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Cowboy: Paradise

---

Prologue:

May 2019.

The afternoon sun shone through the germinating tree canopy that arched over the county dirt road. The countryside was quiet in rural Licking County, with quiet fields lush with green, and woodland turning green from erupting green foliage. Dust followed behind a truck as it drove eastbound, the big dually Silverado making a right at the fork in the road. Its tires jolted and bucked to the rough, uneven road. Stones plinked against the undercarriage as Ben drove on.

Behind the wheel of his bright red Chevy was Ben Reynolds, a seventeen year old husky, with tan and beige fur. He wore a gray t-shirt and jeans, a pointed cowboy boot pressed on the gas pedal. His youthful face looked stiff, uneasy, but serious. Part of it had to do from the facial paralysis he faced; the big, nasty, dark scar on the left side bore testament to the damage. The other part was the anxiety, the uncertainly of returning home, to confront his parents one more time, a final attempt to reconcile their relationship.

Seven months prior, Ben came out of the closet, after almost dying in a horrific gay bashing at school. Having been in a coma for a few days, he awoke in the hospital to undergo a rather painful recovery, while being poked and prodded by investigators. It was the worst possible time to let his family know about him being gay. He would still recall the horror and disgust from his parents, who ultimately stormed out of the room, disowning him on the spot. The pain, the fear, the anger, still stabbed at Ben's heart. He was now on his own, living in Westerville with a gay couple, two older huskies in their thirties who took him in. But despite those raw feelings, Ben was returning home, to Hanover, to try and reconcile, to try and salvage something, one final time. He felt morally obligated; his father was sick and had recently underwent heart surgery, following another heart attack, but the information was scant. Everyone was tight lipped, uncooperative in the Reynolds family. Ben wanted to do the right thing, for his own closure.

Coming around the bend, Ben slowed up, knowing the driveway was approaching. He saw the mailbox and reflector glisten red in the sun. Tapping the brakes and putting the turn signal on, Ben slowed up and swung out to make the turn into the driveway. He just turned in, and pressed his foot to the floor, locking the tires up onto the dirt. Instead of his childhood home, a single story ranch, the husky stared at the charred remains of a home that looked as though a fire broke it in two. He shoved the shifter into park and jumped out.

"What the fuck!?" Ben muttered. He stood in front of his truck, just examining the charred remains of his home. The county hung a big red and white "X" on the structure, condemning it. The side yard, which once held a mini-junk yard for his Dad's little business, was gone, with only the oil stains left on the ground.

Approaching the home, curiosity got the best of the husky, as he poked his head through the charred windows that were once the living room's. His nostrils picked up the charred scent of wood and upholstery. Stepping in, boards creaked and crackled under his boots as he stepped foot once again into what remained of his childhood home. There wasn't anything really left in the living room; a melted TV still hung, and a few pictures of his family remained, the glass darkened by soot. The kitchen wasn't in too bad of shape, with a refrigerator still in the corner, and a dining table still adorned with tableware.

Being mindful of the caved in roof, Ben went down the charred hallway and stepped into his bedroom, which was largely intact. It looked like nothing had changed. A John Deere tractor poster still hung, and an old CRT television sat on his dresser. His closet still held some clothes, and Ben quickly grabbed them, along with his cherished pair of brown cowboy boots that he missed so dearly. It was a sad, but curious dilemma. It was as though his parents were in a weird state of mourning, as though he had "died" when he came out. He carried his belongings back through the crumbling house and out the large window to place in his truck bed, under the camper shell. He went back to make one more look of the place. His only conclusion was that the house burned down from an electrical fire; his father had complained on more than one occasion about electrical problems, and morbidly joked that "one of these days this whole place is gonna burn down". A morbid joke that had come true.

Something white caught Ben's eye as he turned to see a piece of paper stuck in the blackened door. It was out of place, which made Ben walk over to grab it. He opened the door, which promptly fell off its hinges and smashed onto the ground, kicking up gray dust. Bending down, he picked up the piece of paper, which was folded three times, and stained a bit. It revealed a letter, addressed to him with a "Dear Ben". It was his Mom's handwriting.

"Dear Ben.

I thought you might show up one of these days,

so I wanted to leave you this so you know.

Your father had open heart surgery on 4/31, but

died on 5/3. Complications following an unexpected

stroke. He was buried on 5/7. I am heartbroken. I

come home from the hospital after he died to find

the home on fire. Fire Department thinks it was an

electrical issue. I think it's God just punishing me.

So I made the decision to just return back home to

Tennessee, where family is at.

I'm sorry we could never overcome our differences.

Wish you the best, Ben.

Love, Mom."

Ben felt his heart sink as he slowly lowered the letter, which fluttered in a warm breeze. It hit him that his father had died, and no one in his family even bothered to tell him. He died and was buried, and Ben didn't even know. There was an upwelling of rage inside him at the snub the Reynolds gave him. But then suddenly, there was calm. The husky closed his eyes, lowered his head, and chuckled. It was a cynical chuckle at the whole situation. But now it was over. He felt that the light bulb had finally gone off in his head; he no longer had to try and become a man. He was a man all along.

Seven months ago, it had never dawned on Ben, that fateful day that his life would change. But after his gay bashing, his abandonment, his expulsion from Newark High School, and uprooting of his life, he wanted to grow up fast to become a better person, "become a man" and do something bigger with his life. But it made sense now- he was a man all along because he was the better person, he had the moral fiber that his parents both lacked.

Looking down at the letter, Ben realized that his Mom's words were hollow to him. They were vapid words, empty and without sincerity. Her "Love Mom" felt as hollow as the burned out carcass of their former home.

"Can't say you didn't try~" he could hear his mentor, Rob Barion, say in his mind.

"I did." Ben thought. He crumbled up his "Dear John" letter and threw it into the charred remains of the home. His quest was over, and Ben felt he finally could understand everything. There was a feeling of resolution to him as he turned around, to head back to his idling truck. He climbed back in and buckled himself in before backing out and onto the narrow road. He took off for home, his tires kicking up dust behind him as he rumbled back down the road he grew up on, disappearing beyond the bend.

---

Cowboy: Paradise

March 2021.

The middle of March looked dead. The woodland scenery around the abandoned quarry was dull, a color pallet of muted browns and greens. The woodland that surrounded the deep quarry pond was naked, the forest floor covered in browned leaf litter. The trails were damp and muddy, and everything looked dirty and tired from a hard winter. Even the pond's water took on a dull, steel gray appearance. Browned grass rustled in the cool breeze. The sky was overcast, dark slate clouds hanging low, adding to the sullen scene. From his perch on top of the rocky cliffs that surrounded the pond, sat Ben. The tan and beige husky peered out from the top of the cliff, watching over the empty quarry turned park. His face had a look of thought on it, as he sat alone, reflecting on things. The ongoing pandemic made life very rough for him, for everyone, over the past year. It had been a rather rough two and a half years for him personally.

A lot had happened since 2018. A gay bashing, his family disowning him, having to "grow up fast" to be on his own, his father's untimely death, the desire for relationships and sex, being raped by a fellow student, trying to find love, and being discriminated against in his first job. From the naïve, chubby sixteen year old country boy, Ben over the course of those two and a half years, transformed into a more muscular, slender, but somewhat jaded, eighteen year old, at the cusp of turning nineteen in a few days. There was some emotional baggage that he still struggled to unpack, and his cynicism was a way to cope with all the trauma. Add to the stresses of the pandemic, and it only made the jadedness grow more. He felt restless a lot- he had big plans once he graduated from high school, which had to be put on hold with the arrival of SARS-CoV-2. The envisioned vacation with friends, the parties, the pomp and celebration, replaced by the stark misery of isolation. He wished he had a boyfriend, a relationship like his houseguests, and fuckbuddies, Anton and Borr. The closeness, the warmth, the attention. He had briefly been in a relationship in 2019, with Brad Oakley, who lived in Kansas. He really loved the German Shepherd country boy, who lived in the tiny city of Attica, but the distance just took its toll. They both mutually agreed that it wasn't working out, and elected to be just close friends. But it was just a reminder of the loneliness he faced in the midst of the pandemic.

Not all was bad though. Ben had a full-time job now, working for Centoh Aircraft as a mechanic's apprentice. He always wanted to do something mechanical, and found himself in the aviation field, helping to build radial engines for Jake Barion's company. He found a newfound interest in aviation because of his job, and was beginning the early stages of learning how to fly a plane. Not only did Jake offer him an eventual position of being a flight crew for their Electra "hotshots", Rob Barion offered to buy him a warbird once he got his pilot's license, a very expensive proposition that Ben was interested in.

