Code Drop: Loops & Knots
#21 of Code Drop
Tess's golden retriever boyfriend repairs the fridge without trying to improve it, even a little.
Code Drop: Loops & Knots
By Tempo
Tess grumbled into the apartment, pinching the bridge of her nose. Autumn chill clung to her fur, just like the aura of stress from work clung to her mind. She set down her laptop bag, and didn't even care when it tipped over. A heavy sigh collapsed through her body.
"Hi, dear." Her boyfriend wagged on the sofa, his golden fur shining in the afternoon sun, various beakers and tongs before him.
"Ugh!" The jackal's keys jingled from paw to table. "I had a horrible day! The new control software has a bug and now we're having to pay for all these destroyed lawn gnomes and... Erik, are you eating a frozen banana naked?"
The naked dog eyed the frozen fruit. "I'll put a little suit on it next time."
Sighing, she stroked his ears. "Sweetie, do you have something against wearing clothes?"
"No, but you turned the thermostat up to 80, so I figured the best solution is just to be unclothed whenever acceptable. It's win-win. In fact, one could argue you win twice." A wag and a wink.
"Whatever. I'm too tired to debate." She collapsed onto the sofa next to him, propping her hind paws on the coffee table.
A cautious paw patted her thigh. "Don't tip over that thermos."
Tilting her feet away from it, she peered at the vessel. "Coffee?"
He shook his head around a bite of banana. "Liquid nitrogen."
She eyed the fog rolling down from the steam vent. "I shouldn't be surprised, should I?"
The golden shrugged. "Condensation puts dew on the dewar, as they say." He chomped another bite of banana.
Tess looked at him askew. "Honey, nobody says that."
He tossed her back a wry glance. Licking the last traces of fruit from the hotdog roasting spear, he selected another banana from the bunch, peeled it, and lowered it into the supercooled bath. After a few seconds, he lifted it gingerly, tapped off the excess fluid, and offered it to her.
Her paw rose, then froze before the frozen treat. "Is it safe?"
His smile made an excellent case. "I've researched optimal dipping times. Wait a little while before you eat it, though."
She took the banana by the wooden skewer handle, wary of any cryogenic drippings. "Thank you."
"Sure!" With a quick kiss to her cheek, the golden set about making another science-infused delicacy. "Make sure you save a copy of the anti-gnome software."
Her free paw slipped off her laniard and ID card. "Why?"
"Dunno." He shrugged. "Lawn gnomes could become alive and evil."
The jackal rolled her eyes. "What are the odds of that?"
"Non-zero." His wide pink tongue lolled out as he focused on flash-freezing more fruit.
With a careful finger, she slipped his tongue back into his muzzle for safety. "You're nuts, you know that?"
"No wonder you can't keep those chocolate paws off me." He kissed the back of her hand.
She drew him up into a nuzzle. "We didn't do our usual kissing at the front door."
And so, holding their bananas, they kissed. For a moment, her worries melted away.
"Did you fix the ice machine?"
"Oh right. I got partway through taking it apart, then got on this banana tangent."
She heaved a sigh. "You said you'd get to it."
"I will, in the near future." The retriever rubbed a paw on her back.
"That's deep, dear, but I'm going to head to bed." She stood, stretched, and glanced down at his mess. "See you there?"
"Yep!" He bobbed another fruit into the frigid mixture. "Just as soon as I finish infusing these bananas with science."
Tess padded off to their bedroom. Curling up under the blankets, sleep soon crept up on her weary form.
~ ~ ~
Paw on her hip, Tess stood before their refrigerator. Well, what had been their refrigerator. Sunlight gleamed off the stainless steel panels. A battered laser emitter, labeled 'Property of Delgado Mining Corporation,' perched atop the appliance. A bouquet of colorful wires streamed from it to a control panel on the countertop. She cleared her throat. "So...you fixed the fridge?"
