“Two years now I was robbed of my hunt,” The Zerric said lowly, his eyes staring at Adam’s face, focusing somewhere on the human’s lips. “I wanted to ensure I wasn’t robbed of another year.”

Adam pulled a face, thinking to himself. “Why wait a year a year for the run, then?”

The Zerric cocked his head to the side.

“Let’s fucking do it here in town,” Adam suggested as he turned and took the box of treats his sister cooked for him out of his bag, carrying it to his freezer to put in it there with the other supplies he kept for the night cycle. When his birthday came this year, he’s have a proper treat – his sister always sent things to him, but they were almost always beaten and squished from the transport. This year the creampuffs she made for him would be fat and fluffy.

“What are you proposing?”

“Well…” Adam sighed as he closed his freezer, pursing his lips as he watched Vas-Tin wonder closer. “Let’s see now….” He turned to lean back against the counter, watching the taller man drift closer still. “We could have a run here...and if I win, you give me something I want. If you win, well. I’m yours to do with what you please.”

“And what is it that you want?”

“I want you to own me,” Adam said simply, staring at Vas-Tin to watch the surprise flicker across his handsome features. “But I want to remain here in my home, where I can live out my life where I want it, how I want it. I don’t want to go down to Zerric.”

Vas-Tin’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t object or show any signs of displeasure. Instead, he seemed to be thinking about the offer. “You’re town is small.” He said then, frowning. “Not many places for you to hide…I don’t see this being a challenging hunt. It would be too easy.”

“I was raised here, I know it like the back of my hand. If there is any place I have the advantage, it’s here.” Adam reassured him. “We set the timer, and if I get from Point A to Point B, I win. If you can’t find me before the time is up, I win. If you capture me, you win. See? Still in my favor...the question is...are you capable of capturing me in my own environment when you couldn’t do it in any of your own?” He teased.

Vas-Tin’s face blanked before his lip curled up in what could be a sneer, but Adam felt might be something more...pleased. “I could capture you anywhere I want, human.”

“Expect, you know...the first two times.” Adam said with a shrug, turning to go to his fridge to turn it on, hoping to have it cold by the time he was done shopping in town. “The third time-” he turned and pointed a finger at Vas-Tin with a sharp grin, “Now you had me then!” He laughed, “Anyone could have had me then!” He didn’t miss the way Vas-Tin’s face twitched, his lips twisting briefly in a scowl. When Adam turned away from him, he smirked. Even if the other was blind, it still felt wrongdoing it to his face. “But this time….you for sure wouldn’t win. I don’t know why you would ever take the offer. I’d fucking ruin you. At least the only people that would witness it would be the locals instead of your entire fucking planet.”

“Alright,” Vas-Tin snapped, “You’re made your point.” He heard the other cross the room and Adam tensed when he turned, not expecting the other to come at him. Vas-Tin backed him into the corner of the kitchen, walling the shorter male in with his thick, muscular arms that were bare to the shoulder. “You’re baiting me.” He hissed, leaning in close to Adam’s face.

“I’m just stating facts.” Adam said, using Vas-Tin’s cool tone. “But I figured you were looking for a hunt, so...I’d thought I’d make an offer, one that would truly benefit the winner.” He licked his lips and though he knew Vas-Tin could see it, he could have sworn the other’s gaze tracked his tongue. “You win and you get the trophy that has eluded so many other hunters. Noone’s won as many as I have, and even if you throw away the last victory that you gave me...I’m still one big fucking winner, you know?” He said, quieter this time as the other seemed to fully loom over him, looking down at him from above. “Like, you’re not going to get a better trophy to have. I’m it.”

He always forgot how huge these fuckers were.

Just...all muscle.

All muscle and length.

He swallowed thickly as he tilted his head up to meet the other’s unseeing eyes more comfortably. “Someone’s going to get me one of these days, Vas-Tin. If you want to take this offer, it’s up to you, but I’d...rather it be you than Number One, or Two, or...well I guess not Three.” He said with a chuckle.

The air shifted between them in an instant and Vas-Tin lowered his face so that all Adam could see was his face. “You would rather have another hunter chase you?”

Adam stared at him for a beat before he let out a bark of laughter. He wasn’t going to sate the other’s concern. If he wanted that, he’d have to catch him first. “Anyway,” Adam said no to slyly, frustration taking over the taller man’s face once more, “Make your decision soon. They’re going to start screening for the next hunt in….one cycle, so sixty full rotations, and if I’m still available then...then you might have lost your chance.”

