Chapter XIV: Retaining


"I'm starting to understand how you work," Marie whispers between kisses as she pins me to the bed with her body, taking the initiative as soon as we're in range. I'm shimmying myself to the centre of the bed even as our arms move around each other out of habit. "You give us what we need, not what we want," she continues while aggressively undoing my Hero vest, my own hands pulling the sash on her kimono loose in response. She stops undressing me to roll her shoulders and move her arms back, allowing the outfit to slide off her and quickly moving to undo her bra.

"For me, you do as your told and disobey only when you need to," she whispers as she leans onto me with a thud and continues to kiss me, stopping again to pull back and yank off my vest and shirt when her skin touches clothing. She lets out an excited sigh when she leans forward again and touches her skin to mine. Skin contact on her chest is her turn on...go figure. Hands are already moving even as the thought forms to undo what clothing remains on us but even with the distraction, I couldn't miss the slight growl when she states, "But I hate it when you indulge Callie's plans...it's like your undermining me just for the fun of it-"

"That's not my intent. I just think we need to try some of her plans and give her the chance to come up with something amazing," I whisper back as calmly as possible but she sighs in frustration anyway, her mood shifting to irritated as she stares at me. "And that's why she loves you. You make her foolish plans work instead of shooting them down like I do...how come you can't do that with me?" she states, quickly shifting to sad as I bring her into a hug while returning her sigh. "Because you have more responsibility and your plans have life or death consequences...I'm not doing it-"

"-because you want to, it's because you need to," she finishes but I can hear her voice start to break slightly. My hands are already brushing her hair tentacles out of habit when she starts to sob lightly. "I don't...I don't want to be here...I don't want to be in charge...but...but no one else can do it right now...and I can't bring myself to push it on someone else-"

I smile and sigh at her words while continuing to rub her head with my left hand, my other hand rubbing her back. "We've been over this, Marie. Trust your subordinates. You can't do this alone and you aren't doing this alone...but what do we need us to do to convince you?" I chuckle to myself when I see her mood shift slightly and feel her face rub against mind. "I feel like if I keep asking, you'll eventually give me an answer."

She doesn't answer because she starts kissing me aggressively to keep my mouth from forming words, my body already responding by returning her affection. That's new. She doesn't normally do that like the others. I let her have her way but her aggression goes further, one of her hands moving from my back to my rear that she gently squeezes. The feeling makes me uncomfortable but not overly concerned. Let her take charge...she needs this.

To my credit, I don't flinch like I have before but her hands are already moving again, placing themselves on the front of my shoulders as she breaks away and goes vertical to line herself up with me. My hands are on her hips as she slowly connects us, both of us sighing in relief at the feeling of warmth as she leans forward and presses herself against me. She laughs to herself and kisses my neck a few times. "You're so easy. As soon as someone offers something physical, your resistances melts away-" she whispers in a seductive tone, the tone both confusing and arousing at the same time. This isn't like her...something's different.

"-and that's what I like about you. You don't overcomplicate anything," she whispers before moving up to my face and smothering me with more kisses, my entire body starting to succumb to the sensations. Despite the physical stimulus and the mood trying to set in, I find part of my thoughts mildly irritated by her statement and stop her kisses for a moment to give her a partially glum look. "I'm not...that easy...even I have demands-"

"Like what?" she interrupts, staring at me challengingly with a serious gaze that I can't hold for long. I try to turn my head to the left in evasion but she nudges my face back with hers to keep me facing her. "Um...well...at the minimum, I'd like to stay healthy and not be exhausted all the time...uh..." I stammer, finding myself on the spot and not having a formal answer.

The silence stretches out as she continues to stare at me, waiting patiently for me to answer. "Marie-" I try to say but she shakes her head once before cutting me off. "No, not this time. You can't avoid this question forever," she states and I find my discomfort increasing at her intense scrutiny. I try to look away again but she nudges me back into place again. "It's embarrassing to say-" I state as I'm being nudged back but Marie commands me to say it, this time a little more forcefully. I sigh as I close my eyes and try to form something coherent. "You know how you...you said you wanted to have inklings of your own?" I start in a whisper, opening my eyes to see Marie giving me her full attention and grow very still. I swallow in nervousness before continuing. She's scary when she's serious. "I've been mulling it over and...I think I want the same thing-"

Her face moves from stern to a half smile in an instant, the sudden change in mood taking me off guard. She puts her head on my shoulder softly, making sure to brush my face slowly with hers as she does so. "If that's what you want, you'll have to leave a stronger imprint on me," she whispers into my ear and I flinch when her arms swiftly wrap around my back.