The retriever woofed a laugh, soldering a few final connections in a black control box. His eyes shone at her, tail beating against the cabinets. "Oh, did I ever."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Okay. Some kind of laser-cooled fridge?"
"Oooh, that's good." His deft paws wrapped an exposed wire in electrical tape. "But no."
"Are you in another of your frozen banana moods?"
"Nope." He wiggled one of the connections until an array of LEDs flickered on. "Ah, there we go."
On the table, her paw pads traced the remains of a coffee grinder. "Then what?"
He reached into the fuse box beside the stove and flipped a breaker back on. The whip-crack of open arching snapped behind the fridge. The machine gave an ominous chug. Then nothing. Erik tested more splices. "You'll see. I hope."
The jackal backed up, bumping a stack of refrigerator shelves with her ankle. "Should I be calling the power company? Or an ambulance?"
He tapped at the temperature controls. "Nah."
The appliance whirred, shivered, and clicked. Atop it, the laser buzzed, louder and louder. Wisps of smoke and the tang of ionization rose from it. Even the floor tiles shook under her feet. Then the whole machine fell silent.
The jackal glanced between her boyfriend and her fridge. "Did it work?"
"I don't think so..." The golden grabbed a screwdriver from the pocket of his jeans and opened the control panel.
The doors of the refrigerator spread open, unrolling a wave of fog. The tiny light inside clicked on, revealing a shape within.
Erik stepped out of the fridge.
Erik watched this happen and bounced with glee. "It worked!"
"It totally did!" The Eriks exchanged a high five.
A faint darkness crept in around Tess's vision.
Both Eriks placed a paw on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
She let them ease her back into a chair. "Who are you?"
"Which me, honey?" One Erik pointed between himself and his other self.
"Fair point." The other Erik nodded. "We're both equally me."
Her arms crossed. "You expect me to believe you cloned yourself?"
Relieved to see her perk back up, the Eriks giggled together. The one on the left smiled. "Oh, he's not a clone."
The one on the right grinned. "Yeah, we had kitchen, not a lab."
One dog threw his arm around his other self's shoulders. "This is just Future!Me."
"Friday!Me, really." The hugged Erik shrugged. "I'm not coming back from some far-future Blintz Blitz with dire crêpe warnings or anything."
An Erik looked at his other self. "Is there some sort of future pancake war? Looming luftwaffle airstrikes?"
"I don't know." He scratched his chin. "This is the first place we go."
Tess tried to control her breathing. "You figured out time travel?"
"Turns out it's not that hard." The goldens spread a paw at the over-clocked appliance. "Heat pumps are already basically an Alcubierre drive, just with refrigerant instead of spacetime. And all those old fax machines I dug up last week let me cool the--" He blinked, then looked around the room. "Oops."
"Yeah... Superconductors." The other Erik pried a refrigerator magnet out of the drywall. "What're you gonna do?"
One Erik patted his other self on the back. "Nice touch dressing like me."
"Thanks!" He smoothed the t-shirt. "I thought it would be dramatic. Just remember to wear the same thing when you go into the fridge at noon on Friday."
"Hmm. I might have to wash it." He sniffed his own black @-symbol shirt. "We should make a time-washing machine. Save on soap."
"You two." Tess grabbed them both by their identical butts. "Hold still for a minute. I keep losing track of which of you is..." She fumbled for the right word.
One Erik rubbed her shoulder, giving a helpful look. "Prime?"
"Erik Prime! I like the sound of that." The other Erik rubbed the other shoulder, offering a reassuring nod. "Well, however you define us, dear, we'll switch on Friday at noon."
"True." The Eriks' eyes met. "Whoa, our whiskers don't match?" One Erik tried to align them with his paws.
"They do; you're just used to seeing them in a mirror." He reached out and stroked his other self's cheek.
In unison, they wagged. "That makes sense."
Tess shrunk between them. "No no no no no no, I know your entire family looks like you. This is just some identical relative."
One Erik scratched his head and looked to the other. "No, but we are relativistically identical."
