“You really want me,” Declan whispered in awe.
“Yes. You said that you were mine.” He needed to confirm the point.
“You didn’t…” Declan hesitated. “You didn’t act like I was yours.”
Geir gripped him tighter. He wasn’t sure what this meant, but he would figure it out. “I’ll do better.”
Declan nuzzled against his shoulder with his cheek, the only bit of him that was free to move. “I would like to be yours,” he said quietly, like he was testing things out.
“You are mine.” That was the important part to him. But he knew that Declan had other worries. “You don’t need to go anywhere else. You don’t need a job.”
Declan’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “What if it was a job that I could do from here? If we could put a satellite dish on the roof and I could work over the internet? I can pay for the car. It doesn’t have to be full time. And maybe there’s something you’d like to do, too? Because, um, I like to look pretty and that doesn’t come cheap.”
Geir took a minute to let that all sink in. “All of those jobs that you said before, you can do them over the internet? From… the house?”
Declan nodded. Now everything made sense.
There was one more thing he needed to say, though. “You are pretty all of the time.” He lifted one tentacle and brushed it over Declan’s eyelid. The blue and silver paint tasted chemically to his skin, but he liked it anyway. He wondered how it stayed on even in the water. “I like it. I will buy you more.”
Declan beamed. “I can help contribute financially, though. I know you don’t have a lot of money. I mean, I don’t have any money right now, and I’m not complaining about the food situation, but I can help with that.”
“I have money. We can buy food.”
Declan looked skeptical. “How much money are we talking about?”
“I don’t know. My sister is a… financial planner? She says I should buy a mansion on the coast. She doesn’t like my lake.” Vigdis was annoying that way.
Declan squirmed in his lap, but Geir knew it was just from excitement. He wasn’t trying to go anywhere. “Oh, you do have money! I can still contribute, but I was worried. And you have a sister! Is she a kraken, too? I like your lake. Let’s not move. But maybe a vacation home by the ocean? Someday? And can I meet your sister? How often do you see her?”
Geir felt laughter shaking through his chest. This was better. This was fine. “She’s a kraken. And I see her when she appears. Maybe every thirty years?”
“Wow! How old are you? Can you die? Or are you immortal? Can you get hurt? I guess I’m going to die before you. That must suck. Unless you can make me immortal, too? That would be amazing. And then you wouldn’t have to be lonely.”
Geir blinked. He’d never met a human who thought like this. It wasn’t just his exuberance, but also his acceptance. He was excited about all of those things that had made Geir feel like an outcast, and so ready with his care.
He wanted to be immortal so that Geir wouldn’t be lonely.
Could he want that for himself? Was it too selfish? Geir wanted to tell him that there was a way, but revealing that would be far more grievous than anything he’d already revealed. And he didn’t want to allow himself to hope. Forever had been too long for him already.
“Holy shit! There is a way! Don’t worry,” Declan planted a kiss on the tentacle that ran along his cheek. “I won’t ask about it until you know me better. Maybe in five years? I’ll be a bit older then, too. I think that’s a good idea, right? So I don’t look too young for the rest of my life? Unless you like me looking young, of course. What do you think?” He turned his head to the side and arched his neck, apparently trying to give Geir a view of his profile.
Geir was laughing again. This was what happiness felt like. The rest of it, though… “I think that’s a lot to think about.”
Declan snuggled into him, then seemed to think of something. Geir didn’t think he’d ever get tired of looking at that expressive face.
He looked shy, now, and a little nervous. His voice came out quietly. “Geir, really, though. I know we just met. And, like, we don’t actually know each other. So we might hate each other in a few weeks or years because I leave my stuff all over the bathroom and talk too much or whatever. So it’s not like we’re actually promising each other forever, right? It might not work out and that would suck, and we’d have to break up. Or maybe we’ll fight and negotiate and have some hard times and work it out, but it won’t be easy. But, um, for right now can we pretend? Can we just live in the fantasy where you want me forever and I’m yours and you own me, and I don’t have to work because you’ll take care of me?” He turned his eyes up seductively, but he really seemed to be nervous, his whole body stiff.
“We can pretend anything that you want. But I would rather that you were just mine. If there are problems we will fix them. I will not force you to stay if you want to leave.” He tightened his tentacles despite himself. It hurt to say it. “But I will not allow you to go because of too many objects in the bathroom.”
Declan still looked small and shy. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Also, I would like you to do your art.”
“What if you hate it?”
“If it makes you happy, I will love it. I would like to see your art.”
“Really? Um… I just have my sketchbooks, I didn’t bring anything else. Can I draw you? I mostly like to draw people. Will you pose for me sometime? Do you think I could draw you with your tentacles? And when you’re in your kraken shape? Oh, and like this? Maybe when you’re looking all stern at me, and when you’re like this and you’re smiling?”
It was true. Geir was smiling because Declan was happy again. Declan was light and life and his. “You can draw me anytime you want.” He detached all of his suckers and then pulled Declan in closer, only to attach them again.
“Oh, God,” Declan rolled back his head, his eyes closed. “Do that again. Even tighter.”
Declan made the most beautiful sounds when he complied. And Declan’s cock, which had been resting limply against one of the tentacles surrounding his body now pressed hard against it.
Geir wasn’t sure why Declan found this so arousing, but it seemed to match his own unfathomable but growing desires, so he supposed it didn’t matter.
“I want to make you feel good this time, too,” Declan said, his voice liquid and lazy.
Geir nodded. Declan made him feel good.
“Let go for a minute and I’ll show you.”
Geir wasn’t sure that was a good idea. He liked Declan right where he was.
“I promise. It’ll be worth it. And you can wrap me right up again in a minute.”
Geir slowly untangled himself, letting Declan rise up on his knees. He pushed against Geir’s tentacles where they still had him loosely trapped. “I want to make you feel good.”
“Are you sure?” When Declan let him know what he wanted, he tried to give it to him. So far, that had just been touching Declan’s soft skin, in so many wonderful places and ways. It was more than enough for Geir, and he hadn’t really considered anything else.