GODS, GORE & GROPING cosmic entity!bucky barnes x human!reader [15.2k]
â âą SUMMARY: your habit of talking to yourself inadvertently catches the attention of something ancient lurking in the shadows. â âą WARNINGS: 18+ MDNI; non-canon; dark themes (I swear there is also comedy); it/its pronouns for bucky (the character is inspired by cthulhu); mention of gore, violence & death threats; angst; one (1) brief description of a nightmare; discussions about stress & anxiety; psychological horror elements; bickering (their dynamic is loosely inspired by eddie and venom in the movies); dark!bucky; overprotective!bucky; obsession; jealousy; possessive behavior; social exclusion; emotional dependency; unhealthy attachment; stalker-ish behavior; boundary violation; mourning; self-doubt; emotional withdrawal; denial as a coping mechanism; smut; mention of sex toys; monsterfucking; tentacle sex; pussy inspection; nipple play; restraints & gags; multiple orgasms; overstimulation; sort of mind break; creampie.Â
A/N: so, this is my ticket to hell. I posted this back in october as part of my halloween series trick or tease, which I will continue here. anyway, I wanted to give this one-shot an actual plot, so there have been some important changes since it was pretty much pwp before. disclaimer: this story contains monsterfucking, so please avoid sending weird inbox/comments (yes, it already happened). if you follow me, know that this is a recurring theme, as a matter of fact I already have two stories about orc!bucky. it's very simple: if you don't like it, don't read it. hope you'll enjoy đ€ trick or tease masterlist
You love your apartment in a way that would probably sound ridiculous if you ever tried to explain it, because itâs not particularly beautiful, nor does it sit in some idealized neighborhood where everything feels arranged for aesthetic approval.
The building is old, long past charming. The pipes occasionally groan through the walls as though protesting against their own existence, and the floors remember every step, even when you try your best to be quiet. The kitchen is too small to ever feel fully practical, the bathroom is always slightly colder than the rest of the apartment no matter the season, and the elevator has broken down often enough that you have stopped trusting it entirely.
Objectively, there are better places to live.
And yet every evening, after a day spent among crowded sidewalks, half-finished conversations, and obligations that somehow leave you far more exhausted than they should, the knot in your stomach begins to loosen the moment the front door closes behind you.
Nobody interrupts you here. Nobody watches you with critical eyes. Nobody tries to dictate the way you exist. Itâs just you.
Which is probably why you develop the habit of talking to yourself once you step inside.
Itâs not something you ever decided to do, it simply followed you from earlier versions of your life. At first it was practical, a way of sorting out stress and untangling thoughts that felt too messy to leave trapped in your head, but over time it became part of who you are.
âStark scheduled five meetings today.â You drop your keys on the counter. âNew record.â
You kick off your shoes, already moving towards the fridge for some water.
âI swear he finds some sick pleasure in wasting everyoneâs time.â
You never expect a response, of course, but carry on with the small rituals of the evening while the walls quietly absorb your voice.
Ultimately, you stop keeping tabs of how often it happens, because you talk while cooking, cleaning, and taking showers. You comment out loud while scrolling through your phone and revisit past conversations while folding laundry. Even when sitting on the couch at the end of a long day, you debate whether youâre too tired to start anything meaningful or too restless to do nothing at all, as if the pillows could answer back.
Still, there are momentsâusually late at nightâwhen the absence of another human being becomes harder to ignore. A small ache settles in your chest at the realization that entire days can pass without anyone else seeing them. Your thoughts, your victories, the countless insignificant moments that make up a life... all of them exist only inside your own memory.
The feeling never stays for long though: somewhere along the way, you just learned how to be content with your own company.
Most of your friends live hours away now, scattered across different cities and different lives, and trying to keep those connections alive feels mortifying when it becomes clear youâre not worth the effort.
Making new ones has never been any easier. Too many people seem worn down by disappointment, and retreating into themselves feels safer than risking another let-down. The rest treat every relationship like a negotiation, weighing what can be gained from it before deciding how much of themselves they are willing to offer.
So you fall back into your routine, and the apartment remains your favorite place, where you spend most of your time.
However, the feeling is not one-sided, because somewhere within the walls and foundations, something has begun, very slowly, to consider you a constant.
It has occupied the building for longer than any human memory can account for.
Long before you arrived. Long before the current structure of rooms and hallways. Not trapped within it, or bound in any conventional sense, but present like a memory inside a familiar object, woven through walls and doorframes and the quiet space between moments.
For centuries, humans were irrelevant.
They came and went, briefly altering the surface of things without ever touching what lay beneath. The Entity never thought of them as individuals, but as noise. Temporary disturbance that always faded back into silence.
Until you.
At first, you are nothing exceptional. Just another tenant. A fragile arrangement of blood and flesh moving through a structure that has already forgotten most of what it has held. You unpack and settle into your routines.
And then you start talking.
Constantly.
As though silence is something you have to keep at bay to stay sane.
And thatâs what catches its attention. At first, it assumes you are speaking to someone outside its perception, but there is no other presence, no other voice.
Only you.
So it begins to assume the words are meant for the space itself, for the apartment as a wholeâfor the being that chose its shadows as a place to rest.
The conclusion is obvious.
You are talking to it.
The Entity initially listens passively. Your voice is just another sound among many, no more important than the groan of old pipes or the distant hum of traffic beyond the windows.
But as you keep talking, your voice stops blending into the background.
It learns your rhythms before it understands why they matter: the time you come home; the way your footsteps change depending on fatigue; the subtle differences between your frustrated sighs and your tired one. The melody of your happiness and the miserable sound of your sorrow.
The details gather one by one without purpose.
And somewhere along the way, it stops thinking of you as transient.
The first changes are small. A temperature fluctuation in your room settles earlier in the evening than it used to. A recurring fault in the elevator that keeps waking you up in the middle of the night doesnât return. A light that hesitated before turning on now responds immediately.
None of it is noticeable enough to make you suspicious. Until the reason behind these adjustments changes drastically.
In its memory, humans have always approached beings like it through extremes.
They arrive trembling with desperation that melts into obsession, or rigid with fear that collapses into obedience. Their speech grows cautious, as though a single wrong word might invite disaster. Even when they pretend otherwise, there is always an ugly tilt beneath their requests: ambition, hunger, greed.
But you only fill rooms with thoughts that have nowhere else to go.
You complain about a man named Tony scheduling meetings throughout the day as though he has personal authority over the calendar. You debate dinner choicesâusually pizza or sushiâbecause the outcome might alter your mood for the rest of the night. You spend an entire evening trying to figure out why a couple from your hometown broke up after everyone swore theyâd end up married.
And throughout your little monologues, your voice never once bends toward reverence. It never tightens into fear.
And that becomes difficult to grasp.
Over time, those small routines become expected. And expectation creates its own kind of absence.
The first few times you leave for longer than usual, the apartment feels incomplete. Not empty, exactly, but quieter. The space remains the same, yet something about it feels wrong without you.
The conclusion it reaches is simple: if you are choosing to spend more time elsewhere, then the apartment must be failing you in some way. From that point on, every imperfection becomes unacceptable, and small inconsistencies are often corrected before they even have the chance to become problems at all.
Since you are completely unaware that something has started arranging the world around you, the changes continue without question.
You keep talking the way you always do, filling the apartment with things that would seem insignificant to anyone else, but not to the creature listening. You never thank it. Never ask for anything specific, or demand more. You simply exist inside a space that now quietly takes care of itself according to your comfort.
The simplicity of that still confuses it. The Entity has been worshipped before, feared, sought out for power... But no one has ever treated it like part of their daily life. Like an equal.
Your voice is familiar and reliable as you become its Polaris, the fixed point by which the rest of the world is measured.
The Entity has never concerned itself with anything beyond its own existence, most things are allowed to fade.
Anything connected to you is not.
When you come back that evening, something is different.Â
You move through your usual routine after stepping inside, loosening your shoulders and mumbling softly under your breath. Yet there is something unfamiliar that clings to the edges of your presence. It doesnât belong to the apartment, and because of that, it draws its curiosity at once.Â
Humans carry traces of the outside world with them all the time: scents, particles, remnants of places and people. Most disappear quickly enough to be forgotten.
But this one doesnât leave. It stays attached to you in a way that makes it hard to dismiss, fixed on a specific point of contact. Still, you hang up your coat, set down your bag, and slip off your heels with a relieved sigh. There is no hesitation in your movements.
Something outside its space touched you and was allowed to settle. And it doesnât seem to bother you at all.
That unpleasant realization manifests like the first thunder announcing an imminent storm.
The air changes, pressure building ominously through the room enough to alter the flow of oxygen.
You notice it a few seconds later, your breathing feeling slightly more restricted, your chest tightening in a way that is easy to misread as fatigue from the day. You pause, one hand briefly touching your chest as if checking whether something inside your body isnât working properly.
Frowning in confusion, you glance around the apartment before sprinting to the window to push it open, letting the crisp night air spill inside.
The suffocating feeling eases a little, but the Entityâs rage doesnât.
The air turns clammy enough to make your skin prickle. Out of the corner of your eye, the shadows along the edges of the room grow longer, creeping farther than they should. The impression vanishes as soon as your head makes a sharp turn toward the wall, leaving you with a kind of discomfort that will haunt your sleep for the rest of the night.
You were still its when you left this space, but something else got close enough to interfere with that.
