FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

"Mrrrrrrgh…"

When Clark awoke, it was to the gentle feeling of being squeezed as he lay in a king-sized bed. The covers were pulled up all the way over his head, keeping him shrouded in a warm blanket of darkness, and beneath them, he felt a scaly tail wrapped snugly around his body from his midsection to his ankles. Instead of a pillow, his head rested comfortably on a soft, scaly belly, rising and falling with each breath his serpentine lover took. "Good morning, handsome," a soft voice called from over the covers, and Clark could feel the coils around his legs loosening.

He flipped over onto his belly, then crawled out from under the covers to see a beautiful, serpentine face gazing back at him. "Good morning, gorgeous," he sighed as he scooted forward just a bit, putting his head level with her smooth, plump chest. "You sleep okay?"

"Yeah…" As her human planted a brief kiss on her clavicle, Hssara gently ran her fingers through his hair, relishing the silky texture like it was their first time together. "How about you? Thought I felt you wake up for a bit…"

"Ah, it's nothing," Clark replied, only half-lying now that the nightmare had faded to a vague fog of dread. "Just… weird dreams."

"Really? Weird how?"

"I, ah… I can't really remember," he sighed, "Something about rabbits."

"Hmm." Hssara gently began uncoiling herself from around her lover, flexing from her shoulders to the tip of her tail as her mouth split in a fanged yawn. She then scooped up her phone from beside a massive lube bottle on the nightstand, scrolling through the daily assortment of notifications from her calendar and news apps. "Looks like that interview's today," she murmured, "The… AABC one?"

"ADVENT American Broadcasting Network?" The lengthy title had always been another facet of the same inscrutable TV conglomerate that ADVENT ran, just something you got tweets from every so often to tell you the news or to give you a laugh. He'd never imagined that he'd be going on as a guest, much less with a viper as his companion… but times just seemed to get stranger every day. "What time?"

"Yeah… at nine in the morning." A brief glance at the top of her phone revealed that it was currently about eight, giving them just enough time to get in a regular breakfast while still giving them a good buffer for show prep. Hssara slithered out of bed and over to the spacious walk-in closet, where she took her armor off its rack and began fastening it around her body. Clark wasn't far behind in getting dressed, donning a grey suit and black shirt while keeping the jacket draped over his arm, a look pre-approved by the ADVENT propaganda machine as "clever and classy." The sheer size of the space let them both go about their business in tandem, though both human and viper helped each other with the harder-to-reach parts of their garb.

Once clothed, the pair moved over into the open space that hosted both the living room and kitchen. Back in their old apartment, such a fusing was the product of limited floor space, but in this new penthouse that ADVENT had them in, it felt more like a haughty architect's rejection of walls. While Clark deposited his jacket on the back of a chair and pulled a carton of eggs from the top-of-the-line smart fridge, Hssara coiled herself up on the couch and turned on the TV.

"-bombing this month, claiming the lives of Dr. Aaron Truscott, Simona Philip, and Denis Sawyer." The picture on-screen was an aerial shot of a gene therapy clinic, one with a scorched hole blown in the roof and ADVENT troopers maintaining the perimeter. "Due to the nature of the attack, civil security has few leads as to the perpetrator's identity, though investigators believe there may be a connection with the terror group known as-"

Before the reporter could finish, Hssara switched the channel, this time landing on what looked like a documentary. "-forces operated without government oversight," a wizened narrator explained, "Acting as a highly-funded global militia. In addition to numerous pre-emptive strikes on the Elder's spacecraft, they carried out gruesomely unethical experiments on-"

Hssara switched the channel again once it showed a picture of an alien splayed out on an operating table, pinned in a spread-eagle pose like a dissected frog. In the brief moment where the TV changed channels, he could see Hssara's reflection flinch in disgust, and even though it wasn't his species being vivisected, he understood how she felt.

Thankfully, the next channel was quite a bit lighter in tone, showcasing wildlife camera footage of a pair of tiger cubs playing. "Of course, twenty years ago, tigers were on the verge of extinction," a soft-spoken narrator said, "But thanks to breakthroughs in both genetic research and poaching prevention, the species has made a resounding comeback."

Meanwhile, Clark was busy cracking a couple of eggs into a bowl before scrambling them with a fork. After adding a dash of salt, he then poured them out onto a buttered pan, letting the bottom crispify a bit before scraping them around with a spatula. It didn't take too long for the eggs to solidify into steamy scrambled goodness, and after doling them out onto two plates, Clark sprinkled them both with a bit of salt and pepper. "Are you doing alright?" he asked as he brought the plates over, trying not to sound too clingy. After that dreadful turn of events almost a month ago, things had most certainly gotten better, but every so often, reminders would stain the world around them.

"Yeah, I'm… I'm fine," Hssara replied, popping a piece of egg into her mouth before hastily swallowing it. "Just thinking."

"About?"

"About… I dunno, just the whole rebellion thing. The bombings, the robberies…"

Clark carefully set his own plate aside, then sidled up to his serpentine lover. "None of that's gonna touch us, we've got a dozen ADVENT guards around the building around the clock."

"Yeah… you're right." Though her voice said there was something else a bit beneath the surface, Clark didn't pry as she snuggled up against his side, doing her best to soak up his intimate warmth despite her armor. The two of them continued eating their breakfast in silence, watching the tigers running and leaping about on-screen while each pondering their own concerns. "I love you, Clark," she eventually murmured, listening to the human's heartbeat with her head perched on his shoulder.

"I love you too," Clark replied, leaning down for a quick kiss on the top of her head. Things couldn't go wrong while he had Hssara by his side… or at least, that's what he'd convinced himself throughout the past few weeks.

They sat and ate in silence until the buzzing of Hssara's phone jostled them from comfort, and a quick check revealed that it was time to go. Clark and Hssara quickly gulped down the remainders of their breakfast, donned their suit jacket and pistol holster respectively, straightened Clark's lapels the slightest bit, then headed out the door.

With an armed and armored ADVENT trooper standing just a few feet away, there wasn't much need to lock the door, and thanks to the snazzy penthouse's layout, the trip from the foyer to the elevator took about four seconds. The guard said something into his communicator in the alien language, but Clark and Hssara tried not to pay him any mind, instead focusing on getting into the elevator. After coiling neatly around Clark's shins, the viper pressed the button for the ground floor, then slithered around to drape herself over his shoulders. "Nervous at all?" she teased, trying to cut through the elevator's quiet whirring.

