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Carlos woke up with a gasp. He had had a weird dream, where he gave birth to his boyfriend's eggs. His body felt sore and he just lay there, staring at the ceiling, not able to piece his thoughts together, to tired to care. A spider slowly crawled over the plaster and Carlos followed it for what felt like a day, a month, an eternity. He couldn't feel his body, like he was just his mind, not physical parts at all.
Slowly, as the spider disappeared down the wall behind his feet, he pulled himself together and sat up. All of his muscles protested. He made a little sound and put his feet on the ground to stand up, only to a moment later find himself on his knees. He put his forehead to the cold floor, it was so incredibly, soothingly cool. Turning his head, he looked under the bed and saw a little bundle, made of what looked like a blanket and a pillowcase. Just the look of it made him realize it was Cecil who had made it, and he could only guess its content. It looked too small to contain more than one egg though. Carlos could feel himself tense up, making his body stand up only with willpower. If something had happened to their eggs... He pulled on a night robe and made his way down the stairs. The egg was left under the bed, secure for now. Carlos wondered why there was only one and where the others were, as he stepped into the kitchen.
“Ah, Carlos, you are awake!”
Carlos looked into the eyes of mayor Pamela Winchell, and four Secret Police Agents. Their small breakfast table was broken in half, and Cecil sat at the far wall, slumped towards one of the vintage chairs. He was hugging himself, his eyes closed, and didn't look up when Carlos entered.
“I hope we didn't wake you up, dearest Carlos,” the mayor continued when Carlos just stood there, staring awkwardly at the scene, “we tried to be quiet. Cecil has been telling us all about your... activities... last night.”
Carlos head began to spin. They will do something to Cecil, he thought, Cecil is always saying they can't harm him, but they must have found a way, he looks so small, oh gods, what can they not do...
The mayor might have been talking for some time before Carlos even understood she was making a noise. She had moved back to Cecil and put a friendly arm around his shoulders.
“Cecil have been such a secretive boy lately, haven't you, Cecil?”
She smiled to show her pointy teeth.
“Been neglecting to send in the mandatory forms for touching, for killing, biting, showing his true self...”
She was counting them on her fingers.
“...and several other things occurring last night. Things that made us very upset. We can't have that, now, can we?”
Carlos eyes darted between them, Cecil's weirdly submissive posture and averted eyes. Something major had happened and Cecil didn't want anything more to go wrong, so much Carlos gathered. Best to play along.
“Um... sorry,” he tried.
Pamela Winchell looked up at him with a red lipped grin. She contorted her eyebrows in a way that looked weirdly sympathetic.
“Oh, Carlos, no,” she said, “you have nothing to be sorry for. Ab-so-lute-ly nothing.”
“I don't understand,” Carlos admitted, wavering a bit.
“Well, understandably, dearest Carlos,” the mayor nodded. She was half his size but made him feel very small. “You see, Cecil isn't what he appears to be, as I'm sure you are aware of.”
She took a firmer grip around Cecil's shoulder as Cecil winced.
“He and I have had quite a chat, yes, he told me all about what you have been up to. Quite a story, I'd say. Gruesome too, of course, a violent story of abuse, misleading information, gas lighting, dominance, drugging and... well, more abuse.”
“What are you talking about?” Carlos said.
“Cecil has been pulling your leg, boy! Here is a being, older and wiser than most of us, who can see and do things a human can only dream of. And what does he do with his incredible gift? He sets camp in this desert landscape and uses his powers to host people like him, and sometimes trick and treat us. And so far, we have let him, but when we saw what he did with you, a beloved scientist in this community, well, we couldn't let it go on no further! Not only has he pretended that you could have a normal relationship, he has also injected you with his venom, altered your physiology, made you carry and give birth to his young and made you stay in a place where other purebred humans have gone insane several times over! We've seen it happen over and over again, with the other scientists. Its only a matter of time.”
Carlos hadn't quite seen it like that. Cecil might be more than met the eye, but he always asked permission and never did anything other than protect Carlos from everything wrong with the town. For example, the people standing in their kitchen right now. Carlos looked from her to Cecil, to each one of the Agents, and said, what he thought was quite a clear voice: “I don't think that I have been fooled in any way. I am very happy where I am.”
They ignored him, of course, even Cecil, though he seemed to relax a little. The mayor picked up a couple of red leather gloves from the kitchen counter and gave a wave to the Agents to follow her. She also picked up a big, official looking bag from the floor, which had been standing out of sight behind Cecil's chair.
“As officials we can't influence your mind Carlos, we can only minimize the damage. If you say you are happy, you can stay and we will do nothing about that. But we have to take the eggs. For the safety of this burg. God knows we don't need any more like him, or for that matter, you. ”
The mayor made a tsking sound of pity and shook her head. They all looked like they where leaving. Carlos still hadn't seen the rest of the eggs. Then, he saw Cecil's eyes follow the bag, and gripped the handle, understanding what was inside. He could feel the blood rush to his cheeks as he looked into her eyes.
“What will you do with them?”
Mayor Winchell's eyes was as grey as rock as she looked back at him.
“Burn them,” was all she said, and then, she smiled politely.
Carlos might have lost control then, or screamed, or, for all he knew, kicked the mayor in the shins. She instantly transformed out of her politician self and bared the full set of her teeth, her pupils narrowing and disappearing. A quick dart of her tongue stung like a bee sting and Carlos was forced to let the bag go. She then returned to herself, gripped the leather bag and briskly walked out the door. Carlos slid down the wall, too weak to follow. As soon as they were out the door, Cecil sprang to his boyfriend. He propped Carlos up against a wall and tended to his wounds, mostly with soothing kisses.
