The Holly and the Tentacles (Tinsel and Tentacles 2.0)

Chapter 7

Chapter

Seven

A eryn stared at the instruction manual that he’d pulled out of the gift bag Legacy had handed him. “What’s this?”

They had finally gotten around to eating Christmas dinner and opening presents after a nap, more vigorous bed gymnastics, and another nap.

“It’s the manual for your new toy.” Legacy’s dark eyes glittered as he watched Aeryn like a hawk.

“What kind of new toy?” He looked at the cover of the manual, and it seemed to be some sort of biomechanical medical device, but he didn’t need medical assistance, so Aeryn wasn’t sure what all this meant.

“It’s a special one for you.” Legacy’s smile took on sort of a sexy cast, and he figured that meant something good, but Aeryn couldn’t figure it out.

“I can show you the rest of the gift. You just couldn’t open the actual thing. It’s not something I can wrap.”

“Sure. But wait, why don’t you open yours first?” He’d gotten a bunch of little things for Legacy that he’d put in his stocking, and there were a couple of small gifts to open, but he wanted to see Legacy’s face when he opened the one that had that receipt for the handball court.

It was in a box that was way too big for the present itself, but that made him happy. He loved a surprise.

Legacy nodded easily and tore into the smaller gifts, exclaiming happily over a pair of engineering gloves that he could wear when he was working and a new pair of work goggles. They broke a lot, and he was all for saving Legacy any more life-threatening injuries.

“Thanks, baby, these are great.”

“Open the big one now,” he said, anticipation riding him.

Legacy opened it, and his eyes widened when he pulled out the little piece of paper and read it. “Baby, this is expensive.”

Aeryn beamed. “It’s okay. I mean it’s not like I have anything else to spend my money on, and I wanted you to have this.”

“Who told you I was into handball?”

“Oh, you know, you have friends.” He tried to keep it casual.

“Mmhmm. I just didn’t think you’d really met any of them except… Yeah, right, I’ll have to thank Jameson.” Legacy chuckled. “But really, thank you, this is amazing.” Legacy leaned over to take a kiss, and Aeryn’s toes curled at the long, slow loving.

“Now you,” Legacy said. Tucking the paper carefully away, he rose and held out a hand.

Aeryn let Legacy pull him to his feet, and they went to Aeryn’s bedroom, which was strange because he liked Legacy’s way better. But that was okay. If Legacy wanted to do it in his bed, he was totally down with that.

“So what’s all this?” He hadn’t seen anything new in his room, but that didn’t mean anything. Lots of stuff could change with just unscrewing a panel.

Legacy handed him a remote control. “Turn it on.”

He hit the power button on the remote, and the panel opened in the wall above his bed. “Oh look at that.”

“Just hang on. It gets better.” There was a waiting feeling about Legacy, like he was poised and ready, and that just made Aeryn’s curiosity ratchet up a notch.

“Okay, so what do I do next?” he asked.

“Just push a button.” Legacy jerked his chin.

“Just push a button, any button.” He laughed, thinking of cartoons and old Earth TV shows.

“I promise it’s worth it.” Legacy’s grin widened.

So he did just that, and what came out of the wall made him step back, eyes wide and his heart pounding. It looked like a tentacle, like a real tentacle, but not with suckers on it. This was biomech. It had soft clear silicone over a mechanical arm, but it was a tentacle.

“Wow.” He didn’t know what else to say. He was shocked to his core. “What does it do?”

“It can do pretty much anything any kind of mechanical arm can do. They created these to do surgery, but now they’re selling them for recreational fun. The patent has paid itself.”

“Holy shit! This must have cost you a fortune.”

“Maybe not as much as a gym membership,” Legacy said. “Those handball courts are usually for management.”

Aeryn had to laugh, and he moved to give Legacy a big hug. “Thank you. This is amazing. I mean I don’t even know what to do yet, but…”

“Hey, I thought we could play with them a little bit later.”

His cheeks heated until he thought they were gonna go up in flames. “Sure, you can help me figure out how to, you know.”

“I absolutely can, baby, trust me.”

Aeryn threw himself at Legacy and kissed him hard. This was some kind of gift, and he was amazed and a little embarrassed, but he was kind of figuring this out, and he was going to use it because it was a fantasy come true.

It was the best gift anybody had ever gotten him, and that was what mattered.

It really was the thought that counted.