One Crazy Night
The only thing noticeable about the human was the Turkish cigarette, who's cherry shown bright against the black of the ethereal night sky. He carried an acoustic guitar case in his right hand, with a saxophone tucked uniformly into its case, lazily hanging from his shoulder by a thin, frayed strap. The first days of his venture were spent engrossed in pain thanks to the weight of that horn on his shoulder, but to his delight he found that after some days, his left shoulder, which occupied the worn strap, became completely numb. And so, with not the faintest idea of what life lied quietly in waiting for him just past the visible horizon, he continued on.
Seth had just crossed into Montana when the rain began to fall with such monstrous intensity, he could only assume it was thrown from above with great disdain for whoever might be underneath. The human had traveled through harsh weather before though, and under much more arduous circumstances than where he found himself now. So as he walked at a steady pace, one foot before the other, his stride never faltered, and his courage never waned.
A large and rather bulky lion was driving home from a night with friends when the sky opened up and a heavy rain began to fall. Jack shifted nervously in his seat while slowing the pace of his car and guiding the windshield wipers to their highest setting.
"Fuck this weather" Jack said aloud in the vacant cab of his Jeep Wrangler. He turned down the volume of his radio to the point where it became barely audible; he knew he needed to focus all his attention towards just getting home for now. Minutes passed and the heavy downpour became less turbulent than before, but Jack knew it was far from over and continued home at the same speed, and with the same caution as before.
"It's about fucking time" exclaimed Seth in an apathetic and preoccupied voice to no one in particular. He was referring of course to the slight lightening of the rain which continued to incessantly beat upon every last surface on the young man's body.
"At least it's finally clear enough to at least attempt to smoke a cigarette" thought Seth just seconds after the rain lessened. He then continued to attempt the simple feat of retrieving a Camel, Turkish Gold cigarette from his completely saturated and dripping jeans. After a full minute of pathetic attempts, Seth chuckled jovially aloud, realizing his left arm had finally buckled under the strain. He stopped momentarily and held his guitar carefully between his legs as he used his functioning arm to pull out a smoke, along with his brass Zippo. As he lit the already dampened cigarette, the thought crossed him that he may have seriously fucked up his shoulder and arm, but after a quick second of consideration, he concluded that if that was the case, there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it, and as long as he had the strength to stand he would continue to trudge on. Nothing short of God himself could stop him now. Seth took a long and deep drag from his cigarette, followed by a moment of silent contemplation, broken abruptly by the laughter of which he could no longer keep inside himself as he continued walking down the side of the road.
With no tunes and no distractions, Jack was forced to undergo the thought that had been so persistent as of late in its attempts to invade his otherwise amiable conscious mind. It was the thought of what he desired the most above all things; someone to come home to. He wanted that unconditional love of which he was forced to witness that exists between his friends and their mates. He loathed being jealous toward his closest friends, but he hated his constant feelings of incompleteness even more.
"What the..." whispered Jack at seeing some ominous figure on the side of the road, while unknowingly eradicating his previously troublesome thoughts. As the Jeep drove closer its headlights illuminated the creature and to the lion's great surprise he realized that it was a human carrying a couple different large objects.
"Who in their right mind would be out walking in such pouring rain, and at..." Jack quickly glanced at his watch and became visibly shocked at what he saw, "one o'clock in the mourning?!"
At this point Jack decided to slow down and figure out what the hell was going on. He pulled up next to the curious human, rolled the window down and slowed to a roll, for the stranger apparently had no intention of stopping. He could see the boy relatively clearly now, even with the strong precipitation that surrounded him. Jack assumed he was probably 18 years old, and the lit cigarette between his fingers suggested the same. The kid was soaked from head to toe and Jack could see that he was carrying some instruments. What really interested him though was that when the boy turned his head toward the approaching car Jack could see that his wet, dirty-blond hair completely covered his eyes, as well as almost half his face.
"Are you alright, do you need help"?! Said Jack with a deep, regal voice, forced to compete with the roar of the rain.