"I mean, yeah," Clark replied with a grin, "But even if we screw up, they're just gonna fix it in post. Can't have their newest figureheads spewing coffee in front of half the nation."

While the memory of him choking on his coffee and spitting it halfway across the room on camera brought a smile to both their faces, Clark's mention of figureheads kicked up clouds of smoggy worry. First, it had been the interview on the attack, then the rather prying call on the "xenosexual debate," then the fabricated viral story about them smooching in public, and now this… probably something else concerning alien-human relations. The Elders were using good old commiefornia as a testing ground for their latest strategy, and their relationship was their prototype.

Once they arrived at the ground floor, the elevator's doors slid open with a quiet ding, revealing the back of an ADVENT trooper standing right in front of the doors. Once he stepped aside, Clark navigated his way out of his lover's coils, then took her by the hand as he led her out of the lobby. Here, there weren't any tenants to run in fear, and the only other souls in the expansive room were a matching set of ADVENT troopers, one of whom radioed something else as human and viper headed for the door. Before they'd even made it out of the foyer, Hssara could hear their van pulling up to the curb, already parked with the back doors open when they reached the sidewalk. One of the two troopers in the front seats gave what Clark assumed was a glance, and the human took it as a silent indicator to move it along.

He and his viper companion quickly climbed into the back, which now had two plush vinyl couches installed on either side. Hssara didn't coil and loop herself onto Clark's lap like they did at home, but she still leaned up against his comforting shoulder, and though his jacket kept him from comfortably lifting his arms, he still took her scaly hand and gave it a good squeeze.

With both passengers secure, the "drivers" manually punched in their destination, starting the van off toward the TV studio. "ETA: 6 minutes," the autopilot declared, their new apartment deliberately placed close to the studio for convenience's sake.

While the two troopers in front didn't seem to care what Clark and Hssara did in transit, their blocky helmets behind the seats were a stark reminder of ADVENT's constant surveillance. It took a little while for Clark to muster the courage to speak, even with Hssara's hand clasped firmly in his, and his words came out as little more than a whisper: "What do you think they'll ask about?"

The viper seemed to drink up the warmth from his words, a small smile crossing her lips. "Probably some leading stuff, how we're doing, what we think of ADVENT, our take on the 'conservatives'..." She did air quotes for the last subject, and though it was initially uncomfortable to know people out there detested their relationship, it didn't take long to figure out it was mostly manufactured opposition. Clark had seen enough shitposts and ironic memes to recognize a strawman campaign, and it was comforting in a weird way to know it was just ADVENT's elaborate sock puppet show.

"Maybe if we get lucky they'll ask about our sex life," Clark joked, "It'd certainly get the tweets rolling in…"

"And what're you gonna say?" Hssara purred. "'Oh, yeah,'" she said in her best hoity-toity human voice, "'It's so much fun screwing a giant snake monster that could crush my ribs like an eggshell. She doesn't bite much, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to eat me.'"

"Well, that'd be the truth," Clark candidly replied, "I mean, minus the whole eating thing… don't know how many times you've tried to gobble me up cock-first."

Hssara couldn't help but giggle, after which she planted a quick peck on her human's cheek. "Mmmm… it's only 'cause you're so delicious." Her hand briefly landed on his thigh as her weight began to shift onto his lap, but once one of the troopers said something into his radio, the lusty spark in her chest sputtered and died. However, Clark was quick to give her a kiss in turn, and while they didn't do anything untoward for the rest of the short trip, the armored viper happily snuggled up against her human companion. Despite the steel plates, she was still able to relish his comforting scent, and they remained huddled together until the van came to a smooth stop.

The ADVENT goons hopped out, did a quick sweep of the perimeter, then popped open the van's back doors for their two passengers. "Come along," one of them ordered, and the other quickly gave an update over his radio. Clark and Hssara stepped out of the van and followed the first trooper through the pristine parking garage. The odd pair walked and slithered hand in hand, one guard at their front and one at their rear, making them feel like participants in some bizarre witness protection program as they marched to the glass doors leading into the building propper.

Once inside, however, they were greeted by the semi-familiar face of Dr. Calkins, her crisp smile doing the bare minimum to soothe their nerves. "How're you two doing?" she asked, holding a datapad in one hand as if she'd been working moments previously.

"Fine and dandy," Clark sighed, giving Hssara's hand a tiny squeeze. "Shall we get makeuped-up?"

Calkins seemed the slightest bit perturbed by his dismissive response, but empathy creased her expression all the same. "Sure… right this way." The two ADVENT troopers stayed by the doorway as the doctor led them down the hall and into the brightly lit makeup studio, where both seated themselves at the stations of two frazzled-looking techs. One hastily began applying powder and paint to Clark, getting his face properly decorated with foundation and highlights and shadows, and to Hssara's dismay, the other did the same to her. She'd seen humans do this ritual countless times, plastering themselves to get that invisible edge, but for her, it felt like getting made up like a clown. Her scales had to be coated with a matte finish to keep them from being too shiny, and her eyes had to be traced with eyeliner for a more "humanized" look. A makeup tech had once offered a bit of blood-red lipstick to go along with it, but when Clark burst out laughing, she immediately wiped the slimy substance off.

Despite the embarrassment of having brushes and puffs all over their faces, the application only took about ten minutes, and after the artists retreated, Clark and Hssara couldn't help but admire each other's touched-up appearances. To the viper, her human lover looked every bit as handsome as the movie stars in all the things they'd watched, and though she looked a tad odd, Clark loved the all-too-human sense of enticing mystery the bit of makeup provided. "Shall we?" he murmured, offering the crook of his elbow for Hssara to daintily take. All set up for their latest appearance on TV, they let their white-clad handler lead them out toward the set.

"Just try to be candid," Calkins offered on the way over, "Mr. Yates isn't going to ask anything too prying… at least, nothing he thinks you can't handle. He's just trying to get to know you as people, so-"

"No bootlicking?" Clark interjected, wearing a slightly scornful smile.

Calkins opened her mouth to reply, then shut it before saying, "Yes, no bootlicking. Just be yourselves… but try to be a bit discrete."