The husky had also been working on improving his appearance; he had lost almost forty pounds in weight, and had been lifting weights with Anton and Borr, growing his muscles. He lost his pudgy belly, and his arms and chest grew more toned. He grew his brown hair out, and braided his ponytail, Viking style, like Borr's. It ran down to his upper back. His more slender body was clad in a dark burgundy and gray striped hoodie, and a pair of dark jeans with some distressing at the knees. His feet were clad in his favorite pair of brown cowboy boots, which were pointed at the tips.

Exhaling through clenched teeth, Ben got up and brushed some dust off his jeans. His thinking session was over. The husky stretched and turned to walk on the trail, back to his truck down below. The quarry was empty of people, and Ben's lonely footsteps faintly echoed on his journey. He took a momentary detour to take a leak against a rock, the infamous rock that he got raped against.

Ben took a moment to gaze at the innocuous looking boulder that sat in the woods. He was standing alone, peeing against a tree, when he was assaulted by Talon Brock, a jealous, closeted jock he had a sexual fling with a few times. Talon threw him against the rock and pinned him down and raped him. Ben broke free and slashed at him with a knife. In their struggle, he threw Talon into the pond almost twenty feet below. It was a trauma that he had largely moved on from, though the shock and terror that once haunted him, was now replaced by numbness.

Ben pursed his lips and just proceeded to undo his belt and jeans, his right paw whipping out his huge uncut member, which he peered down at. In his grip was his thick tan cock, his fat cockhead covered by his thick foreskin that bluntly tapered. He gave it a shake and slid his foreskin back, revealing his big pink cockhead. He was mighty proud of his nine incher, which looked even bigger now that he had lost weight and his "foopa" disappeared. With a grunt, the husky relieved himself on the boulder, his hot stream gently steaming against the cold stone. He thought about getting some relief from Anton and Borr later, which made his cock get a bit harder. He finished up and gave his member a shake, which was then stuffed back away. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ben continued on the trail.

The trail led back to the gravel parking lot, which was empty, except for his red dually truck. The gravel was always littered with trash from careless visitors, with an occasional used condom lying about. Ben chuckled to himself about getting laid in the quarry, including a few romps with Brad in the bed of his truck in the middle of the night. Grabbing his keys, Ben climbed aboard, fired up the turbodiesel up, and backed up to head on out. Tires crunched against the pavement as he left for home.

---

Steam enveloped the walk-in shower. Soaking his muscles in the hot stream, Ben relaxed with Anton and Borr in their shower. It was a snug fit for the three huskies, as they bathed together. Anton and Borr were older than Ben- Borr at thirty-three, and Anton at thirty-five. Both were nicely tattooed up, with Anton having both arms sleeved, and Borr sporting a sleeve on his right arm. Anton had an amusing koi fish and lily pad tattoo on his right buttcheek. Their chiseled chests were nicely adorned with a well finished chestpiece that linked to their sleeves. Borr was a white and gray furred husky from Sweden, with bright yellow blonde hair and icy blue eyes. Anton hailed from Ukraine, and was shorter than Borr, around Ben's height. He had tan and beige fur, similar to Ben, but sported a goatee and stubby Mohawk that was dyed dark blue. Looking down, they were as hung as Ben, with big uncut members dripping soapy water.

"How was your day off today, Ben?" Anton asked as he lifted an arm up to rinse his armpit off.

"Boring." Ben shrugged. He took some soap and rubbed it into his chest fur. "I really don't like days off, at least not at the moment..."

"Yeah...it's kind of boring with nothing really to do..." Borr admitted.

"Same shit! Different year!" Ben said with a sardonic laugh at the end. "I had all these plans once I had graduated. I finally had some money being built up, and I really, really! Wanted to take that vacation... and then good ole Covid-19 came into the picture!"

"Sadly." Anton shook his head. "People could have done a bit of a better job..."

"I have no faith in people doing the right thing if it doesn't benefit them." Ben rolled his eyes. "...fuck em."

"Sadly..." Borr quipped. The Nordic husky slid over and put his beefy arms around Ben, who leaned back against his strong frame.

"I like you guys~" Ben smiled. "You're a lot of fun."

"Heh, fun~" chuckled Anton with a sly little grin.

"We are a lot of fun, aren't we?" Borr asked Anton with a playful, cheeky grin.

Ben chuckled with them and reached up to gently caress Borr's paw. He slowly guided it down to his crotch, where he felt Borr grip his soft member. Ben closed his eyes and began to get hard as Borr stroked him. His other paw caressed his chest, which he loved.

"Horny, eh?" Anton chuckled.

"Very~" Ben admitted. "That's the other thing I hoped for... hot hookups! I wanted to get my dick wet!"

"Heh, heh, you get plenty of that from us." Borr teased.

"Ohh yes..." Ben smiled all smutty. "Unghhh...I love you two huskers."

"Good..." Anton smiled, as he slowly dropped to his knees. Borr slid his fingers down Ben's rock hard shaft and held the base of his dick to keep his foreskin back. Anton slowly put Ben's cock into his muzzle and began to suck on it. Ben closed his eyes again and moaned to the sensation. He slowly thrust his cock in and out of Anton's muzzle, while he happily suckled on it.

"Wanna play with us tonight?" Borr suggested.

"Do bears shit in the woods?" Ben laughed.

Following their shower, they all got dried off and took their escapades to the bed. Anton, Ben, and Borr laid out and proceeded to suck on each other. The subtle sounds of sucking filled the quiet room as they worked to pleasure each other. If there was one thing that made Ben happy, it was being intimate with those two hung huskers. They took care of all his needs. He still remembered having sex with them on his eighteenth birthday, his first threesome. Besides the sex, Anton, and Borr gave him a lot of emotional support, especially after his sexual assault, and bouts of depression, as the pandemic deprived him of things to do, and friends to see.

Lying on his side, Ben had Borr's hard ebony shaft in his muzzle. Anton continued to suckle on his own cock, while Borr took care of his lover. Anton knew how to suck a dick, and his tongue and lips felt great on his thick tan shaft. Getting warmed up and even hornier, Ben got on all fours and flipped his tail up. He loved being in the middle.

"Look at our cute little slutty husky~" grinned Anton, as he playfully caressed Ben's face. "You like being in the middle?"

"Fuck yeah, I do!"

"Good..." chuckled Anton. "You're gonna get two loads... cute little cumdump you~"

"Yeah..." Ben smirked.

Borr returned to the bed with a bottle of silicone lube. He sat it down beside him as he got up behind Ben. Licking his chops, the Nordic husky placed both his paws on Ben's rump and spread his buttcheeks. He promptly pressed his muzzle down, against Ben's tight hole, and began to rim him, electing a moan of pleasure from him. Ben gasped a bit, and immediately felt Anton's hung cock slip back into his muzzle.

"Worship that cock... love that cock..." Anton mumbled in a low tone. A paw was placed atop his head as Ben sucked. Borr slobbered over Ben's tight hole, and soon pulled his muzzle away. He smeared some lube on Ben, and lubed his hard nine inches up. He straddled Ben, mounting him, and began to feed his hard cock into the snug young husky. His pink cockhead slipped in first, followed by his ebony shaft. Ben adjusted his pose slightly and relaxed, allowing Borr to slide in slowly. He grunted to the sensation, and a bit of momentary discomfort. Borr hilted himself, gripped his hips and started to thrust. In between his fuckbuddies, Ben got it on both ends, and loved every minute of it. Anton thrust in his mouth, and Borr thrust in his rear.

"So are we doing the little cumdump party thing this weekend?" Borr asked curiously over to Anton.

"Hmm, well, a couple of pals are going to be busy this weekend..." Anton responded.

"Who's that?"

"Jim and Cy- I asked them if they wanted to plow me, and they said they're busy."

"Oh. That sucks."

"Nico and Vlad, Mark and Tanner can make it though."

"Hot. I like that." Borr laughed.

Ben pulled his muzzle of Anton's cock. "Now that sounds pretty hot!"

"Shh~" Anton chuckled. He put his cock back into Ben's muzzle. "Less talking, more cock worshipping!"

Ben chuckled and sucked harder, making Anton gasp a bit.

Borr's grip tightened and his thrusts grew a bit harder and faster. His breathing increased a bit, inhaling and exhaling through clenched teeth. With a huff, Borr hilted himself all the way in and came, filling Ben up with his cum. Borr grunted and let out a content sigh. He laid out on Ben's backside, and nuzzled the top of his head while he caught his breath.

"My turn~" grinned Anton. He playfully smacked the side of Ben's muzzle with his big tan cock. "Gonna fill you up, boy!"

