Page 17 of In Darkness and Dank

“Kitty.” The monster was very pleased with himself. He touched his own chest. “Shu.”

“Shoe?” Kittisak repeated curiously. “Like a shoe you put on your foot?”

“Shuwin,” the monster said. He poked Kittisak. “Kittisak. Kitty.” He pointed at himself again. “Shuwin. Shu.”

“Oh, so it’s like a nickname. Okay. Well, it’s nice to meet you, Shu.” Kittisak smiled. “I very much appreciate the rescue and everything, but uh, we need to talk about me getting out of here, please?”

“Eh.”

“What’s that mean?” Kittisak’s stomach rumbled again, and he cringed at the deep whining noise. He didn’t know his stomach could even make sounds like that. “Shit. Okay, please tell me there’s food somewhere around here?”

“Huh. Mida.” Shu patted Kittisak’s head and then got up, walking back toward the pool.

Kittisak meant to argue, but he got distracted by the vision of Shu’s very muscular departing ass. He came to his senses and called out, “Hey! Wait! Shu!”

Shu was already gone, having dove into the pool as easily as a knife sliding through hot butter and effortlessly vanishing into the water with barely a ripple.

“Well, shit.” Kittisak sighed. “Here I am. Alone again. In a weird cave. Waiting for the fish man with the nice butt to come back.” He rubbed his forehead. “Fuck, now I’m talking to myself. That’s probably not good.”

He didn’t have to wait long before Shu returned, the monster emerging from the pool with a large plastic bucket in his hands. It reminded Kittisak of the big tubs that ice cream came in for parties, though this one was clearly old and the label had been worn away. He didn’t look at it for long as the splendid visual of water dripping from Shu’s gorgeous body was much more fun to look at.

God, he was so hot for this monster.

That settled it. Kittisak had definitely hit his head and now had some sort of concussion. Maybe it was brain damage. There, that’s what it was. Nothing to worry about except some perfectly normal brain damage.

The monster offered him the bucket. “Mida.”

Kittisak opened it, finding a large honeycomb and some fruits inside. He recognized the scaly yellow ones as dragon fruit, but he wasn’t sure what the others were. One looked like a small melon with a weird mottled skin, and a few actually looked like a vegetable as they resembled a giant pea pod or maybe a green bean.

He went for the dragon fruit first, eagerly trying to peel off the scaly bits on the outside and figure out how to bust it open. His struggling must have been hard to watch because the monster politely took the fruit back to crack it open for him.

The monster smiled and handed back two nearly perfect halves.

“Thank you, Shu.” Kittisak smirked. “Shu the show off.”

“Prrp.” Shu shrugged, gesturing for Kittisak to eat.

Kittisak didn’t need to be told twice. He pulled at the skin on the dragon fruit, biting into the white speckled flesh and devouring it. He ate one half in only three bites and then turned on the other, moaning as he ate. The fruit was sweet, tangy, and totally delicious, leagues above what he’d had from a grocery store.

“Gos?” Shu asked.

“Goes?” Kittisak mumbled through a bite.

“Gos.” Shu rubbed his tummy and smiled, making happy humming sounds.

“Oh! Is it good?” Kittisak wiped off his mouth. “Yes, it is very gos. Very good. Thank you.” He ate another dragon fruit with Shu’s help, and he was practically licking the peels for any remaining bits of flesh. “God, mmm, so very gos.”

“Mida.” Shu busted open the melon, revealing a firm orange flesh inside. Instead of a bunch of seeds like a regular melon, there was a large brown pit. He broke one half into quarters and then passed them over to Kittisak.

Kittisak took a small bite, and it was firm like an apple but tasted vaguely of pumpkin. He wondered if it was his brain playing tricks on him because it was such a bright shade of orange, but he couldn’t shake the pumpkin flavor even after the second piece was done. “That was good. Kinda weird, but very gos too.”

“Pacay.” Shu gestured to the green bean pea things.

“This is probably a bad time to tell you I never liked to eat my veggies as a kid.” Kittisak picked up one of the pods. It was nearly as long as his forearm.

“Pacay.” Shu grabbed one and used his thumb claw to slice open the side of the pod. He popped it open and offered it to Kittisak. Inside was what looked like white cotton candy with black beans nestled within the fluffy bits.

“Uh. Okay.” Kittisak picked out one of the black beans. “Pacay? This is pacay?”

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