Chapter Text
He hadn’t thought about how the update would affect himself—nor did he expect to fall victim to this new, intoxicating heat now pulsing through his shaking limbs.
After Caine had finally caved and installed the long awaited Sex Update, it became all he could think about. He couldn’t not think about it, the way it seemed to take over his body like a virus, extremely and viscerally aware of his overheating body and his…new parts. For the first week it was active, he hid away, not knowing what to do with himself and these new, overwhelming urges taking over him. He spent days helplessly grinding on whatever he could get his legs around, not quite sure what he was chasing, but more than desperate to find out. More often than not, he ended up too tired and frustrated to get anywhere worthwhile. Caine began to wonder what was so good about this terrible, agonizing feeling to humans.
Did they just live like this? Always hot, squirmy, wet and unsatisfied, constantly chasing…something? No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t understand.
He could feel his systems beginning to go haywire just sitting here in this agonizing state, so shaking his head, he scrambled over his desk for a new, convoluted adventure he’d been working on. Surely sending his humans out and watching them navigate a metaphorical maze of his making could be just the thing he needed to get his mind off of his current predicament. Locating the manila folder he was searching for, he took hold of it and spun out of existence momentarily, transporting himself into the middle of…he didn’t know what he had transported himself into the middle of.
All he knew was that it had been a long, long time since he’d seen Kinger that angry. Or with a bucket on his head.
“You have nothing to do with this, old man, so STAY OUT OF IT!” Jax was being staved back by Pomni, Gangle and Ragatha on either side of Kinger, seemingly trying to talk him down.
“W-woah, now! What seems to be the problem, my groveling guinea pigs?” Caine floated closer, maintaining a few feet of distance between him and the tense scene.
“Jax is freaking out because Kinger had the gall to stand up for Gangle after he’s been torturing her all day.” Zooble turned to answer him in their usual tired, deadpan delivery. “He’s in a mood, or something.”
“This guy thinks he can just put a bucket on his head and start acting like he’s our dad or something. What even gives? Take that stupid s[%#^] off him so he can go back to being a bug-eyed braindead geezer.” Jax went to take a step forward, but Pomni moved in time with him, not allowing him to get any closer to Kinger.
“You’re just mad because he’s calling you out for being a d[%^#].” Zooble spoke over their shoulder, not bothering to face the angry purple rabbit.
“I’m mad because he’s not minding his own godd[@%#] business!” This time, Kinger took a step forward, causing everyone to tense up.
“Jax, it is absolutely my business when you’re constantly hurting the people around you. Gangle wants nothing to do with you, yet every five minutes you’re trying to find new ways to get under her skin!” Caine was taken aback by how concise Kinger’s words were—he was making sense. Was it the bucket? Kinger took another step forward, putting a hand on Pomni’s shoulder to usher her aside. Hesitantly, she followed his soft push and moved to let him face Jax. “What kind of pathetic excuse for a man treats a young lady like this?” No one had time to process Jax’s pupils shrinking to small slits as his expression warped before he sent Kinger flying to the ground, his fist connecting straight to his right cheek.
The entire crew erupted in gasps and mortified exclamation, freezing as Kinger stood up like nothing had even happened. He rubbed his face where Jax’s fist had struck, and Jax stood, chest heaving from adrenaline and emotion. Kinger lowered his hand, his unreadable blue eye, the one uncovered by the bucket, returning to his yellow ones. And then he swung, sending Jax stumbling backwards and clutching his own now bruised cheek. Everyone was silent, their eyes and mouths wide with shock, including Jax.
“Why you—“ His dumbfounded expression warped into pure rage, but before he could do anything else, Caine was snapping his fingers.
“ENOUGH.” Caine raised his voice to almost an unbearable volume, and Jax froze where he stood, unable to move, like the ringmaster had put him under some sort of unseen hold. Kinger quickly took advantage of this, storming right up to the young man’s face.
“If you keep this up, you are going to end up miserable and alone. And when you end up alone here—“ He froze for a moment, like he was fighting off something painful. “You end up dead. Gone—abstracted. Is that what you want?” Jax chittered dryly, a smile that could make the calmest of men want to smack him silly curling into his cheeks.
