Kraken (15 page)

He hummed to himself in the water, and let his arms and legs go limp and peaceful. Pleasure flowed up his spine.

Below him now he could see Cy rising, spiraling upwards, his mantle and fins heading towards Will with his long arms trailing behind him. Will reached out and caressed the length of Cy’s side as he rose to the surface. Cy’s huge amber eye swiveled, and Cy reached for him with his two long tentacles. The tips wrapped around Will’s wrists, and Will relaxed loosely into his grip. Cy raised them both out of the water, and let Will take a breath, then plunged them both back under the surface.

The tentacles held Will tight against him, and without Will fighting Cy they moved languidly in pulsing thrusts down into the deep. Shafts of sunlight played around them. The feeling of — something — grew stronger in Will with every foot they descended. His skin was coated in delight.

Will’s ears began to ache, and a pressure in his head interrupted his reverie of pleasure. Looking down, Will just made out the shape of the obsidian stone, deep in the base of the hole. It rested on a paler area, standing upright in the water.

Will brought his hand up to his ear as the pressure and pain increased, and pressed inwards in the soft spot in his temples, just under the mask strap, to try to lessen the ache. Cy pulled him closer still, then with a mighty rush they were hurtling upwards, the water fading to turquoise glass backed by spring sky.

With a splash they were in the open air again, and Will felt Cy writhe and pulse against his skin and his arms and tentacles retracted, until they were just two men, swimming naked in the cold ocean.

Now that the pressure against his ears had eased, Will lolled against Cy, recapturing the amazing feeling of pleasure. It was less intense up here, but still present, as if invisible fingers were running lingeringly up his spine.

“Mmmm, Cy. So good.” Cy had him. He wouldn’t let him go.

“Hello, my love. What brought this on?”

Will’s eyes closed, and he lay back in the water as Cy relaxed his hold.

“I don’t know. I just feel good. So good.”

The wavelets that came in through the lagoon entrance made Will sway in the water, and he imagined himself as part of the waveform.

“Oh, Cy, I found starfish. Want to see?”

“Of course I do.” Cy grabbed his hand affectionately, and Will flipped over and pulled Cy over to the rock wall. They explored the pool, bursting with life, until Will was shivering. Cy boosted him out of the water, pulling the mask off his face and putting it down. They lay on the flat expanse of sun-warmed rocks together, with hands joined, until Will’s shivers stopped, and he was languid and relaxed again.

“I’m impressed you could hold your breath for so long. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Will just hummed in reply, his head resting on his arm. The happiness, the sun, the pleasure running through his body, and the exertions of the swim lulled him to sleep.

Will woke with the feeling of soft plushness against his chin and lips. Before he opened his eyes he felt a questing tendril sneak into his mouth, playing with his tongue before withdrawing.

Will hummed, eyes still closed, and leaned forward, catching a tentacle between his lips by feel alone, letting his tongue dart out to lick its soft velvety surface. Cy threw his head back and groaned, as Will worked his lips down towards the tip and slurped it into his mouth. Will loved that sound, loved knowing how he made Cy feel. Cy’s limb thickened, then throbbed, growing rapidly from the size of a pencil to a thick hose. The tip stayed wriggly and mobile, questing inside Will’s mouth then thrusting into the top of his throat. Will coughed, but when he went to withdraw it Cy caught at him with his quick hands, holding the tentacle inside his mouth and working Will’s throat onto his tip. Will started to open his eyes, but Cy kissed Will’s eyelids and murmured against his skin.

“I’m so happy you’re here, lovely. Thank you for finding me.”

Will wet the tentacle with his saliva, and Cy started to push it in and out. Then Will felt another tentacle at his hole, the tip teasing him, pushing firmly against the wrinkled flesh, then sliding away and down, caressing the backs of Will’s thighs. It touched the hollows on the inside of his knees, then circled back again to dip with feather-light touches at the entrance to his body.

“Oh, so beautiful, so ready for me,” said Cy against Will’s skin.

Cy pushed the tentacle firmly into Will’s mouth, rolling him to his hands and knees, and pushing his thighs wide. The rock was harsh under Will’s hands, but he relaxed and lifted his arse, begging silently for Cy’s entry. Will felt Cy pause, as he concentrated to exude slippery gel from the tip of his tentacle. Will groaned as the tip found its target, delving into his puckered hole, withdrawing and rotating before plunging in again. Will moved restlessly on all fours as the tentacle thickened, trying to become accustomed to him, then Cy started to inflate his limb, thickening it and pushing in short thrusts into Will’s anus. Will sucked harder on the tendril in his mouth, wanting to encourage Cy to go harder, faster, deeper. He could never get enough of him.

The tentacle in his arse was thicker now, and Cy started to work both of them at the same time, pulling them nearly out of Will’s mouth and arse, before pushing inwards for an impossibly long time, then sliding out again, to repeat incessantly until Will wanted to beg and plead. Cy kept the tentacle in Will’s mouth soft and malleable, hardening the one in Will’s arse exactly where his walnut-sized gland met Cy’s appendage, drawing a nubbly shape past it over and over again. Will could feel Cy’s very tip deep inside him, part of him, just like he felt Cy’s solid body poised over the top of him, small tendrils caressing his back before dropping down to touch his nipples with light sucker-kisses.

Cy drew the tentacle out of Will’s mouth. It came out like a tube, leaving him drooling and coughing for a moment.

“Lie on your back.”

Cy rolled Will over, rotating the arm in Will’s arse and making him sob with need. The rock was rough against Will’s back.

“Listen, Will, I want you to take all of me. I want these tentacles so far inside you I don’t know where you stop and I start. And I don’t want to pause. Can you do that for me?”

Cy had kept caressing Will’s lips with his tentacle, and now he placed it back inside his lips, and thickened it.