"Oh boy~" Ben chuckled.

Borr slid himself out slowly, which Ben always loved. Anton mounted him, and using Borr's cum as lube, slid his spit covered cock into Ben, who moaned to the sensation. Anton gripped his hips and thrust into him with deep, hard thrusts, which made the bed creak. Ben closed his eyes and savored being fucked. Borr soon returned from getting cleaned up in the bathroom. He climbed back up onto the bed and put his soft cock into Ben's muzzle, to playfully "thrust" it into him. Anton adjusted his pose to lean over Ben, and worked his hard Ukrainian cock into the husky's bottom, with a wet "slap-slap" to each thrust.

"Like our big cocks there, Ben?" chuckled Borr, who leaned down to give Ben a kiss.

"Love being fucked and bred!" laughed the young husky, who got another kiss from him.

"Good..." Anton huffed. "'Cause here it comes!"

Ben felt Anton's cock throb and pulse, followed by a warm sensation. He was filled up by Anton, who laid out on his back, panting.

"Good job~" Borr grinned to Anton. The two shared a kiss together.

"Tag team." Anton chuckled. "Well Ben? How'd you like that?"

"I'm horny, and my dick's pretty fucking hard, guys."

"Well, it sounds like we should do something about that!" Borr exclaimed.

Ben was rolled over onto his back, his rock hard nine inches jutting upward. Borr and Anton positioned themselves to both lick and tease his cock. Ben closed his eyes and tipped his head back to let out a moan, as their teasing tongues went at his cock. Anton and Borr took turns sucking on him, each taking a few minutes to deepthroat him, followed by more licking together. Knowing he was at the edge, Anton gripped his shaft tightly and stroked him, pumping his foreskin up and down. Ben moaned, arched his back, and came, shooting a big rope of cum all over his stomach. His cock erupted all over Anton's paw, with his hot pent up seed.

"There we go!" Borr exclaimed. He got up to fetch a towel to clean up Ben. Anton wiped his paws clean. The two tattooed up huskies laid out with Ben, who laid on his back, relaxing. They caressed him over and put their arms around him to cuddle. Ben smiled and closed his eyes as he enjoyed the warmth of his friends in bed.

---

In the workshop hall, Ben assisted in the finishing assembly of a big R-3350. Armed with a big pneumatic wrench, the husky labored in attaching the crankcase to the rest of the engine, secured on its transport mount. He went down the line of bolts, securing them in place with the WHIRRRRR of the wrench. His supervisor checked over the tightness of the bolts once Ben was finished. The husky walked over to the next engine, sat his tool down momentarily, and hand threaded the bolts in for the next crankcase. He proceeded to repeat the process for the dozen bolts that attached the crankcase.

"Very good Ben!" the supervisor complimented.

"Thanks~" Ben nodded. He cracked his knuckles and stowed the tool away to stare at the two new-build R-3350's. They were licensed copies of the Curtiss-Wright Cyclone-18, a big turbocompound radial engine that powered the old piston airliners. It had eighteen large cylinders, complete with little intricate cooling fins. The back of the radial held the single-stage, two-speed supercharger, and the engine was ringed by three exhaust gas power recovery turbines, which scavenged energy from the exhaust and put it back into the engine via fluid couplings. The crankcase bore the seal of the Centoh Aircraft Company. Both radials were soon picked up by a forklift, to be taken off for quality control inspection.

"How 'bout you go take a lunch Ben, and we'll reconvene." The supervisor suggested, which Ben nodded in acceptance. He walked across the workshop to exit and head to the bathroom, to clean himself up for lunch.

After being fired from his first job, at a lumber yard in Westerville, he was picked by Jake Barion's company, the Central Ohio Aircraft Company, or simply, Centoh Aircraft. He started off as a part-time intern in the office, but his knack for mechanical stuff brought him down to the assembly area, where he was learning the art of old piston engines. Centoh was a machine shop that built aircraft components for other companies under contract, but also had its dedicated workshops to support the larger warbird community for rare and hard to find spare parts. Almost artisan, its machinists and mechanics worked to build brand new aircraft radial engines and propellers for the legacy market. Jake Barion's brother, Rob Barion, and Rob's husband, Joey Paulo, were Centoh's biggest market for those big piston radials. There was still a lot to learn, but Ben found it stimulating, and the pay was really good.

Following a half-hour lunch and a bathroom break, Ben returned back to work, this time to help load an aircraft up. He emerged from the warehouse double doors in a big, knobby tired, Sellick, which carried a crated up R-3350 powerplant. Sitting outside on the tarmac was a curvaceous Lockheed WV-1, Rob's short-fuselage Constellation that he used to haul spare parts around his various hubs for Centoh Intermodal. The old Connie was adorned in the vintage red, white, and black colors of the FAA, the full term "United States Federal Aviation Agency" stenciled on the upper fuselage in black. As Ben drove closer, he saw Vlad Tokarev standing in the rear cargo door. Vlad was a gray furred Russian husky with blonde hair that was kept as a short ponytail. A neatly trimmed blonde goatee jutted from his muzzle. With his older brother Kalash, who was a bit shorter than him, the two heaved to push the crate along the rollers on the cargo floor. Ben backed out, turned around, and went to go fetch more of their order, as another Sellick came with another engine.

Going back and forth, Ben loaded two more R-3350's, two R-1830 Twin-Wasps, a couple boxes of spare cylinders and other engine components, and propeller parts. He parked his lift and jumped out with his clipboard containing the order manifest. Vlad made his way down from the Constellation to get a copy and sign off.

"Hey! How's it going?" Ben greeted. He handed over the paperwork for Vlad to review and sign.

"Heh, it's going~" chuckled Vlad. "Yourself man?

"Same shit, different day." Ben laughed cynically.

"The struggle is real." The Russian husky chuckled. "Sign here?"

"Yeah."

Vlad took his pen and jotted his name and initials on the paperwork. "Hey you still wanna come over for a dinner and bang?"

"Oh yeah~" Ben smiled. His smile always came out a bit stiff and twisted, on account of his facial paralysis.

Vlad smirked a bit. "Well...me and Nico would be delighted."

"Oh, I'm sure." Ben chuckled. "Maybe I could top?"

"We'll see~" grinned Vlad.

"Sure." Ben grinned in return.

---

After work, Ben drove over to Vlad and Nico's house, in the north end of Newark. He felt horny for some older 'daddy' attention from those two. He pulled into the quiet Krebs Edition, and parked his truck in the driveway of their single story, ranch home, next door to Rob Barion's abode. Their home was an inconspicuous abode, sheathed in brown siding with a big bay window for the living room. Ben was welcomed inside, and he closed the door behind him as he entered.

"Make yourself comfy!" Vlad offered as he welcomed Ben inside his bedroom. Ben stepped inside the nice sized bedroom as Nico shut the door behind him. Almost immediately, Vlad crossed his arms and pulled his t-shirt off, revealing his tattooed up chest piece. Having just turned forty, Vlad still looked very youthful. Behind him, Nico began to remove his own clothes, revealing his tall, muscular body for Ben to ogle at. Nico was forty-one and was a big tall Serbian Dober with red fur. His chest tattoo was of the Serbian double-eagle and crest, and he had a black star tattooed around his naval. The left arm was sleeved in a colorful Japanese inspired design, while the right arm was black and gray, with an edgier tribal design blended in, including a fierce looking grim reaper that dominated the forearm. His sleeves, like Vlad, ended at the wrists. Looking down, Ben saw Nico's thick, dangling cock, which was tan and uncut, a thick tapered foreskin covering the head like Ben's own member. Wasting no time, Ben quickly removed his work clothes, and tossed them aside.

"I gotta shower~" Vlad suggested.

"Yeah." Ben nodded in agreement. "Get the work stank off!"

"Heh..." chuckled Nico as he walked up and approached the young husky, his big paws placed around him. "But first..."

Nico leaned in for a kiss, which Ben accepted. He pressed his muzzle against Nico's and felt his tongue gently caress his in their smooch. Vlad caressed Ben's back, and the tan husky turned around to feel Vlad's muzzle make contact with a warm kiss. Nico gently undid Ben's braided ponytail, and hand brushed out his brown locks.

"Now let's take a shower~" Vlad smiled.

Ben went and hopped into the shower with them to get cleaned up and prepared for some sexy escapades. They joked and played around a bit while they got cleaned up, including a moment of relaxation, where Ben got to enjoy Nico's arms wrapped around him. That's exactly what Ben always wanted; he wanted a hunky, tattooed up boyfriend, older than him, to tend to all his needs. He wanted the experience and maturity of someone a bit older than him. Following their shower, they dried off and stepped back into their bedroom. Ben climbed up onto the bed first, just as he heard Nico's phone go off. The big Dober picked it up and found that it was his boss, Rob Barion, calling him about something.