Whatever that presence was, it shouldnât have been near you at all.
The changes start revealing themselves later, in moments that seem insignificant at the time.
You take a shower every morningâit automatically folds into your routine without much attention, the same way you sit on the edge of the bed with a towel around your body and half-awake eyes, letting the day assemble itself around you in slow pieces.
You turn on the tap and let the water warm up while you brush your teeth and check your phone. Sometimes you even have time to tidy up your room a little.
But one day you find yourself rinsing your face while the mirror is already beginning to fog. You dismiss it as temporary luck and keep going through the same motions the next day.
And still, it keeps happening.
A few days later, youâre standing in your bedroom half-dressed and with an unexpected ten extra minutes before work, trying and failing to understand where they came from.
Other weird things follow, like the bedroom door no longer sticking when itâs too humid. Then, the kitchen cabinet that always needed an extra push starts closing smoothly, and the draft from the living room window stops bothering you entirely.
There is an accumulation of small inconsistencies that leaves you with the subtle impression that the apartment and your recollection of it are no longer perfectly aligned, to the point that you start wondering if the problem is you.
Maybe youâre becoming forgetful, distracted... The thought never settles into genuine panic, but it lingers just long enough to leave a sour taste behind.
A quiet Friday night finds you stretched on the couch with the television murmuring in the background, when an email from Tony lands in your inbox. It marks yet another round of revisions of your presentation despite the fact that this is already the fourth time you have edited it.
For a moment you simply stare deadpan at the screen, the frustration that has been building all week finally manifesting with a sharp exhale.
âFor fuckâs sake, Tony.â
âI could ensure he never troubles you again.â
The voice comes so quickly after your words that your brain just accepts it without question. Then, your limbs still at once at the realization. Slowly, you lift your head and look around the apartment.
The television still works. The kitchen is empty. The hallway is exactly where it should be.
You frown at it for another moment before forcing yourself to exhale.
Stress.
You imagined it.
Shaking your head, you turn your attention back to the show.
âWell?â
This time you sit up abruptly, confusion sharpening into alarm.Â
âWhat the fuck?â You mumble, because whatever fragile explanation you were building in your head collapses at once.
You nearly trip over your own feet as you scramble to stand, your heart hammering against your ribs while your gaze darts frantically around the open space.
âIs someone here?â
There is a pause before the voice answersâcalm, almost unaffected by your agitation.
âI am not visible at the moment.â
Your breath catches slightly.
âWhat does that even mean?â
âI am in the shadows,â it continues. âI am everywhere.â
You let out a short, disbelieving laugh, but it comes out strangled.
âYeah, okay.â You mutter. âSure.â
You quickly check the hallway and then turn back again, trying to locate any possible source that could explain the voice seemingly coming from the inside of the apartment. When you canât find anything out of the ordinary, your body instantly angles towards the couch, one of your arms already stretched out to get your phone and call someone.
Police. Your neighbor. Anyone...
But your fingers barely brush the object before it slides out of reach.
You freeze.
âNo.â You whisper, because now your brain is splitting between panic and denial.
You glance at the device like it has personally betrayed you.
âThis is insane,â you say, unconsciously backing up, your chest heaving dangerously fast. âThis is fucking insane.â
âHe can be removed.â The voice states with confidence.
You shake your head sharply.
âWhat does that even mean? And what the fuck are you doing in my apartment?â
âI have been here for a long time.â
âWhat?â Your stomach tightens as you take another step back, shaking your head again like that will be enough to reset reality.
âGet the fuck out or Iâm calling the police.â You threaten more firmly this time, even if the trembling in your voice refuses to fade.
The air shifts at once, suffocating in its heaviness.
âDo not dare to call me an intruder.â
Until now, despite everything, some stubborn part of your brain had been trying to force this situation into a shape that made senseâa prank, a squatter, even a neighbor with far too much free time.
Something explainable.
Human.
âI have always been here.â
The words settle like a boulder on your chest.
A chill crawls down your spine.
Nothing around you changes: the walls are still standing, the lights are still on, and the floor is not splitting open beneath your feet. Yet your attention is obsessing over every neglected corner. On the narrow seam where two walls meet. On the vent above the kitchen doorway. On the faint cracks hidden beneath layers of paint.
Places you have never paid attention to before.
Places that now feel claimed.
You have lived here for years, slept, eaten, cried... Spent entire weekends doing absolutely nothing. And the thought that something might have been present through all of it sends a fresh wave of nausea through your body.
Thatâs enough for you to notice the change in your breathing. Each raise of your chest feels slightly shallower than the last, your lungs stinging as they instinctively prepare for a danger your eyes cannot see.
âReality parts for me. I have drifted through the birth of galaxies, swallowed storms of time, watched empires swell and rot. Your world? An insignificant speck in the vastness of the universe. Your species? Flimsier than smoke. You puny humans only know how to crawl from the mud to devour each other over shallow trinkets and territory.â
You swallow thickly, flinching hard as your back brushes against the wall close to the front door.
You donât even remember moving.
âOkay,â you mumble, your voice still uneven. âSomeoneâs a little too full of themself.â
A thunderous roar crashes through your skull, pain exploding behind your eyes so suddenly that your vision blurs around the edges.
A sharp gasp tears from your throat as you double over, your body folding in on itself before you can stop it. Your hands fly to your head, fingers digging into the skin of your temples as your eyes squeeze shut against the pounding agony.
âI only speak the truth. I am eternal, and your defiance is inconvenient. Remember, human: if I wish to, I could bend you into nothingness before your heart finishes its next beat.â
The temperature of the room drops below zero. Biting cold wraps around you so viciously that it feels as though warmth has been erased from existence.
A violent shiver runs through you, and your arms promptly wrap around your torso in a futile attempt to make yourself smaller, safer, somehow less exposed to its wrath.
The threat itself should sound ridiculous, the sort of thing a comic book villain would say before getting punched through a building. Yet whatâs frightening is the certainty burning beneath its voice.
An uncomfortable, deafening silence settles over the room, before the voice comes back quieterâalmost timid.
âI have frightened you.â It sighs wearily. âYour fear is bitter. Forgive me. I often forget how small your hearts are, how fragile your existence can be.â
The cold begins to retreat, slowly loosening its grip on your body until you can feel your fingers again. The pressure squeezing your throat eases with it, and you quickly draw in a breath, gasping as if you have been forced under water.
You donât answer. Instead your eyes close briefly, and inside your head you keep repeating that this is only a dream.
It has to be.
Dreams can be terrifying.
Dreams can feel real.
Dreams can make absolutely no sense whatsoever.
âI apologize. I am not used to... converse with humans.â
The explanation is absurd. Completely ridiculous. Sure, people do that too. They make themselves louder and hostile, more intimidating. They show their teeth because they are afraid to get bitten first.
But itâs difficult to be terrified of something while simultaneously understanding it.
âI would not harm another being, unless strictly necessary. Like Tony.â
There is a beat of silence after that, the kind that feels like waiting for a clarification.
Your eyelids slowly flutter open.
âTony?â Your brows furrow in confusion.
âYes.â
Your stomach drops. âIâTony is my boss.â
âI am aware.â
That answer does absolutely nothing to make you feel better. Still, a weak, tired chuckle falls from your lips, the sound still sitting on the edge of disbelief.
âWell,â your voice wavers. âNext time you want to show off, try to be a little less... intense.â
There is a pause that lasts just long enough to feel like the conversation might actually end there.
âI willâŠâ It rumbles. âLittle star.â
You blink.
For a moment you genuinely wonder whether you heard it correctly. Of all the things it could have said, that had not even crossed your mind as a possibility.
âWhat?â You ask uncertainly.
âYou are smaller than me,â it starts calmly. âAnd you shine the brightest when surrounded by darkness.â
The words hit you like a punch in the stomach, because that name feels like it was always meant for youâlike this weird creature has spent some unknowable amount of time observing the universe until it reached the conclusion that you deserved your own little place inside it.
âAnd so you just⊠decided to call me that?â You say slowly, staring blankly at the wall.
âYes.â
The answer arrives with complete confidence.
Your eyes scan the space again: the walls are still up, the furniture remains exactly where you left it, the front door is only a few feet away if you decide to make a run for it. However, now they all sit beside the crushing knowledge that you have never been truly alone in what you considered your safe haven.
And yet, despite the trembling in your hands and the excruciating headache, the apartment has never felt this warm.
After that night, the voice doesnât appear on a schedule you can trace, and it doesnât behave like something that interrupts your life so much as something that exists alongside you, its presence filling the apartment as naturally as sunlight through an open window.
Eventually you resign yourself to the fact that if this is real, then it has always been real. The Entity has existed beyond the edges of your perception all along, tucked into the shadows while you moved through your life unaware.
You are not discovering something new. You are simply learning how to share your home with a creature whose ego is, unfortunately, backed by evidence.
Strangely, that realization no longer feels like youâre losing your sanity. Every appearance still sends a jolt through you though, even when you start anticipating it. The jolts finally become sighs, the sighs fade into pauses... And then, somehow, they turn into full conversations.
âAllow me to intervene.â
The words emerge from nowhere and everywhere at once, threading through the sound of running water.
Your reaction is calmer than it would have been a month ago.
Pausing with a glass still slippery beneath layers of soap, you glance at the counter.
