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Nasty November

Chapter Text

There was a hollow. A hollow in the dark in the basement of the arena. Zhenya twisted through the bowels, trying to remember where exactly Sid had tucked himself away. The deeper he went the more insulated the air felt. The chill left his skin as the sound around him dampened. It made sense; it was a nest, after all. Sid's nest.

He knew he had found it when the hallway turned into a dark pit. All the lights had been shut off, and the camping lamp he carried with him only threw off enough cool light to see the beginnings of sticky strands that clung to the cement walls and led into where Sid’s nest swallowed the light. It looked like Sid had been working at it for months. Preparing, carefully placing one strand of silk after another, tearing some down and moving them around. No one was allowed to see it, not even Zhenya. Every time Zhenya prodded Sid about it he'd get a red-eared "not finished yet" mumbled into whatever food Sid was cramming into his mouth. He was so hungry, so hungry all the time. Spinning silk took a lot of energy it seemed and Sid wanted it to be perfect. 

The hallway had been narrowed down by the layers and layers of woven thread, turning the harsh corners into a soft, rounded-out tunnel. It was fuzzy and dark but Zhenya knew he wasn’t alone. He placed the light on the ground and stripped out of his shorts. He hadn’t been wearing much to begin with but it still felt vulnerable to be fully naked in the dark. 

Zhenya took a shaky breath and reached out blindly. Sid’s hand found him, and Zhenya took it and grasped it tight. Sid’s fingers were warm, and smoother than normal, like if Zhenya didn’t hold on, Sid’s hand might just slip away. Zhenya couldn't really reconcile himself with the sensation. Like this, Sid was just a shadow. Zhenya gripped harder and Sid tugged him forward. There was Sid's broad chest under his palm, the brush of his nose against Zhenya’s neck and the dampness of his breath. Zhenya didn’t feel alone at all. 

"Do you like it?" The rumble of Sid’s voice was loud against the quiet, as scratchy as the stubble that rubbed against Zhenya’s neck. Sid had been down here a lot recently.  

"Very nice." Zhenya didn't really know what the qualifiers were for a good spider’s nest but he tried. "Safe, strong--" His eyes caught a silvery strand illuminated in thin light. "Pretty." It was obviously the right thing to say and Sid squeezed where their fingers were woven together, drawing Zhenya the rest of the way in. 

Curled around him were Sid’s new legs, sharp and cooler than the rest of him, mostly smooth except for fine hairs that tickled up the inside of his calf. Well, they weren’t totally new per se; Sid had told him all about the cycle of limbs pushing up through his skin and moulting. Zhenya mostly blocked that part of the conversation out. 

They talked about this, at length, because it was Sid and everything was talked about at length. He’d never seen Sid fully shifted. He had seen the ridges of Sid’s folded-up legs pressing against the fabric of his sweater when he came up to eat. Now Zhenya could skim his fingers up the muscle of Sid’s flank and back along his ribs, feeling for where the bone met hard bumps that attached the extra limbs to his body. Long and thin and hard, like a shell, an exoskeleton. It was difficult in the low light but he could tell the legs were dark and thin, falling around Zhenya like the fine branches of a willow. 

He could feel his pulse against the skin of his throat, where Sid was breathing wet and heavy against his skin. “I wanted you to like it,” Sid murmured and bit down, not as hard as Zhenya knew he could. It was teasing, and Zhenya dug his fingers dug into Sid’s back. Bending his head, he found the corner of Sid’s mouth and pressed a series of kisses to it. Sid’s vision was clearly sharper than his, his hands coming up easily to cup Zhenya’s face and tilt it so their lips brushed each other, Sid’s already slick as he kissed Zhenya slow and deep. The skin of Zhenya’s lips tingled, wet with the saliva that was thick in Sid’s mouth and going numb. He was dizzy with it. Sid pressed solidly against him was the only real tether to reality. 

Groping down Sid’s thick back, Zhenya explored every new ridge and crevice, the way hard shell seemed to transition easily into flesh and muscle. Sid was still soft and solid where it counted. Zhenya grabbed a double handful of his ass and Sid stopped his sloppy kissing long enough to laugh into Zhenya’s mouth. Some things would always be the same. He felt along where the crest of Sid’s hips curved towards his dick, swollen and interested. Palming Sid’s cock rewarded him with another hitched breath as he felt down behind Sid’s balls, where the meat of a taint should be. Instead, there, along the plush stretch of skin was a seam. 

The first time he had touched Sid there without thinking, Sid had shrunk back like Zhenya had touched an exposed nerve. The last time Sid had rubbed himself against Zhenya till he was soft and open and slid down on him in one smooth glide, squeezing in long sucking pulses until Zhenya was shivering and empty. The soft head of his dick had bumped up against something hard, but by then Sid was pulling away, his eggs fertilized.

Now, the skin was slightly bulged, rounded out by whatever was inside Sid trying to push out. Sid fucked Zhenya’s mouth with his tongue and ground into the touch. The seam opened enough for the tip of one of Zhenya’s fingers to slip inside, pressing against the slick head of what Sid had hidden away inside the silt. Zhenya knew that it came out, and it was for laying. He had yet to get it to come out, though. Well, he liked a challenge. 

Sid shivered against him and Zhenya pressed in further, feeling the fat slit along the head, slightly gaping and soft. He slid the tip of his finger inside, smug when Sid pulled away from his mouth and moaned low and hurt like it was pulled from deep within him. His nails dug into Zhenya’s skin. Curious, Zhenya kept going, finger pushing into the tight channel. With a yelp, Sid’s hand snapped down and around his wrist in an iron-tight grip and Zhenya stilled. 

“Okay, okay,” Sid panted, drawing Zhenya’s hand away. “I’m going to start now.” Zhenya thought they had already started, but clearly, Sid had an agenda.

With his senses lulled, it was hard for Zhenya to keep track as Sid moved around him in the dark. Pinpricks dragged up his spine where Sid’s legs curled around him, one pressed hard to his shoulder blade with something sticky clinging to his skin, then another on the center of his spine, the fine web tickling down the back of his arm. Sid liked to tie him up. Thick black ropes, around his chest and wrist and thigh. Zhenya was helplessly into it. This was the same and different. The tension and pressure against his chest, reassuring and keeping him in place as Sid weaved his web, binding Zhenya up tight. Once Sid thought he was secure, his legs drew out long bits of silk and hooked Zhenya up to the sticky wall. Zhenya had never been suspended before. Sid slowly lifted him until there was no longer solid ground under his feet and his last sense of the space around him was taken away, suspended between gravity and Sid’s bindings.

“Is that good?” 

Sid’s voice was closer than he expected and Zhenya’s heart jumped in his chest. He took a slow shaky breath. “Yeah,” he said, and leaned his head forward as much as his binds allowed him, silently asking for the kiss Sid quickly provided. Sid gave few long presses against his mouth before he trailed biting kisses down Zhenya’s chest where there were still exposed strips of skin, to the joint of his hip. 

Zhenya tried and failed at keeping his noises in when Sid nosed under his balls. His legs had been spread and fixed, splayed open for Sid to mouth at. Sid’s mouth was always hungry, hungry and sloppy as he cupped Zhenyay’s dick out of the way and sucked harshly at his rim, lapping over and over until Zhenya felt drenched and his dick was so hard it must have been leaking. Slowly, the skin of his ass went tingly and wet like his mouth and Sid pressed in deep. 

With one last harsh suck, Sid pulled away, moving back up his body. Zhenya felt it now, that growing hungry emptiness, a cramping insistent need to be filled deep in his gut. Sid crowded himself around Zhenya and something that was distinctly not Sid’s dick brushed against Zhenya’s thigh. Stiffer, slick, and blood-hot like the inside of his body. It twitched and moved, nudging along Zhenya’s inner thigh. Seeking , Zhenya realized with a deep internal clench. He felt wet from Sid’s spit and gaping. His body welcomed it when Sid shifted his hips and the wet head found his hole, pressing against it, probing slightly. Sid gripped him hard around the hips as he sunk inside. It was a slow ridged pressure, cleaving him open. Almost never-ending, and Zhenya and could feel it up into his throat. He arched into it, hole flexing, and Sid’s hips jerked involuntarily. The way Sid’s breath caught rough in his throat was starting to sound more like clicking. 

Zhenya shivered. He could barely move, bound still as Sid ground hot and hard into him. Zhenya loved Sid’s dick; it was thick and short and hit just the right spot when he pinned Zhenya down and thrust into him. But this, this felt like it rubbed against everything at once in a slick glide. A raw and hot and overwhelming pressure he couldn’t escape or angle his hips away from to make it less intense; he just had to take it. Sid was breathing against him hard, and he wished he could comb his fingers through Sid’s hair the way he wanted to. Zhenya pressed his face there instead, into the sweaty curls at Sid’s temple so he could press his lips against his ear as Sid shuddered. He stilled smelled the same. 

“Come, give me babies,” Zhenya whispered. “Want to feel, Sid.”

Sid had been very specific about calling them eggs. But if they were going to incubate in his body, Zhenya got to decide what he wanted to call them. They were Sid’s babies and now they were his too. He was surrounded by Sid and full but still, he wanted more.

Yes , Geno--” There was a sudden pressure and Sid broke off into a soft chitter. Something thicker was pushing through Zhenya with rippling little shoves. Sid hitched his hips and Zhenya moaned as he felt the fast slip of eggs through Sid and into him, and the tight feeling of his abdomen as the slow pressure of being filled grew. Sid pressed himself close, caging Zhenya in with his body and his legs. Another shudder ran through him and Sid rolled his hips against Zhenya like he couldn’t help it, a slick glide helping them along, rocking deep at the same steady pace. Zhenya’s whole body strained against his binds. That familiar aching pressure grew and he moaned helplessly as his body tightened and he came dry, clenching around Sid. He still felt hard and wanting. Sid kept rocking, those satisfying clicking noises coming steadily out of him.

Time drew out as if smudged. The sensation of eggs filling him came in waves, shocks of sensation every time Sid pressed deep. Another round of eggs pushed through and Sid came wet where he had been rubbing against Zhenya’s hip. Zhenya moaned pathetically. He was still stupidly hard. His ears were filled with the slick noises of his ass and the cooing sound Sid had made deep in his chest with the last pass. Zhenya couldn’t see, he couldn’t move, all he had was the sensation of Sid around him, the deep satisfaction of being filled, and the friction of sweaty skin between them as he got fucked. 

“That was the last few.” Sid’s voice sounded ragged and Zhenya groaned in protest as slowly Sid eased away from him, pulling out and back into his own body with a wet noise that made Zhenya’s face burn. Sid’s hands smoothed over the taut skin of his stomach. “How do you feel?” 

Zhenya’s face was still flushed. “ Full, ” he panted, and was surprised there was any blood left that wasn’t in his dick. “Sid,” he pleaded with a futile roll of his hips, but it didn’t matter because Sid was there. Lips glided down his shaft, and Zhenya’s cock jumped as Sid’s hot mouth swallowed around him, still so wet and sucking in slow pulls until Zhenya cried out and came down Sid’s throat. 

He was floating, dozy and worn out somewhere outside his body. The dark was now soft and lulling like the ocean at night. Sid moved around him, laying down new strands of web, wrapping him up like a cocoon, warm and safe and tucked away. His eyelids felt heavy, and he let them droop, tired now with the warm weight in his belly. 

He barely registered it as Sid tucked in beside him and whispered, “I love you”

“Love you, too.” It was a knee-jerk response, but he meant it with all his heart, and Sid pressed kisses to his closed eyelids. 

Now he would sleep. 

Chapter Text

Zhenya pressed one of Sid’s knee up towards his chest. The other he hooked over his shoulder. A pillow was tucked beneath Sid’s tailbone. Like this, Zhenya could see everything: Sid’s dick chubbed up against his belly, balls still loose and pushed up and out of the way, the dark furl of his hole, and in between was the delicate pale skin of his slit. If Zhenya called it “ delicate” out loud Sid would probably try and kick him in the face and roll away. But that didn’t make it any less true, he thought as his fingers brushed along the soft stretch of skin. He still remembered the first time he’d touched Sid there, unthinkingly, and Sid had almost jumped a foot in the air like a startled cat. 

Zhenya stroked his thumb gently along the seam. Sid’s face had gone from his normal aroused pink to a bright cherry red, and Zhenya almost expected at any moment for steam to start pouring out of his ears like a tea kettle. He rubbed a little firmer along Sid’s slit with his fingers and watched the skin there flush like the rest of him. “Touch yourself here?”

“Sometimes, with--” Sid looked over at the bedside table where Zhenya knew he kept a slim vibrator. “It’s a lot, and It’s different when someone else is touching it.” Sid was trying to make a point of keeping eye contact, but it looked like it might be getting difficult.

“Yes?” Zhenya smirked knowingly. Sid was starting to get a little wet where Zhenya’s fingers were prodding, skin softening and parting slightly. “Feels nice?”

Sid squiggled against the mattress like he was trying to escape Zhenya’s eyes, and the question, and his feelings. He chewed at his bottom lip and looked like he might turn purple. Zhenya was a little concerned. “Sid, breathe .”

Sid sucked in a greedy mouthful of air and squeezed his eyes shut tight before meeting Zhenya’s again. “Yeah, just--just go slow.”

Zhenya’s heart felt tender and heavy in his chest. “Always,” he promised and pressed a kiss to the inside of Sid’s knee. He would be so, so careful with Sid’s delicate slit. 

He had been thinking about this, almost obsessively, since discovering the shaft hidden inside Sid’s slit, the one he used to lay his eggs. Zhenya had only felt it that one time and it inspired a need to try and get his fingers inside Sid as often as possible. Besides breeding, Zhenya hadn’t gotten much further than some heavy petting. Sid liked to press Zhenya down to the bed and ride his thigh, dragging his wet slit and hard dick along Zhenya’s hot skin until Zhenya felt like he might lose his mind. 

It took light touches to get Sid warmed up for more consistent pressure, until Sid stopped trying to squirm away from the petting and pressed into it greedily, softening up under Zhenya’s careful stroking. Sid’s blush spread down his chest, sweat breaking out across his skin. His slit was soft and open enough to expose the pink inside and with a little pressure the skin gave and parted around Zhenya’s finger. It slipped easily inside and Sid gasped and clenched around him. Sid’s calf flexed against Zhenya’s shoulder and his fingers were white where he gripped his thigh. He was wet and smooth and open enough that Zhenya could fit another finger alongside the first, working them in tandem to stroke the hot inner walls and scissoring gently. 