"I'll be right back..." Nico said as he went to put on a pair of briefs, and a tanktop. He excused himself from the room.

Vlad climbed up onto the bed, and caressed Ben's belly and smiled at him. Ben smiled back. "So...wanna make out a bit and then I fuck ya?"

"Sure~ Can you be on top?"

"Of course!" Vlad smiled. He climbed over the young husky, who picked his legs up and wrapped them around Vlad. The Russian husky leaned in and locked his muzzle against Ben's for a long, deep kiss. Ben relaxed and caressed Vlad's backside as he made out with him. He could feel his cock grow hard, that thick, hung member resting against his chubby. Vlad slowly broke away from the kiss, and playfully licked Ben's nose with a teasing grin at the end.

"Nice." Ben chuckled.

"Roll over, Ben~"

The husky did just that and propped himself up. He flipped his tail up and felt Vlad get into position. Licking his chops at that tight young hole, Vlad pressed his muzzle down there and ate Ben out. The husky closed his eyes and moaned.

"Fuck... Love it..."

Vlad chuckled and tongue fucked his hole, savoring its tightness. He pulled away and grabbed his bottle of oil lube, which he smeared some on Ben and then some on his cock. He slid his foreskin back, and took aim with his blunt cockhead, towards that tight little hole. The husky pressed the head against Ben's entry, teasingly rubbing it, and slowly began feeding himself in. Ben instantly relaxed and let Vlad enter him slowly, the husky guiding his hard cock in with his index and middle fingers at the base. Vlad slowly exhaled at the snugness around his cock. Hilting himself in, he began to fuck at a slow pace.

"So you like being fucked in the ass?"

"Fuck yeah, I do~ Big cocks are the best cocks!" Ben laughed playfully. He felt Vlad adjust himself and lay on his back while fucking him.

"I agree!" Vlad chuckled. "Dude, I've had so much cock in my butt, I've lost count."

"That's my goal." Ben joked.

"Well you already got Vlad and Anton."

"Yeah, I got a few guys so far. Woulda got more had the pandemic not fucked everyone over..."

"Now hold your horses there, cowboy." Laughed Vlad as he worked his hips. "You got your whole life ahead of you! I didn't get my bragging rights for a while!"

"Eh, I guess~" Ben realized.

"Take it slow, and laugh a bit. Things will improve in due time, and life will resume." Vlad chuckled. "But you know...always be careful who you invite into your hole."

"Yeah..."

"I remember this one fuck gave me the damn clap years ago. That fucking sucked. Gonorrhea is disgusting." Vlad shuddered. He took a second to lick the back of Ben's ears and nuzzle the top of his head. "So remember that, since you like to bareback~"

"I probably shouldn't... but being bare feels so good..."

"Heh, I mean, me and Nico bareback- as long as you know their status for being clean... that's the main thing. That's why I don't fuck randos anymore."

"You just fuck your friends."

"Exactly." Laughed Vlad. "Just like your little cumdump hole."

"Yeah..." smiled Ben, who huffed and grunted to the sensation of being fucked. "Your fucking dick is great..."

"Wait till you ride Nico's."

"Ohh my."

"Yeah, nine and a half fucking inches of hotness." Vlad teased. "And when I'm done dumping a load into you? He's gonna eat the cum out..."

"Hot."

"Very hot... slurp! Slurp!"

Getting off his backside, Vlad gripped his hips and worked him fast and hard, to Ben's delight. He loved being fucked rough, and moaned and enjoyed himself tremendously. In the heat of the moment, in the middle of the tryst, Nico returned. He closed the door behind him and took his tanktop and briefs off. He stood behind Vlad and watched, licking his chops to Ben getting fucked.

"Fuck yeah... fill me up Vlad..."

"Oh it's coming..." Vlad huffed. "Getting closer..."

He gave his final thrusts nice and deep. At the edge, he slammed his cock in and moaned, his nine inches pulsating as it shot his seed all deep into Ben. Vlad grunted and slowly pulled his cock out, some cum oozing out of his hole. Ben closed his eyes and was catching his breath as he felt Nico caress his back. His big paws grasped his butt cheeks and spread them, before his muzzle pressed right up to his hole. Ben felt his tongue vigorously tease it, which elected a moan from the husky. Nico got up, put some spit on his massive knob, and fed it into Ben, who moaned at his girth. He climbed over Ben, his cock half-way sliding out, before he slammed it back in. Bracing himself over Ben's back, Nico began to thrust, with the wet "slap slap" filling the room with the creak of the bed reverberating to his thrusts.

"Oh fuck yeah, Nico! Mmmm!" Ben called out. "Yeah! Fuck that hole!"

"Absolutely..." Nico huffed. "Gotta breed that hole..."

"Fill me up, Nico, you hot motherfucker you."

"Will do~" he chuckled.

For twenty minutes, Nico fucked Ben like a jackhammer. The husky was bounced on the bed by Nico's rough thrusts, the Doberman working his cock to the edge with each thrust. He finally slammed himself in and came, his thrusts slowing up and becoming shallow as he emptied his cock. With a grunt, he slowly pulled out and saw his handiwork as cum oozed from Ben's behind. Nico took a towel and cleaned Ben's rear end up, which he tossed over his shoulder onto the floor.

"I think you need a release eh?" Nico asked Ben with a smile.

"Please..." Ben responded.

Nico gave Ben's raging a boner a few strokes with his right paw. His grip felt so good against his painfully swollen dick. The Doberman knelt down between his legs and sucked his cock, which responded by arching his back and hitting his head into the pillow. Nico teased him with his muzzle for a little bit and concluded it with a teasing lick to his sensitive head that sent shivers up his spine.

"Getting ya lubed up~" chuckled Nico as he crawled onto the bed and assumed his position on all fours. Ben got up and got behind Nico. He admired the Dober's strong back muscles and round, firm ass, which he groped. Ben's cock was painfully hard as he lubed it up. Tossing the bottle aside, temptation got the best of the horny husky; he quickly buried his muzzle under Nico's nub and rimmed his ass, which elected a subtle grunt from Nico as Ben tongue fucked him. Ben ran his tongue up and down his asscrack, and a paw fondled his dangling, drained balls. Getting up, he took aim with his hard nine inches, and fed it into Nico, who didn't even make a peep. His hole felt so nice; it was warm and a bit snug, but loose enough to allow him to easily enter. He hilted himself in and gripped Nico's strong hips. Closing his eyes, he began to thrust.

Ben started off slow, but quickly gained momentum. He knew he wasn't going to last long. Nico felt so good, his hole clenched around his big long dick. No matter how hard he fucked that hot Serbian ass, Nico didn't make a peep. He posed stoically, eyes closed, concentrating on the pleasure that rippled with each thrust. Ben was turned on even more by that. He slammed his cock in and out until he just couldn't contain it anymore. With a groan, Ben shot his load into Nico, his pent up cum filling the Dober up. Nico grunted and gave his rear a bit of shudder to the sensation. Ben laid on his back and panted a bit to regain his bearings.

"I bet you feel better~" chuckled Nico.

"Oh yes." Ben agreed with a smile.

In the warm afterglow of sex, Ben lay in bed curled up with Nico and Vlad. They all watched TV together. Ben had his head on one side of Nico's tattooed chest, Vlad opposite of him. Nico had his burly around the two of them. Ben felt super content and satisfied from the romp.

"So... uhh, do you guys mind if I ask you something?" Ben spoke up.

"Yeah? What's up?" Vlad asked, perking his head up.

"So you two are married... and you're in an open relationship?" Ben asked.

"Yeah." Nico nodded.

"Basically." Vlad shrugged. "You know, we tried monogamy at the start... but... it just wasn't going to work out with two horny bi dudes like us~"

Nico chuckled a bit at Vlad's quip.

"Does it affect your relationship any?" Ben asked curiously. "I'm just...I'm trying to understand my own feelings and what I would like in a relationship."

"Understandable!" Vlad accepted. "Hmm...well...I mean...we both get our rocks off to some hot asses. Don't we Nico?"

"Yeah. People seem to like my big dick~" the Dober quipped.

"Master of the understatement as always..." Vlad chuckled. "You know...we love each other a lot. That's why we got married. But there's difference between just fucking and making love with your partner. I can pound your asshole all day, Ben, but pounding Nico's asshole is different. There's something special about it."

"It's probably not as tight as yours~" Nico smiled.

"Give mine time..." Ben grimaced sarcastically.