“What if that’s exactly what I want?” Kinger’s intense stare didn’t falter. If anything, his expression grew darker. It made Caine shiver, both with fear and something else he couldn’t quite place. The royal looked Jax up and down. Shaking his head, he finally turned away, walking towards Caine and making him panic just a little bit. He wasn’t sure why.
“Could you go ahead and send him to his room for me?” Being addressed by Kinger after seeing him…like that, had him tense and dizzy, and it almost felt like he was dreaming. And asking him to do something for him?
“I—uh—yeah! I-I can do that! F-For…you.” And with a snap of his fingers and a cut off shout from Jax, he did just that. This made Kinger immediately appear calmer, along with the rest of the group. He offered Caine a small, tired smile. “Thanks, Caine.” The sudden switch up from the intensity he had just displayed was causing the AI’s systems to run wild, and with horror, he realized those terrible, aching urges were beginning to boil in his gut.
“N-no—do-don’t mention it!” He noticed a small splotch forming where Kinger had been hit, and without thinking, he extended his hand to touch it. His reach was intercepted, Kinger taking his tiny hand into his own large grip before he made contact with the mark.
“Oh, careful—“ A soft chuckle way more in tune with his character escaped him, and Caine felt that warmth brewing in his abdomen spread up his chest and across his face. “It’s pretty tender. Heh, Jax packs quite the punch. Who knew?”
Caine hadn’t seen this side of Kinger in a long time. Sure, he’d seen him be kind and caring to the other humans, even sparing him kindness here and there, but this felt so different. His hand in the other’s larger grip felt like it was on fire, but a part of him couldn’t bring himself to let go.
“I can…fix it. I-if you want.” He could almost feel himself getting smaller, and he wondered if he wasn’t actually subconsciously making his model shrink right now. Kinger’s visible eye grew wider, the remnants of an unseen smile seeping into his gaze.
“Oh! That’s very sweet of you.” The strange, fuzzy feeling creeping over his entire body seemed to peak when Kinger placed Caine’s hand on his bruised cheek, leaning against it and waiting for the AI to work his magic. He was almost too overtaken with emotion to focus. With a shaky breath, he ran his thumb over the mark, watching it fade away under his touch. Was he…being sweet?
The moment was cut short by a soft, unsure noise in Pomni’s direction. The two looked down at her, Kinger letting go of Caine’s hand and standing back, allowing his hand to fall from his cheek. Caine suddenly understood the urge that probably drove Jax to attack Kinger like he did. But it was Pomni—poor, sweet, dear Pomni—so he took a deep breath, never having felt like that toward her before. Why was his gut reaction so violent just then?
“A-are you okay, Gangle? I’m sorry about what Jax said…there’s really no need to be embarrassed—“
“IT’S OKAY WE DON’T HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT!” Gangle practically shrieked as she cut her off, waving the pieces of ribbon that served as her arms wildly and dismissively. Zooble approached her, putting a blue and white striped arm—a crab claw serving as their hand—around her comfortingly. Frantically, Gangle began to pull them in the direction of the hall of bedrooms, seemingly on the brink of tears. When the commotion died down, Pomni and Ragatha headed their own separate ways, and Caine and Kinger were left standing in the middle of the main room, the both of them still processing what had just happened.
“Sorry you had to see me like that, Caine. It was probably kind of scary.” Kinger reached up to scratch the back of his head, the domineering energy that had just surrounded him fading into something much more calm and almost ashamed.
“N-no! I mean—it was… kind of scary… b-but—in a good way?” Confusion painted Kinger’s limited features at that, and Caine realized that probably wasn’t a normal thing to say. “I mean—it was good of you to stand up for your friend!” That seemed much more normal, and it seemed that Kinger thought so too, that confused, somewhat concerned look melting from him until his face showed something much warmer.
“Well, thank you for helping with Jax when you did. I am an old man after all—truthfully, I don’t think I had much more fight in me than that.”
He looked away, smiling. “You’re a good host.” Kinger turned back to Caine, nodding at him. “I really appreciate you.”
A heavy, full body glitch through Caine’s model interrupted the sweet moment, sending Kinger jumping back like he’d done something wrong. When he was back online, he saw Kinger laughing, the melodic sound threatening to interfere with his system once again, before he began speaking without thinking.
“That’s—I—y-you—BYE!” And with a colorful spin and a panicked snap, he was gone.
