The Shape of Your Desires Pt. 01

(This is the start of a small sci-fi series. History is somewhat bent. All characters involved in sex stuff are 18+)

Some secrets are best left buried.

For thousands of years, humans had a strong feeling that they weren't the only ones in the universe. Perhaps for many, it was more than just a feeling. Tales of aliens invading our skies and minds were a popular staple in the world of sci-fi and horror, but in 1948, extraterrestrial existence was confirmed. The mining and construction industries had struck a record depth digging into the Earth, uncovering a strange pocket in the dirt. This pocket, they learned post-exploration, extended for thousands of miles, shocking geologists across the globe. One by one, they delved into this subterranean cavern, comedically dubbing it "The Omelette."

The Omelette, of course, because it contained millions of eggs.

The origins of the eggs were unknown, and biologists assumed they were from a species so deep within the earth's crust that it had not yet been discovered. Each egg was shaped like a large oval with scales, and was dark red. A thin layer of slime covered each unit, and if a human dared to touch it, it would mimic the cutting sensation of fiberglass. Itching and bleeding would last for a week, then vanish without a trace.

Humans, being the curious creatures they are, turned the cavern into many different things. A zone for tourism, for archeology, geology, biology, and anything else they felt would teach them about the nature of the eggs. Due to all the activity their organized chaos created, the eggs eventually began to hatch, thousands at once.

This is where everything went wrong.

Out of the broken husks crawled fully grown humans beings, naked and covered in much. Their eyes glowed red, indicating their true nature- something otherworldly. Their limbs seemed half formed, their hair inhuman colors, and their anatomy all wonky. It was as if someone had tried to create Homo Sapiens without having ever actually seen one themselves. The chemicals emitting from their body had no origin or resemblance with anything from Earth, and scientists quickly realized that they were dealing with something terrifying and extra terrestrial. They shut down all the sites and scrambled to the surface to escape, but they wouldn't be so lucky.

These freshly hatched creatures began to morph from their imitation human bodies to ones of other animals- whatever creatures they could mimic in order to eat humans and rise up to the surface. They were formally called Shapeshifters by the people who lived to tell the tale, and the word of their attack spread globally. Anywhere on earth where the Omelette stretched was easily a location one of their kind could pop out of the ground and blend into human society before causing serious damage. Shifters, as they were colloquially known, were the new scourge of the planet.

While civilians were taught to protect themselves, governments of many countries united to create a worldwide branch devoted solely to getting rid of Shifters, called the Pact. Weapons and tactics devoted to studying and demolishing this horrifying species were developed for decades, making it one of the most efficient branches known. As they learned as much as they could about their enemy, they discovered that some individual Shifters displayed signs of intelligence. While rare, it was powerful enough to draw attention, and make some soldiers hold their fire.

These intelligent Shifters were known as the Aware. It was through them that humans learned that Shifters were a failed species from several solar systems away, having taken refuge within the earth after accidentally destroying their own planet with corruption and greed. The eggs were never the place of their birth, but rather, storage pods for rest after traveling through space for years. They had arrived during what was considered the Bronze Age, and as a result, served as a link between the past and present. Many of the Aware became scholars, others became professors, and still others joined scientists to learn about the planet they'd woken up on.

Some of the Aware joined the Pact, hunting down their own kind. They revealed to humans that due to the extent of their time spent in stasis, most of their species, once fully intelligent, had lost their minds and become rabid due to biological degradation. The few that remained sane, only thousands out of millions, decided to help humans and live alongside them, capturing those of their kind that had gone rogue beyond repair and even producing families.

Within the branch of the Pact devoted to protecting one southern sector of the United States, one unit was led by a tactical-minded Shifter who commanded fifty subordinates. Most of these soldiers were trained humans, but two were a unique kind not foreseen until recent decades.

Half human, half Shifter.

Due to the human side of them, they were each gifted a biological sex- a boy and a girl. Pure blooded Shifters had no concept of male or female. The two also had a "default" body- human- which they reverted to when weak, hurt, or for daily life. Regarding their Shifter side, they could transform into any creature they knew existed, rapidly morphing within seconds with ample training. Thanks to their abilities, they were able to join the branch straight out of high school at only nineteen and eighteen, giving their life purpose.

Lately however, their unit had become less efficient if it involved the teenagers.

The head Shifter of the unit, who mostly maintained the appearance of a tall, southern Italian man named Dante, noticed it first. Some nights, he could sense that the girl was staying up unreasonably late at random times, but he couldn't understand why. It led to her being too sleepy to complete her missions. Sometimes, the boy would be training with him, and one of his arms would be too sore for hand to hand combat. The other crew members never had mysterious injuries and always informed Dante if they were attending an event at odd hours. He was their captain, but he wasn't a fun-hating brute.

It was time to get to the bottom of things.

