Page 44 of In Darkness and Dank

“For the compliment, and for being way more understanding and wonderful of a monster than I deserve.”

Shu shook his head and kissed Kittisak’s forehead. “Shh. Kitty almae. Is okay.”

Kittisak wasn’t sure if he believed Shu, but he closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment. He listened to the waterfall, the last few embers of the fire popping as they burned out, and Shu’s steady breathing.

Sure, there wasn’t any sriracha, but maybe the Amazon wasn’t so bad after all.

* * *

Days went by, and Kittisak fell into a blissful routine with Shu.

They would wake up and first enjoy vigorous caris with cuddles before breakfast. Then they’d leave the cave to explore and forage for lunch. Kittisak would always cook if it was fish, but otherwise they’d eat whatever they found fresh from the lagoon’s natural grocery store. They’d go take a dip in the lagoon’s many pools, splash around by the waterfall, and then head back to the cave to eat dinner there.

Oh, and of course more caris before bed.

Kittisak continued to be fascinated with Shu’s unique anatomy, but he had yet to claim any progress in his mission to access that elusive third cock. They still enjoyed each other in other ways, and their time together wasn’t exclusively dedicated to physical pleasure. Kittisak loved talking to Shu about the Rife people and the lagoon, and Shu had dozens of questions about his collection of chezoro.

Shu’s desire to identify everything was charming, and Kittisak had half-expected him to call a fork a dinglehopper. They spent hours sorting through the many random objects Shu had collected over the years, most of it camping equipment left behind by tourists and explorers.

Kittisak was able to swap batteries out from a broken blender—who the hell brought a blender to the Amazon?—to power up the boombox. They danced to the lone ABBA cassette, and Shu naturally learned every word so they could sing along together too.

Life was pretty damn wonderful.

Though Kittisak hoped Browning and the other members of the team—well, most of them anyway—were okay, he found himself hoping even more that they never found this place.

Concerns for finishing his degree were dwindling, and the only future he could imagine for himself was here with Shu. He wasn’t worried about obsessively checking his social media, and he had no cares about studying for exams or even what to wear since he spent most of his time naked.

It was simple, peaceful, and Kittisak had never been happier.

He did feel a nagging pang of guilt knowing how disappointed his parents would be. After everything they’d done to give him a bright future, he’d found contentment in the middle of the rainforest shacking up with a monster. The closest thing resembling ambition now was his determination to get at said monster’s mysterious third member and figure out a new way to cook slimy seaweed.

Kittisak had just finished coating some fish with a glaze made from honey and more of that spicy seaweed while Shu looked on.

Monster wasn’t the right word anymore. He knew Shu didn’t seem to mind it, but it didn’t feel right now. A monster was the very last thing Shu was, and Kittisak decided to think of him as a beautiful creature instead.

A creature who had saved his life, cared for him, and showed him all the hidden beauty of this magical lagoon. It had been about two weeks since Shu first brought him here, and perhaps it was a little soon to say, but…

He knew he was falling for Shu.

Hard.

Shu’s smile made Kittisak’s heart perform the most incredible acrobatics, and he enjoyed the loud purring he earned when he made a point to very salaciously lick the spatula after turning the fish over in the pan.

“Kitty tease.” Shu snorted.

“It’s not a tease if I’m gonna do it later.” Kittisak wagged his eyebrows.

“How much later?”

“Oh, probably about…” Kittisak pretended to think. “Immediately after lunch?”

“After lunch good,” Shu agreed as he pressed behind Kittisak to playfully nip at his shoulder.

“Hey, hey.” Kittisak laughed. “Don’t you start anything. I’m still cooking.”

“Not starting anything.” Shu innocently pecked the side of Kittisak’s neck.

Kittisak shivered. “Really? Then what’s that?”

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