Chapter 1.4 - A Fire in the Distance

As the flesh-light fruit’s magic wore off, the soreness it had prevented finally made itself known. Billy—in great pain—laid down by the fire and turned his head away while Auru went about flaying and dressing the wildcat carcass. Thankfully, Auru’s special moss did wonders for Billy’s puffy, gaping, and throbbing hole.

Removing the clump of soothing grass from his opening, Billy mostly felt embarrassed with himself. He had never bottomed like that before. Nor could he remember the last time he came that hard, either. It was like the hit of a soporific drug. Despite the pain, Billy basked in the afterglow. Maybe that Eros isn’t such a naughty boy after all. Still, I can't stay here stuck as a cavebride! What if Auru doesn't let me go?

Then again...the sex. :)

Then again...the future of my rectal health. :(

Night fell. Billy, thankful for Auru's gift of fire, could only imagine what terrifying beasts prowled outside the shelter—things more frightening than the cave lion, or things that modern man had no record of, nor ever would. The thought chilled Billy to the core (which did nothing to help his hole). Just enough danger to make things interesting, he recalled Eros saying.

In time, Auru affixed slices of wet meat to skewers, which he placed at lengths around the fire to cook. Billy remembered he had brought food in his backpack, but then decided it was probably for the best he not open up the bag and offer Auru an energy bar. If it didn’t kill him, Auru’s stomach was bound to reject all the modern chemicals and preservatives, and the last thing Billy needed was a sick caveman. So, Billy chose to graciously accept the tough, leathery meat, thankful it was charred enough as to not cause concern for parasites.

Auru really wasn’t one for words. Post-mating session, he was content to guard Billy in kind, protective silence. After they had eaten, and both of them still naked, he motioned for Billy to join him on the leafy bedding, where he nested Billy into his buddy, spooning him and holding him close to his warm bosom.

He was one cuddly caveman.

The two men’s bodies must have known each other better than their hearts, because at some point during the night, Billy found Auru’s hands around his shaft, stroking him while kissing the nape of his neck. Primal urges seized Billy anew, though in softer waves. Billy turned over to make out with his mate, pawing at his chest the whole while. He was still too sore to ‘rut’ again, but not too sore to cum. So, Auru and Billy ‘made a fire’ in their own way, rubbing and humping each other with the residual lubricant from their magic gourd. Shaft crossed shaft. Auru leaked onto Billy, creating more slippery sensation for both of them.

Billy found this way of sex even more primitive and arousing. It was also more equitable. No receiver. No giver. Just two men caught in each other’s arms. Billy would not soon forget Auru’s grunts and animalistic groans, or the way his dark, shining eyes widened before reaching orgasm. Auru tilted his head back and roared out in pure bliss.

Overwhelmed by the primal eroticism of it all, and the sensation of Auru’s meaty cock rubbing all over his own, Billy had no choice but to cum with him. They coated each other’s stomachs and chests, and then fell down—sweaty—into each other’s arms again, the sound of their throes of passion replaced by the crackle of the fire.

Auru’s heavy body weighed down on top of Billy, who couldn’t move even if he wanted. It also didn’t help his comfort that they hadn’t yet cleaned each other off, and so now there was a sweaty, beefy, cum-soaked caveman splayed on top of him.

Billy whispered. “Erm...big guy?”

A snore answered him. Billy had put the caveman to sleep.

Billy was envious. He had trouble falling asleep in new places, no matter how comfortable, so trying to find sleep in a pile of leaves on a cavernous floor posed somewhat of a challenge. Thankfully, Auru’s pecs made for perfect pillows, and he was a champion cuddler. Soft, warm, and strong, the prehistoric gentleman held Billy throughout the night until the traveler from the future slipped into unconsciousness.

    Sleep was not dreamless. 

    Billy sat inside the glass enclosure surrounding the museum's Tyrannosaurus Rex display, the centerpiece of the fossil collection. Dressed only in his jock strap, Billy stared down at his phone, while guests crowded around took photos. The museum visitors were all Billy's friends, family, and even his math teacher.

    Humiliated, and not in the sexy way, Billy looked pleadingly at one of his and James's mutual friends, Steve. "Bro, can you hand me a towel?"