With that, they stepped through the doorway onto the set, earning a few nervous glances from the black-clad workers hurrying around, briefly interrupting their ant-like scurrying. Up ahead was the stage itself, a diorama of a haughty living room in front of a swarm of TV screens, and sitting in an ivory-colored armchair was this week's interrogator. Jimmy Yates was the host of AABC's Screenside Chats, a modern talk show talking about modern things that modern people did. The man was most easily recognizable by the fiery red hair on his head, slicked back with gel until it looked like a plastic attachment. Upon spotting Clark and Hssara, he swiftly ended his chat with what looked to be his secretary, then stood to greet them, buttoning his shiny blue suit before extending a hand.

"Hey there!" he said in a toned-down stage voice, "You must be the two I've heard so much about!" He took Clark and Hssara's hands in turn, giving them both a firm doubled-up shake. "Go ahead and take a seat wherever you like, the show'll get started in a moment."

Of course, the only place to sit was the matching ivory sofa, and Clark had seen this same set enough times to know where he was supposed to be. Clark took a seat on the end nearest Jimmy, after which Hssara slithered over beside him, doing her best not to seem too clingy while her tail coiled around to the front of the coffee table. When Clark put a comforting arm around her shoulder, however, she leaned the slightest bit up against him in a show of silent affection.

"You guys know the drill," Jimmy asked as he sat back down, "Right?"

Clark nodded. "Don't look at the camera, don't touch your face…"

"... Don't say anything too outrageous," Hssara finished for him, "We've been onstage before."

Jimmy's smile suddenly strained the slightest bit, a bit of empathy leaking through his cheery mask. "Yeah, I saw… that whole kidnapping thing, just… eugh. Makes me glad we've got cops on the streets, know what I mean?"

Before either of them could answer, a man that must've been the director called out like a general: "Alright, lights in 3… 2… 1…" Suddenly, the lights around the stage dimmed, and a few moments later, the ones on the stage turned up to a spotlight's furious glare. Hssara closed her eyes to bask in the radiant heat for a moment while Clark tugged at his unbuttoned collar a bit, the lights forming a nigh-inscrutable barrier between him and the set crew. Jimmy didn't seem to mind, but judging by the way he almost robotically stiffened into place, he'd been on the receiving end of countless similar bombardments.

"Quiet on set, people! Cameras rolling in 5… 4… 3… 2…" He counted out the last number with his finger as the room grew silent, then directed the cameras to roll with a commanding chop of his hand.

A split second later, Jimmy sprung to life like an animatronic. "Good evening!" he said straight into one of the surrounding cameras, "I'm Jimmy Yates, and this is another episode of Screenside Chats! Tonight, we're gonna be talking about the latest faux pas of our generation, something that's been stirring up controversy with bigots across the nation. With me tonight are two subjects of this little debacle who you might've seen making waves on social media, Clark Hopper and Hssara Samanni!" The last name was something they'd tacked on during their first interview, a meaningless title to make Hssara seem relatable, but she smiled all the same as the camera panned over to her and her lover. "It's great having you guys on the show," Jimmy continued, leaning back and resting his ankle on his other knee.

"Well, it's great to be here," Clark replied, hoping his smile hit that balance between genuine and showy.

"How're you two doing tonight? Drive over here wasn't too rough, I hope…"

"Nah, it was fine," Hssara said with a smile, "And we're doing great…"

"Good to hear!" He shifted forward a bit, elbows resting on his knees. "Now, I hate to get straight to the point, but plenty of people out there have been wondering about those viral pics that have been circling around…" Over on a little monitor that mirrored the massive screen behind him, Clark could see the short series of pictures captured by phone that ADVENT had been pushing around: one was of him and Hssara gazing lovingly at each other, the next was them kissing briefly, the third featured her coils marginally wrapped around his legs, and the fourth was her hugging him close to her armored chest. "What do you two think about all that?"

Clark took a moment to think up a suitable reply, inspired somewhat by Hssara's initial reaction. "Honestly, I think someone out there's a pervert. I mean, taking pictures of a couple from across the street… that's paparazzi stuff at best and stalking at worst."

"It's kinda flattering we've got a secret admirer out there," Hssara added with a grin, "Their camerawork's ametur, but the sentiment's nice."

Jimmy let out a small chuckle, then turned to a more serious topic with a smile lingering on his face. "You know, not everyone has such a lighthearted opinion… some people out there are calling for legal action on account of the whole interspecies shebang."

Hssara squinted, then leaned in with a similar mock intensity, fingers steepled as she glanced toward the host. "Maybe my human history is a little rusty," she pondered, "But haven't we done this before? I mean, first there was the whole segregation thing, then the gay rights thing… do we really need to keep doing this a third time?"

"You're talking about the anti-alien-relationship movement?"

"Yeah, haven't we seen this before?"

The subtle grin on the host's lips revealed he intended to agree, but customs demand that he play devil's advocate. "But isn't that a bit of a jump, from two humans to a human and an alien?"

"Hssara's more human than some humans I've dated," Clark replied, "Granted, she's got some quirks, but she can binge shows with the best of us, and I think she's every bit as affectionate." As if to demonstrate, the viper leaned up against him and squeezed his hand, her smile widening just a hair.

"And there aren't any… biological issues?"

"Well, of course there's differences… the full-body hugs, the slithering, the fact that I need a crowbar to pry her off when it's cold out…" He couldn't help but think of all the inhuman things she'd done to him in the bedroom as well, all the deepthroating and tongue-jobs… "But that's just what makes it interesting."

"Certainly seems interesting from those pictures," Jimmy quipped, "But there's another issue our viewers have brought up: how's this romance play into your professional relationship?" When Clark raised an eyebrow, the host quickly explained further. "Hssara's your bodyguard, right?"

Clark couldn't help but be caught off-guard by the question, but Hssara quickly stepped in. "Yeah, it started like that," she replied, "But… it's evolved into something different. After the attack, we realized that I'm not much protection against a whole team of psychos, so we got help… brave men and women from Civil Security." The men and women bit was a bit of a stretch, seeing how ADVENT's grunt force seemed oddly androgynous, but no one was about to correct them. "As for us, well… I feel like being in love isn't a hindrance. Would you rather have someone who'd take a bullet for you both literally and figuratively, or just someone who's day job is keeping you safe?"

"Hmm… but don't you think this might be considered sexual misconduct?"

This time, Clark spoke up. "As far as I know, it's only misconduct if it's one-sided, or if it interferes with one of our jobs. I know from experience it sure as hell isn't a one-sided thing, and ADVENT doesn't seem to see any issue with it." He was tempted to add something about how ADVENT cared, how they were human enough to give a young couple a bit of slack, but he decided not to spew straight bullshit.

