Page 63 of Gratification in Gluttony

Oh no, Toni didn’t like this conversation. He didn’t like it one bit!

“Just… go slow,” Rusty said, a slight whine in his voice.

“I’ll go so slow. You just need to relax and stop struggling so much.”

“Okay, I—whoa! That was way too fast, Gem!”

“Oh my gods, can you unclench your asshole for two seconds, so I can get this in?” Gem cried, and Toni had had enough.

“No!” Toni roared as he burst into the bathroom.

Gem shrieked wordlessly, and Rusty yelped, cupping his eye. “Fuck, you jabbed me in the eye again. Son of a bitch!”

“I’m sorry,” Gem said, fretting over the Pyclon. “Toni burst in and startled me.” Then he rounded on Toni, two hands on his hips, two crossed over his chest, the other two flailing. “What the fuck, Toni! I almost had it in.”

“No,” Toni shouted again. “There will be no putting things in other things, and definitely no unclenching of assholes in this house!”

Gem grimaced. “Jude’s not gonna have much fun here, is he?”

Toni snarled deep in his chest as he, for the first time, focused on the scene in front of him. Rusty sat on the bathroom counter, knees parted just enough for Gem to stand between them. He was still cupping one of his eyes, glowering at Toni with the other. Gem’s lips were pinched in disapproval as he held one hand aloft.

“What is happening right now?” Toni demanded.

“What does it look like?” Gem answered, motioning to the tiny contact lens balanced on his fingertip. “Rusty’s contact fell out, and I’m trying to get it back in.”

“What?” Toni said again.

“Rusty has a weird eye thing,” Gem said, like it was obvious. “He doesn’t like things near his eyes, which makes it difficult for him to put in his own contacts. So, I offered to help. Then you burst in here like a crazy person, and I almost stabbed his eye out. What if he’d gone blind, Toni? How could you live with yourself?”

“Asshole,” Rusty added, still rubbing his eye.

“But I…” Toni pointed at the door. “I heard—and then you said…”

Gem raised his eyebrows, waiting for Toni to say anything remotely intelligent. It just pissed him off.

“You know what? That whole conversation was very misleading!” Toni finally barked.

“Well, let that be a lesson to you. Don’t eavesdrop,” Gem said, before dismissing Toni entirely and staring Rusty down. “Okay, we’re doing this.”

“No!” Rusty tried to run, but Gem grabbed him with five arms and pinned him down as Rusty chittered hysterically. “Wait, just give me a second!”

“Shut up, and take it like a man!” Gem commanded, then he shoved the contact lens into Rusty’s eye faster than Toni could blink.

“Gem, stop—oh.” Rusty blinked several times, then looked up at Gem as the Araknis released him. “That worked.”

Gem exhaled, heavy and drawn out, like his life was incredibly difficult. “The thankless labor I do. Though, I do apologize for the toxic language. Taking it ‘like a man’ is stupid.” He rested his upper hands on Rusty’s shoulders and said, so seriously, “You take it however you want to take it, Rus. Okay?”

Rusty’s entire face screwed up in horror. “Don’t ever say that to me again. You’re making it so weird right now.”

“Oh, onlynowit gets weird?” Toni said, gesturing violently at the hallway. “You should have heard what it sounded like from the other side of that door!”

“Then don’t listen in on other people’s conversations,” Gem said, eyes wide and wild.

“Don’t yell at me, I’m feeling very fragile right now,” Toni said, rubbing at his arm fins. “That was a whole rollercoaster ofemotions, and all of them were very, very bad.” He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I think I need to lie down.”

Gem pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “And people think I’m the dramatic one.”

Chapter sixteen

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