    Steven, a curly haired twink with a septum piercing, made a disgusted face. "Not 'til you go to therapy, like we all asked. You fucked it all up with James. Now you have to sit in there like a big, dumb baby!"

    Emotions Billy would otherwise regulate in waking life forced their way up through his throat and spilled like venom from his lips. "Well fuck you and the other guys, asshole! I don't need you. Or anybody. I've got my work. My research. You gossipy queens are just a distraction!"

    Suddenly, Steve turned to stone. Mortified, the visitors gasped and began yelling and hurling curses, soda cans, and pieces of popcorn at Billy.

    "You belong in there! You belong in there!"

    "Yeah, yeah, where I won't hurt anybody," Billy sniffed, indignantly. Nothing here was real, except for the text conversation blipping on Billy's cracked screen. It had occurred sometime between Billy's most recent breakup and a slightly less recent breakup. It was a vestige of a failure to launch, fossilized in time.

    I just wanted to say, I really enjoyed our last two dates and was wondering if you wanted to plan a third. I don't usually put my feelings out like this, but I'm really vibing with you. Beauty and brains is hard to come by these days. :) 

    Billy sighed and tried texting back, but every time he did, the phone screen felt like gelatine and the words came out wrong.

    Around him, Billy's uninvited audience pointed and laughed. Auru, dressed exactly like Billy's docent mentor, down to the lanyard, pointed out the 'Neanderthal' in his underwear trying to work the smartphone.

    "Here we have early man, undertaking a ritual known to some as 'ghosting'." Auru adjusted his glasses. "You see, primitive man could not properly confront his feelings. Rather than incur the wrath of someone who desired him, or try and engage with his predator directly, the subject here relies on the flight instinct. It is either this, or wet himself in self-defence. Let's see how this plays out, shall we?"

    "But I'm not into piss play!" Billy shot back, aghast. He swallowed. The phone in his hands had completely turned to stone, just like Steve. "I...only wanted to tell him it wasn't the right time to start something," Billy said, with a shit-eating grin.

    Auru tut-tutted, clucking his tongue in his mouth. "But that's not what happened, is it? You froze that boy out. Just like you froze everyone else out that you cared about."

    "B-but I was in the middle of a huge project," Billy protested. "If he got angry at me, I was going to doom spiral and feel like shit, and I wouldn't be able to focus. It was better that way for both of us!"

    The audience began to boo loudly. They had switched from chucking popcorn to hurling whole tomatoes, which landed with slick, wet plops all around Billy's enclosure. Soon, Auru's lubricated, 'flesh-light' fruit joined the slop thrown at the 'primitive man' behind glass.

    "You know what happens now, don't you?" Auru asked, with a vicious grin—nothing like the sweet, lovable cave-stud who'd 'unga-bunga'd' Billy's prostate in the waking world. He jerked his thumb at something behind Billy.

    Naked and afraid, Billy turned around. "James!? NO! AHHH, GOD, NO!"

    The T. Rex skeleton had taken on the face of his most recent ex. With an earth shaking roar, it opened its mouth and engulfed Billy whole.

    "Bil-Lee?"

    Earthquake! Billy woke up to the world shaking. "I don't wanna' be eatin' like that," Billy whined, sleepily, soon realizing it wasn't the ground shaking at all, but Auru rocking Billy from his nightmare. "Huh?

    The caveman looked down at Billy with soft-concern. "Ung?"

    Embarrassed, Billy sighed and turned over. "Sorry," was all he could say, which probably made as much sense to Auru as it did to Billy.

    The muscular hunter of lions made a soft, sympathetic noise and wrapped his arms and legs around Billy--nearly too tight--drawing him in closer. Billy found Auru's bearded face, nuzzling the back of his shoulder, a comfort. Like his 'mate', Billy tried hunting for sleep, but it proved an elusive mark. 

Dawn at the dawn of mankind was a beautiful sight. The sky above the steppe was pale blue, slashed with a bloody streaks or red. Amid dusk, Auru roused Billy, dressed him in a spare loincloth (which was not a bad look) and compelled his guest to follow him into prehistoric parts unknown.

Tired, and not exactly thrilled at traipsing amid the brush with only a strip of lion skin to cover up his soft bits, Billy warily proceeded into the ancient glen. If it weren’t for the spirited Auru’s brisk pace and insistence on stopping every five or so seconds to ‘smell the air’ for danger, Billy would have gladly paused to examine any number of the ferns or flowers among the growth. There was a very good chance the flora here no longer existed in Billy’s time. It was an opportunity for study that other historians would die for.