Sid turned his head into the pillow and tried to muffle a sharp whine. God , Zhenya hadn’t even coaxed Sid’s ovipositor down from its hiding place and Sid was already fully hard, the soft head of his cock peeking through the hood and leaking against his belly. At this rate, Zhenya was worried this might be over before they really even started. He crooked his fingers in a pulling motion and Sid’s hips twitched and shivered against the sensation. 

“Sid, push,” Zhenya murmured and gave another hooked drag of his fingers to try and punctuate what he meant. 

Sid pressed his hands over his hot face and moaned, taking a few deep breaths before pulling his hands away. “Give me a second, it might not come down.” Closing his eyes, a wrinkle appeared between Sid’s brows. He looked like he was concentrating way too hard for something that was supposed to be pleasurable. 

Zhenya couldn’t stamp down the restless need to make this as easy as he could. “Need help?”

“I’m--” Sid’s mouth twisted the way it did when he didn’t want to say something embarrassing but knew Zhenya would probably get it out of him anyway. “Keep going.” The pinched expression stayed but at least he kept talking. “I’m thinking about the eggs, laying them in you, and when you touched me--”

“Inside?” Zhenya prompted, hopeful, and pressed his fingers as deep as they would go. 

“Yeah,” Sid panted and tightened around him. “Yeah, I liked that. It was intense.”

Zhenya kept the same steady pace, rocking into Sid though the cramp in his arm as Sid ground into it hungrily, his face screwing up as a long shudder ran through him. Then Zhenya felt it, the tips of his fingers bumping up against something familiar, his thrusts getting shallower as slowly there was less and less room inside of Sid and Zhenya was just rubbing his wet fingers just inside the lips of Sid’s slit. 

Sid’s eye opened, blinking dazedly and breathing through his open mouth. “I don’t know if it will come out all the way, but you can touch.” He turned a shade closer to the purple he had been before and gestured loosely with his fingers. “You know, fuck it.”

Zhenya’s face burned. He was already there, pressing in as far as he could go and brushing over the head of Sid’s ovipositor. It didn’t feel quite as open as last time. He pressed his middle finger against it, finding the slit and fitting the tip of his finger just inside. It was so tight. Sid took a couple of hitched breaths and closed his eyes and Zhenya massaged the opening until it loosened and Zhenya could slowly press down the slick channel. Sid’s stomach flexed, his muscles defined and tense in his arms and chest. 

Zhenya stroked his hand along Sid’s thigh where it trembled and watched the tendons in Sid’s neck jump. “Sid?”

“Just like that,” Sid moaned and reached for where Zhenya’s hand was cradling his hip, gripping it tight. “Please don’t stop.”

“Okay.” Zhenya didn’t stop. He thrust his finger as deep as he could as Sid loosened and relaxed. He held Sid’s hand and watched his finger disappear inside Sid’s body and listened to the obscene slick noises as gradually fucking Sid became easier and he could build some friction. Sid’s legs tensed around him and his chest stuttered as a sound that Sid had never made before was ripped out of him. He suddenly clamped down around Zhenya like a vise, with that same rippling sensation Zhenya had felt inside him when Sid was burying his eggs deep. There was a second where he worried that Sid might just dislocate his finger. But the pulls just kept coming steadily, sucking at him as Sid shuddered through an internal orgasm, maybe the hottest thing he had ever seen.  

The pressure eased and Zhenya didn’t let up fucking him as Sid pushed into it. Together they found a rhythm, rocking in synch as Sid watched him through slitted eyelids, his mouth slack and red. It looked like it was getting difficult to keep his eyes open. Zhenya twisted his finger and Sid shuddered tellingly, so he did it again.

“Oh god. Oh my god .” Sid’s voice cracked as he sobbed and arched. His dick was red and fat and leaking, curving against his stomach. Zhenya wrapped his fingers around it and rubbed the foreskin over the angry head until Sid jerked into his hand and came up his chest, those same waves of muscle contractions trying to milk Zhenya’s finger. They kept coming until Sid made a high noise in his throat as all at once his body relaxed. Incrementally he let Zhenya’s finger go, looking soaked with sweat and completely spent. He was almost too much to look at. 

Zhenya let Sid’s leg slip from his shoulder and wiped his wet hand on Sid’s stomach. He planted his hands on either side of Sid’s broad chest so he could rub his cock against the crease of Sid’s hip and his thick thigh. Zhenya’s entire body was on fire, all his blood just one heavy pulse between his legs, and Sid was warm and soft everywhere. 

Sid scratched through the hairs at the back of his neck with blunt nails as Zhenya ground against him, sending shivers down his spine and pulling him in enough to press a kiss to his chin. “You liked that, huh?” 

Zhenya had no words. Like was a vast understatement and there was no way he was going to last very long after watching Sid come with his whole body like that, twice

Zhenya pulled away enough to get a hand around himself and with a prompting nudge, Sid pulled his knees up and in towards his chest. He looked swollen and a tender red between his legs, slit framed by the soft meat of his inner thighs. Zhenya’s mind felt numb and he tugged on his stiff cock and braced a hand against the back of Sid’s thigh, keeping him there as he pressed the head of his dick to Sid’s slit and felt the muscles jump in the back of Sid’s leg as the tip pushed slightly in. He came in white globs, dripping down through the crease where on either side the skin was raised and sensitive. It looked more like a pussy now and, shit , Zehnya felt like he could get hard all over again. 

Sid stretched his neck like he could see what was going on between his legs though he probably couldn’t, and collapsed back against the pillows with a smug smile. “Nice. 

His legs butterflied out when Zhenya let them go and all the tension left his body. Zhenya was still trying to get his bearings, staring at the mess he had left between Sid’s spread legs. He dragged his fingers through the wetness and Sid jumped like he had the first time, startling out a choked laugh. 

“Okay, enough big guy. Come here.” Sid tugged hard enough on his shoulder that Zhenya toppled face-first into Sid’s chest with an “ oof” as all the air left his body at once. “Good job,” Sid said, and stroked his back, his voice slightly raw. 

Zhenya tucked his face into Sid’s neck. All of a sudden he felt blown over by what they had done, what Sid let him do. He felt so full of affection it didn’t really seem possible. He should be used to it by now; Sid always made him feel like that when he was least expecting it. 

Zhenya shivered with the feeling and the chill setting in under his skin. The blankets had been shoved off the bed and he was highly anticipating a long soak in the bath and watching Sid clean between his legs. Maybe if he waited long enough Sid would let him help. Zhenya was happy to lie there as long as Sid would rub his back and put off warmth like a space heater. 

Chapter Text

Sid's already dripping when he bends over into his locker. As soon as Zhenya stepped out of the showers Sid went down to his knees right there, braced his elbows against the bench, and made hot demanding eye contact with him across the room. Someone must have fucked him already because his hole is a puffy red and the lube leaking back out is a milky white. Zhenya slides his fingers through it, God, there's so much of it.

"Geno, please, " Sid whines and cants his hips back into the touch. 

Zhenya pulls off his towel, reaching for his cock and soothing a hand down over Sid's back, stopping right above his ass. He's shaking under Zhenya's palm and jumps when Zhenya pushes his cock inside in one easy glide. 

Oh- ” Sid arches back, moaning, ass tilted up at that perfect angle for Zhenya to slip in and out of his wet heat. Zhenya wonders if someone fucked with Sid’s sensitivity or if he's just overwhelmed from having a teammate use him and leave. His ass feels warm, soft, and so slick Zhenya thinks that maybe more than one of the guys fucked him already, high off of the win. Maybe Sid has already come once and they just kept fucking him until they spilled inside, and now Sid needs more. 

Zhenya hikes his hips up a little higher, holding Sid tight and still so he can drive his cock down at that perfect angle he knows makes Sid's circuits glow and his pink little cunt tighten up so nice sweet around him. Sid’s body goes pliant and he drops down from his elbows like it's so good he can't focus on holding himself up any longer. There's a soft whirring sound coming from him and Zhenya's heart stutters every time Sid does this. He knows he's got Sid right.

He guides Sid's hips in a steady rhythm that has Sid bracing his hands against the back of the stall, trying his best to hold himself still. He’s so good, and sometimes, Zhenya forgets Sid isn't human. He's got a personality, he's one of the guys: loud and boisterous or quiet and silly. He's his own person.

He's Zhenya's favourite person.

And the mirage is flawless.

Except, apparently, when he's being fucked so hard on Zhenya's cock he forgets his programing and whirs and clicks. A satisfied humming noise emanating from inside his core.

He only does it when it's Zhenya is inside him. Even if Sid's sobbing and already got one cock stretching him open, when Zhenya pushes in from behind, Sid just knows. He clamps down happily around the two dicks fucking into his ass and purrs.

The team thinks it's because Zhenya was the first one to sleep with Sid when he showed up, or that maybe Sid was pre-programmed to respond to Zhena because of the C. But they never did any of that. Sidney just started up and hasn't stopped yet. Zhenya's never asked him why. Some things are better left not knowing.

 Zhenya strokes down Sid's sides and the curve of his hips, soothing him and enjoying all of his warm soft skin, pliant and so smooth. Really, this is all just another good excuse to get to touch him. He holds Sid’s ass open, getting a good view of his cock sliding in and out of Sid's tender hole, pink and clenching down when he hits something good. Spread open like this he catches a glimpse of that little mole beside Sid’s hole, the artistic touch of whoever designed Sid, and Zhenya presses his thumb there, over that tiny detail nestled between his cheeks. 

Sid is muffling a steady stream of punched out noises into the cradle of his arms, consistently shaking under Zhenya. Here, tucked inside the locker, they feel warm and cut off from the rest of the room. But still, Zhenya wants to be closer, and he lies down along Sid's back and blankets him. He curls one hand around and strokes down Sid’s front, over his slightly rounded chest and stomach. Sid's strong and broad and thick all over, but he's got this lingering softness around the complicated edges of his body. Zhenya holds him there, plastering them together. His other hand finds Sid's open mouth and slips his fingers inside. Sid moans around them, suckling wetly. He's insatiable, and Zhenya doesn't know how much more of this he can take. 

Sid's spine quivers where he's pressed against Zhenya's chest. Zhenya strokes his hand down to paw at Sid's cock. Sid’s hard and heavy in his palm, swinging with each thrust, and all from having something inside him. Zhenya plays with the swollen head, foreskin tight and - Jesus - he's so wet everywhere. Someone must have just refilled his lubricant because he's practically dripping out of every hole. 

Zhenya presses Sid down tight against the bench and fucks into that tight wet heat around his cock, sucking him in with the steady snap of his hips, unrelenting, keeping up that deep rhythm he knows makes Sid fall apart. It feels like Sid's vibrating, so worked up he's grinding his hips back into it the best he can in little pulses as if he can’t help it -

Because he likes it so much.

Because he was made for it.

Still, every time Zhenya fucks him he wants to make Sid lose it a little bit more. Find what he likes besides just being used as an outlet for pent up testosterone and making babies. For having Zhenya's babies.

He rubs the pads of his fingers against Sid's tongue where he’s chewing mindlessly at them, completely gone and fluttering around his cock. Zhenya noses in behind his ear. "You like that, little bunny?" Sid moans around his mouthful of fingers, little wet choked out sounds being pushed out of him with every sharp thrust of Zhenya's hips. “Want me to use you, make you come."

Sid tries to say something, getting garbled by the fingers in his mouth and Zhenya pulls them away shiny with spit. Sid gasps out a breath. "Come in me G, I want it." 

His voice sounds raw and Zhenya watches his full mouth pant. He leans in and presses messy kisses to the corner, then to Sid’s red lips the best he can, stretching to reach and grinding in deep with his hips. Sid whines into his mouth.

"Shush," Zhenya hushes, pressing another kiss to Sid’s face. "Yes, I give," and he reaches for Sid's hands, threading their fingers together.

"Yes, yes," Sid chants and Zhenya holds him as close as he can, drawing their arms in and feels Sid tumble through his orgasm, sweet little mewls spilling from his lips and fists clenched tight under Zhenya's hands. It rolls through him, first his ass clutching Zhenys’s dick. He can feel the deep roll of Sid's inner muscles and shoves in hard. Then Sid works his hips like he can’t get enough of Zhenya's cock inside him, grinding until his body is seizing up where he's trapped between the bench and Zheny’s weight, and finally with a shocked noise and a jolt of his hips, creams himself. All over his locker and slick around Zhenya’s cock. 

Sid's back bows into him, wet hole pulsing around him with aftershocks, and sobs. "Don't stop, please don’t stop."

"Never," Zhenya promises, and it doesn't make much sense, but he means it. " Never stop. " Sid's fingers tighten around his, gripping so hard they start to feel numb. And Zhenya fucks him roughly enough to hear Sid cry out, oversensitized and still holding himself so still and perfect for Zhenya to use until he just can't take it anymore: Sid's warm body and his hurt noises and the way he shifts his hips like he wants it anyway. He comes deep in Sid’s ass, moaning into his sweaty hair.

Zhenya feels wrung out, like he just played overtime, and can’t be bothered to make himself move, not yet. Not when Sid sighs, content, and unspools beneath him without easing his grip on Zhenya's hands. 

Zhenya presses his mouth to Sid’s shoulder and inhales. He smells clean like baby powder, slightly salty from whatever synthetic sweat leaks from his pores, and something more complicated layered underneath. Sid’s own musk. Barely there, but Zhenya can taste it on his skin. 

It's an unobtrusive scent, and they really did think of everything.

Sid wrinkles his nose when he takes another deep inhale. "Don't, I'm gross."

He's perfect .

"Yes, think time for shower," Zhenya says instead, and bites down lightly at the skin there, sucking until Sid half-heartedly swats at his head. 

Sid doesn't bruise, but Zhenya kind of wishes that he did.

He eases his soft dick out. Sid's still tight, even after all of that, but his hole looks used and shiny.

"Come," Zhenya says, and offers a hand.

