Chapter Text
Symbiote, or Klyntar race, was first found in 2018 by the bio-engineering corporation Life Foundation in Malaysia. The Life Foundation discovers a comet covered in symbiotic life forms. The probe returns to Earth with four samples, but one escapes and causes the ship to crash. Then they recover the other three and transport them to their research facility in San Francisco, where they discover that the symbiotes cannot survive without oxygen-breathing hosts, which often fatally reject the symbiosis. Causing the symbiotes to basically just eat the host from the inside out.
But after the fall of the Life Foundation in Riot incident, killing off the CEO, Carlton Drake, the experiments were stopped. At least on the surface.
Illegal symbiote to be used both as slaves for the rich and dangerous people and/or for experiments are still going on until now, and it spreads through the whole globe, not just in San Francisco city. The well-known underworld labs and blackmarkets are located in Hiroshima (Japan), Guangzhou (China), Vranje (Serbia), Perm (Russia), Sofia (Bulgaria), Copenhagen (Denmark), Banjarmasin (Indonesia), New Delhi (India), Adelaide (Australia), Khartoum (Sudan), and finally the newest one, Hua Hin (Thailand).
Dr. Pat Kittisawat was one of the leading scientists in this million-dollars project which was funded by an anonymous resource. The only thing that can be found about this project was that the one symbiote sample he got and experimented with was from the underground lab in Guangzhou (China).
The first thing he learned about the symbiote was that its name was Honey. The second thing he learned was that it was impossible for a symbiote to evolve further on its own without oxygen-breathing hosts. And the third and final thing he learned was that it was possible for a symbiote to procreate with a human.
It was the final thing that he could learn after falling in love with what, no, with who was supposed to be only his test subject and fell in love the second time with their children. After that, his only choice was obvious, too obvious for anyone who saw how successful the both of them were in creating, not just one, but two symbiotes who can survive on earth without having any host and were able to maintain their own physical human body and their symbiotic form. If anyone were to hear about this breakthrough, their children wouldn’t be able to have freedom, not even after death. Even their corpses will still be used and experimented on.
There was no other choice. Honey, too, understood his choice and supported him right by his side. They together made the decision to burn everything down to ashes. The notes, the results, people who knew about this experiment and lab, everything. Everything had to be burned to ashes to avoid anyone knowing about the existence of their children.
And if they had to sacrifice themselves for their children’s future, then so be it.
Yes, they might be worried about how their children will survive without them but they’ll survive, they’ll be okay. Pat himself knew that there are still kind people in this world. Someday his children will find it too. The people who love them and the people who they love.
He just hoped that they would find it sooner rather than later, he thought as he burned beside the love of his life, holding each other tightly, not letting go even in death.
They had a lot of regret but choosing to free their children from their bleak fate was not one of them. Honey by herself might be strong, since she was an alien species with monstrous attributes, but it was Pat who supported her from behind and beside her so that everything was completely and utterly destroyed. He hoped his children would be able to find someone like that.
He hoped. He hoped a lot. Because that, too, was the only thing that he could do in this situation as he returned to ash and dust along with his beloved.
Many, many, many years later.
The night is still young in Bangkok. The clubs and bars are in their peak hours, where everyone is up and about on the dance floor after several shots of vodka or their other chosen poison for the night. For the new and oblivious ones, they will think that it's impossible and too early for crimes to happen. For others, those who understand Bangkok’s nightlife and darkside, they will steer clear from any empty backalley of some loud clubs or bars. Because that’s the prime spot for anything to happen. Close enough to the crowd for people to let down their guards, but yet not close enough for anyone to notice or even catch sight of any crimes that may currently be happening.
Behind the Hum Bar is exactly that kind of place.
Bone crunching sounds and muted screams are being drowned by whatever loud music is being played inside. Blood splatters everywhere on the ground. But nothing that can’t be cleaned with some good chemicals and a metal scrub.
A bunch of dark matter can be seen on the alley’s walls; it could’ve passed as a shadow of some man, if it weren’t for the huge monstrous pearly-white teeth and the long giant tongue to match.