"Hey Tessie." He bumped her shoulder and waggled his eyebrows. "If he were my relative, would I do this?" He kissed his other self.
The other Erik looked a little surprised, but then wagged.
"Umm..." What could this mean? Is he-- Really another copy of Erik? What would this mean for the world? Was it safe? What if they caused a paradox? A moan pulled her from deep in thought. She looked up.
With growing enthusiasm, the Eriks made out against the time-fridge.
She cleared her throat.
They paused to look her way, but didn't bother pulling their paws from under each other's shirts.
"None of that!" She pried them apart. "The last thing I need is you two ripping spacetime apart with recursive perversion."
One Erik waved a paw. "It's just timesturbation, Tess."
The other Erik nodded in agreement. "Besides, you agreed our relationship was open to any duplicates of us."
"I never thought it would actually come up!" Her ears flew up, feeling hot. "I don't get it. You invent time travel and all you do is come back in time a few days? Why?"
An Erik grinned and took her paws, pulling her to her feet. Suddenly his lips locked to hers with such fiery passion that her knees went weak and she had to lean more against him. His tongue pressed against her lips and she opened her mouth for him without hesitation. By the time he pulled back, she felt breathless, almost too dazed to notice the way his paws gripped her ass. Another set joined them.
Her time-displaced lover winked at her. "Why do you think, Tessie?"
Her time-local lover nibbled at her ear. "Wanna take the double-dog dare?"
Tess froze, melting between the Eriks. Their muzzles trailed kisses along her neck. Their bodies ground against hers. Their hands caressed her body, just like she liked. She closed her eyes. Not like having two different people hold her; both touched her just like Erik did. Her mind, though, couldn't escape the thought of an amorous golden retriever octopus cuddling her.
"This is just too weird!" She slipped from between them and backed out of the kitchen.
The Eriks' ears drooped, eyes wide with doggish disappointment.
"I just can't handle this." She gripped the doorframe for support. "You both even smell the same!"
One of the Eriks sighed. "Yeah, you thought so last time too."
"Ugh, this is wrong!" She poked a finger at that Erik's chest. "You have your own Tess."
His paws rose. "I just left her." With a smarmy wink, he smiled. "Trust me, she's fine with this."
She looked to the fridge. "How do we know more Eriks aren't going to show up?"
The retrievers looked at each other and shrugged. "I think they'd be here by now."
The one on the right twitched his ear, staring at the chrono-appliance. "We should build an even better time machine."
The left one nodded. "Go back to the day before we met Tess and tell ourself: 'You're awesome! Just keep doing what you're doing!'?"
"Awesome!" They exchanged high-fives. "I like the way you think."
She sighed. "Okay, well, Clone Erik..."
"Neither of us is really a clone. We're just a different points in our timeline."
Erik nodded. "I do have a point, dear."
"Whatever! Fine!" She pointed at the one whom probably hadn't come out of the fridge, then the one whom probably had. "I'll call you Prime!Erik and..."
An Erik smirked. "AncilliErik?"
"Why do I have to be Silly Erik?" He tried to look serious, but his tail thump against the wall. "Just kidding; I know it's Ancillary!Erik."
The jackal chopped the air with her paws. "Whatever!"
One golden guided her to the sofa. "Honey, I understand you're a little freaked out and need to acclimate to an Erik-rich environment."
The other brought her an ice water. "So we won't pester you for sex."
Erik sat down and started rubbing her paws. "And won't have sex with each other, since you're uncomfortable with it."
"It's more like retro-chronal masturbation, really." Erik draped a blanket over her.
She took a sip of the water. "I never said that."
"You were going to." Erik propped a pillow behind her back and massaged her shoulders.
"Okay." Tess took a deep breath. "I just need a minute to adapt."
"Take all the time you need, dear." The Eriks wagged. "We've got all the time in the world now."
She slumped against the pillow and enjoyed the pampering from her time-duplicated boyfriend.