"You already showered," Sid says, but lets Zhenya help him up slowly, knees cracking as he stands.

He's a mess, and part of it is Zhenya's. He smirks. "Make sure you don't drop soap."

Sid snorts and shakes his head. "Sure, bud." His eyes are laughing and his smile is crooked, showing off that uneven line of teeth.

Zhenya just wants a reason to keep his hands on him.

It’s far too easy to imagine what Sid’s going to look like pregnant. Zhenya’s seen it before, a few times now, carrying his uterus long enough for an egg to take, watching Sid get all sweet and soft looking before he can switch it out and return to the ice. They never really know who’s baby it’s going to be, the next hockey prodigy of the NHL. Quietly, Zhenya liked to think it was his most of the time, though there was no way that was true. 

He would keep his hands on Sid and lead him all the way to Zhenya's home if Mario and the rest of the team in charge of Sid would let him.

They wouldn't. But he thinks about it anyways. 

He thinks about it a lot.

Chapter Text

The notion that the trees had eyes was a common one for a reason. You were never really alone in the forest. Sid knew that to be true; he had spent enough time tucked away in the woods to know that you were always being watched. The instinct was an important one to have when your cabin was on a lake, the driveway a kilometre in from a winding dirt road. Nothing but acres of trees and mountains fencing him in. The forest was one wild living thing connected around him with roots and streams like veins. 

So yes, something was watching Sidney and it wasn’t the birds or the deer or all the other pairs of eyes he’d grown accustomed to living with. It was something more. 

Sid grabbed his rod and flipped over the rowboat. The clouds were that deep angry purple that hung heavy and low in the sky, ripe with the promise of rain. The bluejays above him laughed and bickered with the chickadees and nuthatches they were migrating south with. They were the only ones who seemed to find it funny that Sid was being slowly stalked. The peanut gallery to whatever fate waited for him.

His hike that morning had been long and silent. Sid had kept his eyes forward and strained his ears for any sound or slip-up, but the creature didn’t even snap a twig. The silence was thick, tangible like something Sid could grasp and shift, move out of the way and reveal what it was hiding. He had no such luck. 

The wind was stronger out here, in the middle of the water, where the air was open and exposed and there was nothing to buffer him. Sid turned up the collar of his coat against it. The skin of his cheeks was already starting to feel raw. The boat rocked as he stood, that familiar lull helping him to find a rhythm as he cast. Even with the wind, it was peaceful. The water lapped at his boat. The tip of his rod fluttered and the first fish came fast, putting up a good fight all the way in. It was sizable and silvery spotty green, and even with the overcast sky it shone where it lay on the floor of his boat. The next fish took longer to come. Sid cast and cast again, the rocking of the boat keeping time like a metronome as the minutes slipped by, and Sid waited and watched the trees at the water’s edge where the deer had left a clearcut line along the hemlocks. This was Sid’s favourite place.  

Far off there was a jump, a quick splash, disturbing the water’s surface. Sid cast towards it, feeling lucky. He wasn’t expecting the hard thump against the bottom of the boat, solid enough to jostle him. Sid took a step to steady himself. He was too far out now to be hitting any rocks.

Just as his heart dislodged itself from his throat, the bump was followed by a long, slow drag, scraping the hull. This noise pricked at the back of his neck. Suddenly, all around him, the forest was watching. There was no place to hide. The line snapped tight, yanking his arm. It wasn’t the easy jitter of a trout: the tip of his rod shook violently, shooting vibrations all the way up his arm. 

Sid got two hands securely on the rod. It didn’t feel like a fish; there was no fight, no give and take, just a constant unyielding tension. Maybe he had caught a log, but that was almost impossible in water this deep. Sid could almost swear whatever it was, was ever so steadily pulling back . Just the smallest bit of pressure and the line would snap like it was the easiest thing in the world, but he didn’t want to have to cut the line. 

Sid’s arms strained and his hands locked. He didn’t know how long he had been holding onto the rod; time stretched out like taffy, slowly softening and pulling apart like the muscles in his arms, and it burned . Then, just like it had never been there at all, the tension cut and Sid stumbled, falling back into the boat. There was a splash, like a rise except massive. He scrambled to get a good look, but all that was left was the creature’s wake, ripples in the water like the fingerprint of something large. Nothing in this lake was supposed to create waves like that. 

Sid’s reel where he had dropped it began to spin, the line quickly unspooling as whatever was caught at the other end made its escape. His palms were clammy with water and sweat. Sid gripped the rod tight, reeling it in. He didn’t know what he was expecting when he leaned over the side of the boat, but what was in his net was just another speckled, smaller even than the last. He felt bone-tired and wrung out. He hadn’t even been out there for that long but he knew his arms would ache the entire row back. Sid gave one last lingering look around, wishing he had brought his binoculars, but there was nothing to see. 

Sid cleaned the fish out on the boat launch, but his mind wasn’t in it. Whatever that thing was, it was toying with him. Maybe it was just ticked Sid was eating all its fish. They were sharing the same hunting ground, after all; maybe this was all just lake monster for “fuck off.” Gutting the smaller fish first, inside he found a sack of roe, tiny orange-yellow eggs all clumped together. They would be good for frying. 

Sid moved on to the second fish. It was the bigger of the two and its stomach bulged abnormally, and the skin felt hard under his fingers. Sid wanted to get a good look at what it had eaten. He fitted the tip of his knife in by its tail and ran it up along the belly seam, making a small incision to remove the digestive tract. Something definitely wasn’t right. The stomach lining was warped around its contents and stretched to the point of almost bursting. Whatever it had swallowed was large. Frankly, Sid was surprised the fish had survived swallowing such a large object. Sid washed away the usual brown gunk of partially digested freshwater vegetation. 

“Aw, shit.” The trout had swallowed one of its own babies. A sick cold feeling slipped down his spine and curled in his stomach. It was wrong , unnatural. Sid had never seen anything like it before. He left it to the snapping turtle and the crayfish along with the heads and guts. There was nothing he could do with that. He wasn’t going to eat it. 

A great feeling of unease settled around him. Sid paused on the dock. Whatever it was that was out there had clearly been as interested in the fish as Sid was himself. Sid sighed. This was probably going to end up being a stupid waste of food. He dropped the smaller fish on the dock, at the end by the ladder, and hoped birds or a raccoon wouldn’t get to it first. Whatever it was, maybe it was hungry. Maybe if he fed it, it wouldn’t eat Sid. Maybe he had contracted beaver fever and this was his slow descent into madness .

Sid spent the rest of the afternoon in a fog. He tried to read and gave up. He watched the end of the dock with his binoculars, but saw nothing. He got a beer and watched the water and waited as the sun began to set. 

A large splash jostled Sid awake in his chair. It had been loud, just like the one out on the water. It could be a tree falling, but that didn’t sound quite right. This sounded like a dive, and close . Before he could think, Sid was throwing himself down the stairs and the hill towards the water, skidding to a stop by the foot of the dock. There were footprints, trailing down the length of the dock, wet and drying slowly in the weak sun. Sid stared, stunned. They were human, or vaguely human, with long toes and shallow webbing in between.

All the stress and excitement and expectation of the day came bubbling up like a shaken bottle and Sid let out a loud whoop. It echoed off the water and around the mountains. Sid looked around feeling inexplicably embarrassed, heart like a rabbit in his chest. This was the first sign that he hadn’t gone completely nuts out here alone. If the creature was interested in eating fish, there was a good chance this hadn’t all been a slow hunt, and Sid could sleep a little easier at night.

The moment felt monumental, and it seemed appropriate then for the sky cracked open above him. Slowly the rain erased the footprints from the dock, but it didn’t matter. Sid had seen them. They were as real as the bones arranged neatly at his feet, the perfect reconstruction of a fish. It was pretty. Whatever was out there was smart; this was communication, or a gift, maybe both. It was an acknowledgement, an “I see you.” And Sid felt seen, but he no longer felt scared. Not the primal animal fear of the unknown but the nervous excitement of something to come.

He still didn’t know what the creature wanted. But with every second he was more convinced that maybe it was a guardian of sorts, a water spirit. Sid had heard a never-ending line of fisherman’s tales growing up, and someone had always seen something in the water. Some were good omens, some were bad. Whatever this was that had found Sid, he couldn't shake this ever-growing feeling of being known intimately. 

Across the lake, rain fell like thousands of tiny water skeeters dancing along the water’s surface.

He was tired of waiting. He had waited for months, for something, without knowing what. He still didn’t know what he wanted, but it was the simplest decision in the world to strip out of his clothes right there by the offering of fishbones and walk out till his toes curled against the edge of the dock. Sid remembered something about the void looking back. He didn’t overthink it and jumped, plunging into the blackness. 

The water hissed around his ears. In that moment he lost all bearings and was unsure which way was up, seeming to float endlessly before he breached the surface. A rush of sound and light and air. Wiping water from his eyes, SId looked around: nothing. He made a few strokes out towards the center of the lake, took a deep breath, and dived. He let air out slowly and pushed past the burn as he sunk deeper. He didn’t know what he was looking for; any sign, really. The creature didn’t want to hurt him, but Sid still didn’t know what it wanted

His chest ached and he pushed sputtering back up to the surface. The rain was getting stronger and so was the wind, his field of vision narrowing as the rain hit the water, farther out now than he anticipated. The sky was grey and the water was grey and everything in between had melted into a seamless wash. He took another lungful and dived, pushing deeper still with a desperation he couldn’t quite explain.

An invisible strength caught him around the middle, like a current pushing him back towards the shore. Sid let himself be dragged without protest. The grip was steely and he wouldn’t win anyway; this wasn’t his territory. He broke the surface, fingers finding the wooden ledge of the dock and hoisting himself up. Everything was slick with rain and he flopped his body onto the dock, panting and scrabbling upright. 

Sid dangled his feet in the water. Between them a thin stream of bubbles rose and hit the surface. Sid kicked at them with his foot as they dissipated and waited. First, there was nothing, then something brushed against his foot. The sensation made him jump even though part of Sid had been expecting it, hoping for it even. He could barely see it against the black water, just the pale shadow of his own feet. Dark, thin fingers wrapped around his ankle; Sid was relieved when they didn’t claw or pull, but squeezed gently as if to say “stay put.”   Then between one blink and the next,, the sensation was gone and Sid felt a hole he never knew was there in the first place in its wake. 

His clothes were soaked and useless. Sid jogged up the muddy path and into the house, naked and shivering. The storm had grown stronger, rattling at the windows like it might just shatter the glass. Sid poked the fire back to life, finding a blanket to wrap himself up in and wait it out. He sat and watched the flames and tried not to think too hard about the fact that he had shifted things around in his heart to fit this unknowable creature. 

There was a distinct tap at his window. Sid waited, straining his ears just long enough to pass it off as a sound of the storm, before it came again, louder this time. Sid ventured out into the porch but there was nothing there. He pulled the blanket tighter around him and opened the screen door. It shuddered with the wind and Sid’s face was hit with an icy gust but there at his feet sat a pile of fish, fat and glimmering, left at his threshold.

Thank you, ” he called into the night. Sid waited for any small sound to return, but he wasn’t surprised when after a few minutes there was still nothing. 

As Sid lay in bed the storm rattled the house down to its bones. Even the field mice were all burrowed away safely out of earshot. There was not a sound besides the sheets of rain coming down against the roof and the window panes. The house felt hollow. Like a drum, or a tomb. Sid rolled over and curled into a ball. Something scraped against the floorboards beneath his bed. It wouldn’t be the first time an animal hid under the house during a storm. There was nothing living down there but the old wood furnace, and in the right light that looked like a monster of its own. If the creature was under there waiting for him, at least it would be in good company.

The next day, just when it looked like Sid’s situation couldn’t get any worse, the power went out, lights dying with a fizzle-pop and plunging Sid into darkness.  The rain had gone from vengeful to apocalyptic. There was no way Sid was going to risk his truck on a soft shoulder if he had to turn around. Instead, he walked and fought the rain all the way up the driveway till he hit a tree falling across the road. The wind ripped around him. He’d lugged the chainsaw all the way up here with him and now he brought it rumbling to life. It cut through cleanly for about three inches before the teeth snagged and chewed at the wet wood, and slowly the motor died. Sid tugged on the ripcord, he pulled and pulled and checked the gas and pulled again, chill seeping in through the damp layers of his clothing as his shoulder burned. The motor died a second time, not even cutting an inch deep. That wasn’t supposed to happen. “Crap.” 

Sid dropped the chainsaw and looked up at the sky, blinking aways raindrops. It was one thick blanket of black cloud that went on forever with no edges in sight, as if there was no chance it would ever stop raining. Maybe Sid was destined to be like Noah, save two of every species and whatever was lurking at the cool floor of his lake.  

There was no way of getting into town. Sid just had to bunker in and wait it out. Not ideal, but the circumstances hadn’t left him much of a choice. Sid had no idea how he made it back down the driveway in one piece and unimpaled by a flying branch. The world was a blur around him. He barely remembered to go flip the boat over. Jogging down to the dock, he paused. There was something dark laid out at the very end, a stick maybe, but it didn’t look solid enough. Whatever it was it didn’t belong. 

Sid turned away from the boathouse. He was already soaked; the rain couldn’t hurt him. He walked carefully as the wood was slippery under his feet and not all of these boards were sound. The thing on the dock was long and thin, dark green like a clump of algae and soft looking. Up close it sort of looked like a limb, melted and sagging, but the longer Sid stared, the more he could make out the splay of fingers at one end. He crouched down. There were five fingers, just like his own hand. 

Carefully, Sid reached out and pressed his finger to the object It was soft, so much so his finger sank right through the thin membrane and inside . A strip of fear ran through him, like he was suddenly doused with ice water. He snatched his hand away. Like so many things he had experienced recently this was wrong . Inhuman. 

Hastily Sid flipped the boat and ran all the way up the hill, grass slipping under his feet, and undressed right there inside the screen porch. He was soaked clean through. The fire had died down when he was gone, and he went around and lit all the remaining gas lamps in the main room, fed the woodstove and found a thick, felt blanket to wrap around himself. There was an old carpet ottoman in front of the fire so Sid could huddle up as close as he could and absorb the heat. 

