Kidnapping is Always an Option

A/N: A summary is in the description box below, along with story warnings that appear in the chapters that follow!

Written by: Robin Omaka and Mika Tertius

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The strange sensation of someone staring at him roused Adrian from his deep sleep. He found himself on a narrow cot, surrounded by unfamiliar, high-tech equipment. As he opened his eyes, he was startled to see a face hovering above him, nearly causing him to fall off the platform.

A young man with large emerald-green eyes peered down at Adrian. Even stranger were the tall, fox-like ears perched atop his head. Adrian wondered if he was imagining things. His periwinkle-blue eyes darted around the room.

"Where am I?" he asked, shifting his gaze back to the stranger.

"Um... Health Bay 1?" the young man replied, straightening up and bouncing on his bare heels.

Adrian noted that the guy wasn't very tall—he seemed to be at least a foot shorter than Adrian while he lay on the cot. His body felt heavy and sluggish, a lingering effect of the deep sleep. Was this guy some kind of medical technician?

The stranger grinned, revealing white teeth that appeared a bit pointier than usual. Something about that smile felt eerie, but Adrian pushed the thought aside and focused on what the young man was saying.

Health Bay?

Adrian's knee injury rushed to the forefront of his mind. He had seriously hurt his knee during a game, and the memory of the excruciating pain was still fresh. Frantically, he patted his leg and knee, shocked to discover that he no longer felt any pain. He also realized he was only wearing his soccer shorts.

Fortunately, the room wasn't cold.

The stranger continued to grin at Adrian, showing those slightly pointy white teeth.

"Did someone... operate on my knee?" Adrian asked aloud, wondering if he had been knocked out with gas, which might explain his fuzzy memory and the odd things he seemed to be seeing.

"Sort of..." The guy chirped." You're all fixed up now!" He clapped his hands together. "The cartilage in both your knees was rejuvenated, the ligaments in your left shoulder and elbow were repaired, bone spurs were removed from several areas, and damage from several concussions was fixed." Waving his hands, he added. "And a bunch of other minor stuff too. Like, did you know you were getting arthritis in two fingers of your left hand, and several of your intervertebral discs were worn?"

"That's all news to me."

Huge green eyes widened as the guy beamed at Adrian. "All better now!"

Adrian outright gaped at the guy. Hearing about all those accumulated issues made him realize just how much better he felt than before.

"How long have I been here, then?" Adrian wondered. Just how many operations were performed on him?

"Um..." The guy scrambled over to a screen on the wall, waving a hand in front of it to wake it up.

When he turned, Adrian saw that he'd taken the costume further than the big, foxy ears. A fluffy tail stuck out of the back of the guy's loose pants, mostly a sandy tan hue with a few darker areas around the base and the tip. As he moved himself to a sitting position, Adrian noted the color matched the ears. His unique choices piqued Adrian's curiosity.

Weird guy. Does he like fennec foxes that much?

The petite man whipped back around to face Adrian, his green eyes wide with excitement.

"Two days!" the guyblurted. "You've been in the bay for two days. You were in prep for about half a day before that."

Adrian gulped at the thought. "Two and a half days?"

He paused for a moment, extending his arms over his head to see how far his legs would stretch out. So far, nothing troubled Adrian at all. The last time he felt this sturdy was when he was just a kid.

But Adrien knew better than most that post-op recovery took way longer than just two days. Maybe this was all a hallucination he was seeing while the real operations were still taking place. Just what kind of gas had they used on him?

"Are you some kind of medical technician?" Adrian asked, deciding to allow the dream to play out. "And what's with the headband and tail?"

"Head…band?" The guy reached up and gently touched one large, soft ear. "I'm Caspin," he said, glancing over his shoulder to look at his tail while turning in a circle, trying to get a good view of it. "But everyone calls me Cas." He stopped turning, and his ears drooped. His emerald gaze returned to Adrian. "You don't like my ears and tail? I… I know my coloring is boring."

"Cas?" Adrian repeated as he reached out to take his hand and gave it a gentle shake. "My name's Adrian. Though if you've read my file, I'm sure you know that already." He glanced again at the ears and tail. "There's nothing wrong with them; I'm just wondering if you have them on for some sort of after-hours party or something."