"I see… and you agree, Hssara?"

The viper shrugged. "Wouldn't be working with him if I didn't."

Jimmy leaned back in his chair, perching his ankle on his knee once again. "Well, I suppose that makes sense… but I'm a bit curious as to how it all plays out. Mind walking us through your average day?"

"Not at all," Clark replied, "We start in bed, same as anyone else, though I've usually gotta pry myself away from miss clingy over here…"

"It's not my fault you're so warm," she muttered in mock offense, folding her arms across her chest.

"Are you… cold blooded?" the host asked.

"As a matter of fact, I'm not," Hssara replied, "I'm as warm-blooded as any human… but then again, who says no to some midnight cuddles?" She punctuated the half-lie by suddenly leaning over and gave Clark a quick kiss on the cheek, enjoying the way he blushed ever so slightly under the glaring lights.

"From there it's pretty normal," Clark continued, "Take a shower, get dressed, cook breakfast… basic stuff, same as anyone else."

"Are there any dietary differences?" Jimmy probed, "I don't mean to sound rude, but would an alien eat the same things as a human?"

"It's not rude at all," Hssara replied with a smile, trying not to feel like a circus sideshow. Just a while longer, and then they could get back to their own little sanctum. Although the stage lights reminded her of the heat lamps they'd had for the dorms back in Nevada, she could see the film crew flitting about like ghosts behind the light's shroud, watching her and her human lover like lizards in a terrarium. "There's some human food I can't eat in bulk, but there's plenty of overlap, and I can stomach most stuff for a few meals."

"And is it you doing the cooking?"

"Eh, depends on the night… sometimes he'll cook, sometimes I'll cook, sometimes we'll work together…" Most of the time, they just had food delivered to their penthouse, but that didn't seem nearly dignified enough.

"It's amazing how fresh the stuff from the hydroponic plants is," Clark added, throwing a brief glance toward what he thought was Dr. Calkins. True, he wasn't required to kiss ADVENT's ass, but he'd learned from experience that a little kowtowing went a long way.

"You still work at the California Computational Agency?" the host asked Clark.

"Yeah, same as usual. Wouldn't want to bore you with all the tech geekery we get into, but the short version is we're doing good work." A slight lie, seeing as how ADVENT wouldn't let him anywhere near government infrastructure without an armed escort. Too much of a security risk, they'd said, though now he had to contend with their finicky remote system. "Once we're done there, we head home and relax, maybe head out to dinner if we're feeling like it." They'd been out to eat precisely once since their dinner date, and having an armed escort standing beside them somewhat ruined the experience.

"So, pretty mundane all things considered?"

"All things considered… yeah, minus a few quirks here and there." Over the next few minutes, he answered the host's questions with a smile on his face, working with Hssara to toss out tame yet funny stories of a viper in a human's world. Along the way, they gradually got used to the pocket world of the stage, ignoring the crew shuffling about behind the lights and focusing in on Jimmy's kind grin. They knew it was probably all an act, but the casual chat was comforting all the same, and Clark couldn't help but feel some twinge of pride at being the center of attention.

"Well, I think we're getting near the end of our time," Jimmy eventually sighed, "So I've just got a few more questions… and I hope they don't seem too personal. Clark, I think I speak for most of our listeners out there when I ask, what's it like being with an alien?"

At first, Clark didn't get what the man's subtle grin was implying. "Like I said, it's pretty normal…"

"Even behind closed doors?"

Although his initial reaction was to act squeamish, a quick squeeze and friendly nudge from Hssara was enough to overpower his inhibitions. "Well, behind closed doors it's another matter entirely," he admitted, "I don't think there's a human alive who can do half of the things she can…"

"Nope," Hssara concurred with a lusty grin, "I think I might've even ruined humans for him." After looking at her lover's expression, however, she realized she might've gone a hair too close to reality.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Clark rebutted, "I like humans just fine, it's just… I like you even more."

"Mmmm…" Clark leaned in to give her a kiss on the head, and while it felt all too genuine for the stage, Jimmy's brief pause told him it was just enough schmoozing to boost ratings.

"And how about you, Hssara? How's a human measure up to one of your own?"

Her knee-jerk reaction was to say that her kind didn't really "do" anything lewd beyond breeding duty, but she quickly realized that was just the kind of thing ADVENT wouldn't want told to the public. For other vipers, sexuality was a baser urge to be avoided, but for humans, it was a naughty little secret everyone kept in their back pocket. "He's actually pretty great," she replied, "Handsome, soft, warm, caring… not to say that we vipers can't be all that, but it doesn't hold a candle to Clark here under a fluffy duvet." This time, it was her turn to pull her lover close for a peck on the cheek, earning a semi-forced grin of endearment from their host.

"Well, I'm afraid that's all the time we've got tonight," Jimmy concluded, "Thank you both for being on the show, and for giving us such an in-depth look at what you two have been up to."

"It's our pleasure," Clark said with a smile, giving a small nod of thanks to the fiery-haired host.

Hssara followed suit, which seemed to prompt Jimmy to turn to one of the cameras. "Next time," he said to the audience, "We'll be seeing how gene therapy has been treating Felicia Nikatina, San Francisco's resident diva." He remained staring at the camera for a moment more, seeming to wait for some que…

"And… cut!" The director held up a hand closed in a fist, and in an instant, the stage snapped back to its active state. The glaring spotlights switched off, the rest of the room lit up, the crew began busying themselves with their duties, and Jimmy Yates seemed to relax in his cushy armchair, all while Clark and Hssara remained on the same ivory couch. Their host seemed to contemplate saying something to them, but when his phone buzzed with a notification, he merely offered a smile before hastily heading off-set.

"Well, that wasn't too terrible," Clark sighed while taking a look at his phone, "Felt longer than thirty minutes…"

Hssara, meanwhile, leaned back to take a look at the lights, eyes narrowed in thought. "You think we could get a bunch of heat lamps?" she pondered half to herself, "Stick 'em up above the bed, maybe?"

Her human companion followed her gaze, and it didn't take long for him to realize she was after the raw warmth those lights could provide. "Eh, we'd probably have to get them specially made… might be easier to just get a heated blanket."

Hssara's expression revealed she'd never heard of such a wondrous device, but before she could probe further, Dr. Calkins stepped up onto the stage to approach them with her tablet in hand. "That was great," she began, "Relatability and authenticity are great, and according to the simulations…" The woman trailed off as she saw interest fading from the couple, unamused by the intricacies of public-relation-simulation AI. "Pretty sure that's all we need," she finished.

