Victor sat in the booth, pursing his lips. This date was not going too well.
It had really been a bit of a wash from the start. His date, Mera, wasn't really girlfriend material. Her profile on the dating site had seemed promising, but he had assumed that, as they were both Flying Foxes, she would be shorter than him, or at least around the same height. Instead, the girl was an amazon; she would never look good on his arm. She was cute, though, and was probably at least worth a quick lay tonight before he moved on.
Except that this was a double date: Victor and Mera had come along with Mera's roommate Lilith and her date, a coyote named Trevor. Victor didn't like it; he hated being the shortest person at the table, for one, but Trevor also kept blocking him. If he didn't know any better, he'd think that the coyote had eyes for Mera instead of Lilith.
Not that he would blame him. If Mera was an amazon, then Lilith was a behemoth: the fat hyena had no table manners at all. Victor was glad that Mera had turned down his original offer of dinner and suggested this coffee shop instead -- he could only imagine that, with a whole meal in front of her instead of just a cup of coffee, the hyena would have turned into an enormous slob.
Regardless, Trevor seemed to have made it his mission to cock-block Victor. Mera was telling some inane story about her childhood, and Trevor was playing into it hard, pretending he actually cared.
"Wow," Trevor was saying, "sounds like your family is kind of conservative, huh?"
"Yeah," Mera answered. "My mom actually didn't want any of the girls to date until we were twenty-one, if you can believe that. Of course, I'm pretty sure not a single one of us actually followed that rule."
"I don't know, it doesn't sound that unreasonable to me," Victor chimed in.
"What," Lilith said, her arms crossed. "You're saying that you think people shouldn't date until they're twenty-one?"
"No, no," Victor said. "I'm just saying I think too many girls rush into sex at way too early an age. You end up with a society of sluts." Which left fewer unspoiled girls for the the guys like Victor, who deserved them.
Mera blushed and looked down into her cup of coffee, which told Victor that he had said the right thing. But his comment didn't seem to be getting too warm a reception from the other couple at the table, so he decided to change the subject. "Besides, dating at that age puts kids in danger of getting caught by some nasty pred. I'm sure your mother just didn't want you to accidentally start dating a monster."
"Nasty?" Mera repeated.
"Monster?" Lilith said.
"You're not a fan of preds, I take it?" Trevor asked. His tone was cordial, but not nearly as fake-friendly as it had been up until now.
"Of course not," Victor said. "They should all be put down, as far as I'm concerned."
Victor saw a small look pass between Lilith and Mera. He had suspected that Lilith herself might be a pred -- she was certainly fat enough to be one -- and that look mostly confirmed his suspicions. He wouldn't say so out loud, of course, but that was one more reason to not see Lilith again after tonight: he didn't want to be around someone who was willing to hang out with preds.
"Maybe we should talk about something else," Trevor said.
"Fine with me." Victor didn't want to push the pred subject, anyway, especially if it turned out he was right about Lilith. He was pretty sure he was safe; Lilith probably wouldn't eat her friend's date. But still, no reason not to be careful.
Besides, he had Mera on the ropes. The bat stared into her coffee, holding the cup with both hands. If Victor was going to bang her tonight, he needed to get the focus back on her trying to impress him.
"So Mera," Trevor said, "I noticed that you didn't include your height on your dating profile."
"Should I have?" Mera asked, her tone flat.
"Well, I just know that tall girls have trouble finding dates, so I figure it's an intentional strategy."
Trevor and Lilith were both giving Victor the stink-eye, but Mera just continued staring into her cup of coffee. Had he miscalculated? He had expected his comment to get her flustered, but instead she just stared down as an awkward silence fell over the table.
"Lilith," Mera said, in a tone that made Victor's skin crawl. "Will you hold this form me?" Mera handed her cup of coffee to Lilith, who took it with a nod.
Mera then leaped forward, standing up in her seat to lean over the four person table and grab Victor by the collar. Victor found himself being heaved forward and slammed onto his back on the table, his own cup of coffee crashing to the floor. Mera then climbed onto the table herself, straddling his waist.
Victor was so shocked at the sudden attack that he didn't know how to respond. He just stared up at her, and she returned his gaze, her narrow eyes meeting his.
"You are everything I hated about my family," she said. "You aren't the one I was planning on doing this to tonight, but you know what? I think you're perfect for it."
Mera then opened her mouth wide, her maw gaping in front of Victor's view as she leaned down towards him. A drop of saliva splashed onto his cheek.
This had to be some kind of joke. Mera was a Flying Fox, after all -- a vegetarian. Even if she was big, she couldn't be a predator.
And yet she had no problem fitting his entire head into her mouth. He felt her long tongue lick across his chin before pushing him forward, squeezing his head into her throat. The throat was even tighter than her mouth, and the walls undulating around him, filling his ears with wet, slick noises.
It occured to him that he should struggle.
He tried to fight, to kick or push himself away, but she had already swallowed his shoulders, and her weight on his legs made kicking difficult. In the end, all he could do was squirm.
His journey continued as his shoulders slid into her throat, and his head pushed deeper into the dark tunnel. He could hear her heart nearby, beating fast, as though excited. Her tongue played across his stomach, helping pull him in, though it was mostly her hands forcing him deeper now as she scarfed him down.
