Little Nymph II
Joey squirmed a little as he woke, grumbling as he got the kinks out of his back from sleeping on the hard ground. Then, he tried to go back to sleep, trying to force out the reality he was trapped in.
The bucket of cold water on him foiled any attempt of keeping his waking life at bay. Shivering a little, he sat up, flinching his legs together and bringing his hands up to his chest as he looked up submissively. "I-I'm sorry. I guess my body isn't used t' this schedule yet—"
The man growled around his cigar. "Git up, ye dirty li'l nymph. Customer wants ye. Go bathe an' git yer ass over to room one-'leven."
Joey hurried to his feet and moved to scamper past him. "Yes, sir." He yipped as the rotund man gave him a slap on the ass, then scurried into the bathroom to pump some cold water into the wooden tub. He wished he weren't a half-nymph, sometimes. At least humans got warm baths and plenty of food; he got scraps and cold baths—maybe an actual meal if he particularly pleased one of the customers.
He hadn't meant to stop in this town as long as he had, but he'd been desperate to earn money so he could continue on, and this place had been the only one willing to hire him. He hadn't realized that he'd be made to be a… a
harlot. He didn't even get to keep the money he made; most of it went to his panderer, leaving him with less money than he'd had to begin with.
He'd escape soon, though, he told himself as he scrubbed his skin with rough lye soap. He'd meet some customer that saw that he didn't want this life, and that person would take him away and hide him from society for the rest of his life—because he hadn't realized that half-nymphs were regarded poorly until he'd started correcting people that he was only
half nymph and then had people immediately turn their backs on him.
He felt so alone. At least in his home town, people showed him a little decency, because they'd watched him grow up with no knowledge of what he was. Now, he didn't even have that, and he realized just how much of a mistake leaving had been.
His heart ached even more when he realized that Seto probably didn't even care. Perhaps he had the occasional passing thought.
'Gee, I wonder what that stupid nymph is doing right now.' Then he'd go about his day, lazing about in the sun or hunting for his next meal. Who cared what the nymph was doing, after all; he'd never really cared for nymphs.
Joey sniffed and rinsed himself clean, then pumped a little more water so he could clean his face, forcing anymore tears back before they had the chance to fall. Customers didn't like having their strumpets coming in and looking like they'd love to be anywhere else but on their laps. He grabbed a rough, scratchy towel to dry himself with, gritting his teeth at the painful throb his pride gave in protest.
The first time he'd tried to leave, he'd been slapped, and he'd learned then that he wouldn't be allowed to leave of his own volition. When he'd tried to run away after that, he'd been dragged back and spanked in front of all of the other 'ladies of the evening,' to make an example of him and show how they'd be punished if they tried the same stunt he had. Then, he'd been tied up and used by two men at the same time to make the punishment stick a little better.
He'd been left broken and used, unable to move for hours until one of the other women had found him and called for help. He'd almost been broken beyond repair; he was still disappointed that he hadn't had a chance to fade away, leaving his body to probably be tossed carelessly aside while his spirit flew free.
He had two more minutes to get up to room one-eleven, work his charms, and sell his body. Once the customer was finished with him, he had to scamper back down to his flesh-peddler and give him the money he'd made.
Of course, then he'd be checked over, just in case he'd taken any of the money and hidden it somewhere. The searches were just as humiliating and violating as the act of earning the money, really, especially when his panderer's lackey got such a kick out of touching him and making him moan indecently because of his sensitivity.
Damn nymph bodies! He didn't want any of the things that happened to him to feel good, but nymphs were sexual creatures by nature, so he had a naturally sensitive body. It made him feel dirtier than the actual act of sex itself, and he was often left crying himself to sleep at night, once again wishing he was completely human so he didn't have to feel all of these things when people touched him-!
Joey stumbled a little as the door was opened immediately after the first time his knuckles met the wood, and he was dragged inside. He squirmed a little as he was pulled up against a hard body, then stilled himself, looking up in confusion. "…N-no foreplay, sir?"
The older man smirked. "No." So saying, he smashed their mouths together and began ripping his robes.
"Ah-! Please, I'll just take them off—" He was punished when his clothes were ruined beyond repair. He bleated as the shredded fabric fluttered to the ground. "Mm—Ah, please—" He was forced down onto the bed with a sharp slap on the ass, making him immediately spread his legs wider and grasp the blankets tightly. "O-oh, one of those straight to business guys—"
"Don't speak. If I wanted to talk to someone during sex, I'd go fuck my wife," the man growled, then spanked him again. "Keep your lips sealed, or I'll have to complain about you to your peddler."
