Will first saw the Catprince on a lonely day in the fall.
The colony where he lived was on the frontier of the human empire, on a planet so dark and remote that its name had been forgotten, and it was visited more frequently by the neighbouring Feelyne aliens than by any other human being.
The alien princes often descended in the space elevator from the the station in orbit. Some aliens even lived on the colony. As such, when the Catprince walked into the store, Will didn't blink twice.
The Catprince didn't exist for Will at that time. Back then, it was just a stranger.
Will was nostalgic for that time, back when they were just strangers to each other.
The Catprince was a Feelyne alien, and so it seemed humanoid in many ways. However, it also had furry ears, which protruded from a cowboy hat it was wearing, and it had a long white tail, and although its paws were hidden in black leather gloves, the fur betrayed it as soon as it turned its back. A great mane of white fur, like an albino lion, flowed down its neck. White as sin. Smooth as a skull. It was an old kitty - Will could tell by its wintery red eyes, and the delicate gold glasses it wore. It was old, it was tired, and it was lovely.
It entered the thrift store Will was in charge of, and browsed the clothes racks silently.
"I must read thousands of them per cycle," it said, the first time they met. It was buying a pile of second-hand clothes.
"You read clothing?" Will asked.
"Just like you read a data pad. But I can't see very well, so I smell things instead, and read them like that. It's easy. Just inhale..."
Saying that, it leaned forward on the counter and took a deep breath into Will's long red hair. He backed away, angry and uncomfortable. He had not asked to be read. But the princes coming down from the space elevator often said and did strange things, and so out of politeness he laughed and pushed the Catprince away.
"Can I ask your name?" asked the Catprince, extremely politely.
"You can ask," Will said, not wanting to offend.
"What is your name?"
Will didn't answer, and the silence became eerie.
A strange look entered the Catprince's eye. A watery stare, red and sparkling. The pupils were reduced to very fine slits. It straightened up completely (the alien's overall height was easily double that of a human) and it smiled an odd, knowing smile.
Will recognised the smile for what it was when he saw it.
Will had smiled like that before. When he was very small, he had a pet kitten that would affectionately lean her head against his leg, and every time she did, he'd nudge her with his foot. He'd liked seeing her fall over, all pathetic and confused. He'd smiled then as the Catprince did now. A cold smile.
"Well," the Catprince said. "Have a nice day."
And it left the thrift store, leaning under the doorframe.
That night, Will returned to his apartment alone, and remembered the Catprince. Its white fur seemed as soft as the skin of a cloud. Will imagined touching it: running a hand over the back of its mane to watch its eyes close in sleepy satisfaction. He had a pet kitten when he was little, he knew what to do: soothingly smooth the fur; let the cat sit on your lap like a white bun. Let the beast learn to trust your touch once more.
---biologic.neocites.org 07/24/2022---
The first gift the Catprince brought him, it did so very cleverly.
It had visited him often after that first encounter. And Will started anticipating it, because it was so lovely and polite.
In fact, Will had visited a flower show on his day off, and while there, he'd seen the Catprince in the crowd. The great albino lion had been walking through the blooms leisurely, and Will had noticed it from afar. But the prince hadn't noticed him (it'd been blinded by the scent of the flowers) and in the rush of bodies, Will had been able to get so close behind it that he could've scraped the heels of its boots, if he'd desired. He could've reached out and run a hand over the white mane at the nape of its neck, if he'd desired. Instead, however, he'd just followed inches behind, silently, until the crowd had thinned, and then slipped away unseen.
Often, he'd also see the Catprince standing at the space elevator, staring at the orbital station above.
It stood with a cloth pressed deeply against its nose and breathing languidly, gazing at the noble stars. Its glasses were unreadable mirrors. There was a stillness wrapped around it, like a cat ready to pounce.
And shortly after catching sight of it at the elevator, Will would see it walk into the store, to browse the shelves of hanging stories.
Each time, however, there was always another person in the room. Another alien customer, another human worker. And so the prince just smiled - that red flicker - and made a small remark before leaving. Will learned, through these small remarks, that the Catprince viewed clothes as poetry or philosophy. He learned the alien could read a person's whole life story by inhaling the scent of the cloth, and would have extensive discussions about it with the other princes of the station above.
The orbital station housed influential and prestigious personalities. It was a suburb in the stars, and it was where the Catprince lived.
When the human empire had created this colony on the border of Feelyne space, the Feelynes had built an orbital station above it, and had funded the construction of a space elevator as a galactic gesture of goodwill and peace. These days, only those humans and extraterrestrials who had the power or money could take that higher place, away from the life-sapping gravity of the planetoid. The Catprince told Will that it had a garden of alien bulbs up on the orbital station, sourced from its home planet, blue and purple blooms all edible and sweet.
In winter, the Catprince brought him its first gift.
The prince's first gift was a string of mouserabbits. One for everyone in the store, it said, and put the bag of corpses on the counter. A gesture of appreciation. Will was flattered. And the Catprince could tell, because it immediately offered to bring him a pot of flowers next time.
(That's how they both learned that they'd recently attended the same flower show, and must've just missed each other...)
When the Catprince insisted on bringing flowers, Will should've said no. He'd admit it. But it was impossible for him to say no, because of how he felt. He gave into the Catprince's easy attention. He said yes. He didn't know that saying yes would trigger a trend, and open the doors to danger. He didn't know how a 'yes' could be dangerous.
But he knew something. Will wasn't stupid, and he had an idea. How smart of the Catprince to bring presents for everybody, Will had thought then. That way the gifts can be interpreted as general kindness, instead of personal attention. He's either very nice, Will thought, or very smart.
Yes, he'd suspected then. So why did he allow the Catprince to court him? Perhaps because he saw himself there - that smile with the twinkling red eyes, that cold gaze. He knew it. He'd felt it. When he went on dates with his ex-boyfriend at the movies, his ex would snuggle up to him. And Will would watch him with fond hate, while a thought floated vividly behind his eyes. A dark thought. 'I control this thing'.