Va-Tin didn’t move, but Adam could see he was thinking hard. Though he wasn’t certain, he could have sworn that the other inch closer, and just as Adam began to grow nervous that the other was going to just grab him then and there, Vas-Tin slid back. “Alright. I agree to your terms.”

Adam grinned. Perfect. “Then we’ll run at the end of the next sun cycle – that’s fifty rotations away. It’ll give me time to get into peak form and prepare so I have the best advantage, so if you win...you win for real.”

The hunter nodded slowly, lowering his chin. “And when I win, you will lose your freedom and belong entirely to me to do as I please, Adam,” Vas-Tin said almost softly, lifting his chin then, running his tongue over his teeth, his voice lowering to an almost purr. “So you better prepare your body for that as well. When I own you, no hand will ever touch you again but mine.”

Adam’s eyebrow raised, finding himself smiling a little as he looked over the hunter. “And when I win, I’m going to celebrate by going to the city and running down the streets naked for everyone to see.” He teased, grinning at the Zerric’s curled lip. “So I guess whoever wins is going to have a real good time.” Adam’s smug sort of amusement faltered when the other leaned over him again, bringing their faces closer than before.

“You assume you won’t have a good time under my hand, Adam?” The hunter said in such a low, soft tone that Adam almost missed it. Adam swallowed thickly, but stayed quiet because he wasn’t sure what the right response for that was. The hunter smirked at his silence and pulled away slowly to take a full step back. “I will arrive back in town in forty-nine rotations. We will run the next day.”

Adam licked his lips and nodded hard before he rolled his eyes and, while still nodding, said “Agreed. I’ll make sure the town is prepared.”

Vas-Tin inclined his head before he turned and walked to the door, leaving silently.

Adam slid down the wall and sat there for the longest time, looking around his home. He was confident he had bought himself another year, but he might have just bought himself an entirely new problem. Being property of a Zerric was tricky. He had never heard of one having an arrangement like this unless you were very old or young – people at Adam’s age didn’t just get to sit on the shelf.

They got fucked. Maybe they were also paired off with another human-pet from another Zerric to reproduce, but you were likely just getting toyed with by your master. If you were born to two pets, you enjoyed a cushy life and dotted on by your parents and their masters until you were in your early twenties, and then you’d be sold off to a Zerric to, you know, be fucked, and the cycle would repeat. And then you got as shit and then usually had to help raise any grandkids you sired or just played companion for your old ass master…

But the chances of Vas-Tin losing and letting dam fart around on his farm in peace were very slim. It wasn’t really socially acceptable to have more than one human pet, so Adam would kind of be it for Vas-Tin, which means Adam was likely going to have to throw Vas-Tin a bone every once and a while. He knew his new master would want to take full advantage of having a human pet and -

Would that...really be all that bad?

Maybe not.

The Zerric like to be affectionate, just not to one another. Some masters were brutal, but others not so much. Maybe they can come to an understanding where Adam would let himself get dicked around with if Vas-Tin was nice enough, but Adam couldn’t think of any leverage he could use.

The Zerric did have their code of honor – on in which Adam had already exploited for his own gain – but nothing in it said ‘don’t smack your pet around’ or ‘take it easy on the smaller, more fragile being’. He guessed he’d have to take advantage of any affection Vas-Tin might develop for him, which meant he’d probably still get tossed around a bit at first. But maybe after a while, he could build up a good enough relationship with him that they could find a balance that worked, like maybe Vas-Tin only came to visit in the night cycles when he was trapped inside anyway.

It’d make things interesting here, anyway, and Adam would be a big ol’ liar if he didn’t say he wasn’t insanely attracted to Vas-Tin. The man was fucking handsome and have a great body. He was kind of nervous about having actual sex with the other because ow, but he knew from reading stories what it took to prepare for that sort of aggressive penetration and he felt confident he’d be able to do it with some practice.

And if he was being completely honest, he had thought about it a few times already, what it’d be like to get fucked by Vas-Tin, to feel his massive cock inside of him...and he didn’t hate the idea, especially if Vas-Tin took his time with it.

Adam licked his lips. “Master.” He tried out, feeling kind of silly saying it. He sunk lower down on the wall, his lips twitching into a little smile. “Master Vas-Tin.” That felt better, he thought. He crossed his arms over his chest and grinned to himself.