Clark raised an eyebrow. "So we're free to go?"

The doctor made as if to say, "Yes," but quickly remembered something as a notice popped up on her tablet. "Actually, if you could post something about the interview sometime later, that'd be great, but other than that… yes, we're done here."

"Perfect." With that, Hssara took her human by the hand and led him back through the thronging set, straight back down the hall to where their armored escorts were waiting. In their haste to return to the familiar, they hardly noticed all the looks from the other humans, and the troopers' inanimate silence seemed downright convenient. As if compelled by some simple algorithm, they immediately fell into place as the pair left the door, guarding in front and behind as they made their way back to the van. Clark and Hssara climbed in, and their heavily-armed chauffeur started it up before waiting for an order.

"Just take us back home," Clark said, slipping off his suit jacket and laying it on the couch beside him. With an imperceptible nod, the trooper in the driver's seat punched in the destination, and the van began driving on its own toward their apartment.

His viper companion, meanwhile, was busy typing something out on her phone, and once Clark grew curious, she offered a brief explanation: "I forgot to ask when the show's airing."

"Right…" Ever since their first televised interview, they'd made something of a habit of watching their own appearances for the ego kick if nothing else, occasionally ribbing each other about stumbles or egregiously cut film. It was also rather entertaining to see how makeup and post-production editing turned them from normal schmoes to TV characters, all their little blemishes and imperfections wiped away as if by magic. True, it was a bit awkward knowing there were probably thousands of people watching along with them, but when you spend most of your time in a heavily-guarded safehouse, the general public isn't too much of an issue.

Once her phone dinged with a reply, Hssara switched over to a different app and posted a quick little message, and judging by the noise, she was finally getting around to the obligatory social media post. "Looks like we're on at seven," she finally revealed, then tucked away her phone and slid a bit closer. "Until then… how's a midmorning nap sound?"

Clark sorely wanted to agree, to just snuggle up under the covers with her and sleep like a pair of hibernating snakes… but his more dutiful side couldn't help but chastise his loungy habits. "Actually, I should take another stab at the remote desktop system… Liam and I might be able to figure something out."

"Oh… alright." He could tell she was the slightest bit miffed at not having her favorite bed-warmer, but they'd been getting used to splitting up every so often: Clark would do his remote work (or wrestle with the uncooperative remote system), and Hssara would catch up on girly sitcoms that Clark was lukewarm towards. Then, once they got bored of their prospective pastimes, they'd get back together and curl up on the couch… or just strip naked and rut like animals.

The journey back home was less than uneventful, with not even a pothole to spice things up or a rogue jaywalker to make use of their security guards. The van simply pulled up in front of the apartment building, dropped them off, then headed back to the parking lot while they made their way back to the elevator. A trooper sent a radio update to his coworkers on the top floor, but neither human nor viper was in the mood to care, and they boarded the elevator back to their home without issue.

Upon stepping through the penthouse doors and entering their private abode, Clark and Hssara immediately made their way to the walk-in closet. Both stripped out of their business attire, with Clark donning sweats and a t-shirt and his viper lover remaining nude. When she gave him a seductive glance from the closet's doorway, he was sorely tempted to give up on work entirely and just bury his face in her chest for a while, but he managed to work up the gumption to plod over to his home office. "Hey, Liam," he said as he connected his video-chat software, pulling up the necessary windows to begin the task of connecting to his desktop. "Ready for another go?"

"Yeah, boss… got your computer pulled up right here."

"Right… let's see if we can't get the network nodes synched up."

When Hssara haphazardly flopped onto the bed and threw some covers over her scaly form, she could just barely hear her human's calm, collected instructions. When she awoke, his collected cool had been replaced by a minor irritation, the kind Clark's subordinates dipped into whenever they were "rubber ducking" (which had been a most curious thing to look up). Hssara simply pulled on an oversized woolen sweater and headed to the living room, settling her coiled length onto the cushions while she turned on the latest episode of Crimson Cove. For someone who'd never set foot in a high school, the teenage antics seemed just as supernatural as the vampires and werewolves they happened to, and even though parsing it all was like watching Game of Thrones out of order, it still excited her to know that Stacie the witch had just found out about Veronica's hookup with her werewolf boyfriend, Chet.

"Oh, come the fuck on!" The enraged shout came straight from Clark's office, and it was the same sort of disbelieving wrath she'd exuded when the TV suddenly lost internet access for a full hour. "I just reset the fucking network key, how could you screw that up?" There was a brief pause, followed by a murmured response from Liam. "No, I know it's not your fault… it's whatever hack programmed this interface!"

Sensing a perfect opening for a little R&R, Hssara gently slithered her way off the couch and into the office, taking care not to alert Clark too early. Liam saw her through the webcam right as she slid in the door, but Clark didn't notice her until she suddenly hugged him from behind, resting her scaly chin on top of his head while glancing at his computer screen. "Hey, Hssara," he sighed, doing his best to hold back his irritation.

Liam, meanwhile, had seen that gleam in Hssara's eyes many a time before, and while he agreed his boss could use some TLC, he didn't want to bear witness to whatever carnal acts they'd get into next. "Y'know, maybe we can just try again on Monday," he sighed, "Maybe it's some localized issue that'll clear up by then."

As much as his belligerent sense of duty compelled him to keep going, having Hssara draped over his back like a scaly cloak sapped what little strength he had left. "Yeah, sure," Clark halfheartedly replied, "See you then…"

With a final wave and sheepish smile, Liam switched off the video feed, leaving Clark alone with his serpentine lover. He gratefully let her spin him around in his swivel chair, then broke into a small smile as she slithered into his lap. "So," she murmured, "What can we do to blow off some steam?"

Clark's burning annoyance had cooled and hardened, keeping him from getting too excited by the beautiful alien on his lap… but that didn't mean he wasn't interested. "I dunno… got any suggestions?"

After breaking into a tiny smile, Hssara simply pulled him close and planted a kiss on his lips, pushing him back against the padded chair while her arms hugged him close. It took all of two seconds for Clark to reciprocate, holding her scales tight and pushing back, going so far as to press his tongue past her lips and taste the sweetly familiar flavor of her mouth. Then, he felt her own tongue pressing inward, rooting around with dexterity and power he still found so damn exotic, teasing every corner of his mouth with inhuman prowess.