“Where are you taking me now?” Billy groaned, swatting away an unidentifiable insect he hoped wouldn’t lay eggs in his skin.

Auru glowed among his wild element, striding along proudly as king of the forest. “To the waters,” Auru said. “Need bathe. Dangerous if animals pick up scent.”

Who thought prehistoric man had better hygiene than 99% of anime con attendees! “Sounds good. I could go for a bath.” Billy looked among the old, tall trees. He assumed Auru would know if they were being stalked by cave lions. “Hey, Auru, have you met any other people since…” Billy cut himself off, unsure of how to appropriately address what happened to Auru’s tribe.

The caveman, thankfully, appeared unbothered. He ripped away an overhanging branch impeding their path, as if the tree limb were nothing but a piece of paper. “This one has tried to find others. Elders always say that other tribes in valley are ‘friends’, but…” Auru slunk his shoulders in defeat. “This one has not found friends.”

“Cheer up, big buddy.” Billy placed a hand on Auru’s hefty shoulder. “Maybe you can put those wicked hunting senses to good use and track down another tribe.” From what Billy knew of this period, suspicion-based hostilities between clans were relatively low, and it was common for tribes to take in outsiders. 

The temporal complexity of the word ‘maybe’ was probably still beyond Auru’s grasp, but his face reflected back doubt. This brief bout of sadness quickly passed when Auru cocked his head to the side and pointed between the bushes. “The water!” He smiled at Billy, tapped him on the head, and dashed off.

“Oh, a race, huh?” Billy laughed and pursued his caveman quarry onto the flat grasses. Something about running through the woods, in nary a shred of clothing, laughing, and jostling an equally near-naked man, was strangely liberating. This ‘return to nature’ moment was welcomingly primal and masculine, but in a healthy way.

The ‘waters’ turned out to be a breath-taking waterfall basin at the bottom of a cliff face, where a steady cascade churned the shallow spring. The beautiful sights froze Billy to the spot, effectively knocking him out of the ‘impromptu’ race.

“Raggggh!” Auru roared, happily beating his chest. He tore away his loincloth, tossed it into the sand, and then did what Billy could only describe as a ‘prehistoric cannonball’ into the water, causing a massive splash.

Wet hair, flattened across his beck and shoulders, looked good on Auru. He bobbed in the water. “Bill-Lee! Come!”

“Er, okay!” For all his amorous bravado, Billy had always been a bit shy about skinny dipping. He undid the loose skins around his waist and carefully approached the water’s edge. His naked reflection stared back at him. Oh man, what if there’s weird bacteria or parasites in there?

“RAGGH!”

Forget ‘dipping his toes’ into the water. Auru wrapped his giant, wet arms around Billy’s waistline and yanked him into the pool.

“You Palaeolithic putz!” Billy yelled back, flailing—but also laughing in the chest-high watering hole. “You wanna’ play like that, huh?” He scooped up a handful of the clear water and splashed Auru.

The caveman attempted to deflect the attack with his hands. He grinned, his eyes and mischievous smile suggesting prompt retaliation. “Raggggh!”

Billy suddenly realized that Auru had much, much more muscle on him. “Oh sh—”

Over two-hundred pounds of wet caveman pulled Billy into a vice-grip of a headlock, shoving him around in the water, but mindful not to dunk him under. Auru laughed, tossing Billy into the drink, and sending wave after wave in his direction.

Billy did his best to fight back, confronting Auru in a wet, clumsy grapple that terminated in both their bodies and limbs folding around each other. Their mouths soon followed. Kissing, wet, and naked and warm, Billy couldn't help but grow erect. Auru's girthy 'caveman club' met the moment...but nothing more. 

Billy lost himself to Auru’s gentle touch, the warmth of his wet body, and the sound of waterfall and bird song. It was the closest Billy could imagine to wandering among the Garden of Eden—with his own, personal ‘Adam’ at his side, no less.

Billy also knew it was foolish to imagine staying here. The need for modern comforts and technology would swiftly crush any sense of novelty, and no amount of beefy, cuddly caveman would change that.