A deep exhale escapes your nose. âThatâs not what I meant when I said Pierce should stop being an asshole.â
The silence that follows feels thoughtful.
âHe deserves it.â
The certainty in its tone immediately tells you that this conversation is going to leave you with a migraine.
You slowly set the glass aside and reach for another.
âNo, he doesnât.â
âHe repeatedly enters the apartments without warning despite causing distress to their occupants. He ignores maintenance requests. He raises the rent while refusing to fix anything. He is unpleasant.â It growls at last.
You stare at the sink deadpan, because the worst part is that none of those observations are technically wrong.
âYou still donât get to decide what happens to my landlord.â
âYou have developed a habit of assuming the worst about me, little star.â The response almost sounds offended.
âLast week you wanted to fold the mail carrier into another dimension because he bent one of my packages.â
âHe damaged your property.â
âHe dropped it because he nearly tripped carrying three other boxes.â You remark tiredly.
âThen he accepted more than he was capable of transporting!â It snaps.
Your eyes close, and for a moment you simply stand there with your hands submerged in warm water, wondering whether anyone else in human history has ever had to explain proportional responses to a cosmic entity living inside their apartment walls.
âYou canât solve everything with violence.â
âAt least my ways are effective.â
The tone is so childish that something dangerously close to a laugh threatens to escape you. You barely suppress it, unwilling to give the Entity the satisfaction.
The last thing you want is to encourage it.
âYouâre missing the point.â You sigh.
âAnd your landlord is disruptive.â It retorts, returning to the original topic with persistence. âI remove disruption.â
A month ago, that statement would have sent ice flooding through your veins, now it makes you tired. Concerned, certainly; still mildly horrified. But mostly tired.
You noticed pretty quickly that the creature inhabiting the darkness has apparently divided existence into two simple categories: things that bring you comfort, and things that do not.
And whenever something falls into the second category, it immediately begins offering solutions.
Usually terrible ones.
You still canât fully comprehend what it is and what it wants from you, yet you donât reject it anymore, choosing instead to adjust yourself around it the same way people learn to coexist with eccentric roommates, noisy plumbing, or old neighbors with weird habits. But speaking more carefully than you used to has become necessary. Not because you are afraid of being overheardâyou passed that stage weeks agoâbut because the Entity is always listening, hungrily waiting for the slightest excuse to make itself useful.
The first time you muttered that a coworker was making you want to disappear, it was so concerned that it spent thirty minutes trying to understand whether your desire to âcease existingâ was literal. Then you made the mistake of joking about your neighborâs barking dog, and it calmly informed you that silence could be arranged...
Spending hours explaining hyperbole to a being older than galaxies had not gone particularly well, so now you think twice before speaking. You also avoid idle threats and clarify complains before they can be interpreted as instructions.
In addition to not knowing how human language works, it becomes clear that the Entity also doesnât understand the concept of privacy. Or perhaps it understands it perfectly well and simply sees no reason to respect it.
You are still trying to determine which possibility is worse.
Thursday has been peaceful so far. Tony hasnât started any new scandal that requires damage control, and Pierce hasnât called asking for more money to deal with the umpteenth gas leak.
Yet by the time you finally make it home, exhaustion sits heavily in your musclesâthe kind that accumulates steadily over hours spent hunched over a desk, attending meetings that should not exist and dealing with your bossâ particular talent for creating problems out of nothing.
The apartment is quiet when you step inside.
After abandoning your heels somewhere near the entrance, you drag yourself to the bedroom with the same determination of someone whose social battery has been completely annihilated. All you want is to change into something comfortable, eat whatever requires the least amount of effort to prepare, and spend the rest of the evening watching some trashy reality show.
The peaceful silence follows you as you set your bag on the floor and begin pulling your blouse over your head.
âThis level of exhaustion is unacceptable.â
A startled yelp escapes your lips as you jerk backwards, immediately yanking the blouse back down.
For one humiliating moment, you are left standing in the middle of the room, tangled in fabric.
âJesus Christ.â Your hand presses against your sternum.
The apartment remains perfectly calm.
âYou scared me.â
âI did not intend to.â
âYeah, I know.â You let out a weary sigh. âYou never intend to.â
Finally pulling the blouse off, you throw it toward the laundry basket with significantly more force than necessary.
The Entity says nothing for what feels like forever, so your eyes narrow at a random corner.
âWere you just... watching me?â
The question leaves your mouth before you can stop it, and the silence that follows stretches long enough to make you squirm uncomfortably.
âYou returned home forty-three minutes later than usual. You removed your shoes after entering, yet consumed no food despite having done so at the same time during the last three days. And your shoulders have remained incredibly tense since you arrived.â
You promptly let them relax, suddenly self-conscious of your posture.
âThat wasnât my question.â
âIt was.â The creature sounds genuinely puzzled. âYou asked whether I was observing you.â
Technically, thatâs a logical answer, but it doesnât make having a pair of monstrous eyes tracking your every movement with unwavering attention any less unsettling.
âYou really keep track of all that?â You eventually ask, almost shyly.
âMy attention is always upon you.â
The response arrives with such simple certainty that it makes the next words die on your tongue, leaving you frozen in the middle of your bedroom.
This thing has existed for an amount of time you cannot begin to comprehend. It notices things. It remembers things. It pays attention in a way that humans generally do not. And the reminder sends a strange heat crawling beneath your skin.
Suddenly, you are being hit with a feeling of disquiet at being so exposed.
âHe should not be allowed to exhaust you like this.â
âNo.â It falls from your lips before the conversation can continue.
âNo?â
âNo. Whatever youâre thinking, the answer is no.â
âYou cannot know what I am thinking.â
âOh yeah? So it has nothing to do with taking care of Tony?â You mock its gravelly voice.
Another pause.
âYou know me so well.â It sounds almost pleased.
Sinking onto the edge of the bed, you rub a hand over your face.
âPlease, stop trying to find a reason to kill my boss.â
âI was not offering to kill him.â
Relief immediately floods your chest.
âOh.â You tilt your head, positively surprised.
Maybe all those evenings spent teaching the Entity how to behave more like a human and less like one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are finally paying off.
âI would only harm him.â
Your face falls instantly.
âGod, can you just stop talking?â
âIt is significantly better.â
âNo.â
âIt is objectively better.â
You let out a long groan, covering your face with both hands.
âWhy do you always bring him up?â
âI was simply stating an observation.â
You scoff, removing your jewelry with far more energy than the action itself requires. âYou always make observations right before suggesting violence.â
âI do not always suggest violence.â
The statement is delivered with enough dignity that you almost believe it.
âYou suggested throwing an officer into the ocean because he gave me a ticket.â
âHe was incorrect.â
Your eyes close in irritation. âYou suggested relocating my upstairs neighbor because she vacuumed once at six in the morning.â
âSunday is the only day you are permitted to sleep in.â
âYou spent three days trying to convince me my internet provider is a hostile entity.â Your voice gradually rises, and the apartment slips into complete silence.
âLittle star,â the Entity starts slowly. âThe service they provide is unacceptable.â
You curse the day you decided to explain how technology and the internet work to this relentless, stubborn creature.
âThatâs not the point.â You say through clenched teeth.
The room grows quiet again and you know it is genuinely attempting to understand something that refuses to fit within its understanding of reality.
When it speaks again, the question sounds sincere.
âWhy is Tony different?â
You let your head fall back with a sigh.
As much as its insistence and anger management issues drive you insane, you always need to remind yourself it is truly interested in how your mind works.
âHe isnât different,â the words are no louder than a murmur, your body sagging slightly as irritation drains away. âPeople are just allowed to be annoying. Thatâs part of the human experience.â
You can practically feel the disagreement radiating off the walls.
âThat seems inefficient.â It frets.
A chuckle escapes you before you can stop it, still low but entirely genuine.
âMaybe it is.â You shrug.
âYou dedicate a surprising degree of creativity to insulting him.â
âBecause he frustrates me.â
âHe makes you unhappy.â
âHm, sometimes.â You nod.
âHe increases your stress.â
âYes.â
âYou dread interacting with him.â
You hesitate for a second. âWell, only when he sends me to drag angry women out of his penthouse at nine in the morning.â
âThen I fail to understand why removing the problem is unacceptable.â
There it isâthe same impossible logic it always returns to.
Everything else stops mattering the moment it involves you, so when something upsets you, it should be immediately addressed. The conclusion is predictable by now: anything causing you discomfort simply shouldnât be allowed to continue existing. Thatâs the entire structure of its reasoning, there is no room for improvement or compromise.
For a few seconds neither of you speaks.
Then, very carefully, as though explaining something to a particularly intelligent but catastrophically misguided dog, âHarming my boss wonât fix my anxiety. And you really need to stop with the whole splitting people into categories based on whether they annoy me or not.â
The silence lingers, but you have learned enough about the creature by now to recognize when it is really considering your words.
âThere are additional categories?â
This time you cannot help itâyou burst out laughing, the sound brightening the room, loud and alive.
âYes, you silly creature.â You breathe out, still smiling. âThere are additional categories.â
Somewhere within the walls, the Entity appears to spend the rest of the night reevaluating its understanding of interpersonal conflict. You are not entirely sure the lesson will stick. Still, it feels like progress.
When your eyes snap open, the frantic pounding of your heartbeat is the only thing you can hear. You find yourself disoriented, small but stubborn fragments of the nightmare still clinging to you.