It had only been hours since the exchange of blows between Kinger and Jax. After watching the heated scene play out, Caine’s creator had began to seep into his mind during his perverted endeavors. He didn’t know why he craved the other’s warmth when he did these things, why he imagined Kinger behind him when he experimented with his cane, his rubix cube; once he had even sat himself on the arm of his chair, imagining it was Kinger’s lap he sat on as he ground his hips with a ferocity he didn’t know he had in him. He couldn’t stop thinking about how intense the usually mild mannered man had gotten. So assertive and no-nonsense, so articulate and caring. He wanted Kinger to talk to him in that stern, low tone he had taken with Jax, wanted him to tell him what to do. He’d know how to make Caine feel good. It kept escalating until his body was screaming to be surrounded by the older man, enveloped in his smell, completely under his control.
Caine knew how inappropriate these thoughts were, and he knew better than to act on this odd longing he had suddenly developed for his creator. He could already see the disappointment Kinger would look down on him with if he ever dared say anything about his ongoing problem, let alone the royal’s entanglement in them.
The next day, after sending his cast on an adventure that was sure to take up most of the day, Kinger’s pillow fort seemed to call out to him. Jax was still present, having stayed behind, but he was holed up in his room and would hopefully stay that way. That impossible to ignore heat started swirling in his abdomen, and he found himself floating towards the makeshift room without even thinking about it. When he reached his destination, he let his feet touch the ground, a hand coming up to gingerly move aside a pillow that served as the door. The smell of musk and wood hit his senses, and he felt his stomach do flips as he made his way inside, practically swallowing the scent as he entered the small, dark space.
The inside was warm, and somehow it was even more quiet than the outside of the tent, even though no one was currently out there. He felt contained, but not in a bad way. It made him want to curl up and just bask in Kinger’s lingering presence. He sat on a pile of pillows near the soft walls of the fort, allowing himself to sink into the cool, feather-filled mounds with a sigh. Grabbing a pillow, he held it to his face, and inhaled deeply. With a dreamy sigh, he hugged it to his tiny chest, the whole thing about the same size as him.
He imagined it was Kinger. It wasn’t hard to suspend his belief, the pillow was soft and plush, just like his robe. Not to mention the smell…Kinger must spend a lot of time in this particular corner. Caine closed his eyes, holding the pillow even tighter to him, imagining it was his creator’s chest he was clinging to. Nuzzling his teeth into the top of it, he inhaled deeply, practically moaning as he exhaled. The noise startled him, and he felt his face burning.
Burying his face deeper into the soft cushion, he brought his legs up to pull it even closer into his body, effectively wrapping himself entirely around it. The soft, barely there touch against his crotch elicited a gasp from him, and he was instantly hit with a wall of unsavory thoughts. If Kinger was here right now, he’d probably hold him, encourage him even. The thought made his hips buck forward, the pillow creating a wonderful friction between his legs.
He’d give anything for Kinger to be the one he was grinding against. His hands would be so big and warm around him, holding him close while he let Caine take care of himself, talking him through it. Had Kinger even indulged in this new update, yet? He’d picked up on hints from the others that they most definitely had tried it out, but Kinger hadn’t really mentioned anything about it. Come to think of it, all he’d had to say about it was…
…how proud it made him.
”Look at you, Caine! This is a big leap for you, I feel like a proud father.”
Recalling his words was enough to make him whine, once again embarrassing himself with noises he wasn’t even aware he was capable of. He didn’t have much of a concept as to what a ‘father’ was, but the sentiment was enough to make him unable to look at Kinger for the rest of that day. Ever since then, he’d been struggling with this heat deep within his model. Did that mean this was all Kinger’s fault? Had he brought this on in the first place?
Caine always did have a fondness for him, but nothing he’d ever deemed as inappropriate—not like this. Was this what sex did to humans? Render them hot, sticky, wet, and incapable of doing anything but rutting against everything in sight? All because of some simple, throwaway praise?
Rising from where he was sinking into the pile, Caine switched positions, placing the pillow beneath him and straddling it, much like he had with the arm of his chair. The difference in pressure was immediate, and he began grinding his hips almost uncontrollably, soft pants and whimpers filling the small space he occupied. He imagined Kinger gripping his waist, his hands big enough they’d probably overlap around his impossibly tiny anatomy.