After chewing the woman’s whole head along with her brain and all, Porsche swallows what’s in his mouth before continuing to chew and crunch his way on the rest of the body until there is nothing left aside from a pair of bloodied heels on the floor.
Then he leans back on the wall to savor the flavor in his mouth and tongue. His kind doesn’t really need to eat to survive but that’s because they can only survive inside an oxygen-breathing host, unlike Porsche who won the genetic roulette and is able to survive without any host, plus he also has his own human form. Perfect disguise to blend in with other humans. Though it’s a bit of a pain having to feed himself constantly, he’ll take that over being dependent on any human host.
He dislikes humans. Yes, only dislikes, because despite him encountering and remembering those despicable humans all through his childhood, he also found humans who are kind, like, Yok is kind to him, Jom and Tem are also kind to him. So, dislike, it is.
He does have a kind of human he hates though. He hates those rich entitled assholes, especially those mafias and mobsters who think that they own the whole world and are allowed to do whatever they want. Especially to his kind.
He has heard from other Klyntar who he met before how those people treat his kind, either as a tool to be used or as a test subject to be experimented to their heart’s content.
Despicable. Even though his kind could’ve devoured all inhabitants on earth easily, yet those humans keep thinking that they are far more superior.
His dark matter of a body bristles and ripples in anger as he hisses and growls deep from his chest, letting his teeth show more than before, as if he is ready to chomp someone’s head off.
He was so deep in his rage that his sensitive eardrums didn’t hear the hurried footsteps and he didn’t look up until he saw a figure of a man standing a few meters across from him, mouth and eyes opening wide in surprise.
Huh, curious. Very curious.
Usually he will see both surprise and fear but he can only see surprise, like this man only expected to see someone in this almost-abandoned backalley, instead of some creature who looks like they came straight out of an dark eldritch fairy-tale.
“Well,” the pretty man in the red ombre suit begins, “You definitely don’t see that everyday.”
If Porsche was in his human form, he would probably feel some of the veins on his temple twitch. A human and definitely the rich one. His skin looks almost snow-white even in this awful lightning. His black hair, as messy as it is, still looks so soft and well-maintained, just like his whole body. And that suit looks custom made, tailored perfectly to his body.
But before Porsche can say anything back or do anything, like chomping this pretty stranger’s head off, more people run into the back alley they are in.
The pretty stranger steps back cautiously, like he doesn’t know whether he wants to ask for help from Porsche after what he just saw or to just continue running away like he did before standing still, rooted to his place from seeing Porsche’s true form. But the pretty man still doesn’t look afraid of him, just wary to some extent.
Porsche clicks his tongue in annoyance, but since he does like to save the best one for last, he makes the decision for the pretty stranger instead. Whether he will eat him too later on or not, well, that’s for him to decide after he eats all of this brains in front of him first.
He turns his face toward the group of guys chasing the pretty stranger, spreading his tendrils out and opening his mouth into a wide grin, showcasing his sharp teeth and long tongue.
Some of them are frozen and some of them turn their back, trying to run away, but Porsche just stalks forward and chuckles with his real form’s voice.
“𝘽𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙥𝙥é𝙩𝙞𝙩.”
***
“Do you want to work as my bodyguard?”
Porsche stops dead on his track to just leave the pretty man, since he is full already from all the food that he ate tonight, he doesn’t usually get to eat that much, and slitters back into the bar where he works. But then the pretty man just had to open that pretty little mouth of his.
“What?” Porsche growls out, slittering his tendrils toward the man, changing his body matter into a darker shade of black, aiming to just intimidate him into silence and away from him.
But surprise, surprise, the pretty man just looks straight at his big white eyes and teeth, clearly not amused by the power display. This pretty man must be part of the mafia then. Usually it’s their kind that can look at him in the eyes without showing any fear. Like they are used to staring death right in its eyes.
This pretty man does look the part. His tendrils continue exploring the pretty man’s body, the man stays right where he is, letting Porsche touch him curiously, until his eyes fall into the ring on the pretty man’s finger. Oh, not just any mafia member, but this pretty man is the heir.