His face pressed into something wet and firm, and he realized it must be the entrance to her stomach. Progress stopped, and for a moment he wondered if she couldn't actually fit him into her, after all.
But then his world spun as she lifted him up, allowing gravity to help pull him deeper into her throat. With a pop, his head slid through the stomach entrance. His nose was assaulted with an acrid smell, mixed with the strong scent of coffee.
His head was in her stomach. His head was in her stomach. How the hell had he gotten here? He had always been careful to avoid preds, or at least make sure they wouldn't see him as a target, and yet here he was, being swallowed by a girl that he wouldn't have pegged as a pred in a million years! And all he could do was squirm.
Progress sped up as Mera swallowed Victor down, forcing him face-first into a sludge made of enzymes, coffee, and probably other things he didn't want to think about. It stuck to his fur and got in his mouth, causing his tongue to burn. He tried to spit it out, but the stuff was everywhere, oozing off the walls from every direction.
As more of his body was forced into Mera's stomach, Victor was forced to curl up. Finally, his feet popped through the stomach entrance, which closed behind him.
Victor clawed for the entrance, hoping to climb back out, but he couldn't find it amongst the slick walls. It felt as though he had been stuffed into a wet canvas sack; he could find no purchase, and there was no leverage to be had. He could push out against the walls, but that would only allow him a momentary respite before the stomach crushed in on him again, forcing his spine to bend at an uncomfortable angle.
"You can't do this!" He screamed.
The stomach around him rumbled as Mera released a belch.
--------
"Excuse me," Mera said, before sliding back down off the table and into her seat.
A long silence hung over the table, and Mera felt her face flush. "I-I'm sorry I ruined the date for everyone."
She heard a laugh, and she looked up to see both Trevor and Lilith smiling at her. "It was ruined already," Lilith said. "I was about to eat the little bastard myself, diet be damned."
"But..."
"That guy was a jerk, Mera," Trevor said. "I don't know how much longer I could have stayed at the same table with him, either."
Mera looked back and forth between the two of them. "But... then... what happens now?"
"Now," Lilith said, handing Mera's coffee back to her and standing up, "I think I'm going to leave."
Mera looked at Lilith in surprise, and she saw out of the corner of her eye that Trevor did the same.
Trevor started to say something, but Lilith held up a hand, cutting him off. "Anyone can see that you and Mera are hitting it off. I'm not going to get in the way of that."
"Lilith, I'm here as your date. I certainly never meant to..." Trevor said.
"I know you didn't. I can tell that you're way too much of a gentleman to spurn the girl you're out with like that. Which is why I am officially leaving you. This just isn't working out, Trevor; consider our date over. And since Mera's date is now... indisposed, that means that you are now two young single people in a coffee shop together. Do with that what you will."
Lilith then leaned down to give Mera goodbye hug, and while doing so, she whispered in Mera's ear. "And really, I'm just happy to see that you're eating on the regular instead of starving yourself. And I'm impressed with how you stood up to Victor. You enjoy your date with Trevor -- he really isn't my type, anyway."
"Thanks," Mera whispered back. A knot that had formed in her throat.
"Alright, see you two later! Mera, I'm expecting a full report on how this goes later. And Trevor, you do anything to hurt my Mera, I'm coming for you." Lilith gave Trevor an "I'm watching you" gesture, though she continued smiling while she did so.
Trevor smiled back. "Duly noted."
And Lilith left, leaving the two of them alone.
They sat in silence at the table for a moment. "This... isn't how I was expecting this night to go," Mera said.
"I imagine not," Trevor said. "What was it you said to Victor before you ate him? 'You aren't the one I was planning on doing this to?'" Trevor smiled. "I take it that I was your intended meal for the evening?"
Mera froze. She gripped her coffee cup so hard she was surprised it didn't break. But what would be the point of lying now? "Y-yes."
Trevor nodded, still smiling, and leaned back in his seat. "Well, I'm glad that Victor turned out to be such a jerk, then. Was Lilith in on it?"
Mera shook her head. "No, she didn't know. It was... someone else that put me up to it."
"Glad to hear that, too. At least I wasn't here as just a meal."
Mera stared at him. She laid a hand on her belly -- Victor continued to squirm and scream inside it. "You're really... okay with this?"
"Sure," Trevor said. "I understand how it is for preds. I mean, you've gotta eat, and it's not like I was your date. Though I admit, I'm glad I'm still here with you now. I meant it when I told Lilith that I didn't intend for things to go this way, but I do like you, Mera."
"But..." Mera hesitated. She wasn't sure what to say.
"Is there a problem?" Trevor leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table. "Mera, are you not happy with how things turned out here? Because I won't be offended if you're not. Just because I like you doesn't mean you have to like me back."
"No, that's not it. I do like you," Mera blushed as she realized what she had just said. "But... but I'm a pred. I was going to eat you. How do you know I won't change my mind?"
Trevor tapped his chin. "How about a deal?" He held up his right hand with three fingers extended. "Three dates. You give me three dates, not counting this one, and you promise not to eat me before that. After that, all bets are off -- though I hope I'll have convinced you that I'm worth keeping around by then."
"But..."
"Do we have a deal?"
Mera forced herself to meet Trevor's gaze. He looked serious. She swallowed hard, then nodded.
Trevor broke into a grin. "Great! I'm looking forward to the next few weeks."
And Mera realized that, for the first time since she could remember, so was she.