It didn’t take long for him to lose himself in the fantasy—Kinger holding onto him from underneath while he allowed Caine to relieve himself in this way. It felt way better than any of the other times he had tried, and he couldn’t help but think being in Kinger’s space had something to do with it. That, and the memory of the other day still running through his pleasure-fogged head. Suddenly, the ‘Kinger’ he had under him started to take a darker edge—his hands gripping tighter and he brows furrowing, almost like he was upset with him.
If he asked, would Kinger be a bit rough with him?
“Woah.” Caine was ripped from his fantasies at the sound of Jax, who was crouching down and peering into Kinger’s fort through the door he’d negligently left open. He couldn’t get into a less compromising position quick enough, practically burying himself in the pile of pillows once he did.
“JAX—WH-WHAT—I WASN’T—“
“Chill out, it’s totally normal.” Jax looked around the inside of the fort before returning his all too amused gaze to the flustered AI.
“You and Kinger? Yeah, that makes sense I guess.”
“PLEASE DON’T TELL HIM.” Caine was shouting loud enough to shake the fort, threatening it’s structural integrity. “O-or ANYONE. I-I’ll…” Caine searched for an appropriate piece of leverage, coming up short, Jax laughing and waving his hands at his pathetic display.
“No, no, I won’t, dentures.” Caine didn’t have time to bask in the relief of that statement before Jax continued, a cheshire grin plastered across his face. “For a price.” Caine looked down at the pile he buried himself in, shame taking over every pleasant thought that had been swirling around his clouded head.
“Fine! Whatever you want!” He regretted his words as soon as he said them, Jax’s already sinister grin growing even more unsettling.
“Weeell, you know the suggestion box you never check?”
It’d been twenty four human hours since then. Caine had barely greeted the group when they returned from their adventure: finding the great lost city of atlantis and killing their corrupt mer-queen. Some of the mermaids were also vampires, because recently he’d learned of Zooble’s hidden guilty pleasure of a series of books involving them. He thought it’d make them happy, and he was excited to hear what they thought.
That was, until, Jax ruined absolutely everything, and now all he wanted to do was go hide away in him office and never return. He’d greeted them with a half hearted “welcome back” before quickly absconding, unable to look any of them in the eyes. Especially Kinger. He never wanted to face any of them again.
Maybe Bubble could take his place. Almost like just the thought of him had summoned him, his soapy sidekick appeared. He groaned at his sudden, unwelcome presence.
“What’s got your panties all in a twist, boss?” He chittered, bouncing in the air around him almost like a bird.
“Don’t—what does that even mean, Bubble? What is wrong with you?” He grabbed him and placed him in front of him on his desk, the constant fluttering way too irritating.
“What’s wrong with you, you pent up little horn-dog?” Caine felt simulated blood rush to his face, steam blowing out of the sides of his head. Without another thought, he reached out to pop him, but Bubble dodged, floating back into the air, much to Caine’s dismay.
“Would you stop it!? You can’t talk to me like that!” He clamped his jaw closed, shoving his hands against the sides of his head like he was plugging his ears.
“Can Kiiinger talk to you like that?” He spun in the air as he spoke, knowing how badly he was getting under the ringmaster’s skin and loving every minute of it. Mid spin, Caine jumped onto his desk and jabbed his pointer finger right into the annoying creature, catching him off guard and successfully popping him. He stood there a moment, his arm still in the air, before slamming it down to his side.
“How does he know?” He threw himself back into his big, leather chair with a punched groan. This had been the longest since the update he hadn’t been bothered by that unbearable heat in his belly, but he almost preferred that to the dread he was currently experiencing. It started when he was forced to agree to allow Jax to take over adventures twice a week, and it only grew as he went through each horrible request that the godforsaken rabbit had penned. Poaching, medical malpractice, cannibalism—all things that had been heavily vetoed by his cast before. Now they’d be forced to endure them two out of every seven adventures, and he wasn’t even allowed to tell them they were Jax’s ideas. His stomach hurt just thinking about it.
How had he been so careless? How could he let one of those humans—Jax, nonetheless—catch him doing something so indecent? Caine grabbed at his top jaw, closing his teeth tight together, like he was trying to will himself out of existence. He stayed like that all night, wondering exactly what it was that drove humans to abstract, and if he was damned to be exempt from such a release.