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The clang of netherite striking stone echoed in the dark, chilly cavern. The sound was accompanied only by the occasional squeak of a bat, and the slightly strained, mechanical breathing of a lone figure lit by flickering lantern light. Xisuma sighed, slipping his pickaxe into his inventory and brushing some lingering dust and chunks of stone from a massive rib with the back of his glove. He wasn’t quite sure how long he’d been suspended amongst the ribs of the massive skeleton that was to be the centerpiece of that season’s base, but it was long enough that he’d like the project to be at least a bit further along.
He took a moment to peer around the expanse of the dark cavity he’d bored into the mountain. It certainly fit the aesthetic of the bone mage persona he’d crafted this season, and he’d love to be proud of the work he’d done, but when he thought about the work that needed to be done all he could feel was the need to keep going, get closer to his goal, and then maybe move on to something else– he wondered how the shopping district was coming along since he’d last checked on it.
Gloved fingers fumbled at the straps of the climbing harness he’d repurposed for the sake of this part of the project. He hissed out the stuttered suggestion of what might have even been a swear, and thank goodness no other hermit was around to tease him for that, before he managed to lower himself to the level of the next lowest rib of the skeletal structure. Another thing he was thankful for, he supposed, was that no one saw how graceless and jerky the descent was– normally he was much more confident in his movement, but his limbs were starting to grow the slightest bit stiff, for some reason. Maybe after he’d finished clearing the stone away from the side of the ribcage he was working on he could take a little break, work on planning out that new farm he’d wanted to start building–
“Earth to X? Do you need me to come back later?”
Xisuma yelped, the pickaxe he’d been in the process of re-equipping sent flying out of his hand and into the depths of the cavern below. He whined a bit as he watched it fall out of sight, not looking forward to finding it again before it despawned.
“Cleo! I’m sorry, were you trying to get my attention-? I must have been too focused to hear you, hold on…” Xisuma clicked his tongue, fiddling with the straps of his harness again as he began to awkwardly lower himself to Cleo’s level.
They gave him a moment before replying, holding back a snort when in his rush he fell the last few feet to the cold floor below, limbs splaying uncomfortably around him before Cleo tapped his shoulder and helped drag him to his feet.
“It’s fine, ‘Suma, was only here for a minute before you noticed me,” they shrugged, but he had a feeling that there was still a glint of amusement lingering in the look they gave him. “The base is looking good. Very spooky.”
“Ah, thanks–” Xisuma replied with a weary chuckle, still in the process of getting free of his climbing gear. “Going for spooky, for sure. But I’m sure you didn’t just pop by unannounced to check on my building, yeah?”
She gave him another look, this one much harder to parse. After a moment that felt uncomfortably calculating, for whatever reason, she flipped her hair– er, snakes? Season nine had certainly been interesting, thus far– across a shoulder with another noncommittal shrug.
“Why, X, can I not just pop by to pay a visit to my dear friend? How dare you imply I’d only come over if I needed something from you.”
This time his chuckle was much more genuine, and he shook his head good-naturedly as he stashed his climbing gear in his inventory.
“Right, right, sorry Cleo– that would be awfully rude of me. So, you just wanted to hang out, or…?”
“Well, I also wanted something from you, but that’s beside the point.” Cleo replied, and Xisuma had a feeling that she was holding back a laugh as she continued. “I was hoping you could come meet me near my starter base tonight– I noticed some issues with lag that only seem to pop up after the sun’s gone down. You’re not too busy to come take a look, are you?”
Xisuma faltered for a moment before responding. He couldn’t help but to glance again at his in-progress build, thinking of everything he still wanted to finish, and everything he wished he had already started– but he wasn’t going to turn down a friend that came to him for help.
“Oh, I’m sure I could spare some time. Soon as the sun is setting tonight, then?” he hoped that he didn’t sound as tired as he felt.
“Yep!” Cleo answered, turning on their heel and back towards the entrance to the cavern. “See you then, X, appreciate it!”
Xisuma waved, humming his assent as he watched them make their way back out of his base. Once they were out of sight, he retrieved his climbing gear from his inventory and began hooking himself back into the harness. There was still time before that night to get some more work done, and his bones were still buzzing with the need to continue. He could rest later.