He couldn't help but sneak his fingers under her sweater's hem, and with that slightest bit of provocation, she pulled the whole garment over her head and tossed it aside. It felt liberating not to have anything between her scales and Clark's intimate warmth, especially after the stiffness and formality of that interview… on impulse, she pulled back and put the human's hands right on her breasts. Having his soft hands eagerly groping sharpened her friskiness into palpable arousal, and she could feel a growing stiffness poking her through his sweats. "Wanna try anal again?" she blurted out, eager to have Clark inside her in the most perverse way she could think off.

Clark, meanwhile, was the slightest bit fazed. "Anal? You mean the tail-sex thing?"

"Yeah."

"Didn't that hurt?"

While Hssara remembered their first foray into it as a mild stinging affair that devolved into more traditional sex, her forays into human smut had taught her that anal was something of a holy grail for normal couples, and after some personal experimentation with a dildo, she felt ready for a second try. "Yeah, the first time," she replied, "But it wasn't that bad. Besides, if you're really worried about it, you can always make it up with that tongue of yours." To emphasize her point, she reared up slightly and flashed Clark with her already slickening slit.

On the one hand, Clark liked the simplicity of a simple blowjob… but on the other, surviving that interview deserved a special something as a reward. "Well, if you say so," he purred in reply, "Shall we adjourn to the bedchamber?"

Hssara let her human lover cop one final feel, then scooped him out of his chair in a bridal carry, romantically clutching him to her chest as she slithered back to the bedroom. Once there, she set him down on the bed and gave him a moment to disrobe, showing off his handsome stiffy for the first time in what felt like far too long. Right as he seemed about to say something, she suddenly lunged forward, coiling once around his torso and pinning his arms to his sides. "I think we could both use a bit of lubing up," she sighed, pumping a few squirts of silicone-based slime into her palm before leaning over toward Clark's junk.

"You know, I could help," Clark jokingly remarked, "Just unpin my arm and-"

"Oh, hush," the viper teased, "You've had a hard day at work… just relax and enjoy." Her human knew better than to argue, and once her wet tongue wrapped around his throbbing meat, he let out a coinciding groan of contentment. At the same time, she brought the end of her tail right up beside her, with nothing but a nearly invisible slit to mark where her digestive tract ended. Her neatly-filed fingers began spreading the lubricant around the entrance, probing inward to fully spread it around while taking special care with her claws. It was far tighter than her muff, barely able to fit two fingers into its smooth depths, but it was still big enough to fit Clark's manhood.

Once her tailhole was slick enough, she turned back around to look Clark in the eye, rearing up while gently massaging her vulva. "You ready?" Clark asked, the viper's slit already poised above his tip. Wrapped up like this, it felt like he was utterly at her mercy… but he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Yep, just…" Hssara punctuated her statement by finally popping him in with a tiny squelch. To her, it just felt like a weird sense of fullness, but to Clark, it felt so much tighter than her snatch, the texture only making things more intense as it glided down his shaft. The viper got to watch his face contort in pure bliss as she took him to the hilt, and though having a dick in her bowels was a little bit uncomfortable, having Clark writing in her grip more than made up for it.

"Ooooh," he moaned, "That's… wow. And it doesn't-mmph… hurt?"

"Nope." Now that she'd gotten used to it, Hssara actually found the meaty intrusion rather fun… but it certainly wasn't going to get her off on its own. "How about we put that pretty mouth to work?" she purred, slithering forward so that her nethers hung above Clark's head. Without waiting for a reply, she lowered herself down until her scaly vulva were pressed against Clark's lips, then began grinding her slimy muff against his face.

Clark would've gladly focused in on the viper's sweet spots, but with her tailhole gliding up and down his length like a possessed fleshlight, all he could do was stick out his tongue and moan. His legs kicked and squirmed as the erotic assault continued, utterly helpless to stop the silky slit from coating him in slime, but he hadn't the faintest wish to stop her… until his phone began buzzing from the floor. "Mmmph hmmph?" he asked through Hssara's aggressive humping, and the viper sat up just long enough for him to catch a breath that didn't smell like snake pussy. "Should we get it?"

Without replying, Hssara made a move toward the clothes at the foot of the bed, rolling in a half-circle with Clark's face hugged to her groin and her tailhole still wrapped around his cock. She then stretched off the bed, fished Clark's ringing phone out of his sweatpants pocket, scooted back, then lay belly-down with her nethers right back on the human's head. Before Clark could really object, Hssara resumed her gentle stroking with her tail, causing his muffled apprehensions to melt into a surprised moan. "Oh, hey, Martin!" she said into the receiver, her voice hardly betraying the fact that she was screwing a helpless human captive.

Clark could still hear the wet squelching of Hssara's motions, squeezing his member within her sphincter as she teasingly stoked him, and he silently hoped they weren't audible over the phone. "Is that Martin Cubrela?" he tried to ask, but it came out more as, "Is tha-mph hmm- ghhhgh…"

"Clark? Well, he's not really available right now, he's… in the shower. I can take a message, though." She reached one hand down to run her scaly fingers through his hair, subtly holding him face-up against her head-humping.

"Mmmmph…" He couldn't get her off him with his arms tied down, he couldn't get her attention without Martin hearing muffled shouting, and he couldn't think straight with her screwing him like this. As if intent on keeping him incapacitated, Hssara picked up the pace, her anal slit slapping against his groin with surprising dexterity.

Hssara paused for a moment, listening to whatever Martin had to say, then asked, "What do you mean by 'shadowing?' Is… do you want her to live here?"

Parts of Clark's dazed mind got curious as to who this third party was, but more in the forefront, he could feel his body tensing for a climax. Unfortunately for him, Hssara's enthusiasm seemed to dull with every word from Martin until he stayed fully sheathed in her tantalizing rear.

"And when is she coming over?" She paused again, and Clark could hear a bit of concern creeping into her voice. "I see… well, I'll be sure to pass it along. Thanks for the heads up… bye." With that, she hung up, froze for a moment, then began hammering her tailhole up and down Clark's shaft.

The sudden friction forced another gasp from his lips and made him writhe in her unyielding coils, but the pressure didn't let up, and before long, he found himself right back on the brink of cumming. Right as he hit his limit, Hssara reared up just enough to give him some air, though his mouth was still coated in a sheen of her juices. "Oh… fuck!"

