"you don't usually get something so sweet with your coffee," jim remarked.

"i was just in the mood for it today," bill said, pausing to take a bite of cake. "i'm not really sure why. it's good, though."

they were both quiet for a moment, enjoying their breakfasts. it struck him as odd. it wasn't that he minded the silence, especially when there was still the quiet chatter from the other people in the cafe in the background, but it was typical for bill to talk so much that he almost forgot about his food. this was different.

"maybe you're just especially hungry today," he said. "did you eat dinner?"

bill took a second to answer, finishing his bite first. "i did! i ate plenty yesterday."

well, cravings like that happened sometimes, he supposed. he wasn't sure why he was so concerned.

sometimes he just fixated on strange things. he figured he should let it go.

still, even when they left the cafe and continued on their outing, bill seemed sort of distracted. he was the one who had wanted to hang out and do some shopping, but at times, it almost seemed as if he didn't care about that, as if he momentarily forgot what he was even doing.

"you wanted to get some stationery, right?" jim reminded him.

"oh, yeah, i did," he said, sort of distantly. he stood very close to jim, continually glancing over at him, instead of just looking at the merchandise in front of him.

"are you alright?"

"i am! just a little out of it, i think. i'm not really sure what it is. i don't feel bad, or anything, though."

"well, if it gets worse, i'm taking you to a doctor."

"i really think i'm alright."

bill finally picked out a notebook and some stickers, so he was at least able to complete the task he had given himself.

they went to bill's house, but, while he had initially been planning to do something together, maybe hanging out as he decorated his notebook, they ended up just sitting on the couch, talking. once again, he was closer to jim than usual, staring at him with an odd sort of intensity.

maybe this was just some sort of crush? that could have explained how distracted he seemed. at least that was a much less concerning possibility than some sort of health issue.

still, he didn't entirely know how to respond to that, if that were the case.

"you've..." he hesitated to say anything. "you've been staring at me a lot," he said.

"have i?"

"you haven't noticed?"

"i guess i wasn't really thinking about it. i feel kind of hungry."

he blinked at the complete non sequitur. "well, then get yourself something to eat."

"i'm not really sure what i want. i mean, i thought that cake earlier would satisfy my craving for something sweet, but i already want something sweet again. i wonder what it is?"

jim felt uneasy, although he couldn't really put his finger on why. "well, i don't know. i guess sometimes people want sugar when they use too much mental energy."

"maybe i overdid it drawing yesterday? maybe that's why i'm so out of it, too."

"maybe," he said, although he had the feeling that wasn't it.

bill wasn't getting up to eat anything, either.

"do you have anything sweet here that you can have for now, to see if that helps?"

"i guess i could make myself some chocolate milk, or something." he finally stood up, though he seemed strangely hesitant as he walked off to his kitchen.

jim couldn't help but look closely at him. he wondered if he had imagined his odd movements a moment ago, because now, his walk seemed perfectly normal.

"huh," he heard bill say.

"what is it?"

"you know what's weird? now that i'm here, i don't think i actually want anything."

maybe bill was just kind of like this. he tended to do things on a whim, and could have trouble being aware of his body, things like hunger, and tiredness, at times.

still, jim had this odd feeling that he wanted to leave. looking at his phone, it was a bit late, anyway. "well, why don't i leave you to figure that out? i need to go home at some point, anyway."

"you don't want to stay for dinner?"

"no, you don't have to fix anything for me. i'll just make myself something."

"well, alright," he said, starting to step toward jim.

his hand was already on the doorknob. "i'll see you," he said, stepping outside.

a few days later, he was visiting shark.

"look, bill is always a little weird," they said, fumbling through the video game they were playing. "i mean, i saw him the day after you did, and he wasn't really any different or anything."

"well, it's good to hear he seems alright, i guess," jim said, sitting next to them on the couch.

shark paused their game, sort of abruptly. "are you wearing, like, perfume?"

"no," he said. "i'm not wearing anything like that."

"then what's that smell? you smell sweet."

he froze, taking a moment to realize what they were talking about, and another moment to have a very strange, irrational thought that he forced himself to ignore. "i got some new soap a while ago, i guess. is it that strong?"

"i mean, like, it's not crazy, but i noticed it."

"maybe i'm just noseblind to it. it's weird for a soap like that to be that noticeable, though."

they turned to smell him. "well, it's a pretty good smell, at least. doesn't feel very you, though. i would've thought if anything you'd go for, like, coffee, or something."

"someone recommended this one to me."

they were still smelling him. they had been friends for a long time, and were very close at this point, but it was still a little uncomfortable.

"it's making me kinda hungry," they said.

they were completely ignoring their game.

he blinked. "is this a joke?"

"what?"

"i mean, are you just acting the way bill was to mess with me?"

"am i really being that weird? you just smell like food. maybe that is why bill was being like that."

they were so close to him, with a hand on his shoulder. they were staring at him, too.

he leaned away slightly, pushing their hand off. "do you really think a soap would make people act like this?" he asked, more to himself than to shark.

"well, i don't know." they didn't back off. "is it really creeping you out that much? you're being weird. i just like your soap."

as absurd as it was, he couldn't shake the feeling that they were looking at him like they wanted to eat him. it wasn't really that he thought they were going to, or at they even could, but it was unsettling.

they had already closed the slight distance he made between them.

he pinched their nose. "just stop smelling it," he said. "you're acting like a zombie. we can't hang out if you're just drooling over me the entire time."

