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When Stede first saw a picture of Dr. Kraken, it was on the news.
NEW SUPER STEALS MEDICAL SUPPLIES FROM CITY WAREHOUSE
Everything about Dr. Kraken’s aesthetic pointed towards a supervillain. He wore a fashionable black leather jacket, asymmetrical where it wrapped around his waist, with long sleeves and a high collar. His trousers were black leather, too, but with violet accents, a long black skirt on top that opened in the front, belts and chains over the whole thing. He wore heavy black boots and big black rubber gloves.
And then, of course, the helmet.
Apparently, a simple mask wasn’t enough for Dr. Kraken – he had to wear a sleek but massive black helmet obscuring his entire head and face. It looked like it was made for motorbike racing. The only hints as to its unorthodox use were the purple tentacles emblazoned on the sides.
All in all, Stede was not thrilled to welcome a new supervillain into the city. Didn’t they already have enough troubles?
Who steals medical supplies?
When the news announced two days later that a number of hostages had been taken at a factory downtown, Stede couldn’t help but wonder if Dr. Kraken was responsible. Surely he would be looking for opportunities to prove himself as a rising villain.
Still, it was a fairly ordinary day in the city, and Stede went into work at the hospital not expecting to be personally involved in the story.
Everything changed when Dr. Kraken showed up with an injury at the hospital door.
“Dr. Bonnet…” said one of the nurses, turning to him with fear, but Stede had already seen.
“I know,” he replied quietly, and then, louder: “What do you want?”
Dr. Kraken was hovering in the air, supported by four large, black-ish violet tentacles. They moved and pulsed and writhed to carry him forward.
He was bleeding from one leg.
Surveying the room, he pointed one gloved finger in Stede’s direction. “You,” he said. “You can treat me. No one else.”
The tentacles whipped around and the room cleared quickly. Somehow, miraculously, none of their equipment was disturbed.
Remembering his Hippocratic Oath, Stede scrambled for antiseptic and bandages. It didn’t matter if this mysterious man was a villain or not. Stede had a patient, and he was going to treat him.
“You’re Dr. Bonnet,” said Dr. Kraken as Stede approached. “I saw you on the news.”
“And I… I’ve seen you,” Stede stammered, tugging off Dr. Kraken’s boot. “You, ah… you stole all those medical supplies last month.”
“Is that how they’re telling it?” asked Dr. Kraken with a glimmer of amusement.
“Is there a different way to tell it?”
Dr. Kraken shifted; from the turn of his helmet, Stede could only imagine he was looking directly into his eyes. “The city was hoarding them. All caught up in red tape over how to distribute them and when. All while people were dying - I stole the supplies to pass them on to where they were needed.”
“Must have missed that part.” Stede forced a smile past the sudden quiver in his heart. It was impossible to read Dr. Kraken’s expression, but Stede could hear compassion in his voice.
He was… a hero?
“Did it today,” Dr. Kraken replied.
Stede peeled back the leg of the suit and sucked in a breath. “Is this – a bullet hole?”
Dr. Kraken hissed as Stede began to clean the wound. “Uh – yeah. Shirt’s bulletproof. Trousers are a work in progress. I didn’t mean to get in a firefight today, but then I heard about the hostages –”
Stede looked up sharply. “You rescued them?”
“What’s the point of being a hero if you don’t – ow – help anybody?”
“You really are a hero,” Stede said, feeling guilty.
Dr. Kraken just chuckled. “I’m trying to be.”
“Well, you’re doing a good job.” There was a pause as Stede bandaged the wound. “It went through clean. You’re very lucky.” Another pause. “You know, I really did think…”
“That I was evil?”
“That you were bulletproof.”
Dr. Kraken laughed, a low and lovely thing. “Call it our secret. Shhh.” He put a finger up to his helmet, and Stede felt a thrill of something crawl through his stomach.
“Why me?” he asked. “Why pick me to keep your secret?”
“I saw how you testified against that cop when no one else would. Brave thing to do.”
Ah, yes. The reason Stede was even somewhat semi-famous. He waved his hand, dismissive. “It was the right thing to do.”
