Work Text:
Valentine shivered, the icy ground seeped into his body. The thin skin of his underbelly doing nothing to keep him warm. He was at least lucky enough to grab a jacket off one of the guards but he hadn't expected to escape to some kind of tundra, he wasn't sure where he was. Maybe this is just what the world looked like now, he wouldn't know the difference. Valentine sighed, he was going to die here. He knew it. Of course the world continued to be cruel to him, escaping from one hell to just die in another. His claws and parapodia dragged against the ice as he moved, sending vibrations through it. He was so cold. Valentine collapsed to the ground with a weak grunt, curling his tail around himself as he let himself succumb to the stinging tendrils of the cold.
As Valentine was submitting the cold and quickly fading into unconsciousness, the ice around him vibrated and cracked as something large tunneled nearby. There was the sound of water dripping, then hissing as the water quickly evaporated. There was someone hovering over Valentine now, their larger body dwarfing the shrimp’s own body. The stranger reached down to brush some of Valentine’s hair out of his face, the poor thing was pale and shivering even in his sleep.
The larger man sighed and shifted closer, curling his form around Valentine’s body. He checked his vital signs, gently lifting him to check the area beneath his tail. He took note of the ice beginning to form and stick to the thin skin. “They won’t last much longer in this cold…” He couldn’t build a fire out here, didn’t have the supplies and he wouldn’t make it back to his base before Valentine succumbed to the cold. The stranger had one more idea, it was a long shot and it was…highly inappropriate but it was all he could do.
He gently picked up Valentine, gently removing their beanie and placing it in a pocket in his winter coat. The shrimp was still asleep, limp and cold but still hanging on. The other man huffed through his nose before the sound of popping and shifting came from his jaw as his mouth parts extended to prepare to swallow the smaller man. Valentine was too heavy in arms, he was actually surprisingly light. The strange shifted Valentine in his arms so that he could hold him up to his now gaping mouth, his mandibles now out of the way. He took one last gulp of hair before beginning the process of coaxing Valentine’s body into and down his throat.
He had never swallowed someone before, why would he have? But he knew it was the only way to keep the other man alive. Valentine’s body slid down his throat with little resistance, the shrimp’s smaller parapodia tickled his throat but he didn’t let that get in his way. It didn’t take long till Valentine was nestled safely inside of his stomach, he felt them curl up reflexively inside of his stomach.
The larger man groaned a bit as Valentine settled in his stomach, they could feel their cold body start to warm up inside of him. He pressed a hand to his stomach, he glanced briefly in the direction the other man appeared to come from before shaking his head and turning to make his way back to his hideout. His body slithered easy over the icy ground, his hard heated carapace keeping him warm as he traveled. He could feel Valentine shifting inside of him occasionally, a small flick of his tail or his parapodia twitching and scraping along the walls of his gut. “Settle down in there.” He rumbled out as he soothed a hand over his stomach, he doubted the shrimp could hear him but he was willing to try anyway. As he moved he made sure to keep on his hands against his stomach to keep the shrimp inside of him calm incase he woke up.
It didn’t take him long before he reached his hideout, a cavern where he kept the few belongings he had. He sighed as he entered, tail moving a bit sluggish from the extra cargo. He set the harpoon gun on his back down and then slipped off his jacket, keeping his white shirt on. He situated himself on the ground, making sure not to jostle his stomach too much. As he did so he felt movement in his gut, not the slight movement that he felt earlier this was different. Valentine was slowly waking up, his tail uncurling from his body and pressing against the stranger’s walls.
Valentine was quick to realize he wasn’t dead, not only that he was also warm. Warm and wet. He couldn’t see much of anything but he could feel something fleshy surrounding him and he could hear a thump thump. Someone’s heartbeat? He struggled slightly a bit, pressing against the walls but the walls pressed back. “Stop that would you,” came a rough voice, the slightest growl in their voice. Then there was a sigh and Valentine felt the walls around him press softly against him as the other man rubbed his belly gently. “I’m Nicolas.” The voice said, though his voice was now softer and it was barely audible to Valentine. Nicolas spoke again. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
Valentine blinked. “I’m…inside of you?” He asked, pressing his clawed hand gently against the fleshy walls. He noticed how they spasmed under his touch.
Nicolas shifted, stomach flexing a bit and squeezing Valentine. He carefully moved his hand off his stomach before speaking. “Yeah.” It was quiet for a moment, the two men mulling over their current predicament before Nicolas spoke again. “I found you passed out on the ice, I was worried you were already dead when I found you. How’d you get here?”
Valentine shivered. “I escaped from this uh,” he thought for a moment, unsure of how to describe the hadal blacksite, unaware that Nicolas had also once escaped the same hell. “It was like a lab.” He said finally. “Did you…eat me because you thought I was dead?”
Nicolas let out a rumbling laugh that caused the shrimp to jostle inside of him. “No, I saw you were still barely clinging on so I knew I had to do something.” He paused, hand coming back to rub his belly. “You're quite resilient, boy.” He felt Valentine shift, getting comfortable once again inside him.
Valentine yawned softly, resting his head against Nicolas’s soft inner walls. “Thanks.” He murmured softly, voice nearly too quiet to be heard. Nicolas was about to speak before the shrimp spoke up again. “I’m tired, I hope you don’t mind if I go back to sleep for a bit. It’s quite warm in here…”
Nicolas' eyes widened a moment before he shook his head, the slightest hint of a smile on his lips. “Alright but you can't be in there forever, boy.” He said rough though there was no venom in his voice. “Before you drift off again, what’s your name anyway?”
“Valentine.” The shrimp said, half yanked out. Nicolas nodded softly and allowed the smaller man to rest.
“Goodnight Valentine.”