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For what it was worth, Steve had no idea what the little gifts, the trinkets, the crow-like treasure that was being left on his front porch meant.
It started with small things. Oddly shaped rocks that glittered slightly in the sunlight, bits of colorful, broken glass that if he didn’t hold it a certain way would slice open the pads of his fingers. Sometimes it was piles of sticks. One time he came home from work to find a collection of berries resting on a leaf.
It got stranger over time. Rusty keys, broken forks, bent or twisted spoons, small bones. A lot of small bones actually. Of course there were more rocks, but these ones were different, more crystalline in nature, and actually glittered. Marbles, and bottle caps, soda tabs, anything that shined really. And buttons. So. Many. Buttons. Big ones, small ones, oddly shaped ones, broken and cracked ones. Colorful ones, black ones, white ones. He had a whole jars of buttons now.
Sometimes there were carcasses. Nothing crazy, just mice and rats and small birds, and every once in a while a lizard.
Of course he kept them, the little gifts, all except for the animals. He buried those in the garden behind the house, he couldn’t bring himself to toss them.
He knew who was leaving them.
He had seen the beetle black eyes that shined with even the smallest glint of light watching him in the dark on too many occasions, had seen the mass of matted curls quickly disappear into the woods and duck behind bushes, heard the strange click and growl coming from behind him too many times to count.
Eddie never fully showed himself. He never allowed himself to be fully seen, only glimpses. Near misses.
It had been going on for months. Steve had brought it up to Robin, told her what he’d seen and she just looked at him with mournful eyes and patted his shoulder.
“He’s dead Steve, you know that. You saw him.”
“Yeah, I know. But Robby I’m serious, I swear it’s him!”
“It could actually just be a crow, you know? Or a raven! They’re really smart birds, it probably just really appreciates eating your garbage!”
He didn’t try to bring it up again. He knew it was crazy, knew the impossibility of it. But he could feel it in his guts. He knew it was Eddie.
So he couldn’t throw the gifts away. Instead he found a way to display them.
He started small, like with the jars of buttons. Every time a new button was left on the porch he would drop it into the jar and put it back in its spot on the windowsill above the sink in his kitchen. And when that jar was full he started on another.
Eventually he got braver, craftier. He’d always liked wind chimes and sun-catchers so he started making his own out of the bones, and the glass, and the funky bits of metal and bent cutlery. Robin took him to a craft store where he bought lengths of wire, and hemp chords, and varying colors of glittery glass beads.
His whole front porch now shimmered and shined and clinked nicely as the bones and the metal and the glass tangled together and clacked against each other in the breeze.
He decided to line the pathway up to his house with the rocks, and with the left over he outlined the edges of his garden.
The sticks were a mystery. He didn’t want to get rid of them but he didn’t know what to do with them either so he made them into a pile next to the firewood in the backyard and used them for kindling, and smiled appreciatively when he noticed the birds in the woods flying away with some of the smallest sticks, using them to build their nests.
It warmed his heart, seeing all the treasures that Eddie seemed to deem important enough to gift him with, decorating the inside and the outside of his house. He started to wonder what would happen if he started to decorate himself with the treasures.
It was another experiment, and it meant another trip to the craft store.
He’d gotten his ear pierced months ago, a drunk decision spurred on by a need for a change and encouraged enthusiastically by Robin and Jonathan. Nancy used one of her broach pins to do it, though she’d protested immensely. It was nice, the little diamond stud had been exactly what he needed at the time and now it was fully healed.
It took him longer than he thought it would, wrapping the wires and choosing the beads and figuring out what trinkets he wanted to use. Eventually he ended up with a dangling earring using a small key, a broken chain, and a couple of green and orange beads that tinkled in his ear when he moved.
Robin loved it. She ooh’d and ahh’d at it the first time he was brave enough to wear it outside of the house and not just around his bedroom.
“And you made it?”, she asked for the thousandth time.
“Yes”, he said, feigning exasperation.
