Page 11 of Spinning Out of Control

“All right,” he echoed.

“I’m sorry I didn’t text you earlier in the week,” I said. “I just… I had a lot to think about, and it was a little overwhelming.”

Teracht nodded solemnly. “I understand. You gave me a lot to think about too.”

“Did I?” I asked curiously.

“Yes.” Teracht blinked his humanoid set of eyes as he gazed at me. “But you are not overwhelmed now?”

“Not as much,” I said. “Though I’m a little nervous about today.”

“Why?” Teracht asked, tipping his head slightly. I was still fascinated by how his hair stayed straight up.

“I dunno. I guess if we’re going to do the touching each other thing.”

“Yes,” Teracht said. “If you still want to.”

“Yeah, I do. I’m just… It’s been a really long time since anyone has seen me without clothes, and not since– not while my body has looked like this.”

Teracht nodded again. “I do not wish for you to be uncomfortable, Caleb. If you don’t want to, we do not have to.”

“I want to,” I said quickly. “I do. It will just be a little adjustment for me.”

“Would you like to touch me first?”

“Would that be all right?”

“Of course. Now?”

“I guess now is as good a time as any,” I chuckled nervously. Teracht got off the couch with the grace of someone who did not know how to get off of a couch, moving to stand in the middle of the open floor.

“Tell me what you’d like me to do, but go ahead and touch me if you’d like,” he said.

I hesitated. This suddenly felt super weird, but it wasn’t exactly like I learned atauri anatomy in high school. “Can I touch your legs?”

“Of course!” Teracht held out one of his front appendages to me. I opened my palm, and he carefully placed it in my hand, like a dog learning to shake. My fingers closed around it and stroked lightly. It was softer than I expected, with a very fine layer of some sort of hair over it, like an antler. But it also was not heavy. I had been expecting something similar to solid steel, but it felt surprisingly delicate under my touch, more like a dowel.

“Wow, that’s not what I was expecting,” I said. “They’re really light.”

He nodded. “They are. But they are actually quite strong.”

“Yeah, I suppose they have to be. Why are all your legs on your middle and not on your back end?”

Teracht glanced behind him, gazing at his round hindquarters with no legs. “Flexibility, perhaps. I never really thought about it before,” he said, bending slightly where the segments came together, as if experimenting with his own movement. “It looks heavy, but it really is not.”

“I can’t break them or anything?” I asked as I held his slender spider leg, wondering if I could hurt him if I squeezed too hard.

Teracht smiled a bit. “Not easily. I believe they are similar to the bones in your arms and legs. They could be broken, but it would take the right angle and a lot of force.”

“Is your whole body like that?” I asked, reaching out my hand to place it lightly on his chest. He froze, and I yanked my hand back as if I had burned him. “Sorry! I shouldn’t touch without asking!”

“No, I… Do it again,” Teracht said, his voice oddly soft. I reached out my hand and pressed it to his chest. If I hadn’t been able to see it, I would guess that I was touching the outside of a suit of armor, though one that was warmer than metal.

Teracht was quiet, but I could see his tension visibly fade away throughout his body at my touch. I wondered if anyone had actually ever touched him like this before. “Is this all right?”

Teracht nodded, and I let my hand slide over the plane of his chest, down toward where the round middle piece started to swell. If he had been human, I would have figured my hand was resting just below his navel, though he didn’t have one of those. And below that was just a flat transition into his middle abdomen. I felt my face heat as I cautiously ventured, “So, um… Do you have a dick?”

I swear Teracht’s entire human form turned pink. “Yes, I do,” he said, his voice low. “But it’s not there. And it’s not meant to… for…”

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