[Vol. 3 pt. 7]

Meadow must have known what was about to happen since she ran away before I could introduce her to Lily and Akorya. Though, she wasn’t gone for too long. As soon as Akorya and Lily both left for the evening, a certain little spider reappeared and made her presence obvious by tapping a couple of her legs against my ankle.

She was still in her spider form, too.

I lowered a hand to let her climb onto it before lifting her up and holding her in front of my face. “Didn’t think you’d be a little voyeur,” I teased.

Meadow waved her front two legs around in front of her before transforming into her mini arachne form. “I—I did not watch for perverse reasons! I was… I was curious!”

“I guess I can’t technically call you a voyeur if you weren’t watching because it aroused you, but I’m still going to call you one anyways, you voyeuristic little spider.”

“Cruel! A bully! That is what you are!” She sounded and looked extra adorable as she pouted at me with her arms crossed over her chest.

“First time seeing you like this. Does it offend you that much to be called out?”

“I… would not say I am offended. Truthfully, I am not sure how I feel. I think… embarrassed? But when I think about why I am embarrassed… I would not feel shame being accused of something that is not true. However, when you call me a voyeur… I feel ashamed. Perhaps… perhaps I am one? When I think about why I was curious about watching you… no good reason comes to mind aside from simply wanting to. I wanted to watch. Not only that but, as I watched, I… did feel excited. I even… felt the need to… touch, myself, but I didn’t. Does—does that make me a voyeur? Does that mean I was sexually aroused by watching you? Am… am I a pervert?”

“Sounds like you are.”

My answer made her blush even more.

“But don’t worry. No matter how perverted you might become, I’m not going to judge you for it. There is no reason to feel ashamed around me because I can assure you that I’m the bigger pervert and always will be.”

“But—! I am new to being able to live and experience things on my own, and I have already fallen to such a level!”

“Do you think I should be ashamed of what I’m into?”

“Of—of course not!”

“Do you think I’m a bad person for being such a pervert?”

“No!”

“Then if I’m not bad and shouldn’t feel ashamed despite being into things far more hardcore than what you’re into, you shouldn’t feel bad nor ashamed, either. If you do feel guilty, then that must mean I should feel really guilty.”

“That… is unfair logic, but at the same time… I do see what you are trying to say.”

“I’m holding your shame hostage. If you dare to feel ashamed, I’ll make myself feel even more ashamed.”

“So unfair. However, you are only being this unfair because you do not want me to feel such negative emotions, correct?”

“Correct.”

“Then… in that case, I suppose I should thank you for treating me so unfairly.”

“There’s only one thing.”

“Hmm?”

“It’s not good to watch without asking for consent first. Now, I let you because I didn’t mind and I knew that Lily and Akorya wouldn’t care. Even so, you should have gotten consent first. But at the same time, the right thing to do would have been to stop what we were doing and let them know that we were being watched.”

“Then, may I ask why you did not stop if you knew it was the right thing to do?”

“Let’s get into the hot springs first. If I’m going to stand around talking for any longer, I’d like to relax while doing so.”

Meadow agreed, so she got into the hot springs with me. She also used her normal body for it and sunk into the water up to her shoulders right next to me.

I also had Captain Consentacles come over to give us shoulder massages with his tentacles while we relaxed. His tentacles might not have been the best at massaging because of how soft and squishy they were, but it still felt nice even if it was weak.

A weak massage was better than no massage.

“So, about my question!” Meadow said.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten,” I replied. “Anyways, well, it can be kind of tricky. Consent is, of course, always important. However, sometimes it… for a lack of better words, ruins the mood. Now, there are some people out there who are very extreme about always requiring consent for every single little thing, and I’ve had my fair share of people calling me out for my videos where I’ve talked about how you don’t need to constantly confirm you have consent. I’ve had people accuse me of encouraging rape culture and all that because of it. But, I’m speaking from experience here and know plenty of others who feel the same way. If I start making out with a girl, it can—but not always and is dependent on her—ruin the mood if I stop what I’m doing to ask if I can touch her. Verbally, that is. What I prefer is just gradually getting more touchy. You know, while we’re making out, I might start sliding my hands up her chest to her chest, or down her back toward her ass. She knows where my hands are and what they’re about to touch, and she has plenty of time to stop my hands, break off the kiss, or anything else. I always make sure to give enough time and am never forceful enough that I can’t be stopped. In a case like that, the lack of being stopped is consenting. Of course, there are still people who will argue the opposite and say that it’s rape to behave like that, but… I’m going to be real with you here, and don’t let anybody know I’m saying this because I don’t want to deal with more internet drama, but those people aren’t getting laid for a reason.”

Meadow raised a hand over her mouth as she giggled. “I see. So, what you are saying is that you are still getting consent even if you do not verbally ask for it.”

“Pretty much.”

“I see! But, how does that relate to the earlier situation? They were never aware of me watching in the first place. How could they have consented to it in any way if they were not aware?”