"Hehe...with your penchant for big ass cocks!" Vlad exclaimed with a snort.

"What can I say?" Ben smiled.

"Anyways... open relationships aren't for everyone, and neither is monogamy. You have to do what you feel is right Ben. What's right between you and your partner."

"That makes sense~" Ben nodded. "I just... I dream for a relationship. I'd love a hunky tattooed up motherfucker, maybe a lil' older than me, for the experience and know-how. Someone who cares~"

"You're almost nineteen years old. Take your time! Have fun and play around, get your dick wet, SAFELY! Of course! Ha. When you find the right guy, you'll know~" smiled Vlad.

"Sure." Ben smiled in return. He felt Nico place a paw against his head and pull him back against his chest.

"Snuggle time." Nico announced. Ben nuzzled his chest and placed a paw against his stomach, his fingers tracing the star tattoo around his naval. He felt Vlad gently grasp his paw and slowly pull it down to rest against Nico's massive package that dangled between his legs. Everyone just chuckled together.

---

Two thousand feet off the ground, the Ohio landscape took on a completely different look and feel for Ben. The sky was a brilliant blue, with puffy white clouds that drifted by the cockpit windows. The immense roar of the twin radial engines filled the cockpit, which were somewhat deafened by the headset the husky wore. His paws tightly gripped the control yoke, a tremendous feeling of history, and responsibility hitting him. Ben found himself flying in the right-hand seat of an old B-25 Mitchell, a TB-25J, owned by Rob Barion.

Glistening in the sunlight was a bare metal bomber, in post-war "MATS" markings, denoting its twilight career as a trainer and station hack. It had a glass bomber nose made up of multiple Plexiglas panes, and was propelled along by two tightly cowled R-2600 Twin Cyclones, driving three-blade Hamilton propellers that sparkled in the light. It was one of Rob's many warbirds in his collection, and the old Mitchell continued on as a station hack for Barev. It was one of many warbirds that Rob got "raiding" museums that had gone belly up in the pandemic. Ben had the honor of co-piloting with Rob to Cleveland. It was part of his training as a student pilot, though a bit premature for complex multi-engine management. The husky was appreciative of the Mitchell's docile handling. That was a lot of money resting on his shoulders.

Beside him sat Rob Barion, his mentor. The brown and tan wolf-malamute had a special friendship with Ben, after he had saved Ben's life from his gay bashing in 2018. Like himself, Rob had endured a gay bashing as a teenager, which left lifelong injuries. His face bore a dark jagged scar that was far bigger than Ben's. Glancing over, Rob peered ahead through dark tinted sunglasses. His face looked old for a thirty-eight year old, weather beaten from years of stress. He looked more burned out and jaded as usual, on account of the pandemic's doom and gloom. They didn't say much while flying, other than some tips and trivia on the old medium bomber. Ben glanced out to his right to watch the big propeller blades churn, etching golden circles with the deep, throaty drone of "radial song".

The sprawling landscape of greater Cleveland passed below them, as the Mitchell was guided into the landing pattern of the Burke Lakefront airport. While Rob worked the throttles, Ben concentrated on practicing his landing approach. He kept the nose aimed right at the runway while maintaining a proper glide slope in. The Mitchell handled a lot different than a Cessna; it was heavier on the controls, but a bit more resistant to yawing in a crosswind, verses a little model 172. Ben followed his training and kept the nose lined up and the airspeed stable, while Rob manipulated the throttles to match.

"Okay, just smooth sailing in. You're doing great, Ben~" Rob encouraged.

Crossing the runway threshold, Rob reduced power and called out the altitude in hundreds of feet. Ben began to flare the nose slowly as the altitude dropped below a hundred feet.

"Fifty, forty, three, twenty, ten..." Rob called out. Ben held the flare and felt the main gear make contact with the pavement. With a squeak of the tires and a bit of a jolt, the TB-25J made it onto the runway. Ben slowly dropped the nose gear onto the pavement. Brakes were applied, and Ben slowed them down as they rolled down the runway. Another successful landing, a first for the husky, in a warbird.

After watching Rob sign some paperwork, and drop a box of spare parts off at his friend's propeller shop, Rob treated Ben to lunch, in celebration for his nineteenth birthday.

At a picnic table, Rob and Ben enjoyed a meal of Subway, with Lake Erie providing a backdrop for them. The gentle lapping of waves against the breakwater filled the ambience of their spot at the small Cleveland park.

"I feel like I can't really think about the future..." Ben said to Rob as he stuffed some chips into his muzzle. "Last year, I had my hopes constantly dashed. You think things are getting better and boom! Nope!"

"Yeah, I understand that feeling..." Rob grumbled a bit. "I ended 2019 on a rather low note... and I thought 'let's reset this and make 2020 my year'- ha, yeah right."

"Yeah..." Ben shook his head. He took a sip of his drink and smacked the bottle against the weathered planks of wood. "I thought it was going to be better... I really had hopes... and then things just went downhill... and having Covid-19 fucking sucks."

"I had pneumonia from getting the regular flu. Go fucking figure my luck. Six weeks in bed. That's how bad it was. Two times I had to go to the hospital, and they jam that fucking swab up my nose to test me."

"Me, Borr, and Anton back in January... I have no idea where the fuck I got it from... Probably some stupid maskless yokel at Kroger or something, I have no idea." The husky shrugged. "Gimme the shot damnit- I want to get jabbed and get it over with."

"And you got all the rich fucks cutting in line. The same people who downplayed the whole thing, are the first to line up. Fucking hypocrites." Rob rolled his eyes. "We live in a world where goodness is murdered and mediocrity thrives every day."

"I agree."

"Ohhh... this too shall eventually pass..." Ben concluded. "But it's a real drag."

"Things might be rough right now, and I agree, looking ahead to the future seems to bleak, so distant. But take solace. You're moving right along with your flight training, and you're doing a good job. Keep up the good work training, and it will pay dividends for you."

"Hopefully!" Ben laughed. He momentarily turned away to let out a loud belch. "Here I am calling someone a fucking yokel, and then here's me." Rob just kept his mouth shut and just smiled a bit.

Following their lunch, Ben and Rob returned back to the airport, where they prepped the "MATS Mitchell" for the flight back to Newark. Ben had the honor of controlling the takeoff, and smoothly got the old B-25 back into the air. He banked around and began the southbound journey back home.

---

"Yay, a second pandemic birthday!" Ben exclaimed with a snort.

A sheet cake sat on the dinner table, decorated in blue and white icing. "Happy 19th Birthday Ben!" was written in white icing, and nineteen candles that were rainbow colored glowed. Ben sat at the table with Borr, Anton, and Anton's little brother and nephew, Vasily, and Anatoly. They all clapped and sang "Happy Birthday" to Ben, who blew the candles out when the song was finished, to applause and laughter.

"Nineteen!" Borr exclaimed. "I remember that like a distant memory."

"Yeah, long time ago for me..." chuckled Anton. "What did you wish for, Ben?"

"This fucking nightmare to end." Laughed the husky. Everyone cheered to that.

Following cake and celebration, Ben went to Anton and Borr's bedroom, to get his gifts from the two huskers. From Rob, he had gotten a nicely loaded gift card, and Anatoly and Vasily gifted him with a further two gift cards.

"Well here ya go, stud!" Borr announced as he handed a wrapped up box to Ben.

"Oh thank you!" the husky exclaimed as he accepted it. He quickly opened it to find a colorful jock packed inside. "Ohh my, it's blue!"

"Just like your eyes." Smiled Borr.

"Fuck yeah!"

"And here you go!" Anton announced. Ben accepted another box, which he opened up to reveal a new pair of chaps and codpiece. The black leather was soft and a nice sheen to it with a red stripe down the sides. The codpiece was made of the same soft leather, and had little silver spikes on the front of it.

"Hey look! Another nice cockring." Chuckled Ben, as he held up a black leather strap adorned with little silver spikes like the codpiece. "Thanks guys!"

"Making sure you're gonna look great at the cumdump party..." Borr chuckled.

Ben threw the chaps over his shoulder and walked to the bathroom to go strip out of his clothes. He put his codpiece on and adjusted it around his floppy soft cock. He slid his legs into the chaps and buckled them up. Borr and Anton stepped in to all look in the mirror as Ben checked his butt out in his new snug chaps.

"Oh wow, that's hot." Ben chuckled.

Borr snaked his arms slowly around Ben and held him close for a moment while they stood together.

"So...Anton...I get a front seat to this right?"

"Oh yes." The husky grinned. "You can watch my ass get pounded and bred!"

"Yessss~" the husky smirked in a smutty way.

