The Possessor

Jake

“Man, what a night.” Foxy says, grinning. We’re sitting in a booth at the back of Coney Island in town. It’s around noon, and Foxy is treating me to lunch. Payment for letting him get drunk and bring some chick over to my house. She had surprised me by actually being sort of pretty, and actually being interested in Foxy. “How’d you sleep?” he asks.

I shrug. “Fine.” I say. He grins at me, and I shut him down before he can detail what happened between him and Kaity. Instead I steer to conversation towards mutual things; some horror movie that’s coming out soon that we both want to see. The waitress comes over with our drinks, takes our orders, and we resume our conversation. That is, until someone comes over and growls out, “Edgar, you little asshole”. I look up into Alan Bartling’s face, which is thunderous.

“Alan.” Foxy greets, grinning, despite the fact that I catch the nervousness on his face. “What can I do for you?”

Alan leans down, bracing his weight on his hands on the table. “I’m going to fucking kill you.” he snarls at Foxy. “That little stunt you pulled yesterday is going to earn you a grave.”

“Maybe.” Foxy says, shrugging. His play-it-cool attitude is pretty good, but I can see through it; he’s scared. “Maybe not.”

“You didn’t really call the cops.” Alan says, and Foxy shrugs again. “What are you doing sticking up for that Puppet piece of shit, anyway?”

My entire body jerks, my knees slamming against the bottom of the table, and they both look at me. I shoot Foxy a ‘what-the-fuck’ look, and he won’t meet my eyes. Alan snorts and looks back at Foxy.

“You watch yourself.” he says, standing straight. “You just watch what happens to you.” he turns and storms away.

I wait until he’s out of earshot before I turn and glare at Foxy. “What the fuck is he talking about?” I hiss at him. “You stuck up for Dominic?”

Foxy sighs and pushes his hand through his shaggy black hair. “Look, man, it was four against one. I’m not going to let anyone get stomped like that.”

“You hate him.” I point out.

“No, I don’t.” he says. “I really don’t.” I roll my eyes. “Seriously, it’s not that I hate the guy. I don’t even know him. I just… don’t like what he is. It creeps me out. That doesn’t mean I want to watch four guys beat him into pulp.” he grins at me. “Besides, you’d be so depressed if they hurt his face, wouldn’t you?”

“Shut up.” I mutter. The waitress shows up with our food and I focus on that, instead of Foxy. I’m annoyed with him for not telling me about what happened, and confused at his actions. We eat in silence for a while, and then Foxy clears his throat and says my name quietly. “What?” I snap at him.

“Do you want me to talk to him?” he asks, and I pale. “I could, you know. Maybe if I-”

“No.” he sighs and I shake my head at him. “Don’t get involved, please?”

“You’re never going to work up the balls to speak to him.” Foxy tells me, and I’m worried that he’s right. I don’t say anything at all. “Come on, Jake, just let me talk to him.”

I sigh and set my fork down. “What is there to say, Fox?” I ask him, raising my eyebrows. “Say, Dominic, I’ve got this friend, you don’t know him but he’s in love with you, so maybe you should say hi to him or something. You know, because it would be hilarious to see him pass out in the middle of the hall.”

Foxy snorts laughter at this and I roll my eyes at him. “Yea, you would pass out.” he says, and I lean over and flick him in the forehead. “Ow.” he mocks, rubbing the spot I flicked with one finger.

“Just leave it alone, okay?” I tell him, and he grumbles and looks away. “I’m fine with the way things are.”

“No, you aren’t.” he counters. “It’s disgusting, and I’m sick of it.”

“Well, get over it.”

“You’re the one-”

“Just stop.” I snap, and he shuts his mouth and glares at me. “Jesus Christ, why do you care all of a sudden?”

“Whatever.” he gets up, tosses some cash on the table, and shakes his head. “I’ll see you later.” he turns and storms out of the restaurant. I watch him go, confused and a little hurt at his reaction. What the hell is his problem?

I finish my food, pay, and head out. The walk to my house isn’t too far, and by the time I get there I’ve put Foxy’s little temper tantrum out of my head. I’ve got a lot to do around the house before my parents come home, and I know I should get on with it. Instead, I find myself sprawled out on the couch, flipping through the channels. My mind wanders, not finding anything interesting on the television, and it goes to to where it always does when I let it do whatever it pleases.

I mute the television and close my eyes, conjuring up Dominic’s face in my mind. The sharp blade of his nose, the curve of his mouth, the line of his throat. My hands strays across my stomach towards my belt buckle, and I think about the way he bites his bottom lip while lost in thought, the way his face softens when he smiles. I unbuckle the belt, push the button of my pants open and the zipper down, and slide my hand inside. I wrap my fingers around my own cock, stroking quickly. Masturbating makes me feel a little ashamed of myself, and despite the fact that I do it more than most people I know, I try to get it over with as quickly as possible. It takes less than a minute, a few quick strokes, a slight twist at the upstroke, and my hips jerk as I climax.

I get up slowly and head into the downstairs bathroom to clean up. As I’m drying my hands, it occurs to me that maybe Foxy was right. I know how pathetic the whole thing is, know how stupid I’m being. Maybe I should let him say something to Dominic about me. You never know until you try, right?

I dig my cell phone out of my pocket as I head upstairs.

****************************************************************************

Dominic

“I said no.”

My Possessor makes an annoyed sound and tightens almost painfully around my neck, before releasing and sliding along my arm. “Dominic, this is ridiculous.” it whispers, ghosting against my skin. “Just let me take care of the mating. You’re wasting time.”

“I will not let you scare that poor kid.” I tell him, and he recoils from my skin. “If you’re right and he does like me, then you just jumping on him would be pretty bad.”