"We should experiment with this." One dog scritched his chin. "Age up a bottle of wine and confuse connoisseurs."
The other Erik nodded. "Yep. I brought a bottle from my time."
His tail thumped the sofa. "Good thinking."
The other Erik wagged. "Set it in the fridge next to Prime!Bottle."
The Erik rubbing her feet lifted his ears. "Did you label it?"
The Erik rubbing her shoulders drooped his ears. "...I knew I forgot something."
They both thought. "How'll I know which one to grab?"
They both shrugged. "Eh, I'm sure it'll be the right one."
"You can't age wine once it's open." The jackal took another drink of water. "That's why we had it in the fridge."
"What?" The Eriks turned in sync.
"Never mind." She rolled her eyes. "That's the least of our problems."
"Problems?" The Eriks giggled in surround sound. "More like opportunities."
"Golden opportunities." They winked at each other.
Tess groaned.
Her boyfriend nodded at his other self. "We can do all sorts of things I've always wanted!"
If she had thought that was the end of it, she was mistaken. The Eriks had promised not to mess around without her permission. They had not promised they wouldn't try to change her mind. The two of them spent the next few hours posing for erotic photos in front of her, wandering the house naked, brushing up against her, and generally making a nude and distracting nuisance of themselves. At last, in the middle of their bawdy conversation about her sexiest features, she banished them from the house. For the first time she could remember, this jackal really needed a cold shower.
~ ~ ~
An hour later, the Eriks trotted through the front door.
Tess looked up from her tablet. "Done already?"
Erik bounced. "We went to that snooty twins-only bar downtown."
Erik snickered. "They kicked us out for making out in the mirrored hallway. Said something about this not being Japan."
She lifted an eyebrow. "Okay... You could've at least brought me to the past too."
The golden shrugged his shoulders. "Fridge only seats one."
The golden spread his paws. "We played rock-paper-scissors for it."
Pondering that, she set the tablet down. "But if I'd won..."
"I knew I'd win, dear." One Erik giggled. "It's like when you bet me I'm going to cry at sad movies."
The other Erik nodded. "By the way, turns out: No Bones About It? Total downer."
He frowned, ears sinking. "Awww."
He patted himself on the shoulder. "Still worth seeing for the scene where the poodle lady is topless for no reason."
The sad Erik brightened, tail swaying. "French cinema is great."
The jackal rolled her eyes. "Do anything else while you were out?"
Erik exchanged a sly shrug with himself, then turned to her. "Missed you." They padded closer, flanking her. "A lot."
"Oh really?" She couldn't help but wag a little.
The retriever nuzzled her ear. "Your scent."
The retriever kissed her muzzle. "Your voice."
Both Eriks groped the curve of her butt. "Your sexy body."
She looked between them with a nervous chuckle. "Which one of you is which, anyway?"
Left!Erik smiled. "Does it matter?"
Right!Erik grinned. "Either way, it's me. Either way, I love you."
As their erections pressed against her hips, Tess knew they had a point. Why do the details matter? With a deep breath, she gave herself permission to enjoy their warmth, their touches.
They started out slow; kissing her, cuddling on the bed, two sets of loving paws caressing her. His fur, his scent, his eager breathing of her name: he was all around her. Clothes came off. She swam in a silky sea of fur, bumping into his erect cock here or there. His tongue traced over her body in two places at once, finding its way to her eager slit. At the same time, he licked her nipples, teasing them to stiffness. She grasped their pelts and moaned in wonder. Her body rocked on waves of passion, his tongue tracing her tender flesh. Without warning, a roll of tension arched her off the bed. She yowled in bliss. Slick walls clenched down on his licks even as his other self moved up to kiss her. Transfixed by talented retriever tongues, she rode every surge of a toe-curling, tail-wagging orgasm.
Catching her breath, she sank against the pillows, her boyfriend cuddled on either side of her. Their gentle paws stroked her hair and smoothed her pelt. The Eriks whispered sweet nothings in stereo. She lay back and basked in their symmetrical affection.
