Chapter 12

Colby

Humans would’ve been staring at me for the obvious walk of shame clothes, but I was betting the aliens didn’t really care about that.

Or the handful of humans who were doing their best not to giggle.

“Please avoid the indulgences of pancakes or waffles. They are easily overconsumed and do not contain enough nutrition.” Saint made a waving motion toward about half the large dining hall and frowned at all the goodies. “Humans enjoy trying to spread empty calories as well as holiday cheer .”

That seemed like something he’d seen in a weight loss ad, so I wasn’t going to give it much attention. “I like eggs and I remember my promise.”

They all remembered my promise based on the half dozen tentacles that all immediately pointed toward the coffee station.

Yep.

The no privacy thing wasn’t something I was going to forget anytime soon either.

“Good boy, my Colby.” Saint wasn’t being subtle at all and caused even more guys to turn in our direction.

We were the talk of the building today.

With that being so obvious, I decided making Saint look good was my primary goal…well, after getting coffee. “Would you get me breakfast? I’ll get my one cup of coffee and you can make sure I get good nutrition.”

Oh, they all liked that.

Saint had read enough about humans to realize I was up to something. He was looking at me a little too closely, but he nodded and I got another pat. “Yes, my Colby. Your health is important. Thank you for putting your trust in your mate.”

Still not touching that one, but I stretched up to give him a quick kiss.

We kept it very safe for public but it started a rush of whispers through the room. Their words were damned near inaudible, so I didn’t try to eavesdrop, but it let me see just how good their hearing was since it was obvious no one was missing out on the gossip.

Saint loved it.

He damned near strutted over to the hot bar after giving my ass a pat that nudged me toward the coffee.

Sweet, wonderful coffee.

Yes, they had flavored syrups and everything.

“Let me know if you need anything you don’t see.” Human helper dude from the night before walked over from somewhere as I got to the amazing setup. “Especially if you can say it adds nutritional value.”

Trying not to laugh, I nodded. “Thanks for the advice.”

He gave a half-shrug. “No problem and explaining them is in my job description.”

He clearly liked his job.

“I’ve had training with other humans and with my employers about all kinds of topics.” Giving me a side-eye as I gratefully caressed a mug that was big enough to appreciate only getting one cup of coffee, he wasn’t subtle in the slightest. “Do you have any other questions about words Mr. Saint has used or terms that are confusing?”

I was starting to see why they liked him so much.

“No.” The silence that had descended over the room said no one was happy with that answer. Well, no one but Saint. He was happily filling up plates for us and analyzing the nutritional content of everything if I was seeing what he was doing right. “I’ve read a lot. I’m good.”

“Scientific papers?” Human helper dude wasn’t backing down.

“No.” Someone was going to make me talk about it if I couldn’t nip the conversation in the bud. “Romance novels.”

And he grinned.

Seeing that we were on the same page, I finished exploring the syrups and added caramel to my cup. “This is a great set up.”

“It doesn’t change much, so let me know later this week if you need more variety.” Barely holding back a smirk, human helper guy shrugged. “That’s the hardest part about staying over all the time.”

“I appreciate someone else cooking for me, so I’m not going to complain.” Eventually I’d cook for Saint, but we’d figure that out. Technically he had everything we needed to make a few things, but his kitchen was tiny. “We’ll probably spend a lot of time here for now. I work next door. Oh, and my bathroom won’t fit both of us at the same time and I don’t have a tub.”

That got dramatic sighs from half the room, but I managed not to smile.

Human helper dude didn’t even bother trying and was snickering as he walked away with a nod. “Let me know if you need anything.”

I had a feeling he meant that very literally in a call me at three in the morning for new socks kind of way.

I was really hoping I’d never have to call him for anything weird.

“Thanks.”

Coffee doctored to perfection, I managed not to drool in it as I walked over to meet Saint who’d finished getting us breakfast.

“Oh omelets.” Veggies and cheese but he’d put bacon and a few other things on what had to be my plate, so no complaints here. “Thank you.”

Saint was beaming and carrying silverware, cold drinks, and napkins with other limbs. “You are welcome, my Colby.”

The way he said my name didn’t get us any curious reactions that time, and I could only assume it was because they’d realized he was right to use it.

“Do you need any help, Sir?” Deciding that if they didn’t care about the submission stuff then I wouldn’t care about using his title around them, I wasn’t surprised when Saint shook his head.

“No, my Colby. However, if you would like to make a decision, you may pick where we will sit.” Saint glanced around at the options but I was back to trying not to smile.

The whole room was filled with individual tables.

One small table.

One small chair.

“I’d like to share a table but I can sit on your lap if we shouldn’t move the chairs around.” I belonged to him so there was no way he was going to let me have my own table.

The one free limb that wasn’t holding him upright or something related to our breakfast patted my head. “You will be seated on my lap, my Colby. That is your place while we are not in public.”

Oh.

So this was private too?

His carrying me through the lobby so confidently made more sense if he considered the building a private space. I’d narrowed it down in my head to just his apartment, but that didn’t seem to be how he was seeing it.

“Yes, Sir.” Leaning into his touch made him happy and puffy too, but it also got visible reactions from some of the other guys.

I was going to have questions.

Later.

When I dragged him outside for a walk so we could have actual privacy.

For the time being, I carefully picked out a table that wouldn’t crowd anyone else and set my mug down. Saint nodded and seemed to think I’d done a good job because he carefully arranged our place setting…settings?

Was it one place setting if we were eating in the same spot?

Before I could mentally wander too deep into something stupid, Saint picked me up and arranged us in the thankfully sturdy chair.