Will knew himself to be incapable of love. The closest he could come to it was cold, impersonal affection - the exact same cold affection that the Catprince lavished upon him so freely. They were the same, Will and the Catprince. Both of them lacked compassion. But well, so what? Will liked the Catprince. He saw it for what it was, and he liked it.
But he also thought the danger couldn't reach him.
Idiot.
The mouserabbit was delicious though. Will took it back to his apartment and butchered it in the bathtub. It was a gruesome scene, but again, he had no pets or roommates to bother - he lived entirely alone. Then he blanched and rubbed the blood from the white ceramic, and roasted the mouserabbit on a bed of sweet potatoes and carrots. He found no poison, no traps inside. The memory of the meal was bitter, but there was nothing wrong with the meat. The trap wasn't in the gift. It was in the gesture.
---biologic.neocites.org 07/25/2022---
For the second gift, they weren't alone.
When the Catprince brought its second courting gift, there was someone else watching. Another Feelyne customer, browsing cardigans nearby.
She came to the thrift store very often, and Will recognised her. She was a tabby woman with alert green eyes, a large, comfortable build, and conversely small legs. She was Will's height, but for a Feelyne alien she was very small. And the feeling of her watching him wrapped a hand around Will's heart. 'Be careful,' seemed to say the green eyes of the alien woman. 'Be careful.'
But the white Catprince picked up the blue flowers in their little clay pot, and he set them so gently in front of Will. And he waited for Will's thanks, which came awkwardly and timidly, now that he felt an eye on his back. What was he doing? Being seen forced him to reevaluate his own behaviour. He saw himself. What was he doing?
But the Catprince smiled that ruby-eyed smile.
Idiot. Didn't it feel the gaze of the stranger? Didn't it feel seen, didn't it curb its behaviour? Stupid fool, to wait for appreciation. As if Will could give any, under observance.
"I found out your name from one of your colleagues," it told him with a smug smile. It didn't seem charming anymore, even though it still acted so politely. Nothing had changed in the alien. Something had changed inside Will.
"William. It's a name from Earth, isn't it?"
"Yes, yes, but I'm not from... I was born here, on this planet."
"Hello, William," said the Catprince, in English. "How are you?"
"Don't talk to me in that language," Will snapped.
"I asked how you-"
"I know," he said. "But don't speak to me in English. Just Galactic will do, thanks. Galactic Common is easier."
"Galactic," said the Catprince, with its possessive and charming smile. And it nodded, as if it was sorting something out. In Galactic it said, "Here, William - your flowers."
It slightly turned the clay pot, adjusting the flowers to better present them aesthetically. The alien variety had edible blue bulbs blooming in a brilliant spray. The flowers unfurled into elegant edible velvety petals. The Catprince wore black gloves to protect its claws, and with a leather-gloved hand it picked up one of the flowers and lifted it gently to Will's mouth. He pushed it away.
"Try it. It tastes like sugar," the Catprince promised.
"Nope!" Will said, quickly, and pushed him away. He was still aware of the eyes on them, the tabby customer peering subtly from behind one of the racks of hanging clothes, her furry ears pricked. "No, I'm fine-"
"Try it," the prince insisted.
It held the blue flower to Will's mouth and pressed it insistently. Not wanting to be rude and refuse, he had no choice but to open his mouth, and the Catprince delicately placed the flower between his teeth like a communion host. As it withdrew, the gloved leather of its thumb accidentally brushed the flat of Will's tongue, and he recoiled, his head throbbing with an unhealthy heat.
He chewed and swallowed. It tasted sour, but not in a bad way.
"How is it?"
"Yes," Will said, blandly.
"Yes?" the Catprince asked, watching him intently over its gold-rimmed glasses.
The tabby woman was at the edge of the aisle, and her head was down, but her body was turned towards them like an ear.
Will again thanked the Catprince for the flowers and left to put the pot in the back of the shop, so that his absence would force the alien to leave.
A little later, the other customer arrived with her purchase.
"Tell him you have a boyfriend," said the catgirl alien, conspiratorial.
"Who?"
"The old man who was here earlier. The spooky one. Tell him you have a boyfriend so he'll leave you alone."
"Oh! That's a good idea."
"He comes in here all the time." Eyebrows raised, she added, "It's fine if you can handle him."
"I can't," Will admitted.
"Okay. I'll keep an eye on you."
That night he had terrible diarrhoea. It was probably just stress, but still, he didn't eat the blue flowers when he brought them back to his apartment. He didn't eat them, and he didn't water them, and the prince's gift shrivelled and died slowly.
Part of him felt bad about killing the blue flowers. But it was a small part. Instead, Will was almost entirely bathed in a glow of satisfaction. Not the cold, hungry type - something fiery. Something just.
Will's pet kitten drowned in the bathtub when he was four years old. He had been the first person to find the body on the bathmat, sprawled and stiff. Rigid limbs. Cold fur. The only strong emotion Will felt at the death of his pet kitten was the desire to bury her properly. He needed to watch them put her in the ground. He'd watched the funeral carefully. The body had been covered in a box, and the box had been put in a hole, and the hole had been covered with earth. Buried. Gone. Invisible. It was a white kitten, Will's pet. White as a ghost.
---biologic.neocites.org 07/25/2022---
The third gift was stolen.
One day, off shift, Will came across the Catprince while shopping. This surprised him badly.
Will was shopping at the local general store when he turned around the corner, and immediately came across the tall silhouette of the Catprince. It spotted him instantly. Its ears flicked in the small holes in its cowboy hat, and it immediately captured him with a warm welcome, forcing him to be rude if he wished to escape.
The alien prince stood in front of the pet section, lazily examining the wall of toys and pet collars.
"So you're not chained to that register, after all." The Catprince put a hand on Will's shoulder to ease the strangeness of this statement, and rubbed it friendly. "How nice! What are you going to buy?"
Will carefully tried to pull his shoulder back, but the prince's grip was just a little too tight to do so without breaking free. "I'm just looking."
"How nice." The Catprince let him struggle for a moment, then lazily let him go. It turned its gaze to the wall of pet collars. "Looking is half the fun."