When Adrian took his hand, Cas stood ramrod straight. Even his ears stood up like perfect triangles on top of his head. Adrian wondered if they were a newer version of the Bluetooth animatronic ears he'd seen online.

Cas looked at his hand, which Adrian had just touched, with a look of wonder.

"P-party?" Cas stammered. "No, I'm always like this." He laughed awkwardly. "I'm sorry; I didn't think about how odd this might look to you." He cocked his head. "Do you like parties? Would you want one? We'll hit the next port in a couple of days. We could throw an epic party for you. People would freak out to celebrate with you."

One word stood out the most from what Cas said: "Port? What do you mean by 'port'? Is this a cruise ship?" Adrian questioned shaking his head. "And I'm not really into parties unless someone personally invites me."

"It's... umm... No." Cas wrung his delicate hands in front of him. "This is my ship. She's a finder. I go around charting areas of unclaimed resources that can be harvested without harming sentient or non-sentient life." He twirled a finger through a sandy-colored lock of hair next to a tall, fox-like ear. "With how strict the laws and regulations are now, people can't just go in and blast out resources like they used to, which is good—many species were lost that way. But it means there's a high demand for accurate maps of accessible resources."

Cas smiled winningly at Adrian's confused stare.

"Unclaimed resources... " Adrian tried to make sense of what Cas was saying. "Is this some kind of cargo ship? I don't understand..."

"I..." Cas looked lost for a moment, biting his pink lower lip. He stretched out his hand. "Here. Come with me."

Adrian took the offered hand and stood, surprised at how good he felt. Everything felt perfect, even the little aches, not to mention the more significant pains he had accumulated from years of playing pro soccer. What a high quality dream!

He was so absorbed in cataloging his lack of pain that Adrian stumbled when Cas tugged him forward.

"This way," Cas said as he led him through an automatic door that opened gently in fancy interlocked layers which unfurled counter-clockwise.

They walked down a few halls to another door that opened when Cas waved his hand over a small screen next to it.

As they stepped inside, Adrian was reminded of a small apartment. He noted a sitting area, a dining table, shelves, a bed in the corner, and a desk. A huge, soft, multi-colored rug covered most of the floor.

What caught Adrian's attention, though, was the window, which took up half the wall.

The window looked out into... nothing. Well, almost nothing. Adrian saw pinpoints of light—tiny dots in a sea of darkness. Some dots were larger and different colors, while a few areas were less black, reminding Adrian of the Milky Way.

He saw no land and no ocean—just a celestial sky. Adrian's hands slapped against the window as he gaped. Then he rubbed his eyes.

"Holy shit… am I still dreaming?" Adrian gasped. "Or are we really out in space instead of the sea?"

As if to assure himself that he wasn't imagining things, Adrian walked right up to Cas and gently tugged on his ears and tail. When they didn't budge and began to twitch, he moved on to pinch the cheeks on either side of Cas's face.

"Are you real?" Adrian's voice fell to a whisper.

"Y-yeah..." Cas's cheeks burned with a blush, and he cursed his fair coloring.

When Adrian released his pinch but left his open hand against the side of Cas's face, the fox leaned into the warm touch against his soft cheek, his wide eyes fluttering closed. Adrian let out a nervous laugh, shifting one of his hands to gently ruffle the top of Cas's head and scratch the back of his big ears. If this was a dream, he was going to take full advantage of it.

"This is crazy! So you're not a medtech? You're not even from my world!" Adrian was struggling to wrap his mind around the possibility that he might be hallucinating. "How are we even able to understand each other? And, dream or not, why did you heal me?"

Cas arched his back into the scratch, relishing the sensation. He blinked for a moment, trying to remember what Adrian had asked. "A translator has been implanted in you. And no, the Health Bay really does all the work. Health Bay 1 is for rest and recovery. In Bay 2, you just go into the tube all messed up, and you come out fixed, to put it simply. Though I did have to input some information about your anatomy and physiology," Cas explained, tangling his fingers together.