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Seth watched anxiously as some Jeep randomly slowed down and pulled up as close as it could get to him. He quickly readied himself for the approaching altercation; "at least this is a problem I can handle" thought Seth, "at last, an issue that can be remedied with the simplest and most pure form of expression, violence. He had been in many serious fights for his age, but he'd never fought with only one functioning arm. Before he could really measure his odds though, he heard a deep voice ask if he needed any help.
"I suppose if he's questioning my safety than he isn't here to jump me and take my shit, but then what could he want? Either way this should kill my boredom for at least a minute or so." Seth pondered before turning his head to acknowledge whoever it was that apparently had some business with him. Seth instantly felt his legs begin to quake upon first seeing the enormous lion in the driver's seat, who just stared back with an expression on his face that the human was unable to interpret. Then, in a flash of insight, Seth remembered the question asked of him not too long ago.
"I'm fine man, don't worry about me" Seth said looking forward again; his words barely even audible over the rain.
"Well why are you out in the pouring rain at one o'clock in the mourning?" Jack asked interestedly. He was determined to understand the human's motives, and as time passed he grew more and more attracted to, and interested in Seth. Jack had known he was gay for quite some time now, though he was confused because he had never felt an attraction for someone that was as strong as the one he felt now for the cute human he had just met. He greatly enjoyed the strong new feeling though, as he was forced to adjust his pants over and over again.
"Well I have no money for one thing, but mostly I guess it's because I didn't start this trip so I could sleep all day and get nowhere" said Seth after thoroughly contemplating the question.
"Where are you headed to then? What's your destination?" curiously asked Jack. He was becoming very interested in the boy's situation.
Seth thought for a moment while taking another drag from his cigarette, and then shot Jack a smile and laughed a bit to himself as he said, "actually, now that I think about it, I'm not really heading anywhere specifically, as much as I'm just leaving somewhere forever. I suppose I'll just continue heading toward the horizon and hopefully find somewhere worth stopping." Unfortunately for Seth though, his statement was immediately followed by a small bout of sneezing, which he had been attempting to hold in for quite some time.
"So basically, you have no money, no food, nowhere to stay, no idea where you're heading, your out in the pouring rain, drenched from head to toe at one in the a.m., and you're obviously becoming ill" said Jack in a mater-of-fact sort of way. "Not to mention those instruments you're lugging around".
"Well if you say it like that it sounds bad" replied Seth, "plus I'm not sick, that was just my allergies". He immediately chastised himself though, at admitting such a conspicuous lie, and vainly searched for an excuse as he unconsciously continued down the road, his stride slightly heavier than before.
The wind picked up a good deal around the two, and while Jack only heard the powerful gust against his car, and watched the rain whip violently around, Seth undeniably felt every last one of his countless nerve endings freeze bitterly underneath the wet clothing. He began shaking and chattering, and his speech became choppy and incoherent. Seth was all too aware of his physical anomalies but didn't give it a single thought. The human was currently experiencing a level of focused thought only previously reachable through meditation. The difference of course being that where before he tentatively analyzed his life and the surrounding world, he now found his mind absorbed in extravagant pain as his body desperately tried to convey to him a message of distress. The worst in all of this though was that he could barely adorn a look of surprise before he began sneezing again, lasting much longer than before.
"Fuck!" Seth loudly exclaimed upon regaining his composure, obviously irritated at the constant sneezing which he could not control.
Jack could only look on with horror and sympathy as he witnessed the young man being ravaged by the uncaring wind and rain, and it was in those moments that the lion decided what had to be done.
"That's it man, here," Jack said as he reached over and opened the passenger door slightly, hoping to make a point by it. "Now get in the car before you freeze to death."
Seth finally stopped for the first time that evening, but out of shock and nothing else. The Jeep, which had been following slightly behind the human during their encounter, now came to a stop with the passenger window directly beside Seth, giving Jack a better look of the boy, which once again aroused him.
Seth turned his head to face the large cat that was so intent on helping him. That was what really shocked and confused Seth the most. Why did this lion want to help him? What would he possibly gain from doing so? Seth's family and most of his friends had never cared for him as much as this complete stranger seemed to, so it was only natural for him to be overly cautious toward the whole situation.