“That’s completely unfounded.” my Possessor insists, sliding around my wrist, pulling my hand up as though on marionette strings. My fingers flex of their own accord, and I watch carefully. “Who’s to say he wouldn’t like a little jumping?”

I sigh and close my eyes. I’m laying in bed, still in my pajama pants and tee shirt that I sleep in, letting my Possessor play. It likes to move parts of my body on it’s own, all I do is lay there and allow it. It lets go of my hand and slides across my stomach to my other arm, making me squirm. “I said no.” I repeat, and my Possessor makes a low growling sound. “I’ll approach him on Monday, okay?”

“By approach, do you mean-”

“No.” I snap. “I’m not going to just fuck the kid so you can feel better.”

“He’d feel better too.” my Possessor changes course, sliding across my hip towards the waist band of my pants. “You would too.”

“Stop it.”

“You’ve been so testy lately.” it says softly, worming its way under the fabric and making me gasp. “You haven’t let me-”

“Stop.” I sit up abruptly, startling my Possessor. I feel it race back up my chest to the pendant around my neck. “Can’t you leave well enough alone?”

“What’s enough?” it asks me as it seeps back into the crystal. “Nothing’s happened.”

I ignore it, getting out of bed and heading downstairs. I make myself a sandwich and take it into the living room. I sit cross-legged on the floor by the window and eat slowly, thinking over what to do. I know I can’t keep putting this off, but-

A knock on the front door startles me, and I get up, glancing out the window. The car looks familiar, but… when I open the door to see Edgar my stomach rolls. “Uh, hi.” I say, scowling.

He looks uncomfortable. “Yea, hi.” he says, shuffling his feet. “Can we talk?” I nod slowly and step back, and he comes inside. I shut the door. “Anyone else home?” he asks.

“No.” I say.

“Good.” he turns and looks at me carefully. “Are you gay, Dominic?” he asks.

My mouth pops open, ready to say no, but my Possessor races up my throat and into my mouth, cool and dry. It chokes off the syllable, tasting like salt water and something plant-like, and I feel my mouth move without me wanting it to.

“Is this about Jake?” it’s my voice but not my words, and I bite my teeth down hard, pushing me teeth against them and forcing the damn thing out of my mouth. Edgar is watching me curiously, his eyes flicking down to the pendant. I sigh. “Sorry.” I mutter.

“It’s about Jake.” he agrees, and I look at him, confused. “He’s got it for you bad, Dominic.” he puts his hands in his pockets and leans back against the wall, studying me. “I just need to know if there’s any kind of possibility that you’d be interested in him.”

I feel like I’m going to either burst into tears or starting laughing hysterically. At least I know that my Possessor wasn’t lying. But now what? Do I tell the truth? Do I just lie and say I’m interested, so I can get this whole mating thing out of the way? I’m not sure what I should say, and I can tell he’s watching me carefully. When I don’t say anything at all, he nods slowly.

“Okay.” he says. “I’ll let him know to stop holding his breath. Just, don’t make it a big deal, okay? Jake’s kind of s sissy, and if you start shit with him for this-”

“I’m interested.” I say, and he stops, raising his eyebrows. “Don’t tell Jake I’m not. I just…” I sigh and wander into in the living room, and after a moment, Edgar follows. “What do you know about Possessor mates?” I ask him.

He shrugs. “Not much.” he says, sitting down. “I read that they can find a mate by smell, and that-” he stops, looking at me with wide eyes, then jumps back up. “No fucking way.” he snaps. “Your Possessor wants to mate with Jake?” I nod. “Holy shit… you’re a dude!”

“Possessors don’t have genders.” I tell him. “They can mate with either gender. Usually, though, they find a mate with an opposite gender of their host.” I smile humorlessly. “My Possessor thinks I should be gay, apparently.”

He shakes his head at me. “So you aren’t interested in him, your Possessor is.”

“I don’t know.” I tell him honestly. “We share emotions. He wants Jake, so I do, too.”

He shudders, looking a little sick. “This is just…” he shakes his head, then pushes his hair back. “So it’s not that you want to, you know, see Jake, you just want to-” he stops, and puts his hands against his mouth.

“My Possessor just wants to fuck him, yes.” I clarify, and Edgar turns away from me. “But I’m kind of against that.”

“Well, yea, you’re straight, right?”

I sigh. “I’m not against the fucking.” I tell him honestly. I have to admit, part of me is sort of amused at the guy’s reaction to this. He looks green. “I’m against that being all of it. If Jake is really interested in me, then me pulling something like that would hurt his feelings.”

Edgar shrugs, the nods. “You’re right.”

“Thank you for letting me know, though.” I say, and he nods again. “I’ll figure it out soon.”

I show Edgar out, and he stops on the top stair and turns to look at me. “About the mating thing…” I raise an eyebrow at him. “If you guys mate, does that mean you’re going to have a kid?”

I burst out laughing, unable to help myself. “No, Edgar.”

“Fox.” he corrects me.

“No, Fox.” I say, grinning. “I can’t get pregnant. I don’t have a uterus.” he looks confused, and I sigh. “If I were to mate with Jake, then it would create a new Possessor.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” I tell him honestly. “I can’t find information on that, and my Possessor has never mated before.” He nods, then turns to leave again. I call his name, making him stop. “Why are you doing this?” I ask him. “You don’t like people like me.”

“You mean I’m a racist prick?” he asks, and I flush. “Maybe I am. But Jake’s been wrapped up about you since the seventh grade, and I’m tired of his moping. Maybe this will make him easier to deal with.” he smiles. “Besides, just because I don’t like the idea of a Possessor doesn’t mean I don’t like you. I don’t even know you. I’m not that big of a prick.”

I watch him drive away, frowning. Despite the fact that this new information makes the choice easier in theory, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m scared to death.