"It is," Will agreed. It was an empty shopping aisle, and there was no one around - he allowed himself a modicum of relaxation. "And you? What are you going to buy?"
The Catprince purred deeply in its throat and put a black glove over its mouth playfully, tapping two fingers against its lips. "Funny you ask, William. Actually, maybe you could help me decide."
"Decide what?"
"I've been thinking about getting a pet," said the Catprince.
"Oh! What kind?"
"I do not know." The Catprince turned to him, its gaze intense. "What kind do you think I should buy?"
Will got nervous, but at the time he couldn't understand why. "Well, I think dogs are cute."
"They are cute, aren't they." The Catprince agreed, and gently held out its hand for a red collar with a dogbone-shaped name tag. "Something like that, then?"
"I suppose."
"You suppose?" The Catprince quickly turned on him. "Come on, be more enthusiastic than that! Which do you prefer?"
"Which collar?"
The Catprince smiled quickly and its glasses sparkled. Then its gaze returned to the red collar, pouring it between its leather-gloved hands. It held it up with appreciation. "This one must be for a very big dog. I bet it would even suit you, William."
And when it said that, Will understood exactly what the Catprince meant. He understood the innuendo, the implications - but couldn't believe it. His ears were denying the reality of the words he had heard. He couldn't accept that someone could say something like that and mean it. He stammered something awkwardly.
Will was torn.
On one hand, he was desperately drawn to the idea of this exact fetish. He felt an erotic frission just thinking about it. But he couldn't get rid of a sick feeling, chills in the pit of his stomach, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
In his dazed and clumsy state, however, the Catprince took the opportunity to move on. With no counter between them, it instantly closed within kissing distance, far too quickly for William to react. He jerked back, but it pushed forward, and slowly - but without stopping - guided him across the aisle. It pinned him to the wall. The smell of the alien was musky and shocking up close, and Will concentrated on how its chest moved steadily with each breath, as it was looming right in front of him.
It offered the collar slowly, but relentlessly.
"You know, I think it suits you," the Catprince mused.
"I-I-I really don't know-"
"Here, hold still for a moment."
Without waiting for permission, it quickly wrapped the red collar around his neck and closed the small gold latch in front, so that the dogbone tag clinked metallically when Will shook his head. It had happened too quickly to resist or respond, and he didn't realise what had happened until he felt the band of leather tighten around his neck.
"You look beautiful in a collar," the Catprince mused softly, looking him up and down over its glasses. It raised a hand to the side of Will's face, and stroked a strand of his hair affectionately. "See? It matches your hair."
It was possible at this moment that Will was panting, or making small noises.
Either way, the alien Catprince's gaze fixed on him, crusted red eyes suddenly hard as diamonds, and its pupils suddenly narrowed into black slits.
It leaned down and took a deep breath into his long red hair. Will tried to pull away from the proximity, but the Catprince poked a gloved finger through the collar tag to hold him still, and kept his head firmly in place as it continued to smell him, even though Will continued to try to escape. It took several deep breaths just above his temple, inhaling his scent voluptuously, while Will made small, wordless noises of helpless protest, frozen stupid by the impossibility of the situation.
"Aah." It said, and leaned back to stare at him hungrily. "Ahh. Well, what do we think?"
"What the hell? Let me - take it off -"
"But does it fit?
"I - yes, it's okay, take it off-"
"Of course. In a moment.
The Catprince turned back to the wall of pet merchandise and took a matching long red leash from the wall. It moved to attach it to the collar. Will saw the golden hook approach, open and ready to lock onto the metal latch, and he saw that the Catprince was already holding the other end of the leash. Like an owner about to walk a dog.
Will jerked back. Without thinking, purely out of frightened instinct, Will ran out of the aisle and out of the store.
It wasn't until he walked down the street for a bit that his mind came to itself, and he realized he was breathing heavily, panting dizzily. The second thing he realized was that he was still wearing the collar, he hadn't paid for it, and he certainly wasn't looking to take it back.
Moreover, he was holding it firmly against his neck, with both hands.
He wanted it. That was why it was so hard to fight. He couldn't say no, and he couldn't say yes. He wanted to, but it made him sick.
He went home wearing it, hidden by his hair. The colony on this planet was very prudish. It wasn't appropriate for a boy to wear a collar in the street. This kind of game would attract very bad attention, and possibly even violence. So he kept his head down, as the people he passed were looking around for the sound of a dog collar with no dog in sight, and wondering in confusion where the metallic sound was coming from.
At home, he looked in the mirror.
He watched himself wearing the stolen collar for a long, long time.
The longer he stayed there, the angrier he became. He lazily stroked the red leather and toyed with the nameplate, until tears of anger and confusion welled up, until he cried furiously and didn't know why. A deep breath and a sore throat, traces of hot tears on his cheeks. Panting, until he ripped off the collar and threw it in the back of his closet and closed the door, crying uncontrollably with desire.
The next time he passed by the store, the Catprince caught him alone.
It took Will behind a rack to block all eyes, and it opened his bag, and showed the red leash inside that it bought at the dollar store. It watched Will's reaction with a smile.
"Do you want to take a walk with me?" asked the Catprince in English.
"Ah - sorry - I don't know." Will said in halting English, pretending not to understand.
"Up on the space elevator - do you want to come for a walk with me in three days? Walk?"
"Sorry - sorry - English is difficult," Will said, trying to turn away.
But the Catprince asked again, in Galactic this time, so that there was no misinterpretation, and looked at him carefully. And though Will's heart was beating with fear and his head was throbbing with dizzying nervousness, even then - he liked the attention, okay? He liked being at the center of that cold stare he knew so well. He could relate to that cold, impersonal affection.
Will knew what he wanted.
He wanted precisely those things that were not good for him.
"Okay," Will said quietly, after checking that they were alone.
The Catprince smiled. "I'll meet you at the foot of the space elevator. Wear the collar. In three days, then?"
"Of course, okay," Will nodded quickly, and ushered the prince out of the store before anyone could witness the conversation.
