let’s do it.”
He felt the big, spoon-shaped tentacle detach from his shoulder blade before Ty offered it to him. A little puddle of elixir shone in the moonlight, and Eric happily sucked it up. It wasn’t enough to really make him feel high, but the buzz it gave him was like having a few drinks with dinner. He hummed happily and cuddled closer as the love of his life wrapped him back up and sighed contentedly.
Chapter Nine
He’d given birth to a bunch of chatterboxes. They’d been in the world for two weeks now and had started breathing air this morning. Not one of them had been quiet since then. And their favorite word?
“Why?”
“Because you don’t want to dry out too much. Your skin needs to be moist at all times.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re young.”
“Why?”
“It’s just the way you’re made.”
“Why?”
Eric took a deep breath and set his tablet down. They were all leaning on the top of the playpen staring at him with their big, curious eyes. He really did try to be patient with them, but holy buttons, he was getting close to losing it.
“I don’t know, kiddo.” He grinned at them. “Maybe Ty knows.”
They seemed satisfied for the moment, but then little Sextus had to go and ask, “Why?”
Eric rubbed at his face, buying some time. “Because Ty knows a lot more about you guys than I do.”
“Oh. Okay.”
He watched them, waiting for more questions, but they just wiggled their tentacles in the water and looked around. Were they bored? Yeah, maybe that was it. They were developing really fast, super curious about the world around them, and locked inside a pen all the time. Well, not all the time, since Ty and Eric both let them out now and then to wander the shallow areas under their watchful gazes.
Maybe they could all use an adventure.
Eric got up and waded into the water. He stuck both arms into their area and said, “Grab on, little squishies, and we’ll go exploring.”
Big smiles lit them all up as they wrapped their tiny tentacles around his fingers. Primus, of course, had to climb the highest and ended up on Eric’s shoulder. Everyone else held on along his arms, but he realized he’d need those to swim and had them move onto his chest and back instead. Once everyone confirmed they were stuck good and tight, he paddled gently into deeper water.
He wasn’t going to tell them what it was called, but he took them over to Blowjob Rock. The top of it was inches below the water, most of it covered with coral and plants, and it looked like most of the other sea life got out of the way for them. There was a lot of excited noises out of the hatchlings when he found a foothold and let them climb off of him and onto the rock.
He’d taken to wearing a pair of goggles around his neck, so he was ready to duck under and watch them scamper around. It really made his heart happy to see them being gentle with everything and often pointing instead of touching. Like their early days inside their playpen, they wandered and looked, shared and talked.
Eric exclaimed underwater—which really only made a lot of bubbles—when Primus came to him with a seahorse clutched in their tentacles. “Primus, no, let it go. Carefully!”
Primus did, but clearly they didn’t understand why. The poor seahorse seemed dazed as it floated diagonally, but Eric wasn’t sure if he should touch it.
With their tentacles splayed to keep their little head above water, Primus just had to go and ask, “Why?”
That word… “Because they’re really delicate and…and endangered or something. They can’t hurt you, so you shouldn’t hurt them. And we don’t eat seahorses either.” Or they wouldn’t from now on.
Primus said nothing, but did go back under and straighten the seahorse up. They patted its head, and that seemed to jumpstart it into moving again. Eric ducked under to watch its tiny fins flutter it back around behind the rock. Relieved, Eric did a headcount to make sure everyone else was close and not bothering their neighbors, before going back up to breathe.
Suddenly, a pair of large tentacles snatched Eric away from the rock. He grunted when he collided with the rest of Ty before chuckling. “Well, hi there.”
Ty tucked their face close to his from behind and wrapped more tentacles around him. “Are you near Blowjob Rock for a reason?” they asked with a seductive note to their voice.
“Our kids were getting bored, so I was letting them explore.”
Ty gasped and disappeared below the surface, nearly taking Eric down with them. After a moment, they came back up. “I did not realize they were with you,” they said a bit sheepishly as they propelled the both of them closer to the rock.
Eric kissed their cheek. “We can do what you were thinking about originally later, okay?”
But Ty didn’t smile, and Eric heard them gulp. “Actually, there is something we must discuss.”
Eric turned in Ty’s embrace. “What’s wrong?”
“I think— I know I have eggs waiting to be fertilized.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
“But why?” Eric gulped now. They’d never said they were exclusive, and he didn’t even know if Ty understood what that meant. “Did you… Did you find someone out there to—”
“No! Absolutely not.”
Eric took a deep breath. “Okay. Good. I mean, I know we haven’t talked about that at all, but—”
“Eric, I believe it is because of your semen being inside me.”