Still, tomorrow—all of history’s tomorrows—could wait. For now, Billy was blissfully content to kiss and play in the water with Auru, untethered to the future.

 

Once again providing the perfect pillow, Auru laid down on the grass by the spring, letting Billy snuggle up to him, while the sun naturally dried their skin. The men said nothing to each other. Billy was fine with that.

After a time, the two rose. Billy had grown so comfortable with his newfound nudism that he nearly forgot the loincloth Auru had given him. Auru generously tied it around Billy’s waist for him, then nodded for Billy to follow him back towards the den.

Granted, it was always difficult to force conversations during dates, but Billy felt especially lost trying to come up with something, anything, to tell Auru. There was also that rising tide of melancholy, a swell that Billy had, up until now, dammed up with research, writing, and other assorted distractions and vices.

Truth was, Auru was the first man Billy had shared intimacy with since James—the ex. On the night the god of love himself had come calling, it had been two weeks since James had ended things. Billy hadn’t found a new apartment yet, and so spent the post-breakup sleeping on various couches or overnights at the museum. During daylight, he attempted to avoid James as much as possible, while still attending to apartment chores (mostly).

Hook-ups hadn’t even crossed Billy's mind. He had locked himself off to intimacy and passion long before Eros had placed his charm around Billy’s neck. Now, there was Auru. Another beautiful distraction. Sure, he was hunky, and kind, and beautiful, and he wanted to make Billy his ‘mate’, which was a primitive sexy idea.

It was also the problem. Even a caveman was bound to have ‘expectations’, and according to the rules of Eros’s game, Billy was in no position to meet them. He was destined to move on to another time zone once the task was fulfilled here.

Auru might be built out of solid stone, but his heart was soft. Vulnerable. Billy would need to let him down gently.

Midway through the trek, Billy looked over at Auru and sighed. It was time to get real. “So…I can’t stay here.”

“Huh?” Auru turned back. His wide, watery eyes made Billy’s heart melt.

If Eros intended this ‘game’ as an opportunity for Billy’s personal growth, then Billy was going to have to reluctantly seize the moment. “Alright, look. I have a bad habit of sometimes getting excited and stringing guys along, you see.”

“What does Bill-Lee mean?” Auru scratched at his still-wet hair. “Why can Bill-Lee not stay with Auru?”

Billy grimaced. This is going to be harder than I thought. Even with the loincloth wrapped tightly around him, Billy felt more naked than before. “Auru, I don’t want you thinking that I can actually stick around here to be your boyf—your mate. And I hate to break it to you, but I don’t even have a uterus!”

The muscular hunter stared at Billy blankly.

Billy rolled his eyes. He pantomimed giving birth, which was probably the stupidest way he’d ever let a guy down. “Babies. I cannot give you babies.”

Auru squinted. “Why?”

Here I am, giving sex education to a caveman. Has Eros sent me to the past, or to Hell? “Well, technically speaking, there are some men who can make babies, but I’m not one of them. I can’t give you kids.” Billy bit his lip. “Though it was a hell of a lot of fun TRYING! Hahaha. Am I right, big guy?”

Auru responded with a glare and a grunt.

Incidentally, Billy was suddenly reminded that Auru could probably snap his back in half like a twig. “Er…but more importantly, I can’t stay here with you. I'll have to…move on.” Come on, Eros, give me a sign!

Auru examined Billy for a solid minute, enough time that Billy considered Auru might actually eat him. Instead, Auru sadly huffed and turned away, giving Billy the coldest of shoulders.

“Ouch. Hehehe. And I thought this was supposed to be the end of the ice age…am I right.” He swallowed. "Am I right?"

Auru’s back stiffened. Billy couldn’t see Auru’s face, but it wasn’t necessary. “Do not make laughter. Auru’s heart hurts because of Bill-Lee.”

 Dread and guilt poured into Billy’s chest. He bit his lip. He forgot how to walk. He was stung. “I’m…really sorry, big guy.”

A few paces away, Auru stopped. He turned, slowly, and looked at Billy. He said nothing, but his eyes spoke for him. Well, are you coming or not, you ass?

“Coming,” Billy mumbled. Consider the following note for chapter: whether the 2020s, or 20 thousand years ago, rejections suck.

 

 “This one…needs to find tribe.”