After a few very nice minutes, she shifted her thighs, still slick with his saliva and her juices. She looked to the nightstand, but found their supply of tissues had run out. With a mild groan, she managed to free herself from the tangle of retriever and stagger toward the bathroom. A soft moan turned her around.
Back on the bed, without her between his selves, Erik made out with himself.
Still in a post-orgasmic daze, Tess watched her boyfriend's temporal tryst. His silken shag blended together, every shade of gold shining in the autumn sun. His muzzle locked with itself. Feeling an odd pang of jealousy, she crossed her arms. "You're completely shameless, aren't you?"
They looked up, twin tails swishing. "We're trying to figure out how you do that thing we like while kissing."
"It's research!" Erik wiped his muzzle.
She returned to the bedroom a few moments later, fur far less sticky, and found the Eriks kissing with eager passion. Their wide paws caressed identical muzzles in perfect sync. They ground their hips together, dual pink erections jostling and darkening gold fur with precum. The pair of Eriks woofed in wonder, moaning into each other's mouths in obvious pleasure.
Tess yipped a laugh. "Shameless!"
"You don't sound very offended." The top Erik sat up, wiping his lips with a smarmy smirk. He left his other self laying on the bed, panting, and trotted to her side, cock bobbing all the way. The other Erik lounged in a state of happy tension, erect and attentive.
Her ears dropped, feeling hot, though not as hot as her still-tingly vagina. "This is so weird."
"Weird but awesome." His arms slipped around her waist. "C'mon, you know you want to join in."
"Or watch first." Erik sat up on the bed, cock hardening, tail wagging. Beside her, Erik gave a whine, his hand tightening on hers. Tess could see the strain in his body language, the unasked question in his big blue eyes.
She pressed a hand to her forehead, trying not to smile. "Oh, all right. Go fuck yourself."
With a giddy woof, Erik bounced toward the bed, dragging her along.
The jackal flopped to the mattress, watching with interest.
Erik rolled on top of himself, pressing identical expanses of golden fur together. Tess caught a glimpse of pale yellow fur and red, eager flesh pressing together between their legs. Their muzzles met, a slow, sensual kiss that drew a muffled moan from both of them.
Erik pulled back, already panting as he let his eyes roam. He looked like his birthday had come early. "Man, you're pretty. You're like, the second prettiest canine I've ever been in bed with."
With a sigh at their banter, Tess settled in behind the seated Erik. She gripped her boyfriend's cock at two different points in time and pressed them together.
He stroked himself against himself. Precum dripped down from the identical tips, adding a layer of slick friction between them. His knots swelled her in paws. The Erik on top gasped, shuddering as his knot throbbed larger. A string of thick canine cream spurted from the top of his pink cock.
She angled his dick to get it all over its temporal copy. That dog, always making a mess.
Top!Erik whined in delight, watching as he sprayed hot white passion all over both his selves. Another shot, then another oozed down over their thick canine shafts.
Bottom!Erik, paws behind his head, watched the scene with aroused interest.
With a squeeze of his knot, she spurred a final spurt of slick doggy desire from his cock. Her other paw stroked his chest, feeling his heartbeat. Her muzzle pressed to the panting Erik's ear and whispered: "I want to see you tie yourself."
Scooting forward, the Erik on top slid over the other Erik's fluffy balls and smooth, hot erection. Tess considered grabbing the lube they used on his various toys, but a quick glance confirmed his last orgasm had taken care of that. She tilted her boyfriend's semen-slick shaft up at his own entrance. Both Eriks gave a pleasured little grimace and squirmed as they sank together. Not the first time he'd taken something up there, but the girth stretched him wide.
She stroked his thigh with a soothing whisper: "Too thick?"
"Just right, actually." He grinned, wiggling down a little further. "No wonder you like it so much."