---biologic.neocites.org 08/15/2022---
Three days later, Will encountered the Catprince at the space elevator. He was wearing the collar, but had put a scarf over it.
The Catprince greeted him warmly. It put a hand around Will as they headed for the space elevator, stroking the side of his hip and caressing him. It took a long time for the elevator to rise into the atmosphere. Will watched the sky darken outside the glass walls of the compartment, night falling early as they ascended into the stars. The whole time they stood there, the Catprince kept Will against it's side, it's body warm, it's scent irresistible and lush.
When it brought them back to its apartment, it let go of Will to lock the door. The sudden distance was cold.
"Take your clothes off," it casually told Will as it walked in the door and began to take off it's shoes.
"Sorry?"
"You heard me," the Catprince insisted flippantly. When Will remained reluctant, it turned to him with an intense, impassive gaze, and put a hand to the collar of his throat. Will tried to back away, but its grip tightened on the scarf, securing him in place.
"Undress," ordered the Catprince. It's voice was breathless. "In my house, pets are not allowed to wear clothes."
And then it turned away from him disdainfully, leaving him standing in the empty air of the entrance hall. Will undressed slowly, slipping out of his pants and shirt, all the while wondering what exactly he thought he was doing.
He entered the living room hesitantly, and had his hands in front of his crotch. The Catprince, who had been sitting on the sofa waiting, eyed him eagerly as he entered. It was holding the red leather leash. That red flicker was back in full force as it's eye hungrily roamed over his naked skin, and Will squirmed in arousal at the attention. The Catprince stood up and approached with the leash in hand, and slowly, without protest, snapped it securely onto the collar at his throat.
"Ah, ah, ah," it said, in a scolding tone, and it spread Will's wrists to either side so he could no longer shield his crotch from the Catprince's gaze. It gripped them tightly before letting go, as a warning not to put them back. "Here we are. Lovely. You're so mature."
"I'm sorry," Will said. "It's my first time, so..."
"Relax."
The Catprince put a friendly hand on his shoulder. And then it pushed down, down, forcing Will to his knees, then to all fours.
"Good boy. Crawl."
He looked up at it uncertainly as the Catprince pulled the long length of red leather between it's gloved hands, making a whispering sound of leather on leather. It tugged gently on the end, pulling Will's head forward. It backed up to the couch without taking it's eye off Will, and pulled him along on the leash, physically forcing Will to follow on his hands and knees. "Now, because it's your first time, I'm going to take it easy on you. Why don't you sit on my lap, to start with?"
Will awkwardly climbed onto the couch. The Catprince gently took his thighs and spread them apart so that he straddled the alien's knees, and massaged his inner thighs lazily, still looking at Will with that heady intensity.
"Are you going to be a good boy?" asked the Catprince.
Will had to swallow hard before he could answer. He was already hard. "-ngn. Yes."
The prince made a faint noise of curiosity, pretending to think. "What do pets call their owners, William?"
"Ah-"
"Come now." It's eyes were flecked with gold, so close. "Are you going to be my good little boy?"
Something about that made him sick, but he answered nonetheless. "Y-yes, master."
"That's what I like to hear," it purred affectionately, and rubbed his cheek with it's face. It continued to whisper softly to him as it slipped on a plastic medical glove and coated it in lube, and massaged the crease of his asshole with cold fingers. When he struggled, it ordered him still with an authoritative cheerfulness that tolerated no disagreement. It slipped two fingers into Will's hole. He flinched, and with the other hand it pulled him into place, a leather glove gripping his thigh hard enough to bruise him.
"That feels good, doesn't it?" it said.
"No, it's too fast-"
"Wait, this feels good." It moved his fingers inside, searching, and found Will's prostate. It was true, it felt good, but Will flinched anyway, feeling the invading cold spreading inside him, alien and vulnerable.
Everything was going so fast.
The Catprince forcefully shushed him until he calmed, rubbed slow circles against his prostate until he relaxed, and pushed deeper inside. Will gripped the Catprince's shoulders for stability and noticed with some embarrassment that the alien prince was still fully clothed, which made his nakedness all the more revealing.
Will soon fell back upon the Catprince's hand. It was humming in his ear.
"Are we ready for another one, then?"
Without waiting for a response, it slowly pressed a third finger, glistening with cold lube, stretching it even further. Will fell forward trembling with his forehead on the Catprince's chest. But that cruel prince did not allow him any secrecy. With the other hand, it pulled back on Will's leash, throwing his head back and making him sit up.
It laughed. "Don't hide, my pet. I want to see your face with my fingers inside you."
It was so good. Half strangled, Will had no choice but to oblige. He winced with a mixture of excitement and discomfort as the Catprince began to thrust assiduously into him, stretching, rubbing him, always careful not to let it's claws get the better of it. Discomfort fled under the onslaught, until he was sick with throbbing excitement. Will gasped for air. The collar was a hard band around his trachea.
"Now," the Catprince said, meaningfully, and withdrew it's fingers.
"Oh no, no, I'm not ready," Will begged. "Have mercy, I've never - not inside - go easy on me."
"I am," promised the Catprince. It held a small rubber ring in front of him. "Do you know what this is?"
"Yes."
"Good boy." It slicked his cock with lube, pumped it several times, and started working the rubber cockring on the head of his cock. Will squirmed in protest. "Hold on."
"No wait-"
"What did I say?" asked the Catprince with a sudden intensity of anger. "What did I say? What do pets call their owners, William? I've been forgiving so far, but I really must insist that you address me as I asked. Now, if you don't want this, we'll stop. But it seems like you do, William, doesn't it? I can smell it. You want this. You're so hard right now. Such a good pet."
Saying that, it stroked Will's cock up and down. When Will offered no more resistance, shocked by the sound and fury of the Catprince, it began to press the cock ring onto the head of his cock and slowly work it down his length, holding him firmly against the tightness. Finally, it was down to the base. Will was panting and shaking in the prince's grasp. He was completely overwhelmed. He couldn't hear anything, the blood was so strong in his ears.