In the firelit den, Billy turned around. Behind Auru, the skin of the flayed lion tanned on the dull embers of the fire. It illuminated Auru in a hazy, vermillion glow, transforming his flesh into polished copper.

Sadness crossed his handsome face. "Bil-Lee cannot be Auru's mate."

A perfect case of modern man underestimating his predecessor, Billy took a step back. He figured he should be relieved that Auru had finally accepted Billy’s clumsy ‘let down’, but the man’s keener insight caught him completely guard.

“Auru know.” The caveman looked at him with sad, watery eyes. “Will…be alone again. But Bill-Lee won’t be happy if Bill-Lee stay here.” The caveman balled up his fists. “This one…wants Bill-Lee not to be sad.”

Adrenaline fumbled attempt at reassurance. “I would be happy with you in any other circumstance other than prehistoric cohabitation!”

Even a 20+ thousand-year-old caveman didn’t believe that for a second. “Hrmmm,” was what he softly growled, but the subtext was louder: I already let you off the hook, so don’t tell me it ‘can’t work’ and then make excuses about not being ‘built’ for this.

 “Yeah. Well. Anyway.” Billy exhaled. "Oh Auru, I wish…"

“Huh?” Auru snapped his head towards the shelter entrance. His beautiful, long hair whipped with him.

Billy flinched. “Danger? Another lion?”

“Smell…fire.”

“Not this fire, right?” Billy looked at the glowing coals in the pit. But then again, I don’t have the senses of a caveman. “What is…?”

Auru pushed past him. Billy had no choice but to follow. The two men both zeroed in on the trail of white smoke off in in the middle of the tundra.

Auru scrunched up his face. “Bad.”

“A wildfire,” Billy absently said. Then, an idea struck. “Auru, are you the only person who knows how to make fire around here?” he paused. “Hot light? Fire?”

The caveman looked at him, confused. “Elder say…he learn how to make fire from wise people from another tribe.”

Inside Billy’s brain, a different sort of ‘hot light’ came into being. A ‘lightbulb’. “Auru, that could be people down there, at the bottom of the slope. That fire might be a campfire!”

It was obvious Auru hadn’t considered the possibility that there were others who held the same knowledge as him. Auru shifted forward, in a way that reminded Billy’s of his ‘hunter stance’. He smelled the air.

“Uuuahggh!?”

Auru grabbed Billy’s arm so hard that he was afraid he might dislocate it. “What, WHAT!” He followed Auru’s sight line to a circle of trees near the trail of white smoke.

Small shapes, undeniably man-made structures, were barely visible in the scrubland near the smoke.

Auru’s eyes came to life. “People!” he said. “That’s…people.”

Auru stared at the smoke for a good long while. Billy held his breath. "Well," he started, lifting up his cap to scratch his hair, "I guess this is where--"

Before Billy could protest, Auru grabbed Billy by the arm and pulled him down the hill. He grunted, harshly. "Billy no run," he said, with a glint in his eyes bordering on mischief.

There was no use trying to free his hand. Now, Billy knew what a dog on a leash felt like (and surprisingly, this was the first time). "Hey, dude, wait! I never said—"

"Billy learn to be brave," Auru said. His eyes remained trained on the smoke. "We go together. We find tribe. You and me."

"What happened to us not being mates?"

Auru smiled. "We will mate with others! Strong and virile, you and me!"

Just when Billy thought he'd made a clean break, he was now on the fast track to a first-hand anthropological experience. Sure enough, the tell-tale shape of primitive dwellings, mud huts, peeked through the tundra brush.

The emotional contrast between the two men couldn't be more drastic. Auru looked like a kid on Christmas Day (which was especially funny as this was B.C.) Billy, however, dreaded making tribal contact.

What if they think I'm a god? What if they sacrifice me to their god? What if they eat me? Hey, what if they eat me out? Even though all of that was, historically speaking, unlikely from what Billy knew of early man, there were still plenty of 'unknowns'.

"If tribe has strong hunters like Auru," the big man excitedly piped up, "maybe Bil-Lee mate with all? Good way to show this one is good one, and not harmful one." Auru belly laughed, but Billy suspected he was being entirely serious.

Billy clenched. He prayed there was a lot more flesh-light fruit and anti-pain moss down in that village. He was gonna' need it.

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