Tess rocked her hips on the Eriks' tails. He'd never been with another guy and she wouldn't want to share him, but watching him take a thick cock under the tail made her wet. Her paws gripped his hips and guided their every rise and fall. Through the window, evening light gleamed off their shiny fur and shinier fluids. Bottom!Erik's knot swelled, pressing down his damp, furry sheath. She traced her finger around her boyfriend's taut flesh, feeling where his other self's shaft stretched it. She breathed against his floppy ear. "Ready to take it?" Swift jackal paws stroked his exposed cock. "Ready for your own knot?"
With a grunt and a pulse of precum over her knuckles, he nodded. He slammed down atop the other Erik's lap. Under her paw pads, the slick length pressed inside, the hint of a bulge already forming. The knot swelled, pearly canine cream slicking down it. Erik ground down onto his own knot, stuffed more full of hot, live cock than he'd ever been, slicked with his own cum. It took effort, and it was a stretch. He had to hurry before it got any bigger--that much she knew quite well. A yelp escaped one's lips, while the other gave a deep moan. She watched in wonder as his knot, which had so often filled her up, stretched his own entrance from the inside.
Erik grabbed his other self's thighs and pressed him down. His hips bounced in the frantic need for just a fraction more depth. Every grunt, every shiver, every delicate gasp played out before the jackal.
She scrambled off the bed and climbed between them. With a little positioning and a few moans from the pair of Eriks, she managed wrap her paw around his throbbing cock and lower it into position. "Mmmm..."
The dribbling tip throbbed against her opening. As she pressed onto him, both Eriks whimpered in delight. The familiar length of his dick spread her, beckoning her to rock back and forth against him, atop him. His knot pressed firm and warm against her, her own juices squeezed against it by the force of her thrusts. His cock throbbed inside her as his paws clutched at her hips and his fingers cupped her breasts to tease her aching nipples.
Erik kissed the nape of her neck. "Oh, sweetie, you feel so good..."
Erik caressed the fur of her arms. "You want my knot, Tessie?"
"Oh yes..." She found her hips slamming harder and harder against theirs. Then she felt gentle fingertips trace down to her slit, feeling his own cock spreading her. Soft at first, he rubbed her clit, then faster and faster, in tight circles. The jackal yelped and bucked hard against his hips. "Ugh! Yeah! Tie me!"
His knot popped into her. "Ah Tess!"
A delighted yowl soared up Tess's throat to fill the room, just as his knot filled her. It throbbed larger in time with his heart, pulsing sudden wet warmth into her depths with every tremor. Pleasure washed over her. She couldn't help but squeeze on him as she came, setting off a chain reaction, as one Erik clenched on the other Erik. The three of the moaned in sequence. Her muscles wrung his ejaculating cock over and over, adoring every sensation of their bare flesh together. At last, panting, she slumped.
Both Eriks held her close as their breathing slowed. Her heartbeat slowed. Sleep crept over her once more, but this time with her wrapped in retriever love. And filled with a good amount of it too. Thoughts guttered like candles in the fading light. Amazing sex aside, Erik still has a time machine. I should probably be worried for the world's sake.
She didn't know what the future held, but she knew this much: it'd be a fun week.
~ ~ ~
Tess awoke from the dream to find herself in bed. With only one Erik.
She looked around, but found no sign of any time-duplicates. The sticky remains of a banana skewer lay on the nightstand. Just a dream? With the paranoia of dreams at the edges of her mind, she shook his shoulder. "Sweetheart. Hey, wake up."
"Huh?" The retriever blinked, naked of clothes and bedcovers. "Tessie?"
"Have you made any time clones?"
The dog groaned, then rolled over to face her. "No... not yet?"
Prowling over him, the jackal grinned in the dark bedroom. She cupped his cheek and brushed her lips against his as her thighs settled over his hips. "Well then, I guess I'll have to make do with one of you."
~ ~ ~
Let me know what you think! :D
Edits:
-Tempo