Xisuma circled carefully down to the ground, carried gently by his elytra through the chilly evening air. He only stumbled for a second when his feet hit the ground, managing to steady himself before his helmet got acquainted with the grass below. He’d arrived in a clearing just a short walk from Cleo’s ruins, not needing to check the coordinates to find it amongst the other builds around their lively spawn. The sun was just starting to set behind distant mountain peaks, and the night was shaping out to be a quiet one. He hadn’t spotted many hermits on his way over, most of them likely working on their own projects or cooking dinner for themselves or whatever company they’d invited over that night. He cocked his head when he realized he couldn’t see Cleo even as he approached her build, not to mention any of the telltale signs of lag. He was about to open his communicator to scan for any excessive entities, or at least to message Cleo and ask if something had come up when the sound of the hermit in question calling out to him startled him out of his thoughts.
“X! Over here, you derp,” she beckoned as he whirled around in the direction of her voice. “I think I’ve found what’s causing the issue.”
Xisuma squinted behind his mask, still not able to see Cleo as he made his way closer to where he’d heard her shout. The sound was in the opposite direction to the one he’d been heading, away from Cleo’s ruins and deeper into the trees surrounding the area.
“Yeah, it’s just over here if you want to take a look–” Cleo continued, and X almost startled again at how close their voice was. He peered around again through the darkness, thankful for the night-vision that came naturally to him, but still unable to find his friend among the trees. “Just a bit further…”
He felt something twist in his gut at the shift in their tone, and was about to question it when he noticed the telltale shimmer of invisibility particles just out of the corner of his eye. He gasped, taking a step away from whoever had approached him only to feel his feet suddenly swept out from under him. The rest of the air rushed from his lungs as the whole world flipped sickeningly fast, arms flailing uselessly in the open air as his head bobbed up and down above the forest floor. Once he’d gained his bearings enough to do so, Xisuma dragged his chin to his chest to spot the length of rope tied snugly to his left ankle, tracing the path of it up into the tree above him before losing it amongst the thick branches. A snare.
“There we go,” Cleo hummed, and as Xisuma craned his neck in her direction he saw a bucket of milk emerge from thin air and rise to invisible lips. After taking a few swigs, a newly visible Cleo smirked down at him as she stashed the bucket. “I was worried that you were going to miss the trap entirely– good job following directions, X.”
“I told you he would,” a new voice sounded from behind the hanging admin, and he wasn’t able to turn his head enough to see his second captor as he joined Cleo in drinking away the effect of a potion. “Walked right into it, didn’t even hesitate.”
“Jevin,” Xisuma greeted, awkwardly raising a hand in a half-hearted wave. “Wasn’t expecting you here, friend, although I seem to have found myself caught pretty off guard all around. Any reason in particular you decided to string me up like this?”
Jevin chuckled, making his way over to Cleo’s side so they could both look down at their admin.
“Cleo told me you’ve been spending a lot of time hanging around recently, so I figured this would work for you just fine.” Jevin was hard to read on a good day, with his general lack of human features and altogether stoic body language. And yet, as calm as the two of his friends looked as they loomed above him, he had a feeling that they were both simmering with a quiet excitement.
“Right, well,” Xisuma crossed his arms, trying for a stern demeanor as he held the pair’s gazes, “Is there something you wanted from me, or was this just a little prank to prove your poor admin isn’t always the most observant?”
“Well, you’ve just been so cooped up recently, X,” Cleo tutted, Jevin nodding along as they continued. “Haven’t really spent a lot of time with us, so we figured we’d do something about it.”
“Could have just asked, couldn’t you?” Xisuma huffed, not quite sure if he wanted to play along. “But I am a little bit busy at the moment, so I think it’d be for the best if you just let me down–”
“Aw, come on,” Jevin cut him off, “I think you’re going to make a little time for us, since we’ve already gone through all this trouble.”
“Like I said, I’m just a little busy–”
“No, no,” Jevin sighed, “I think you misheard me, man. You’re going to make some time.”