Feeling her human lover buck and writhe helped take some of the edge off of Hssara's reaction, and as his manhood pumped a sticky load into her rear, she found the sensation both filthy and exciting. Looking down, she got to watch his face twist into an expression of pure bliss for a few moments, and the slippery fluids coating his lips made her want a bit of reciprocation. "So, how was that?" she purred as he began to relax, "Better than the other holes?"

Clark felt her tailhole pull off with a familiar schlurp, after which her constricting coils relaxed just a bit. "Eh… different," he eventually replied, "What was that call abou-"

"Shh." Hssara pressed one scaly finger to his lips with a grin. "You've still got a job to finish."

"Then lemme up, unless you just want to hump my face all day."

While the thought of her riding Clark's tongue like a sybian certainly sounded intriguing, Hssara was a bit more in the mood for more traditional dining. She swiftly uncoiled from around Clark's torso, unintentionally leaving a trail of sticky semen with her tail, and no sooner had she laid back on a pillow than Clark had pounced on top of her. He immediately slipped two fingers in while lapping at her clit, causing the viper to let out her own melody of moans, and when her writhing tail sought out something to grasp, he happily wrapped it around his abdomen like a bandolier. It was too bad he didn't get to interrupt a phone call of hers, but watching her squirm after her whole dominant act was still quite the treat. Hssara was soaking wet, already warmed up from her head-humping, and Clark wound up swallowing a mouthful of her feminine fluids while still going down on her. "Mmmm… haspana," the viper moaned, firmly grabbing a handful of Clark's hair while her other hand held onto her pillow.

Her hips bucked up against him as her muff clenched around his tongue, groaning wordless praises that urged him to go deeper, but after a minute, she felt Clark slap the side of her tail. Instantly recognizing their silent signal for "you're crushing me," Hssara relaxed her tail around the human's rib cage, and though there probably wasn't any damage done, she still felt guilty for the last four times she'd choked him out mid-coitus. "Sorry, I just… ahhhh…"

Clark, meanwhile, harbored no ill will, instead continuing his relentless tongue-fucking of his scaly lover. While his curiosity about the mystery call still lingered in the back of his mind, it could wait until after he'd made her cum. Latched onto her hips like a leech, he picked up the pace just a bit, forcing another distracted moan from her lips. "Oh, haspa chug gemtao… temmu… gonna… gahhhhh!"

The climax came slow and smooth, rippling through her body and making her squirm from head to tail. Hssara's claws briefly flexed into Clark's scalp as her coils hugged him tightly, doing her best to embrace her lover without crushing him, drinking up his warm scent in throbbing bliss. His tongue and fingers kept doing their electrifying dance until her pent up pleasure faded to a hazy glow, at which point the human pulled away and wiped some of her fluids from his lips. "Well, that was fun," he replied, "Certainly needed the break…"

"Wanna keep going?" Hssara purred, reaching down and spreading her scaly vulva with two fingers.

While her invitation to give her a second cream filling was undoubtedly enticing, Clark couldn't help but think of where he'd last stuck his manhood. "You sure that's a good idea?" he asked, "Maybe we should get cleaned up first…"

It took a second for the viper to realize what he was talking about, causing her slutty grin to wilt. "Oh… yeah. And speaking of that…" Hssara unwound her tail enough to hold up her anal slit, which was still oozing a cocktail of lube and cum all over the sheets. Now that they weren't caught up in their wild rutting, Clark began to notice the sweat on his skin and the slime coating his nethers, and Hssara seemed to share his need to get clean. Both of them made their way to the bathroom's expansive shower, taking care not to stain the carpet too much more than they already had.

"So, what was Martin calling about?" The two of them were busy washing each other's parts clean, unabashedly getting their hands in the other's hard-to-reach places, and while Clark had been ruminating on the call for a while, the shower was when it finally came to a head.

Hssara, meanwhile, was taken a bit off guard. "Oh, right… well, Martin was planning on sending someone over. To the apartment. To stay with us."

Now that he thought back, Clark was able to pick through the memory of the anal experience to recall that Hssara had mentioned someone coming to 'shadow' them… someone who was a she. "Who? Calkins?"

"No… another deviant. Another viper."

So there really were other human-loving aliens out there… he remembered it being mentioned a few times but hadn't ever figured he'd see an example in the flesh. "So… what, we're just supposed to take on a roommate?"

Hssara uncomfortably folded her arms across her chest. "Well, it's a bit more than that… Martin said he wanted her to 'shadow' us, watch how a normally adjusted human-alien couple work."

Clark could clearly see her discomfort, and after a moment, he asked, "I take it you're not too sure about it?"

"Having a stranger live with us? Yeah, I'm not sure."

"Did they tell you anything about her, what she's like, where she's from?"

The viper briefly leaned back with her eyes closed and let the shower water wash over her face, regretting not asking back when she had Martin on the line. "No… just said her name was Nijia. If she's anything like other vipers, though…"

"But she's a deviant, who knows what she's like?" Clark gently took Hssara's hands in his own, pulling her arms from their crossed pose. "Sure, she might be a bitch, but I don't think they're gonna keep us all locked up together if things start getting nasty."

"Plus the guest bedroom's got its own TV," Hssara added, offering a tender squeeze to her hand. "If we really need to, we can just lock her in there with a few bags of beef jerky."

While it almost seemed like his lover was set to dislike this new arrival from the get-go, Clark still felt relieved at having the mystery solved. "What time does she get here?" he then asked, curious as to how soon he'd meet this Nijia.

"Sometime in the afternoon," Hssara replied, "Maybe four-ish if I remember correctly."

"Well that's-" Click. Suddenly, the lights in the bathroom flicked off, and the water from the shower trickled to a halt. Thanks to the utter lack of windows in the master bathroom, Clark was completely blind, and the only light he could make out was from under the door. "What the hell?"

Hssara's eyes, however, swiftly adapted to the tenebrous conditions, and it was clear the meager light was actually coming through the bedroom's curtained windows. "Maybe the power went out?" No, no, the apartment probably had a backup generator… "Could the backups have gone out too?" Suddenly, she realized from Clark's groping of the shower's glass wall that the human couldn't see a thing, and she swiftly took his hand in her own. "Need some help?"

"Please." Clark blindly relaxed and let Hssara pick him up, then carry him through the murky bathroom and walk-in closet into the marginally lit bedroom. Here, at least, the human could see his hand in front of his face, but as his lover set him down, they both began to hear a familiar noise coming from the nightstand. "Is that my phone?"

