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Karl poured water over his hands with the water bottle sitting on the table next to him, cleaning off the grease and oil from the engine he'd been working on. He stared at the door leading into the house.
Ethan was probably inside doing dishes or something. It'd been about an hour since Karl had had a break, so... probably time to get something to drink and sit down for a minute.
He opened the door and stepped into the kitchen.
It was quiet, and the lights were off.
Ah, Ethan must be taking a nap.
He took a few steps forward and something out of the corner of his eye, in the entrance to the living room, startled him.
There.
Was a monster in his home.
Very tall, with inky skin and digitigrade legs, standing, unmoving in the living room.
It was facing him.
It had to know he was here.
He couldn't move. He was frozen. He had to move, had to save himself from whatever this thing was but he couldn't bring himself to move-
The creature dropped onto all fours.
Karl took a step back, his boot making a thud against the tile.
That was all the creature needed to lunge forward. It slammed its hand (?) into Karl's chest, knocking him to the tile and pinning him down.
Karl was dazed for a moment from being thrown to the ground, when his vision cleared...
He was staring face to face with the beast's pearly white teeth.
He had to admit, he panicked then. Badly.
Karl wrapped his hand around the wrist (?) of the hand (?) pinning him to the floor and released a powerful shock of electricity, crackling and arcing. He couldn't see through the light and the smell of ozone that hit him, but when he could again, nothing had changed. The monster hadn't reacted at all. He still couldn't run. He still couldn't save himself from whatever the beast wanted from him.
Its jaws opened and it... licked his cheek. Karl tore whatever metal objects were closest (handles on the drawers, some screws, and the lamp), and flung it into its head.
It recoiled. Maybe, maybe-
But no.
The.. material that made up its face, near where its eyes would be, sort of squished, like a person's expression would if they were giving someone the stink eye.
It leaned down and licked his face again. Karl had to squeeze his eyes shut as it drew its tongue across his cheek and up his face to his brow.
The creature pulled back again as the face closed over the mouth and teeth and let out a very low and loud rumble. The awful sound was almost crocodillian. Despite himself, again, he panicked, again, trying to wriggle free.
It replied very quickly and punctually by slamming its other hand down onto one of his legs, leaving the other leg to uselessly kick. He was really trapped. There was nothing he could do.
“Pulă! What do you want from me?!”
It didn't reply. It just... silently sat there. Hells, if Ethan was here, the thing would long be dead on the kitchen floor. Ethan-
Ethan...
Wait.
Where was Ethan?
It pulled its hand off his leg and leaned down again, nestling its large head in the crook of his shoulder.
Karl tried to turn and bite at it, but he didn't have enough room to fully turn his head with its head pressed against his.
Damn.
The rumbly noise emanated from the thing's throat again- Karl shuddered.
It fell silent and lifted its head. This time, he got the distinct feeling he was being stared at, even though it didn't have eyes.. He felt... hopeless. He'd tried everything- shocking it, trying to squirm free, he wasn't even able to try and bite it. What was there left? It was clearly stronger and much faster than him.
There was nothing he could do.
He felt cold.
It continued to watch him for a moment.
Then, the monster moved slowly and deliberately, starting by digging its claws into his shirt and then moving back as it pulled him up into a sitting position.
The thing paused, staring at him. He didn't respond.
Maybe Ethan got out and was fine.
The creature took hold of one of his shaking hands and brought it up in front of itself, staring intently- worriedly? It didn't have eyes or even really a distinguishable face, but the way the area that would be the brow crinkled-
Karl didn't have the time to wonder what in the hells it was doing, though, because the inky film over the mouth (that also comprised the rest of the face?) that was kind of lips stretched, seperated into strands, and split, revealing the razor sharp fangs that were in his face moments ago.
He also didn't have time to react to that, because in the span of half a moment, he suddenly couldn't see.
His face was pressed against something soft and wet, with the back of his head against something more firm. Ice cold points pressed into the back of his neck. Everything else was oddly lukewarm.
He didn't move. He didn't want to move and find out what was happening.
Unfortunately, that decision was made for him.
Everything moved. Up and out, then down and pulling Karl's head in further.
The knowledge hit him.
He knew what was happening.
He didn't want to be eaten.
Karl quickly reached up to the creature's shoulders and tried to push them away, but they didn't budge. It didn't react at all.
The muscles around the top of his head pulsed as the mouth around the rest of his head moved, dragging him in deeper.
And then it swallowed.
It was such a small change- being dragged in up to his shoulders, but it made Karl's stomach drop. He tried to move, back away, but he could barely move his head- there was no way he was getting out.