There was a corridor that seemed to stretch forever, doors opening one after another into empty darkness, and the overwhelming certainty that something was following just out of sight. The details fade almost immediately, but the fear lingers heavy in your chest.
âYou are not alone.â
The rumbling voice cuts through the eerie silence out of nowhere, nearly making you jump out of your skin.
Your body goes completely still as for one awful second, fantasy and reality blur together. Then, fear shifts into exasperation so quickly it makes you faintly nauseous.
âIt was a dream.â You whisper to yourself, pressing a hand over your eyes.
âYes.â The answer comes immediately.
You let out a long breath, instinctively reaching for the lamp on your nightstand. Light has always helped after bad dreams. It gives your eyes something solid to land on so you can breathe a little easier; something ordinary enough to remind you that whatever was haunting you belonged to the deepest pits of your unconsciousness.
Before your fingers can touch the switch though, the temperature in the room drops slightly and the lamp clicks on by itself. You stare at it blankly, before glancing up at the ceiling.
âHave you been in my bedroom this whole time?âÂ
When the answer arrives, it carries a note of confusion.
âI am always with you.â
You instinctively pull the sheets closer around yourself.
âHm, not really comforting.â
âI simply illuminated the room.â
âThatâs not what I was talking about.â The words come out feebly, as though they were meant just for you.
The pensive silence that follows suggests it is trying to work out what you meant anyway. Eventually, it steers the conversation towards something it deems far more important than your discomfort at its incessant hovering.
âYou were in distress.â
A chill crawls across your skin despite the warmth of the blankets.
âIt was just a dream.â You dismiss as your eyes drop to your quilt.
âYou have experienced similar dreams repeatedly.â
âWhat do you mean repeatedly?â You instantly look up.
âYou have experienced seven variations of the same fear pattern within the last month.â
You frown at the wall in front of you.
âYou remember them all?â
âOf course.â
You are not entirely sure what unsettles you more: the fact that the Entity has somehow found its way into your dreams, or the fact that it has categorized them so analytically.
âIt was a nightmare.â You swallow eventually.
âYes.â
âBut you donât have to do anything about it.â
âI disagree.â
Of course it does.
You rub your eyes in exhaustion. âEveryone has nightmares once in a while.â
âYou are not everyone. I do not care about everyone.â The word is thrown out in disgust. âAnd you were terrified, thatâs enough for me to intervene.â
Your head falls back against the headrest with a dull noise. âIt wasnât real.â
âIt still scared you.â It insists.
The simple logic behind its reasoning is incredibly annoying, because there is no easy way to argue with it. The distinction between reality and dreams seems irrelevant to a higher entityâfear is still fear.
âWhat was chasing you?â
You immediately regret answering any questions at all, hoping that lying on your side will implicitly communicate the conversation is over.
âNothing.â
âWhat was behind the door?â
âNothing.â
âYour heartbeat was dangerously fast when you remembered.â
You pull the blanket higher and settle deeper into the mattress, ready to ignore it.
âIt doesnât matter.â
âIt matters to me.â
The response is so quick your eyelids flutter open again.
The Entity releases a sigh. âYou return home exhausted. You experience distress during sleep, and it lingers long after you wake up. I do not understand why you insist these things are insignificant.â
The sincerity behind its words makes it unexpectedly difficult to swallow.
You know itâs not asking out of mere curiosity, or to eventually use your own fears against you for some hidden purpose. It genuinely cares about you, but not in any way that gives you space from it. Its attention doesnât arrive and withdraw; it persists, clinging to you with a kind of obsessive inevitability. It feels less like being observed and more like being suffocatedâa desperate grip around your throat that wonât loosen even when you need oxygen.
That attention has begun to register as pressure inside your nervous system, a second current running beneath your own reactions. As though it is already anticipating where you will move, what you will feel, what will unsettle you... and meeting you halfway.
Under the apparent reverence lies something far more obstinate: a deep, unwavering hunger to possess you. It craves to reach past what you can recognize as yourself, following you beneath language, control, and into the parts of you where emotion arises before it becomes yours to nameâuntil even the boundary between what you truly feel and what you want to show is blurred.
âBecause not everything needs to be fixed.â You ultimately sigh.
âWhy?â
Your eyes close in resignation at the question that the Entity keeps asking since manifesting itself to you. It sounds so plain and obvious until you try to look for an answer that actually makes sense, devoid of useless excuses.
âBecause sometimes people are just tired, and that can cause bad dreams. Itâs called stress and itâs normal.â
The quiet that follows stretches long enough that you hope the conversation has finally reached an end.
âWhat was behind the door?â
You let out a groan. âJesus Christ.â
âLittle starââ
âGoodnight.â You exclaim loudly enough to cut directly across whatever question was coming next.
Several seconds pass and your body gradually melts against the mattress, your chest finally deflating with a relieved sigh.
âGoodnight.â
A pause follows.
âI am always here. You may inform me if the dream returns.â
You bury your face deeper into the pillow.
âI wonât.â It comes out muffled.
âI would still like to know.â
You gesture blindly toward the ceiling.
âGoodnight.â
The lamp switches itself off.
Several days pass after the nightmare conversation without incident, which should probably be reassuring. Instead, it leaves you vaguely suspicious, because you have already learned that silence doesnât necessarily mean absence. More often than not, it simply means the Entity has decided to not comment on whatever it is currently observing.
You are cooking dinner when it manifests. Or well, attempting to cook dinner, which is definitely not the same thing. The recipe is open on your phone, and the ingredients are technically correct. Whether the final result will be edible remains to be seen.
The water has finally begun to boil and you are standing in front of the stove trying to remember whether the smoked salmon goes in before or after the tomato sauce, when the familiar baritone drifts through the kitchen as if commenting on the weather.
âYou should not consume that.â It throws off-handedly.
You stop stirring altogether, your eyes still fixed on the sauce before slowly turning to the empty kitchen.
âWhat?â
âThe nutritional value is poor.â
You can only blink. Being criticized by an ancient being for your dinner choices... Not everyone gets to put that on their résumé.
âYou donât even eat.â
âCorrect.â
âThen how do you know whatâs good for me?â You squint accusingly.
âI have observed your species.â
The spoon returns to the pan and you continue stirring, determined to not encourage it. Unfortunately, that strategy stopped working after the third day.
âYou consume insufficient vegetables.â
A sigh escapes you. âStop.â
âIt is the truth.â
âWeâre not having this discussion now.â
âYou purchased zucchini and carrots three days ago and have yet to consume them.â
Your wrist stills. Scarily slowly, you lower the utensil onto the spoon rest, and look at the wall with challenge burning hot in your eyes.
âYou know whatâs concerning about that sentence?â You cross your arms to your chest.
âThe fact that you know when I bought them.â
âYou not consuming the vegetables.â It speaks over you.
âOh my God,â you snap as you sharply turn toward the empty kitchen. âAre you my roommate and nutritionist now?â
Silence follows, and you hope it has finally run out of opinions.
âRoommate is⊠acceptable classification.â
You freeze at its reply, because it suddenly dawns on you the mistake you just made. You decide to play it cool though, and turn back to the pan to resume stirring, your movements now a little more sluggish than before.
âThat wasnât an invitation, by the way.â You clear your throat awkwardly after a while.
No response comes. At least, not verbally. The flame beneath the pan flares a little higher before settling again, not enough to affect the cooking but just enough to feel deliberate.
You frown at it, annoyed at the fact that this Lord of the Darkness-wannabe officially considers itself a member of the household now, and you are the only one to blame for that.
âYou should also sleep more.â
Your shoulders slump in defeat.
The conversation had been going so well.
âI sleep plenty.â You argue.
âYou averaged five hours and forty-one minutes over the last seven days.â
The spoon nearly slips from your hand.
âCan you stop tracking my sleeping habits?â Your voice drips with indignation.Â
âYou are tired.â It retorts at once. âTired humans make poorer dietary decisions.â
âWho isnât in this day and age?â
âWell, you are more tired than most people.â It barks back, agitated.
You are beginning to suspect that the Entityâs only hobby is monitoring your wellbeing with a level of dedication that borders on the absurdâand absolutely no sense of when to mind its own business.
Maybe you should introduce it to birdwatching next.
It becomes obvious that it also reacts to the people surrounding you. Not in anything you could immediately point to as proof, but small inconveniences cluster around certain names, voices, intrusions that are not physically present in the apartment and yet somehow seem to have been catalogued all the same.
At first you tell yourself it must be a series of coincidences.
A delayed train to go back home for Thanksgiving, forcing you to text your family that you wonât make it. A rooftop bar reservation that gets cancelled just as youâre getting ready to leaveâthe kind of place you were going to with old friends who insisted it was âimportant to catch up properly.â Plans with people you actually like quietly unraveling at the edges, and conversations turning into vague reschedules that never settle into anything concrete, leaving your evenings empty at home.
The pattern becomes harder to ignore.
You finally connect the dots thanks to Steve.
Youâve been seeing each other for a few weeks, nothing serious yet, though that feels less and less accurate when your evenings keep turning into phone calls that stretch far longer than either of you originally intended.
Itâs late in the afternoon and you are talking to him while tidying the living room, the conversation drifting effortlessly as you gradually stop dusting and end up leaning against the couch, your cheeks hurting from how much you have been smiling.