Following some hanging out and watching a movie in their bedroom, Ben walked across the property, back to his abode, the bedroom above the big three car garage. Ben climbed up the stairs and opened the door to step inside his own little house. He flipped the light on to reveal his combined bedroom and living room. He had a small kitchen, a bathroom, and walk-in closet.

The husky stepped in his closet and hung his new chaps and codpiece up. He amassed a respectable collection of leathers that hung on display. He had the standard chaps, codpiece and a couple harnesses and vests. Thick black bracers sat up on the shelf above, with his arm bands and collar. It was neatly stowed with his other clothes and the light shut off as he closed the door behind him.

Ben turned on the TV and laid out on his bed to stare up at the ceiling. He thought about what the future would be like, post-Covid. He pictured all his ambitious plans, his overdue vacation, all happening then. He'd be happy with his friends. His mind wandered to the thought of a boyfriend. He pictured a ripped, tattooed stud, a few years older than him, holding his paw, laughing and doing outdoorsy stuff, and all the hot copious amounts of sex Ben wanted. It brought a smile to his scarred face.

---

The doorbell ringing got Ben's attention. His boots clomped down the steps as Ben went to answer it. Clad in his new chaps and codpiece, the husky wore a harness and garrison cap atop his head. A gloved paw grasped the doorknob. He opened the door to reveal their friends CJ and Xan, arriving for their little get together. CJ was a chocolate brown wolf with some lighter brown elements in his pelt, and Xan was a jet black furred Belgian wolf with long black hair tied into a ponytail. CJ had a duffel bag thrown over his shoulder.

"Hey! Looking good Ben!" chuckled CJ as Ben welcomed him in.

"Hey thanks~ Welcome, welcome!" Ben blushed a bit as he let them in. Ben turned around to close the door, only to feel Xan playfully caress his butt with a chuckle and a soft "nice" thrown in.

Going upstairs with them, Ben rejoined Borr and Anton, as they enjoyed the company of some of their pals. Upstairs stood Mark, Tanner, and their "part-time slave" Russ. Mark was an imposing looking black wolf in his early forties, clad head to toe in leather chaps, a codpiece, and a motorcycle jacket wrapped around his muscular frame. Tanner was a beige and tan wolf with black hair that was slicked back and a black goatee. He wore just a codpiece and a harness over his tattooed chest. He, like Anton, had sleeves and a chestpiece. Russ was a tall red furred Doberman, reminding Ben of Nico; he had similar tattoos to Nico, including two Desert Eagles tattooed on his washboard abs. His nipples were pierced, with gold piercings.

"Hey! Welcome CJ and Xan!"

"Hey thanks." Smiled Xan. He casually got himself undressed. "I hope you don't mind if my outfit is just being buck ass naked?"

"I don't see a problem with that!" Tanner exclaimed.

"I'm gonna shower and get into my gear~" CJ announced.

"Sounds good~" Anton nodded.

"How've ya been, Ben?" smiled Xan. He walked up to the young husky. Ben got to see all of Xan.

"Better now that you showed up." He teasingly grinned. Xan was a slender black wolf in his late thirties. Ben's eyes scanned his body and stopped at his big soft cock. He was hung like a horse, with a really thick, uncut dick that swayed with his walk. Ben smiled and placed a paw on Xan's chest. As the black wolf put an arm around him, Xan ran his paw down to fondle his package.

"What do ya feed it?" teased Ben with a smutty smirk.

"My dick's rated M for mature yo!" Xan laughed. "You're gonna see it in action when I pound Anton's husker donut!"

"Oh boy~" laughed Ben. "I like how thick you are."

"Thank you!" Xan exclaimed.

"May I...sample it?" Ben grinned. He felt Xan's paw gently run up his back to the back of his neck, which gently pushed him down to his knees. His face was soon right up against Xan's massive package, which rubbed against his face. Ben smelled nothing but the strong smell of male arousal, as his lips slowly opened to feel Xan guide his soft cock into his muzzle. It didn't take long for it to get rock hard as Ben sucked on him. He soon had nine inches of hard wolf cock in his muzzle. Ben bobbed his head up and down while Xan petted the top of his head. His muzzle felt stretched from Xan's thickness.

"Did Borr and Anton teach you how to suck so well?" teased Xan.

"Mhmm~" Ben mumbled, gagging a bit on Xan.

"They did a fantastic job." Laughed Xan. "Hey Borr! You got a really good little dick sucker here!"

"He's great." Borr chuckled. "Horny tonight aren't we, Ben?"

"Mhmm!"

"That's our boy!" laughed Borr as he took a swig of his beer.

"Well lookie here!" came CJ, who was clad up in chaps, a codpiece, and a snug bar vest. The chocolate brown wolf walked over to watch Ben suck off his husband with a chuckle. He put an arm around Xan and watched with an amused smirk. "Wanna take the beast for a test drive too?"

Ben pulled his muzzle off Xan's cock and licked it, making eye contact with CJ. "Sure~"

Chuckling, CJ undid the grommets that held his codpiece up. The leather flap fell down to reveal his cut ebony cock come plopping out. Ben slid over and smiled. CJ smiled down at him and rubbed his gray cockhead against Ben's nose. The husky took "the beast" into his muzzle and started to suck, immediately feeling the wolf's cock swell and lengthen in his muzzle.

"Nice~" CJ chuckled.

"He's a good little dick sucker, aren't you Ben?" grinned Xan.

Ben gave a thumbs up.

Stepping into the bedroom was Vlad and Nico, with their friend Rick Bartley, a gray wolf with red hair that was braided into a ponytail. Everyone said hi, and they too stripped down to be naked amongst their leather clad friends. Ben pulled his muzzle off CJ's cock and got up. Anton walked over and put his beefy, tattooed arms around the husky.

"Cumdump time~" Anton announced with a grin.

"Your ass is gonna get plowed." Ben grinned.

"Yes indeed!"

---

Climbing onto the bed, Ben got himself comfy as he laid down, his head right at the edge of the bed. Hearing the sound of Anton taking his codpiece off, the burly Ukrainian husky climbed onto the bed and over Ben. The husky watched as Anton crawled over him and laid down, his soft cock brushing against Ben's face. "Oh sorry about that~" chuckled Anton as he slipped a paw back to adjust his cock and balls as he laid down atop of the younger husky.

"I ain't complainin'" Ben smirked as he helped guide Anton into a comfy position for them. Ben had his head between those beautiful leather clad legs, Anton's chaps creaking slightly to his movements as got comfy for Ben. His rounded, tattooed bubble butt was right in Ben's face, who got the perfect view of his pink little hole that was beckoning to be fucked. Anton lifted his tail up.

"That good?" Anton asked.

"Oh yes~"

"Good~" Anton acknowledged with a playful squeeze of Ben's head by his leather clad legs. The young husky could feel his cock stiffen in his codpiece. He was looking forward to this.

"So! Who wants to fuck me first!"

"Your soon to be husband, that's who!" Borr laughed. "Hey Ben! Why don't you be a dear? And lube up Anton's rear."

"Sure."

Ben adjusted his head and pressed his muzzle under Anton's tail to rim his butt, electing a grunt from him. Closing his eyes, the husky savored tongue fucking that delectable hole, as he felt around for the bottle of lube that had been placed beside them. Pulling his muzzle away, Ben uncapped the lube and gently put a dab of it on Anton's hole, which visibly puckered from the cold. Borr walked up to them, stroking his hard nine inches that dangled just inches above Ben's face. Borr had a big black cock with a pink cockhead beneath the foreskin that he stroked. The Swedish husky lubed his cock up and mounted his lover. Those big white balls pressed against Ben's nose, as he watched Borr begin to push his cock into Anton. Nine inches of hung husky cock was swallowed up by Anton's hole, as Borr hilted himself in. Ben loved the sight, the sounds, and the smell of leather and men. Borr slid his cock back and began a steady humping of his lover. The bed began to creak and shake from the thrusting.

"Gonna get him all warmed up for you!" Borr laughed.

"Please~" Anton laughed. "I love getting ass fucked!"

Ben caressed Anton's hips as he watched Borr hump him until he finally came. Those big balls pulsated and tightened as Borr emptied his dick into his lover, which he then pulled out slowly. Borr backed away and offered his boyfriend to the next guy in line, who turned out to be CJ. Ben watched as CJ climbed over him and put his spit coated cock into Anton. The chocolate brown wolf wasted no time in really pounding Anton, and talking dirty to him. Ben's cock grew hard at the dirty talk and words, watching that thick ebony cock slam Anton's rear.

"Nice~" Ben complimented.