Dante walked down the hallway one quiet evening, gazing upon the grey metallic walls of the building like he always did. The rest of the crew were at a dinner party with other government officials after catching an especially large amount of dangerous Shifters a few towns over, but he declined to join them due to wanting to satisfy his curiosity of the teens' whereabouts. The boy and girl both opted to stay "home" almost simultaneously, raising a few brows across the room. Because of their age, most workers thought the two simply found it boring to be around soldiers decades older than them.

As he paced the halls, Dante came closer to the girl's room, one of the many chambers in the dormitory wing of their base. Her name was scrawled in bright red letters across the door, courtesy of her red lipstick phase.

A V I V A

Muffled sounds coming from behind the door confirmed the nineteen year old's presence. Dante pressed his ear against it and amplified his hearing to that of a dog's. What he heard reminded him of water. Something wet, combined with a strange pattern of breathing. Normally he would respect his crew's privacy and knock before entering, but he didn't feel that the teens deserved that common decency anymore. For unknown reasons, they had slacked off from too many jobs, didn't catch as many Shifters as their quota demanded, and never even gave a reason as to why. Incompetence naturally led to rescinded privileges.

Dante took the form of a fruit fly and entered through the tiny crack beneath the door.

Now that he was a literal fly on the wall for eavesdropping, he gazed at her through his hexagonal eyesight from above. The top half of Aviva's body was covered in her hot pink blanket, but the bottom half...

Good lord.

The girl was rubbing between her legs something fierce. Her tan thighs were splayed out as she dipped her wrinkled fingers into sopping wet pussy, then back onto her engorged clit to rub haphazard circles. No doubt, she'd been at this for a while now, due to how textured her digits were. Pure Shifters didn't have sex drives and only reproduced asexually, so Dante couldn't truly comprehend how Aviva was feeling. However, time with humans taught him of their bizarre little quirks- masturbation being one of them. He always thought it was so strange that a solo activity that led to nothing but fruitless orgasms could be so popular amongst a species that requires two to tango.

And yet, here the teen was, huffing and puffing away as she soaked her hand in her own juices. Her breaths became shallower as she seemed to reach some sort of peak point, before she grunted in frustration and started over. Despite painting a giant wet spot on her bedsheets, she was clearly having difficulty achieving her goals.

Dante flew down to the floor and took on his usual form, his figure towering over his dissociating subordinate.

"Aviva."

The girl screamed and threw the blanket off the bed, regretting it instantly as she realized she had nothing to hide her body with. Though she was still wearing a shirt, it didn't even reach below her hips.

"GET OUT!" she yelled, throwing a pillow at him. "Oh my god! PRIVACY, please!!"

Dante caught the pillow with ease, letting it drop to the floor.

"Is this why you can't focus on your tasks?" he asked her, raising a brow. "The reason you've become such a liability lately?"

She crossed her legs and stared at him, red-faced. "Did you not hear me?! Get the FUCK out!"

"Answer the question."

She glared at him, but soon, her expression softened to one more of shame than anger as his words sank in. "Jesus Christ, I don't know. Maybe?"

"You're embarrassed," the older Shifter noted. "I'm not here to humiliate you, I'm just seeking answers. Your work ethic has been poor lately and I needed to find out why."

She remained tight lipped.

"I don't care about seeing the human body; it doesn't affect me", he added as an afterthought. "You know this."

Aviva muttered curses then looked up at him, crossing her legs even tighter. "Fine. Yes. I get distracted because I'm horny."

"You didn't think to say anything?"

"Why would I tell ANYONE that?!"

"Hm. Understandable."

The teen turned to stare at the wall, too ashamed to look him in the eye anymore. "Are you gonna... tell anyone? I'm sorry, okay? I really am. Please don't punish me."

Dante sighed. "Based on my knowledge of human impulses, I'm not entirely sure this is something you have to apologize for. However, I will be doing something about this."

Aviva glanced over her shoulder at him with concern. "Wait, what?"

"Meet me in the training room."

Dante flew out the way he came in, and continued his investigation. This time, he sought out the boy, Noah.

The Shifter retained his fly form and ventured off into the opposite side of the dormitory wing, first bypassing a gate that separated the two sexes from ever mating. As a creature with no libido, as well as a captain, he had access to either side of the wing. He rarely passed through though, as there was nothing of interest for him here. His species didn't sleep- instead, he went into a sort of tranquil state, as if he was meditating. It only lasted a few hours. Frankly, after being in stasis for thousands of years, he never wanted to remain still again.

He swooped by the door to the male teenager's room, landing on the doorknob. He heard familiar wet sounds, though this time, they were quieter and more rhythmic. He flew under the door just as before and landed on the wall, disappointed for the second time that night.

The pale boy lied fully naked on his stomach across his sea-green sheets, but the placement of his left hand beneath his crotch was all too familiar. His body gently heaved every few seconds as he stroked his cock while moaning into his pillow. From a side view, his dick was clearly swollen and red, jutting out from his thighs as he shamelessly played with himself. Precum dotted his sheets in tiny, yet ample spots, further causing a need to announce another laundry day. Every so often, Noah rested his left hand at his side while he humped one of his pillows.