In truth he was pleased by her shock, and even more pleased when she’d begged him to make her one too. So he did. And he kept making things. A necklace, bracelets, and funky little boutonnières. And he wore them. Gave some away as gifts to Robin and Nancy who took them and wore them proudly.
The people in town always gave him odd looks, and he knew he probably did look funny. He was still Steve. He still wore his brightly colored polos, and his blue jeans, and did his hair, styling it to perfection. Only now he wore dangling jewelry around his neck and wrists and his one ear, that looked like it belonged in the gutter. Trash. Garbage.
But he didn’t care. He liked his crow treasure jewelry.
And apparently so did Eddie.
He was just sitting there. Knees pulled up to his bare chest, hands resting on the tops of his knees. He was caked in mud, leaves and twigs stuck out of his hair. He was absolutely filthy, and he was completely naked. But he looked so sweet, staring innocently at Steve with those dark, blank eyes. The whites were completely gone, they were just black, solid black, and shimmering wetly at him. His fingernails were long, curved delicately into long, glasslike talons. So were his toenails.
Steve edged closer, holding his grocery bags tight in his arms. But he couldn’t tear his eyes away from where Eddie was sitting in front of his door. He didn’t dare move quickly, scared that at any moment Eddie would bolt. But he just sat there. Watching Steve.
When he was close enough to see the earring, the bracelet that hung from his wrist, Eddie grinned, eyes getting bigger than they already were and Steve had to suppress a gasp.
Eddie’s teeth were small, pointed and serrated on the edges. The bite marks and the punctures in the animals made a lot more sense now.
Steve knew Eddie was different. He knew he would be changed, but it was a funny thing having a feeling in your gut and then seeing it with your own eyes.
He didn’t know what to do, so he just smiled back. Eddie let out a combination click and growl, but the pointed smile remained.
Eddie stood, and it took everything within Steve to keep his eyes averted away and acknowledge just how naked Eddie was.
He unlocked the front door with one hand, balancing his bags on one knee, bracing them with his arm, and swung it open. He kept it open as he stepped into the house, but kept an ear out to track whether Eddie would follow him.
And he did. He heard the click of Eddie’s talons on the wood floor, heard the shift of Eddie’s hair against his back as he twitched his head this way and that, much like a bird.
Eddie was very bird like with his movements, Steve noticed. He chittered, clicked and hopped occasionally as he moved around the kitchen as Steve put away the cold groceries. He cocked his head this way and that, stared with unblinking eyes. It should have been unsettling, but Steve couldn’t find it in himself to be uncomfortable.
He was just relieved.
It took a while, a lot of gentle maneuvering, and hushed encouragements, and playing the role of a sheep dog, but Steve eventually got Eddie to make his way up the stairs and into the bathroom, a trail of muddy footprints left behind in their wake.
He locked the door behind him, he didn’t want Eddie to try and escape, but Eddie didn’t seem to mind. He just clambered into the tub and stared expectantly at Steve.
He did hiss comically at the water and when Steve turned the knobs and the water touched his toes. Steve laughed at the look on his face, he couldn’t help it. Eddie’s head tilted to the side, mirror black eyes widening at the sound of Steve’s laugh, and that serrated grin returned.
Eventually his body relaxed as the tub began to fill with hot water and Steve had to stop Eddie more than once from trying to eat the bubbles.
“You’ll make yourself sick!”, Steve said, swatting Eddie’s shoulder as he once again tried to bend down and lick the bubbles into his mouth.
It was another testament to just how changed he was. His tongue was pointed and covered in rows and rows of bristles.
Eddie sighed, but he didn’t try to eat the bubbles again.
Steve took his time cleaning the muck and grime from Eddie’s skin. He didn’t like the rough drag of the loofah, but he didn’t mind the soft scrubbing of the wash cloth and leaned gently into the pressure as Steve cleaned his arms, his hands, his chest. Steve took note of the scars that covered him, mentally calculating the damage of the fresh cuts and scrapes, the bruises. There were too many to count. But Eddie didn’t seem too fussed about them, he was enjoying the feel of the water too much and Steve heard the distinct sound of a purr in the back of Eddie’s throat as he began to wipe his neck and face with the cloth.
