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Chapter ten

Take That Dick

Rusty

Against his better judgment, Rusty found himself standing in front of Gem’s door Saturday afternoon, the case holding his decade-old contacts tucked away in his pocket.

He’d arrived a little later than they’d planned for their hang-out—he refused to call it a friend date, even in his own mind—but he didn’t think Gem would care about tardiness.

As he waited for Gem to answer the door, he shifted his weight and glanced at the Spryte unlocking the flat next door to Gem. They were eyeing Rusty judgmentally, their small, glittery wings fluttering, and he scowled at them.

“Can I help you?”

The Spryte opened their door and arched a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “You should know the walls are very thin.”

Before Rusty could respond to that, Gem opened the door and trilled, “Friend date!” in a shrill, sing-songy voice. His beaming smile dimmed as he caught sight of his neighbor. “Oh, Belami. Hello. ”

“Gemae,” Belami sniffed. “Try to keep it down, won’t you?”

“Why? Hearing me scream my orgasms is as close to sex as your prude-ass is ever gonna get, and I’d hate to take that away from you,” Gem said with mock sincerity as he placed a hand on Rusty’s shoulder to guide him inside.

Belami’s wings flared open in offense. “I’m not a prude! You’re just uncouth.”

“At least my uncouth ass gets fucked on the regular,” Gem slapped back. “You just have to settle for fapping to the rhythm of my cum noises.”

“Get fucked!” Belami shrieked in outrage, and Gem cackled evilly.

“Okay! C’mon, Rus, let’s have loud sex.”

“What?” Rusty cried as Gem yanked him into the flat and slammed the front door. “We’re not—”

“Shh, the walls are thin. He’ll hear you,” Gem whispered before he brought several hands to the wall and started pounding a steady rhythm.

“Oh yeah, that’s how I like it! You know just how to fuck me, baby,” he said significantly louder, moaning obnoxiously.

“Uh, don’t stop. Give me that big Pyclon dick! ”

Rusty grimaced. “I hope that’s not actually how you dirty talk.”

“Oh hush, I’m improvising.” He leaned in and pressed his ear to the wall, still whispering, “He’s gonna start jerking it any minute now. Just wait.”

“You have a really weird relationship with your neighbor.”

“It keeps me entertained when I’m bored.” Straightening, he quickened the rhythm of his pounding hands and gave another dramatic moan. “Fuck, your dick’s the biggest I’ve ever had. Give it to me harder.”

Unable to stop himself, Rusty snorted a laugh, and Gem tried to cover his own snicker with a lusty groan, though it cracked with humor halfway through. Rusty joined Gem at the wall, but he couldn’t hear anything but Gem’s thudding hands and fake porno sounds .

“Wanna get in on this?” Gem asked, all eight eyes dancing with mirth, but Rusty shook his head, offering him a droll stare. “Talk dirty to me, baby. You know how much I like it,” he practically wailed, and Rusty rolled his eyes and sighed.

He didn’t understand how he got himself into these situations, but he grudgingly lifted a paw and made a fist, matching Gem’s tempo on the wall. “Yeah,” he said flatly, “take that dick.”

And Gem lost his composure completely, dissolving into howling laughter.

He slid down the wall until his ass met the floor, arms clutching his torso as he kicked his feet.

Somewhat embarrassed, Rusty sat down beside him and scratched behind his ear.

Since Gem’s laughter was contagious, he laughed too, and Gem threw an arm around his shoulders in a loose embrace.

“Oh my gods, I can’t believe I just heard the words, take that dick , come out of your mouth. That was fucking gold.” Gem dabbed at his eyes as Rusty chuckled. “Though you have to work on your delivery. You should never tell someone to take your dick with that lack of enthusiasm.

“Like, I love taking dick, but I only want to take your dick if you also want me to take your dick, you know? It’s an enthusiastic yes, or it’s a no,” Gem explained, running several fingers absently through the fur between Rusty’s ears.

“Plus, the whole tough-silent-top trope is overplayed. As a zealous bottom, I want to hear that my top is having a good time too.”

Rusty blinked at him. “Zealous?”

“Yeah. I bottom with zeal, babes,” Gem said seriously. “Like, hella zeal.”

“Right.” Rusty raised a knee and propped an arm on it. “So the walls aren’t actually that thin. You’re just… zealous.”

“Is that your way of implying that I’m a screamer?” Gem waggled his thin, dark brows unfairly. “Because, spoiler alert, I am. ”

Shaking his head, Rusty barely held back an eye-roll. “Not a spoiler. I can’t imagine you doing anything quietly.”

“It’s true. I don’t.” Gem climbed to his feet and offered Rusty a hand. “Isn’t it amazing?”