“Exactly.” Stede thought he could hear a smile in Dr. Kraken’s voice. “You’re a hero too, mate.”
From then on, Dr. Kraken began to find Stede any time he needed patching up. Which turned out to be… a lot.
One day Stede arrived at the hospital to find Dr. Kraken had been waiting for three hours, refusing to let anyone else treat him, with burns so bad they had melted his glove. Stede gave him his home address.
“There’s not as much equipment there,” said Stede, “but if it’s the middle of the night – if you really won’t let anyone else treat you –”
“Only you,” said Dr. Kraken. He laid his non-burned hand over Stede’s forearm, just the black glove between them.
Stede’s heart beat a little faster.
Over time, Stede got to know several things about Dr. Kraken.
There was the physical – the birthmark on his right shoulder blade, which Stede saw after an unfortunate incident with a blade-wielding supervillain. The brown tone of his skin. The way he kept his nails short and neat. The tattoos covering his torso, a winding snake extending to one upper arm. Stede tried hard not to stare as he stitched up a particularly bad blade wound.
Dr. Kraken shirtless was an image that wouldn’t leave Stede’s dreams for weeks in the aftermath.
There were other things, too – his laugh, low and infectious. The way his smile would creep into his voice. The anger there at the pain of innocents.
Stede knew the vintage of wine Dr. Kraken preferred, though the man never took his helmet off to drink in Stede’s presence. He knew Dr. Kraken’s taste in music, and his opinions on politics, and the religion of his mother.
In short, nearly everything except a face and a name.
And he found himself falling.
It was a terrible idea; he knew it. Still, he found himself looking forward to their visits, as much as he could when they required an injury to the man he was falling for. At least the injuries seemed to be lessening. Dr. Kraken’s combat skills were improving, and he began coming in for the smallest of things.
Once, it was a barely infected hangnail. The next, a scrape on the back of his knee. Finally he came in for his yearly flu shot.
“Do you have a regular doctor?” Stede asked.
“Why would I need one?” Dr. Kraken sounded genuinely confused.
“No reason,” said Stede softly, and he laid his hand alongside Dr. Kraken’s shoulder as he pushed the needle in. Stede always wore his own doctor’s gloves. They had never truly touched.
Ed was losing his mind.
Secrets are secret for a reason – his hero mentor, The Golden Piper, had made that clear. Show your face, it puts someone in danger. Your enemies will always be on the lookout for weakness.
Still, Ed was fond of the kind blond doctor, and his fondness had begun to grow into something more.
Only once did Ed see Stede without his own mask in the way – grocery shopping, of all places. Luckily Ed was wearing long sleeves, covering his tattoos; he didn’t always bother, since no one besides Stede knew that Dr. Kraken had tattoos in the first place. He’d been careless. He’d need to do better.
Stede walked right by him, of course. Didn’t even look at him. Wouldn’t know who he was if he did.
His golden hair was even more dazzling seen without a visor.
Ed was so distracted and petulant at his day job that evening that his coworker Fang caught on.
“See your crush today?” asked Fang knowingly.
Fang didn’t know the details of Ed’s obsession – didn’t know that Ed was a superhero to begin with. But too many times Ed had been caught with his head in the clouds, or turned awkward at the mention of romance. So Fang had decided that Ed had a crush.
He wasn’t… wrong.
“I told you,” said Ed. “I can’t be with him.”
“And how do you know if you don’t ask?”
“There are reasons.” Ed looked up at Fang, knowing he was pleading, hoping it would work. “Trust me. I’m right about this.”
“Okay,” said Fang softly. “Hey, how about you try a dating app or something?”
Ed’s first instinct was to turn it down. “Am I a dating app sort of person, do you think?”
Fang considered him. “I think anyone can be. And it might take your mind off this guy of yours.”
In the end, Ed filled out his profile much too seriously, weighing his answers like it was life or death. He enlisted Fang and his other coworker, Ivan, to help choose his best pictures.
And finally, it was ready. Ed switched the slider to ‘on’ and waited.
His messages filled up quickly.
The plan was to use the app for hookups only. How would Ed be able to start a real romance, with so many secrets between them? And it would all come back to the main problem – the problem of putting someone else in danger. No, hookups it would have to be.