The water was black by the time Steve was finished cleaning out from underneath Eddie’s nails. He had to drain the water and fill it back up so he could get started on his hair. He pulled the leaves and twigs out, detangling the hair that was stuck on the little bits of wood.
Eddie almost lept out of the tub when Steve used a cup to pour the warm water over his head.
“It’s okay!”, Steve said, jumping to his feet and placing his hands on Eddie’s shoulders. “It’s okay, it’s just water Ed’s.”
“Just water”, Eddie repeated.
His voice was rough, throaty, and it sent a shiver down Steve’s spine.
Eddie slowly raised his clawed hand and Steve kept as still as he could as Eddie reached up between them and tapped his claw against the key hanging from Steve’s ear.
“Shiny”, Eddie said.
Steve swallowed as Eddie trailed his claw down the side of his throat.
“Come on”, Steve said. “Let’s finish your hair.”
Eddie purred loudly the entire time Steve washed his hair. He had to wash it twice, he kept finding small bugs and moths tangled up in the masses of matted curls and when he finally had all the dirt removed he wasted no time lathering in the conditioner and carding his fingers through the knots.
He drained the water a second time and helped Eddie step out of the tub before wrapping him in a towel. Eddie did not like the towel. Instead he shook his hair out much like a dog, splattering water all over the room. Most of the water got on Steve and he sighed in exasperation.
“Of course”, he muttered.
Steve soon realized that Eddie was also opposed to clothes. He stood in the middle of Steve’s room, the shirt Steve had forced onto him lay in scraps on the floor and Eddie was crouched down low hissing at it.
“Well you can’t stay naked Eddie!”, Steve said, gesturing at him. “It’s indecent!”
Eddie looked up at him, wet hair dripping down his shoulders, his back and his chest. He stared unblinking at Steve, again, cocking his head this way and that and Steve stared back into his glittering, black eyes. They seemed to glow in the warm light of his room, reflecting the light like a cats eyes in the night.
Eddie stood up again, slowly, and moved toward Steve. He came close, closer than he’d been all afternoon, until Steve felt himself backing up. He backed up so far that his back hit his bedroom door with a loud thump, and Eddie still moved closer. They were chest to chest, nose to nose, and Steve could feel Eddie’s knees knocking into his own. It wasn’t the only thing he could feel.
Eddie tapped his claw against Steve’s earring again, and purred. Steve licked his lips and kept as still as possible, tried his hardest not to breathe as Eddie rubbed his nose against his. Steve could feel Eddie’s mouth ghosting over his, could feel the drag of his chin.
“Pretty”, Eddie said, the words forming over Steve’s own lips.
He could feel Eddie’s claws on his neck, could feel them catch and drag on the fabric of his shirt. One of the claws grazed against his nipple and he felt an involuntary gasp escape from behind his teeth.
Eddie chittered in excitement, the purr in the back of his throat growing louder as Eddie raised his clawed hands and dragged them over Steve’s nipple a second time.
Steve had to bite his lip to keep from whimpering.
“Eddie”, he said hoarsely, “Eddie stop.”
But he didn’t stop. He pressed closer to Steve, and he felt as Eddie’s hands lifted the hem of his shirt and felt the feather light drag of Eddie’s claws on his bare skin.
He shuddered. He couldn’t help it. His eyes fluttered closed as goosebumps spread down his arms and legs and sent a shiver down his spine.
Eddie nuzzled his face against the hollow of Steve’s throat and let his teeth gently bite down on his Adam’s apple.
“Pretty”, he said again, teeth still embedded in his throat.
It didn’t hurt, but the pressure of his teeth combined with the still feather light dragging of his claws on his chest and stomach had him shaking, his knees were weak.
“Please”, Steve pleaded, he could barely recognize his own voice, it was so breathy. “Eddie, you need to stop.”
But it was like the more Steve spoke, the more he protested, it spurred Eddie into more action.
His shirt was on the floor. It had been shredded to ribbons, just like the shirt he’d forced onto Eddie.
