“I’ll need some Crypdid Alliance pins, a tote bag and some t-shirts.” Kaos skipped off to continue his hunt.
I picked up a T-shirt for myself and a few funny ones for my brothers, then added some small items for Christmas gifts for the rest of my family. I wasn’t planning on shopping for them today, but they had a great selection, and I’d be bringing something fun back home in January.
“Look what I found!” Kaos skipped to me waving a pair of socks in the air. “These have a tentacle pattern! I’m getting the entire set. Also, check out these baubles with tentacles and these with orange cats. All we need is a tree.”
His enthusiasm was infectious.
I grinned and kissed his cheek. “I guess we could get a tabletop tree for our stay.”
Kaos clapped his hands. “Yes! They have those in that corner.” His eyes blew wide, and he walked slowly to a shelf with snow globes and picked one. “This will remind me of my first culinary trip, and of my time in Chicago with you. I always wanted to have a collection of these from travels. It’s gonna be be my first one.” He posed in front of a mirror and took a selfie wearing the new coat and holding the globe. “Oh, we need tinsel!” He sauntered over to me and stood on his tiptoes to whisper in my ear: “They have an adult section in the store. Wanna check it out?”
I traced a tentacle along his jaw and lifted his chin up. “With you? Yes. Are you looking for anything specific?”
He took my hand and led us through a black curtain to the red-lit section. “I have plenty of toys at home, but when I’m staying with you, I won’t be needing anything urgently. I wanna browse, though. How about you?”
“Hmm, we could use a set of restraints and a few other items. Let me show you first, unless you’d like them to be a surprise?”
“Normally I’d say that I want to know, but I trust you. I’ll look at dildos on that end. Maybe I’ll get one for home to use when I’ll miss you.” He stuck his tongue out as he glanced at me over his shoulder.
What a blow to the chest, Kaos. He’d miss me…
My head filled with ideas that would take longer than three weeks to fulfill, but I’d have to plan accordingly. I paid in the adult section separately, and I glimpsed Kaos doing the same by a till on the other side. We emerged with stylish paper bags, mine slightly bigger than his.
“Will you show me what you've got?” I hugged Kaos from behind and inhaled the natural scent of him, strongest in his hair. The blueberry and orange smell was intoxicating without being too sweet. Like the cutest kitten dressed in black.
“Depends on how many orgasms I get from you.” He looked up and kissed my jaw.
“You’re driving a hard bargain. Very hard.”
Kaos offered me a smug look and wiggled out of my embrace. “I love this place so much it’s given me an idea.” He skipped to the clerk who’d greeted us when we entered and chatted to him, gesticulating wildly. The man kept nodding, and his smile grew wider. Kaos had that effect.
He returned to me and handed me his bag. “I have permission to film the store and post about the stuff they have.”
Kaos spent an hour doing closeups, talking about the importance of representation, and swooning over a T-shirt of a giraffe shifter with abs.
When he was done, we paid for our shopping separately and thanked the helpful clerk.
Kaos ran out of the building with the coat on his back, and bags full of goodies. However, even the joy radiating off him couldn’t save him from the icy sidewalk.
In a split second I watched Kaos’s feet fly up, his arms apart. A surprised squeak tore out of him right before I caught him.
He landed in the squish of my tentacles and burst into nervous laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I kissed his temple and set him back on his feet.
“This.” He waved between us. “For the past week whenever I make a mistake, whenever I slip, you catch me.”
I want to always be there to catch you.Words got stuck in my throat, so I squeezed his hand and nodded. I was so fucked.
Mulling over our situation would do me no good. Instead, I took Kaos’s hand and we walked back to where we started, then farther on to Millenium Park where the city’s official Christmas tree stood.
I took out my phone and held it in my tentacle to get the perfect selfie of the two of us.
“That’s very handy.” Kaos leaned into me and kissed my cheek. In the photo, we looked like a happy couple in the honeymoon stage of their relationship. We wouldn’t have any other stages, but that was what we agreed on at the outset. I’d have to make the best of our remaining two weeks together.
Chapter Fifteen
Kaos