He blinked at him. “Mine? But how…” He gasped and lowered his voice after a glance at the rock and the little ears he couldn’t see right now. “You mean because we keep putting my cock inside yours?”
Ty nodded, their eyes wide like they were alarmed, too. “Until last night, you have released and then I have. But last night, it was the opposite, and I think your semen was able to stay inside me.”
They were right. Usually, Ty came second and that probably had their semen pushing Eric’s out with it. “So your body just stored it?”
“Like it did with Falsor’s semen. I feel the same way now that I did then.”
Eric looked down below the surface. “So if you orgasm, that’ll fertilize them, and you’ll need to…” He looked them in the eyes and touched his chest.
“Yes.”
Trying to think rationally through a whol
e lot of emotions like shock and joy, Eric said, “You didn’t know about anyone using a human as a host. Do you know of anyone actually breeding with a human? Are hybrids even possible?”
Ty shook their head, looking like alarm was winning inside them. “I do not know. My body says it is, but logically I must wonder whether the hybrid offspring would be…viable.”
“Viable?” Eric felt breathless. “Like if they’d live?”
“That, but also how they might live. Will they be like me? Like you? A combination that would inhibit them from living a good life in either world?”
Eric closed his eyes. “Oh my god.”
He didn’t want to imagine the possibilities, but they came screaming into his mind anyway. What if the babies had their human half on the bottom and squid half on the top? That could mean they’d be limited in communicating, they might not be able to breed, or they wouldn’t be able to breathe air. That human half would definitely impair their ability to swim fast out in the ocean. And that was only one possibility! He flashed on little eggs with tiny dead—
“If I do not fertilize the eggs,” Ty said cautiously, “eventually both they and the semen will pass from my body as waste.”
Eric studied their face. “Is that what you want to do?”
“Perhaps?” Ty nibbled their bottom lip for a moment. “As it is, the hatchlings are too young to care for themselves right now, and I would need to be entirely devoted to you if we were to breed again. With the unanswerable questions now added to that…” They shrugged. “I feel as though we have only one option.”
“Let this set go.”
“Yes.”
Eric nodded. “I think… I think you’re right. There’s too much…danger here.” He gripped Ty’s shoulders. “But I think we need to find a way to answer those questions, too. We have to know.”
Relief lifted their features. “Perhaps the librarians of Pacilona Nepthis will know. They have a great deal of knowledge that predates even my accessible memories—and those go back six generations.”
“Then we should go there.” He frowned. “Can we go? I mean, can I?”
Now Ty’s grip tightened on Eric above and below the water. “I would not leave you behind and cannot take the hatchlings with me alone—not at this stage. You must go with us.”
Eric kissed them for that, and it sent some relief coursing through him as well.
“You have a boat still?”
“A yacht, yeah.” His mind started whirring with much nicer ideas now. “I think I can outfit it with some things that’ll make it easier for you guys to be on it with me. Oh! It has a pool already that sucks up sea water to fill it and expels it the same way. That would be perfect for you guys, right?”
Ty finally smiled. “Yes, perfect. We have our plan.”
“We do.” Eric smoothed his fingers over Ty’s bald head and sighed, though. “I’m sorry we can’t go through with the breeding. That’s… I’m just sorry.”
Leaning in, Ty kissed his forehead. “Even if we remove the unanswered questions, the timing is still ill-advised. As much as I would like to truly breed with you, we should be practical when it comes to the care of those hatchlings we already have.”
“Right. I understand.” He groaned as he realized something. “And it looks like we won’t be having any fun on the rock for a while either.”
“Why?”
Eric flinched and looked over to see all six hatchlings sitting on top of the rock watching them. They swayed with the current, rocks and other things clutched in their little hands like they’d come up to show what they’d found. When Eric looked back at Ty, he discovered them turning a clearly embarrassed shade of purple.
“Race you back to shore!” Eric hollered before pushing away from Ty and starting to swim. Of course, each of the little mersquidlets took off like a shot and he never had a chance. But at least no one had to answer why.
Chapter Ten
The never-ending questions didn’t quit once everyone was on the yacht a week later, but they did take a different turn. Now the hatchlings were curious about all the new things in their lives that they didn’t have names for. Even Ty didn’t know what a lot of the things Eric took for granted actually were. But he kind of liked being their tour guide.
He’d set up most everything they’d need on the main deck since that was where the pool was. All of them would spend most of their time in the water there—only Ty was going into the ocean to hunt and check their progress—so Eric outfitted the area with all kinds of supplies. He’d taken a day trip over to Kauai to get everything, and was now showing them all that he’d done.
