Our Alone Time is Stolen

Why had Arlo been worried? He should have been more worried about all the 'things' Sho was currently doing to him this week. It was like the tidal wave claim marker was making him all the more driven to claim Arlo next time.

He was currently lying in bed feeling very sore from both last night and this morning. The door to their current inn opened and Sho returned carrying a bag. Arlo was a little hungry, guess he could eat.

He watched Sho pull out chocolate sauce, caramel sauce, a few arrangements of jam, and some honey. Did he get ice cream or something? For breakfast? He looked around waiting for him to open the little second bag he had. But instead he came over to Arlo.

"I hope the maids here want a job today." He smirked.

Arlo gulped. They were leaving for the city of Firehorse today. Of course Sho would do something.... Arlo glanced at the pile of sugary condiments and realized just what was in store.

"Can we talk about this first? I um, we, well….." he didn't get to finish as Sho pinned him against the bed.

"Shall we start with strawberry or grape?" he asked Arlo looking at him innocently.

Arlo wasn't able to form a proper word instead he said something that sounded like "meep" which made Sho grin even more.

"I think today we can start with some practice for a permanent claim." Sho's eyes seemed to reflect a hint of lust. "Like I told you before a little, a forever claim can only be given once a person has another claim from the same person. That said, practice is still a thing, and even better, a forever claim cannot be removed unless the person agrees to it, it appears on your back." Sho began licking Arlo's back as if to prove a point.

His long tongue moved all over his back making Arlo tremble.

"Didn't we already do enough this morning." He asked quietly "what about breakfast?"

Sho grinned "I could never tire of you. Maybe you are my breakfast. Besides" he slipped a finger into Arlo making him flinch. "You haven't been taken like this in a fun way yet. Let's fix that."

"Shooooo" Arlo moaned as he felt another finger slide into him and begin gently ….. what was a good term for this even? Stretching? Arlo lost the ability to think coherently.

"Shall we start with a light course of licking, second course of little man of chocolate then maybe a third course of jam twins, and a desert of inside with honey?" Sho asked giving Arlo his best innocent look.

Seeing Arlo looking like a deer in headlights Sho's standard smirk grew.

"Just relax beautiful." Sho cooed. "Tomorrow when your claim wears off is when the real fun happens. Today is just a warm up."

Sho reached over and picked up the bottle of chocolate syrup and laughed as Arlo's eyes grew to the size of saucers. He then started rubbing him with it. Arlo didn't fail to notice the jar of jam and honey that were also present.

Sho's mouth slipped around him and he shook all over. He could feel him applying jam to his other parts. Then in the corner of his eye he saw him cover a hand with honey and move toward his rear end's certain spot.

No, no he wasn't quite ready for this….. the finger moved inside of his spreading the honey around. Fingers were small and not quite harmless, but the other…..

Knock, knock

Sho glared at the door. "What!" he growled.

"Um housekeeping" came a timid voice, "Please remember, check outs are at 10 to give time for the cleaners before check in at 2."

Sho glared at the door like it was his worst enemy as the clock beside the table read 9:59. An oversight, Sho should have just booked the room for another day. Was there still time to? Arlo could imagine the demon's train of thought easily and quickly yelled.

"No problem we'll be out momentarily!" he then leaped up from the bed kissing Sho.

"Come on love" he mumbled, "we can do it later." He felt oddly relieved; he didn't need another reminder of how painful it was to be stabbed from behind. Once would be more than enough. Once for the actual claim and then hopefully not again.

Lovely experience hardly. He doubted it could ever feel 'good' to have that done. He quickly slipped into the shower to clean off while Sho still stared daggers at the door.

...…..

Riding Blacky to Firehorse didn't take long. The human cities all had well paved roads between them where Blacky could run full sprint then quickly downsize if he smelled a human approaching.

The city's houses were an orange like color similar to the soil in this part of the country. Several carved horse statues with flaming manes and tails adorned the corners and gates. This city was full of pride for its name.

Was there an actual firehorse type monster? Arlo kind of wanted to see it if there was. Although maybe it was just another name for a demon steed? They were sort of similar.