Around him, the stormed howled like a banshee, all sound blurred together, so loud he could barely hear himself think. It was like being inside a blender, all churned up. His ears caught on something singular, an outcast sound, the distinctive metal rattle of the screen door. Sid turned slowly where he sat. 

Beyond the window, beside the door, there was something waiting. It stood tall and inky black inside the porch. Sid took a steadying breath. He knew before he even opened the door what would greet him on the other side. A silhouette barely visible in the dark, biding time till Sid gave permission and let it in. It wasn’t a difficult decision to make. 

Clutching his blanket around him, Sid opened the door. Even with the gas lamps, the light was low. The figure that stood at Sid’s threshold was noticeably asymmetrical, holding one side of its body gingerly. Sid stepped aside and shut the door behind them. 

The glow of the fire slowly peeled back the darkness and revealed wet skin. It reminded Sid of the fish on the steps, dark black-green in some places and paler along the soft underside. The creature was reedy but Sid could tell just by looking at him that it was all wiry muscle, thick around the shoulders. It looked around for a moment, curious about its surroundings, before it turned back to look at Sid, expectant. 

Something wasn’t right with its left arm. The forearm was starkly pale compared to the rest of its body. Sid took a step forward, unthinking. Everything was so hard to make out in the dark. 

The creature stood a little taller and Sid could feel his pulse throb under his skin. “It’s alright, I just want a look.” It didn’t move again when Sid came closer. The tissue of its arm and part of its hand--as Sid realized it had part of a hand --were practically translucent. Sid winced. “ Geez .” It looked tender. 

“Come, sit down.” It was probably a waste of air to speak, but the creature followed Sid to the ottoman, watching him all the way. Its attention was that same prick at the back of Sid’s neck that he had grown accustomed to, familiar now and almost comforting. 

The creature settled down beside Sid. It was easier to see, here by the fire. Sid had been sort of expecting the monster from the black lagoon, but that wasn’t what he’d got, at all . Its features were prominent, eyes large and forever watching. They were human eyes, deep and warm like coals and sloped kindly. Its face was framed by dark mossy-looking curls; it looked like little bits of plant was growing in its hair. Frilly little gills branched out from the sides of its neck reaching towards its ears. 

Now, Sid could see that the skin of the creature’s arm was a pale, fleshy pink that bled down into completely see-through. He sat still when Sid reached out and gently touched his fingers to the skin. They glided across the surface easily. Was it even a he --Sid couldn’t tell--it looked like a man, sitting quietly beside him in front of the fire and letting Sid explore. The skin was ever so slightly sticky, and Sid could see the metacarpals in his hand, little nubs that would distend into fingers. Sid thought back to the algae-like clump on the dock: he had dropped his injured arm like a salamander. If he could regenerate that fast it was insane. 

Sid’s mind spun in place, thoughts coming and going too fast to keep track of. This creature had left Sid fish when he couldn’t go out and get them for himself, he had pushed Sid back to shore when Sid was being a dumbass, and he had come to Sid when he was injured. Sid’s heartbeat rapidly as if it was its own creature in his chest waiting to spring free. 

Cool fingers touched his cheek. Sid jumped and blinked. The creature was watching Sid intently, a curious noise bubbling out of the back of its throat, and Sid laughed quietly. He couldn’t quite believe it, any of this really, and he couldn’t help the smile plastered on his face. 

He didn’t flinch away again when dark fingers wrapped around his wrist where it poked out of the blanket. The back of the creature’s arm was flecked with yellow spots and there were no fingernails at the tips, just smooth shiny points. They dragged up the length of Sid’s arm till it hit the edge of the blanket, and then it probed beneath. Sid sat very still as carefully the blanket was pushed away, revealing his shoulders and chest, shivering as all the warm air was released. The creature’s eyes had been swallowed almost entirely by pupil as they roved over Sid’s exposed skin. 

Hey, ” Sid called softly, catching the creature’s attention. Its second eyelid flickered, and Sid realized that was the first time he had blinked. 

It made that noise again, the soft inquiring pop of his throat, and edged in closer, brushing his good hand up over Sid’s shoulder. It must be hard, with only one hand and… a bit. Sid’s heart squeezed in sympathy and he leaned in. The creature made a happy gurgle, hand getting bolder as it felt along Sid’s chest, down over his stomach. 

Sid had never been regarded with such reverence. This creature looked so fond , stroking up Sid’s neck and over his cheek, injured hand coming up to mirror it. Sid felt a sudden deep well of emotion open in his chest. All this time this creature, Sid’s creature, really had been looking out for him. Sid wrapped his fingers ever so gently around the delicate, new bones of the creature’s wrist and brought the partially formed palm to his mouth, pressing a kiss to it. It was precious. 

The creature trilled at him, soft and sweet, barely audible over Sid’s racing pulse. Its gills wriggled happily and Sid suppressed a shiver.   Its mouth hung open, and Sid was surprised to realize he had teeth. 

Sid pressed another kiss to its palm for a repeat of the pleased bubbling sound. The thumb of its good hand stroked repeatedly at the corner of Sid’s lips, coxing. Sid set his teeth lightly against the new skin, The creature flinched, grip tightening around Sid’s jaw, and Sid’s heart beat an uneven rhythm in his ears. The creature’s good thumb pressed into the soft corner of Sid’s mouth, prying his jaw open. It ran its thumb over the line of his bottom teeth, attention fully occupied with Sid’s mouth.

The creature shifted on the ottoman, moving so he was kneeling fully over Sid, and Sid got a good sense of his size, looming above him. Sid’s eyes caught on movement, the ripple of the creature’s abdominals, down to where there was a bulge forming between his legs. Sid reached out and brushed his fingers over the mottled colouring of his stomach, the skin so pale it was almost translucent. Sid swore he could see something shift and move under the skin, slinking down. He felt the next ripple beneath his palm, the tip of something just poking through, pale against the dark flesh, more than just a bulge. There was an opening . Sid rubbed his thumb over it and the creature shuddered above him, more of the tip revealing itself, long and thin. 

Two fingers were back, instantly prodding the seam of his lips. They weren’t the dark fingers of his good hand, though; those the creature kept cradled to Sid’s jaw. These were the two most fully formed fresh pink fingers asking for entrance. Sid sucked them into his mouth eagerly in one slow glide, bobbing down to the knuckles and rubbing his tongue along the tender, new skin. Another full-body shudder ran through the creature and the rest of his dick pressed out in one wet slip. It was definitely a dick, pearly pink and purpley-blue where Sid could see the veins through the skin, speckled where it met the darker skin of his body. It was thick and raw-looking and dribbling.

 A thrill zipped down Sid’s was so much. Sid had barely even touched him and the creature’s dick was swollen and dripping all over the cushion between them. He continued to explore Sid’s mouth, caressing Sid’s gums and teeth with the soft pads of his new fingers, the hand that was cradling Sid’s jaw petting his cheek and up into his hair. Whatever this was, it was clearly working for him. 

It was working for Sid, too. His dick was heavy between his legs, most of the way hard and starting to leave a sticky spot against his inner thigh. Sid wanted to do a good job, running his tongue along the underside of the creature’s fingers, suckling on the digits and keeping his mouth soft and wet. The cock in front of Sid’s face oozed more thick, cloudy fluid, leaking all over. Sid sucked harder and the creature let out a soft coo, slowly pulling the digits from Sid’s mouth. 

Sid’s heart hammered. He hoped he was right about what was coming next. Blood pulsed in every vein. 

The creature brushed the hair away from Sid’s forehead, carding his fingers back and with a gentle pressure bringing Sid forward. Sid went willingly, shutting his eyes and rubbing his lips against the slick flesh of the creature’s dick, kissing delicately at the skin. He shivered happily when the creature whined above him, fingers tangling in his hair, tugging at Sid’s scalp in a way that made Sid’s body unspool. Yeah, this was what he wanted. 

Sid pressed closer, burrowing his face into the creature’s crotch and sucking wet mouthfuls where the skin was pulled back around the base of his cock, nuzzling in there. Everything was damp and suffocating and good . Sid moaned low into the crease of the creature’s hip, biting down lightly, and then he was being pulled away again. Sid blinked up at the creature, eyes blurry. His mouth felt so slick already, head muffled and warm like it was filled with cotton balls. 

Sid sat up a little straighter, bracketing the creature’s hips with his palms, digging his fingers in a little and dragging him in. Sid felt more confident now in what this was, what the creature wanted. It took its cock in its pink hand, pressing the leaking head to Sid’s mouth, brushing it back and forth against Sid’s lips, smearing them with that viscous fluid. 

Sid didn’t need to be teased. He dropped his jaw happily. It was going to fill his mouth up so good and Sid wanted it so bad his chest ached. The wet tip pressed down against his tongue and Sid fit his lips around the girth and slid down onto the creature’s cock, which filled him just the way he’d expected. The soft friction and the endless glide over Sid’s tongue and the sensitive roof of his mouth felt like a reward, the tapered head fitting right up against the back of his throat. The rush of blood in Sid’s ears was loud, like diving underwater. Sid tightened his lips around the thickness of it, suckling the mouthful eagerly. 

The creature whined again above him, pained noise from deep in his chest as he tugged at Sid’s hair. Sid nursed at the cock in his mouth, slick head steadily leaking and making the spit build up thick at the back of Sid’s throat. The creature pressed down on the back of Sid’s head. He was strong and his cock slid deep, forcing Sid’s throat open. The slick drag was a surprise and Sid choked a bit before he relaxed into it, moaning at the friction. 

A bubble of spit leaked out of the corner of Sid’s mouth and then he was being dragged off. He licked at his lips and earned his another coo from the creature above him. He watched Sid adoringly and tilted Sid’s head back, pressing his thumbs under the joint of Sid’s jaw. Sid opened obediently. He was being dragged back onto the creature’s dick, slipping deep into his throat and rocking there, endless waves of sensation cascading over him. 

It was so sensitive Sid could feel the tears welling up as the creature’s cock began to throb against the thick pad of his tongue. The creature’s hips rocked out once more, in one delicious drag, Sid’s mouth felt used and swollen when the creature pressed in one last time, cleaving his throat open. Sid’s eyes flutter closed and he moaned long and needy when finally the dam broke and the creature’s cock pulsed, coming thick down Sid’s throat. 

It was one warm, endless slide that it just kept pumping. Tears pricked in the corners of Sid’s eyes and his throat burned. The creature cradled the back of Sid’s skull in his hands and held him still, and Sid fisted his own dick slowly, savouring it, letting the foreskin drag over the shaft, trying not to give in and fuck his hand right away. He was so wet.

At last, the creature pulled away, wiping a dribble from Sid’s bottom lip, gaze molten when Sid sucked the finger into his mouth. It still seemed pretty occupied with what was going on up there. Sid didn’t take it personally. He rubbed over the wet head of his cock with his thumb, his insides warm and liquid and the world around him soft and dark. He tightened his fist, working himself over in fast pulls. 

The creature wiped more of the mess from Sid’s face, feeding it to him, and Sid’s balls tightened, that telltale hot clench in his stomach before he spilled all over his fingers. The creature blinked at him curiously as Sid shivered through it, but most of its attention was still fixed on Sid’s face. 

It followed Sid silently back and forth as Sid washed the come from his thighs and mouth and found one of the trout the creature had left on Sid’s doorstep to occupy it while Sid brought out blankets and pillows to create a nest by the fire. It was too cold to sleep anywhere else with the power still shot. The creature left a neat little pile of bones by Sid’s makeshift bed, no careful recreation of the fish this time. Maybe all the romance was gone from their relationship already. 

Sid killed all the gas lamps and settled in. It didn’t take long for the creature to join him, stretching out along his side and tracing an invisible line up and down the pale skin of Sid’s abdomen, following the thin line of hair from his bellybutton to his pelvis and back. It was a nice feeling and Sid pulled the blankets over them. It didn’t take him long to sink into a deep sleep. 

Sid woke slowly, not sure what has roused him from his sleep. The room was filled with weak morning light and his back ached from sleeping on the floor. There was the bulk of another body next to him, pressed up tight. Sid had almost expected to wake up this morning and for everything to had been wiped clean as if it had never happened at all. 

His stomach rolled, sharp and insistent, startling him the rest of the way awake. That full-body ache was vivid now compared to the numb tingling sensation creeping across the skin of his stomach. He pulled the blankets away and rolled over. Cold fear doused him, more intense than ever before. There, his stomach jutted out from the rest of his body where it had been flat the night before, pale and swollen. 

Panic set in and the world around him began to dissolve. Then he felt something wriggle. The horrible sensation of something writhing inside him, like worms in his gut. 

Sid’s stomach rolled like he was going to be sick right there on the blankets. Surely nothing could be more horrifying than what was already happening, but then something pressed from the inside out, visibly stretching the skin. There was something living inside him. Living , moving things. 

Sid thought back to the trout that had swallowed its own offspring. What if it was sick, what if it had a parasite that made it go after its own young and Sid had eaten it. His stomach rolled again, violently, then fluttered as whatever it was under his skin squirmed visibly. Sid launched himself from the nest of blankets. He had to get away, but there was nowhere he could run when what he was running from was under his skin. Sid was definitely going to throw up.   

He braced himself over the bathroom sink, heaving and spitting out clumps of bile. In the mirror, he caught sight of himself. Along his abdomen, right under his belly button was a line, pearly pink and glimmering. He touched it and jerked his hand back as tingling sensation rolled over his skin. That had been a mistake. 

Sid turned on the shower, not really thinking, not really seeing, just doing. He’d only have a bit of hot water left with the power off, but it seemed worth it. And it was, the hot water felt good burning away the grime, and the chill, and the shock. Except, it seemed, the things inside Sid approved of the water as well, wriggling and stretching his stomach in ways that sent a rush of pure horror cascading down his spine. Whatever it was was going to eat him from the inside out, he was sure of it. He was so fucked.

There was a questioning chirp and the shower curtain was pulled back. The creature poked his head into the shower, expression turning warm when he caught sight of Sid standing there.

“Hi.” Sid didn’t know what else to say. Last night still felt like a dream, blurry and out of reach, but there he was clear as day and climbing into Sid’s shower with him.   