But he wanted to make a little conversation first. So many of these men were asking to dive right in, with profile pictures that were intimidatingly explicit.
In came a message from someone Ed had seen entirely too much of during his cursory profile glance:
here4whippies: can u host tonite?
He hesitated. Nothing in the man’s bio grabbed him. He was nice-looking enough (for someone without pictures of his face), but there wasn’t any spark.
Did it make sense to look for ‘spark’ for a hookup?
Regardless, Ed declined.
And he kept declining, and kept declining, until finally he came across the profile of a man with an artsy shot of hands on a violin, the bio witty.
No face pics, to which Ed was accustomed by now. But nothing risqué, either. Ed fixated on those hands longer than he wanted to admit. He’d always had a thing for Stede’s hands – clever and capable. Soft. These hands looked much the same.
Finally, he typed into the message box:
EdwardInCashmere: We could play music together sometime. I’ve taken piano since I was a kid.
He hoped his profile would do the rest of the speaking for him.
Soon enough, a reply pinged in.
gentlemanpirate99: That would be lovely! I’ve a book of duets for the pianoforte.
Ed laughed.
EdwardInCashmere: Anyone who says ‘pianoforte’ sounds like a great duet partner to me ;)
gentlemanpirate99: I’m sorry. Was that a bit strange?
EdwardInCashmere: I mean it. I like strange.
gentlemanpirate99: It’s just. I never thought someone as gorgeous as you would message me first.
EdwardInCashmere: So I’m throwing you off your game?
gentlemanpirate99: To the extent that I had any, I suppose you are.
And then another:
gentlemanpirate99: You have the most beautiful smile.
Ed sat back and resisted kicking his feet a little.
EdwardInCashmere: You’re making me blush.
gentlemanpirate99: I would bet that’s beautiful, too.
For a man who claimed to have no game, gentlemanpirate99 gave excellent compliments. They peppered the conversation and soothed something in Ed where he’d never even noticed a gap.
Now that he knew, he wanted to be filled up there forever.
They chatted all day, and as his shift drew to a close, Ed sent another message:
EdwardInCashmere: What are you doing tonight?
gentlemanpirate99: I hadn’t intended to meet up with anyone this soon.
Before he could reply, another came in:
gentlemanpirate99: If that’s what you meant.
And a third:
gentlemanpirate99: It probably isn’t. I apologize.
Ed stroked his beard and typed out a reply.
EdwardInCashmere: No pressure. Just thought I’d ask.
gentlemanpirate99: What I mean is – I hadn’t expected to want to.
EdwardInCashmere: Oh?
gentlemanpirate99: It’s been a long day.
Ed’s hopes sank rapidly.
EdwardInCashmere: I should let you get some rest.
gentlemanpirate99: Or you could take my mind off it.
Ed inhaled deeply and his fingers scurried to reply.
They arranged to meet at Jackie’s Bar before potentially going back to gentlemanpirate99’s house – in the interest of secrecy, Ed didn’t want to offer up his own house, for all that he had a separate secret lair down by the coast. He agonized over what to wear before settling on a plum-colored shirt and leather trousers.
And then he headed out for the bar, ready to see gentlemanpirate99’s face at last.
Stede was panicking.
He’d downloaded the dating app on a whim, wanting to forget Dr. Kraken. He’d kept his name and face out of his profile, though. The cop against whom he’d testified had friends, and if those friends recognized him, they would be sure to make his life more difficult. Best take his chances with only those he decided to actually meet.
At any rate, he desperately needed distraction from his impossible crush. The arms of another would do.
And then he’d matched with this Ed fellow, a living work of art. He had long, salt-and-pepper hair and a full beard, with warm brown eyes that glittered in the low lighting of his only photograph. Unlike many others on the app, he was fully clothed, wearing a black jumper with burgundy sleeves that went halfway down his hands. He was giving the camera a little smirk, like he and the viewer were in on a secret.
Stede wanted him so badly it hurt.
And now he was panicking in front of his wardrobe. What on Earth was he supposed to wear?
Eventually he decided on a ruffled shirt of baby blue with grey pinstriped trousers. His stomach tingled with nerves as he began the walk over.
