“Okay.”
Max frowned because he had no idea what that meant. “I wouldn’t,” he said.
“I believe.” The wrinkles around Rick’s eyes deepened.
“I’m not afraid for you. I fear I will hurt if you choose to swim away. Me.”
Rick didn't answer for a long time. They sat on the edge of the bed and Max felt like they were teetering on some tipping point. He had already agreed to stay on the ship, so he wasn't sure why Rick was pushing for sex. “I like Max's stagnant water,” Rick said so slowly that the translation computer had to pause between words. “I like Max's stories. I like Max keeping offspring safe. I like Max keeping me safe. I like Max happy and making strange mouth noises.”
“Clarify. Laughing. Those mouth noises are laughing,” Max said.
Again, Rick was silent for a significant amount of time before he responded. “I like Max laughing.”
Max's defenses were crumbling faster than he could shore them up. Hewanteda connection. That made it hard to stick to his stoic celibacy. He shrugged. “That’s not the worst reason to pair bond.”
“Query. Max pair bond Rick.”
Max knew he should say no. He should retain some semblance of independence. He just didn't want to. He was tired of being alone, and that feeling was much older than getting lost in space. He whispered his answer. “Yes.”
Rick's tentacles quivered before curling around Max’s torso.
Almost immediately, tentacles crept up and under Max's shirt. It wasn't an unusual response to accepting a proposal, but Max didn't know what to do with his hands. He stroked a tentacle, but he had no idea what passed for an erogenous zone on an alien. “I don't know what to do,” Max admitted. He hadn't said that since he was twelve years old and had discovered porn. Porn had given him a lot of bad advice, but at least he was doing something, even if it was the completely wrong something for the situation.
“Tangle tentacles.” Rick curled a tentacle around Max's wrist. All of those mini tentacles along the underside tangled around Max's fingers. Max stretched his fingers and then closed his fist. Rick shivered.
“If that's what does it for you, I can tangle some tentacles.” Max shifted to the right so that he could lean back and pull his legs up. He caught one of Rick’s tentacles between his two legs and then locked his ankles together in a wrestling move. Rick gave a full body shiver.
Then Rick was pulling at the shirt so hard that Max feared having underarm bruises. “Hey, don't tear it. It’s the only one I have.”
“We fabricate more. Many more.” Rick blurted the words out almost too fast for the translator.
“Yes, but you're going to bruise me.”
Rick stopped pulling the fabric. Buttons weren’t his thing, so Max shook his hand free of the tentacles that held him. In a second, he had unfastened several buttons. Rick got the message because several tentacles detoured from pulling duty and started unbuttoning. He shoved the shirt off Max’s shoulders, but it got caught right around Max's elbows. “I can take it off,” Max offered.
Rick shifted to Max’s pants without giving him time to wiggle free of his shirt. Max unbuttoned his pants before Rick could do any damage. It had taken him forever to get the computer to fabricate a decent crotch and he didn’t want to lose a pair of pants. As soon as Max got the zipper down, tentacles pushed his hand out of the way.
Tiny finger tentacles grabbed his cock, and Max arched his back, but Rick tightened his tentacles around Max’s arms, thwarting any attempt to flail. And Max did attempt. Strenuously. His cock turned painfully hard before Rick had even started pushing the pants down around Max’s thighs.
“Oh shit.”
“Query. Am I being shitty?” Rick asked, all his tentacles freezing in place.
“No!” Max screamed the word. “You’re awesome. Shit is an expression of strong emotion. In this case, good emotion.” Very good. Max might regret this later when he got his heart broken, but right now his body enthusiastically approved.
“I do not approve.”
“Yeah, well don’t stop,” Max said. Slowly the tentacles started moving again, undulating against Max’s bare flesh. One rested right over Max’s left nipple, then suction pulled on his skin. Rick experimented, sucking first hard and then soft. Max threw his head back and panted as his awareness narrowed to the small piece of flesh where Rick experimented with different sensations. Finger tentacles slid over his skin and then a dozen suckers all went to work. Max groaned as tentacles writhed and contorted, knotted with each other and then darted around Max’s arms and hands, his legs and neck, and finally his cock.
The sucking sensation was everywhere, some soft enough to tickle and others so strong that Max squirmed under the onslaught. He grabbed a handful of tentacles, holding tightly. Rick shuddered and then curled his tentacles around Max’s fingers and wrist. When Rick pulled his right hand up, the shirt still caught around his biceps tightened and then he dragged Max up the bed. Rick shifted so his huge head rested over Max’s thighs, the heavy weight pinning Max to the bed.
Then tentacles encircled his ankles. Max used his limited mobility to hook his ankle around one of them and pull on it. Rick’s shiver was smaller, but with his weight on Max, Max felt it and a tremor went up his own back. That made Rick shiver again. Rick had explored much of Max’s body, those suckers teasing him everywhere, but now they returned to Max’s nipples. One tentacle covered both nipples and sucked hard. Max bucked. He dug his heels into the bed and lifted Rick into the air, but Rick was heavy, and Max collapsed back onto the bed. However, in the short time he’d had his ass up, tentacles had darted under him.
Rick wrapped a thick tentacle around the small of Max’s back. It left Max’s ass suspended a few inches above the bed, and this was the most vulnerable, hottest sex position Max had ever experienced. Max shook his right hand free of the tentacles around it before he grabbed a thicker one the way he would grab a rope during PT. He circled the tentacle until it was wrapped around his forearm and then he grasped it. Smaller tentacles twined around their joined arms.
A tentacle slid across Max’s inner thigh before brushing Max’s cock. Max gasped. It felt slick and the small finger tentacles teased the sensitive skin.
“Humans and the people much compatible,” Rick said in a low and rumbly voice.