Eddie purred, eyes glittering, “Indecent.”
A manic giggle escaped from Steve’s lips. “Yup”, he agreed. “Indecent. Alright Eddie, it’s time to-“
But he didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. He was on his back, the air knocked out of him and his head reeling. And Eddie was hovering over him, his hands gripped firmly around Steve’s wrists, effectively pinning them to his sides.
It didn’t escape his mind just how incredibly naked Eddie was, and how he himself was half naked. Eddie was straddling him, his thighs pressed into either side of Steve’s hips and he could feel the tip of Eddie’s dick dragging against his stomach.
He swallowed and allowed himself to look down between them. He’d been avoiding it, choosing to look at Eddie’s eyes, his teeth, his hands, but he was positive that this was the thing that was the most changed about the other man.
The spines varied in length. They were thicker, longer towards the head and tapered down towards the base, disappearing completely into the thicket of dark hair. It was also bigger than he thought it would be, and it was steadily leaking pearly white drops onto his lower abdomen, just below his bellybutton.
His mouth was dry, his throat constricted.
“Eddie”, he whispered, too scared that his voice would quiver if he so much as dared speak at a normal volume.
Eddie just purred and nuzzled his face into Steve’s chest, raking his tongue through the hair and shivering in delight at the startled yelp Steve let out. The barbs on his tongue didn’t hurt, per se, but it was an odd sensation, and not one he’d been anticipating.
He tried to sit up, but Eddie’s grip around his wrists didn’t even budge, and when he bucked his hips up Eddie pressed himself firmly down and the pressure of Eddie’s ass against his own cock, straining through his jeans, made him moan unexpectedly.
Eddie chittered and grinned down at him, and before he could say anything else Eddie was licking over Steve’s mouth. Steve gasped at the feeling, and then Eddie’s tongue was in his mouth.
They were kissing, sort of. Eddie’s tongue was tangling with his own and the barbs on his tongue was doing odd things, almost massaging the inside of his mouth, and it wasn’t unpleasant, just new. It was something he’d never experienced before and he couldn’t pull away, there was nowhere for him to go, so he just closed his eyes and enjoyed to feeling.
He didn’t bother being embarrassed about the noises he was making, noises he’d never heard himself make before, not even when he started to choke slightly as Eddie’s tongue began to inch its way down his throat to massage his throat muscles and his hips rolled incessantly into his own. His eyes watered at the sensations coursing through his body, and spit began to leak out of the corners of his mouth and pool around his neck.
Finally Eddie pulled away, and strings of spit and drool still connected them.
Steve’s jeans were incredibly tight, and the pressure of Eddie’s weight on top of him was doing nothing to relieve any of the tension. And when Eddie raised himself, the pressure disappearing, Steve couldn’t help the needy whine he let out.
That was the least of his worries though, because before he could realize what was happening Eddie was threading his clawed fingers into Steve’s hair and was rubbing his swollen, leaking dick against his lips.
“Wait!” Steve said, but it was useless.
It made sense now, the heavy onslaught of Eddie’s tongue massaging his mouth, it was preparing him for this.
He didn’t fight it, he didn’t see a point. Eddie pushed the head of his dick past Steve’s lips and kept pushing until he was bottomed out and Steve’s nose was pressed firmly into the thicket of hair at the base of his dick. Just as Steve was about to gag, Eddie pulled out, but then he was thrusting back in. He was using Steve’s mouth as his own person fuck toy, dragging his cock in and out of Steve’s mouth in long, slow strokes that made Steve’s eyes cross. The spines tickled his throat, sending waves of pleasure shivering down his body. Steve didn’t know for how long it was happening, he only knew that his jaw ached and his throat was sore, and he was uncomfortably wet from the steady streams of drool that dripped down the sides of his mouth and his chin until he wasn’t even sure how his body was able to produce so much wetness, especially with the way his eyes were relentlessly pouring tears.