He arrived at Jackie’s, and it was his responsibility to locate Ed first, since Ed didn’t know what he looked like. He found him at the bar, lit up under the chandelier like a painting.
“Ah, hello,” Stede said cheerfully. “You’re Ed, yes?”
Ed’s eyes went wide.
He started to speak, then clapped a hand over his mouth and stood. Turned. Walked – practically ran – out the door.
Stede was still standing there, agape, when a message pinged his phone:
EdwardInCashmere: I’m sorry, but we can’t.
EdwardInCashmere: It’s for your own good, I swear it.
Stede’s heart was crushed and aching as he made his way home. One look at him was enough to make the man flee.
But somehow, Ed knew his thoughts, for he messaged:
EdwardInCashmere: You’re beautiful. In another life I would fucking marry you. Just trust me.
Stede curled up on his bed in tears.
Two hours later, a knock came at the door. Only one person would visit this late.
Stede wiped away his tears and opened the door for Dr. Kraken.
The man had no obvious injuries, and he was holding out a bottle of wine and Stede’s favorite pear tarts.
“Are you all right?” Dr. Kraken asked softly. Apparently Stede hadn’t wiped away the tears as well as he’d thought.
“I will be,” he said, managing a smile. “Are these for me?”
“I thought we could share them.” (This involved Dr. Kraken going into another room to quickly eat and gulp down a sufficient quantity of alcohol, since it required removing his helmet. He must have trusted Stede not to set up cameras, which Stede appreciated more than he could say.) “It’s the least I could do,” Dr. Kraken muttered then, the meaning of the sentence a mystery.
“Come on in,” said Stede, in lieu of figuring out what that was about. For all their friendship, Dr. Kraken was still a man of mystery.
Stede was soon able to forget Ed, talking with the man he truly loved, but it only replaced one ache with another. Dr. Kraken would never give away his identity, Stede knew. Stede would have dated him helmet and all, but Dr. Kraken had been clear about his policy of no attachments.
This was all Stede would ever get. And maybe it made him greedy, and selfish, but it wasn’t enough for his desperate heart. It wasn’t enough to dim the pain.
When Dr. Kraken had gone, Stede drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
He woke up in chains.
There was a supervillain across the room – Stede wanted to say her name was Siren something. He groaned as feeling flooded back into his joints. His shirt was frayed and torn.
“You’re awake!” the Siren said. “Good. The Kraken won’t be able to help but come for you.”
He stiffened. “Who’s the Kraken?”
With a laugh, she replied, “Oh, YOU know. Did you think no one had pictures of your little late-night visits? And now I have you – Dr. Kraken’s sweetheart.”
They had been found out. There were photographs. How far had the knowledge spread – how many supervillains held this material in their grasp?
Anyway, all it would take was one. One to kidnap Stede. One to use it again the man he loved most.
“It’s a strictly professional relationship,” Stede said desperately, wanting it to be true – trying to make it true. And then, quieter, in the same motivational vein: “He won’t come for me.”
“He’s a hero,” said the Siren. “He’ll come.”
And that was everything Stede was afraid of.
Evidently, the Siren liked toying with her prisoners. She passed the time torturing Stede with a series of supernaturally earsplitting screeches, so strong that the sound waves rocked him in his chains. His shirt was in tatters. The screams rang in his head until he could barely hear anything else.
And then: a movement in the shadows.
The glimmer of a black helmet.
Stede diverted his attention, not wanting the Siren to see as Dr. Kraken crept up on her. But she turned at the last second, spotted him, and screamed.
It blasted Dr. Kraken across the room, where he lay insensate for a long moment. And then tentacles began erupting from the special slits in the fabric on his back and hips. Four of them: one from each hip and one from each shoulder blade. Two of them lifted Dr. Kraken off the floor as he righted himself; one shot out for the Siren, and she barely ducked out of the way.
There was another tentacle waiting for her. It began to grab her up, but she squirmed out of its grasp and ran for the door. The two tentacles underneath Dr. Kraken carried him rapidly over to block her path.