From afar, the Catprince seemed to say something. "...ready now? Hold on."
It caressed his hips with both hands and pulled him down. Will resisted at first, but couldn't fight off the overwhelming force of the Catprince. It pushed him slowly onto his cock and pressed it lovingly against his hole. Will squirmed, but was restrained. The prince pumped Will's cock just once, just to shock him with surprise, and while Will was gasping and dazed, it forced the head of his cock inside his asshole.
Will cried out. It was so thick. It was too big. The Catprince pulled back a bit, adjusting, then sank deeper. It withdrew some more, then repeated the process. Even slick with lube as it was, it took it hours, years, to only half-press him, at which point Will's moans and protests became too loud for it to ignore.
"Please please please it's too much, it's too much-"
"Manners, William," the Catprince ordered coldly.
He flinched at the warning of that steely tone. "Please - please, master. It's too much, it doesn't fit."
The Catprince leaned against the back of the couch and smiled. Its eyes shone with cold affection. In one hand it held the end of the leash attached to Will's collar, and in the other it held his shaking hip, and rocked him quietly up and down on it's cock. The barbed head of it's alien cock tugged and clung to his flesh every time it pulled out, and Will was terrified that something would rip. It was wrong - and he wanted it to feel wrong - but it was still so, so wrong. It's eyes narrowed in pleasure as it watched him tremble.
"Very well." Said the Catprince, majestic and indulgent. "It's your first time, after all. I'll let you set the pace."
Saying that, it let go of his hip. Almost immediately, Will's thighs gave way under him, and he slid an inch deeper. The Catprince swung his hips up quickly to keep him from retreating. Will hadn't realized it, but the alien had supported him, and left alone to support himself, his thighs already were tensing under the effort.
"You can work yourself onto me," said the Catprince magnanimously, and lay back, and put an arm behind it's head to watch.
Will did it carefully. He had to stop often to catch his breath, but he couldn't hold himself off for long, and soon had to keep moving, panting as he gradually impaled himself on the Catprince's cock. It held the leash just tight enough that he couldn't forget it was there, and it's eyes narrowed into slits as his moans grew louder.
How nice of it, to give him this little freedom.
What thoughtfulness, to allow him to set the tone.
From this small mercy, Will found the strength to settle deeper and deeper, until it was as far inside him as he could go.
He was sitting on the Catprince's lap, panting, when he felt a hand stroke his hair.
"Good boy." said the Catprince, stroking his head. "Good boy."
Will bent towards the contact hungrily, drunk with victory. It stroked him affectionately, as an owner would a pet, and looked at him sweaty and ruffled with cold red eyes.
"Good boy," he said. "Now move up and down on my dick."
Will moaned and shook his head, shaking.
"No? Would you rather I did?"
The Catprince grabbed his hip once more and dragged him completely off his cock. Will wailed. The alien's cock had these little barbs hidden inside the head, and when it pulled out of Will's asshole, the barbs grabbed and snagged the tender flesh inside his hole. It was like little bursts of electricity illuminating him inside, dragging like sandpaper over his sensitive prostate. It hurt, but not as bad as when the Catprince pressed his cock inside without stopping, vicious inch by inch, pressing Will's hips onto his slick length with irresistible alien force.
"No! Please let me-"
"Manners, William."
"Please - please, master."
The Catprince gripped tighter, and acted as if to do it again. "Hmm...?"
Will closed his eyes against the shame. "Please, master, let me - let me fuck myself on your cock."
The Catprince smiled and let go.
"Let's see it."
It watched him move up and down shaking. It didn't move an inch. The cruel prince gave no sign of appreciation or disapproval, but simply stared coldly at the boy degrading himself, rocking up and down on the alien's big cock. His hips slapped wetly against the Catprince's thighs. Every time it looked like he was going to slow down, the Catprince tugged hard on the leash so that he was gasping for breath, the nametag ringing like a bell. And then Will would find some depth of energy, and heave himself up again and again, and fuck himself the length of the prince below.
The sound of his breathing was loud and lonely in the empty living room. The slick sound of him fucking himself on that dick - of this stranger, really, because for all that the prince was charming and polite, he was still practically a stranger - made Will wince in embarrassment. The Catprince's eyes were cold. There was a circular window overlooking the living room, and outside, the dark morning stars watched the scene impassively. The wet little sounds and ragged gasps were faint in the vastness of the space.
Finally, Will stopped dead, tired, panting, and completely exhausted.
The Catprince pulled hard on the leash. But when the boy still didn't move, completely limp with exhaustion, it sighed.
"Well, I really think you could have done better than that."
"I'm sorry, master."
"Really, it's quite disappointing. Don't you want to come?"
At that, Will groaned. The cockring was still tight around the base of his cock. It bounced painfully red and erect between his thighs.
"Well, you did your best," sighed the Catprince. "But if that's all, we can end it there."
"Ngn," Will protested.
"What is that?"
His hips were shaking, but the muscles weren't responding.
"Do you want more?"
The Catprince took the leash with both hands and gently pulled Will's head to its, so that he was shaking from the effort of leaning forward. It breathed softly against his ear and started nipping at his neck. It inhaled deeply from his hair, and purred.
"Do you want more, my pet? Are you still hungry? Does it feel good with me inside of you? Do you want me to take you properly, fuck you hard on my bed until you scream for me? Such a greedy pet, such a good little slut. Do you want more? Do you?"
Will could only moan.
The Catprince's patience broke. It wrapped him in his arms and picked him up, carried him down the hall, to the bedroom, threw him on the bed and pinned him there. It gripped his wrists above his head with one hand, squeezed them tight in warning, and lifted one leg to split him open underneath itself. Will's abused red cock was still hanging in the tight cockring, so he was even still unable to come.
The alien simply leaned over him for a moment then, eyes dancing over his small naked body. Will then saw the Catprince change. A savage gaze swept over its face, and it took deep breaths through sharp gritted teeth, devouring his scent. With one hand it tugged hard on the leash, choking him, and with the other hand it lifted his leg even higher to make the stretch even more painful. It drank in his little sound of pain with a hungry light in his eyes. It stared at him for a moment longer - one breath, two - then fell hard on him.