“Played too far out of your castle, little prince?” He hisses out right in front of the pretty man’s face.
The man tilts his head to the side, humming low in his throat, accessing Porsche’s true form just like he currently does, “Everywhere in Bangkok, and to some extent, Thailand, is part of my empire. I can go wherever I want, no?”
Porsche chuckles deep and low, his rumbling voice bounces on the alley’s brick walls. Annoying as he is, this pretty man is definitely more interesting than most humans he met in his whole entire life. He even has the urge to taste that snow-white skin of his. Would he taste better than those thugs and low-lifes he just ate? Would he taste better than that girl he just fucked and ate?
True to his birth name, Porsche was never good at holding back.
He often hears, ‘Curiosity kills the cat’, but he is not a cat and he is practically indestructible by anything human-made anyway, so he stretches his tongue out, mind already set on wanting to savour the pretty man slowly.
“Is that a no? I can get you the proper papers and protection so you’ll be safe to live here if you work for me.”
Again, the pretty man’s words halted his movement, his tongue stopping just shy of that smooth pale neck the human has. His tendrils grip the pretty man’s limbs tighter than before as he frowns and moves his face instead closer to his face.
Porsche growls, not liking the implication that the pretty man is aware about how a Klyntar like him is not supposed to live free without an owner.
As if the pretty man knows what he is currently thinking, he sighs and opens his mouth, “I won’t be owning you like that. If you are working for me then I’ll own you just like I own my other staff members, on a professional level. Not a bad offer, na? I can keep a secret,” the pretty man ends his sentences with a charming little smirk, his eyes twinkling with mirth when he somehow manages to read how his offer is actually slowly starting to interest Porsche.
Porsche squints his eyes to gauge the man’s expression and whether he has any hidden agenda, “You—”
“Khun Kinn!!”
“Khun Kinn!! Where are you?!”
Several voices yelling from the outer side of the alley cut off whatever he is trying to say and surprise both of them.
Because of that, Porsche unconsciously slackens his previously tight grip on the pretty man’s limbs, making it easy for the man to just shrug his tendrils away from him and walk toward where the voices came from.
“I’m fine! Stay where you are, I’ll go to you!!” The pretty man yells back to those voices, clearly not wanting them to see whatever creature is in the back alley with him. He is pretty sure that while the Klyntar didn’t hurt him, just curiously feeling him, it might hurt any of his bodyguards who catch sight of him.
He knows the Klyntar already ate a lot but it's better to be safe than sorry later on.
He keeps walking away from the stunned Klyntar, but not before turning his head toward it, who is now already shifting back into his human form. Oh, a male. He thought Klyntars are basically genderless, it seems like they can have a gender preference too. His human form is not bad on the eyes either. Definitely a fact that he should keep in the back of his head.
Kinn smiles at the Klyntar and rests both of his hands on his hips, “Think about my offer. I’m sure you can go and find me when you have your answer, oh, and don’t worry, just like I said before, I can keep a secret for you.”
“Oh, right, I forgot to ask you something,” The pretty man said just before he turns around the corner.
Porsche raises one of his eyebrows in lieu of questioning what the pretty man is forgetting about.
“What’s your name?” The pretty man, who was called Kinn..? Yes, he is sure he heard those people outside called the pretty man Kinn, asked him.
The Klyntar tilts his head to the side, mirroring the pretty man’s gesture from earlier, muling whether he should answer him or not, but then again the man saw him in his true form first so, “Impulse. My name is Impulse.”
“Hmm. That’s a nice name,” With a twinkling chuckle, the pretty man disappears around the alley, leaving Porsche, already in his human form, standing silently as he contemplates about this weird human he just encountered.
His opinions on humans, especially the rich and the evil ones don’t change of course, but….somehow…
Somehow, he wants to make an exception for this weird pretty human.
And then there is also that fact, despite everything those kind of humans do, his offers are good. Too good for both him and Chay. But he is right of course, it's not exactly been safe for both him and his younger brother. If he does accept the pretty man’s offer, then at least, at least those pesky people from the government would stop hunting them down, he and Chay can also eat in peace. He doubts the pretty man will particularly care if they eat humans every now and then.
