Page 19 of In Darkness and Dank

Shu’s tongue was unusually long and very hot, and the thought of where it could go—oh, God. There went that concussion brain again.

Kittisak blushed, stammering, “O-okay. So. Uh, on that note, I need to go.” He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Go home? Go back with the others at the camp?”

Shu smiled and busied himself cleaning up the mess from the fruit, tucking everything back into the bucket. He plucked the honeycomb from Kittisak’s hand and ate it whole.

“Hey. Shu.” Kittisak frowned. “I know you can hear me. Can you take me back or what?”

“Prrrp. Phhrp.” Shu pointed at the nest.

“What? No. I’m not going back to sleep.” Kittisak ignored how sleepy he was from being so full. “I want you to take me out of here.”

“Sleep.”

“That’s so great you can just blab stuff back like a fuckin’ Talkboy toy, but no, I’m not sleeping.”

“Talkboy?” Shu made a face at the new word, and he shook his head. “Sleep.”

“Yeah, a Talkboy. Home Alone 2, Macaulay Culkin, Tim Curry.” Kittisak moved up into a crouching position, trying to stand. “Awesome Christmas movie. We can watch it sometime. You know, right after you take me back.”

“Sleep. Curry.” Shu locked his arms around Kittisak’s middle and dragged him into the nest. He plopped Kittisak on his side and curled in behind him, nuzzling his cheek against his back.

“No! Hey! Come on.” Kittisak wiggled defiantly.

“Eh, Kitty.” Shu yawned. “Sleep.”

Kittisak kicked and pushed, but he was quickly tuckered out. He didn’t have the strength to fight and being held like a teddy bear by a beautiful monster was definitely encouragement to stay as he was.

With an indignant growl, he dropped his head on the cushioned pillow and shifted around until he was comfortable. He was really tired. Getting up and bathing had drained him more than he thought, and he was stuffed full of fruits and honey. He made up his mind that as soon as he woke up from this nap, he was going to get out of here.

There had to be a way out through the pool. That was how Shu was apparently coming and going. All Kittisak had to do was wait for Shu to leave, hang out for a bit, and then swim out to freedom. There was probably some sort of underwater tunnel or something, and Kittisak was a decent swimmer. As soon as he was out, he could find that stupid river and work his way back to the boat, maybe even find the other members of the research team along the way.

Oh, and as soon as he figured out which one of those assholes shot him, he was kicking them square in the fucking nuts.

It seemed like a simple enough plan, but something told him that escaping was not going to be easy.

Until then, Kittisak was safe, fed, and Shu’s arms were marvelously thick. He couldn’t resist dropping his hand down to squeeze Shu’s forearm, his eyes already starting to close. He couldn’t be too upset about this. Shu had saved his life, and maybe it wouldn’t hurt just to stay with him a little longer. Dozing off in the strong embrace of a monster wasn’t so bad.

Shu pulled him a little closer with a deep purr, and Kittisak smiled.

Yeah, not so bad at all.

4

Kittisak didn’t think he was ever going to be able to leave the cave.

Oh, and how he’d tried.

When they’d first woken up after their nap, Kittisak had asked Shu again about leaving and finding the others. Shu kept shaking his head and making that damn eh sound. He would not budge.

Kittisak asked for more food and waited patiently for Shu to leave. After a few moments had gone by, Kittisak immediately dove into the pool to follow after him. There was indeed a tunnel down here, but there was no way to tell how far it stretched. It was dark, and he couldn’t see any hint of daylight even after swimming forward a bit.

Determined, he swam on anyway.

If Shu could get out, then he could too.

Kittisak only made it about ten more feet before he literally ran into Shu in the tunnel, their heads knocking together. Kittisak didn’t even know what he’d hit at first until he looked and saw it was Shu.

And Shu was glowing.

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