The IKEA-looking furniture was actually heavy as fuck and didn’t do more than slightly shift when I bumped into it. Whoever had built this place for them had really understood what they were doing because we both fit at the table and the chair was strong enough to hold us both.

“This looks wonderful.” I couldn’t help the bubble of happiness inside of me that just kept growing as he carefully arranged everything and fed me the first bite of my omelet.

Moaning from the taste got a giggly sound from him and several of the other guys looked like they thought it was cute. It was easy to tell the ones who’d figured out humans more and who were still learning because several of them looked like they were confused.

Culturally, they weren’t my problem, though, and I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be acceptable for me to offer to help. That seemed like something Saint would need to organize, so I stayed focused on him and my food.

After feeding me bites of the potatoes he’d picked out as well as handing me my water, he gestured toward my coffee. “You may consume your toxins carefully unless you would like help.”

Nothing in his tone said he had a strong opinion on the subject, so I tried to navigate the conversation without frustrating either of us. “Sitting on your lap after you picked out my food has made my sub side very content. I want you to be able to enjoy your food too.”

And I wasn’t sure I had a kink related to being fed.

The cuddling and him picking out my food was higher on my oh that’s fun list than I’d expected, though. I hoped Saint could feel that or could understand enough of what I was projecting to be happy with the answer, but it wasn’t until he put my fork in my hand that I knew we were both good.

“You are highly adept at communicating your needs, my human.” His proud smile and pats said he was glad he could show off his smart human.

“Thank you, Sir.” And since I wanted to make him look good too, I kissed his cheek and snuggled into his torso, even draping a smaller tentacle over my lap as I started eating.

And drinking.

They had really good coffee.

More moans got sighs and a few comments about toxins from our audience, but after a few minutes everyone settled back into their own breakfasts and seemed to tune us out. Well, mostly tune us out. If we so much as shifted in the chair, everyone glanced over at us, but I knew they didn’t mean to make me feel like the monkeys at the zoo.

It was just a fun side effect of us being so different…but I had to admit, I kind of liked the weird mix of attention it was getting me.

I knew they were watching us.

Saint knew they were watching us.

They knew we knew they were watching us.

But we all had to pretend there was nothing weird about it as we ate and snuggled.

My head knew we were ignoring it but my dick didn’t. I knew that was a recipe for disaster with Saint because when mixed signals were involved he asked about it. So I was waiting for him to drop a conversational bomb on me, but that wasn’t what I should’ve been overthinking.

His tentacle was.

One slid right over my half-hard cock and gave it a squeeze. “Are you enjoying your food, my Colby?”

Well, at least he’d waited until I was done with my coffee?

Ugh.

If I couldn’t learn to control my dick around him, it was going to end up getting me in a lot of trouble…or a lot of unexpected conversations.

“Yes, but not in the way you mean.” Deciding there was no way around it, I turned and whispered to him as low as I could to hopefully signal to everyone that it was a private response. “It’s a combination of cuddling with you and being taken care of and being watched. I can’t help it.”

The last part was more human habit than actual worry.

Saint wasn’t the type to get upset over an uncontrollable cock. He seemed to think that was just part of me being human or maybe a human sub. He wasn’t exactly wrong, but I was hoping the conversation we had about it would be subtle.

“Human bodies are very responsive.”

It was not going to be subtle.

“There are no social norms to think about here, my Colby. There are also none of the police officers who enforce social norms that have evolved to legal ones.” His words were going to give me a lot to think about at some point, but for the time being, they were just sexy.

One bad idea after another popped up in my brain and they just made simply being felt up at the table mild, so it was hard to work up an objection to anything that was happening. “I… Yes, this is your private space and you…and you guys make the rules here.”

For some control freak kind of reason, they all seemed to like the reminder that they were in charge of their building. Everyone in my peripheral vision sat straighter and a few puffed up like I’d made them feel good about themselves.

“Yes, our social norms are different than humans’. However, we will always respect a submissive and remember the human domination-based custom of safewords .” He gave me so many new things to overthink, I had to push my questions to the back of my head as he continued to edge me. “It has been communicated that you understand our custom of using the human stoplight colors.”

Everyone knew my safewords.

Got it.

Oh.

I was really slow sometimes.

“I’m…I’m glad they understand.” If there was something smarter I should’ve said, I couldn’t think of it. Mostly because there wasn’t enough blood in my head to figure it out. “I trust you to know…I trust you to know what the social norms are.”

Because I couldn’t think enough to reason them out at the moment…he’d slipped one thinned-out tentacle inside my pants.

It was honestly more subtle than what had been happening over my pants, but there was no way everyone didn’t know what he was doing. My pheromones or heartbeats or something would’ve given it away even if he hadn’t been talking about safewords and customs.

Clearly their customs said it was okay to feel up your special human friend over breakfast.

“Good boy, my human.” The pleased tone in Saint’s voice had my dick trying to get harder and the reaction got a happy sound from Saint. “Yes, your pleasures belong to your mate.”

I could legitimately ignore it that time because I was doing my best not to orgasm.

“How should we spend our day, my Colby?” With his tentacle doing that ice cream twirl again, Saint somehow thought having a conversation was perfectly reasonable. “Your orgasms and submission are important. However, humans require socialization and exercise.”

Had to take your human on a walk after you let them come…got it.

He wasn’t wrong, though, so since it seemed like he was serious, I did my best to answer reasonably. “I…I thought we could go…go to the bookstore.”

I’d actually been thinking about that when he’d gotten me dressed earlier, so I didn’t have to work too hard to give him an answer.

“Oh, my Colby.” Saint sounded like we were in the middle of a dirty Hallmark movie. “You take very good care of your mate.”

That was more dangerous than I realized…pleasing him made him want to please me.

Oops.