The creature didn’t seem at all surprised by the change Sid had gone through overnight. If anything, his face softened when he got a good view of the bulge. He let out a happy gurgle, webbed fingers gliding over the curve of Sid’s distended stomach. It felt better to have his hands on Sid’s skin-- petting --whatever it was he was doing, the creature was focused on it intently, and the things in Sid’s abdomen settled down. 

The creature traced a finger down the line below Sid’s belly button. The touch was unexpected and made him shiver. The skin was tender and sensitive, and slowly Sid relaxed into the feeling as the creature stepped closer, pressing into him. The creature was warm compared to the tepid water, tucking his face in close to Sid’s, nosing at his cheek and hair, all the while rubbing those neat circles over the crease. Sid swayed on his feet, lulled by the touch like he was back standing on his boat, letting the waves take him away and out of his body as time slipped by. Only the tendrils of sensation remained as his abdominals relaxed and then opened .

Ah-- ” Sid pushed away, far enough to get a good look down at his belly. He could barely see it. His fingers joined the ones already there, rubbing dutifully at, at--the slit in his skin. The seam had turned puffy around the edges, more of that sticky clear fluid smeared around it and ever so slightly open. 

“Holy shit,” Sid whispered. The creature made an agreeable noise, his finger dipping just inside the slit. Sid’s teeth began to chatter as the water ran cold. He might just shiver all the way out of his skin. He shut off the water and the creature followed him out of the tub and shook himself like a dog, water droplets flying from his mossy hair. Something hit the mirror about the sink with a wet thwack . Sid stared: it was a slug that had gotten ejected from the creature’s hair and now slid pitifully down the glass. What was Sid’s life. 

Sid’s stomach lurched out of nowhere, that same writhing sensation but worse than before. He just thought he had gotten a handle on it when it was followed by a cramp. That couldn’t be good. It rippled through the walls of his abdomen towards the newly formed slit, dull pain coming in waves. Another one hit, sharper this time, and Sid gripped the side of the sink until his fingers turned white.   

Beside him the creature made a series of sharp, insistent noises, pushing at Sid till he uncurled his body from the sink and let himself be herded out of the bathroom and towards the front door. 

“Wait, it’s cold.” Sid dug in his heels and pushed his way back towards his room. The creature hovered behind him, that same unshakable presence that had shadowed Sid for months now breathing directly down his neck.  

“Okay, okay, I’m hurrying,” Sid assured when its trilling turned distressed. He pulled on his sweatpants and a hoodie; anything else seemed less than necessary at the moment. They stopped again to let Sid to grab the quilt off the back of the couch and put on his rubber boots, and then he was being corralled out the door and towards the water. Sid expected to be led to the dock, but instead, they shuffled down a deer path along the water. It was slow going. Sid had to pause more than once, bracing his weight against a tree when a cramp hit. The creature cooed at him, shoving its slick hands up the back of Sid’s hoodie and running them over the sore muscles in his back. It felt so good compared to the way everything inside him turned and squeezed.

They made it to a burrow of leaves, deep and cushy looking and sheltered by branches right by the water’s edge.  Sid knew what a nest looked like, and that was clearly exactly what this was. Quickly everything came together in technicolour, the sex and the feeling of things alive within him, all the silent stalking and the fish. The creature did want something from Sidney: it wanted a mate . And it had one now despite Sid’s feelings on the matter, conflicted and frankly horrified.  

There wasn’t really time to think about that now. Sid’s insides rippled like his guts might be ripped out along with whatever was preparing to crawl out of the new orifice on his stomach. He dropped the quilt into the nest, blotting some of the dampness, and stripped out of his sweats. He crawled into the nest and the creature followed behind. It was insulated, warmer down here at ground level than Sid expected it to be, especially with the creature tucked in beside him. He looked immensely pleased with himself, picking at leaves around them, arranging them to his specifications with an expression Sid would describe as smug on his face. Sid would probably find it cute if everything below his chest didn’t feel hot and numb and tight, skin pulling back, opening him up. 

Next came the sensation of pressure from inside out. Sweat broke out across his brow and the nape of his neck. It didn’t hurt necessarily, not beside the cramps, but the feeling of something trying to crawl out of him was so bone-chillingly wrong. There was a wet pop, startlingly loud like a water balloon bursting, followed by a wash of liquid warmth down over his lower body. 

Sid’s face warped into a grimace. There was intense squirming right under the slit as something small slipped out of him, then another sliding down into his lap. Then Sid was steadily pushing them out, evicting them from his body, tiny wriggly things crawling down his legs towards the water. It felt almost good, a deep relief to slowly be empty as the last of the baby creatures were flushed from his belly.

Distantly there was the sound of Sid’s creature picking up that deep cooing noise over and over. Sid blinked away the moisture from his eyes as he lay there and panted up at the sky. Without the babies inside of him, Sid just felt beached and fat. He was hemmed in by the creature pressing them together with as much skin to skin contact as it could get, crooning at Sid, at the babies, both probably. All Sid could focus on were the squishy wet noises like an animated can of spaghetti. 

Sid pressed up onto his elbows, which took way more effort than it should. Between his legs, slowly making their way over the leaves to the water, were a rough hundred baby salamanders, still in their early stage with two legs and a little tail, frilly gills around their head just like their dad - -mom-- Sid couldn’t process those sort of questions right now. They were cute, the more Sid looked at them wriggling around the nest and into the shallow pool. Sid’s creature had set up some sort of shelter out of old hemlock branches dragged into the bank, like a crib.  

“Where will they go?” Sid asked, but of course, he didn’t get an answer, just a chirp and curious fingers pawing at his stomach. The slit along his belly was sealing up but it still sent those sparks skittering across Sid’s skin when brushed against. Sid shivered at the sensation but also the way the sweat was now cooling against his skin. The creature blinked at him intently and started pulling the corners of Sid’s quilt around him, dragging piles of leaves from around the edge of the nest and arranging them over Sid. Sid felt like he was being wrapped up like a mummy, cocooned under leaves, but after everything, it was comforting and he was exhausted.  

The creature shimmied until he was buried under the leaves with Sid, nuzzling at his face. Fingers brushed over Sid’s lips but he kept them pressed tightly together. He didn’t want another repeat of this experience, not right away at least. It didn’t seem to want to kiss him, just brush their cheeks together. But that was alright. Its mouth probably tasted like whatever was living at the bottom of the lake. Sid would get used to it; he had someone looking out for him now. This creature would take care of them, Sid and all of his salamander babies, their new life together in the woods. For however long, Sid didn’t know.  


Chapter Text

Smoke rose from the fire in great plumes, drifting off the desert and into the night sky, stinging Sid’s eyes as the wind changed, whipping to and fro. Sid drew his blanket tighter around himself; the days were blistering and the nights were so cold the wind bit into his raw skin like a thousand tiny needles. Sid tilted the brim of his hat lower over his eyes. In the distance he could just make out the muffled sounds of his horse lipping at whatever thin vegetation was pushing through the cracks in the soil. There wasn’t much. The land was barren but the sky was rich, a velvety black encrusted with stars like glinting diamonds and winking at him. 

It was probably a mistake to be out here alone without a caravan, but Sid was finely honed to surviving in harsh conditions. Life in the wilderness had sharpened him like a knife blade to whetstone. Around him, the blackness of the night sky seemed to drip down, like snaking fingers; the smoke from his fire rose up in tendrils and clasped its hand. Darkness swam around him like turning current. It called out to him, drawing him north towards the canyons, but Sid did not know why. So many things were possible under the watchful eye of the stars.

Sid rode towards the canyons, standing against the horizon in a cloudy haze. They were Sid’s goal, shimmering in the distance and almost out of reach. His tailbone hurt, his eyes were dry, and his throat and nostrils were caked with dust. It was too hot to have the suffocating press of a bandana over his mouth and nose. 

These things wouldn’t slow Sid down. Hiding in the valley of the canyons was Sid’s prize for his hard ride across the badlands and would buy him his compensation after a long trek back.

Sid dismounted where the floor of the desert met the mouth of the canyon. It would be easier to lead his horse from here, winding through the narrow passage in the rock. Sid did not like this place, though he knew it well. From the outside, it looked like it might be a good place to escape from watchful eyes, but Sid was familiar with the paths and nooks and knew it was also a good place for an ambush. 

He just hoped no one would be coming in behind him too soon.

There was a crevice not too far from inside the mouth, one that opened up once you squeezed through it. He had used it many times for hiding his horse. Sid needed to climb and he had to do it alone. He left his hat with his horse and secured his holster tighter around his waist. The path up the rock face was steep, but if the men had indeed made camp here, Sid needed the element of surprise. 

The first clue was the smoke rising up from between the rocks, then voices followed. Sid found a good outcropping where he could lie down and survey from above. Sid entered all jobs people paid him for with less information than he wished. This one had been especially vague and now Sid knew why. He recognized this group of men: they were well known for trafficking priceless goods and things .

There were many whispers about things , things seen in the desert, unreal things. Some blew it off as mirages; some would swear until their last breath about their encounters with beings in the desert.

Sid had seen things, too. He didn’t talk about these things, because it only brought trouble. These men were the worst kind of trouble and if Sid had known this going in he probably wouldn’t have taken the job. There were more bodies than he had been expecting, three men around the fire, one of whom was bound. There were four horses, which meant someone else was lurking around here on lookout. He hoped the bound man, being , whatever he was, was not the item Sid was supposed to be after; Sid did not take prisoners and he didn’t steal people for a price. 

Sid’s instincts were sharp. These men were herd animals. Their numbers would help them in a group, but scattered they were vulnerable, and Sid was a predator. 

They were wedged in by the walls of the canyon. Small alleys branched off the main channel and Sid inched his way towards one of the smaller passages, grabbing a fist-sized chunk of red rock and clutching it tight. 

Sid perched himself at the top of the alley, chucking his stone down the rock face. It echoed through the walls in a series of sounds that reverberated endlessly down the canyon. The heads of the men around the campfire whipped around. There was some bickering and then one of the men was sent off to investigate. 

Sid eased himself slowly, carefully, down the rock face.

He was right above his target. Sid rocked on the balls of his feet, building courage. It was an easy drop, and he knew how to throw his weight and roll with it. If Sid was smart he would just leave now; this was a bad job through and through. The problem was Sid wasn’t all that smart. He was brave, though. He dropped.

It wasn’t overly difficult to put this man down; Sid had weight on him and he crumpled underneath Sid like paper. They rolled together on the ground. Fighting was always more of a mad scramble than a series of practised movements. Sid wormed his hand from where it was clamped over the man’s mouth down around his neck, getting elbowed a few times in the process, a hot jolt of pain in the soft spot under the ribs. Sid locked his arm and flexed tight, wrenching the man’s head around as they continued to roll. For a minute the world was only hot dust in his mouth and nose, bright flashes of blue sky and the tension in his body, every muscle pulled tight like a bowstring. He had to win, he had to live another day.  Soon the kicking stopped and the man went lax. Sid held on for another minute before letting go. 

There was an inquiring yell in the distance. Sid’s head was still hot and fuzzy, his heart beating double time in his chest. But he stood, taking a few deep breaths down into his stomach, slowing his heart rate and in a practiced movement, he drew his revolver steady. As soon as the man rounded the corner into the alley, it was too late. A single shot rang out straight and true, clean in, clean out, right between the eyes and he folded like a stack of cards into the dust. 

Sid stepped over the bodies. He didn’t care about these men, they were not good men and he couldn’t risk being followed. 

The bound man was still sitting by the fire: good. At least he hadn’t tried to run. He wouldn’t have gotten very far on his own in this maze of sharp rocks. 

Sid knelt in front of him. The rag in his mouth was bloody and his nose was probably broken. Sid pulled it from his mouth and started working on the binds around his hands, drawing his knife to cut them through, and the man didn’t flinch. Sid took this as a good sign. He had big hands with broad palms and sores around his wrists. Sid looked over his face; he didn’t look too banged up except for his nose. He looked good. 

“I’m going to have to set your nose.” 

“Okay.” The man’s voice was hoarse and he coughed again and winced. Yeah, his nose was definitely broken. There was something else about his voice, an accent. Sid had met a family from Denmark before but that wasn't quite right, either; it was something else European. 

“Okay, here we go.” Sid was well practiced at setting bones and the man sat still while Sid got a good grip on his nose. It didn’t mean it was going to hurt any less. Sid made it quick. 


Sid gave him a solid slap on the shoulder, “Good man.” Despite being captive for how long--Sid didn’t know--his shoulder felt thick under Sid’s palm. In the face of what they had put him though, he was strong. That was another good sign. 

The man muttered fuck again under his breath and shot a bloody wad of snot out his nose into the dirt.  

Sid made his way over to the horses. He still had a job to do. 


Sid froze in step. That was distinctly not the voice of the man he had just saved. He looked at the horses again and cursed. He had forgotten about the lookout. How could he have forgotten about the lookout. 

Sid turned slowly, hands up. He had holstered his gun and while Sid was fast, there was not enough time to draw, not with the man Sid had saved still sitting by the fire and his captor standing behind him with a gun to his head. 

The smoke from the fire flickered and thickened, growing dark and stormy and wild. Almost instantly the air was filled with it, making it hard to see.

Sid heard “What the hell--”  then a yelp as out of nowhere great arms reached from the smoke. Not arms really --they were long and thin like snakes and whipped around too fast for Sid to really make out. A blur of pitch darkness that wrapped around their assailant and threw him against the wall of the canyon. He hit the rock with a sickening thwack and dropped to the ground, body dead weight and unmoving. 

The arms--the tentacles--were slowly receding with the smoke drawing back towards the man Sid had saved. Sid hadn’t expected him to return the favour so quickly. They dissolved into his skin, vein-like markings along his limbs, thick and pulsing. 

“Thank you.” Sid didn’t really know what else to say. He had seen so many things but he had never seen anything like this. 

The man shrugged. “It’s okay,” he said, and started fussing with the buttons of his shirt. Maybe he was shy.

Sid left him to get his bearings. Sid still wanted whatever was in those saddlebags. Provisions: water, food, bullets. Those were worth more than gold, but he kept an eye out for anything wrapped up or tucked away. Anything that he could have a possible reason to be all the way out here for other than the man currently dusting the dirt from his pants, but besides some loose tobacco in a handkerchief there was nothing. 

