Chapter Text
They were going to keep this creature.
Cedar knew it the moment Bramble had walked through the door, the small human man thrown casually over his shoulder, hand tucked under his fluffy auburn tail to keep him in place.
Bramble had looked at him and his wings had fluttered nervously, as though he might be in trouble—a leftover from his terrible childhood that had Cedar melting on the spot, even if he was peeved about him setting the filthy thing down on their freshly-mopped hardwood.
The human had peered around with an expression more blank than curious, not at all the sprinting, fighting thing that Bramble had described when he’d called to explain his lateness an hour before.
Since then, Cedar had watched his husband fall more in love with the creature as he’d scrubbed him down in their shower, using various soaps meant to remove dirt and lice and whatever else the man could’ve brought into their house. Cedar was trying not to think about it.
He was just there to hold the leash, which was connected to a belt around the man’s waist. Though, the human was so timid that Cedar was barely needed for even that. He’d had to pull it taut just once, when Bramble had knelt to scrub between the human’s butt cheeks with the sudsy cloth and he’d attempted to buck away. Bramble’s lilac eyes had lit up with silent laughter at the human’s theatrics.
Now, shower finished, those eyes turned to Cedar imploringly.
“All the Stars, my dear husband,” Cedar said, invoking religion. Praying to all of the Stars in the galaxy wouldn’t grant him the patience he needed for this.
“We’re going to keep him, right?” Bramble’s voice held a sort of carefree confidence that didn’t show in his pleading eyes or even the bags he’d brought home, which only housed a few days’ worth of necessary supplies.
Cedar adored him for that, for putting off his shopping even when he’d already been at the store, even when he must know that Cedar couldn’t say no when he looked at him like this.
Cedar sighed, turning his gaze to the human. He was looking up at him with round green eyes, a stunning color not natural for fairies. Leash slack, he’d sat down and backed himself against the shower wall, knees hugged to his chest.
His skin was pale and freckled, his rust-colored hair in need of a trim. While wet, parts of it hung as low as his floppy ears, the current cut blocky and uneven. His limbs and back were covered in thin red cuts from struggling while Bramble tried to wrangle him out of the brush and into the car.
He favored his left side slightly, perhaps because of the dark imprint of Bramble’s hand that Cedar had spotted on his bottom cheek earlier. Under Cedar’s scrutiny, his cheeks blushed bright red like the stones on Bramble’s wedding ring. He was also trembling.
This was going to be so much work. They still needed to flush him out, and judging from his reaction earlier, Cedar didn’t suspect he’d take kindly to it.
They didn’t even have a place for him to sleep tonight.
“We’ll call him Garnet, and I’m turning the heat up before we do this.” He ignored his husband’s knowing grin as he handed off the leash before going to adjust the thermostat.
—
When Cedar walked back into the bathroom, Bramble had dried the human off and was applying cream to his cuts.
“He’s cute all cleaned up, isn’t he?” he asked, like he thought he could get Cedar as excited about this as he was. Cedar had never particularly liked humans, though he didn’t mind spending time around his friends’ pets so long as they were well-trained. A feral off the streets, on the other hand…
“They look sweet,” he admitted, “but they’re evil little things. They kill each other. They’d enslave our whole race if they could.”
Once, the invasive creatures had been everywhere, destroying each other, the ecosystem, the entire planet. They’d have destroyed the Stars themselves given the opportunity.
Of course, domestication had made them smaller and less aggressive—Garnet was hardly five foot tall. Breeding for friendliness had also caused surprising changes to their appearance, including high-set, floppy ears that looked nothing like those of early humans and large, round eyes. Unethical magical experimentations had given them their furry tails, making them look even more like the pets they used to keep themselves.
“Well, that’s why we domesticated them. It’s not like he can do any harm now.” Bramble finished applying the healing cream to the last of the human’s scrapes. “You know, he’s actually being sweet. Just look at him.”
Brambles thin lower lip jutted out in a playful pout. Cedar wanted to take it between his teeth; he wanted to kiss him senseless until he forgot all about the trembling, unkempt stray on their shower floor. But his soft lilac eyes said he wanted Cedar fully on board, not merely accepting the human’s presence.
Cedar would give him anything he wanted, and Bramble knew it. He also knew that Bramble would call the shelter tonight if Cedar said he wanted it. But Bramble was already attached, so Cedar wouldn’t. He’d warm up to the creature eventually.
Though, he wasn’t sure Garnet was currently being sweet so much as he was frozen in fear, or maybe in shock.
He rose an eyebrow at his husband. “You think he’ll still be that docile while you’re shoving a tube up his ass?”
It was as much to lighten the mood as to test for a reaction. If Garnet understood Fae, he’d yet to show it, though his glazed eyes didn’t look as though he were hearing them at all right now.