Joey bit his bottom lip and forced back anymore questions, waiting to be used. The last time a customer had complained, his panderer's lackey had been instructed to…
teach him how to pleasure his customers better. His lessons had included being blindfolded and forced to touch the other man, judging only by sound the spots that caused the greatest pleasure; he'd also had to learn to ignore his gag reflex, which had taken quite a lot of tries with both the flesh-peddler and his lackey. Every time he failed and sputtered or vomited, he was either spanked or slapped around, depending on the man's mood, before he had to try again.
The man's lackey had been terribly fond of punishing him by fucking him to the point of passing out, though.
His customer wasn't quite ready to use him yet, though, it seemed, and to get his attention back to the present instead of his past lessons, he began playing with the blond's entrance, rubbing it and pulling at it slowly. "My, you feel used. How often do people ask for you?" He paused for a moment, then smirked. "I know—people want a show, so they pay your peddler extra to tie you up so they can all have a go at you, betting on how many men you'll sate before you pass out or beg for mercy. Perhaps they'll even bet upon how loud you'll scream when they loose the dogs on you, ready to rip and tear you to pieces, when instead they fall prey to your beauty and see the most perfect
bitch they'll ever have…"
Joey whimpered and squirmed a little, but the man gave him another spank, harder than the first two. "Nn!"
"Stay still now, little nymph. I believe I'm
almost ready to fuck you into the sheets…"
The blond squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the first painful intrusion; no one was careful with his body, expecting it to be pliant and easy to heal like a regular nymph's. That was the only reason he'd
ever wished to be a full-blooded nymph. Nymphs didn't have to worry about injuries because they healed so quickly.
He frowned when they weight of the man leaning over him left, and he heard a thump as the weight of a body fell to the ground. He opened his eyes slowly, afraid of what he'd see, then gasped as he saw the man collapsed on the ground, blood and pus oozing from the wound on his neck that was still sizzling from the venom.
He'd only ever seen one other creature with that wound, out of the brunet's courtesy to him, because
Seto had always hunted alone! Oh, gods, what if the naga had come to find him just so he could kill him for running away after they'd had sex without informing him or at least talking about it?
Joey edged around the man's body and bit his bottom lip. His only choice was to run for it while he still could—
"Jussst where the hell do you think you're going?" Quick as a silvery flash, the naga was in front of the door he'd been planning to use as his escape, eyes narrowed. As the blond stumbled backward in surprise, he let out an angry hiss. "You realize that this is exactly what I wanted to sssave you
from? The reason I had sssex with you, ssso you wouldn't have to worry about all the men and women coming on to you? And of courssse all of that time I spent with you has gone to wassste because
YOU SSSTILL DON'T KNOW ME!" he roared furiously, speech slurring into angry hisses at some points.
Joey yelped as he tripped over the body and fell to the ground in his retreat, then anxiously began scooting backward as the brunet advanced on him. "Y-ya said ya didn't like nymphs all the time, and that last time—ya looked at me with disgust, and I just couldn't—" Joey let out sob and covered his face, unable to help feeling again the desolation of the crushing realization. "I couldn't make ya unhappy by stayin' if ya were really that disgusted by me!"
Seto frowned as he watched the blond cry into his hands, suddenly looking much smaller and more pitiful than the Joey he was used to. Circling the half-nymph slowly, he pulled him into his arms and allowed him to cry into his chest. "You didn't need to leave. I wasn't disgusted by
you, I… I was disgusted with myself for being happy that you wanted to remember the sex. People don't usually want to remember sex with a… snake."
"Take me home!" the blond sobbed, hugging him tightly. "I swear I'll never have sex with anyone again! I hate it! I hate havin' sex all the time! It hurts so bad-!" He choked on a sob and coughed, then whimpered pathetically. "…Please take me home, Seto. I promise I'll even leave ya alone, just… don't make me stay here…!"
Seto didn't tell him that he had no intention of leaving him once he'd found him, even if he'd argued that he loved the sex and wanted to stay. He
certainly wasn't going to leave him there now, hearing that he hated it—hated the amounts of sex he was forced to have, hated how he was hurt all the time. He couldn't let his little nymph suffer like that.
Cupping the blond's warm, damp cheek, he frowned. "What do you mean, it hurts? Don't they prepare you?"
"…P-prepare me?" Joey repeated in confusion, looking up at him with still-wet eyes.
"For the love of—YESSS, PREPARE YOU!" The naga hugged him closer and fumed, anger nearly tangible as the blond snuggled into his tight grip. "
I prepared you when
we had sssex—no matter how much you protested! 'Oh, SSSeto—not just the fingers—please, just put it in me! Both at the same time, if you want!'"
