***
The next time Riordan woke up, he was alone again. The sheets had been changed, and he must have even been given a bath, because he was clean everywhere, and his belly had gone down a lot. It was still tender and felt larger under his fingers as he grabbed at it to check it.
That had been some serious shit Xana had pulled on him. Riordan called for Kyle. He needed the bot's help to understand what the fuck was going on with snakeboy.
"Were you the one to wash me?" Riordan asked and sat cross-legged on the bed. He no longer cared that he was naked, and Kyle was his homie, anyway. If anyone had seen him at his ugliest already, it had to be Kyle.
"No, Master Xana took care of everything. He refused my help repeatedly."
Riordan nodded, trying to make sense of what was going on with his owner. "Where is he now?"
"He said that he needed to work."
"It's almost night. What kind of work?"
"I do not have that information. If it helps, Master Rio, I think he looked troubled."
"Yeah." Riordan snorted. "He performed some kinky choking on me, so he should."
Kyle scanned his neck gently. "The traces are fading."
"You know about the choking?" Riordan asked and touched his neck self-consciously.
"Master Xana told me to make sure that you heal well and fast."
"Shit. Do you say he looked troubled? I'd say he feels guilty, the asshole," Riordan said and shook his head. "It's true that I was so high on seth at the time that he could even strangle me for good, and I couldn't care less."
"Was it so forceful?" Kyle asked. "Master Xana doesn't know his own strength."
"Obviously," Riordan said with a scoff. "Oh, shit, Kyle, I think Xana is starting to realize that his obsession with me might not be that healthy."
"It is unusual for Xenos to care so much. Even toward their offspring, they're what humans would call harsh."
"And strangling me while fucking me into tomorrow is some gentle loving, right?" Riordan shook his head. "Fuck me, why the hell did I come here?"
"I'm glad that you came here, Master Rio," Kyle said in an even voice. Still, Riordan knew that the bot meant it. "And Master Xana is glad, too."
"He won't be so glad when they whack him for liking me too much."
"I don't know what to say."
Good bot, honest to a fault.
"I don't, either, Kyle. But I'll think of something. I promise."
tbc