Eddie was purring loudly, his body vibrated as he thrust in and out of Steve’s mouth, until finally his hips began to stutter and his body tensed and all of a sudden he let out a growl, almost a howl, and he was spilling into Steve’s mouth and throat.
It was too much for him to swallow, it leaked out the sides of his mouth, mixing with the drool, and he felt like he was going to choke when finally Eddie released his grip on his hair and pulled out of his mouth.
Steve’s head flopped down onto the ground, so did his hands, and only then did he realize that he had been gripping the backs of Eddie’s thighs as he’d used him. He was breathing heavily, gasping for air and flushed all the way down his chest. He could feel his cheeks burning, could feel the sweat on his forehead and neck making his hair stick to his skin.
When he felt like he had the strength, he lifted his head to look for Eddie but Eddie was already watching him, straddling his hips once more and staring at Steve’s mouth, a hungry look in his eyes.
Steve tried to sit up fully but Eddie stopped him. He placed one large hand onto Steve’s chest and pushed him back down to the floor and bent down to lick the remains of his mess from around Steve’s mouth until they were sort of kissing once more, and Steve was lost to the feeling.
He felt boneless. He tried to lift his arms to pull Eddie closer to him but found he was too weak, all he could to was lay there as Eddie continued to lavish him with kisses on his lips, his cheeks, his throat. He didn’t even jump when Eddie began to lightly bite his way down his neck, sucking bruises into the soft skin where his neck and shoulder connected, or the space above his nipple or the center of his chest. He did shiver when Eddie took one of his nipples between his teeth and tugged on it, only to then suck it hard into his mouth before kissing it once more and continued to suck and bite his way down Steve’s stomach.
It wasn’t until he felt the ghost of Eddie’s breath against the head of his dick that he realized Eddie had removed his pants. One minute they were on, the next he was completely naked.
He braced himself to feel the barbed drag of Eddie’s tongue along his length but it never came. Instead he felt as Eddie shifted his legs, spreading them wider, that he realized what was about to happened.
“Hold on, wait, wait-“
But then Eddie’s mouth was there, and again there was nothing he could do but wiggle and writhe as Eddie’s tongue bullied its way into his asshole.
Steve wasn’t a stranger to the occasional finger in his ass when he jerked off, but it wasn’t something he did all the time. It was like a small treat, something he liked to surprise himself with every once in a while.
This didn’t feel anything like that.
Again it was like the barbs on Eddie’s tongue were massaging him on the inside. Every flick of his tongue, every curl sent a shiver of pleasure through Steve until his legs were shaking uncontrollably, his toes were curling and he was babbling nonsense.
He tried pushing Eddie’s head away, tried to scoot himself back but it only strengthened Eddie’s resolve to continue his assault on Steve’s senses. But apparently Steve’s struggling was beginning to annoy him because the next thing he knew, Steve was on his stomach, and Eddie’s tongue was buried inside him once more, and hitting at a deeper angle.
Steve moaned, loud and unyielding, and he felt the purr from Eddie’s throat vibrate into his whole body.
Another advantage of this position was Steve was free to roll his hips into the plush carpet of his floor. As Eddie’s tongue continued to thrust in and out of him, Steve fucked himself down into the carpet, humping the ground in time with Eddie’s tongue until he felt the heat building in his stomach and he knew he was close, so close.
And like Eddie could sense it, he lifted Steve’s hips until he was bent down, face pressed into the carpet, ass in the air, and dick dangling between his legs, steadily leaking onto the floor.
Steve almost started crying. He had been so close to coming, had felt the orgasm about to explode out of him and then just like that it was gone. He tried to reach underneath himself, to pump himself to climax but Eddie swatted his hand away and hissed.
“Please”, Steve choked. “Please.”
He heard the rumble of a laugh, then felt as Eddie’s tongue licked away the tears on his cheeks, then licked over his mouth.
“Pretty. Pretty, pretty, pretty, Stevie”, he cooed.
He raked his fingers through Steve’s sweat damp hair and tugged hard on the strands, making Steve whine in pleasure.
“Wanna make you shine”, Eddie sighed, tugging on his hair again. “Wanna make you sing. Wanna make you mine. My shiny, pretty little treasure.”