The blond blushed brightly, eyes widening at his own supposed shamelessness, then hid his face in the brunet's chest again. "S-shut up!"
Seto narrowed his eyes. "You weren't complaining at the time, especially when you insisted on sssucking me off—"
"Seto!"
"Hmm." The brunet nuzzled the half-nymph's head, unable to help feeling relieved that he finally had him back in his arms despite the residual anger he felt. "We're going to wrap a blanket around you, and then I'm going to take you outside. You're going to stay exactly where I hide you; don't even
think of coming out, even if you hear screams. I have no intention of letting your flesh-peddler get away with humiliating you."
Joey looked up at him and smiled timidly. "O-okay. You're… you're really takin' me home?"
"You couldn't stop me if you tried," Seto assured, then carried him over to the bed so he could wrap him in a blanket. He hesitated, then quietly added, "…I've missed you."
He knew he'd said the right thing when the blond's smile grew into the grin he was used to seeing, and he felt his heart grow warm at the short flash of the Joey he remembered, before the whole 'sex-and-run-away' debacle.
Clearing his throat quietly, he frowned. "…Is there anyone else I should make suffer?"
"…H-his lackey. He really liked touchin' me, fuckin' me." Joey blushed in shame as he heard the naga hiss again. "I'm sorry. He… he just found out I was so sensitive, and… and he liked makin' me squirm." His eyes filled with tears again. "…Just… I don't care who ya hurt as long as ya don't hurt any of the girls. They were… they were nice t' me."
Seto hummed and tucked the blanket around him securely; it was chilly outside, but luckily not damp. He decided a little torture was in order for the two men that had forced his half-nymph into prostitution. Yes, the screaming might in the end terrify the poor little blond, but… he couldn't bring himself to care too much when he so badly wanted to rip the men to pieces.
.-.-.-.-.-.
Joey pulled the blanket closer around him as he heard the familiar glide of scales on grass, then looked up, biting his bottom lip. "Ya didn't hurt any of the girls, didja?"
Seto sighed and bent down to pull the blond into his arms. "No, I didn't hurt any of the girls. …Even if they did decide I was cute and almost didn't let me leave. It was hard to say no at one point, though." He smirked when the younger boy stiffened in his arms. "They were quite excited, you know, when they saw that I had two—"
"SHUT UP!" Joey roared, then huffed and turned his head away.
Seto may have come to get him, and he was very grateful, but it still hurt to know that he'd have sex with any number of human girls that weren't nearly as attractive as he was over having sex with him, just because of his nymph blood. He blamed his mother.
She was a whore, and now the gods were obviously punishing
him for it. He didn't appreciate the irony.
Seto frowned as the blond went silent. Maybe he'd said something wrong, something that reminded him of the horrors he'd been through in the past few weeks he'd been forced to whore when he'd only meant to lightly tease him. Sighing quietly, he thought back over what he'd said, trying to figure out what had made the blond shut him out again. He nearly slapped himself with his tail when he remembered what he'd said about the girls.
It wasn't that he didn't like Joey, or that he wasn't attracted to him. It was that… he'd spent so long believing the worst of nymphs and disliking them that he had a hard time accepting that he did, in fact, like this half-nymph and was honestly attracted to him.
Not that the attraction would do any good
now, he thought bitterly, and he damned himself for being so stupid in his denial. Joey probably wouldn't ever want sex again, since he couldn't remember the long, lazy days of sex during his lust haze and only had these recent experiences to fall back on. The fact that he'd hurt every time he was used would taint his perspective of sex forever, not to mention the sexual abuse from that stupid lackey, who'd had the
gall to gloat about how he'd tormented the blond with his own sensitivity.
He felt especially happy that he'd managed to torture the man for three hours before he finally died from the injections of poison
into his dick. How could those morons not prepare him? Seto would admit that he wasn't exactly excited at the prospect of having sex with him at first, but when he'd begun preparing him and saw how sensitive he was, he'd been content to just continue using his fingers for
hours until Joey had finally cried and begged for more; he'd only complied because the blond had honestly looked ready to shove him away and either pleasure himself or go find someone who would take him immediately.
Seto sighed. He knew he could content himself with just being friends, cuddling the blond and kissing him innocently, but he also knew that eventually, he'd feel his own sexual urges. He wouldn't be able to sate himself with Joey, so he'd have to turn somewhere else—and reaffirm, in Joey's mind, his belief that he didn't think he was attractive.