"Thanks." Chuckled CJ. "They don't call this 'the beast' for nothing!"

"I can see that!"

CJ huffed and grunted and finally shot his load into the husky after a few minutes. He kept himself hilted in and leaned over to kiss Anton. He pulled his cock out, and a little bit of cum began to ooze out.

"Next!"

Next up was Xan, who's massive package appeared into Ben's view. Xan climbed over Ben's head and his big cock momentarily rested on Ben's nose, filling his nostrils with the stench of arousal. Ben gave the shaft a playful lick, which got a chuckle and a pet from Xan. Gripping the base of his massive dick, Xan pushed it right into Anton, who moaned to the sheer thickness opening him up. Xan hilted himself in and began to thrust, his big sack bouncing against Ben's nose as he fucked. Anton really moaned, and Ben thought it was very hot to hear the big husky above him moan to Xan fucking him. The bed creaked and groaned around Ben, who was so aroused. His cock throbbed in its leather prison. After Xan came Mark, Tanner, and Russ. Those guys were much rougher, and fucked Anton like there was no tomorrow. They talked dirty and really worked his ass well, much to Anton's delight and dirty talk back.

Russ fucked fast and hard, breathing through clenched teeth. His paws gripped Anton's hips hard as he worked his hips hard. "Fuck... fuck... how ya doin' down there Ben?"

"Great." Ben replied. "Really fucking horny right now!"

"I can fix that." Came Anton's voice. Ben felt Anton pop the grommets holding codpiece together. His cock came flying out, jutting up rock hard. Anton slipped his muzzle over his cock and began to suck vigorously. Ben's blue eyes rolled into the back of his head at the warm sensation around his throbbing cock. His nose was teased by Russ' sweaty, heavy balls that rubbed against it, mixing with the arousing smell of sex and leather. Anton and Russ' moans just were too much; Ben arched his head back, moaned, and came in Anton's muzzle. He felt the husky moan and swallow each drop. Russ then shot his load with a grunt.

"Fuck that's great..." the Doberman above grunted as he pulled out. His thick eight inches slid out slowly, with the tip dripping with cum. He adjusted his foreskin and stepped away. Ben watched Nico approach, and bend down to eat some of that hot cum out of Anton's hole. He then spat on it for some lubrication, and fed his nine and a half inches of Serbian cock in. Ben closed his eyes and savored the sounds of Nico fucking Anton.

---

After a long day at work learning the art of building radial engines, Ben relaxed in the shower with Anton, as they waited for Borr to come home. Ben got himself cleaned up, and relaxed to Anton scrubbing down his backside and massaging his tired shoulders. Ben returned the favor and both of them ended up standing in the hot stream, with Anton's arms wrapped around Ben.

Getting dried off, Ben walked naked into the bedroom and laid down on the bed, watching as Anton climbed on and over him. Ben smiled and rubbed his tattooed chest.

"I like you on top when we make out~"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah~"

Anton's lips made contact with Ben's, and they made out for a while. Ben wrapped his legs around the older husky's lower back and enjoyed kissing and caressing him. Anton broke away from the kiss, nuzzled his face, and went down to kiss his neck, which elected a playful moan from Ben who turned his head a bit. He looked back up to watch Anton lick his nose with a smile.

"We want to do another cumdump party... maybe next weekend~"

"That was fucking hot."

"I know!" Anton grinned. "I love being fucked in the ass!"

"Literally! Not figuratively!" Ben teased.

"I get fucked in the ass with taxes and business expenses..." Anton rolled his eyes playfully.

"That's not pleasureful."

"No." Anton chuckled. "Being fucked literally in the ass is~"

"I thought it was hot. All those hung motherfuckers pounding your hole. How are you not sore?"

"I'm just that good." Grinned the husky. "Maybe... you wanna be the cumdump next time?"

"Me?" Ben laughed. "Dude that sounds hot."

"It would be hot. The guys think you'd be perfect... they like what they see~"

"Young, hung, horny husker like me." Ben chuckled.

"And you can try out the sling that should be coming in soon."

"Oh god... a fantasy come true..." Ben muttered as Anton leaned in to kiss his neck again. "So... is everyone clean?"

"We all know our status- come on now, we're responsible barebackers!"

"Hey I'm just making sure!"

"Good. Now less talking Ben... more kissing..." Anton announced. Ben complied and pressed his muzzle against Anton's again for some tongue play and making out.

---

Adjusting his harness, Ben looked at himself in the mirror to see the result. His thick black leather harness crisscrossed his chest, the silver buckles reflecting some of the light. His lower half was mostly covered by his snug black chaps with some red running down the sides of his legs, to his black cowboy boots. His new studded codpiece covered his soft cock. Turning around to glance at his rear end in the mirror, his plump bubble butt was for all to see. He swished his tail and thought about all the hot cock he was going to get. The idea turned him on. His first time being a cumdump. It was nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time.

His boots clicked against the floor as Ben exited the bathroom and went downstairs. The house was quiet in the evening. Vasily and Anatoly were with their friend Andy in New Albany, and Anton's parents, Ivan, and Yulia, had moved to a condo in Westerville, to be closer to town. Rounding the corner, Ben went downstairs into the finished basement, where he saw guests start to arrive. There were familiar faces from last week's cumdump party, a new face, an older gray wolf, clad in leather.

"Hey! Here's our cumdump~" teased Mark Prince with a grin. The black wolf walked over to put an arm around Ben. "How's it going Ben?"

"Well...we'll find out!" Ben chuckled a bit nervously.

Mark chuckled in return and rubbed his back with a gloved paw. "Just relax, and have a good time. We won't rough fuck you like we do with Anton."

"My ass isn't as seasoned as his."

"Yet!" Tanner laughed.

"Heh, heh~" Ben chuckled. He felt a paw gently caress his back and playfully give his ponytail a tug. Ben turned his head to see the older gray wolf smiling at him as he put an arm around him.

"How's it going stud?" the wolf smiled. "Name's Jim~"

"Ben~"

"That has a nice ring to it." Chuckled Jim. "Looking forward to breed your cute young ass..."

"I look forward to it as well!"

Ben mingled about and talked with friends to get acquainted, before finally getting ready to get mounted in the new leather sling Borr had bought. It was made of shiny black leather and silver chains, and was suspended from the ceiling.

"I sure hope this was mounted right! I don't want to faceplant!" Ben laughed as he slid into it.

"Hey! I mounted it!" Borr laughed. The Swedish husky gave Ben's butt a slap, with a "nice" coming from Anton.

"Just making sure!" Ben teased. He felt Anton caress his ass. "So... who's gonna warm me up first?"

"Me." Grinned Anton. "But first..."

Anton grabbed a marker and proceeded to write "CUM DUMP" on Ben's buttcheeks. Kneeling down, Anton surprised Ben with a good rim job. His paws undid his codpiece and Anton's cock flopped out, the husky stroking his member to get it hard while he ate Ben's ass out.

"Getting him prepped stud~" Borr chuckled as he walked over to put his soft cock into Ben's muzzle. Ben began to suck.

Getting up, Anton grabbed some lube and smeared it on Ben's ass, and then his cock. He slid his foreskin back and took aim with his fat cockhead. He pressed it up against Ben's rear, and slowly began to guide it in, which made Ben moan a bit. He was snug as always as Anton opened him up and hilted his nine inches in. The sling shook as Anton fucked him. Ben closed his eyes and enjoyed the ride, as the doorbell was faintly heard.

"Oh that's probably Cy~" Ben could hear Anton say to Borr.

"Alright, I'll get it!"

Borr's hard cock slipped from Ben's muzzle, as he went to go and answer the door to let their friend in.

"Yeah Benny! Another hot cock to breed ya~"

"Oh boy!"

Ben's tongue rolled out of his muzzle as Anton worked him good to warm him up. He took his time to savor the pleasure. Soon there were the sound of boots coming down the stairs into the basement. Ben's thoughts were turned to the sight of Rick Bartley standing before him. Tattooed up, the grinning gray wolf with fire red hair looked down at him with his hard eight inches pressed to Ben's face. Ben opened his mouth and quickly took in that big cut cock and sucked vigorously, to Rick's delight.

"Hey studly~" came a rugged voice that had a little southern drawl to it.

"Glad you made it~" Anton said behind Ben.

"Having fun?"

"Very." Chuckled the husky. "Just getting Ben warmed up~"

?

"I'm next." Grinned Rick. "Yeah boy? Ready to be filled up by a bunch of horny, hung motherfuckers?"

"Oh yes~" that southern voice responded, beaming in arousal.