Jack's worry for the safety and health of the young, stubborn human caused him to grow impatient as he began tapping his paws on the steering wheel. Seth finally came out of his initial shock though, or at least enough to formulate a response.
"Please, don't let me ruin your night" pleaded Seth, "I'll be fine really, a little rain never hurt nobody, and besides, I'm almost home anyway." Seth then flashed the lion a falsified smile, and hoped that he was believed.
"You know, you already told me that you have no plan for where you're going, so quit lying to me and just get in. I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help" Jack said rather sternly to Seth.
"Shit" Seth mumbled after realizing his mistake, which was immediately followed by the inability to conjure a response when he knew he was caught in a lie.
"Oh yeah I guess I got confused" Seth replied, knowing what a dumb excuse it was. "Well anyway, if you really wanna know the truth then I guess what it comes down to is that I've been stabbed in the back by a lot of people who spoke only of having my best interests at heart, most of them family members too, so it has nothing to do with the fact that you look like you could fucking eat me, but I'm just not able to trust people anymore; it's really for the better anyway, I do a lot better on my own.
Even though Jack rolled his eyes when the human said that it wasn't because Jack looked like he could eat him that he couldn't go with him, he still could tell that Seth was speaking honestly about his past. That still didn't shake his determination one bit though.
"Look, I'm sorry if you've gotten fucked in the past by those close to you, but your just going to have to get over it cause I am definitely not leaving you out here on the side of the road. So you can either get in now, or I can come out and get you, because I promise I have no intention of harming you in any way, and am only worried about you" explained Jack as best he could.
Seth didn't know what to do. He really wanted to trust this big, cute lion who seemed so worried about him, but he just couldn't shake the feelings from what had been done to him in the past. So with such conflicting emotions, Seth did the only thing he could do, he wordlessly turned from the Jeep and began walking. He didn't want to do it, but he was out of options. Seth's dramatic departure was shaken by the sound of a car door opening though, but he refused to look back as he felt his heart drop from within his chest with anticipation of what was about to happen.
Before he could even weigh his options though, He felt two colossal furred arms and paws slide over his chest, pinning his arms to his sides, and tightly hold him to a huge furred chest. Seth's head darted back to view his attacker, but instead saw the large face of the enormous lion, who smiled wide back as the human felt himself lifted off the ground.
"WHAT THE FUCK?" Screamed Seth completely immobilized from the waist up and too far off the ground for his legs to do anything but flail aimlessly. "What are you doing? Put me down NOW" he continued as the lion carried him back to his car.
Jack just chuckled at the human's struggles and orders though, and coolly replied "sorry human, but I told you that I'm taking you home and that's exactly what I'm going to do, even if I have to carry you the entire way."
"Please put me down lion, I'll give you all the money I have" pleaded Seth.
"Sorry, but that's not going to happen."
"... Y-your not going to eat me, are you?" Cried the human barely above a whisper, but before he had the chance to hear the answer to his query, a large wet tongue licked from the base of his neck, to the top of his head.
"Well you do taste really, really good" Jack purred into the human's left ear.
Seth now found himself momentarily stunned from being tasted by the immense predator, and the lion's comment referring to his taste. He quickly overcame his shock though and began struggling in the lion's grasp with newly found vigor and passion, previously unknown. It was all in vain though as the human eventually tired himself out, now even more locked in the cat's arms than before as they approached the car.
"Don't be silly human, I would never eat you, your way too cute for that" remarked the lion as he opened the passenger side door.
"I bet that's what the wolf told little red riding hood" spouted Seth contemptuously. Immediately following his words though, he realized the lion had called him cute, and was left in disbelief.
"W-well g-good then" confusedly replied Seth in skepticism over his being referred to as cute. "And the name's Seth, not human, okay?' Seth then found his instruments ripped from his person and placed in the back, as he himself was lifted and placed in the passenger seat.
