Hungry

Lance stood in the middle of the entrance hall, staring down at the permanently stained floors. The clock in the kitchen informed him that it was one am and he’d been standing there in silence for the past half hour. A sigh left his mouth as he raised his eyes from the floor to the ceiling. He slowly walked over to the stairs and took a seat on the bottom step. Silence filled the hall again.



“ This has been the worse fuckin’ day of my life,” he muttered, the first thing he’d said for several long hours. His hands covered his face, “ Did I do the right thing? I hope I did the right thing...”



Lance tilted his head backwards, so he could look up at the dark upstairs of the Boarding House. The scenes from earlier that day began to replay in his mind, though he’d hoped they wouldn’t. Yet they came, like a movie he just couldn’t escape. The images washed over his eyes.



Pietro had passed out and his head had made solid contact with the steps. Fred had almost lost his lunch before disappearing to go throw up in the bathroom. He would’ve hurried downstairs and beaten Todd had it been anyone other then Todd. Lance knew Fred couldn’t handle that his surrogate little brother had eaten a little, innocent boy. He needed a moment to himself before he could come back and restrain the monster that was Todd.



Lance, on the other hand, had collapsed onto the stairs, unable to move or look away. He’d just stared in utter horror as the youngest of their team finished off the boy and began to lick his bloody fingers. Lance had watched Todd eat part of someone, someone he’d actually known briefly. That alone had put him into a shock so strong, he felt detached from the rest of the world. Everything turned to a void and his being was numbed over in a sickened disbelief that resolved itself into nothing. He felt nothing. He could only stare at the fading world that had been his reality. He felt like nothing could ever reach him again, that somewhere inside, his soul had died. That feeling scared him more then what he’d seen and he felt even more detached. The only thing in that time frame, however long that it was, that brought him back to the present, in fact, was Todd curling up, moaning and shaking.



He’d actually gone down those steps, into that bloody mess, to his teammate. Todd was nearly screaming in agony, his eyes slowly melting back to their usual golden color. As soon as they turned back, the screaming stopped. Lance had demanded to know what the hell was going on, what had happened, and why, just why, he’d done such an inexcusable thing. Upon seeing the remains and mess he’d made, Todd started to sob hysterically into Lance’s chest, shaking violently, uncontrollably. He knew what he’d done but he didn’t know why he’d done it. He cried out that he was sorry, so very sorry, and to not kill him, please, not to kill him. Lance had held him, empty and numb to everything, and listened to the cries with complete indifference.



When Fred came back, he stared at the scene, before coming down the stairs and sitting on the step next to Pietro’s lifeless body. In a few moments, Pietro came to and got up, rubbing his head. His blue eyes took in the scene with horror written clearly on his face, then he was gone and a door slammed shut upstairs. The blond was gone for a while, then he was sitting next to Fred, a bandage wrapped around his head.



All four remained like that for an unidentified amount of time. Then Pietro began to clean the floors, as though compelled to do it because the paperboy had been there to see him. Fred rose to his feet shortly after that and started to wash the walls with him. Lance had cradled Todd in his arms as the others cleaned, then took the younger boy up to his bedroom.



Inside, he’d sat down with Todd. They didn’t say anything. Lance felt dead and wondered vaguely if that was how the boy had felt before he’d died. Todd curled up, his legs pushed up against his large belly. His golden eyes stared at the wall, desperately trying not to tear up again. Lance had pulled the sheets over him and left to go help the other two clean up their entrance hall. The three exchanged looks, but silently agreed not to say anything about this deed their teammate had viciously committed.



Now, Lance was sitting on the same steps Fred and Pietro had been sitting on. Todd was asleep upstairs, Pietro was out disposing of the bloody newspapers in another state, and Fred was out at the post office, complaining about never getting their paper that morning. At least, that’s where everyone had been hours ago. Neither Pietro or Fred had come home. They’d called to say they were out at so-and-so’s house and that they might come home, eventually. Lance had agreed with their decisions and hung up, locked up the entire house, and then just stood in the middle of the hallway, looking at the remaining blood stains. Something told him to run as far away from that place as he could and never look back, but he hadn’t listened to that voice. He’d listened to the one that claimed that Todd would need someone when he woke up in the morning and he wanted to be there for the boy he basically took care of. So, he’d stayed.