My arms and hair tentacles are wrapped around her body but I'm still pinned to the bed by her weight, starting to blush when I realize that we're still connected. "Is...that a challenge?" I ask her but her response is a cryptic smile as she see's my realization. "Don't tire yourself out. Callie's going after me, remember?" she commands and I catch slight movement on my right at the mention of Callie, looking over to see her trying to hide behind the bed's edge. Our eyes lock for a moment as I give her a mildly irritated expression but she remains where she is and shows no signs of remorse. No shame, that one-

"You already knew she'd be there. Now focus," Marie whispers as she nudges my face back with her own. She's still half smiling when she waits a few seconds for me to give her my full attention, my eyes eventually locking onto hers. "And what do I keep telling you when we're together like this?" she gloats but doesn't let me answer immediately due to more kissing as if trying to test if I'm still focusing. I give her a crooked smile when she finally relents enough to let me answer. "That when we're together, you're the only important person to me and that my primary objective is to-" I say sarcastically and am rewarded with an annoyed expression on her face and a groan of annoyance. "Don't you start being snarky with me. If you kill the mood, I will hurt you," she threatens, my smile dropping as I nod quickly and give her a quick yes ma'am. She doesn't take it well, quickly snapping at me, "And don't call me that. It makes me feel old when you call me that."

"Trying to take Clementine's position as my mom with your demands?" I add in with a grin but Marie growls and surges forward, biting down on my shoulder hard and doing her best to make the wound as painful as possible by working her teeth to shred the skin. I bar my teeth and groan at the sudden pain but as soon as it begins, Marie pulls away and spits to her right to clear her mouth of ink. "I did warn you, didn't I? You don't take me seriously enough at times like this and it pisses me off," she growls before sighing theatrically and moving towards me again. I tense as she does so, expecting more violence but instead feel her tongue start to lick the wound that begins to close. Her licking slow and deliberate, her mouth even clamping down playfully to suck on the wound as I shiver slightly at her attention. My shoulders, ears and rear...they know my weak spots...

When the wound finally seals and she pulls away, she gives the wound a last kiss. "I don't enjoy hurting you but I might as well make it fun when I have to," she comments as she moves her arms from behind me and crosses them on top of my chest, giving me a look of part annoyance and part understanding. I roll my left shoulder in response, testing the wound and finding lingering pain. "I beg to differ. I think everyone enjoys hurting me to some degree because I bounce back every time," I say a little too seriously and I try to look away from the hurt expression she gives me but scoff at myself when she chuckles and nudges me back to face her. There's a hint of smug playfulness as she does so. "Kosh, you aren't enviable to constant pain...you worry me at how reckless you can be," she whispers and my mood shifts to match the tone, finally catching some of the undercurrents she's giving off. I always worry them because although we can't-

I let the thought lead nowhere, instead following an unspoken need and moving us onto our sides with arms and hair tentacles. It's no small amount of relief when she doesn't push back and gives me a smile that makes me feel bad. We're both evading now. There's plenty I want to say to her but I throw it out because it isn't as important at this moment. "Will you help me raise a child?" I ask her in a whisper and she starts to tear up, something that I mirror even as we start to tumble into physical contact.

"Yes...of course, I will..."


I almost fall asleep from the sheer amount of sharing ink I just did, my entire body slightly damp and heavily exhausted. Callie has other ideas, gently moving Marie off of me to her side of the bed and giving me an excited grin that reminds me of how predatory she can be. Waiting for the prey to tire itself out before moving in for the kill...that's a scary analogy... "I've never seen Marie act so aggressively when sharing ink! You really pushed the right buttons!" she whispers a little too loudly as she starts to wipe me down with the sheets, my body responding quickly to the coming ordeal. I gasp in exhaustion and splutter, "Just give me...a few moments...I still can't feel my legs-"

"Oh, relax! I'm not about to immediately jump you after seeing what I just saw. We'll take it slow," she giggles but I already know where this is going. I have enough time to look down slowly before she latches onto me with her mouth, a slight groan of discomfort mixed with pleasure coming out of me. Her definition of slow is different. My body twitches lightly at her attention and she releases me after a few seconds to giggle again. "Oh, you can't feel your legs, huh? You seem fine to me-"

"Callie, we've been over this..." I slur but she ignores my protests, launching herself forward with her arms to land on top of me with a thud. I cough at the sudden pressure on my chest and find myself looking into Callie's grinning face with a mix of excitement and dread. Oh no, her ink's heated. That's when she's most dangerous. "You know, you really shouldn't indulge Marie's every whim because I can say one or two or all of us are gonna get jealous," she whispers with a hint of threat before kissing me suddenly and aggressively, my system flooded with a sensation of warmth. I grunt slightly from the pain of her grip clamping down on my arms and pinning them to prevent any form of rebuttal. Even in my exhausted state, I try to return her affection as best I can and am rewarded with her arms releasing mine and moving around my back.