Dating comes easy with someone as sweet and kind as Steve. You always feel a little lighter after spending time with him.
Perhaps thatâs why he becomes an obstacle to remove.
â... and then she told me I should apologize to her cat.â
You chuckle. âWhat? Why?â
âApparently me stating I have a dog offended him.â
After your laugh fades, your mouth parts to answer with a story of your own about disastrous first dates, when the call abruptly ends.
It doesnât crackle, it simply cuts off. One moment Steve is speaking, the next there is silence.
You check the screen with astonishment written all over your face, and sure enough there is only your wallpaper staring back at you.
Your stomach twists with a familiar, uncomfortable feeling.
Slowly, you lower the phone, and thatâs when it registers that the apartment has been quiet for a while.
Too quiet.
âThat puny boy is annoying.â
Your brow lifts skeptically. Steve Rogers is many things, but âpuny boyâ is definitely not the first word that comes to mind when talking about him. The man has shoulders that deserve their own zip code.
You huff out a weary breath. âWhat did you do this time?â
âI ended the interaction.â
The answer is tinted with poorly concealed smugness, not a single attempt to hide what it has doneâand itâs that stupid brashness wrapped in the arrogant conviction of always being right, that makes fury flare in your chest.
Your grip tightens around your phone.
âI noticed.â You smile caustically. âCare are to explain why?â
âThe call had continued long beyond necessity.â
The scoff leaves your mouth before you can stop it. âSince when do you decide what is necessary in my relationships?â
âThe puny human was occupying your attention.â
âWe were having a conversation.â You state tartly.
âYou have many conversations.â
âSo what?â
âThey occur too frequently.â
You blink at the wall, utterly flabbergasted by its impudence.
âAre you kidding me?â You chuckle drily, no traces of humor in it. âYou were jealous of Steve andâand your solution was to violate my privacy and go through my fucking phone?â
Your arms rise in a gesture of helpless disbelief, only to drop again by your sides a second later. âWhat are you? Six?â
âHe occupies a disproportionate amount of your time.â
âI like him.â You fire back.
âHe is temporary.â
The answer comes out as a roar that makes you flinch instantly. Anger evaporates, leaving behind a cold, hollow feeling beneath your ribs.
âHe is temporary.â The Entity repeats calmly this time, as if the statement has already been settled rather than offered for discussion. âYou have known him for weeks.â
There is a brief pause before it continuesâstill unhurried, still confident in its presumption.
âI have known you longer.â
The words are final in a way that doesnât invite contradiction.
The dreadful realization that this fragile boundary between you had been crumbling day after day without you noticing makes it impossible to keep your voice steady.
âYou donât get to decide who matters to me.â
The apartment shiftsânot physically, or visiblyâbut it feels like the air has suddenly reoriented toward the sound of your voice.
âI do not decide who matters to you.âÂ
A pause follows, strategic.
âI only decide what enters my domain.â
The apartment is not a place it inhabits, but a condition that defines what can be present within it. And for the first time, the implication is not about Steve at all, or any of the other people the Entity has quietly pushed to the edges of your life.
Itâs about you.
âThis apartment is not your domain.â You swallow, forcing the trembling out of your words.
âIt contains you.â
Your stomach churns so harshly you feel like vomiting at how completely unremarkable the Entity seems to find its reasoning.
There is something profoundly unsettling about its inability to separate you from the spaces you occupy, the people you interact with, or the things that demand your attention. Everything collapses into the same category, tied together by the simple fact that it exists in relation to you, and therefore falls under the quiet assumption that it has the right to interfere.
And judging by the calm confidence in its voice, itâs a belief that has been festering in the background for a very long time, undisturbed. As though the boundary between what it assumes and what you are has never been particularly solid to begin with.
Your grip on the phone hardens until your fingers ache against its hard edges.
âYou canât sabotage every relationship I have.âÂ
âThat assumes they were ever stable to begin with.â
There was never anything meaningful enough to protect in the first place, only shifting connections that held for a while or failed on their own terms. And yet your life has been reshaped so nothing ever keeps you away for long, every little detail arranged so the roots of its sick devotion can sink deeper and deeper into your existence until eventually youâll stop leaving.
You are living your days bounded by a mere, temporary concession of freedom, because the Entity has already gathered what serves its purpose.
The rest is nothing but a speck of dust meant to aimlessly wander across the vastness of the universe.
Itâs a system that you reject but now find yourself placed inside regardless. The center of it all.
Itâs the day you meet with Wanda that you really understand how deep the Entityâs visceral attachment to you goes.
Your friend comes over on a Saturday afternoon after several weeks of failed attempts to meet up. The visit is long overdue, and you spend most of it moving between rooms while talking about work, mutual friendsâ life updates, and whatever gossip has accumulated since the last time you saw each other.
For the first hour everything feels normal enough that you almost forget about the presence woven through the concrete. You are halfway through making coffee when the conversation stops abruptly. At first you assume Wanda is checking her phone, but the silence feels unnatural.
When you step out of the kitchen, you find her standing near the entrance with an expression you cannot immediately identify.
She is confused, almost distractedâthe way people look when they walk into a room with purpose only to forget why.
âWanda?â
She blinks as if woken up by a dream, instantly meeting your worried gaze.
âHm?â
You frown. âYou okay?â
âYeah.â The answer comes a little too quickly as she nods frantically.
Her gaze then drifts upward again, lingering on the ceiling for a moment before returning to you.
She titters as she lightly shakes her head. âThis is going to sound stupid.â
An unpleasant sensation tugs at your chest.
âWhat is?â You ask thinly.
Wandaâs lips open and close once, as if something is holding her back.
âDo you ever feel like someoneâs⊠watching you?â
For a second your heart forgets how to beat, but you eventually manage a strangled laugh.
âNo?â The word sounds more like a question than an answer.
âItâs not bad,â she clarifies apprehensively. âI donât know how to explain it. It just feels likeâŠâ She trails off, shrugging at last. âLike thereâs someone else here.â
You stare at her and Wanda stares back for a quiet, uncomfortable minute, before her eyes briefly land on the cups waiting on the table, and everything is forgotten.
But your friendâs laugh is less loud, shorter. Her attention keeps wandering, and more than once you catch her glancing at empty corners as though she expects something to be standing there.
She leaves nearly an hour earlier than planned.
The excuse she gives you sounds legitimate. The timing does not.
You stand on the threshold long after she disappears down the hallway before slowly closing the door, your forehead briefly resting on the wooden surface as you let out a tired sigh.
âYou dislike her.â
You roll your eyes, straightening up. âYouâre slipping. Wanda is one of my closest friends.âÂ
âYour interactions are infrequent.â
âWeâve known each other for eight years,â you reply promptly, a faint edge to your voice now. âWe donât need to talk every day for our friendship to be real.â
The Entityâs voice is pensive. âShe occupies little of your time.â
âAgain, thatâs not how friendship works.â You huff, busying yourself with the dirty cups on the table.
âProximity is important.âÂ
You let out a short, disbelieving breath.
âFriendship isnât defined by how often someone is physically or temporally close to me.â
âYours is an inconsistent system, then.â It concludes and you let the cups fall into the sink with a loud clank.
âWhat exactly is your criteria for liking people?â This time the question is not tinted with accusation so much as worn down into something closer to fatigue. You turn around, this time directly staring at the wall.
Arguing definitions with something that doesnât operate like a human being is starting to feel pointless.
The answer takes longer this time.
âNot believing in the arrogant presumption that they could take you away from me. The delusion that something so small, so transient, could ever lay claim to what is mine is preposterous.â It states at last.
In some distant, irrational corner of your mind, the words feel familiar enough to not shock you anymore. But the clinical insolence, and how strongly it believes it has the right to make such a claim, is revolting.
It simply exists in it the way breath exists in you, natural and unquestioned.
You exhale sharply, jaw tightening as your teeth press hard enough to ache.
âAnd what makes you think you have any claim over me at all?â The words come out strained, held together by effort rather than control.
The silence that follows presses into your skin like the walls have leaned in a fraction closer.
The answer has always been in front of you, itâs only a matter of when you will surrender to it.
Some tv series you picked up days ago and barely remember choosing plays at low volume on the television. The voices rising and falling should be comforting, but their rhythm isnât quite landing anywhere inside you. You still keep your gaze on the scene out of habit, hoping that alone might eventually turn into genuine engagement.
You have been repeating that to yourself for almost two hours.
You shift on the couch once, then again almost immediately after. Your shoulders settle, then lift. Your back presses into the cushions and then pulls away, searching for a version of contact that actually feels like it belongs to you.
Everything is technically fineâthe room is warm, the couch is comfortable, the apartment quiet except for the showâbut your skin feels strangely hot, too aware of itself, like it canât stop registering the absence of something your brain refuses to name directly.
You cross your arms loosely, then uncross them again just to feel something brush against your hardened nipples under your camisole. The strong urge to have something hard and definite pressed against your body instead of this drifting tension that never fully resolves, is driving you mad.
Your thighs press together without much thoughtâa slow, instinctive squeeze that makes your breath hitch when you remember you havenât worn anything underneath in hopes of getting some sort of stimulation against your clit.
It ends up being a useless attempt to soothe the arousal, because it only sharpens the need to take care of the ache in your core.
You let your leg bounce once against the couch cushion, then still it, then start again a moment later.