Sighing, he heaved himself off the steps and carefully walked up the stairs. All was still in the house, no pulsations telling him that the younger boy was up. He debated going inside the other’s room. Instead, he swallowed hard and just went on to his bedroom and went inside. He locked the door, pushed his dressed in front of it, and finally laid down, grabbing at a bat that was laying amongst the garbage on his floor.



“ Hope he sleeps through the night,” he breathed out to himself, praying that he wouldn’t have to hurt his friend. More then that, he just prayed the dresser would keep that door shut and that animal away from him if it got hungry.





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Morning came and daylight spilled over Todd’s sheets. His eyes snapped open, his head pounding. Moaning, he sat up, the sheets falling off him and tumbling to the floor. He stretched, yawned, and hopped off his mattress. His stomach hurt, but he found it to be almost perfectly flat. Fingering it, a sly smile formed on his lips as his animal side realized that this flat belly of his would hide any evil deeds he managed to cook up.



The very thought of that made his blood run cold, then heat up until he felt like he was drowning in that amazing liquid he could still taste on his tongue. He hugged himself, his eyes rolling back into his skull at the very thought of the passion that came with just a few drops of that blood. Warmth wrapped around, consumed him in it, rolled him around until his head was foggy and his body felt like it was floating in midair on a cloud somewhere else. He almost convulsed just at the thought, the heat turning his heart cold somehow, turning something on in his brain. There was a clicking and then he gasped out, hands going to his hair and pulling.



Pain roared to life, starting at his stomach and rocketing down to his toes and up to his fingertips. A scream tore out of his mouth, his own cold blood dripping out of his open mouth and onto the floor. He coughed and choked, hands grasping his throat. He gagged and more thick blood trickled slowly onto the floor like sludge. His stomach felt like it had collapsed and sharp cuts ran up his waist, something cutting him up from the inside out. Another scream escaped, this time strangled as his body convulsed and he fell to the ground, eyes changing colors and making him want to rip his eyeballs out.



“ Todd?!” came a voice off in the distance, something opening near his head. He gagged and blood rushed out of him and onto the floor. It was bright cherry red this time, fresh blood. Flecks of bone were in the blood, obviously what had caused the pain in his stomach. Footsteps tried to come near, but they just kept getting farther and farther away, even though he could feel a hand touch his shoulder a moment later.



The next thing he knew, he was kissing the most wonderfully tasting person in all the world. There was the hint of peppermint, an underlying of salvia, but mostly just the clean taste of icy cold water. Such a pure taste. Todd’s hands reached up and pulled the person into a deep kiss, wanting to find out if this person was entirely pure or not. They struggled, hands slamming into his stomach, but he continued to lick the inside of their mouth. The ground shifted, but it was weak. The air was leaving the person as Todd covered their face with one hand and took in a deep breath to suck away their life.



Todd opened his mouth and his jaw clicked out of place as though it was used to this. His tongue ran along the pale face, down to the chin and raised it up. Two brown eyes stared with wide, disconnected, and confused disbelief before the head was shoved into Todd’s mouth. He tasted the salt of sweat, the flesh’s innocence, and the pounding glory of blood. But blood wasn’t his goal as his throat opened and slime and spit dripped out of his mouth as he pushed the body into his mouth. Purity was and he would find it. He wanted to taste that all the way down and he’d found the body that possessed it. So he eased the shoulders into his mouth, the slime making it slick and easy to move down.



Suddenly, the body tensed and struggled, the legs kicking and digging the boots into the floor. Todd gripped the spinal cord tight and everything relaxed, fearing that fatal snap. Using his slime on instinct, Todd pulled more of the body into his throat, feeling the head push into his stomach. It was up to it’s waist now and starting to curl, causing Todd’s belly to curve outward. He ignored the slight pain that came from his stomach stretching like that and slid more of the tender body into his mouth.



Everything tasted pure, untouched by the hands of another. He could taste this boy’s life on his skin and fell in love with it. Heat washed over his skin as he shoved the feet in and they slipped down inside of him. His jaw snapped back into place, his body shaking from absolute pleasure as he laid down completely on the floor. His stomach hurt, the skin was tight, but inside, he could feel the boy moving around, trying to figure out what was going on. He took in slow deep breaths, his animal side dictating how he should treat the person he treasured inside of him.