Xisuma bit his tongue, caught off guard once again by the seriousness in his reply. Jevin took his silence as an opportunity to circle around him again, and he couldn’t help the nervous flutter in his chest that bloomed when he was out of sight. Cleo knelt down in front of him, leveling him with a thoughtful gaze as she waited for a reply. Waiting to see if he would back down, perhaps, for any words that would put an end to things and leave him rocketing back to his base to spend the night alone.
He considered it.
But…
“Please, Jev, Cleo, just… Let me down? You’ve made your point, I’ll just–” he gasped, pupils dilating when careful fingers found the release switches at either side of his helmet and popped it off of his head with a hiss of air. Cleo smirked as she watched Jevin put it to the side, lifting one manicured hand to trail knuckles gently over fluttering gills. He twisted a bit in the air, knowing that it wasn’t doing him any favors when it came to getting loose, but the sudden heaviness of the unfiltered air entering his lungs overpowered common sense for a moment.
“There’s that pretty face,” Cleo smiled, calm as anything. “Sometimes I forget just how cute you can be under that thing.”
Xisuma snorted, discomfort momentarily forgotten as he rolled dark eyes away from her soft gaze. He was sure he was a bit of a mess, really, hair too-long and messy, dark circles under his inhuman eyes. And… Gosh, he had bathed recently, right–
“Mm, I can almost hear him thinking too much,” Jevin sighed, and Cleo nodded their agreement. “What do you think we should do about that?”
Cleo cocked their head, thinking for a few precious seconds as Xisuma squirmed helplessly in front of them. He watched with tense anticipation as they rose from their kneeling position, suddenly looming over him– too close for him to see much besides the elegant ripples of their dress and the strong thighs underneath, a lovely expanse of seafoam skin exposed as the fabric swayed with the shifting of their weight. Suddenly, Cleo fisted a hand in his dark hair and dragged his face forward until his nose was pressed against her crotch. He couldn’t help the small whine that left him then, cheeks flushing with a dusting of violet as the duo laughed at his response.
“Well, I suppose I can think of one way he can make himself useful in this position,” she replied, and Xisuma barely caught the sound of Jevin laughing quietly somewhere behind him past the blood rushing in his ears– whether that should be attributed more to his upside-down position or the prospect of his mouth being used in such a humiliating way was up in the air, just as he was. “Isn’t that right, X?”
He worried at his lip, biting down on it to muffle another little whine when Cleo’s hand tightened in his hair. His mouth fell open just slightly when she used the other to push the front of her dress to the side, letting him get a look at the pretty black lacy thong she’d worn underneath. She hummed, pleased when he craned his neck to move closer, hot breaths ghosting across her clit making her shudder. Xisuma tried to swallow, not wanting to drool all over his own face before he even had a chance to get it messy in other ways, and opened his mouth to answer–
“Go on, we don’t have all night.” Two cool hands suddenly took their place on either side of his head, long ears twitching with surprise as Jevin shoved his head forward between Cleo’s legs. His tongue flicked obediently from his mouth, dragging over the delicate lace before lingering hot and heavy against her clit.
“You could stand to be the slightest bit more patient, Jev,” Cleo sighed, and X decided that she sounded much too put together for the situation. He licked another long stripe along the growing dampness around the pretty underwear, eyes fluttering shut as he tried to focus on his task and not the ache in his limbs or the fuzziness that the unfiltered overworld air was settling across his brain. “I think we can take– ah, shit– as much time with him as we need.”
Jevin’s response was lost on him as he redoubled his efforts and focused on lapping eagerly at Cleo’s cunt. The tip of his tongue circled quickly around their hardening clit, and once they were panting above him he did his best to trace their wet folds with long strokes of his tongue. The position was making it a challenge to have much finesse, but Cleo didn’t seem to mind as her arguing with Jevin was once again interrupted by a bit-off curse and a breathy moan. He smiled to himself when Cleo tugged her lacy underwear to the side to give him better access, and he moaned against her soft folds when he was finally able to get his lips around them.
The taste and smell of Cleo all around him became all-encompassing, and he found himself clinging to her thighs with shaking arms as he lapped desperately at her clit, going back to teasing at her folds and straining his neck to flick his tongue against her entrance when she started to shudder from the overstimulation. The haze over his mind was appreciated, helping him to forget the strain of his muscles as he was held aloft by Jevin’s snare, while the man himself pushed his head forward and almost smothered him between Cleo’s thighs while she rocked her hips into his eager tongue.