The Entity has altered your life completely. Privacy is no longer a clean boundary, but something porous that breathes back. It has turned upside-down the way you exist inside your own space, despite your earlier belief that you could simply ignore it and carry on as usual.
Some nights the fire licking at your insides becomes too unbearable, but a part of you keeps pulling back at the last secondâthe sole idea of being fully exposed to its monstrous eyes while having a dildo plunging in and out of your pussy makes your guts contort with shame.
Your mental health is on the line, because it leaves you suspended in this strange, unnerving stateârestless, alert, never fully grounded in anything else.
So your body keeps searching for relief in innocent motions.
You shift again, sinking deeper into the couch, then slide slightly forward. One arm presses into your side and your breath catches once, shallow and unexpected.
The television continues without caring whether youâre following it or not. A scene changes. A line of dialogue lands but leaves no imprint.
After a while, you stop trying.
Your attention slips away from the screen entirely as your hand instinctively reaches for your phone on the coffee table. The cushions dip as you shift your weight again, abandoning any effort at sitting properly.
You lie down, hoping to find a little comfort in a less rigid position. One leg lifts and settles over the back of the couch while the other bends a little, enough to plant your foot securely on the soft cushions.
Instagram feeds you fragments of other peopleâs lives: house tours, obnoxious laughter, delicious recipes, cleaning reels, captions you donât read all the way through. Your thumb moves automatically, pulling you further down the stream.
It seems to work, finally granting you some sort of reprieve, until a sharp gasp claws out of your throat.
The room sinks into darkness as the TV screen goes black, but the shock is soon replaced by a thrill of fear as something brushes your ankle. Itâs a slick, cold contact that makes you flinch violently. When you look down, your vision catches on movement that doesnât belong in the geometry of the room, emerging from beneath the couch as if the floor itself has opened to grant it access.
Your limbs stay frozen as oxygen gets stuck in your throat. Your eyes lock on the tentacle, wide and unblinking, because looking away means potentially giving it the chance to attack you.
Your voice is shaking with worry when you decide to ask for help.
âPlease tell me this your doing.â
The Entity answers immediately, the sound not arriving from any clear direction.
âYes, that is mine. You do not need to worry.â
Your shoulders relax at once.
âWhat the hell happened to you?â You frown, because your brain reaches for the closest thing it can tolerate. âDid you turn into the kraken all of a sudden?â
The subtle recoil from the tentacle somehow reads as disdain.
âThat insignificant squid with delusions of grandeur?â It growls, voice dripping with contempt. âDonât lump me with that drooling, crude imitation ever again.â
Despite the shock still lingering, you snicker at the pure pique in its words.
You hum, shaking your head slightly. âMy bad, Squidward.â
With a loud squeal, you find yourself dragged down until youâre fully lying on your back again, this time both of your thighs bent and spread open by two tentacles tightly wrapped around your ankles that keep you still and exposed.
âQuiet.â
Your heartbeat rings loudly in your ears. âNot my fault you decided to go all octopus on me.â You choke out, a mix of excitement and anticipation swirling wildly in your lower belly.
âThat is because I know you enjoy it.â
Oh, you knew that tentacle-shaped dildo in the back of your closet would come back to bite you in the ass some day.
âOkay!â You loudly draw the word out, already feeling a familiar heat crawl up your neck. âCare to explain what exactly is going on?â
âYou are not stable.â
Your left eyebrow lifts in perplexity at the ceiling. âExcuse me?â
âI feel your restlessness.â It hums. âIt gets stronger day after day. Something is bothering you.â
You frown. âSo?â
âI know what it is that makes you fidget like a little, frightened bunny.â Your eyes widen. âAnd I can help you.â
That earns it a short, disbelieving chortle.
âJesus Christ,â you drag a hand over your face. âOkay, IâI canât believe Iâm really going to say it.â You mutter to yourself.
âWhatever, okay. Letâs see what you got, big guy, since you apparently have all the answersâoh.â
Two other tentacles peek out from under the couch, thicker than the ones wrapped around your ankles. You canât really tell their colorâperhaps a shade close to dark teal, bordering on blackâthe only source of light being the moon shining through the open curtains and the weak glow of the city lights in the distance.
Surely, being spread open by your filthiest fantasy is not helping you keep a clear head.Â
The two curious appendages stop by your stomach to kiss the soft skin with gentle caresses through the flimsy fabric of your camisole. Your breath catches in your throat when the tips teasingly graze your turgid nubs, but before a pathetic plea can fall from your lips, they wrap around your wrists to slowly guide both arms over your head.
Their hold is firm but not brutish as they keep them anchored against the cushion.
âWhatââ The word fades into a soft gasp as two thinner tentacles slide up your legs before trailing under the hem of your camisole.
âYou constantly squeeze your thighs. I am simply helping you soothe the ache.â
Your eyes roll back at the simple yet suggestive explanation, your mouth forming a perfect circle as each one of the appendages finally takes hold of your breasts, their tips flicking your erected nipples with slow, sensual motions.
âYou are⊠delightful to touch.â
âThanks?â You frown in mild confusion, already panting from the playful touches against your tits.
âAnd beautiful.â It contemplates almost absently. âFor a puny human, you have a stunning body.â
âYou sure know how to woo a girl.â You answer drily, huffing out a strained chuckle.Â
âI apologize. I am not quite acquainted with this.â
âThis as in⊠?âÂ
âSex.â
Your eyes widen, before a sly smirk brightens your features. âAre you saying that meâa lowly, puny humanâis going to take the big, mean krakenâs virginity?â
âStop associating me with that unintelligent abomination!â The voice roars disgusted, a new tentacle lightly smacking your thigh. âI am a cosmic entity. And sex is a foreign concept to us: we do not reproduce, nor feel the need to pleasure ourselves.â
Your witty answer falls short when small, hard suction cups graze your clit through the light fabric of your shorts. The movement prompts you to thrust your hips up, and the tentacle responds in earnest, steadying itself to allow you to hump its surface as more tentacles slither up to rub your hips.
It exhales shakily. âI would like to see it.â
âHm?â You moan quietly, too lost into the heavenly, throbbing sensation in your core to pay attention.
âThis curious, warm spot.â The tentacle against your clit twitches. âYour hidden treasure. Its smell is celestial whenever you wake up sweaty and whimpering in the middle of the night, my little star. Did you know that? Did you know how hard it is to ignore your pretty, little cries?â
You whimper at the raw need in its voice. âYou mean my pussy? Iâm all yours, honey.â
It seems to appreciate your answer since the tentacles restraining your limbs immediately tighten their hold on you.
âYour clothes are in the way.â
âLet go of my wrists for a sââ The sound of fabric tearing leaves you gaping.Â
When you glance down, you immediately catch two thick tentacles releasing the ruined fabric of your camisole. It now hangs pathetically by the short sleeves around your shoulders. The appendages already teasing your breasts can finally move across your naked chest, patiently yet freely. You canât prevent the loud moan that claws out of your throat at the lewd sight of those two slimy limbs wrapped around your tits, prompting you to push your chest into their touch.Â
You toss your head back when the suction cups finally attach themselves to your nubs, steadily sucking on it. Itâs not entirely similar to a human mouth, not only because of the texture borders on rubbery, but also because of their colder temperature that feels surprisingly pleasant against your stiff nipples.
A string of wanton sounds falls from your parted lips as they alternate gentle strokes to playful, harsher tugs that leave you gasping for more.
âMay I?â It strains out, two tentacles slightly pulling at the hem of your shorts.
âPlease.â You moan.
With a mere tug, the sides of your bottoms rip into two perfect halves, and the fabric is abandoned under your ass.Â
The tentacles holding your ankles finally spread your legs wider with an enthusiastic pull as every limit has finally been annihilated.
âOh.â
You giggle at the amazed tilt in its voice.Â
âI have never seen anything like this before.â
You jolt as the cold tips of two thin, smaller tentacles unexpectedly brush against your inner thighs, lazily sliding forward until they take hold of your folds, parting them delicately as if afraid you might break.
âYour pussy is very prettyâ It hums. âIt is glistening.â
âThank you.â You breathe out, still squirming at the stinging sensation of the tentacles playing with your chest.
Silence engulfs the space as the Entity stills you completely, admiring the way your core shines beautifully with the mess you made with your slick. The tentacles still trace your folds leisurely, enjoying the smooth, wet texture.
At some point, they start toying with your hole, letting their tip slowly breach it only for the creature to marvel at how it flutters in response. Furthering its inspection, the tip of an appendage kisses your clit, using some of your slick to get your nub wet.
You gasp as it rubs your arousal through your folds with slight pressure, prompting the Entity to release a low, unconscious hum. It is more than satisfied with the sloppy sounds that bounce off the walls along with your hushed whimpers.
As the strokes of its tentacles turn more intense, the urge to feel it inside you becomes utterly oppressive. You donât know if it is trying to tease you relentlessly, or perhaps if the curiosity it feels towards your body is genuine, wishing to take its time to study your reactionsâfrom your cute sounds to the way you tense and squirm under its tender touches.
âSublime.â It whispers. You squeak in response, writhing in its firm hold.
âSettle down, my little star.â It grumbles. âI am going to give you what you have been craving very soon.â
You nod eagerly, a cry erupting from your throat as the other appendage puts more pressure on your throbbing clit, the suction cup following the example of the two tentacles abusing your nipples by steadily tightening and releasing your nub.