“Swallow me, Will. Swallow me down.” Cy pushed the limb deep inside, and Will sucked and drew it down. Where his reflex finished, Cy took over, plunging the tentacle deep into Will’s throat, matching it with the one in Will’s arse, until Will felt certain they must be meeting in the middle.

As his lips stretched at full tension around Cy’s limb, Will could feel Cy start to lose himself in pleasure, his body shifting, more cephalopod than human now, the tips of his other tendrils drooling clear liquid onto Will’s skin. Will caught some with his fingertips as it dribbled down his flank, then smeared it around the base of Cy’s thick trunk-like limb so he could catch a taste as the tentacle thrust ever-deeper. No matter how much of Cy he got, it would never be enough. It was intoxicating, to be this loved. He raised his arms and winnowed his fingers between the base of Cy’s tentacles, so he could fondle Cy’s siphon. He ran his fingers inside the tube and delicately pinched the edges of the fragile, translucent tissue

He felt himself start to feel swimmy, and closed his eyes for a moment. The tentacle in his mouth pushed inward, blocking every trace of air, then held still, while Cy kept working the one in his arse, halting its endless inward progression to draw it out a minuscule amount; a move that felt contrarily immense. Cy flexed it, decreasing the width then increasing it again, pumping Will’s arse. Will felt like he was a second layer of Cy’s skin.

Will opened his eyes now, looking upwards into Cy’s amber eye. It felt like a long time now since Will had taken a breath, and he let his arms drop limply as the deep tint of Cy’s skin began to gray out softly. His eyes needed to shut now; he needed to lie still, and just become Cy’s tentacles, and let himself swim forever . . . and then something seemed to catch deep inside him, and a crushing, cascading sensation rose up. He dimly felt his balls contract but his cock seemed uninvolved and very far away, as his body convulsed and something that seemed too vast to be called mere pleasure swelled inside him. He tried to cry out but Cy was there, inside him, had always been there, and there was liquid in Will’s throat, and suckers on his face, and suddenly he was taking a breath, as if it was his very first one.

When full consciousness crept back in, quietly, like a cat who had been gone all night, Cy was pressing kisses to his heaving shoulders, as Will’s body fought for oxygen.

“You don’t know what that feels like, to have you in my arms like that. When you lie there and let me take you . . . it makes all those lost years almost worth it.”

Will lay panting on the rocks, and as he caught his breath his belly rumbled.

“I can’t believe I’m hungry. That’s piss poor timing. I guess we should have brought lunch or something,” said Will.

“How about fresh crab?”

“Oh. Sure.”

“Let’s grab some firewood.”

They walked back to the beach and collected armfuls of dry, brittle branches, and Will watched as Cy stacked it methodically on the sand, shredding dry bark and placing it beneath the careful pile.

“You got some kind of fire-starting magic?” asked Will.

“Yes,” said Cy, opening his backpack. “They’re called matches.” He threw the box at Will and gestured towards their fire. “Have at it.”

“I’ve never— “

“No time like the present.”

Will wasted five matches until he learned to cup his hand against the stiff on-shore breeze. The bark caught easily, and Cy fed it small twigs one by one until the larger branches were aflame.

Cy pulled a catch bag out of his backpack and handed it to Will. They walked to the edge of the wide rock shelf jutting out from the cliffs to one side of the lagoon. The tide was almost full low now, and seaweed lapped the rock at the drop-off where the waves played with limpets and fronds of tobacco-colored seaweed. Every third wave seemed much larger. The water would fall until Will could see the leafy tops of kelp, and rocks painted with pink slime and bulbous yellow sponges. Then the cresting wave would rush in meet the ledge with a boom and a splash.

Cy dove in to the water effortlessly and was under without a word. Will found a driftwood stick and amused himself tormenting tiny transparent shrimp that jerked in shallow rock pools. In minutes Cy was back with an armful of large red crabs. He threw them onto the rocks one by one, and was gone again, while Will scampered cautiously around the flat rock ledge gathering them up. He had to keep his weight over his feet or his or slippery expanses of algae would have him on his ass. He slipped a few times before he caught the knack, but managed to pinwheel him arms and stay upright.

Oystercatchers kept him company, and Will watched them stalk the length of the rock pools, always keeping out of arms reach.

The swing of his soft cock and sac against his thighs as he ran suddenly reminded him he was naked, and he laughed aloud. What had seemed unthinkable only yesterday was now as natural as . . . well, as being naked. He felt like a child again, full of promise and joy.

A crab landed next to him startling him, and he looked over to see Cy unloading another armful. Will ran to the rock edge to help. Beyond Cy, in the dark bluegreen of an unfurled wave, there was a dark torpedo shape, swimming parallel to shore.

“Fuck! Cy. Shark. Fuck.”

In his urgency to get away Will tripped over his feet, and one heel struck a patch of algae, instantly flying out from underneath him. In a moment his eyes and ears were full of roaring white spume. His hands grasped for the rocks, and his outstretched arm slid along an encrustation of oyster shells. His legs flailed amongst the slimy strands of kelp as he pulled his hand back from the sharp edges with a jerk.

Will’s mouth opened in a scream and seawater poured in. His lungs burned. His legs struck the side of the ledge with a jolt of pain, but he was clawing, struggling to dash himself against the rock rather than face the dark shadow he had seen in the waves. He caught a glimpse of an oystercatcher peering over the rocks above his head, an unwitting witness to whatever would come next.

He reached for a solid grip that simply wasn’t there, and his legs tried to climb the rock ledge with sheer terror as their foothold. His momentum dipped him deeper under the water. Will couldn’t find any trace of a thinking human left in himself, no way to assess and plan escape. There was only panic and an ageless desire for escape, as the third wave came in and the world closed over above him.