Another swallow. The teeth now pressed into his mid-back.
There was a long pause. Stomach twisting with awful, awful hope, he waited. Maybe-...
Everything flipped upside-down.
It happened so suddenly. He didn't move as he was naturally being dragged down, throat pulsing around him.
When he realized what was going on, he tried to squirm, but the muscles were holding him still. For a moment, he scolded himself- you couldn't get out from under one of its arms, how do you think you were supposed to worm your way out of its throat?
The movement around Karl slowed and the throat got tighter. It took effort to breathe, at this point. Distantly, he knew he'd been fully engulfed- the mouth above him had closed.
He then spilled head-first into a comparatively much more open space, presumably the stomach.
There was only a very small amount of liquid at the bottom of the stomach- though it didn't smell, didn't burn, and had the same texture as the saliva he'd been drenched with. At least he could be thankful for that, for now.
It wasn't warm, either- just sort of... neutral, and wet. It smelled like dust, but moist, and a bit of mushrooms. Quiet, too.
...Odd.
He didn't really have much fight left in him. It was obviously over, right? This creature who'd invaded his house had had its way with him, he'd failed to get out, and it was over. Whatever this thing decided that meant.
He made sure to throw a kick at the stomach wall for good measure.
And then zapped his surroundings, also for good measure.
No reply.
He didn't know what he'd expected.
There was a long moment of silence before the whole stomach squeezed, forcing him to pull his knees to his chest. He felt sick with fear again and tried to kick out but the stomach wall didn't move at all, not even giving way a centimeter.
Then, he was hit with an odd, elevator-ish sensation. Was it standing up? More movement followed- smooth, unhurried steps, and then the stomach loosened again.
Everything dropped and spun for a moment. Now, he was stuck on his side.
Karl took a shaky inhale, dragging his hand down his face. Which further covered it in saliva. He tried to wipe it off with his sleeve but that didn't really do anything to help.
The low rumbling began again.
Past how absolutely and utterly terrifying this was, the whole situation was... confusing.
He didn't have much else to do but wait, so he sat, thinking about... all of this.
The house was empty.
This thing had somehow gotten into Ethan's clothes.
The expressions it kept making- like it wasn't quite on the same intelligence as a wild animal, like the lycans he'd assumed it to be similar to.
The way it'd sort of... snuggled him for a moment.
The way it looked at him without eyes.
How it'd grabbed one of his shaking hands so gently.
The smell of mold and dust. The low body temperature. The-
...
No. That wasn't right. It couldn't be him, could it?
“...Ethan?”
“EE-th an...” the creature replied, with a deep, distorted, and growly voice-
But it was his voice. Familiar and safe.
Karl felt dizzy. This- thing had been Ethan the whole time? He was flooded with several different emotions- relief, confusion, frustration... his thoughts were running a mile a minute. One moment he wanted to spit out a string of curse words, another, he wanted to sink into the soft folds of the stomach and just pass out because he didn't have to be afraid for his life now, the next he wanted to ask every single question that came to mind. How had Ethan become- this- weird creature, and why? More importantly, why had Ethan eaten him?
The stomach around him shifted and closed in for a second, before releasing most of the way.
“Hey- what's going on out there? And by the way, we're having a talk about this when you let me out.”
Ethan replied “Wa-arm”, incredibly unhelpfully.
Karl wiggled a bit to get more comfortable, forced to be content with an absolute non-answer. His body heat had started to warm up the room temperature stomach around him-
Wait.
Oh.
OH!
Ethan had always run cold, barely sticking out from the environment around him. He'd said it had something to do with being molded- Karl had always just seen it as an “I'm very cuddly when it's cold” trait, because that was all that was really relevant to him. Maybe Ethan had subconsciously come to see him as a source of warmth, and- this, was a sort of- heat seeking behavior? (Maybe a bit affectionate as well?)
Put that way, it was kind of sweet... even if Ethan had picked the absolute most terrifying way to do it.
Karl ran his fingers absently along the folds of the stomach, thinking through everything.
The low rumble started again. Seems someone was happy with himself. Guess that noise was just- content, or happy, or something. Not feral menacing growling.
"You know I'm still mad at you, right?" Karl muttered.
He didn't get a response. Well, seems there was nothing else he could do.
Karl shut his eyes. Maybe it was alright to rest for a bit. Trying to fight off a monster is tiring, let alone using up so much energy on electricity. They could always talk later...
It wasn't too uncomfortable here, after all.