A deer was pressed against the trunk of a tree, looking up in fear to meet the eyes of his predator: a larger, ravenous lynx. The deer simply stood still as the lynx pressed his paw against the deer, sniffing and licking at his body ravenously. Every time the deer would squirm, he could feel the bigger cat tighten his grip. As the deer felt the lynx's teeth slowly envelop against his shoulder, the deer let out a cry for help, although it was merely met with the predator tightening the grip on the boy with his teeth.
 
"No use for squirming around, boy, you already know how this is going to end." The lynx gave the deer a big, wide grin, hearing his stomach grumble out in hunger. Hearing the predator's words, the deer whimpered and gave up, going limp in the bigger male's arms and feeling the saliva from his open maw drip onto his fur. After about ten or so minutes of the lynx's teasing, he finally started to gulp down his prey, with the antlers and tip of the deer's head starting to go down the big cat's throat.
 
It wasn't until that exact moment that the lynx heard a loud, rumbling growl coming from nearby. The cat backed away from where the sound was coming, a cluster of large bushy trees, and kept his prey in his arms. The lynx would have ran in this type of situation, but he was just left paralyzed on the ground, holding an equally shaky deer in his paws.
 
There was a loud, shuffling sound within the trees, merely increasing the suspense for the two. At last, a large, striped figure had came out from the trees. Getting closer to the two, the lynx could recognize the figure as a Siberian tiger, one that was at least twice the size of the lynx. The lynx's ears drooped, and he started to move, running away from the tiger. He held the deer in his arms as well, almost as if the two had come together in the company of a much bigger feline.
 
The lynx had ran into a nearby cave, going as deep into the cave as he possibly could, holding the deer tight to his chest. The two were both whimpering to themselves, hearing the threatening pounds of the tiger's footsteps, and his loud heart-piercing snarls. The cat held against the deer tighter, shaking with fear as they stood at the end of the cave.
 
"Okay, before we get mauled to death by a tiger, I'd just like to say that you actually seem like a cool guy. Even if you tried to eat me, I still think we should get to know each other more if we survive through this!" The deer whispered to the lynx, gently hugging to him. "My name's Mark, would you care to tell me yours?"
 
"My name's Vance, it's nice to meet you." Vance flashed a smile to the smaller male, the footsteps of the tiger keeping his heart beating loudly. The deer whimpered loudly and hugged closer to Vance, hiding his face in the cat's warm chest fur. If one were to peek outside, they would notice the tiger was getting close to the cave, standing only about a quarter of a kilometer away.
 
"I never thought I'd be stuck in a situation like this, talking with someone higher than me on the food chain." Mark got comfortable where he lied, trying to get a view outside of the cave. "What's it like being a predator, Vance? I'd imagine it feels great, you don't have to worry about being eaten so much, you have power over others lower than you..."
 
"Well, just being a carnivore in general is really hard emotionally. I really love to eat my prey whole, so I don't have to directly kill them, but it's just so heartbreaking to hear your meal crying for help. You don't have to worry about that, you can eat as many leaves as you want without feeling guilty." Vance frowned, starting to pet Mark as he lied in his chest. In order to soothe the deer, the big cat started to purr, lying back as he heard the footsteps of the tiger being magnified by walking on the cave floor.
 
"Aww, never thought about it like that." Mark replied, looking down to the cave floor. "Well, if we do live through this, I won't care if you need to eat someone. I understand that you need to eat too, even if you do feel like a monster in the process." Mark gave a weak smile up to Vance.
 
The cave then started to shake, almost as if there was an earthquake. The two could see the large tiger in the distance, and could only watch as the tiger got closer to the two, showing off his large, threatening looking fangs to the group. He then bent down to pick up the two, holding them in his paws. Mark started to shake and whimper in the predator's hold, hugging to Vance.
 
"Look Vance, you should be able to talk to him. Aren't you two both cats?" Mark frowned, hearing the tiger's stomach grumble out in hunger.
 
"No, I can't. Tigers eat lynxes, Mark, I might as well look like a steak to hi-" Vance was cut off by the tiger, who had let out a loud, terrifying roar. He held the lynx in his right paw and held him up to his face. The tiger then opened up his maw, setting Vance on his tongue. He then took a loud, hungry gulp, sending Vance's head down into his throat.
 
The smaller feline was squirming to the best of his abilities inside of the tiger's maw, trying to get out safely. However, his attempts were in vain as the tiger swallowed once more, sending the entirety of Vance's upper body into his maw. The tiger even forgot of the deer, too, until he heard the boy yell out to defend the lynx.
 
"Mr. Tiger, please, don't hurt him!" Mark yelled out, staring up to the tiger. The big cat gave another gulp, leaving only Vance's feet sticking out of his maw. "If you're gonna digest him, then at least eat me too!"
 
The tiger finished off Vance with one more loud gulp. The lynx's body traveled down into his warm, tight throat, where he had no room to move around until he fell into the stomach. Although Vance had a bit more room, below him was a small layer of hot, relentless acids. Vance was forced to stand up to the best of his abilities to avoid the acids.
 
The big cat then looked down to see Mark standing before him, seeing the fearful look of the deer was rather disheartening for the predator, but he picked up the deer anyway and nodded, giving the deer a gentle lick on the cheek. "Okay, I'll let you join your friend, little guy." It almost sounded as if the tiger had a hint of compassion in his voice, but Mark didn't hear it, he only heard the loud, rumbling stomach that was below him, possibly already working on digesting his new friend.
 