Joey was truly high-maintenance. However, as he looked down at the blond and found he was smiling a content little smile, he decided he was worth it.
.-.-.-.-.-.
"…It's a little messy," Seto admitted quietly, frowning. "I wasn't… I wasn't expecting to bring you back directly to my den. –I'll clean it, of course—"
"I can't believe…" Joey couldn't help a quiet sob. "…He didn't want me back unless I'd come back with
money!"
The brunet reached out to comfort him, but the half-nymph flinched away. "…I can't help you if you don't let me, Joey…"
"I don't
wanna be helped! I wanna cry and get mad and break something!" the blond wailed, hands clenching into fists. "After all I've done for him he has the
nerve t' kick me outta the house that
I cleaned and
I repaired and
I cooked in because
he doesn't have enough money? That's not
fair! I hate him!
I HATE HIM!"
Seto frowned and slithered back a little as he felt the air around the blond thicken. He didn't really understand
why the half-nymph felt the need to cry and get mad, but he wasn't going to ask him—at least, not at this point. "…Joey?"
Joey turned toward him sharply, face still contorted in fury, then let out another helpless sob and fell to his knees, exhausted. "…'m so tired of cryin'…"
"You don't need to cry anymore, Joey." Pulling the blond into his arms, the naga sighed and twisted around so he was also wrapped in his coils comfortingly. "You're here with me. You're safe. You can be happy again."
"…Just… promise ya won't make me do anything I don't wanna." He bit his bottom lip and sniffled as he snuggled closer, then quietly added, "And just hold me. Don't do anything more, just… hold me…"
Seto nuzzled the top of his head and tightened his coils around him. "Alright." He waited a few minutes for the blond to calm down, so they could talk rationally, taking that time to enjoy the feeling of having the half-nymph in his arms, smelling his fresh scent (he could ignore the scents of other men for now, considering the poor little blond had had no choice in the matter); he had only chosen to go after him when the scent he'd left behind had gone stale, and then vanished altogether.
It was then that he'd realized that he wanted Joey all to himself.
The naga sighed and gave him a squeeze. "When you're ready for me to let go, I'll start cleaning my den, and we can figure out how you're going to sleep. Okay? …Okay, Joey?" Frowning when he still received no reply, he leaned around to see his face, in case he'd somehow frightened the blond into silence as he experienced a memory. When he saw the half-nymph's eyes shut, however, and tears still clinging to his golden lashes even as his lips curved into a little smile, he had to smile a little himself.
'
He must have really missed me.' Seto smiled a little and nuzzled him again, then frowned immediately as he remembered how happy the blond had been to be rescued.
'…He thought I didn't care, that I wouldn't come rescue him because I thought he was disgusting for being a nymph. He didn't even know he was a nymph until… And I liked him before then, and he liked me. …How badly did I hurt you when I rejected you, my precious?' He stroked the half-nymph's cheek with his thumb lightly.
He really had been cruel in his casual dismissal of the blond's feelings, then. He hadn't believed that Joey's feelings for him had been genuine, rather a nymph's flighty fancy for something new. It wasn't fair of him to think that, considering that Joey had been raised as a human, and still held silly human ideals like true love, and monogamous relationships and…
'
Do you love me?' Seto frowned, brows furrowing together in confusion.
'Even though I'm only half a man? Do you love me despite my serpentine half… or because of it?' He glanced down at his coils, which the blond hadn't shrunk from and instead curled into.
'…I hurt you, and you still cuddle up to me like I'd never sent you home in tears. Have you forgiven me? …Do you love me so much that you'd really forgive me for being so cruel to you?' Joey had probably never forgiven him, but only because he believed it wasn't truly Seto's fault; he must have believed himself to be the cause of his own pain, irritating the naga so badly that he'd
had to reject him and put him at a distance. The half-nymph had always been aggravatingly self-deprecating, probably thanks to that no-good drunkard he called a father. His father had blamed everything wrong in his life on Joey, and so Joey had only followed in his footsteps, blaming himself for everything wrong that happened in his own life.
Seto sighed; he'd have to fix the blond's outlook on himself and on life if he ever hoped to prove that he really did care, and to keep Joey from running away again. It really wasn't fair; some god was punishing him, that was for sure, and he'd get to the bottom of it sooner or later.
"…Seto…"
He felt one of the blond's smaller hands on his chest, pressing against it as the half-nymph sighed and snuggled closer to him. He couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips, even as he wondered if he'd ever get
his Joey back, the happy, impulsive little blond with so much spunk that most creatures had to think twice before messing with him.
Oh, his poor little nymph…