Rusty took the hand, and Gem hauled him to standing much too easily for someone with such spindly arms. Araknis as a species were strong and durable, and their lean bodies were misleading.

Gem’s femme presentation added to the juxtaposition, which led to people underestimating him, but Rusty knew he was tougher than people ever gave him credit for.

“Now, let’s practice putting in your contacts before we get stupid high,” Gem said, and Rusty blew out a nervous breath.

“Okay, but if you jab my eye out, I’m gonna maul your ass,” Rusty threatened, and the Araknis laughed.

“Oh, Cheer Bear, don’t threaten me with a good time.”

An hour of bickering, cajoling, and, yes, caterwauling followed as Gem proceeded to jab Rusty in the eye. Numerous times.

“If you would stop struggling for two fucking seconds,” Gem snarled as he crawled into Rusty’s lap and pinned him down, “then this would be over with already!”

“You’re gonna blind me,” Rusty cried as he struggled against Gem’s hold to no avail. “I take it back. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

“You’re being such a baby right now. Just take a deep breath and let me do this!”

Two hands held Rusty’s head immobile as two more hands pinned Rusty’s arms to the couch. Gem’s ass was heavy enough to keep Rusty’s lower half trapped, but he kicked his feet all the same. Baring his canines, he growled a warning as Gem brought the contact to his eye.

“Stop it! Get away. I don’t consent anymore. ”

“In any other situation, I would honor that, but you told me to keep going, even if you said stop.” Gem’s finger holding the contact hovered over Rusty’s face as he raised his voice, like he was speaking to the neighbors through the thin walls.

“This is a consensual non-consent situation, I promise.”

“We never established safe words!” Rusty lamented.

“Mine’s kerfuffle,” Gem said in English, and Rusty was so surprised that he stopped fighting him.

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah, I heard a human say it once, and I thought it was the funniest word,” Gem said right before he jabbed Rusty in the eye. “There we go! One contact in.”

By the time both contacts were in, Rusty’s eyes were sore and bloodshot and Gem was sweaty and out of breath. He collapsed onto the couch, socked feet in Rusty’s lap as he panted up at the ceiling. Rusty lay boneless against the back of the couch, blinking sandpaper lids.

“I feel like we just did something dirty and shameful,” Gem said as he fought to catch his breath.

“I feel violated,” Rusty admitted, and Gem reached out with his lowest hand and patted his arm.

“For what it’s worth, I’m really sorry. That escalated quickly, and I’m not proud of how we handled it.” Capturing his bottom lip with one fang, Gem blinked discordantly. “I got a little hard at the end, and I don’t wanna know what that says about me.”

“Ah, gross, Gem!” Rusty roared, shoving his feet off his lap and stalking toward the bathroom.

“Don’t judge me! I’m trying to be open and honest. It’s an important part of a close friendship,” Gem called after him .

“I don’t know if anyone should be that close,” Rusty snapped over his shoulder, rubbing at his throbbing right eye. Unfortunately, he rubbed the contact right out of it, and he froze, scanning the floor for where it had fallen. “Shit, the contact fell out.”

With a furious cry, Gem rose and strode purposefully toward him. “Godsdammit, Rusty!”

Abandoning the lost contact, Rusty released an embarrassing yelp of fear and bolted for the bathroom. “No! Leave me alone.”

“Get your furry ass back here.” Gem tackled him from behind, and they both crashed to the floor in a mess of limbs.

“Kerfuffle,” Rusty yowled, claws digging into the floor, leaving marks in the wood as Gem dragged him back to the couch. “Kerfuffle-kerfuffle-kerfuffle!”

Later still, after Rusty replaced the cursed contacts with his glasses and Gem ordered them dinner, Gem tucked a fat joint between his lips and used Rusty’s lighter to burn the tip until smoke curled towards the open window.

He inhaled and held the smoke in as he handed the human weed to Rusty.

Blowing it out the window, Gem sighed and rested his temple against the window frame.

“It’s not gonna make me… lose control, right?” Rusty asked as the sweet smoke thickened the air between them.

Gem shook his head. “It’s not like being drunk, if that’s what you mean. I just feel super chill and snuggly and giggly, and sometimes, I get hella snacky. And my brain gets so quiet,” he added wistfully.

“Your brain gets quiet?” Rusty asked, the joint still hovering in front of his mouth.

With a nod, Gem plucked it from Rusty’s loose grasp and took another deep drag.

“Yeah, my head is so loud all the time, and my meds help. They take the edge off and help me think around all the noise, but the noise is still there. An annoying buzz instead of an overwhelming cacophony. But weed or a toe-curling orgasm? That’s when my brain is blissfully quiet, at least for a little while. ”

Rusty inhaled the burning smoke, letting it fill his lungs and sit there for several long seconds. Then he exhaled and said, “Sorry. That must be exhausting.”