Bramble snorted and hit Cedar with his towel. “Hush and hold onto him while I get the stuff,” he said.
Five minutes later, Cedar was sat on the shower seat, after having to tell Bramble that they would not be attempting this on their bed, thank you very much, even if he did cover the comforter with a waterproof potty pad.
He’d taken off Garnet’s belt and leash and was holding him over his knees. He’d gone down easy, then squirmed as his brain seemed to catch up to his vulnerable position. He’d begun clawing Cedar with overgrown nails, but stopped fussing rather quickly once Cedar had pinned his wrists to the small of his back with one hand. The other returned to holding down his thrashing legs.
Bramble hung a large bag from the towel rack and slathered lube onto a thin nozzle.
“He seemed really tight back there,” he said. Garnet bucked as Bramble pulled one of his cheeks aside to expose his hole. “Shh, sweetheart,” he cooed, using the nozzle to gently lube the outside of his sphincter. “Just going to clean out your little bum-bum.”
His hole was clenched tight, but the nozzle was too small for it to matter. Bramble moved it in slow circles, teasing it closer to the center with each pass. Garnet’s thighs were twitching as he tried to struggle, the minuscule movements rubbing Cedar’s cock just right. He felt himself harden in his pants.
Bramble stopped his teasing, then, and gently pressed the nozzle inward.
The human howled and tried to squirm away as though he were being penetrated by a log, not a nozzle the size of Cedar’s littlest finger. It made him wonder how he’d react to something larger, but they’d find out soon enough. Cedar knew from friends how important penetration was to keeping humans healthy and thriving.
For now, Cedar held him down easily. His tight ring of muscle gave way under Bramble’s gentle pressure, and soon the nozzle was fully inside.
“Gotta make it bigger so you don’t spill,” Bramble commentated as he pumped the bulb a number of times, stretching the balloon-like device inside of Garnet’s rectum. Garnet gasped, his leg seeming to jerk involuntarily.
“You’ll feel something warm and funny, now,” Bramble said as he reached up to start the flow. Cedar knew that the solution had begun to enter his gut when Garnet startled, kicking both feet into the air and attempting to lift his head.
After a moment, he seemed to realize it didn’t hurt, because he fell limp over Cedar’s lap.
“That’s a good boy,” Bramble praised. He rubbed a hand along his back, careful to avoid his scrapes. Garnet whimpered, soft at first, then more insistent.
Soon he was really crying, with less than half of the bag inside of him. His stomach gurgled repeatedly, and Cedar frowned. He reached beneath him to feel his tummy. It was firm with a slight bulge, certainly nowhere near full, but Cedar could feel his guts clenching as he howled through cramp after cramp. Garnet stood up on his toes and stamped his feet against the shower tile, back arching in agony.
Cedar had given and taken enough enemas to know that a simple cleanse shouldn’t feel like this, unless humans were especially sensitive. He turned to his husband. “He’s really hurting.”
Bramble looked less concerned, though plenty sympathetic. “I bought the extra-strong cleanser, just for this once,” he explained. “It’ll cramp, but it’ll flush him out good, and this way he doesn’t have to spend the whole night over your knees.”
Cedar could see how he’d considered that a kindness when he bought the solution, though he could tell that Bramble hadn’t thought it’d cramp quite this badly. They’d already started now, though, and Cedar couldn’t argue that a complete purge was necessary. Only the Stars knew what might be inside of the human after so long on the streets.
“Halfway there,” Bramble encouraged, turning away to get started prepping a rinse.
Cedar rubbed Garnet’s lower belly in small circles, trying to ease some of the pain. It swelled under his hand, and he could feel the solution churning inside.
When he looked up again, Bramble was looking on lovingly, and Cedar felt himself flush. “Shut up, you.”
The human went quiet, and Cedar and Bramble looked to one another in surprise. So he did understand something.
“Not you, pet,” Cedar said. “Cry if you need to cry. I know it hurts. It’ll be over soon.”
He wondered how many of his words got through. Garnet sniffled and resumed crying, if quieter than before, occasionally letting out a soft, pained moan.
When the bag drained, Bramble started a timer and said, “Just ten minutes, now. Hold it in, baby. You want me to take him?”
He directed his last question to Cedar, who shook his head. “He’s all right here. Sit up, boy.”
Garnet whined when Cedar’s hand left his stomach. How sweet. He coaxed him upright until he was curled in his lap, head resting on his chest. Cedar rubbed his belly again and rocked him slowly, humming a ballad from Bramble’s favorite musical.
Bramble’s smile was soft and loving. He sat down on the cool shower tile at Cedar’s feet, clothes still soaked in various places from washing their new boy. He leaned his head into Cedar’s hip and Cedar reached to hold it there, watching as one of Bramble’s hands came up to rest on Garnet’s bony back.
