Welcome to Incubus Tales: A Thousand Words by Hushicho. In Noctemberg, it is always night. Dhiar, proprietor and gay incubus, welcomes you to Phantasies, a very special shop. Sensuality is more than just Dhiar’s stock in trade, it is his raison d’être. NSFW.
A new chapter appears every Thursday. This week is Chapter Forty-One.
41st Night—Return to Me
Merry and Tomas sat conversing pleasantly, with Chana elbowing Dhiar delicately nearby.
“I don’t know how you do it,” she mumbled to him, in a tone that only he was likely to hear at all. “You do good, avoiding those jealous spats.”
Dhiar just shrugged his shoulders, a wide smile across his face. “I just don’t like people getting all hostile over the silliest things. Besides…” he looked down a bit, “I’m still not sure if this place is right for me to settle for any length of time. So if I should have to go again, I’ve introduced two very special and very interesting people to each other, and maybe… they won’t need me, if that happens.”
“Berlin?” Chana pouted a bit. “I thought we were going to go and see the cabarets and everything…!”
He raised his hands, holding them before himself and trying to placate her with the gesture. “I still haven’t said no! I just want them to have something. They’ve really hit it off. And Merry didn’t know too many interesting sorts like Tomas, and Tomas was more or less consumed by his work constantly… so this can only be a good thing for both of them. That’s what I think.”
“You’re probably right.”
“I know I am!” He leaned back in his chair, watching the two.
It was an intricate dance, but one he had performed many times. The lingering gazes took it all, with the hesitant, incidental touches punctuating the exchange. He could recall the scents of both of the men, and when he sat with them a moment ago, he felt them mingling. It energised him; the first things to mull and mix about two, when they met, always tended to be the scents. Some formed discordant, clashing substances that made storms from their differences in pressure. Others barely touched each other, held back by diffident aroma almost completely absent. And then there was the perfume between the two he had introduced, only a few minutes after they began to speak. After the hesitance left them, after Dhiar coaxed them into conversation, it became a heady incense.
“I’m going to get another drink. You want one?”
“I’ll come with you.” Dhiar rose, glancing to the table again. The two didn’t even notice him departing. It made him smile again.
“So later I was thinking we’re gonna hit the uni and bob for apples in the natatorium, right?”
The Incubus looked at his sister, turning his head slowly to trace her path. “Sorry?”
“The pool! Bobbing for apples! Don’t tell me you’ve never bobbed for apples.”
Dhiar started to laugh as he settled up against the bar. It was more a makeshift bar, as the place itself also was more of a makeshift speakeasy, probably ousted from its old foundation and migratory to avoid persecution.
“I can’t say I’ve ever done it in a natatorium,” Dhiar replied. “Bobbed for apples, that is.”
Chana cracked a grin at the implications of the hasty qualifier.
“Shall we invite the two handsome lads at the table?”
“Tommy and Merry? Yeah!” Chana held up two fingers to the bartender. Two more drinks for them. “The more the merrier! Well, you know what I mean.”
Now it was Dhiar’s turn, and he raised his voice in laughter at the play on words and Merry’s name. All of the partying, the running around, the shopping… the pleasure of Chana’s company, all of it had done what she clearly set out to do, and that was to heal Dhiar’s pain from Noctemburg. He felt almost completely healed. His heart had made nearly a full recovery.
It seemed so distant, and yet at times it always lingered near. In the night, the darkness held warmth and comfort, but it could also betray with its darkness and pull the curtain back on visions of things that should have slept. The shadows always stretched long in Noctemburg. Here, they either covered the street or barely reached from the walls. Buildings were so close together, in the city.
They collected their drinks and drifted over to the other two and their table.
“So! Gentlemen.” Dhiar leaned between them, an arm over each one’s shoulders. “We are headed to the natatorium at the uni shortly, bobbing for apples Chana says. Who’s up for learning how to use his teeth in the water?”
Both of them laughed and nodded, and Dhiar sat between them at their invitation, with Chana taking the other chair, next to Merry. The conversation never dipped out of the warm realm of comfort and friendship.
It was a short time later that they all found themselves at the university. Naturally, all of this was the work of a fraternity. They quietly gathered at the gates; someone had procured the keys, though no-one entirely knew how. It didn’t matter. The doors were opened, the crowd slipped in under the cover of blackest night, and then all was locked again.
Not a single person there had a bathing costume, and so nudity was the order of the day. Wisely, they used the smaller pool, rather than the larger one with the more visible windows. No-one passing outside was likely to detect their presence, even if they made a great sound. Perhaps surprisingly to all, the noise level maintained a decent volume even considering the echo and acoustics.
Dhiar’s presence, of course, helped immensely with everything. The men and women playing with apples and each other quickly became more at ease, less frantic and tense, no longer nervous. Everything was nicer, and though more courteous became no less sensual and appealing. Self-conscious modesty sapped away easily, and soon there were easy kisses and happy embraces. The apples bounced in a separate tub of water, and in no short supply, with them taken up and eaten every so often. Naturally, they were full of liquor.
Miraculously, none migrated to the swimming pool. Dhiar sat dangling his feet into the side of the pool, watching the splashing and horseplay, and some of the sex unfolding in the shallow end, as he munched his latest apple down to its core. He wore not a stitch, legs happily spread, and observed as Chana was carried like the Queen of Sheba on the arms of three naked young polo players to the deep end.
He watched Tomas and Merry cuddling, Tomas’s arms around Merry, Merry’s head on Tomas’s chest. And the two noticed and beckoned him enthusiastically.
Why not? Dhiar tossed his core in the nearby bin and slipped into the water, gliding like a fish through it to them.
* * *
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About the author: From an early age, Hushicho held a special passion for storytelling. Throughout his life, he has worked in numerous media and various places in the world. He is the author of the long-running Incubus Tales webcomic, upon which this serial is based.
Welcome to the intriguing city of dreams, Noctemberg, where it is always night, and to Phantasies, a very special shop run by Dhiar, proprietor and gay incubus. Sensuality is more than just Dhiar's stock in trade, it is his raison d'etre. In Incubus Tales: A Thousand Words, Dhiar meets new loves, rekindles relationships, and bring his special brand of sexual healing to lovers and readers alike.
Also available in paperback!