She screamed again, straight at his body; he rocked back and forth but the tentacles underneath him helped him stabilize and weather the blow. Then one of the tentacles darted towards her and she screamed in its direction. The tentacle flinched and recoiled, but a second one was already creeping in from the other side, holding something.
Dr. Kraken loomed closer and re-attacked from two sides at once. It was too much for the Siren, whose screams grew high and desperate.
One of Dr. Kraken’s special inventions was a large stamp with a sedative needle inside, large enough for his dexterous tentacles to wield it. (“Do you even have a doctorate?” Stede had asked one day. “Biochemistry,” Dr. Kraken had answered smugly.) That was what the second tentacle held now. As she fought off the first tentacle wrapped around her waist, the second lunged towards her and stamped the sedative against her arm, pushing the large purple button.
And she was down.
“Stede,” called Dr. Kraken, voice breaking, and he rushed over to free him from his chains. His tone was urgent as he demanded, “Are you hurt?”
“Not really,” said Stede, but then he tried to stand, and his legs buckled underneath him. Dr. Kraken was there to catch him with one tentacle.
With his hands, he had extricated a large mobile phone and begun to dial. “Let me call Basilica to handle this mess,” he said grimly, nodding to the unconscious Siren. “I want to get you home.”
Once the call was made, Dr. Kraken scooped Stede up into his arms. Stede curled up against him, feeling safer than he’d ever felt before.
Dr. Kraken’s tentacles began to grow as he walked on them out the door, and they continued to grow outside until they were the height of skyscrapers. At the top stood Dr. Kraken, with Stede nestled safely in his hold. Dr. Kraken used the tentacles to walk-swing their way somewhere new, where Stede had never been – a cove down by the sea.
Along the cove there was a cavern entrance, and Dr. Kraken’s tentacles began to shrink back down as he entered. And then they were inside an underground lair. Stede caught sight of a long dining table and several glass cases of outfits before Dr. Kraken laid him down on a large, soft bed.
Stede made a noise of protest as Dr. Kraken began to move away. “Stay,” he begged.
Dr. Kraken left anyway, but only for a moment; he returned swiftly with a glass of water. Stede drained it and set it aside, then took Dr. Kraken by one gloved hand and coaxed him down onto the bed beside him. Then he pulled him into an embrace, nosing into the gap between his helmet and his shoulder.
“You saved me,” said Stede. “I was so afraid.”
“I couldn’t let her hurt you.” Dr. Kraken sounded more shaken that Stede have ever heard him. That had to mean something, didn’t it? “Stede – if anything happened to you, I…”
Hope swelled in Stede’s chest. “I feel the same. If anything had happened to you…”
“You would go on.”
“I suppose. But I would grieve terribly. Darling…”
There was a hitch of breath. Was Dr. Kraken crying?
Stede ran a hand down his shoulder, soothing through layers of leather, wanting desperately to touch him. Finally he pulled off one of Dr. Kraken’s gloves (now an elegant elbow length of soft purple velvet) and slotted their fingers together, inhaling sharply at the feeling of their skin together for the first time.
Dr. Kraken stilled. He seemed to be experiencing a similar sensation.
“You know,” said Stede quietly. “If you blindfolded me, you could kiss me.”
A long silence unfolded.
Finally: “What?”
“You could tie my hands down, so I couldn’t take off the blindfold. And then I wouldn’t be able to see you. Your face, your identity. And then…” Stede leaned forward, pressing his forehead against the black visor of the helmet. He closed his eyes. “Anything you wanted.”
“Fuck,” said Dr. Kraken, and then: “I couldn’t put you in danger. Getting too close, it…”
“They already know who I am,” Stede pointed out. “And you protected me today.”
“I’ve already put you in danger.”
“There’s nowhere else I’d want to be.”
“Stede…” began Dr. Kraken in a low voice, and then he groaned, and then he rolled forward on top of Stede, bracketing him with his hands and knees. Stede watched with wide eyes. “You don’t know what you do to me.”
With the care of someone who’s fashioned a thousand makeshift bandages, Stede tore off a piece of his already-tattered shirt and tied it around his head, obstructing his sight. His fingers were trembling a bit, but he managed in the end. “Please,” he whispered. “Show me.”