Garnet’s continued fussing aside, it was a nice ten minutes. Cedar thought that perhaps having a pet wouldn’t be so bad.
—
“Let’s get the last of that nasty stuff out of you, now,” Bramble cooed. They’d allowed Garnet to release his bowels, and now he cowered in Cedar’s lap as Bramble approached with a fresh nozzle in hand.
“Shh, little one. This won’t hurt like before. If you relax, it might even feel nice.” Cedar snaked his arm tighter beneath Garnet’s armpits, forcing his ass to stick out a bit. He had him straddling his lap, legs forced to either side of Cedar’s thighs, with no real room to escape on the small shower seat. He could try to scramble backward, but he’d just fall to a heap at Cedar’s feet. He seemed intelligent enough not to try.
Cedar rubbed circles on his butt, first soothingly, then drawing the skin apart to give Bramble better access. At the first touch of the nozzle, Garnet whimpered, “Please.”
“So you do speak,” Cedar said, raising a brow. The boy spoke Fae, at that. His voice was low and raspy, like he didn’t use it often.
“Please, please, please,” he chanted as Bramble continued to steadily press the nozzle inside.
“Shh. It won’t hurt,” he lied, and Cedar frowned at him.
“It’ll hurt a little, pet,” Cedar corrected. “Not like before, though, okay? Wanna tell us that you understand?”
Garnet shook his head. “Please, please, please.”
“Making it bigger,” Bramble narrated, pumping the bulb. Garnet choked on a sob, seeming to realize there was no way out of this. He clutched Cedar’s shirt tightly in his fists, yanking hard. Perhaps Cedar should scold him for that, but he found himself hoping it made a decent distraction.
“And now the water. Nice and warm, baby… Can you feel it?”
Garnet buried his face in Cedar’s chest as the water rushed into him. As he filled, he whimpered out the occasional, “please,” but otherwise didn’t resist.
This position allowed his stomach plenty of space to fill, and soon Cedar could see it rounding out. He placed a hand over the taut skin and rubbed, easing Garnet through his cramps.
To Cedar’s relief, he fussed much less, though his stomach still rumbled occasionally, his guts still roiling from the aftershocks of the stronger solution. The first time, he cried out pitifully. The second, he reached as though to take Cedar’s hand away. Cedar was happy to comply, but instead Garnet slid it a little to the right and pressed. Cedar rubbed his stomach a bit harder than before, providing what relief he could from the cramp.
Garnet panted into the crook of Cedar’s neck, his breaths hot against his skin. They continued on just like that: Garnet shifting Cedar’s hand when needed, whimpering and groaning through his cramps, and Cedar doing what he could to put the boy at ease.
He watched Garnet’s tummy swell with fluid, barely noticing from the corner of his eye as Bramble ducked out of the bathroom. Soon, he heard him speaking in a low voice, but couldn’t make out any words.
Stars knew what his husband was doing out there, but Cedar found that he was more than content to keep watch over their pet, to feel his tear-dampened face pressed to his neck and the swell of his belly beneath his hand.
—
It turned out that Bramble had been calling one of their best friends, Felicity, to bring over a spare crate.
By the time Cedar finally carried Garnet out of the bathroom, enema drained from his gut and leash reattached, they were already setting it up.
The large crate fit perfectly into the small seating area of the bedroom that Cedar and Bramble hadn’t known what to do with, on account of there being two of them in the house and no true need for a private seating area. Bramble had pushed aside their small collection of exercise equipment to make room.
It’s like this space was just waiting for him, Cedar could imagine Bramble saying. Not that Cedar would ever think something so sappy, himself.
“Aww, he’s a clingy little one.” Felicity straightened as Cedar stepped into the room, immediately rushing to his side to coo over Garnet.
He was surprisingly clingy, holding onto Cedar with all of his limbs like he was afraid of being dropped. Cedar’s feet were barely off the ground, so it wasn’t the height getting to him, but perhaps the way he cowered at the sight of Bramble explained it.
Cedar massaged Garnet’s neck gently, fingers brushing against the soft baby hairs at the base of his skull. His pet was sweet, but he found it difficult to enjoy him fully when he knew how disappointed Bramble would be, having unintentionally played ‘bad cop’ tonight. Not that he couldn’t take it, but he shouldn’t have to.
Next time that Garnet needed something unpleasant done, Cedar would take charge and let Bramble cuddle him close. This was really his pet, after all.
Sure enough, Bramble frowned as he came closer, watching Garnet try to melt into Cedar’s skin. “Shh, little one,” Cedar murmured.
“Look at you,” Bramble cooed, ruffling Garnet’s overgrown hair. “All cleaned up, snuggling your new daddy. Think you could give him a trim here, Fel?”
“Sure. We best get those nails, too. Don’t think I didn’t see the way he tore you up.”