When she finally pulls away with a loud, satisfied sigh, I feel my eyes start to flutter closed from exhaustion but am awakened when Callie shakes me by the shoulders gently. She keeps grinning at me even as she kisses me slowly this time, making sure to keep me awake and giggling to herself when she feels me twitch. "You...belong...to me..." she whispers slowly between kisses and my head slightly turns to the right when she starts licking my face. Out of all the things they do, why do they enjoy licking the most?

Callie surges back suddenly, turning my head so that I'm looking at her as she undoes her kimono with a flick of her hand. The sash flies away as she forces off the kimono in one move, her bra undone and coming off from a flick of her other hand. I find myself being pulled face first into her chest and feel myself blushing at being there. "Now be honest, Kosh. Who has a bigger pair, me or Marie?" she asks playfully but giggles knowing that she's preventing me from answering with her hug.

I try to pull away but she holds me in place, clearly enjoying herself by the way she's still giggling. "You have to answer this way! It's my rules so you have to abide by them," she gloats and I turn my head upwards to see, catching her mischievous smile as I do. "Well...if I'm being honest..." I start to croak but she pushes my head towards her chest and suddenly looks very threatening. "Think carefully about your answer," she whispers with threat and I start to feel uncomfortable with her shifting moods. "Before I answer, I need to know why you're suddenly asking these questions. You don't normally-"

"Answer my question first and I might answer yours," she retorts playfully but with a hint of irritation, my shoulders shrugging as I accept her answer despite my misgivings. I eventually say as calmly as I can manage, "If I'm being honest, you both have the same pair. I've been around you both long enough to know that as much as both of you think you have a different size...you don't."

Her neutral face becomes a grin as she releases her grip on my head and pulls me bodily into a hug, a grunt of discomforting coming from me when her hug starts to crush my torso. "Good answer! It's just an old joke between Marie and me," she states as she eases her grip, allowing me to breathe with a spluttering gasp. My curiosity gets the better of me when I ask, "And when was this? I never heard this before-"

"This was back during our younger years when we started growing into squids. You know...coming of age and learning that you have certain...parts...that start to develop..." She starts to trail off near the end and I turn around to see what she's staring at. Marie's back is to us but her head is turned in our direction until she notices us staring and turns back slowly to pretend like she's sleeping. When I turn back, Callie is giving me a sad face. "I...haven't told anyone that..." she whispers and I didn't know what to do with what I'm told. Callie makes the decision for me. "But enough about the past! We aren't here for that!" she blurts as she tries to brush off the feeling of awkwardness but I put my arms on her shoulders when I notice the wildness in her eyes. I try to remain calm as I whisper, "Callie, what's wrong? You don't usually fret over the small details-"

"I'm fine!" she snaps too loudly, glancing at Marie again quickly enough that I almost miss it. I know better than to push her but... Callie tries to continue what we started by moving towards me but I keep her in place, staring at her as she pries my hands off with her own and forces me to use my hair tentacles to keep her in place to her growing ire. Unfortunately, she has hair tentacles of her own that she deflects mine with aggressively, overpowering me so that I'm on my back held down by her arms and hair tentacles. I'm unable to move and staring into eyes now angry at my defiance. "I said I'm fine! Why are you acting like this!? Aren't you supposed to be doing everything I say!?" she growls with teeth bared and I feel her fingers start to dig into my skin painfully.

She sniffs lightly as tears start to form but she shakes her head swiftly to force them away. It doesn't work and she starts rambling about something else entirely, lowering her head as tears fall down her face. "Why...why do you make me do this!? Why can't you just do as I say!? Why..." she says with a tremor and slight terror hits me when she releases my right arm to hit the bed a few times in frustration. "Why are you so stubborn!? Why can't you just fix this!?"

I hear Marie exhale sadly from her spot, looking over to see her start to curl inwards. Not understanding, my head darts back and forth among them trying to figure it out until it finally clicks. Today...today is-

I move my right arm out of Callie's grip, finding no resistance as I use both arms to bring her towards me. She latches onto me with arms and hair tentacles as her emotions finally give out, sobbing loudly as I bring her with me into a laying position. My right arm and hair tentacles move around Marie nearby, turning her towards me and revealing her initial quiet sobs and a face quickly saddening as I bring her to lay with us. They both lose control and sob in their own way, tears burning my skin and arms latching onto me as my own tears start to fall. Even though we share the pain, I find it darkly humorous that I don't cry out with them, listening silently as Callie cries herself hoarse.

Callie's making enough noise for all of us...after all, today's the day the Cap'n died...