Steve whimpered, he couldn’t help the shudder of pleasure as Eddie licked a stripe up his spine and bit down lightly on the back of his neck.
He could feel how wet his hole was, how it clenched around nothing and dripped wetly down his thighs from the spit from Eddie’s tongue. He knew what was coming, but nothing could have braced him for the sensation.
There was no easing in. One minute Steve was bent down on his knees, trying to look over his shoulder at Eddie, the next minute he was screaming, back pressed firmly to Eddie’s chest, Eddie’s teeth buried harshly into the back of his neck, as his dick pounded into him.
Steve couldn’t think, he couldn’t move, all he could do was moan and groan and cry as waves of pleasure crashed into him. He was putty in Eddie’s claws. Eddie’s hand stroked his dick in time with each and every thrust, as his other hand held him firmly by the throat, his teeth still buried into the back of his neck.
The spines on Eddie’s dick seemed to know where every pleasure point inside Steve was and hit the unrelentingly with each and every thrust. It was maddening.
Steve felt like his body was on fire, he could feel himself shaking apart, like he’d been struck by lightning, and the only reason he was still upright and not a puddle on the floor was because Eddie was holding him.
He felt Eddie’s claws against his lips, and then he was sucking them into his mouth, tongue wrapping around them until all he could do was open his mouth and let Eddie’s claws play with his tongue.
“Eddie”, he gasped. He didn’t know how he did it, wasn’t sure how his mouth could remember how to form words as Eddie continued to pump his dick, and thrust into him in deep, long strokes that shook him to his very core.
But he could feel the heat building, could feel the way his muscles clenched.
“Sing”, Eddie said, licking over the bite. “Let me hear you.”
And with one final, hard thrust, Steve felt as Eddie spilled inside him and he felt himself tip over the edge.
Steve came with a loud moan, throwing his head back, vision whiting out. Wet hot spurts of white exploded over Eddie’s claws and painted his own chest in sticky, thick ropes. He felt himself sag against Eddie, all his energy expelled as he rode out the longest orgasm of his life.
It didn’t help that he could still feel Eddie inside him, his dick twitching inside him, the spines tickling his insides and making his own dick jump and twitch.
Eddie didn’t pull out, even when he laid Steve down on the carpet he stayed inside him, petting Steve’s hair with one hand and raising his other hand to lick Steve’s come from his claws.
Steve couldn’t move. All he could do was breathe and lay there. His eyelids were so heavy he couldn’t even keep them open long enough to see Eddie reach down and start to stroke his dick again, willing it back to life. Steve could only whimper at the sensation, half pleasure half pain as Eddie began thrusting again.
In and out in and out until Steve was crying out, coming a second time and Eddie hummed in pleasure as he spilled inside Steve again. And once again he didn’t pull out, not until Steve was crying from over stimulation.
Steve felt it then, all of Eddie come leaking out of him, running down his legs and pooling on the carpet. It was gross and sticky, and Steve was wet with sweat, but when Eddie stood over him, looking down at his useless, boneless body, he smiled.
“Shiny”, Eddie said, eyes glittering in the low light. “So pretty.”
He was probably right, his body was probably shining in sweat, he needed to shower. But he still couldn’t stand.
Eddie dragged the blanket from Steve’s bed and carefully pulled it over Steve’s body. Then he grabbed the pillows, tucked one under Steve’s head, and used the others to build a half circle around Steve’s body. He left the room, Steve could hear him rummaging around in the hall and when he returned his arms were full with more pillows and more blankets.
Steve didn’t protest as Eddie built them a nest of pillows and blankets on the floor. He didn’t protest when he climbed into the nest and pulled Steve close to him, wrapped his arms protectively around him, and slotted his teeth into the spot on the back of his neck and fucked into him a third time. He just enjoyed the feeling, and melted into the sensations.
And when Eddie tapped his claw against the crow treasure earring Steve had made, and whispered, “My pretty, shiny, treasure”, well, could you blame the guy for wanting more?