“Oh, fuck,” said Dr. Kraken quietly. There was a rustle that may have been the removal of a helmet.
“I won’t take the blindfold off,” Stede told him, eyes shut tight beneath the cloth. “You can tie my hands up so I can’t.”
“I know you won’t,” said Dr. Kraken, and he kissed him.
Their lips met tenderly, warm and soft, Dr. Kraken moving over him almost lazily. Then Stede tilted his head up, hungering for more, and it became a devouring, kissing each other like their lives depended on it.
His arms came up to encircle his love. Dr. Kraken had long hair. Stede threaded his fingers through it.
They separated by a few millimeters to catch their breath and Stede said, “Your hair feels lovely.”
“You can pull it,” said Dr. Kraken, ragged.
Stede did, earning the most delicious noise as he yanked Dr. Kraken down to kiss him once more.
They spent an age there, a kiss that had been years in the making, building for so long that Stede could barely contain himself now that it was here. He made a sort of whimper-sigh and Dr. Kraken shuddered, moving to his neck. There he nipped and licked and sucked until Stede’s hips bucked upward. Dr. Kraken was hard against him.
“Oh, fuck, please,” Stede said on a gasp.
“You want more?” asked Dr. Kraken darkly.
“Yes. I want everything.”
And then there was a very strange sensation as something thick and unfamiliar brushed his jaw. Stede pulled back, and the object followed for a moment before retreating.
“Sorry,” said Dr. Kraken. “Fuck. Instinct.”
Stede reached out to catch the retreating object and realized what it was:
A tentacle.
He stroked his hand along it and Dr. Kraken shivered.
“Can you feel that?” Stede whispered.
Dr. Kraken answered hoarsely: “Yes.”
Stede rubbed down its side and back up to the narrow tip. There were rough ridges along opposite sides, but the rest was smooth and warm, covered in a thin sheen of moisture. The blindfold was heightening Stede’s senses, making his touch feel somehow more.
“They feel good,” Stede said, and then: “Put them on me.”
Dr. Kraken did, all over him, wrapping around his hip, trailing down his thigh, tickling at his neck. Two of the tentacles divested him of his shirt while the third got to work on his trousers. Then they dived back in, touching him, holding him. Stede was in heaven.
Soon Dr. Kraken returned to kissing him, first on the mouth, then down his neck, then across his chest until his tongue came to lave at a nipple, one hand rubbing at and then pinching the other so that Stede cried out.
Dr. Kraken pulled off to say, “Is that –”
“Don’t stop!”
Stede could feel his smile against sensitive skin as he continued.
A tentacle pulled the last of his clothing triumphantly free, then came back to wrap itself around Stede’s cock. Stede felt tears leak through the blindfold. He felt held and overwhelmed, on edge and yet safe. It was everything he had ever wanted.
Dr. Kraken pressed in close, and evidently he’d managed to rid himself of his clothing as well. Their bare forms pushed together, legs entangled, chest hair rasping, cocks sliding beside each other in delicious friction. A single tentacle petted its way down Stede’s side and to the curve of his arse; Stede gasped.
“Please – inside me –”
All movement paused. “Stede – really –”
“Fuck, I think you’re wet enough –”
“You mean my…”
Stede nodded frantically. “Yeah, yeah, put one in me…”
A slick tentacle nudged his hole, exploratory, then writhed inside and began to undulate, pressing into parts of him he hadn’t even known could feel that good. It brushed against his prostate as Ed returned to his mouth with a bruising kiss, hands gripping Stede’s sides. One tentacle was caressing Stede’s face. Another was still wrapped around his cock, and it began to pump in time with the undulation.
Within minutes, Stede was close.
“Wait, stop…” he said, and Dr. Kraken did, instantly.
“What?”
“I want to feel you.”
A single resumption of motion: a hand stroking his shoulder. “You mean…”
Stede felt a grin spread across his own face, unintended, unstoppable. “I mean your cock, you impossible man.” And then, more seriously: “Please. I’m ready.”
Dr. Kraken gently slipped the tentacle out and lined up with his entrance, stopping at the last second: “No. Not like this.”
“What do you –”
Light flooded in. Stede shut his eyes against it. “Wait, darling, the blindfold slipped –”
“I took it off.”