This time, Hssara let Clark take point, and as he approached the ringing device, he saw a caller ID that sent a chill down his spine: "PICK UP NOW." Cautiously, he picked up the phone, wiped a bit of slimy lube from it with the bedsheets, then clicked the accept button and held it up to his ear. Before he could even say hello, he heard a distorted voice from the other end like something out of witness protection. "Clark, do not hang up," it ordered, "Do not say anything. We've disabled their security systems as well as the viper's implants, but we don't have long."

"Who are you?" Clark shot back, even though he already had something of a theory. He turned around so that his phone was closer to Hssara, letting her silently tap in with her enhanced hearing.

There was an irritated sigh from the other side. "We're the people who can save you," the voice growled, "And right now, you're wasting time. Go to the ADVENT burger joint at 245 Bayshore Boulevard at noon two days from now. Don't be late."

"And why the hell should we trust you?" Clark retorted, "Last time you tried to save me, four armed thugs broke into our apartment and tried to kill my-" He stopped himself as he was about to say girlfriend, though he wasn't quite sure why. "-my bodyguard!"

"Based on what we knew at the time, that was our best option. It didn't work, but it forced ADVENT's hand, and now we have a chance to get you out peacefully."

Hssara and Clark both shared a look of furious incredulity. "You didn't answer the question, asshole," the latter snarled, "How do we know you won't shoot my bodyguard in the head and drag me off in zip ties?"

The person on the other end let out another sigh. "Do you know what ADVENT does to people who they don't like?" His voice dripped venom through the voice disguiser like some kind of monster. "They don't just kill you, oh no, they just torture and maim you to hollow out your brain like a fucking pumpkin. Then, once you're barely alive, they stick you full of cybernetics and mind-control you, just move you around like a fucking puppet while you're trapped inside your own head. As soon as you stop tapdancing for ADVENT, that's what's going to happen to you, and that's what's going to happen to that bitch snake you fuck. 245 Bayshore Boulevard, Sunday at noon, or you're both dead."

With that, the caller immediately hung up, and even if he'd had a chance to get the last word in, Clark was far too shocked to speak. For all the mystery caller's assholery, he guessed he wasn't entirely wrong, and judging by Hssara's expression, they both shared the same fear of being tossed aside. They just stood there a moment, naked bodies dripping water onto the carpet, pondering their options until the lights suddenly all came back on.

As if on some cosmic cue, the front door swung open, and two troopers came stomping in, rifles raised as they began carefully sweeping the living room. It didn't take long for them to proceed to the bedroom, and when they did, they showed absolutely no reaction to the two naked forms before them. "Are you secure?" one of them asked Clark, and when the human nodded, both troopers seemed to relax. "There was a security failure for three minutes and forty-seven seconds. It appears it was a system malfunction."

Or a successful hacking attack, Clark thought to himself. "Uh, great… is that all?"

"Protocol dictates sweeping the area before free movement can be permitted."

"Can we at least dry off while we wait?" Hssara asked.

The trooper briefly looked to his partner, who had just finished searching the bathroom. "Yes, but please remain in this area."

"Right…" With that, Clark and his viper companion headed for the towel rack, leaving the two troopers to finish robotically searching the penthouse. By the time they'd finished, the two black-clad troopers had returned to their posts, letting Clark and Hssara get dressed in fresh clothes in privacy.

"So…" Hssara nervously began after pulling on another sweater, "Should we?"

Clark immediately understood what she meant, but he couldn't help but remember ADVENT's surveillance policies. "Should we what?" he replied, then tried to say "they're listening" with subtle gestures.

Luckily, Hssara got the message, and after a tiny nod, elaborated a bit more. "Should we do that again sometime?"

"Yeah, that was fun…" The human tried to sound excited about their next session of debauchery, but he couldn't hide the small cracks in his voice. "Y'know, I wouldn't mind relaxing on the couch."

"Okay… we can do that."

On his way over, Clark made sure to grab a blanket from the closet, something nice and fuzzy that could insulate any noise. What he had was a dumb-sounding plan, but the only other alternative was to pretend nothing had happened, and he didn't want to ponder the potential consequences alone.

Once Hssara had neatly coiled herself on the couch, Clark gestured for her to lay back with a porcelain smile, then snuggled up on top of her. He threw the blanket over them both, dropping his facade as soon as it covered their heads, and he was quick to notice Hssara's worried expression mirroring her own. "We can't trust them," he finally whispered, "As soon as we show up, I think they're gonna try to kidnap me again."

"Yeah… but what would ADVENT do?" When Clark looked confused, she quickly elaborated. "A month ago, I thought they only hurt terrorists, but then I almost had my brain wiped. What's to say they won't succeed at something worse?"

"I…" Hssara had a point, and after living under ADVENT's thumb for as long as they had, he'd come to see some of their draconian internal workings. "I understand, but… if we go with these mystery rebels, I feel like they'll kill you at the earliest opportunity."

"And ADVENT won't?"

Clark let out a defeated sigh, relaxing against Hssara and leaning into her embrace. "Guess we're damned if we do, damned if we don't, right?"

"And we've got this Nijia coming over tonight," the viper added, "Even if she's as cold-blooded as the others, I don't want to drag her into this."

"Me neither… How about we just wait it out?" When their only escape from ADVENT was in the custody of gun-toting nutjobs, waiting in a cushy penthouse with another alien as their roommate hardly seemed unappealing.

Hssara broke into a small grin. "Yeah, just wait… if they really want us, they can sweeten the deal."

"Yeah… we're celebrities, after all."

The two of them shared a small giggle under the covers, then a small kiss, and though it was getting a tad steamy under the blanket, both of them relished the private, intimate closeness.

"So, you wanna go change the sheets?" Clark eventually murmured, "We both know what happens when all that stuff dries…"

"Nah, we can just order a new set," Hssara replied with a spoiled smirk. "If ADVENT can afford to pay for all this, they can clean up after us one more time."

"Mmmm… fair enough." While part of him felt the need to do something productive and another part wanted to get frisky, Clark just let his lover shift around and sink him into her coils. In turn, he planted another kiss on her lips and snuggled up to her bosom, letting out a contented murmur as he buried his face in her sweater-covered cleavage. Everything is going to be alright, he thought to himself… and if anyone wanted to hurt his bodyguard, they'd have to go through him first.