“A-ah– doing so well for us, X, knew you’d be able to,” Cleo’s praise broke through the fog in his mind, and he hummed dumbly against her cunt. Seeking more he quickened his pace, only to be dragged away by firm hands after Cleo hissed a warning and presumably gave Jevin a quick slap on the arm if the wet smack that preceded it was any indication.
“Not yet, love,” they panted, and Jevin laughed again at the disappointed whine he responded with.
“Now who’s impatient?” Jevin questioned flatly, and Xisuma blinked in surprise when those cool hands replaced his helmet on his head, clicking it into place and allowing the filters to kick into overdrive as Xisuma took a few desperately needed gulps of air. “Keep your arms up, man, we’re going to put you down.”
Xisuma barely had time to process the warning before the rope securing him to the tree was cut, and he hurried to brace his arms in front of his head as the ground rushed to meet him. Before he could splat awkwardly onto the ground, though, a pair of strong arms looped around his waist and he yelped as Cleo readjusted her grip on him with a punched out grunt.
“Don’t think we’d be doing much else tonight if you snapped his neck, Jev,” she huffed, casually tossing Xisuma over her shoulder as the pair made their way in the direction of her ruins, although their flustered admin couldn’t see much of it in the position he was in.
“He would’ve been fine– drop him here, yeah.”
Xisuma was plopped onto cracked stone with little fanfare, wobbling on his feet for a moment as he got his bearings. Cleo’s hands returned to his waist, and he smiled gratefully behind his mask before Jevin caught him off guard once again, pressing in from behind and popping his helmet from his head. His ears drooped in complaint, earning him a chuckle and a gentle kiss on the cheek from Cleo before they stepped away and allowed Jevin to crowd him towards a moss covered pillar.
He braced his gloved hands against the cool stone, allowing Jevin to find the release switches along his sides and start prying the armor off of his torso. He might not be the most patient being on the server, but Jevin was kind enough at least to be gentle with what he removed as he took apart his admin’s defenses one piece at a time. He startled a bit when Cleo reappeared in his peripheral vision, sinking to their knees to help remove and discard the armor on his legs.
She smirked up at him when she caught his eye, trailing a finger up a sensitive thigh that was then only covered by the skintight bodysuit he donned under his armor. Her soft hand found the semi-hardness of his cock, the vague shape of which was making itself known through his tight clothes. He shuddered at the gentle touch, suddenly all too aware of how long it’d been since he’d made time for this sort of thing. Jevin, on the other hand, took his distraction as the perfect opportunity to tug at the zipper running down his back, eager to dig his fingers into exposed flesh.
Xisuma shivered, those smooth hands feeling cool and wet against his back, and his breath caught in his throat when his mouth latched onto the junction of neck and shoulder. His gills twitched uselessly when Jevin ran his tongue along the dark purple tissue, blue hands dragging his suit off his shoulders and down his arms until it pooled at his waist, exposing broad, freckled shoulders to the night air. His mouth followed in its wake, the imitation of teeth scraping across sensitive skin making his cock jump in his suit. Cleo continued in her ministrations beneath him, rubbing a palm in gentle circles around his growing erection, coaxing him further out of his sheath. She clicked her tongue when his hips stuttered into her touch, pulling her hand away and fixing him with a pointed stare.
“Maybe he needs to be restrained again.”
“I was just thinking the same thing,” Jevin agreed, and Xisuma sucked in a breath of heavy hair when the hands at his side suddenly shifted, fingers curling into his flesh before they merged into a solid, writhing point. The tentacles stretched to wrap around his middle, tightening beneath his ribs before lifting him just a few centimeters from the ground. Jevin pulled his back flush to his chest, letting him feel the evidence of his own excitement as it curled and pressed against the cleft of his ass. Seems like he was feeling a theme that night.