Somehow, as it did, Will felt his ghost leave his body.
He was floating invisibly somewhere near the ceiling, so he could only focus on the ceiling fan above the Catprince's shoulder. It was the old type, with a light in the middle and white plaster floral designs around the outside. The Catprince groaned as it fucked him, and Will lazily ran his hands around it's neck, stroking the prince's mane with his gaze still fixed on the ceiling. Its white fur was as soft as a cloud.
In fact, his grandmother had this exact type of old-fashioned ceiling fan. Yes, he remembered it when he visited his grandparents' house when he was a child. What a strange coincidence, that he would find a familiar ceiling here.
"Do you like it, my pet?" the Catprince growled in his ear.
He couldn't breathe to answer.
It groped for his cock, and dragged his unwilling ghost back into his body.
The prince released him from the cockring and the wave of relief that washed over Will was too strong to resist. He was panting. He felt unbalanced and inhuman, like an animal lost in the heat, and with a few hard jerks from the Catprince's hand, he was coming loudly, whiteout on the soft covers of the Catprince's bed.
The Catprince hadn't come yet, however, and he continued to kiss him hard, even as he moaned and sobbed uncontrollably, overwhelmed. It was just plain painful now, but the Catprince continued. And having exhausted himself earlier, Will was too exhausted to fight back. The prince seemed to like this immensely. It dragged Will's leg over his head, turned its face and licked the back of his knee with a warm, sanding tongue, and fucked his hole relentlessly for what felt like hours. Will felt something tear inside and screamed aloud. The undertones of genuine panic and distress in his voice made the Catprince inhale sharply with excitement. It's body shook. And it bent over Will and thrust once, twice, and came hard inside him, squirting hot, sticky cum inside his hole.
Afterwards, Will pulled away and curled up on the other side of the bed.
"I'm sorry," said the Catprince. He put a hand on his ass and rubbed it apologetically. "You've done so well. Such a good boy."
Will couldn't answer anything.
The Catprince let go. It seemed confused. "Are you OK?"
"Nope." Will said hoarsely.
"Do you want to clean up?"
He moved and looked over his shoulder. The Catprince smiled a sweet smile, red and lovely, his eyes shining with cold affection. Even now, Will found it charming.
"Let's go clean you up."
Will allowed the Catprince to draw him a bath and cleanse his body. He sat with his arms around his knees in the hot soapy water and said nothing at all. There was no room for words in his brain. He allowed these things to happen to him in perfect abandon, while the Catprince hummed and stroked his hair in a friendly, soothing manner, running a hand over the top of his head. This calmed him like a dog. Half-asleep and aching, Will allowed himself to trust the prince's touch again.
"Was it too much?" The Catprince mused with shallow concern. "Oh dear. I could smell you all the time, you see. Your body was telling me 'yes, yes, yes' all along, otherwise I would have been softer. But you liked it rough, didn't you? You can't lie to me. Words don't mean anything. I can smell the truth on you even now, rising like steam from your body." It gave him a fond look. "Lie down, my pet."
Will let the Catprince tilt his head back and rinse the shampoo from his hair, still humming. It pushed his head underwater gently.
With his ears under water, the world got choked up. He closed his eyes. And as the water covered his head, he thought only of the little kitten he had had as a child. The kitten had been white and fluffy, and had awkwardly followed him around the house, meowing weakly at him.
When he was four, his pet kitten had been drowned in the bathtub.
Will started crying underwater.
The Catprince noticed this, but said and did nothing, assuming it was a physical stress reaction to what the boy had just experienced.
But Will felt as if his body was turning small and white, as if his limbs were now the cold dead limbs of the kitten. He felt as if his furry little body was curled up and naked at the bottom of a grave. Buried. Gone. Invisible. Only now, covered in water and half-drowned, did Will realize what his pet kitten had felt when it died.
The Catprince helped him dress, and walked him to the elevator.
Standing motionless inside the glass box, Will watched the stars outside disappear as he descended from the dark sky. And as he fell back to earth, he felt still as if his lungs were burning for lack of air.
---biologic.neocites.org 08/16/2022---
When William was four, he smothered his pet kitten in the tub.
He held its head underwater with his hands. He was too young to really know what he was doing, and drunk with power, he had held it under until its struggles stopped being funny and started being pathetic. It was not until it completely stopped moving that he became sick with fear and disgust, and threw the wet little body on the bathmat in terror and ran off to hide.
When he returned, Will found the kitten dead.
It had crawled a bit towards the door, but its lungs were still half full of water, and it was dead soon after. Will never told his parents what he had done. They had assumed that the kitten had fallen into the bathtub, never suspecting the hidden tendency of sadism in their snotty little brat. Will was still haunted by it. He didn't keep pets, didn't advertise for roommates.
He understood his nature and he mastered it. Since then, he was incapable of love.
There had to be something of value there, right? There had to be something valuable in understanding what he had done. What had happened to him. There had to be.
The day after their date, the Catprince walked into the store.
"You don't look happy to see me," the Catprince said in English. It was bringing back a pile of second-hand clothes.
"Mm," Will said, not meeting those watery red eyes.
"Cat got your tongue?"
Will gave that the look it deserved, and the Catprince smiled in mock confusion. "What is it, William? You wanted it, after all. You can't be mad at me, when you never protested while this was happening."
He was speaking in English, but Will was still terrified of anyone hearing and understanding, and he found his excuses to escape. The Catprince prevented him from leaving.
"Calm down, everything is fine." He put his hands on his shoulders, both a gesture of comfort, and also to keep him trapped. "Talk to me. What can we do better next time?"
Will didn't know what to answer. He didn't want there to be a next time. But he didn't want to be rude and refuse.
"I'll let you know," he said, to make the Catprince let him go. "I'll think about it."
"Think about it," the Catprince nodded, and let him go. "I'll think about it too. I have a whole box of tricks that I haven't been able to use on anyone in years. I think you'll really like them. It would be such a disappointment if we couldn't make it work, wouldn't it, William?"