That only left this being. Sid wasn’t going to bring him into town, and he wasn't going to get paid for his trek out here. Still, Sid couldn’t just leave him. Whatever he was, Sid didn’t think he’d survive alone. Hopefully, he could ride and shoot. 

Sid took long pulls from one of the water skins. Rescuing was thirsty work. He tossed it at the man who caught it easily. At least his hand-eye coordination was all there. It meant that they hadn’t hit him in the head too many times and Sid probably didn’t have to worry too much about him falling off his horse. 

From the four horses that were there, Sid picked the soundest: thick with a glossy coat, a good conformation. The rest he would cut free and let loose. There were known herds of horses, wild mustangs and domestic strays nearby; they would find their way, hopefully. The rest--well, that wasn't Sid’s job to worry about that. He had his hands full. 

“I want to get out of here before anyone comes looking for these guys, or you.”

Gunshots tended to attract the worst kind of attention. Even this far out. Just when you thought you were alone, there was always someone not too far away thinking the exact same thing. 

Sid’s eyes caught on the first wandering shadow of a vulture beginning to circle overhead. It was time to leave. 

“You can ride, right?”

The man nodded, rubbing at his wrists. They looked raw. Sid looked around and tugged a pair of leather gloves off the man lying by the stone wall; he had big hands. He tossed the gloves at his companion. “Here, these should fit right.” 

That seemed to set him off. He sat down and measured his feet against the boots of the man before pulling them on. They had likely taken his boots so he couldn’t run far if he escaped. He picked a black Stetson with a wide brim that had been abandoned by the fire, dusting it off and placing it on his head. He grinned at Sid, and Sid felt the corner of his mouth curl. The man certainly had a charm.  

“Looks good,” Sid said, “let’s get going.” 

The man’s smile fell and he paused, holding up his hands placatingly. “Wait, please.” He started frantically rifling around in the dead man's pockets. He seemed to be searching for something specific. Finally, he made a triumphant noise and came back cradling something small to his chest.

He looked at Sid long and assessing, before holding it out. It was a gold chain, glinting in the light with some sort of pendant; Sid couldn't make it out. Sid’s heart picked up. Gold was a rare commodity these days, and it was a big risk showing that to Sid. He definitely didn’t deserve that kind of trust. 

“For keep safe,” the man explained, and fasted the chain around his neck, tucking the pendant safely away under his shirt. 

Sid looked away. “Good, we’ll need it.”

They rode hard until the sun was low in the sky. The man made for a good partner: he was quiet and he didn’t complain. Honestly, he was probably just as eager, if not more, to put miles between them and the dead men as Sid was. Dead men didn’t always stay dead around these parts.

They made camp at dusk. Sid led them to a rocky outcrop that made for good shelter from the dust and the wind. With shelter like this, hopefully Sid could build them a strong fire. They groaned in unison dismounting. Sid’s entire being ached and he was sure his companion felt just as bad if not worse. Sid removed their saddles and tied the horses together; his wouldn’t wander far and smart animals stuck together. 

Sid watched the man remove his Stetson. The curls of his dark hair were plastered flat with sweat and he wiped at them with his wrist. The bones looked almost delicate compared to how big his hands were. He pulled his shirt sleeves down over his fingers and sat close to the fire Sid was trying to start with a handful of scraggly grass and whatever dried-out wood he could find. It probably wouldn’t last long, but they had blankets and--well--having someone to share body heat with made a big difference on nights like this. 

The man wrapped his arms tight around his knees and the fabric of his shirt stretched in a way that left the side of his neck and collarbones exposed. Sid could see the marks winding up the side of his neck like vines, thick and black like the night and just under his skin. 

“What are you?” The question probably wasn’t very polite but the entire ride Sid had been playing over and over again how this man had pulled extra limbs seemingly out of thin air and strong enough to send a man flying.

“Wait for dark, I show.”

Well then. “Do you have a name?” Not all things had names, or if they did you would fare better not knowing them. 


Sid repeated it and it earned him another smile, though this time his eyes shone in a way that made Sid almost certain he was being laughed at. 

“That’s a mouthful.”

The man just shrugged, unbothered. “My name.”

“I like it,” Sid said and meant it. He hadn’t met any Zhenyas before. It was unique the same way he was and it made Sid want to keep him safe. There was so much he wanted to know.

“What’s on your chain?” Sid gestured at his own neck and Zhenya pulled the necklace from his shirt, leaning over to show the pendant to Sid. On it was the relief of a five-point star, stretched in a way that it almost looked like a tiny figure of a person. “It’s very pretty.” 

Zhenya smiled like he was trying to tuck it away into his shoulder, rubbing his thumb over the pendant as if he could polish some of the grim out of its grooves. It didn’t do much. Maybe it was just a habit. “Yes,” he agreed. “Very old, special.” 

After raiding the saddlebags they had more than enough provisions for the two of them, at least for a while. There was some dried meat, bread that wasn’t too stale, and to Sid’s delight an apple. Fruit was almost as rare a commodity as gold. Sid sliced it up evenly, passing half of the slices to Zhenya. Sid watched as he bit into a piece, the juice dripping down his lip over his chin. Zhenya’s mouth was as red as the skin and ripe-looking.

Sid ripped out another fistful of grass and tossed it in the fire, sending a burst of embers dancing up into the sky. It was dark enough now that the stars began to reveal themselves, one by one blinking into existence above them until the sky was a great swath of shimmering lights. The sky began to swirl and grasp at the smoke like it had the night before. Beside him, Zhenya stood and started pulling at the handkerchief around his neck. Sid watched, throat thick with emotions he never tried to put too much thought to, when after the piece of cloth was dropped to the ground it was soon followed by his shirt. 

Sid wondered if maybe he shouldn’t be watching this but Zhenya clearly didn’t seem to care; he was focused on working at the tie of his pants. 

“You’re going to freeze like that.”

“Maybe, but I think no.” Zhenya smiled at Sid, all of a sudden cocksure like Sid had misinterpreted the quiet for shyness when really he’d just been watching Sid watch him back. Sid’s face flooded with heat. 

Zhenya stood by the fire and let the smoke engulf him like a second skin. His teeth shone bright and when he turned his hand over, blackness wisped off his skin like dark flames, following each movement and cloaking his skin. 

A tendril reached out towards Sid He held his hand out, mesmerized, and watched as the tip wove between his fingers, tangling them together. He closed his fist, expecting his fingers to slip right through as if the appendages really were made of nothing but smoke. But instead, they met resistance, soft and velvety and solid. Some unknown material, fashioned out of the fabric of the night sky. Alien to this planet and anything Sid had ever seen, and Sid had seen a lot. 

The tendril spiralled up his forearm, getting thicker and giving a curious tug. It was strong, and Sid let himself be pulled to his feet. More of the limbs branched off from Zhenya’s body, coiling around Sid’s chest and drawing him in. They squeezed ever so gently but Sid could still feel the pressure in his ribcage. Sid was sure Zhenya could feel his pulse through his skin. There was no controlling it now; they were so close, and Zhenya’s eyes shone like flat, black stones, staring as if they could see right into Sid’s mind. 


Zhenya’s voice was low, still a little hoarse and Sid didn’t know, couldn’t know if Zhenya could see what Sid wanted, if he had been reading his thoughts all day. But he probably didn’t need to It was clear on Sid’s face.

Sid nodded, running his hands along the sides of Zhenya’s face, stroking over both cheeks, rough under his palms, and carding his fingers back through the soft curls, fingertips just running over the shells of his ears.

Zhenya smiled at him. He had a good smile; up close it was a little crooked, but so was Sid’s. Zhenya’s lips were cracked from the dust and the dehydration, but they were plush, just the way Sid thought they’d be, bottom one fat and ripe when Sid sucked it into his mouth. Little flames reached out and licked at his face, tickling like a hundred tiny caresses, and Sid smiled at the sensation, letting go of the suction of his lip to press their mouths together properly. A hot liquid slide that burned quickly through his whole body. He got to touch Zhenya the way he had been thinking about all day. 

Sid was hungry, and Zhenya was the best thing Sid had felt in such a long time. He tilted his head, pressing deeper into Zhenya’s mouth. He opened up so easily and it felt like such an indulgence to kiss him. Sid didn’t want to have to stop, not even to breathe. Their noses brushed and Zhenya hissed against his lips. “Ouch,”

“Sorry,” Sid said and pressed a quick kiss to his mouth, then another. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Yes.” Zhenya didn’t seem concerned and captured Sid’s mouth in another bruising press.

Sid sucked kisses along the soft curve of his jaw. It was rough with stubble and stung against Sid’s sunburnt cheek. The sensation left him feeling scraped new, aching, and good. He liked the feeling. It could hurt a bit and it was okay. 

Zhenya’s hands dragged up over his back and down, over and over like he was savouring just getting to feel. His hands snaked around to start working at Sid’s shirt buttons, plucking roughly at them. He didn’t get very far before he made a frustrated sound under his breath. “ Off .”

“Alright, okay.” Sid helped Zhenya remove his shirt, and then Zhenya’s hands were back, mapping out the planes of muscle and skin over his shoulders and down his spine. Sid’s blood sung with each touch. He pressed his mouth right where it could reach in the juncture of Zhenya’s neck and shoulder, sucking wet kisses up the column of his throat and cradling him in close so that Sid could hear those soft hitched breaths Zhenya was making into his ear.  

Sid explored over Zhenya’s arms and around his hips, sliding his palms down over his ass. It was thick with muscle and fat and he gripped the top of it and dragged their hips together.

Sid’s pants were tight and he was so hard already. Sid had never- -and he could feel Zhenya’s dick, thick and hot and snug against the crest of his hip. He rocked up against it and Zhenya bit off a gasp. Nothing had ever felt like this and Sid hadn’t even gotten his dick out yet. 

Zhenya abandoned his grope of Sid’s back to start yanking at the ties of his pants. He had better success with them than with Sid’s shirt buttons and shoved Sid’s pants just open enough to grasp Sid’s cock in his hand. It was warm and dry and Sid couldn’t help the noise he made, body bowing forwards, moaning into Zhenya’s chest and pulling him close. Sid shivered at the cool air and at the slow hot drag of Zhenya’s hand over his cock. The friction was so much and Sid’s toes curled in his boots. Zhenya’s hand pressed deeper, rolling Sid’s balls and giving them a squeeze that made Sid’s fingers dig into the meat of Zhenya’s ass. 

Having Zhenya like this, naked and willing--just the idea was just too much and not enough. Sid shoved his pants the rest of the way down, shucking off his boots. He wanted to be closer than this. It was warmer down on the ground, by the fire, easy to lie back on his bedroll and rest his head in the cradle of his saddle. Zhenya stood above him, the current in the air throwing the black flames to and fro, and it looked like he was flickering in and out of existence. He was handsome and terrifying and Sid wanted him closer, Sid wanted him to feel real again.

Sid held out his hand and Zhenya met him halfway, chapped lips back against Sid’s and the solid weight of another person settling themselves over him. Tendrils snaked over Sid’s sides and down his thighs, coiling around him tight, exploring every nook and crevice till Sid was sure he was wrapped up in them entirely.   

Sid stroked over Zhenya’s hair and his shoulders, tensing when the tip of one tendril pressed behind his balls, feeling up between his cheeks. He pushed away from the pressure, squirming. Sid didn’t really want to go far but his heart was in his throat. Something that big was supposed to hurt. Sid had only had his own fingers and a jar of Vaseline and he liked it--

He broke away from Zhenya’s mouth with a gasp when the tendril found his hole again, probing gently.

“Shh, okay,” Zhenya whispered, pressing a kiss beside his ear and another to the corner of his jaw as the head of the tendril slid back and forth, just rubbing there till Sid slowly unwound. 

Sid was sensitive and it felt so good rubbing at him, slick with some greasy substance until it was almost not enough, anticipation all balled tight in Sid’s chest. He knew how much better it felt to have two thick fingers curled inside him. He didn’t know if he’d ever get this again, and with someone like Zhenya. Someone unique.

Sid gripped the back of Zhenya’s neck, guiding their mouths together, building his courage and settling his heart. He curled his legs up against Zhenya’s sides, opening himself up. It was a lot just to have him sink deeper between Sid’s thighs. Zhenya made a high noise in his throat and the tentacle rubbing at him prodded firmer against his sensitive rim, slicking him up till Sid felt so hot he might be melting, and let it slip inside. 

“Easy,” Zhenya murmured, like it was a compliment, and Sid’s body flushed with heat. The tentacle rocked inside him shallowly, pressing deeper as Sid’s muscles unspooled. It didn’t pull out, just kept fucking him deep like that, dragging against everything good. Sid let out the moan he had locked inside his chest as the tentacle began to swell, thick and rubbing against that spot that made Sid’s balls ache and his cock twitch. 

Zhenya leaned back to look at him, outlined by the fire. The light caught in his hair and his eyelashes and along the line of his jaw. He stroked down over Sid’s hips, drawing his leaking cock away from his belly. Sid planted his feet on the ground, rolling his hips to fuck up into Zhenya’s hand, but Zhenya held him firm at the hip, keeping Sid there.

Zhenya dropped down, sucking the head of Sid’s cock in and out of his mouth a few times, massaging at the base before swallowing him down and sucking in slow, long pulls. Every muscle in Sid’s body drew tight, spine curving off the ground as Zhenya’s fat red lips wrapped snug around his cock, sliding over him in one long spine-melting glide. Sid’s thighs quivered. He was going to come in Zhenya’s hot mouth, he was sure of it, dick throbbing when fingers tightened down around the base. Sid moaned. It hurt to have Zhenya’s mouth taken away. He pinched his eyes tight trying not to come just like this, Zhenya’s tentacle swollen in his ass and filling him up so good.  

Another kiss was being pressed to Sid’s mouth and he sighed into it. Zhenya was hovering over him, his thighs bracketing Sid’s hips. He ground himself down on Sid cock and Sid’s whole body jerked, hands snapping up to grasp at his hips. Zhenya held mostly still as Sid’s fingers crept over his ass and between his cheeks. Sid’s rubbed at his rim. Zhenya was all soft and hot, hole slick with that same greasy substance, thick and a little gritty. It didn’t feel so different, and Sid curled two fingers inside. God, Zhenya was tight and he huffed a whine right into Sid’s ear, hot and needy. Sid’s cock bobbed against his stomach. He was so hard. 