Mark looked up to the tiger as he saw the maw opening up, feeling the warm, moist saliva fall onto his face. The tiger was holding him by both paws, and he couldn't move out of their grasp at all; the slow, smooth movement to the tiger's maw felt more like an amusement park ride of sorts, only so much more terrifying. The tiger showed off his sharp, white fangs to the deer, although he didn't use them at all and merely set the deer's head against his tongue.
 
Despite the unfortunate situation, being inside of the tiger's maw helped soothe him a bit. A mix of the ambient breathing and the warm waves of breath made the deer calm down, even making him drowsy as well! However, the loud, watery gulp pulled him back into reality, and the deer's eyes focused onto what was happening to him. The deer was being sent down the tiger's throat, and could feel as more of his body entered the tiger's warm yet treacherous maw. The tiger's throat tightened around the deer and pulled more of his body down, the tiger didn't even need to swallow, as his throat would do all of the work in pulling down his prey into his stomach
 
Finally, when the deer's feet finally entered the tiger's maw, Mark's head poked into the tiger's much larger stomach. He first looked for Vance, who was struggling to stay out of the acids, although he looked relatively intact, although the acids were rapidly rising. When the rest of Mark's body finally joined him inside of the tiger's stomach, he fell down on top of Vance, both of them landing in the hot, painful acids. Mark let out a howl in pain, tears starting to form in his eyes, while Vance slowly swam over to wrap his arms around the little deer.
 
"I know you're scared Mark, but please don't cry." Vance frowned down to Mark, hugging the deer tighter to his chest. "I'm not sure we're going to live, Mark, but if this is how we're gonna go, I want to see you smiling when I fall unconscious, okay?" Vance gave a weak smile, starting to lick at Mark's face.
 
Feeling the big cat licking at his face, Mark couldn't help but give a smile, giggling as the cat pinned the deer against a stomach wall, assaulting his face with licks. "H-hey Vance, this tickles!" Mark couldn't help but continue laughing, despite being half-submerged in stomach acids. However, the two immediately stopped when they heard what was happening outside of the stomach. From what it sounded like to the two, the tiger was actually whimpering. Neither of them thought much of it until the acids inside of the tiger's stomach started to lower until there were absolutely no acids inside of the big cat's stomach anymore.
 
"Gosh, it's been harder for me to eat without feeling awful," the tiger grumbled, rubbing his belly gently. "I'm still shaken from breakfast. I had these two foxes, they were twins, and they didn't even seem scared in my stomach, they were just talking until the acids got to them."
 
"Oh, I see." Mark looked up to Vance, then pressed his body against the tiger's stomach. "Are you lonely, Mr. Tiger?"
 
"I-I guess so. I haven't anyone to talk to, so I guess I'd love to have someone like that." The tiger continued rubbing his belly, lying back on the cave floor. "I know that I just ate you guys, and you must be terrified, but could you be that for me?"
 
"A friend?"
 
"Mhmm, I'd like a friend."
 
Mark took a moment to think over the tiger's offer. He then looked over to Vance, who was clearly apprehensive to take the tiger's offer. Despite his friend clearly refusing, the deer took up on the tiger's offer. "Sure, we'd love to be your friends! Could you tell us your name, Mr. Tiger?"
 
"Oh, my name's Todd. Would you like to tell me your names, or do you not have one?" Todd smiled and rested his paw against his belly, feeling the movement of his two prey.
 
"My name's Mark, and the lynx you just ate is Vance!" Mark started to rub at Todd's stomach, while Vance merely lied at the bottom of the stomach, listening to the conversation between the two. "Is this your cave, Todd?"
 
"Yeah, I've lived in this cave for at least five years now, but this is the first time I've had visitors." Todd remarked, looking around his cave. The big tiger then closed his eyes, rubbing his belly gently as he let out a loud, roaring yawn. "I'm gonna go to sleep soon, would you like me to let you guys out, or are you fine in there?"
 
"Don't worry about us, big guy, we'll be fine in here!" Vance finally piped out, resting his head against a stomach wall. "It's actually pretty nice in here, if I knew I wasn't going to die in here today, the wy down would've been much more soothing." The lynx smiled, getting comfy as he hugged Mark to his chest.
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"I understand, I'm sorry about the scare, Vance." The predator smiled, getting comfortable on the floor where he lied. "Goodnight, you two..." Within a matter of minutes, Todd had fallen asleep on the cave floor, his paws protectively resting against his belly. Inside of his stomach, Mark and Vance got ready to fall asleep. The lynx had the smaller male hugged to his chest, purring softly against the deer as he lied on the stomach floor.
 
"Mark? Are you sure this tiger's gonna let us out alive?" Vance whispered with a hint of concern in his voice. "He seemed really nice, but I don't know if we can trust him."
 
"For what? Being a predator?" Mark smiled to Vance, hugging the big cat closer to him. "When we got to talk earlier, I trusted you. I didn't run off when I got the chance to, I trusted that you weren't going to hurt me."
 
"Ah, I guess so. Goodnight, Mark." Vance replied, closing his eyes as he rested his arms around the deer. Vance had fallen asleep rather quickly as well, holding Mark protectively as he snoozed the night away with Todd. The only one still awake was Mark, whose heart was beating in excitement from making two new friends that day.