Jack leaned over Seth to secure him in the seat with the safety belt, then brought his furry face within inches of Seth's bare one and said, "don't even think about trying to run off Seth, cause we both know that I'll just easily catch you, and if I have to do that I'll just tie you up so it won't continue to be a problem." Jack closed his statement with that large predatory smile, giving Seth a very close view of the lion's sharp teeth and fangs. "Oh, my name's Jack by the way" and with that, he backed up and closed the car door. Not before giving the human's thigh a tight squeeze with his enormous paw though, leaving Seth's mind swimming with innumerable emotions, many of whom were foreign to the young traveler.
Jack hopped into the driver's seat and began driving home. He looked over at the bewildered human and couldn't help but imagine him naked and underneath the powerful cat, and his lust did not go unnoticed by Seth.
"Uuuhh, getting a little excited there" said Seth, pointing at Jack's growing erection tenting his shorts.
"He he, yea, I'm going to be honest with you Seth, I am really enamored by you, in fact I have to fight the urge to pull this car over and fuck you silly" confessed Jack with the innocent expression of a kitten.
"Well as long as were being honest" replied Seth, "I'm really flattered that you like me that much; no one's ever considered me cute before. The human's face immediately went red and he looked to the floor.
"Now I don't believe that for a second" replied Jack, "but more importantly..." Jack wrapped his large tail completely around Seth's waist with a strong grip, "...YOUR'E ALL MINE NOW!"
"What!?" Seth brought his gaze up from the enormous tail that squeezed his midsection, to the lion's face, and was again confronted with the cat's predatory smile. And though his expression showed worry over the prodigious lion who was attempting to claim him, he was in fact deeply aroused by it, which was obvious to Jack by the tenting of Seth's soaked pants.
Before Jack could comment on the young man's arousal though, he was abruptly cut off by another one of Seth's uncontrollable bouts of sneezing, which caused the lion to almost all but forget about his arousal, and focus his mind on Seth's current condition.
"Ya know, you can turn the heat up if you want" sincerely postulated Jack.
Seth reached over with his right arm, using all his available strength, but he still failed miserably.
"Why don't you just use your left arm silly, it's a lot closer than your right?" Sounded Jack, intrigued by the human.
"Ha, funny story about that, apparently if you walk with a heavy saxophone case on your shoulder for a week, your arm will go all but completely numb; most of the feeling has recently returned though, its just sore. Hey, can I smoke a cigarette in here?" Asked Seth, trying to change the subject as well as just simply enjoy a smoke.
"Yea, go ahead" Jack replied reluctantly, "but you need to start taking better care of yourself."
"Why? I mean, what's the point? I sure as fuck have no desire to be apart of the future, not with the way things are globally headed now, so I'm going to live the one and only life I get right the fuck now, while there are still places to go, things to see, and music to be heard." Seth ended his statement with a deep drag from his cigarette and stared out the window.
"That's a pretty bleak way to look at things if you ask me" said Jack, his large paw now resting on Seth's head and playing with his hair.
Seth tried fruitlessly to remove the paw, but eventually accepted that he was just much too weak, and his searching gaze once again found its way back to the window.
"Well you can dress it up any way u wish, but in the end we're going to have a world of corporate feudalism and ecological catastrophe" replied Seth in an emotionless tone, with an emotionless expression.
"Then to hell with the rest of the world! Life is about finding happiness for as long as you can, you don't have to save the world to be happy" spoke Jack with passion as he pulled up to an apartment complex.
Seth immediately grabbed his possessions and left the car, "thanks for the lift man but I got to get going." He did it completely out of instinct and without thought, and was immediately followed by the realization that there was no way he could get away from the lion this way; if anything it would just piss him off. He could only hope that Jack either hadn't noticed, or he didn't care.
"If you try and move even one more inch Seth I'll tie you up good, so we won't have to worry about you forgetting who is in charge around here, ever again." Of course the human froze where he stood, not wishing to press his luck any further. He stood waiting for Jack to tell him he could move, but was surprised to find himself grabbed from behind again, and pulled to the chest of a lion.
"Oh come on, put me down," Seth asked impatiently.
Jack simply replied with a "Nu-uh" as he began to lick the human profusely.
"Hey stop it, please, this is so embarrassing" begged Seth as he was carried around the complex. Jack giggled at the human's request and answered simply, "nope" and continued to lick him even more so.