“Cecil,” was all Carlos could say, just an incoherent mumble. He didn't know why, but the idea of those creatures at City Hall handling, destroying or crushing their eggs made him panic. The thought of emerald shells in pieces made him violently ill. He leaned over and gasped, Cecil handed him a bucket, held his hair up and waited patiently before offering Carlos a glass of water. During all of this, Cecil told him about what had happened while Carlos slept.
“The Agents showed up before dawn, and I guess I wasn't as deep asleep as they thought. They were moving towards the nest and I stopped them as they reached out to touch them. It was dark and they didn't know how many eggs we had. I tried to hide them but only managed the one. They told me they would take you away from me. They held a very big knife at your throat. Even the Mayor, who never visits anyone, was here. Of course I had to comply. We went down to the kitchen and the mayor just kept telling me I'd done you wrong...”
Carlos was only half listening, but Cecil's voice made him calm down a bit.
“Cecil, what was all that she said, about you being a super being and all?” he asked.
Cecil frowned, and spoke very carefully.
“She seems to think I have some grand master plan with settling here, and I guess it was some time ago. But I haven't done anything to make other people come here. She was trying to make you feel differently about me, like I was tricking you, like I have some evil side you haven't seen.”
“Do you?”
Carlos flinched at the word he had uttered. It came out way harsher than it was meant to be. He looked up at Cecil's face and any doubt he might have had was promptly wiped away at the sight of his boyfriends hurt face.
“I didn't mean for it to sound like that,” he said and touched Cecil's cheek. “I guess I'm all on edge after what happened. I trust you and I love you, and I don't believe her one bit.”
Cecil pressed his body violently against Carlos, trembling silently. Carlos hugged him back, and they sat so for a while.
A noise from upstairs made them break their embrace. They looked up at the ceiling.
“Was anyone up there when you woke up?” Cecil asked in a low voice.
“No one,” Carlos whispered.
They got up slowly, Cecil was supporting Carlos and Carlos tried to keep quiet. At the top of the stairs, they ventured into the bedroom. Cecil sniffed the air and a shiver ran through him. He almost hauled Carlos along and sat him down on the bed. Then he reached out under it and dragged out the hidden egg.
“The sound must have been this moving,” he said, with wonder.
He slowly unwrapped it before Carlos' eyes. It looked unharmed and Cecil put it down on the floor. A little sound came from inside the egg, and it rolled and trembled a bit. A small crack was seen in the perfect emerald shell.
“Oh,” Carlos said.
“We should do something,” Cecil stated. “Help her...him... out of there.”
“We have to wait,” Carlos said and put a hand on Cecil's shoulder. “When fowl hatch, they have to get themselves out of the egg. They have, um, special teeth on the beak or something.”
“This is not some fowl hatching,” Cecil said, looking offended but with his eyes on the heaving egg. “I don't suppose you had some special teeth when you were hatched?”
“No, but I wasn't hatched, remember?” Carlos smiled.
“Oh, right, so I would be the expert in this case, okay?”
One of Cecil's tentacles already was manifesting and swaying carefully towards the egg.
“Be careful,” Carlos whispered, not sure why he would lower his voice. Cecil was still on the floor, hugging his legs, and Carlos squeezed his boyfriend's hand.
Then, the first tentacle shot out of the egg. It was dark brown, skin like and smooth on the outside, and pink on the inside. A set of white dots blinked back and fourth very slowly at them. Then the tentacle was gone and for a second it was still. Then, the whole egg burst open all at once, and in the emerald shards laid a big brown and pink bundle of tentacles. Carlos and Cecil just stared. Small white glowing dots, like tiny stars, lined the outside of each tentacle, and they blinked at them, like...
“She certainly got your eyes,” Carlos whispered.
He felt tired, and happy, and he felt the tears begin to flow over his cheeks from emotion and happiness over the fact that they actually had made a being together. He didn't know what he had expected and he just laughed a little, tears flowing.
Cecil looked up at him, smiling, and reached for the bundle with his tentacles and hands. It blinked at him with starry eyes and wrapped the small tentacles around the bigger, darker one of its fathers.
“Come here, little one,” Cecil purred and cradled the bundle. He sat on the bed and wrapped his arm around Carlos who was still crying and smiling at the same time. “Hello. We are your parents.”
“Hello,” Carlos said, almost shyly, and put his palm on the middle of the bundle. The small tentacles reached for him, and he felt small mouths filled with razor sharp little teeth on the inside of the many tentacles. They didn't bite him, but sort of drooled on him, like a baby would do. His heart melted instantly.
“Hello baby,” he said, and frowned. “That sounds so wrong. Sorry.”
“We should think of a name,” Cecil smiled, holding the bundle closer, smelling it.
“Well, until we know if it's a he or she, or... We should go for a gender neutral name.”
Carlos looked down on the little blinking creature they had made. The small blinking eyes on the tentacles made the baby look like they were holding a little galaxy, or a bundle of stars.
“Something to do with the stars and moon, maybe?”
“Skye,” Cecil said, “or Skyler, maybe.”
“Skyler”, Carlos said. “I like that. Skye for short.”
They looked down at their little bundle and sighed together.
“At least we have one,” Carlos said, and reached for Skye.
Cecil looked sad as he handled the bundle over.
“Yes. And the others might just have been duds anyway.”
“Yeah.”
They knew that they might not be, but they also knew that the other knew that. Instead of talking about lost possibilities, they focused on what they had at hand. The white eyes blinked at their momentarily sad faces and the tentacles unwrapped to reach for them both. Carlos held the bundle tighter.
“So,” he said to break the silence, “what do you think a little bundle of tentacles wants to eat?”