“In that case, it comes down to trust and knowing your partner. This is something else that is… controversial, you could say. For example. Somnophilia. The fetish of, basically, being used while asleep or using somebody while they’re asleep. Legally speaking, when done seriously, it’s rape. It’s impossible to get the consent of somebody while they’re asleep. Even if they consent before and after to being used in their sleep, they can’t give nor revoke consent while they’re asleep, and that makes it legally rape. Then there’s something like having drunken sex. Let’s say you’ve been married to somebody for twenty years. You both decide to get drunk and have sex. Legally speaking, you would be raping each other. Anyways, my point for bringing these examples up is that even if something might… technically be non-consensual, in all practice and according to common sense, it’s still consensual. If you know what your partner is comfortable with and respecting their boundaries, you don’t need to get their consent every five minutes for everything. That’s how healthy relationships work. If you’re constantly getting consent every couple of minutes, do you really trust and understand each other? For example, me and Lily. I grope her all the time without asking for. One could say that’s technically sexual harassment, but she likes it, I know that she likes it, and we both want it and approve of it even if clear consent for that sort of thing has never been verbally given.”

“I see. So… trusting and knowing each other is more important than verbal consent?”

“Well, it’s not that it’s more important or more legitimate. It’s just that it’s an alternative. Both are valid, in my opinion.”

“I see, I see! So, you did not stop to get their permission because you knew they would be alright with it?”

“Basically.”

“Then why was it not good for me to not ask?”

“Because you didn’t know. I knew they would be alright with it, so I didn’t stop anything. You, however, don’t know them as well as I do, so you couldn’t have known they would be alright with it. That’s why you should have made your presence known and gotten permission to watch.”

Meadow nodded along with an expression that told me she was genuinely paying attention and taking notes of everything I said. “I see! Ah, sorry. I feel like I keep on saying ‘I see’ every time.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s cute.”

“I—I see. Okay! Anyways… so, because you know them, it was alright for you to not stop. But because I don’t know them, it wasn’t alright for me to watch without permission. Is that right?”

“Basically, but no harm was done and it’s not a big deal, so it’s fine.”

“I feel a little guilty for not saying anything now. But… I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t bring myself to. And… even… even if I did have the courage to say something… I’m—I’m not sure I would have… b-been able to.”

“How come?”

Meadow’s face slowly turned a deeper and deeper shade of red as she covered it up within her hands. “I… remember? I… can feel what you feel. I—I… felt all of your pleasure as if I was the one with them. Every time you—every time you… finished, you… were not the only one. Even after I ran to hide from how embarrassing that was, I still felt all of it. I feel it no matter how distant I am from you.”

“So, in other words, even if you’re on the opposite side of the world from me, if I fuck somebody and cum over and over again for a few hours, you’re going to feel that the entire time?”

Meadow didn’t say anything, but she did mumble against her hands as she nodded.

“That’s a fun thing to think about. I can imagine you just trying to chill and do something, and then you feel me start to fuck somebody.”

“That would be mortifying! Especially if I am with somebody at the moment!”

“Being with somebody would make it even better. You would have to try and act like nothing is wrong, holding back your pleasured noises, while feeling everything I do.”

“That is cruel! Are you trying to kill me via embarrassment?! What if they hear me?!”

“If they hear you then I’ll tease you about it later.”

Meadow kicked her feet around under the water as she whined and mumbled into her hands. “I do not even have a way of getting you back for that!”

“Good luck ever getting me back. There’s nothing that can embarrass me.”

Meadow calmed down suspiciously fast. “Is that so?”

I felt nervous for some reason, but I was confident she couldn’t do anything to embarrass me. “It is.”

“Then…” Meadow uncovered her face and grabbed my nearest hand, holding it between both of hers as she looked me directly in the eyes. “Thank you, Damian, for being my friend. There is nobody I would rather bind myself to, and you have been nothing but supportive, helpful, and kind to me at all times. You may get recognition for being such a good man when it comes to perverse matters, but I do not believe you receive anywhere close to what you deserve when it comes to praising you for your general personality and actions. You truly are a wonderful man in all regards, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for being you, Damian, and please never change.”

I took a deep breath and looked away. “Al-alright. You win.”

“Hmm, hmm. I wonder! Could it be that you are so used to receiving perverse affection that you are not good with other varieties of it? You have no problem receiving praise for your sexual prowess, but become flustered upon receiving normal praise?”

“I… I mean, it’s not like I can’t handle normal compliments. I just very, very rarely ever receive a concentrated burst of them like that.”

“Then perhaps I shall assault you with such praise on a regular basis!”

“I probably wouldn’t feel so embarrassed if you make it into a regular thing.”

“Ah, that is true. Well, I will save it for when I want revenge then. Should you be cruel and make me experience such pleasures again while I am with somebody or trying to do something, I will fluster you with as many compliments as it takes until you try to run away.”

“You’re getting awfully full of yourself.”

“Hmm? I—I am?”

I repositioned myself to be over her as I grabbed her by her chin to hold her head still. Now, I was the one looking her directly in her eyes. “Whenever I get teased, it just makes me want to tease the other person back even harder. Do you really think you would be able to tease me until I break? I’m fairly certain you would break before I do as soon as I retaliate.”

And just like that, Meadow was back to blushing and stammering. “I—I would resist! I… I can… hold back until you break!”

“Can you, Meadow?” I leaned in, bringing our faces even closer to the point where the tips of our noses almost touched. “Do you genuinely believe that you can outlast m—”

Meadow vanished and I almost hit my head against the ground from falling through where she used to be.

Or rather, she didn’t vanish.

She simply returned to her spider form that was now floating on top of the water with her front two legs covering up her eyes.

I never thought that I would see a spider blush before, but there she was. There was an undeniable hint of red underneath her eyes.

I won.