Despite its weird, unique texture, it still feels like a mouth suckling on your clit.
âMust you move so much?â
âIt feelsââ You almost choke on your own saliva. âSo good.â Your eyes squeeze close.
âOh, my darling. You are such a vision.â
Your hips attempt to chase the stimulation, yet there are other appendages already emerging from different sides of the couch to carefully wrap around every exposed inch of your body, until you are forced to lie spread and still for the Entity to turn you into its personal fucktoy.
âFuck.â You whisper, panting at the pure display of dominance.
The fact that you are fully restrained and exposed for this unknown, powerful creature to do as it pleases should terrify youâconsidering the sick obsession for you it flaunts so proudly.
Yet here you are, pliant and eager for it to finally lose control and possess you.
âThat is indeed what I plan to do with you, lovely.â
âOh, please.â Your teeth sink into your bottom lip to unsuccessfully stop a shameless whine.
âYou are an impatient little thing.â It chuckles eventually.
You would love to wipe the smugness out of its voice, see its tentacles flinch in disdain at another one of your silly nicknames, but then a smaller appendage joins the one that has been gently working on your clit and the two focus on two different rhythms, alternating quick, flicking motions to slow, intense sucks.
âOh God.â You squeak, letting your head fall limp to the side.Â
âI could spend an eternity buried in your little treasure and still, it would not be enough.â The voice grunts. âSing for me, my little star.â
All it takes is the suction cups on your nipples tugging at the sensitive flesh for you to come. Your climax is so intense that your mouth opens around a loud, raw moan, your vision momentarily fading out as your body attempts to arch into the wicked stimulation.
âGorgeous.â It marvels. âI need more.â
Your eyes widen as your pussy is lavished with attention by several more tentacles tracing your folds, forcing you into that delicious state of perpetual pleasure.
With rapid and decisive movements, the Entity quickly drives you over the edge over and over again, leaving you flinching pathetically in its hold, your muscles tensing up so often that you feel a faint ache throbbing in your tendons.
The appendages on your breasts are still eager on your tender nipples, abusing them with their suckling motion and cruel flickers.
âLooking at you makes it difficult to believe anything else deserves attention, little star. I apologize but I will never tire of your sweet sounds. You are ravishing when you surrender to pleasure.âÂ
âI canâtââ You sob, finally being granted a moment to breathe as a thin tentacle slides up your neck to catch the tears threatening to spill, lovingly stroking your cheeks and your damp forehead as you sniffle.Â
Your eyes briefly roll back as those two sneaky tentacles keep your clit wet and sensitive, electricity running through your veins as your hips hopelessly jerk against the Entityâs appendages trapping your lower half.
âDo you wish to stop, pretty thing?â
âNo! No please.â You cry out, your eyes instantly snapping open. âJustâneed you inside, please.â A mewl falls from your lips at the gentle pressure on your hole.
You briefly catch something moving in your peripheral vision, and when your head turns, your heart almost stops at the sight of a new, perfectly thick tentacle emerging solemnly from underneath the couch. Its bumps and ridges are far more numerous and prominent than the ones scattered across the others.
âI know you are fond of certain⊠sizes.â
You whine, before something crucial finally dawns on you.
âWâwhatâs your name?â
It seems taken aback. âMy nameâŠâ It muses. âIt is too difficult for humans to pronounce, little star.â
âWhat should I call you then?â
âFor now,â you moan shamelessly at the sensation of being finally filled. âI want to hear you scream for me.â
The appendage works inside you, the ridges a pleasant addition as they stroke along your walls in a steady motion while it carefully feeds you of its length.
âMore.â You whimper.
âHm?â
âGive me more.â Crying out, your hips attempt to thrust up.
Huffing a chuckle, the Entity manifests a few smaller tentacles that carefully push inside you along the bigger one, each of them focusing on a new spot to rub. Your eyes cross in bliss at the incredible feeling of being so stretched. The fullness is almost absurd, to the point that you briefly wonder if your body is going to explode at some point, all burning and taut as you feel trapped in an endless orgasm.
The depravity of being restrained and pounded by a mess of eager tentacles right in the middle of your living room only makes you moan louder.
âYou have to be quieter, little star. Someone might hear you.â
The urge to chortle and reply with something sarcastic is strong, but right now you can barely recognize your surroundings.
âThere could be the entire building watching me from the window for all I know and I still wouldnât give a fuck.â You breathe out.
A wail roughly makes its way out of your chest when the little suction cups tug at your nipples harshly, the length of the appendages curling around the flesh of your breasts to fondle and squeeze them together.Â
The Entity lets out a growl so guttural it makes your bones shake.Â
Your breath catches when something slimy brushes over your bottom lipâanother tentacle, quite thick but not like the one thrusting inside you.Â
âOpen.â
You obey at once, parting your mouth as it doesnât waste any time to slip inside. Its motions are less harsh compared to the Entityâs possessive tone, and that allows your lips to wrap around it and suck at your own pace.
âI warned you before I would harm other beings if necessary.â It starts, your body tingling as the hair on the back of your neck raises at its baritone echoing right into your ear.Â
The large tentacle around your waist tightens, almost protectively.Â
âI will rip the flesh and feast on the bowels of anyone who dares to touch you.â The Entityâs tentacles inside your pussy pick up their pace, furious and wild, eliciting a string of loud moans out of you that get promptly muffled by the appendage curiously exploring your tongue.
âI love watching pleasure consume you, my lovely, beautiful creature.â It grunts. âYou are perfect. So soft, and wet and warm.â It blabbers, as delirious as you.
A low moan quietly resounds in the living room as it plunges in and out of your pussy while the other tentacles work in unison to send you over the edge, never stopping their unforgiving twists and sucking on your nipples and clit until you are thrown back into pure and utter ecstasy.
âYou are coming, right? I can feel your pretty pussy clench around me.â The tentacle inside your hole gently whirls as it slides in and out.
âI am going to mark you so deep with my essence that every being, mortal and celestial, will know not to challenge my claim on you.â
The Entity gasps as the tentacles holding and fucking you suddenly tense up, trembling and pulsing. It roars, the sound so primal it travels deep into your bones till it reaches the tips of your nerves.Â
The warm, viscous liquid filling you initially catches you by surprise. Then, you eagerly accept it as if youâve been craving it for eons, doing your best to relax your throat to accommodate the spasming tentacle.
The one on your clit moves harder and faster, clearly determined to break you completely.
You keep shuddering in sensitivity, yet the tentacles avidly work one last time to make the unbearable tension in your lower belly snap.
You shriek around the slimy flesh stuffing your mouth, not even noticing the smaller appendage that comes up to stroke your cheek, as though to calm you down. The other tentacles cling onto you, tightening their hold in tenderness to keep you safe throughout the burning climax that shatters the only ounce of composure you had left.Â
Only when your body ceases its severe shaking, leaving you pliant and drenched in sweat, the Entity eases its grasp. The skin of your cheeks is gently held as the tips of two more appendages wipe away the tears the moment the tentacles leave your pussy.
The others begin a soft kneading motion on the sore muscles of your legs as the ones previously attached to your clit curiously brush your puffy folds, marveling at its cum steadily running down your hole and inevitably dirtying your ruined shorts.
You barely have any energy left to notice the deep ache in your joints when the Entity guides your arms back by your sides and your legs on the couch. Still, you try to control your stuttering breath as those two sneaky appendages keep stimulating you in tender curiosity.
âRest, little star.â
You lazily blink at the ceiling, startled that your eyes had been closed this whole time.Â
Speechless, your ears and mouth both feel like theyâve been stuffed with cotton wool. âHuh?â
âRest, little star.â It purrs, still caressing your sides, adoration dripping from each reverent touch.Â
âYou are safe with me here.â
The next morning, you wake with a small smile already tugging at your lips and your body still pleasantly sore from the night before. The memories linger a little more before consciousness can interfereâthe beautiful sense of fullness, the phantom ache of being held firmly in place without needing to understand the technicalities, the solid warmth curled around you in the aftermath.
Itâs only when you open your eyes that you notice the unusual quiet.
You lie still for a moment longer than necessary with bated breath, because some part of you is already reaching for that familiar presence that always lingers somewhere at the edge of your awareness. But you canât find it.
You sit up almost lethargically, expecting the feeling to return now that youâre properly awake. The apartment is exactly as it should be, unchanged in every single detail, and somehow that only makes the emptiness beneath your ribs harder to ignore.
Of course you assume it will return, so you start your morning, anticipating the Entity to pop out anytime as you eat breakfast.
But the coffee grows cold in your mug. The television drones quietly in the background. The sunlight shifts across the apartment as the hours go by... And still nothing.
Usually, its silences never feel truly empty. Even when it isnât speaking, there is always the certainty that it is there with you.
This is different.
And thatâs where everything begins to change.
The next day arrives with a kind of stubborn normality that feels almost insulting.
You wake again hopeful that the absence might have been temporary, something that would fix itself the way it should. But the same void is still there.
What unsettles you the most is not the loss itself but the way your thoughts keep skirting around it, never lingering for too long, as though looking at it directly might break you completely.
It hurts to acknowledge the small pauses between actions, the moments where you find yourself waiting for something to talk, and then realize, too late, that there is nothing to respond at all.
Each time it happens, it leaves behind a faint sting of embarrassment.