Adrian was aware of an entire conspiracy circle that would have gone wild at the thought of aliens implanting anything in humans, especially something as valuable as a translator. He could already picture the dramatic headlines about mind control. However, he wasn't bothered by these thoughts. On the contrary, he felt intrigued.

"And, jeez, how could I not heal you? You were robbed! That play that busted your knee was dirty. The refs didn't even call it!" The fox hybrid huffed indignantly. "And then the owners just tossed you aside to find a loophole in your contract to bump you with some puny compensation package? That was a crime! Anyone who saw you play knows you're a legend! Good heavens, just think about that game against Argentina last year or the one against Spain the year before. You carried that team!" A little growl bubbled out of his chest. "And the way they treated you after all that is nothing less than a travesty." Cas crossed his arms over his chest and stomped his bare foot for emphasis.

Another surprise hit Adrian. This foreign guy sounded like his number-one fan. Adrian couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all. His number one fan was literally "out of this world."

"Cas, thank you," Adrian said sincerely. "Hearing you say that makes me feel better than even the Health Bays." He leaned down to pull Cas into a grateful hug.

Cas gave a tiny yip of surprise as the much larger man enveloped him in the embrace. After a moment of shock, he reached around as far as he could to return the hug, nuzzling his nose into the crook of Adrian's neck and letting out a happy sigh.

When Adrian began to let go, he was surprised to find Cas still holding onto him. He let out another chuckle and stayed still, allowing Cas to cling to him for as long as he wanted. After a moment, Adrian tried to shift back and realized that Cas's feet were dangling. With an amused snort, he pinched Cas's butt cheek to lift his legs enough for Adrian to carry him under the thighs.

Adrian sat on the edge of the bed and settled Cas onto his lap. He began to gently slide his hand up and down Cas's back. "I'm not going anywhere just yet, I promise."

"It's just… I can't believe you're really here." Cas's voice was soft and desperate. "I've been watching you play for years. I picked up the first broadcast by accident, but after that, I was hooked. And now, here you are."

A bubbling pride rose within Adrian at the thought of someone like Cas being a fan of his, especially from so far away. Something about the little guy put him at ease deep in his core. Adrian couldn't explain it in words, but it was a good feeling, like having found a kindred spirit.

Cas finally forced himself to ease his hold on Adrian and leaned back to look into the soccer player's eyes. They were a mesmerizing periwinkle blue, captivating the little fox. He had seen so many pictures and videos of Adrian, but none had captured the depth and beauty of his eyes, which contrasted stunningly with his inky black hair and naturally bronze skin.

Cas slid down slightly to straddle the larger man, a blush heating his cheeks once again. "I can't believe you're really here... on my bed," he whispered in awe.

Wrapping his arms around the back of Adrian's neck, Cas tugged him forward to capture his lips in a kiss.

Adrian hadn't expected the sudden mouth-to-mouth contact. His eyes widened in shock at first. However, Cas's lips were so soft that he couldn't help himself. Closing his eyes, he tilted his head slightly as his tongue slid along Cas's bottom lip. He then gave that lip a gentle bite before pulling away.

"Cas…" he began in a raspy voice. "Does that mean my number one fan has also fantasized about me?"

The spots on Cas's cheeks flared brighter. "Y-yes…"

Adrian had faced similar situations before. Some of his fans were more extreme than others. He had experienced being groped, stolen from, and even manhandled at times. However, there was something about the precious fox man sitting on his lap that stirred a desire within him, and that was definitely a first for him.

In the past, Adrian would humor those fans but would always turn them down firmly. With Cas, though, he didn't feel like laughing it off at all; he certainly didn't want to turn him down. He felt a rush of excitement at the thought that they might be feeling the same way.

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't already imagining a few fantasies about you myself," Adrian admitted. "But I'm not just the guy you see on screen playing his heart out on the field. There's a lot more to me, and I'm sure there's a lot more to you too." He continued, "I'd like to get to know you better if you'd let me. And then, maybe I'll see to it that some of those fantasies of yours come true."

Cas rubbed himself against the bigger man, fingers trailing over tight muscles.

"Can't we do both at the same time?" Cas asked hopefully.::