Dante morphed into a human again, sliding down the wall and landing on the floor with a thud.

Noah jumped, shouting obscenities before snatching up a pillow to cover himself with.

"Captain, what the FUCK!?" the eighteen year old bellowed, his face redder than a tomato. "Leave!!"

"I'm going to assume your desire for intimacy is why you've been slacking as of late?"

"None of your BUSINESS! And stop LOOKING at me!!"

"Enough, Noah," the man snapped. "First off, you know that Shifters don't care about what a human's, or anyone's body looks like, except for purposes of transformation. So behave yourself."

Noah silently fumed, grasping his pillow tighter.

"Secondly, I need you to be honest with me. Is this activity the reason you're becoming a second rate agent?"

Noah turned around to face the headboard. "I-I'm not- I mean, I don't-"

"Spit it out. Don't waste my time."

A pause.

Then, an angry nod confirmed it.

"Fine, then," Dante said. "Meet me in the training room. We need to have a talk."

Around ten minutes later, after washing his hands in case he touched anything that came from human orifices, he arrived at the room dedicated to artillery and combat performance. As expected, the two teenagers were inside the large plexiglass chamber that encompassed the entire area, barely able to look at each other. Upon hearing his footsteps, they perked up, stepping further away from each other.

"Sit on the floor," he commanded them. "No one is going anywhere, so get comfortable."

The man watched his subordinates awkwardly sit and cross their legs, before doing so himself in front of the two. Thankfully, none of the other crew were in the building, or this would be excruciatingly painful for everyone involved.

Not that it wasn't already for two of the three.

"Firstly," the eldest Shifter began, "You are both here for the same reason."

Noah was the first to speak, pointing a finger in his female companion's direction. "Wait, so she was..."

"Yes, you are both failing your duties because you can't keep your hands out of your pants."

Aviva's nose crinkled in disgust. "EW! I didn't need to know that he-"

"That he does the exact same thing you do?" Dante asked, tilting his head. "Is it somehow different when you masturbate? Tell me."

At the dreaded M-word, the teens cringed. Noah hid his face in his hoodie, while Aviva hid hers in her hands. Dante rolled his eyes. During his time on Earth, he realized something had gone very wrong with humanity when one of the most natural acts on the planet had become painfully taboo. He didn't think he would ever truly understand it, but dammit if he didn't try.

"Stop with the theatrics," he ordered them, gently but firmly pulling their heads back up. "This is a necessary discussion, and I need you to cooperate. You have been falling behind your coworkers for a month or two by now. In our line of work, we can't afford incompetence. Do you think I'm going to tolerate this behavior?"

The two shook their heads in shame.

"Good," Dante confirmed. "We're on the same page. Now, can you tell me, is there anything triggering this behavior?"

Noah let out a shaky breath, struggling to come up with the courage to even speak.

"No," the boy finally answered. "I don't... think so?"

Aviva hummed in agreement, unwilling to speak.

Dante nodded. "Hmm. Perhaps it's a lack of sex that's causing this? When was the last time either of you copulated?"

At this, the teens' faces reddened even further, and it took all their might not to run away and never return.

"I've never," Aviva tried to say, blinking fast. "Um. Done that."

Noah gulped. "Yeah. What- um, what she said."

The elder Shifter rested his chin on his hand in thought.

"Ah, so neither of you have ever even had an outlet," he remarked. "I can see how that affects you. You try to cheaply imitate intimacy, but you always crave more because deep down, your subconscious knows it isn't the same."

The two stared at the floor, wishing it swallowed them whole.

"Look," Aviva said, "Can we forget about all this if we promise we'll pick up the pace and do our work? I can't stand this."

"Yeah," Noah chimed in. "I'll catch all the Shifters in my listings. I'll train harder. I'll even help set up some events! Please, just let us go."

"No."

The word struck the teens like a blow to the chest.

"Don't take it so harshly, but you two are being delusional," Dante explained. "You can try working harder, but as long as you remain in this hormonal state, you'll fall back into old habits. I've learned that humans are called creatures of habits for a good reason."

Noah groaned. "So what then? Are you going to punish us?"

"That's not an option either. As much as this would normally warrant a punishment, it would not solve anything. You would still be touching yourselves obsessively because you have too little self control."

"Can you stop being so graphic?" Aviva whined.

"I will be as graphic as I like," the man disagreed, raising a brow. "You didn't seem to mind details when you had your own fingers pumping away inside yourself."

Despite the ongoing humiliation, Noah barely suppressed a giggle.

"And you, young man, didn't seem so shy when you tried to mate with your own pillow."

The boy shut up immediately.

"It doesn't matter," the eldest Shifter continued. "I've found a solution. My method here won't be punishment or approval of deception, but rather, regulation."

The half bloods gave him a quizzical look.

"To put it simply, I'll have to indulge both of your sexual needs myself."