When they made it to Jack's apartment the lion set the human down on the couch, and with his face so close to Seth's their noses touched, he told him not to move from that spot. He returned shortly after with a couple of drinks and sat beside Seth as he turned on the television. Seth thanked him for the drink but upon taking a sip he immediately adorned a look of slight disappointment. He carefully reached into the left side of his jacket and pulled out a worn looking brass flask. This did not go unnoticed by Jack though, who swiftly snatched it from his grasp.
"What the fuck" was all Seth could articulate in the confusion.
"Hey, I'm all for liquor and having fun, but Christ Seth, your not exactly in tip-top shape, and there's no way I'm letting you drink in this shape."
He knew there was no arguing with this lion, so he just crossed his arms and leaned back in frustration; not without mumbling a few curses to himself though.
It was once he had finally settled on a movie that Seth noticed Jack's enormous tail slowly encircling his waist. The human looked up curiously toward the lion who was wearing a very content smile, and was immediately bombarded with powerful licks to his face. Seth began attempting to escape from the lion, but he quickly found himself wrapped up tight in the arms of the large cat, sandwiched between the sofa and the Lion, completely helpless.
Jack was enjoying his dominance over the boy when it donned on him how soaked Seth truly was.
"C'mon, lets get you dry" said Jack, lifting Seth from the couch and carrying him to the bathroom. The confused Seth was set down gently onto the tile floor and handed a towel.
"Dry yourself off while I bring you some clean, dry clothes. My old roommate left a bunch of stuff that should fit you just fine," and with that, Seth was alone.
He quickly shut and locked the door, then proceeded to strip off the layer of wet clothing that had practically bonded to his skin. With the clothing balled up in the corner Seth was finally able to towel off and dry himself completely. For the first time in days he wasn't unbearably uncomfortable, and he loved it.
He was startled out of his thoughts though by the jiggling of the door knob.
"Open the door Seth."
"You can leave the clothes by the door, I'll get them in a minute."
"No Seth, your going to open the door NOW." Jack growled to get his point across.
"Alright, alright, hold on."
Seth hadn't opened the door more than a crack before Jack forcefully pushed his way in; nearly knocking the human to the ground.
"Thanks" Seth mumbled, reaching for the clothes in the lion's paw while holding his towel around his waist with his other hand. Jack had other plans though and quickly lifted the clothing above the boy's reach.
"You have to give me your towel first" explained Jack with a smirk.
"What! Are you serious?"
"Absolutely"
Seth sighed heavily as he removed his towel and threw it toward Jack.
"Can I get those clothes now?" Seth patiently asked blushing madly, while standing stark naked in front of the lion; whose expression had completely changed to a smile so large and menacing, Seth's heart dropped from his chest.
In the blink of an eye Jack dropped the clothes and darted for Seth, grabbing him and holding him to his chest, arms wrapped tightly around the human who once again found himself locked up tight in the lion's embrace, feet dangling off the ground. He began to realize the full insanity of the situation as he was carried off.
"Damnit Jack, I really like you but you're starting to scare me with this crap; couldn't I just leave before this gets any more complicated?"
"No cub, like I told you before, you're all mine now; my own sexy little cub. Oh, and you should never be frightened with me, I would never allow any harm to fall upon you" He squeezed the human even harder and when he wasn't speaking, he was licking the nude boy everywhere his tongue would reach.
"Wait... did you call me cub?
"He he, yep, you're my very own little cub; you're the cutest one that ever was and your all mine.
Jack plopped heavily onto the couch with Seth secured in his lap, and upon restarting the movie he laid comfortably down on his side; Seth was positioned in the same way as he was still locked in Jack's embrace.
Seth was of course still very unsure about the whole situation, but he could not deny that he was greatly enjoying being dominated by the strong lion. He finally concluded on planning an escape sometime when he was less distracted, but in the back of his mind he couldn't completely suppress how much he desired to finally have a home.
Meanwhile, Jack had become quite playful and was now rubbing his large paws and tongue over every inch of the helpless boy.