Jevin hummed, grinding the tentacle in his pants teasingly into Xisuma as he assessed their new position. He took a step back before loosening his hold on the taller hermit, letting him fall forward onto his hands and knees before he was upon him again, finally tugging his bodysuit off of his hips and leaving him fully exposed and achingly hard. X wiggled his hips back at his friend, a delirious bubble of amusement rising in his chest as he considered just how exposed at the moment. Jevin scoffed bemusedly at the display and replied with a playful smack across Xisuma’s raised ass.
He gasped, allowing his head to fall forward into his arms when Jevin surged forward, pressing his face into X’s ass and licking a long stripe over his hole. That cool tongue swirling around his ass and pressing in drew out a broken whine, the delicious natural slickness of the coating of wet slime around it eliminating most discomfort from the sudden intrusion. He allowed himself to be licked open with only the occasional pleading whimper as he struggled to keep himself upright long enough to endure it. Jevin must have noticed the shaking in his thighs, because he hummed lowly with his tongue still buried in his ass before pulling away, wrapping his tentacle-y arms around his waist again and tugging him backwards and onto his lap.
Xisuma squirmed in his grasp, inadvertently grinding down against the squirming tentacle that Jevin had freed at some point during the process. He tried to breathe deeply enough to clear the haze over his mind, but without his suit he knew even then that it was a fruitless endeavor. He realized distantly that Jevin was grinding up into him in turn, thick cock writhing intently across his slick entrance. His arms shook as he braced them on the ground, trying to raise his hips high enough to give him easier access, but Jevin just huffed and produced a second set of tentacles to bind his arms. He tightened the grip around his waist with the first, lifting him and holding him in place long enough that the tentacle between his legs could find its mark. A pleased hum reverberated through his chest as he plunged X back down onto his cock, letting him feel the girth of it practically splitting him in two as he sank down almost to the base.
“Now that–” Cleo sighed, and Xisuma’s wide eyes flicked up to meet her calm gaze. “That’s a nice face, X.”
He moaned, his flush spreading down to his chest when he considered how he must have looked from Cleo’s perspective. Jevin mumbled something in agreement that he couldn’t quite catch, and started rolling his hips up into Xisuma’s with enough force that his own cock bounced against his stomach with each measured thrust. He was always so big, usually favoring a more humanoid shape, but the tentacle he’d chosen that night reached so damn deep that X’s vision grew fuzzy at the edges whenever it coiled tightly inside of him. He was so lost to the feeling of the appendage trying to burrow its way into his stomach that he barely noticed Cleo climbing into his lap until Jevin had to his hips long enough for them to settle with their hips hovering over his leaking cock.
“Cl-Cleo–” he gasped, forgetting what he was planning on saying before their name had finished leaving his mouth, but they only shushed him and ground down slowly, letting the pointed tip of his cock drag over their folds.
“Don’t need to talk,” they sighed and wrapped a gentle hand around his shaft, positioning him just so before sinking down onto the leaking head. “Unless you want Jev to plug your mouth, too.”
He groaned at the velvety pressure as she lowered herself fully onto his lap, clenching perfectly around him as she got her bearings. Jevin waited until she was comfortable before he started moving again, rolling his hips more cautiously than he had before but making up for it and then some with the thrashing of the tentacle in X’s guts. Xisuma’s arms strained against his restraints when Cleo began moving in turn, tears leaking from clenched-shut eyes at the brilliant barrage of stimulation. He didn’t even realize he was moaning, loud warbling sounds coming to a halt when Cleo silenced him with her lips at his slack mouth. He kissed back with little grace, tongue lapping wantonly at Cleo’s own when she pressed it between his lips.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to last– but to be fair, he had very little clue how long they’d been going at it to begin with. If he’d had more presence of mind he would’ve started to worry about oxygen poisoning causing some long-lasting damage, but as it was he could do little more than allow himself to be used by his two friends as they each sought their own release. Cleo hissed when Jevin reached between their legs with another thin tentacle and began rubbing intently at their clit. Xisuma watched through blurry eyes as she pulled away from his tingling lips, dragging a hand across his heaving chest before it settled heavy on his throat. His eyes went wide when her grip tightened, carefully restricting the air he was getting even further. His gills tensed and opened falteringly, trying in vain to allow him to breathe properly, and that was all he needed to reach his peak with a cut off warble, back arching and twisting desperately as he finished deep inside of Cleo. Jevin was quick to follow, groaning low and tightening his hold on Xisuma almost painfully as he gushed his release into X’s guts. By the time he’d finished riding the wave of what felt like an almost endless orgasm from Jevin, Cleo was clenching down on his oversensitive cock, grip tightening even more around his throat as they reached their own climax– and Xisuma’s eyes rolled back, vision going black as everything finally slipped away.