"i wasn't even..." something in them seemed to shift, almost instantly. they laughed. "man, what the hell is in that soap?"

he glared at them. "i really need you to be honest and tell me if you're just messing with me right now."

"there's gotta be some kind of catnip equivalent for humans in there. i thought i was being normal, but like, now that i actually feel normal, i don't know what that was."

"if you're being serious, then pinch your own nose."

they did.

"there's no way."

"well then hang out with someone else and see how they react, too. and don't tell them about this."

he took a deep breath. "can i call some more people over here, right now? well, assuming they're willing to stop by on such short notice, i guess."

"i mean, you can, but you think you'll be able to handle multiple people swarming you? hell, at that point, i might just unpinch my nose and join in."

his phone was in his hand, but he stood there, staring at nothing in particular, trying to process everything.

he turned to look at shark. "look, this is an extremely stupid thing to ask, and it's going to be even stupider if this is all some kind of joke. do you think there's a chance of me actually getting hurt from this?"

"i think you might end up with some bite marks."

"like breaking the skin, or just bruising?"

"look, you can always just not do this and stop wearing the stupid soap. what, you want a bunch of your friends to smell you and lick you and bite you and drool over you?"

their voice sounded stupid with their nose pinched, but the idea was enough to send a shiver down his spine.

"you really do want it, don't you? that's why someone gave you that soap."

"i just can't believe it. i want to confirm if it's real."

"you think i'd go this far to lie to you?"

well, he didn't, but it didn't mean he could instantly accept the alternative. "i'll- i'll invite some people," he said quietly.

"you know there are smarter ways you could confirm this. don't even pretend."

"i don't care."

he had invited bill, adrianus, and time, only telling them that shark wanted to hang out, if they were free. they had apparently decided to carpool, meaning they would all arrive at the same time.

shark had stopped pinching their nose, but jim stood away from them, waiting by the door.

it was surreal, when he really thought about it. he tried not to think about it, as much as possible.

his heart was pounding as they finally arrived, and he opened the door for them, trying to greet them as normally as possible. as they stepped in the door, they seemed to be headed for the couch, at first, but they lingered around him.

"why don't you sit down?" he asked, trying to maintain an even tone.

"you can sit down first," bill said.

"i was just going to get some snacks," jim said. "you can all sit down first, while i do that."

"is this someone's surprise birthday party?" time asked. "i smell cake."

"no," jim said quietly. his face felt warm. "we don't have cake."

they leaned in closer. "is that you, then?"

"did all of you plan this?" he asked quietly.

"plan what? you're the one who invited us."

"oh, is that what i smelled last time we were hanging out?" bill asked. "i couldn't really tell. it smells a lot stronger now, though. no wonder i got so hungry."

jim stepped away from them, almost feeling dizzy. they were all looking at him.

"there's no way the soap is that noticeable. it's just the normal soap i've been using in the shower. it's not perfume or anything. it doesn't smell that strong to me."

they all stepped toward him, almost creeping around him.

"it is quite a nice scent," adrianus said.

bill and time were already touching him, with shark approaching, too.

"i told you," they said.

"i didn't know what i was craving the other day," bill said. "but this smells exactly like what i wanted."

"it's soap," jim said quickly. "it's going to taste like soap."

shark was behind him, breathing down his neck. he was surrounded.

"this is a joke," he said. "you can't actually..."

no one seemed to be listening. all of them were weirdly fixated on him, only becoming more focused on the scent, on their hunger.

even as he trembled, it didn't deter them from closing in on him, holding him in place, smelling him, murmuring about how sweet he smelled.

it really didn't feel like a joke, or even like something they were fully conscious of. even adrianus, who was always more polite and restrained, was behaving similarly, standing in front of him, their lips almost pressing against his cheek, their hand holding his chin.

he should have made more of an effort to get away, but it felt... good, as creepy and unsettling as it all was. besides that, he wasn't sure he had a chance in the first place.

"you're... you know how weird you're all being, aren't you?" he asked.

"i don't think it's weird," bill said blankly.

"you're the one being weird," time said.

"why would you even use a soap like that if you didn't want us to smell it?" shark responded.

"it's alright," adrianus cooed. "you're so tense... you should just relax."

the first lick was on the back of his neck, from shark. he shuddered.

"it's- it's soap," he said breathlessly. "it doesn't taste-"

another lick in the same place.

"it does taste pretty good, actually," shark murmured. "better than i thought."

his breathing was heavy.

"does it actually?" he asked shakily. "does it actually taste good to you?"

rather than answering, they continued tasting his skin. it certainly seemed like they liked it.

the next lick was from bill, on his arm.

"oh, it does taste good!"

another lick, on his other arm. a lick on his cheek. and another. and another.

they all held him more tightly.

his head was spinning. he was surrounded by people who wanted to taste him, who were hungry, who were convinced he tasted good. who were so focused on this that he couldn't even reason with them. it was like they were in a kind of trance.

there was nothing he could do about it. he felt their saliva, their tongues, even teeth just grazing his skin. there was no escaping it, at this point. with each passing second, it was like they were forgetting him more and more, as if he wasn't even a person to them.

a shameful moan escaped his lips. he wasn't sure they even heard it.