"Yes," he nodded, and went out the back, and hid there for a long time until the Catprince left. Will imagined everything the Catprince had promised. He envisioned all kinds of devices - ropes, pleasure tools, pain tools - things he would otherwise have wanted, the kinds of things he desired, once. Maybe the only thing he could desire. And yet, now, the thought of it was filled with nothing but fear.
The tabby customer later arrived and mentioned that she had seen the Catprince hanging around, and that it had been watching from the space elevator for a long time.
The princes of the space station, thanks to medical marvels and immense wealth, were able to live decades longer than mortals on the planetoid. Therefore, any relationship was always unequal. Will's white monster, his alien prince, was probably a century too old for him - and they both knew it. It was taboo. That was why they had played the game so carefully. That was why Will had been so wary of being seen.
The Catprince was the one who had ruined things, not him.
But he liked the Catprince. He liked its personality, its intellectual infatuation with poetry and philosophy. But if he let it, all that poetry and philosophy would become tainted, just as his desire was tainted. Will wanted what wasn't good for him. He wanted the Catprince very, very badly.
Because the Catprince - it was dangerous.
Not because it had a powerful alien body, twice the size of a human. Not because of it's greater strength or age. But because the Catprince came from the aristocratic houses on the space elevator, and because of the powerful peers it had on the space station with it. He was the king of beasts, and to be king is to be a monster. Being powerful makes you dangerous.
When he got home, Will fell against the front door and curled up, hugging himself desperately.
---biologic.neocites.org 08/16/2022---
From then on, Will would hide in the back of the thrift store whenever he spotted the Catprince waiting at the foot of the space elevator. He would sit in the office and pretend to eat his lunch, and surreptitiously watch the Catprince walk past the store once, then again, then back the other way once more, it's head cocked to see if Will was inside the store. It would do this for an hour before giving up. Will stretched his breaks to make them last.
Once he was about to close the shop, preparing to go home, when the little tabby Feelyne woman walked in.
"Don't leave just yet," she said. "He's waiting outside."
"Who?"
"That man! You can't see him from here, but he's standing on the left in front of the door. Don't leave now, he might follow you home."
"Okay. What should I do?"
"Listen," said the alien tabby woman. "I am a customer. And you can't close the store with a customer inside. And I think I want to shop for another thirty minutes or so. If he's still here after that, I'll walk with you. But don't go now."
Will squeezed her hands in his, overwhelmed with relief. "Thank you," he said. "Thanks."
As it got darker outside, the store's fluorescent lights seemed to get brighter inside. And while they waited, Will gave the alien woman an incomplete explanation - that at first he had assumed the Catprince was just being friendly. And then he had been too polite to refuse, not knowing how to do it. He didn't tell her anything about the date. He didn't want to shock her.
Nonetheless, she shook her head at the situation and expressed her disgust that an old man was taking advantage of him like this.
"That one, he's after something else." Her eyes were dark and cautious - although she knew exactly what the Catprince was looking for, she was hesitant to tell the boy anything too specific due to his inexperience and innocence. She didn't want to shock him.
"He's an old pervert," Will said flatly.
The woman's mouth opened, surprised by his frankness. Then she laughed. "Yes! I can smell it on him," the alien said, tapping her nose. "But you can't, so it's not your fault."
"Can you smell things on... me?"
"Hmm. You're an alien, so it's difficult. I can smell on you... only as much as a discerning human would notice, probably."
"What about him? What would he notice?"
"He's older. He might notice more."
"I didn't mean to lead him on."
"He should know better, not you."
Nevertheless, Will felt guilty.
Honestly, he wanted everything the Catprince seemed to promise. He could imagine it so easily - a dungeon filled with ropes and toys, blue flowers and a cozy apartment on the space station above. He could so easily let anything happen. He almost had.
If that alien tabby woman hadn't come in, if she hadn't interfered...
For a brief moment, he was angry at her for watching them so carefully, for intruding where she didn't belong. If she had minded her own business, it could have been fine! It wasn't like he'd get another chance to be exploited like this. That alien bitch had screwed it up.
The anger barely lasted a second. The next moment, he was sullenly grateful to have her by his side, watching his back.
"Looks like he's gone." said the tabby cat, after surreptitiously checking outside the store. "But I don't trust it, so I'll walk with you anyway."
"You don't have to."
"Ugh!" She shook her head. "No, I do. Next time you meet him, just be polite. Don't give him anything. Did you tell him you have a boyfriend?"
"Yes?"
"Hmm. Maybe you better mention it again."
She then gave him her number, with instructions to call him if he needed to go somewhere safe. And after that, she walked with him almost every afternoon. It wasn't until later that Will would truly appreciate the gesture. This stranger, this alien catgirl, had taken so much time out of her schedule to keep him company, to protect him. She didn't have to interfere. But she had done it anyway, at the cost of great personal inconvenience.
And he didn't even know her name.
Those afternoons when she couldn't come, Will saw the Catprince everywhere.
A stray cat running under a parked car. A flash of something tall and white on the corner of an alley, moving away. His fear had the same sanctity as when he had killed the first gift of the blue flowers. A warm fear, not a cold one.
Yet, somehow, it happened that on one of those lonely afternoons, there was a certain moment when Will suddenly felt his nerves on fire, screaming at him to run. A sense he couldn't name, a savage instinct - a threat he perceived in only a thousand details, each too small to be aware of - filled him with a biological flight-or-fight response, and sent firey adrenaline to his heels. Was it a familiar cowboy hat, half seen behind that hedge? A familiar smell on the wind, perhaps...?
Maybe it was just paranoia. But it made him feel better, running.
---biologic.neocites.org 08/16/2022---
Finally, the Catprince found him.
When Will saw the Catprince again, he was on his way back home, and he saw the Catprince waiting at the door of his building. He stopped walking.
It was hard to find the will to call the tabby woman. She had given him her number for a situation like this, as she had explained to him in detail. But nonetheless, he deliberated anxiously, pacing up and down the street, staring at her nameless number on his phone screen. But in the end, he didn't know what to do.