Todd rubbed the sides of his swollen stomach, lovingly and gently. This all felt so new to him, yet so very old too. Odd as it was, he felt like he was mating with the person inside him. Mating, after all, was nothing more then becoming one with your partner. He’d just become one with someone. Someone who tasted like clean water and thick blood rushing around and quaking against his skin in fear and curiosity at the same time. The joy Todd felt from that someone made him quiver and his eyes roll back in his head, a smile crossing his face. The person moved and the rocking movement made him grow hot all over, his hands tightening over the bulge of his belly.



Inside him, however, the person moved violently. Todd had to admit, it was starting to hurt. Rather uncomfortable to have someone pushing on the inner walls of his stomach, especially after having stretched it so far. He frowned to himself, putting a hand on his lower abdomen and giving it a hard push. The boy was pushed up and his body naturally began to expel him, forcing him back up to his mouth, which dislocated and let him slide out with little effort due to the excessive slime created to lessen the agony of such a feat.



Lance stared at him as his jaw fixed itself and he climbed off the floor. The older boy was covered in slime and spit but didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he just shook and inched away, looking every which way. Todd crawled over to him and pinned him to the floor, straddling him.



“ P-please... don’t k-kill me,” he begged, the voice of his voice as innocent and pure as his taste. Todd smiled, licking his cheek playfully. Lance froze, swallowing hard and staring at him.



Two livid black purple eyes stared back at him, the younger mutant leaning in close. Lance could smell blood and that caused his insides to turn to lead. Todd’s eyes had been the same blackish purple when he’d eaten that paperboy. He was at that newly discovered monster side of his. He was going to kill him just like the paperboy. All at once, at that very thought, Lance felt his body start to go numb and let go of the world around it. Before he could, however, Todd kissed him on the lips. Chaste and gentle and passionate, like Lance kissed Kitty when he saw her nowadays.



“ Mate,” was all Todd said, his eyes shining with true happiness as he licked Lance’s other cheek. The older boy shook and stared as the younger cuddled with his stiff, lifeless body, laying tiny kisses all over his stomach and arms and legs.



All Lance could do was sit, unmoving, as Todd climbed into his lap and wrapped his slender body around his. He was afraid that any sudden movements would cause the mutant to become enraged and eat him like the creature with the black purple eyes had done to that poor boy. As he allowed the younger to cradle him, he found, the eyes slipped back into gold. Soon, the normal Todd was curled up in his arms, legs wrapped around his waist and hands gripping Lance’s shirt. His now gold eyes stared off at the wall of his bedroom, but he didn’t move. The earth tumbler tried to shift his weight but the other held fast.



“ Ya can’t leave,” Todd suddenly whispered, his voice breaking the silence. Lance stopped in mid struggle, “ We’re one now. Ya can’t leave me. I can only mate once,” he said, closing his eyes and resting his head tenderly against the sticky shirt of his mate.



“ B-But, we didn’t even mate!”



Todd squeezed him tighter, causing the scent of clean water and fresh blood to wash over him. His eyes tinted purple and Lance stopped struggling. He closed his brown eyes, feeling a headache coming on, as he placed a hand on Todd’s head. He knew, deep down inside, that he had ‘mated’ with the purple eyed version of Todd. If that side liked to eat people, whatever it had done to him had been like sex to it. He had mated with Todd Tolansky and something told him he’d be ripped apart if he tried to leave.



Yet, he didn’t exactly want to leave. The warm, wet feeling he’d been surrounded by inside Todd’s belly had been one of the most pleasurable experiences of his life. He’d been suspended in fluid, like jumping into a very tiny pool of blood and staying there for a moment. He’d been able to breathe the air coming down from the mouth of his captor and that had made everything seem so very gentle and comforting. Like being back in the womb, that sort of comforting, forever lovingly, protective feeling. With all the horror he’d seen in the past twenty four hours, he could use some rest in a warm, protected place.



Swallowing again, Lance looked down at the monster hugging him and breathing in his scent and he weakly smiled. Two purplish golden eyes looked back up at him, fainting glowing with hunger.