Ty and the hatchlings were in the large, oval-shaped pool watching avidly as Eric showed them the TV and a selection of movies and cartoons he’d downloaded. Just seeing the still images on the screen seemed to knock the questions right out of the kids’ heads. He had a feeling the water-themed Disney movies were going to be a big hit with this crowd.
“We’ll come back to those,” he said and moved to the side of the pool. He’d rigged up a small water slide that could swing in and away, depending on whether they were using it or not. It wasn’t too fancy with only one loop, but he thought they could get some speed going on it given their sleek skin.
He turned on the little pump and a stream of water started cascading down the slide. Primus immediately climbed onto it, watching the water flow, and clearly looking like they were trying to figure it out. Quatrus swam over and bobbed up and down in the water coming off the end of the slide like a tiny waterfall.
“Ingenious, Eric,” Ty said with a big smile.
Feeling like a genius, Eric tapped the ramp going up to the top of the slide. “Come on up here, Primus. This part is for going up.”
Like he knew they would, Primus was eager to be the first and walked up the ramp on their tentacles. Eric had the rest of them move away from the end of the slide for safety’s sake. When Primus got to the top, they looked at the water slithering down, gasped, and gave Eric a beaming smile.
“Yep,” he said, “jump on and slide all the way down.”
“Curl your tentacles,” Ty advised, “so you do not stick suddenly.”
Primus used their hands to hold onto the sides of the slide while curling their tentacles so all the suckers were turned inward. Then they went and made those tentacles into the shape of a raft. Eric was even more proud of his little daredevil. When Primus let go of the sides, the water took them right on down at a quick clip. They squealed the whole way, even after they splashed into the pool at the bottom.
Laughing, Eric helped each of the hatchlings get to the ramp and head to the top. But then he noticed Sextus wasn’t going.
“Hey,” he whispered, squatting down beside the pool while Ty made the hatchlings go single file and one at a time. “Don’t you want to try the slide?”
Sextus shook their head and bit their lip so like Ty did.
“What if I held onto you the whole time?” He gave them a couple fingers to hold, and they wrapped their arms around them. They were still the littlest.
“The whole time?” Sextus asked, their tiny face pressed to the back of Eric’s hand.
“The whole time. Promise.”
Sextus gulped so hard, Eric felt it. But they nodded. And then they held onto his fingers all the way up the ramp to the stop of the slide…where they found Secondus and Cinqus staring down, little hands white-knuckling the edge. The rest were already down in the pool.
“Secondus,” Ty said, “would you like to hold onto me as you descend?”
They nodded quickly, and Ty moved closer to offer their hand. Cinqus held onto Sextus who kept holding onto Eric as they watched Secondus slowly ride down the slide. After the loop—which required Ty to change hands, a very tense moment for everyone—Secondus seemed to gain more courage and let go of Ty’s fingers. They zoomed the last six inches or so and splashed into the water, coming up smiling.
“Who’s next?” Eric asked with a grin.
<
br /> Cinqus and Sextus looked up at him, at each other, and then down at the slide. Eric tried not to laugh.
“You know,” Ty said, “if you wished to stop while sliding downward, all you would need to do is flip your tentacles over. I imagine you would stop quite quickly.”
It was Cinqus who took a deep breath and moved onto the slide. Their tiny muscles visibly trembled, but they were doing it. Pride warmed Eric up inside as Cinqus let themselves slide down inch by inch, three thick tentacles out front like a set of brakes. They’d lift those tentacles up and start to zoom, but then put them down and slow again. Start, stop, start, stop all the way down. They didn’t make a sound the whole way, but Sextus giggled against Eric’s fingers.
“You ready?” Eric rubbed Sextus’s back. “You can hold onto me or do like Cinqus did.”
Sextus doubled their grip on Eric’s fingers, their tentacles in a ball underneath them. “You.”
Eric bit his lip—the kid was so damn cute—and slowly guided Sextus down the slide. It was a little touch and go when they got to the loop and Eric had to switch hands or suddenly become double-jointed, but they managed it. When Sextus got another grip on Eric this time, though, it was one arm wrapped around one finger. And looser tentacles, too, like Sextus might be getting braver.
“Want to finish on your own?” They were about a foot from the end, straight down. “Just take a deep breath and let go.”
Sextus stared down at their siblings—who, thank goodness, all waited patiently.
“You don’t have to, but you can.”
Eric felt them take a deep breath, and then they let his finger go. Immediately, the water had them zooming down the slide.
Sextus screamed bloody murder and something pitch black shot out of them. The slide water brought them and it down into the pool, the plume of blackness sending the rest of them scurrying away. Sextus popped up to the surface covering their little mouth as they turned a deep shade of purple. “I’m so sorry.”