“C’mon, please.” Sid didn’t care how they got off, but Zhenya seemed to have a plan. 

He pushed up against Sid’s chest, angling his hips and reaching back to slip the leaking head of Sid’s cock over his hole, rubbing it there till he found what he wanted and sank down. The way Zhenya gasped, that small intake of air as he sat himself on Sid’s cock, was the best thing Sid had ever heard. Zhenya braced himself, working his hips in a deep grind, the weight of him pinning Sid to the earth and making the press of his swollen tentacle in Sid’s ass so sweet. Between the velvet soft clench of Zhenya’s hole and that spine-melting drag inside him, every small movement made Sid feel right on the edge of coming, over and over. 

Zhenya moved his hands to brace himself on either side of Sid’s head, changing the angle, fucking himself back on Sid’s cock, his mouth dropped open and eyes screwed up tight like he was getting himself just right. The way they were pressed together made the meat of Zhenya’s thighs and hips look thick. Sid dug his fingers in and rocked into the sloppy clutch of his ass. Zhenya groaned, dropping all the way down, curling himself over Sid like a shell. Folded this close together, Sid’s face was in his chest, Zhenya’s head tucked against Sid’s. He could feel the body-warmed metal of Zhenya’s pendant pressed between them. 

Sid ran his hand up and down Zhenya’s spine, ears filled with the soft wet noises of working his cock into Zhenya’s body, fucking him as Zhenya held him and left out a series of soft ah s drip into Sid’s ear. Sid’s hand settled over the base of his spine, keeping them close, snapping his hips up in shaky thrusts. Sid couldn’t keep his eyes open. His stomach felt hot and tight and his whole body quivered with the need to give in and come . “I’m gonna-- Zhenya- -”

Zhenya moaned and the tentacle swelled till it was almost too much, just pressing inside Sid where he felt so tender and full. Sid ground up and let go, frantic and wild, balls throbbing as he came in wave after wave of thick pulses.

Zhenya stilled above him, and Sid clutched at him still trembling as the tendrils began pulsing inside him and wrapped all around him. There was a growing pressure between their bodies Sid couldn’t see but it felt large and swollen, pressing into Sid’s stomach. Sid’s dick was softening but Zhenya rocked on it, body shaking and tentacles pulsing faster and faster until he groaned and there was a splash of heat between them, Zhenya coming wet and shivering. 

Sid stroked at the ridges of his spine till slowly Zhenya peeled away, Sid could feel their skin unsticking from each other. His cock slipped out of Zhenya’s ass and all the tentacles slowly unwound themselves from him, the one inside Sid finally shrinking. It was cool without Zhenya wrapped around him. 

Sitting on Sid’s hips, Zhenya looked solid and less like a hole ripped in space. His stomach bulged slightly in a way it hadn’t before. Sid ran his hands over it a few times; he didn’t know what had happened there but he liked it, just like he like Zhenya’s thick sides and his long legs splayed over Sid’s hips, and his spent cock that Sid looked at because he could. He settled his hands on Zhenya’s thighs and rubbed at the creases of his groin. Zhenya flickered a few times, in and out against the night sky, and Sid gripped his thighs tighter. Sid didn’t want him to leave, not yet. 

Against his chest, Zhenya’s pendant began to glow blue-white, so bright it was almost blinding and Sid blinked against the glare. “What is that?”

“Home,” Zhenya said and smiled down at him, that same fond smirk, a little cocky and a lot warm. He pushed up and off of Sid, wispy black flame following him, and Sid scrambled to his feet. Zhenya didn’t just walk off into the night like Sid feared; instead, he reached up and unclasped the necklace from around his neck, reaching out and placing it around Sid’s. The metal was still warm and the pendant glowed against his skin.

“For keep safe,” Zhenya explained, Sid didn’t know if he meant Sid, the necklace, or maybe both, but Sid pressed it to his chest the same way he had seen Zhenya do earlier and promised. 

“Yes, of course, I will.” 

Zhenya’s hands cupped his face and he was being dragged into another kiss, hot and pressing. Sid gripped Zhenya’s wrists, holding on just a little bit longer--

There was a shot of white light and Sid jumped. He had never heard of lightning striking without thunder, but this wasn’t a storm. It was a beam of that same bright white-blue light. Massive and shimmering and shooting down from the sky, from where Sid could see; for all he knew it was coming from one of the stars. 

It was so bright it was almost loud, emanating some unknown energy. Sid didn’t even notice Zhenya had moved till the beam flickered and suddenly it was distorted by a black figure, glinting around the edges.

“Wait!” Sid yelled and jerked to run after him, then catching himself and swearing under his breath as he scrambled to tug on his boots- -scorpions --then he was racing across the dirt, stumbling over a few rocks in the dark, but Zhenya was still there, just inside that glowing cylinder of light. Sid skidded to a stop right at the edge of it.

“Take me with you.” Sid could barely see him, couldn’t make out his expression, but a hand reached out and Sid gripped it tight, letting himself be dragged inside the wall of light. He felt Zhenya’s hand squeeze his own, pulling him in, then that same sensation of being wrapped in Zhneya’s dark tendrils. Around them the light grew so bright it was impossible to see. Sid closed his eyes and held Zhenya’s hand as everything went dark.   


Chapter Text

Zhenya sat in the locker room and glared up at the ceiling logo as it pulsed an icy, displeased blue. Recently it had been acting as a mood ring for Zhenya’s soul: stormy and moody. He was trying his best to stay positive and save face but it was difficult when they had lost twice to the Islanders now and the Devils and before that the Rangers. Toronto had been a small blip of success, but it felt like half the team was injured and now Sid was out too and it was Zhenya’s job to keep everyone in line and spirits up. He just needed another win without Sid on ice to get things going. 

The logo had been slowly shifting from its regular gold to a sickly, uneasy green and now it hung above his head, a throbbing, angry blue. But nothing else came. The creature behind it was silent and judging and Zhenya had had enough. He kind of wanted to fight it. 

He knew how difficult it was to get whatever was lurking up there to come out from hiding, and yet, Zhenya had still managed to tick it off enough to make its presence known. 

Zhenya finished ripping the hockey tape from around his legs and pulled off his socks and jock. If their hockey god had an issue with him it would have to give him a sign. A proper one, not a light show. With one last withering glare at the ceiling, he skulked off to the shower before anyone could say anything about it; not that they would try.   

The showers were empty. The slap of his feet against the tile echoed around the room underscoring just how alone he was. He cranked the water on as hot as he could stand and stood directly under it, letting it pound down over his head and wash away the grime and the exhaustion and the frustration. It only partially worked. 

He soaped up, scrubbing over his face and under his pits. He just wanted to go home. Sid was at home. Probably on the couch, half-asleep, and with his hand down his sweats. Zhenya had given up on telling him to stop picking at his incision. Zhenya should really send Andy after him about it, but instead, he was just going to pick up another pint of ice cream on the way home. Sid was good at cleaning out their freezer and Zhenya was a sucker. 

The steam from the shower was thick, clouding up his vision. Zhenya looked around. He was still alone; normally there was someone in here with him already. The steam continued to billow and swirl around him until the emptiness of the room turned suffocating. Water droplets stuck to the inside of his nose and the air was hot and wet in his throat making it hard to breathe. 

There was a hum, one-note and unwavering. It built slowly until Zhenya’s teeth hurt and they began to chatter. He clenched his jaw and ground his teeth against it. The tiles around him, on the floor and on the walls, began to vibrate. The whole room shook and the pressure in his head was incredible. He braced one hand against the wall and blinked hard. 

When he opened his eyes, everything in the room was drawn taut and wavering. Water droplets hung mid-air before slowly starting to stream upwards in long columns. He squeezed his eyes against it. The whole world was falling to pieces for a second and--

“Hey, G.”

He blinked again and rubbed the water from his eyes, but it was all gone, everything cut away, leaving the room empty except for Horny, who was standing there naked in his slides and a towel slung over his shoulder. 

Zhenya grunted. 

“Think your phone’s ringing.”

“Thanks.” Zhenya huffed and shut the water off. He scrubbed at his hair before knotting the towel around his waist. Sure enough, his phone was sitting where he had left it out on the bench, flashing the blue light that meant he’d received a message. 

It was three messages actually, all from Sid. 

Nice goal! Made my nuts hurt watching it, hot.

That was a really close game, you guys played really well! You’ll get there.

Bring ice cream, we’re out. <3

Attached to that last one was a selfie that was about seventy percent nose and the rest was chin. Zhenya really was a sucker and Sid knew it. Zhenya was going to buy them two pints of ice cream, one for Sid’s tender balls and another to nurse Zhenya’s bruised ego.

Zhenya gripped the wheel tight with both hands all the way home. That same hum followed him, quieter now, niggling in the back of his mind, calling him back to the arena. The more space he put between them, the more insistent the sound grew. 

He knew what the creature was, everybody did, though they hardly ever talked about it. Out of fear, partially out of respect, but mostly out of superstition. It had been such a long time since the Penguins had riled up the god of their arena enough to make itself known. The last time had been in 2009 and the team had won the Cup. 

Sid was a little bit obsessed with it--okay--maybe a lot obsessed with it. Every pattern he repeated, every superstition he held at this point was to keep it satisfied. Maybe it made a difference, maybe that all meant nothing and it just rose from its slumber every decade to set them straight. They didn’t keep records; the superstition around it was too thick, and no one was willing to put what had happened down on paper. The only reason any of them knew about the last time was because it was Sid who had been chosen and his big mouth.

Maybe without Sid around to pay it in devotion, Zhenya just hadn’t been disciplined enough to keep it satiated. Zhenya gripped the wheel tighter. This year wasn’t last year. He wasn’t about to let fear win .

He almost forgot to stop by the store on the way home, pulling sharply into the parking lot to run in and out. 

The house was dark when he got home. Sid had left the kitchen lights on for him but the media room was empty. Zhenya flicked off the lights as he went. In their bed, Sid was just a lump under the covers. Zhenya stripped down to his underwear and slid under the blankets, feeling carefully along Sid’s side till he found Sid’s hip and squeezed. He’d been capitalizing on the surgery as an excuse to never wear underwear, ever, he was-- tender --Sid said, and it wasn’t like Zhenya was complaining. 

Sid wiggled around under the blankets and huffed into his pillow. “Hey.” His voice was rough with sleep and Zhenya felt all that tension he was carrying seep from his body, burrowing deeper into the bed beside him. Sid was always so warm.

“Sorry about the game, you were so good.” Sid leaned in to press a kiss to the side of Zhenya’s mouth, the scruff on his face tickling Zhenya’s cheek. Zhenya drew his hand up to scratch his finger over Sid’s jaw. It was softer under his fingers. He felt so good.

“Next time.” Zhenya had been good, but not quite good enough.

“Next time,” Sid repeated and melted back into the pillow. 

Zhenya let him sleep. His mind was still running. It felt better to be home, but time seemed to just stretch endlessly forward, and he was very much awake. Without anything to distract him that same hum that had been small earlier built and built until it was the only thing occupying his brain. Zhenya was so tired of just, almost being good enough to win.

Zhenya tossed and turned. It was impossible to ignore the foreign presence in the back of his mind demanding his attention. Eventually, he’d had enough. The clock read three am. Zhenya sat up in bed. “Fine.” He still couldn’t quite believe it was happening, and to him , but there was nothing else this could be. He had gotten the call. Zhenya had woken up Pittsburgh’s Cthulhu.  


Sid was rubbing at his eyes. Zhenya leaned over and pressed a lingering kiss to the middle of his forehead, squeezing his eyes tight before pulling away. Even half asleep, Sid was still sharp, and his hand latched around Zhenya’s wrist. “Where are you going?”

“Rink,” Zhenya said simply, letting the word hang in the air. He knew Sid would get it; if anyone understood, it was him.  

Sid blinked at him a few more times, trying to clear his head. “Really? Are you sure?”

Zhenya nodded. “It’s back, I feel.” He tapped his fingers against his temple and Sid nodded, dragging his teeth over his upper lip.

Sid half sat up. Looking a lot more awake, he released his grip on Zhenya’s wrist to twine their fingers together, rubbing his thumb back and forth along the inside of his wrist. Zhenya wondered if Sid could feel the way his pulse was beating. “Do you want me to come with you?” 

He did but--despite Sid literally holding his hand--he didn’t really need it. Not for this. Zhenya needed to prove he was a worthy leader for this team. To Sid, to himself, and to the NHL as a whole. He had come into this season so ready to compete and push himself, everyone expected this to be his year, and then he had gotten injured. This was Zhenya's responsibility. 

"No, sleep. I'm back soon," he assured, murmuring something stupid sweet at Sid when he kissed him again, a second time for safekeeping. 

Sid yawned, "Better be. Don't worry too much, it’s good," he slurred, and with that revelation, sank back to bed, apparently having expelled all of his middle of the night energy.

Zhenya still felt terribly awake. 

The drive back towards the arena was endless, one long stretch of black pavement out in front of him, light after light whipping by. It was mesmerizing the way the noise in his head was. The sound was still just as insistent, but also enthralling, trying to lure Zhenya closer with honey rather than vinegar. Zhenya didn’t know if the Cthulhu’s attempts to entice him were really working or not, but he’ll take it over the skull-crushing pressure of whatever had gone down in the showers. 

The night was an oily black, the clouds rolling and angry. Light cracked through the sky as the night rumbled to life. It was tumultuous and Zhenya could feel the electricity under his skin. 

Zhenya pulled into the arena and drove down into the parking garage, getting one last look at the moon before the building swallowed him up. He parked and took a deep breath before shutting the car off. The sound of the car door slamming shut behind him echoed out. The only things around him were cement pillars and empty space. He spun his keys once, twice, around his finger before squeezing them till the teeth bit into his palm. The garage was dark and damp, with lots of corners where the cool fluorescent light didn’t quite reach, shadows cloaking things from sight and turning mundane objects into nightmares.