X blinked, confused for a moment before sitting up and reaching weary arms over his head, stretching his back with a satisfying pop. Before he could start to wonder how he’d ended up in his bed, his attention was caught by someone clearing their throat conspicuously somewhere by his side.
“Oh!” he exclaimed, turning to face Cleo and Jevin, both of whom were deigning to not meet his gaze. “Cleo, Jev– um, did you two carry me all the way home, or–?”
They winced, Jevin making an awkward popping noise with his mouth and Cleo rubbing wearily at her temple.
“Yeah, not exactly,” Jevin replied. “Just thought that we’d follow up with you here, since, y’know…”
Xisuma blinked, Jevin not usually being the one to mince words. So, if they didn’t carry him here, that meant…
“Oh,” Xisuma crossed his arms, “You guys! Did you kill me?”
“If it helps,” Cleo said, almost pouting as she continued, “That wasn’t part of the plan.”
“That’s all well and good, but still–”
“Does it also help if we say we’re sorry?” Jevin interrupted, pausing for a second before amending. “Well, to be fair, I think it was mostly Cleo’s fault in the end– ow.”
“What really matters is whether or not you’re alright, X,” Cleo sighed, wiping some slime off of her elbow where she had shoved it into Jevin’s side. He was half tempted to keep playing up the disappointed admin bit, but the guilt in her eyes looked a bit too real and he was quick to deflate.
“Yeah, I’m just fine. Really, I’m feeling better than I have in a while? A little sleepy though, I guess.”
Cleo sighed in relief, and Jevin’s posture relaxed as he slipped his hands into his pockets with a casual nod.
“That’s good, man,” he said, “So, do you want us out of your hair so you can sleep? It’s pretty late.”
X hummed, cocking his head thoughtfully at the pair.
“I don’t mind if you stay. I have a shower you can use while I change out of my suit, if you want to spend the night?”
Both were quick to agree, and Xisuma had a feeling that they were still more worried than they’d let on about accidentally asphyxiating their friend. By the time he’d finished stripping and settled into a soft set of pajamas and his much less bulky setup of a nasal cannula attached to a canister of end air at his bedside, Cleo and Jevin had returned and settled into beds they’d found in his storage and pushed together for the sake of cuddling.
“So…” Xisuma hummed as soon as everyone was comfortable. “What exactly brought on tonight, in the first place?”
Jevin snorted, and Cleo sighed dramatically, rolling their eyes at their admin.
“We know you’ve been burning yourself out, X,” she explained, cutting him off before he could protest. “So we wanted to distract you, turn off your brain for a while. Who knows when you last even slept before tonight.”
“...Well,” Xisuma replied, deciding not to deny it outright. “What made you think I needed some kinda intervention, huh?”
“You missed today’s HHH meeting.” Jevin piped up, and Xisuma just blinked at him dumbly. “Didn’t even respond to any of our messages asking if you were okay.”
“Oh, shoot,” Xisuma sat up, scrambling to pull out his communicator and grimacing as he scrolled through the messages. “That was today? I thought that it wasn’t until… Tomorrow…”
He paused, noting the date at the top of his device. Oops. Tomorrow sure seemed like it’d come faster than he expected. Maybe he really was in need of a break.
“No use worrying about it now,” Cleo waved her hand at him, encouraging him to put away his communicator and lie back down. “You can apologize tomorrow, not that anyone will hold it against you.”
“Yeah, you’ll have a much harder time explaining the death message that popped up earlier tonight, anyway.” Jevin added, and Xisuma’s heart sank.
“Oh, I take it back. You two are the worst and should leave right now.”
“Whatever you say,” Cleo leaned over and kissed his cheek, and Xisuma huffed when he felt Jevin shuddering with quiet laughter against his back. “Now get some sleep, X, you look like shit.”
“The worst.”
“Love you too.”
“Night!”