Work Text
This was the best bower in the 3rd District. No question about it.Skrekesh ought to know. He’d perused the bower districts on every continent of Home-Planet and all thirteen extra-planetary colonies. He was, if he did say so himself, a true connoisseur.(Most Kir would call him a thief, but Skrekesh felt only pity for most Kir. They lacked imagination.)He ignored the hopeful mating calls of the other males rippling through the water like a chorus as he passed and honed in on his target. Ah yes, it was even more splendid up close. A rare female was exiting the bower and looking supremely satisfied just as Skrekesh glided up to it. Perfect.The bower itself was beautifully constructed, and its entrance was free of debris. What made this bower the best in the district was not the construction per se, which any male Kir of reasonable intelligence learned, given time, but rather what the bower contained.And oh! The contents of this bower! Most bowers contained a mixture of found and manufactured objects, arranged to appeal to the senses. The arrangement was very important—not everyone was blessed with a sound aesthetic sense—but so were the objects themselves. Quality and rarity were both prized characteristics, especially given that most bowers were stocked primarily with objects locally sourced.Most bowers, that is. This one, though, was different. Skrekesh couldn’t help but marvel at the spectacle it offered. As far as the eye could see, there were only extra-planetary objects swirling slowly about the bower on subtle currents produced by the bower’s owner. And floating at the very bottom of the bower, where carefully laid sightlines invited one’s gaze to linger, was . . . was . . .Well, wow. Wow. Skrekesh didn’t know what that object was, but it was gorgeous, whatever it was. Look at the proportions! And those ridges! How it refracted the light! Enthralled, Skrekesh reached out to touch the thing—“Bhrebush!”Skrekesh started, folding his appendages close to his torso guiltily. He hadn’t heard the male approaching. “Ssraikesh!” he greeted in reply, using a feminized version of his real name and flashing the colors which signaled female sexual arousal.The Kir sexes were virtually indistinguishable. Only courtship behavior and the male fertilizing appendage could be used to tell males and females apart. Skrekesh had prepared for the encounter in advance by inverting his fertilizing appendage and tucking it into his body, a procedure requiring decent but not unnatural anatomical flexibility and the patience to develop said flexibility. As for female courtship behavior, well, that was easy to feign—particularly when one’s prospective partner was too excited to be discriminating.Bhrebush responded as expected, naturally, fluttering his fins excitedly and burbling, “A magnificent object, isn’t it? Exceptionally rare, even on Earth-Planet where Bhrebush collected it.”“Magnificent,” Skrekesh said agreeably. Earth-Planet! Few Kir enjoyed the rigors of space travel, and Earth-Planet was about as far away from Home-Planet as it was possible to go. Mmm, he definitely wanted this Earth-Planet object for his very own; yes, he’d already decided. He signaled his arousal again, and he didn’t even have to feign the feeling this time—he really was swelling and softening with erotic anticipation.What could he say? That Earth-Planet object was boiling hot.Bhrebush, worthy male that he was, didn’t need to be told more than twice. He wrapped himself around Skrekesh and pushed his fertilizing appendage into Skrekesh’s opening.The penetration felt good. Of course it did. Connoisseurship notwithstanding, Skrekesh wouldn’t do this if it hurt. Bhrebush’s rhythmic undulations were confident and accomplished and so powerful that they were driving them both bodily down toward the bottom of the bower. Skrekesh deepened his color to match Bhrebush’s, a sign of shared passion. He flared his gills, a wordless encouragement.The undulations were accelerating; Bhrebush was moments from release. Close, so close. It was nearly time . . .And then Bhrebush convulsed and froze, rendered sightless and insensible to anything other than the ecstasy of his orgasm, as a bulbous packet of sperm slid into his fertilizing appendage and began its journey, up, up, up the appendage and into Skrekesh.Now was the moment! Skrekesh made a sly grab for the Earth-Planet object and quickly tucked it away into one of his many hidden pouches.Bhrebush didn’t notice. He was too busy shaking out his packet of sperm into Skrekesh to notice the theft, and he was much, much too busy enjoying how “Ssraikesh” shuddered and quaked helplessly around his abundant load.Which really was a giant load. One of the biggest Skrekesh had ever experienced. He felt deliciously overstuffed and precariously close to a genuine orgasm which would, alas, cause his fertilizing appendage to evert and give away his game. He groaned as he forced himself back from the proverbial riptide.“Ssraikesh like?” Bhrebush asked.Skrekesh did. In fact, he was in the mood for at least one more go-round in the bower, and with an acquisition as good as the Earth-Planet object, he could afford to spend the rest of the day on leisure activities. Male Kir played no other role in the lives of female Kir or their offspring, so this would be the first and only time the two of them could be expected to have this carnal opportunity. “Bhrebush ready to provide a second packet so soon?” he asked with a hint of challenge in his voice.Fortunately, Bhrebush was. Not one but two visitors to his bower! Fortune had been shining brightly upon him today, Bhrebush reflected as he secured his bower door behind him. It seemed almost a shame to pack it in for the night, but alas, even studs like Bhrebush needed their beauty sleep.Bhrebush’s nest was located just beyond the outermost bower of the 3rd District, and it was as ugly and cluttered as his bower was beautiful and carefully-kept. If the bower was the performance, the nest was the behind-the-scenes.“Gullible fool!” Bhrebush said aloud to himself as he cleared a space for himself to settle amid the clutter.He was gloating, and he had every reason to gloat. He’d known the thief for what he was as soon as he’d entered Bhrebush’s bower, and he knew what the thief would steal.As for that “magnificent” Earth-Planet object he’d stolen? It was called a “plastic bottle cap” by the native Humans who’d originally manufactured it, and to them, it was worthless trash. The Humans had given him as many plastic bottle caps as he could take with him. They’d been absurdly grateful. They didn’t even ask for anything in return! Now, the plastic bottle caps were so much nest clutter to Bhrebush, and he was practically drowning in them whenever he slept.His solution for ridding himself of excess inventory was brilliant, if he did say so himself. A total win-win. The thief got a great object for his own bower, and Bhrebush got great sex. Females, after all, made up less than one-tenth of the total Kir populace—why limit oneself? Besides, Bhrebush enjoyed sexual intercourse with other males every bit as much as, if not more than, he enjoyed sexual intercourse with females, and if the price the males charged him for the pleasure was one plastic bottle cap apiece?Well, he would cheerfully pay and pay and pay.And after that, he’d replace the plastic bottle cap stolen from his bower with another one just like it and await the next thief who came calling.
~ The End ~