That’s too bad though, another thing, if he does work for the pretty man, he won’t be able to taste the man. Well, he guesses that he has to lose some and win some after all.
Tsk. Making decisions on the go impulsively like this, Chay would be absolutely furious at him.
Sandalwood scent spreads inside the large bathroom, coming from a medium sized scented candle on the side of the bathtub. The bathtub itself is filled with water, hot enough to feel pleasant for those tense muscles, and more aromatherapy bulgarian rose scents from the bubble bath soap and the bath bomb he put inside earlier. The sandalwood scent and bulgarian rose scent do pair well together, he especially loves it.
Kinn usually mixes these two scents together but now he considers to maybe customize a perfume made fully to his preferred notes.
As he stretches and relaxes his body more in the bathtub to mull about the custom perfume and to forget every shits that went down awfully this week, he can’t help but to think about the symbiote he met a few days ago. Unlike other symbiote he saw back then in San Francisco or Guangzhou, this one has his own body. No need to use a host or even use a skelethon to shape his form.
The one he saw in Guangzhou didn’t have to merge with an oxygen-breathing host, it just needed something to tether itself to, like real or fake skelethon is enough for it to create its form. But that one he met a few days ago, Impulse, he apparently doesn’t need it and yet he is still just as sturdy and indestructible as any other symbiotes.
If he does accept his offer, he really should plan on how to tackle the necessary papers and keep this particular tidbit of information unknown. It can be dangerous if words somehow got out that a symbiote managed to evolve and to survive without being dependent on its host.
He was there when Carlton Drake presented his findings and was there to witness how those journalists tried to get the truth out, but shame, he needs to go back home early that he wasn’t there to watch the lab fall into ruin.
Kinn doesn’t particularly like unnecessary violence, it might sound hypocritical to some people but he really only does things that he needed to do. If he needs to hurt or kill someone in order to oil the gears so it can move, well, then so be it. But he won’t do that if he can help it.
Oh, while he is currently thinking of difficult things, he might as well think about how he could fit Impulse in between his lines of bodyguards.
The Klyntar already has his own human form, that’s good, very convenient for both of them. But he needs to keep it that way and learn to fight like a human instead. It shouldn’t be that difficult to train him, right? After all, he began his training when he was still at primary school.
Kinn hums contemplatively as he splashes his feet around the water on the side of his feet, when suddenly he feels something sticky and gooey slithers from the tip of his toes up to his naked torso and shoulders. He tilts his head to the side and moves one of his legs up in the air, out of the water and the bubbly surface.
Huh, it seems like he has a surprise visitor.
Kinn can see a deep black gooey substance slithering on his pale white leg, moving and rippling around as if they are exploring the texture of his skin. It's a good thing that he is not particularly ticklish.
“I wasn’t expecting a guest at this hour and certainly not while I’m taking a bath,” Kinn says to black goop even when he doesn’t change his position, leaning relaxedly on the bathtub, at all. With that sentence, he can feel a blob of dark matter slithers up, feeling up his soft inner thighs, his small waist, and finally materialized into the shape of a head right on top of his chest, breaching the bubbly water surface for that white big lenses staring right in front of his face.
The head unhinged his jaw, showcasing those sharp pearly white teeth and the long tongue stretches out almost caressing his cheek. The symbiote, Impulse, seems like he likes doing that a lot. He remembers that long tongue stretching out toward his pale neck. He wonders if his rather pale skin makes him look more edible.
“Hi there, little prince,” those heavy and deep scratchy voice greets his eardrums as he stares right back at Impulse unphasedly.
Kinn hums and smiles a bit, head still tilted to the side, taking all of this unknown alien sight in front of his eyes leisurely, “Yes, hello to you too, Impulse. Or should I call you Porsche?”
Impulse squints those big lenses of his at him, then grows low from his throat as that tongue finally makes contact with his cheek before slithering around his pale throat, tipping his chin up.