By the fourth day, the idea that something was there starts to feel like a version of events that only exists because you keep brooding over it, even when everything around you refuses to support it.
You keep turning moments inside out, trying to hold them in place, but they slip out of reach as soon as you look at them too closely.
It feels like a stab behind your ribs, because your memories of it are no longer anchored to anything that could confirm its existence.
There are moments when anger comes out of nowhere, sharp and ugly, usually when you catch yourself waiting again without meaning to. It feels ridiculous, humiliating even, reacting so strongly to something that simply left without a word.
That feeling turns quickly inward, because there is nothing else to blame that makes sense.
Only you.
After several days, its memory trails after you like a ghostâquiet enough to ignore for a while, but never far enough to forget.
You work, eat, sleep, and in between, there is always that quiet, painful feeling of something missing.
Gradually, you accept that it is not going to return. Not because you have figured some big mystery out, but because the waiting has sunk its poisonous teeth into you. It feeds on every quiet moment, contaminating every stray thought, gnawing steadily at your sanity, rotting the vulnerable parts of your life.
Day by day, it consumes you out from the inside, leaving behind a space shaped entirely by its hunger.
At the end of the second week, the silence has become ordinary in a way that almost convinces you it was always like this. The version of events where something had been present starts to feel increasingly difficult to defend, even in the privacy of your own mind.
Itâs only later that reality bursts in a way you cannot ignore anymore.
You are standing there, knife in hand, your movements automatic as you work over the cutting board, when something inside you finally tears loose, so violent that even breathing results painful.
Your movements slow without permission, until they stop completely.
For a long, horrible moment your still body exists in a space that feels suddenly foreign. Your eyes stare blankly at the counter as your vision quickly blurs. You blink once, sharply, hoping that it would fix it, but it doesnât. Only then something wet falls on your cheek.
You let out a short, disbelieving huff.
âShit.â You swallow thickly, but the word comes out wrongâthin, strangled. âWhat the fuck is wrong with me.â
You press the heels of your hands briefly against your eyes as if that could physically push the tears back into place. If anything, it only makes it worse, the lump in your throat growing heavier with every second.
âThis is pathetic.â You whimper, not sure whether the anger is aimed at yourself or at the situation.
Or at the fact that there is no situation at all.
Because there is nothing to justify this.
Nothing that should be making you cry in the middle of making dinner on a random Friday night.
You let out a sharp laugh, but it breaks halfway through.
âIâm actually losing it.â You sniffle.
Standing there with your breath uneven and your face still wet, your hands wipe your cheeks a little too roughly.
Your attention goes back to the cutting board, as if resuming the task might finally steady that precarious balance youâve been clinging to for days, but your hands donât immediately follow. They hoverâuncertain, trembling.
And beneath all of it, there is still that absenceâhollow and impossible to proveâpressing against the inside of your awareness, a dull ache lodged in your chest that no amount of distraction can soothe.
The next week is quieter.
You stop revisiting it. There is no point in chasing something that leaves only pain behind.
Youâre not waiting anymore, not voluntarily at least. You still pause sometimes in doorways, still find yourself listening into empty rooms, but the expectation is gone. Whatâs left is only habit.
You eat because Tony still needs your help keeping the company runningâthere are too many things that would fall apart without you.
You clean because the mess wonât clean itself.
You move because stopping would mean having to untangle what comes next, and the sole thought of facing that is akin to stepping off the edge of a cliff you canât see the bottom of.
At night, you lie in bed and stare at the ceiling for hoursânot really on purpose, sleep just evades you. When nothing happens, thereâs no disappointment. Only a bland confirmation.
The absence stops being absence, it just becomes normality again.
Because remembering hurts more than letting go.
Three months pass and you have finally taken some of the vacation days that have been accumulating in your file for months.
Well, calling it a vacation feels generous considering most of it has been spent catching up on everything you never seem to have time for while working.
Medical checkups you kept postponing. A dentist appointment for a wisdom tooth you should have booked six months ago. And then there are the usual tedious tasks: laundry, groceries, cleaning...
By all accounts, it should feel productive.
Instead, you are left drained.
You move through your days checking items off lists and running errands across the city, returning home every evening with aching feet and the vague satisfaction of having accomplished something, only to discover the feeling never lasts particularly long.
The apartment is still your favorite place. At least, you think it is. Lately, it feels less like comfort and more like retreat.
There are moments when you catch yourself staring into nothing for no reason. Moments where a pit opens somewhere in your stomach before disappearing so quickly you almost convince yourself it never happened.
You have stopped trying to understand it, though. Whatever happenedâor didnât happenârefuses to become any clearer with time.
Maybe loneliness is capable of stranger things than people give it credit for.
Maybe your mind had built something elaborate to fill a void you didnât even know was there.
Maybe thatâs why the memories still feel like a knife buried deep in your chest.
By the final day of your leave, you have mostly made peace with what your life has become.
You spend the afternoon exactly as planned: sprawled across the couch, surrounded by junk food and no obligations in sight. For the first time in weeks, there is nothing demanding your attention.
When the doorbell rings, youâre halfway through a tub of ice cream and so absorbed in the new season of Abbott Elementary that it takes you a moment to realize the sound isnât coming from the television.
You briefly assume it belongs to your phone, lost somewhere between the cushions, and decide to ignore it. You have every intention of enjoying the last few hours of freedom before returning to your personal circle of hell that is Tonyâs company.
However, after exactly one minute, the shrill sound comes back, clear and unmistakable, and now you are pushing yourself upright with a groanâyour back aches from lying there all day.
You cross the space without much urgency, immediately regretting all your life choices once you open the door in pajamas and find a handsome man standing on your doorstep.
Tall, broad-shouldered, dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a plain, dark t-shirt that perfectly hug his big, sturdy body.
He has the kind of face that would attract attention without ever seeking it. A man people notice instinctively and then spend the next several minutes pretending they havenât, because there is something eerily intimidating about a face that looks carved by the gods themselves.
His eyes catch your attention next.
Blue. Startlingly so, almost unnaturally bright, the color so vivid and intense it looks like pigment suspended beneath glass. You decide they must be contacts, because thatâs the safest explanation and your brain is gradually learning to settle into this pattern for the sake of your own sanity.
The moment he smiles, the effect is immediate.
It softens his sharp beauty, easy and unforced in a way that invites trust and warmth.
Such a shame that his presence is so staggering that you completely miss what really lies beneath the illusionâa crude imitation.
His body seems to always react a fraction later than intention: his shoulders shift a moment after his head turns and his posture corrects itself a beat too stiffly, as though alignment is a conscious reminder rather than an innate response.
When he steps forward, there is the faintest unevenness in his weight, one foot pressing down a little too carefully before the other follows. A subtle trembling persists in his legs even when standing still, his knees locking into place a second later than expected.
Even his hands donât settle easily. When they fall to his sides, a few fingers twitch and bend on their own accord before returning back to a more natural state.
âHello.â
There is something unfairly serene about his voice, just as smooth as silk.
âIâm James,â he continues. âI just moved in next door. Apartment 6B.â
The tension you hadnât noticed you were holding loosens without permission, leaving your shoulders a fraction lighter and your breath a little less controlled than it had been a moment before.
Unfortunately, you realize a moment too late that you have been staring at his gorgeous face all along.
âOhâsorry.â You let out a short, embarrassed chuckle as you shake your head. âI didnât know Ms. Esposito moved.â
The man tilts his head slightly, as if considering the name.
âMs. Esposito?â He repeats, lightly, the name seemingly not settling the way it should.
That small hesitation makes your brows knit faintly in confusion.
âYeah,â you add, half-amused. âShe lived here. Apartment 6B. I just thoughtââ
You decide to stop as his expression remains unchanged, waving your hand dismissively. âNever mind.â
Maybe they didnât have the chance to meet each other.
His gaze remains exactly where it is, fixed on your face with the same intense attentiveness as before.
The silence stretches a second longer than it should, and you find yourself shifting slightly under it.
âWell,â you start with a small titter, eager to fill the gap before it becomes too awkward. âNice to meet you, James.â
As you offer him your name, something shiftsâa subtle spasm in his features, but itâs gone in the blink of an eye.
You accept his extended hand without hesitation. His grip is warm, firm without being excessive, but there is a curious deliberateness that suggests he is paying more attention to the contact than what is socially acceptable.
You are already preparing to let go when his grip abruptly tightens around your hand, enough that the bones in your fingers press together unpleasantly. The change catches you off guard. Your breath hitches as a sharp pulse of discomfort runs up your arm, and before you can stop yourself, your gaze drops to your joined hands, noticing how his knuckles have been turning an unhealthy shade of white, bordering on dark grey.
When you look back up in confusion, your stomach gives a small, sickening lurch.
Jamesâ big smile is exactly the same, but it doesnât respond anymore. It stays frozen in place with an odd consistency, as if it has been placed there and forgotten.
You donât remember his eyes looking so... wide. His eyelids seem to draw farther and farther apart by imperceptible degrees, exposing a little more white with every passing second.
Your hand jerks in a reflexive attempt to pull away, but his grip doesnât yield. It holds with the intransigent firmness of steel, his long fingers locked around yours as though they have forgotten how to let go.
And so you remain there, forced to watch as the features of this weird stranger soften until they slowly melt out of shape.
âOh, I already know that, little star.â
â âą END NOTES: thank you so much for reading đ€ my masterlist â winteryn's masterlist
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