Arlo glanced at Sho who was still sulking over the incident from this morning. Probably best to just let him be for now. Arlo would end up paying the price for it later anyway. Hmm how long could he postpone checking into an inn?

He passed a sign and Arlo read "Hotel New Rose now open." Ooh this human city had hotels? What was the difference from an inn? "Sho?" Arlo asked "what's the difference between and inn and a hotel?"

"What were you never in a large city as a child?" Sho asked shocked, "They are bigger and more fancy. They are….." he paused and grinned. Arlo knew that grin….. trouble. "The perfect place to stake a permanent claim." Sho stated and made a beeline for the hotel dragging Arlo behind him.

Arlo felt like he had walked into that one. Shoot. He didn't want to tell Sho he was being a baby and being scared. Gulp, gulp, gulp, Arlo's throat went completely dry.

"Ah" said Arlo aloud coming up with a slight idea to procrastinate. "This is the demon equivalent of marriage right? So we should have a nice evening at a restaurant and stuff."

Sho paused as if considering it. "Where would you like to eat beautiful?" he asked.

"You pick since it was my idea." Said Arlo hoping the demon would take awhile before finding the perfect spot.

It backfired Sho immediately found a place. It was called The Lover's Flame. A cute little diner clearly based toward couples. Several more humans were in it compared to other places, which said that its food quality might be higher with the locals.

The place looked very Valentine's Day. Red drapes, cut out heart decorations, even the food was shaped in hearts. He didn't even have to look at Sho to know the demon was loving this place.

Cute little heart pancakes, heart chocolates, even heart shaped chicken. Arlo could feel himself shivering a little as the night carried on. He wasn't hungry but somehow managed to swallow a few bites of food.

Every time he remembered the claims those two awful memories of the collector and Cyan came up. Cyan had been gentler but he still remembered the pain and hatred of that time spent together. He much preferred Sho and his little nights, did they really have to do that one?

Could he just not? Would Sho be okay with a boyfriend who just did the front stuff? He'd have to get a lot better so he could also do Sho. Gosh why was he so timid with him?

"I don't want to lose him"

"Hmm what was that?" Asked Sho looking at him.

"Huh" Arlo looked up from his food. "Oh sorry just thinking of something." He quickly hid his doubts with a smile.

Sho looked a little concerned and Arlo quickly changed the subject and finished his food with a few more hasty bites.

The lights in the city at night were fun. Several of the horse statues lit up with a glowing fire and other lanterns adorned the paths.

"Beautiful." Whispered Arlo looking around.

"Not as beautiful as you." Sho replied back licking his ear quickly. Arlo leaned over and licked Sho's ear back for revenge with a smile. Couldn't they just stay like this?

"Shall we head back, or do you want to walk around more?" Asked Sho.

Arlo leaned against him a twinge of fear creeping up his spine. "Let's look at the lights just a little longer." He replied. "Number one tourist spot or something right?" he asked with a giggle to hide his voice's tremor.

Way to soon they were headed back to the hotel. Arlo had run out of potential excuses. They registered at the lobby and went up the stairs to a room overlooking part of the city. The lights could be seen from up here as well.

"Beautiful, but still not as beautiful as you." Sho replied joining him next to the window.

Arlo was trembling all over now. Any moment Sho would shove him onto the bed and shove himself inside and it would probably feel like getting run over by a truck. Is this how women felt on their first night with a guy?

Suddenly Arlo felt Sho's hand against his forehead and he flinched.

"Are you okay?" asked Sho "Don't think I haven't noticed you've been pale all day and hardly touched your dinner, you didn't go catch a cold on me did you?" he moved his hands all over Arlo checking him over.

"I'm fine" Arlo whispered back.

"Liar" muttered Sho looking at him directly in the eyes, "what's wrong, come on you have to talk to me about things."

Arlo looked at the ground for a moment before finally muttering "I'm just a little nervous that's all."

Sho blinked at him a few times then wrapped his arms around him. "Don't worry I'll be very gentle, and if you tell me to stop at any point I'll stop okay? We can always do it another day if it's too much." he gently started licking Arlo's neck a few times.

"Okay." Whispered Arlo his whole body still trembling uncontrollably.