“He was just scared. Isn’t that right, Garnet?” Bramble turned to Cedar. “Why don’t you set him up in the kitchen?”
Cedar agreed, flying down to the kitchen and sitting himself in one of the wooden chairs. He tugged at Garnet until he was sitting up as straight as he could get him in his lap, facing Cedar with his legs dangling to the sides of Cedar’s hips.
He pouted all through the haircut, perhaps more from having to sit upright than because of Felicity’s hands on him. His eyes were drooping tiredly, and he slumped forward into Cedar’s chest at the first opportunity.
Cedar felt that; he was unused to late nights. It’d already been eight o’clock when Bramble had returned home, and getting Garnet settled in was taking much longer than expected. The haircut itself must’ve taken at least a half an hour.
Felicity had kept some of the length, so it still curled cutely around his ears, but she’d gotten rid of the split ends and evened everything out. The cut looked professional, rather than the sloppy job that Garnet had likely done himself.
After they said their goodbyes to Felicity, the three of them returned to the bedroom. Cedar set Garnet down on the bed where he looked almost ready to drift asleep.
He joined Bramble in going through Felicity’s bags of gifts and his own purchases, and together they set up Garnet’s crate and got him ready for bed.
“I’m going to grab him a blanket,” Bramble said, flitting toward the hall.
“Already have one.” Cedar took his own favorite throw off the end of the bed. The blanket was soft and warm and smelled like Cedar, and after all they’d put Garnet through tonight, he deserved something nice.
Cedar ignored his husband’s awestruck look as he spread the blanket out over the thin mattress, also supplied by Felicity. It was well known that Cedar didn’t share his things; he had no interest in talking about it.
He left for the guest bedroom next, returning with a couple of spare pillows from the guest bed. Bramble pulled a teddy bear from one of his shopping bags alongside a water bottle with a phallic drinking spout.
Catching Cedar looking, he winked before filling it up in the bathroom and affixing it to the crate. “Gotta train ‘em right,” he said cheekily, and Cedar huffed out a laugh.
It didn’t feel quite so funny when he turned to face Garnet again, imagining those plump lips wrapped around his cock. Or, Stars, Bramble’s cock.
Speaking of cocks…
“Did you buy him a cage?” Cedar asked. Garnet was a feral with no training, and he’d been through a lot of stress tonight. It was only natural that he’d try to relieve himself somehow.
“No, but Felicity left these.” Bramble held up a pair of dusty pink mittens shaped like animal paws. Cute.
Cedar took them before Bramble could approach Garnet himself, quickly slipping them onto Garnet’s hands. He whined throughout the process, crying a bit louder as tried to flex his fingers to no avail.
“You’re okay,” Cedar said, standing him up and pulling him towards his crate. “You don’t need your hands for anything now. It’s time to sleep.”
Garnet tried to claw at the doorway as Cedar tucked him inside, his paws unable to grip the thin bars. Soon Cedar had the door closed, a sprinkle of magic securing the lock in place.
He then crawled into bed himself, his plush pillow feeling better than ever as he rested his head. Bramble wriggled his hips backward until they could spoon, Cedar’s arm wrapping around his waist.
Garnet’s cries were soft. No more than white noise, really, but harder to ignore in the emotional sense, especially as they continued on.
Over Bramble’s shoulder, Cedar could see him curled up in a tight little ball. He wouldn’t be surprised if his stomach were still cramping, even with that awful solution rinsed from his colon.
Eventually, Bramble sighed. “Oh, baby.”
He brought Cedar’s hand to his mouth for a quick kiss before shrugging out from under his arm. Unlocking the crate took a moment, and then he was pulling Garnet out and hugging him tight. The human went easily, crying into Bramble’s neck as Bramble ran his fingers through his hair and rocked him as Cedar had earlier. “Shh, shh.”
Cedar’s eyes grew heavy as he watched. Bramble must be as tired as he was, yet he remained on the floor. Finally, he looked up and nodded toward the bed. “Just for tonight?”
It wasn’t as though Garnet could reach the latch on the bedroom door without the ability to fly, yet alone escape the entire house without magic to undo the locks. Plus his mitts, and his leash, and the fact that Cedar didn’t want his husband sleeping on the floor tonight. “Just for tonight,” he grumbled.
“Hear that, puppy?” Bramble flew to lock the bedroom door, then back to the bed. “You can sleep with us tonight. You’ll be a good boy, right?”
He lay Garnet down in the middle, then tied his leash onto the center of the headboard. It made Garnet toss and turn a bit, trying to get comfortable with it draped over him, before Bramble laid an arm over his hip to stop him. “Shh. Daddy let me bring you up here, but you’ve gotta let him sleep.”
Daddy. Before he could decide whether he liked that development or not, Cedar had already drifted off.