Zhenya’s breath was cloudy in front of him. The door handle was wet, and as soon as he grasped it the lights began to flicker. Zhenya shook off the chill in his spine and pushed forwards. The lights continued to quiver with every step he took towards the locker room. The air thrummed with pleasure at his presence and Zhenya knew he was the only one in the building. It felt as if the whole world was empty, drained of life and it was just Zhenya left and the creature lurking in the ceiling, waiting for him. It sent a helpless thrill down his spine. He was descending into the unknown; fear mixed with anticipation, a confusing churn in his stomach. 

The walls of the hall looked wet. Everything was glistening with moisture and there were great wet spots on the ceiling as if it was just barely holding back the ocean from plunging down and submerging Zhenya completely.

Despite what Zhenya knew lay beyond, the doors of the locker room looked deceptively ordinary. The only clue that something was horribly off was the water slowly seeping out from the crack at the bottom of the doors. Zhenya squared his shoulders. He pulled the doors open.

The locker room was bathed in an eerie blue-green light emanating from the Penguins logo on the ceiling. It was like being underwater, an endless rolling blue. Zhenya closed the doors behind him. 

He walked a circle around the room. In every direction water streamed down the curved ceiling and over the walls; it cascaded down the bench, pooling at his feet. Zhenya hung his jacket up under his nameplate, taking off the rest of his clothes and dropping them on the bench. He wouldn’t be needing them.  

The room was filled with that same deep enthralling hum. This was the epicentre of the sound, reverberating through the walls and through Zhenya’s bones. It was wondrous and dreadful and nothing less than what you’d expect from a god. All around him the room shook with the sound, making the water vibrate till droplets hung suspended in the air the same way had in the showers. But this time Zhenya knew this wasn’t the end of it. 

The light above him began to flicker violently. The noise and light and tension built like an orchestra, and as it hit its crescendo, the locker room shook with tremors, breaking apart. Great chunks of drywall and concrete scattered and drifted infinitely outwards. First, there was nothing, just that deep blue plunging into blackness and that unwavering sound. Zhenya’s entire body shook with it, suspended like the water around him as a scene began to materialize. He was standing on a long dark beach, black rock sharp underfoot and rising up around him in jagged spikes, caging him to the shore. Here, the water wasn’t clear, but a deep oily black leaving an iridescent residue against the sand.

The fog that hung over the water was too thick for the sun to filter through, and it was the sun not in the moon hanging in the sky like a dim white bulb. The sky cracked with green light, veining through the gloom. The beach shook to a beat, one after another, growing stronger as something approached: a big black shape, pushing through the haze, slowly revealing itself. 

Lightning cracked, revealing the silhouette of a hulking shape, only for a second, and Zhenya knew he was the chum in the water. Long tentacles coiled down from the sky as the creature descended. Zhenya had seen drawings, images torn out of books and rough sketches Sid kept in a notebook tucked away inside his sock drawer. It was absolutely nothing like witnessing the creature in person. It was, without doubt, a god: terrifying and awe-inspiring. No wonder Sid was so captivated by it.

Its massive domed head peered down from the sky, shelled and spikey like a crustacean's and bearded in tentacles that writhed in time with the hum in the air. Its thick arms touched down to the beach making everything around Zhenya shake, and he almost lost his footing. The god’s leathery wings took up the entire horizon, blocking out the weak sun entirely and leaving Zhenya in the cool wake of its shadow.

The god stared down at Zhenya with colossal, curious eyes, unblinking. Zhenya felt like he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. The tentacles wriggled with pleasure and desire at the offering it had been given. Zhenya could feel it, feel it in his head. There were no words or sounds, but just like the light in the ceiling of the locker room, his head pulsed with its emotions in colours. It was happy and vibrant gold. 

A tentacle reached out towards him, thicker around than Zhenya’s torso and glistening even in the low light. All along it were two rows of suckers, some as big as his hand. The tip touched against the middle of his chest. The tentacle was cold and slimy and when Zhenya reached out to stroke along the back of it, the monster clicked at him and Zhenya felt the noise inside his head. 

The tentacle curled around his chest, right up under his arms, squeezing tight and pushing the air from his lungs. There was no way Zhenya would be able to escape even if he wanted to. That shivery excitement washed over him again, heat pooling in his gut. He was at the whim of the god of the arena and Zhenya would show it just how good he could be. 

The suckers mouthed at his skin, nursing in some places and nibbling in others, its tiny blunt teeth working at him. They almost tickled. Zhenya squirmed against the sensation and the tentacle constricted around him. One sucker latched onto Zhenya’s nipple, suckling at it, and his toes dug into the sand as he moaned. Zhenya had had a half chub the whole drive here, but now he was hard and hot and fucking ready to be touched.

His stomach lurched with sudden weightlessness as he was lifted. The ground disappeared below his feet as he was drawn through the air towards the god’s big, ugly face. Its mouth-- if it had a mouth --was concealed by squirming tentacles, reaching for Zhenya like a hundred grasping arms. They curled around his ankles. He jumped as one touched the back of his thigh, caressing the skin. It slid from the tender spot behind his knee, up the inside of his thigh, slinking higher till it was pressed up behind his balls and Zhenya stopped breathing. 

The god held him close, big eye dilating, focusing in on where it had him bound. The slick tentacle dragged along his taint and the crack of his ass, the tip feeling over his balls and cock in one endless glide. Zhenya tried to push down into it, grinding with his hips, but he had no leverage. He reached to rub his leaking cock against his belly, finding some relief, but the tentacles got to him first, coiling around one wrist, holding it tight, then the other. He couldn’t move. Zhenya was completely at the creature’s mercy.

The tentacle twisted between his legs, drenching him in the slime coating its skin. Zhenya could feel the suckers mouthing against his ass, seeking, before finding what they were looking for and latching over his hole, suckling at him. Zhenya twisted against the sensation, but they just sucked harder, and a moan was ripped out of him. There was something there, feeling at him, probing against his rim. It was small and slick and lapped at his hole, sending hot sparks over his body, and Zhenya trembled at the feeling.

The monster gave a pleased rumble that rolled through Zhenya’s head like thunder. He was too close to its face now. If he had control of his hand he could probably reach out and touch it between the eyes. The tentacles coiled further up his body. It was like being swallowed by one slick writhing mass, worming against his skin in a frictionless glide and pressing up into every sensitive crevice. Zhenya could feel its pulse all around him, worked up. Its blood was hot now, hungry for what Zhenya could give it. 

That wet tip pressed at his hole, growing larger, firmer, and Zhenya arched against it; he felt so empty. The tentacle pushed inside in one long thrust, a searing pleasure, and Zhenya throbbed with the sensation of it slipping in and out of his ass, leaking, sucking at him. The tentacle got thicker as it pushed deeper into him, stiffening. Zhenya felt stuffed full to his throat. It was fucking him, twisting in short pulses. He was so wet and loose, but it just kept on getting bigger, filling him up. There was no way it would all fit--

And then he heard it--the hum--deep and coming in beats like drums. He could feel it in the slick grip of every tentacle wrapped around him. In the one inside him. Vibrating with the sound coming from the creature, it filled the entire beach, and the air, and his vision. Zhenya tried to look it in the eyes, but he couldn’t keep them open. 

Inside him the tentacle was writhing, vibrating up against his prostate which already felt abused and swollen. His dick was lost in the slick mass of tentacles constricting him. It was impossible to tell where he ended and the monster began. He shook with a full body hum as it fucked him, barely even registering the noises he was making, a string of helpless moans and gasping breaths. His head was dizzy with it. Then he felt it, the first press of something impossibly bigger at his rim, demanding entrance, slipping into him-- fuck --it was too much, rippling inside him. 

Zhenya didn’t fight it as one after another the eggs were pushed inside. This was part of the sacrifice. It felt like he was coming over and over again. Each egg being fucked into his body stretched him further and brushed against his prostate. The tentacles tightened, pulsing around him stronger to the rhythm of the drumbeat, fast and out of control. Zhenya slit his eyes open, just barely, but it was enough to see the big slitted pupils staring straight into his soul. The god was so pleased with him; he had done his job well. Zhenya trembled and cried out and came in long shaky pulses all over himself and the creature, anointing it. 

Something found his mouth, pressing at his lips, and Zhenya sucked the fat tip into his mouth. It slid in deep, making a mess of his face, hitting the back of Zhenya’s throat. He choked on it and it pulsed against his tongue, spurting thick liquid inside him, and Zhenya tried to swallow as much of it as he could. Some leaked out the corner of his mouth as it slipped free.

His body went lax. Everything was hot and liquid. It was too much to feel. The sound receded, leaving his head fuzzy and empty, colours leaching from his brain. The tentacle slipped from inside him in a slow, spine melting drag, and Zhenya groaned as it left his body. He was being lowered to the ground. His abdomen was tight and full, his skin drenched, his face slick with tears he hadn’t even realized he had shed.     

As soon as his feet touched the rocky shore he dropped to his knees, taking shuddering breaths and digging his fingers into the sand. It felt good to have solid earth under him again. Zhenya watched blearily as with each earth-shattering step the monster took away from him the scene fizzled out of existence. Just melting away until all that was left was the grey locker room walls, mundane and unassuming. 

Grit crunched under Zhenya’s palms as he pushed himself to his feet. He moved as if gliding through a dream and didn’t really wake until the water hit his face, jolting him back to reality. There was nothing waiting for him in the showers, just quiet and hot water, washing all the slime from his body. It was like nothing had really happened at all.

No nightmares waited to ambush him as he walked to his car, just harsh, early morning light that made him shield his eyes. He didn’t know how fast or slow time had passed. It had felt like eons on that dark beach. Zhenya rolled down his windows. He could hear the twitter of birds waking up and the clock read six am. The rain that had held off the entire night splattered against his windshield and Zhenya let his hand hang out the window, catching water droplets. It felt cleansing.

The house was quiet. Sid was still that lump under the blankets, and he didn’t look like he was about to move anytime soon. Zhenya undressed once again and slipped between the covers. Sid was just a tuft of greying hair poking up from the duvet. Zhenya reached for him. His love for Sid was soft and familiar, and it drifted down, enveloping Zhenya like a silken mantle. 

“Sid,” he whispered, poking his cold fingers into the soft spot under Sid’s arm.  

Sid groaned, stretching out under the covers and poking his head out. “Geno?” Sid rubbed the heel of his palm into his eye, wiping the sand from it. There was a pillow seam pressed into his cheek and he had a mean cowlick on one side of his head. “How’d it go?”

Zhenya wasn’t even sure if he had the vocabulary to explain what had happened in Russian; there was too much to digest. Sid had been right about one thing, though. “Good.” 

Maybe they could compare experiences over breakfast. 

Sid grunted and reached out, pulling the blankets back from where they were covering Zhenya’s chest. 


His arms and chest were covered in circular red marks, some already starting to go purple around the edges. Sid dragged his hand across Zhenya’s chest. “He liked you, didn't he.” He pressed his thumb to the mark right over Zhenya’s nipple, making him gasp.

“Of course he did, you're the best.” Sid’s eyes were dark and Zhenya’s face flushed with heat. Sid dipped his head down, fitting his mouth over one of the smaller marks on the corner of Zhenya’s pec, and sucked.

Zhenya swore, a fine tremor running through him, and dug his fingers into Sid’s mess of hair, tugging sharply. 

“Sorry.” Sid pulled away, wiping his mouth. “I'm just, yeah--” He placed his hand flat over a larger mark, stretching his fingers out till the tips just touched the edges.

“You like it?” Zhenya asked, but he already knew the answer. Sid curled up around his side, and his dick felt interested where it was pressed to Zhenya’s hip.  

“Yeah,” Sid sighed. “As long as he doesn’t get any ideas.” Coiling his arm over Zhenya’s stomach, he cupped that small bulge right below his belly button. 

Zhenya snorted. He didn’t think Sid had to worry about him being snatched away by a tentacled deity; but he felt that squirm deep in his gut and knew one of these nights he’d have to return to that dark beach and infinite sea.    


Chapter Text

Zhenya would like it written down somewhere that he thought this was a crap idea from the beginning. Not just when Sid started to pick at his shirt in the middle of the 9th hole. The beginning

Sid's stomach was taught with his egg, heavy and ready to be laid any day now. Zhenya was only here in case of emergency; he drove the cart, scrolled through his phone, and made so many divots in the green Sid demoted him to "bag boy."

He snapped his gum and waited, Zhenya knew what would come next. Next, it would be the belt. Fiddling with the buckle before loosening it completely. And then sure enough -

"Geno, it's coming!"

"What's coming?" Asked jake, eyes wide in fear and poised, about to wedge the ball out of the sandpit. 

"It's the miracle of life" Explained Tanger, flatly, but Zhenya wasn't paying him any attention.

Sid hastily started shoving his shorts and underwear down in one go, getting the leg stuck around one ankle and squatting, ass white and jutting out over the grass.

Dutifully, Zhenya assumed the position. Back flat on the ground, hands at the ready and jaw unhinged as he waited for the egg to come. Carefully, Sid positioned himself over Zhenya's face so he was staring right up at his cloaca, red and swollen looking, balls and dick carefully cupped away. 

"Geno, catch it," Sid said, a little frantic and Zhenya squeezed one of his ankles reassuringly. "Yes, give to me." 

Above him Sid's cloaca stretched slowly as the egg began to crown, starker white than even Sid's ass and Zhenya prepared himself to catch it, mouth stretched wide.

The second half of the egg slipped out fast, it dropped straight down towards his face and Zhenya caught it successfully. 

Zhenya felt awash with pride, he stood, tilting his head back and opening his throat, letting the egg slip down his esophagus as he swallowed repeatedly. The egg settled heavy in his stomach, it was a good-sized egg, large and satisfying. It would make a good, strong baby for them. 

Sid was doing his pants back up looking bright and pleased. Watching Zhenya with his dear, red face. Sid blinked a few times, hard, looking misty around the eyes. God, he was so ridiculous, Zhenya knew he would get excited being out on the golf course, surrounded by the guys and all that rich green grass. Zhenya was never going to let him live this down.

In the distance, there were whoops and hollers and someone yelled: "Name it after me!"

Zhenya drew Sid in around the shoulders and flipped them off behind Sid's back. He pressed a kiss to Sid's hairline feeling a little teary-eyed himself. Soon, they would have a baby.