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Arthur paced around the room, making a show of appraising John and Yellow where they lay exposed on the bed. John’s face was alight with a dopey smile. Yellow rolled his eyes and poked him with a tentacle.
With one quick motion, Arthur grabbed the tentacle and squeezed it roughly. “These wriggling things need to learn their place, Yellow.” Arthur squeezed harder and twisted the tip.
Yellow looked into Arthur’s gold-speckled eyes and bared his sharp teeth. His other tentacles writhed in anticipation.
“Be careful, Arthur,” John interjected. “That looks painful.”
Yellow scowled. It did hurt, but he didn’t need to be coddled. He wore bruises like fine garments.
Arthur sneered. “He likes it. The little slut will take anything he can get.” Reaching over Yellow, he held the corresponding tentacle on John’s arm and pressed a tender kiss to it. Then he turned all of his attention to kissing John, which John eagerly returned.
Yellow didn’t mind their arrangement. The sappy shit Arthur and John said to each other, “I love you” and “you’re so good for me” and on and on, never felt real for him. Whatever game they were playing, that wasn’t Yellow’s role. Arthur showed he cared for him by pressing his buttons in exactly the right ways to give him sweet pain and brutal orgasms.
Even so, seeing Arthur kiss John so sweetly just then twisted something in Yellow. He had a sudden mental image of himself on the receiving end of Arthur’s gentle touch. He shook it off. He wasn’t John. Arthur made that crystal fucking clear. He didn’t need any of that softness. He had his own part to play.
He sat up and swatted at Arthur, misbehaving to keep their game going.
Arthur didn’t even look at him. He pushed Yellow down with one hand. “He’s so needy,” he murmured into John’s skin.
Needy. Arthur’s pathetic cock was the one that was already dripping from a few kisses. Yellow swiped a tentacle over the head of Arthur’s cock. “Who’s needy now?” he sneered.
Arthur scoffed and swatted Yellow’s tentacle. “Get that thing away from me. Can’t you see we’re busy?” Without looking at Yellow, he twirled John’s tentacle with gentle affection.
Yellow seethed. Part of him wanted to growl and shout, but another part held him still and submissive. He’d let Arthur tie his tentacles in knots if he would just look at him.
A noise that was definitely not a whimper escaped Yellow’s throat.
Arthur turned around. His smile was cruel, but suddenly it fell. “Are you alright, Yellow?”
“Since when do you care?” His voice cracked. Oh fuck, was he crying? He hated this stupid fucking flesh vessel.
“I’m so sorry. I think I went a little too far,” said Arthur.
John reached toward Yellow, but stopped when Yellow flinched. “You know we love you, right?”
Yellow scoffed. “Spare me the bullshit. You love each other, not me.”
“That’s not true,” said Arthur. “We- I love- I want you to feel good.”
“Fuck off,” Yellow spat.
“Arthur, could you give us a moment?” John started.
“No!” Yellow protested too quickly. Too weakly. “Don’t go. Please.”
John closed his mouth. He shifted to make room as Arthur sat on the bed. A few long moments passed while Yellow tried to breathe less pathetically.
“Can I touch you?” Arthur asked. It was the sort of gentle voice he usually used on John.
Desperate for something he couldn’t name, Yellow held out his hand. Arthur took it so tenderly that Yellow collapsed. He let himself fall back against John’s chest, keeping Arthur’s fingers entwined with his own. John ran his fingers through Yellow’s hair, and Yellow signed deeply.
“Your tentacles are beautiful,” Arthur said.
Yellow scoffed. “Because they look like John’s, you mean.”
“No. Because they’re yours.”
“You don’t have to go soft on me. I like when we play rough. Today was just…” Yellow trailed off.
“A lot. And I apologize.” Arthur grimaced awkwardly. “I like how we play too. I never meant to hurt you in a way that wasn’t enjoyable.”
Yellow hummed in acknowledgement. His body felt heavy, but comfortable. John and Arthur were both touching him. They were both probably looking at him, though he couldn’t see John’s face.
“I do love you,” Arthur said, as if the words had fallen out. “That’s hard for me to say, but I’ve said it to John, and I want to say it to you too. Just to- to have it out there.”
Yellow hummed again. “Okay.”
“Okay,” Arthur echoed.
After a few seconds of quiet, John spoke up. “It’s okay to get overwhelmed like this. I’ve had it happen too. You’re not weak. You’re one of us.”
Yellow appreciated that John didn’t say ‘human.’ Their bodies were not quite human and not quite eldritch in a way they’d both had to come to terms with. His tentacles curled absently.
This was nothing like the frenzied adoration he’d known as the King. This wasn’t like the courtships of the men and women in the movies. He could never have the former again, and he didn’t want the latter. Maybe he could want this, though. He could have his pain and pleasure, and John and Arthur could consider him an equal, even when he was weak.
“Stupid fucking flesh vessels,” Yellow muttered, but there was no heat in it. He wiped the tears from his eyes and shifted in John’s lap.
Arthur nodded, still holding his hand. John wrapped his tentacles around Yellow in an embrace. It felt something like being home.