“How do you know my other name?” The symbiote hisses out, feeling a bit miffed that along with the pretty man knowing his human name, he also looks unphased at what he does. Usually people would run for the hills even at the sight of his teeth when he opens his mouth in his true form. But this pretty man’s heart rate is still very much normal and there’s no fear at all in those clear dark orbs of his.
He is even more curious of how he would taste since he is very much used to the taste of fear and adrenaline in the brain of the people he ate.
Kinn just snorts at his question, “Once I see your face and see where you work, it’s not that difficult to find who you are.”
“Porsche Pachara Kittisawat, 23 years old, working as a bartender in the Hum Bar. Took a short college course before dropping out. Reason unknown. But there was a case of missing people just a few weeks before you dropped out. It might not be interesting for people who don't know about this…..particular fact of yours but I think it's quite obvious why you dropped out. Anything else I missed out?” Kinn throws a seemingly cute and innocent smile at Impulse, it’s the kind of smile that makes the symbiote somehow want to remove it by shoving his tongue in between those red lips of this annoying human.
His growls got louder as the pretty man in front of him dares to chuckle as if whatever he is doing is funny or something.
“Now, now, I’m sure you did your own research since you can correctly find my bathroom like this,” Kinn already stopped his chuckling but the amused smile still hasn't left that pretty face of his.
“I didn’t. I followed you by your presence and smell.”
Kinn widens his eyes, he was not expecting that, “Oh? What do I smell like?”
Impulse’s growl now changes into deep rumbling, almost mimicking a human hum, his tongue wraps a bit tighter around Kinn’s neck as he tips his neck up even more than before, until Kinn is basically baring his vulnerable neck all to the monstrous symbiote’s teeth.
“Like roses and this smelly water you use to take a bath,” Impulse comments, eyes not leaving the pretty man’s pretty pale neck and nonplussed expression even for a millisecond.
Kinn giggles and gladly closes his eyes as he tips his head back, leaning it on the soft pads on the bathtub that is used to rest his head.
His action seems to exhilarate the symbiote, since he can hear more of that steady rumbling sound, oh, now he can remember what it reminds him of. The rumbling sound reminds him of a purring cat sound. How cute.
“I’m sure you are not here to comment on my scent alone, yes?” Kinn starts, even as he keeps his eyes closed, “Is this a yes or a no to my previous offer?”
Impulse leans forward to whisper on the pretty man’s ear, making sure his sharp teeth grazes that pale neck slightly, “I’ll be your bodyguard, but keep your promises human, or I will eat you and all of your family members.”
Kinn lets himself shudder for a bit, feeling that sharp teeth grazing the skin of his neck ever so slightly, one wrong move and those teeth will be able to cut through his jugular and he’ll bleed to death without anyone noticing it. His lips stretch into a crazed grin as he opens his eyes.
“I’m a man of my words, don’t worry about it. I’ll keep the end of my bargain if you keep yours.”
“And what exactly is my end of the bargain, human?”
“Be my bodyguard, the human kind. I don’t want you to use this form if it’s not absolutely necessary for you.”
“What?” Impulse is so stunned that he pulls back immediately to stare at those dark orbs, searching for the truth in them.
Kinn stares back steadily, making sure he conveys everything in his eyes, “I said, I want you to be my bodyguard in your human form. It’ll be safer for you if no one knows about your true form, Porsche. I’ll refrain from calling you Impulse too as long as we’re in public.”
In his entire life, Impulse has always seen how those rich and privileged humans have been using his kind as either a slave, a living-weapon, or a test subject. He had been trying to hide himself and his brother to avoid that kind of fate and then this exact rich and privileged human wants him to hide himself and not use his true form at all?
Oh.
Ohhh.
All of his being ripples as a huge wave of want and desire spreads through him.
Curious, curious, CURIOUS, CURIOUS. And he desperately wants.
Impulse’s dark matter of a body soon fills the whole bathtub until it overflows and Kinn, the pretty man, is utterly and completely surrounded by his being.
“ ____ ”
Kinn froze for a second before the only thing that he can do to respond at what Porsche, the Klyntar, said to him, is to giggle and laugh out loud, the sound of the twinkling joy reverberating all around the bathroom walls.
Things will definitely be more interesting now.