He went to voicemail.
"Hi, it's that shop boy. You said to call you, yeah? I'm at-" - he gave her his address - "-and that spooky old man is waiting outside my apartment. I don't know how he found where I live. Would you come over for a minute? I don't want to be alone."
But just as he hung up, he saw the Catprince approach.
"What a coincidence," said the Catprince when it arrived. "Do you live here? Picturesque, isn't it?"
"Mm," Will said.
"So clumsy!" the Catprince laughed, as charming as ever. "Was it the collar? It's a shame, you looked so sexy wearing it."
"What?" A stumbling Will answered.
"You looked so sexy-"
"I heard you," Will said dryly. And then, because the tabby woman had so often coached him on what to say, he recited, "Actually, there's something I wanted to let you know. I recently got a boyfriend, and he's just not comfortable with me talking to you like that..."
The Catprince knew he was lying.
"I see," it said, that lovely ruby glint in it's eyes. Will wanted that look. He wanted it to his own destruction, and therefore had no choice but to refuse.
"Yes," Will said, glad to be understood.
"It's all good then." The charming prince gave in easily, without resentment. "Why don't we come in? We can have a cup of tea, and we can just talk. Doesn't that sound good?"
"I'd prefer not..."
"We can still talk, can't we? You act like I tried to murder you, or something."
"I'm sorry." Will sighed. "It's - it's embarrassing after what we did."
"No it's not." The Catprince purred and enveloped him in his personal space. "Talk to me. Tell me all the parts you liked and we'll do them. You want me, I can smell it on you. All the good parts, none of the bad."
"I have a boyfriend," Will recalled desperately. "He's not comfortable with us talking..."
"Sorry, I forgot." The Catprince said insincerely and smiled as if they were in on the same joke. "What's his name?"
As Will hesitated to answer, he heard the crackle of footsteps running behind him.
"There you are!"
The tabby woman came running. She was in her work clothes, and her hair was down, a short mass of curls hanging around her little head. Although she was small, she was broadly built, and emotionally she seemed to radiate a presence much larger than her body. She approached him in a way that made Will turn away from the Catprince and focus on her. With another person there, Will found himself able to think again.
The Catprince took a step back.
"William, who-?"
"I'm his boyfriend!" she said happily, and stepped between them.
The Catprince sniffed at her and blinked in puzzlement. "We've met somewhere. What was your-?"
She interrupted by abruptly turning her back on it. "You're late!"
"Late?"
She rolled her eyes at Will in a catty, exaggerated way.
"Your appointment is tonight, remember? Quick-" - she pointed the way she had come, towards the bus stop - "- you can take the bus if you walk fast."
Her fiery authority overwhelmed his nervousness, to the point where Will honestly believed he had overlooked an imaginary appointment and instinctively responded in the direction she pointed.
He threw an apology over his shoulder as he left. The monster-prince tried to follow, but the tabby cat got in the way again, and in a single second, all the brown fur on her body suddenly stood up as if she had been suddenly electrocuted. It was as if there was a crackling energy all over her fur. Her eyes were thin slits.
"You better go, or you'll be late!" she insisted. "I can handle this one."
Will was gone. It wasn't a run, but it was as close as politeness would allow. As he reached the end of the street, he heard a slap.
He looked back. The Catprince and the tabby were tearing each other apart.
The two Feelyne aliens were fighting in the street. They had lunged at each other, biting and scratching furiously, with an alien force and ferocity that Will could barely keep up with. The albino lion-like prince roared, but she lashed out with a paw and he flinched back. They circled each other, snarling and growling, then attacked again, hitting and hitting and hitting each other. The tabby, despite her small size, was clearly younger and stronger.
The catgirl brought the prince to the ground and kicked it hard. She broke it's nose and broke it's glasses, and her face was twisted into a terrible snarl.
Will didn't stay to look further.
But as Will ran, he felt like he had made a mistake. Will and the Catprince had always understood exactly what the other meant. But even if the prince were to find a willing supplicant - someone eager for his own destruction, eager to be taken advantage of - the relationship was still unequal. The twisted nature of the pact was an immovable aspect of the attraction. If it wasn't twisted, if it wasn't perverted, they would've been uninterested strangers to each other. A part of Will was missed when they were just strangers. Another part of him didn't.
But while it lasted, they had always spoken with clarity. There had to be something of value there, right? There had to be something valuable in understanding what he had done. What had happened to him. There had to be.
She found him sitting at the bus stop.
The tabby woman had won, but she hadn't come out of the fight unscathed. As she approached him, Will saw that one of her ears was scratched and bleeding, and there was blood on her lips but she was smiling broadly. She stood at the bus stop next to him, put a hand on her hip and sighed.
"Are you doing OK?" she asked.
"OK."
"Well, that happened. I didn't expect this when you called me."
"I'm sorry."
"No. I'm glad you did," she said authoritatively. The catgirl surreptitiously looked at him to see he was unharmed, then relaxed and sat down next to him.
He twisted his hands on his knees. The last winter winds blew through the bus stop, carrying with it a crumpled, bloody cowboy hat, which a rat chased.
"You shouldn't have fought him," Will finally said.
"Ugh! No, I had no choice. That's how we Feelynes settle these things."
"Still, he didn't deserve it."
"You didn't smell him," she said darkly. "He's lucky to be alive."
The tabby alien began to lick the back of her hand, smoothing the matted, blood-brown fur. Will fell in love.
It was a love with no expectation of reciprocity and no corresponding social relationship. He didn't specifically want to be near her, nor protect her, nor give any show of affection. They remained strangers, sitting together at the bus stop. He didn't want to kiss her. He just loved her.
The bus arrived and the tabby alien got up to leave.
"My name is Will," he said.
She looked at him, her mouth open in surprise, then she laughed. "We aren't even introduced! My name is Clover."
"Hi, Clover."
"Hi Will."
She got on the bus. And after that, he didn't need to call her anymore.
A week later, he put out his first advertisements for a roommate.
- Fin.