“What?”
“Open your eyes,” said Dr. Kraken softly, and it took a moment for Stede to process.
“I…”
“Love. Open your eyes.”
Stede had never been particularly good at resisting temptation. He did as he was told, and… and…
It was Ed.
Edward, naked and on top of him and more beautiful than ever under the dim cavern lights.
“I couldn’t let you recognize my voice,” said Dr. Kraken – said Ed.
“You…” Stede’s eyes were watering. “You left me.”
“I never left. Not really.”
Stede thought of Dr. Kraken showing up with pear tarts and began to cry in earnest.
“Oh, no,” said Ed, cupping hands around his face, eyes wide. “Stede, what is it?”
“I love you,” Stede explained.
“Oh, sweetheart. I love you too.”
Stede kissed him and laughed, which made the tentacles move, and they both groaned, and Stede said, “Now fuck me. Like you mean it.”
And Ed said, “I do.”
Ed thrust in, two tentacles lifting Stede’s hips up at the perfect angle, and then growled: “Still want your hands tied?”
Stede wondered what he meant, but then a tentacle teased at his wrist. “Oh, yes, please.”
The tentacle coaxed his hands up above his head. It was gentle at first, but once it had him there it grasped him in an iron grip. He flexed against it and found only the smallest amount of give, only enough to remind him he was being held by flesh.
“Good?” asked Ed.
“Impossibly,” replied Stede, breathless, and Ed pushed inside him.
He started slowly and then began speeding his thrusts until he was absolutely pounding into Stede, railing him into the mattress, and Stede with his hands above his head (and two tentacles at his hips, and one caressing his face and teasing at his throat) was helpless but to take it.
Distantly, he could hear himself sobbing, “Oh, fuck, please, more, I love you, I love you…”
It didn’t last very long. It was too good. Soon enough Ed came with a guttural cry, and the tentacles twitched and writhed, including the one around Stede’s cock, which set him off too.
When Stede came back to himself, he realized the tentacles had grown even wetter.
He licked one.
“You’re so weird,” said Ed on a fond laugh.
“They actually taste fairly neutral,” Stede replied. “Maybe a little salty. Like the sea.”
Now Ed looked embarrassed. “They only get all… y’know, wet like that… when I’m…”
“Aroused?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I look forward to seeing much more of it in the future.” Stede stretched up and slotted his mouth against Ed’s, and they kissed for several long moments before Ed cracked one eye open and then pulled back, laughing.
“Are your eyes open?” he asked.
“I can’t bear to miss a second of your face,” Stede told him. “It’s so new to me, you know.”
Ed took his hands and squeezed. “Move in with me,” he said. “It’s safer here.”
“I can’t not go to work,” said Stede, cautious. “I can’t just – hole up here and stop living.”
“I would never ask that of you.” Ed pulled off his remaining velvet glove, which had somehow (delightfully) missed the undressing process, and returned with his hands winding around Stede’s, thumbs moving comfortingly over Stede’s palms. “Just – at night.”
Stede considered living with Ed (living with Ed!) (which meant living with Dr. Kraken, too…) and then smiled, nodding. “All right, then.”
“We’ll get security upped on the hospital. I have an armored car you can drive, if you like. You don’t have to.”
“Well, how could I turn that down?”
Ed winked. “A man after my own heart.”
They laughed and cuddled long into the night.
In the end, it was easier to build a whole new hospital meant for heroes and those targeted by the villains. It was secured and protected by the heroes it served. Stede was the first doctor on payroll.
“I’ve been thinking about retiring,” said Ed one day, through his nerves. “Becoming a trainer for the newbies.”
“I think that would be lovely,” Stede replied, kissing him on the helmet. And then –
Ed took the helmet off.
They were out in the open, safe inside their hospital but in a place other heroes could see. One gave them an odd look as she passed.
“No more hiding,” said Ed.
“No more hiding,” Stede confirmed, kissing him properly.
Dr. Kraken became a teacher beloved by a new generation, and Stede patched up his students as they returned from missions, keeping them safe as they saved the city and the world.
Ed and Stede never had to hide again.