Anton grunted and hilted his cock all the way. Ben felt his ass get bred by the Ukrainian husky, who filled him up for the first load. He slowly pulled his cock out, and put a tally on his right butt cheek. Ben closed his eyes as felt Rick's cockhead press against his cum splattered hole and go in with a groan of pleasure from the wolf. He fucked Ben somewhat rough, talking dirty in a playful voice as he held onto Ben's tail and humped him. Rick lasted several minutes and nutted, shooting a thick, hot load into his rump.

"Get him all lubed up for me..." Jim chuckled, the fifty-two year old walking up to put some spit on his cockhead and quickly feed it into Ben, who moaned a bit. He humped away to some young husker ass, the wolf pleasuring himself while watching Vlad get a blowjob from Ben. Jim soon added to the load in Ben's ass and pulled out, watching some of the cum ooze out down his asscrack. Jim gave another tally, totaling three. Vlad walked up and pushed his uncut cock into Ben to be the fourth load.

"How ya doing Ben?" Vlad asked as he humped away. "Missing my big hung cock!"

"Every day!" Ben called back. "Ooooh! Ahh! Hung!"

"Thanks!" Vlad smiled.

Ben enjoyed every moment of being fucked by all the guys. His butt was smacked by Vlad's hips as the husky worked his cum filled hole. His hips were tightly gripped by Vlad, as he worked himself closer. Behind him stood a leather clad blonde and tan wolf, with fire red hair like Rick's, braided in a Viking style ponytail. He sported a red chinstrap beard on his muzzle, and a tattooed up chest and arms. Vlad came, filled up Ben, and marked another tally on his ass. Ben got a moment to catch his breath and stretch a leg, before he felt another cockhead press under his tail. This time, he felt that thick cock had a piercing on it, as it was teasingly rubbed up and down his crack. The head stopped right on his hole, and Ben felt it slowly feed into him, Prince Albert and all. The piercing rubbed, giving a unique, pleasure filled sensation as his ass was filled with nine and a half inches of wolf cock.

"Oh fuck!" Ben called out. The big cock was thrust in and out slowly. He didn't seem like he was in much of a hurry, Ben thought to himself, as he savored the unique sensation of that piercing rubbing inside him. The southern drawl was delectable.

"Like that big fucking huge cock?"

"Fuck yes I do~"

"Love that piercing?"

"Fuck yeah~"

"Yeah boy, you want my cum?"

"Fuck yeah, I do~"

"Good boy." Chuckled the wolf as Ben felt his backside get caressed by a gloved paw. The thrusts started to pick up pace, and Ben knew he was getting ready to blow a load.

"I'm gonna fill your fucking little hole up~ Want that fucking cum, slut?"

"Yeah!"

"Want another fucking load!"

"Yeah! Fucking give it to me!" Ben called back.

"Keep your hole tight~

"Okay~!"

Ben tightened his hole up around that thick long cock in him. The thrusts grew faster, and he heard the wolf pant behind him. "OHHHHH YEAHHHHHH!" he cried out as Ben felt the cock begin to throb. The sudden rush of warmth made Ben moan as his hole was bred again for the seventh time. The big cock was slid out, and Ben was left to pant, as he felt some of the cum drip out of his hole. A paw gently caressed his butt, followed another paw, which spread his butt cheeks wide. A curious tongue working its way into his hole made Ben realize that was Nico, who always loved to eat the load out. He spit lubed his thick Serbian dick and fed that into Ben, who was then promptly humped by the horny Dober. A smile was on Ben's face as he got fucked.

---

After being fucked and bred by ten guys, Ben concluded his status of being a cumdump by getting his own needs met. His legs lifted up and resting against the chains, Ben huffed and puffed to his massive erection being sucked. The blonde wolf with long red hair sucked on his dick furiously, his muzzle rapidly bobbing up and down with a slurping sound. The other guys stood around the sling and watched, caressing Ben's body while he panted. Nico's big soft cock practically rested on Ben's face.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck..." Ben huffed.

"Come on Ben...cum for us..." chuckled Nico.

?

"Fuck...so close... so close..."

Ben felt Nico reach down and caress his chest, his fingers rubbing a nipple and giving it a squeeze. That was just too much, and Ben finally went over the edge. His cock erupted in cum into the wolf's muzzle, who swallowed the first jet. He pulled his muzzle off too early, only to get hit in the face with another jet of thick, ropey cum. Ben's head collapsed back and he panted, while the guys laughed at the unintended money shot. The blonde wolf laughed as he got up, his face dripping in cum.

"Holy fuck~ That's a lot of cum~" the blonde wolf laughed.

"His ass says the same thing." Borr chuckled. "Well Ben? How'd you like being our cumdump?"

Ben took a second to catch his breath. "My ass is sore, guys~"

"Well, I mean you just took like ten guys who are almost all nine inches long..." Vlad laughed.

The blonde wolf grinned playfully. "Yeah, the contents of your anus may have shifted a bit after this... Well I need to get cleaned up..."

"Same..." Ben admitted.

"Heh, wanna join me in the shower?" he offered.

Helped out of the sling, Ben followed the blonde wolf upstairs to go take a shower with him. Ben's fur was starting to feel rather sticky following his escapades. Stepping into the walk-in shower, Ben slid the frosted glass door shut, and felt the humidity start to go up as the hot water was started. Standing before the wolf, who towered over him, he watched him undo his hair braids. In a steady process, he undid the braiding and let his long red hair loose, which flowed down his backside. With a shake of his head, the wolf motioned for Ben to turn around, as he felt his own braided ponytail be undone. Locks of brown hair fanned out as the wolf ran his fingers through it to get it straightened out.

Ben watched as the big blonde wolf soaked his long hair in the steamy stream of water. He admired his body, muscular body; he had pierced nipples and a Prince Albert, both of which immediately stood out. His lips were pierced with snakebite piercings. All of them were bright silver. Ben watched him wash his hair, which looked so beautiful as he rinsed it off. He motioned for Ben to step into the stream. Ben did so, and felt the wolf gently massage his scalp in the water. He lathered up some shampoo and rubbed it into his long hair, which felt so good. Ben leaned back and let the wolf bathe him. After rinsing his hair off, he took a moment to caress his strong abs, and playfully give his big tan cock a playful grope.

"Heh, heh, it's pretty big ain't it?" chuckled the wolf.

"I like the piercing."

"Thank you!"

"That, uhh, felt good."

"Heh, heh, feels good on my end too~" the wolf grinned with a slight snicker at the end. "I can't complain!"

"I liked how you fuck."

"Heh, heh, thanks~" the wolf smiled. "Hey, uhh... is your last name Reynolds, by chance?"

That inquiry perked the husky's attention. "Yeah?"

"Ben Reynolds?" he asked. A big smile emerged on his face. "Little Benny! Hey! It's Big Cy!"

"Cyrus? Cyrus Filton!" Ben exclaimed. "Holy fuck, Cy, it's been a long time."

"A very long time. Holy crap, I haven't seen you since you were a little kiddo! That's gotta be like... thirteen years now!"

"I remember you used to take me fishing at the pond." Ben recalled. "Wow, that was a long time ago."

"Since when have you become a gay, leather, cumdump?"

"Heh, since I came out about two and a half years ago." Ben laughed.

"I guess we didn't quite have an introduction did we?" Cyrus chuckled.

"Yeah." Ben laughed. "I was in the sling getting bred~"

"You got a nice tight little fuckhole there."

"That's also because your dick's so huge."

Cyrus grinned and wagged a finger in agreement.

"I'm impressed~"

"Hey, you got an impressive package too. Just how I like my men- hung, thick, and uncut."

"All natural!"

"Exactly!"

For the rest of their shower, they soaked and relaxed in the hot water. Ben leaned against Cyrus, and enjoyed those big tattooed arms of his snaked around him. They got caught up on things, and learned a bit more about each other's life after they had last seen each other. It was a happy reunion. Cyrus even proposed an idea for them to hang out next Saturday, something Ben accepted happily. "How about a good fuck, some lunch, and hanging out?" he had proposed with a grin.

Following their shower, and after everyone had gone on home, Cyrus decided to stay the night with his friends. Too drunk to drive, he ended the night lying in bed with his big husky pile. Anton and Borr slept beside him, and Ben laid against his warm body, his head resting on his tattooed chest. Cyrus had an arm draped around him as he laid in bed and relaxed with his friends, before finally drifting off to sleep with them. Ben felt so calm in his strong arms as he too drifted off to sleep.

---

The week for Ben passed relatively quickly. Between working at Centoh Aircraft, and continuing his flight lessons, it helped make the sense of time fly by quickly. On the last weekend of March, Saturday morning was bright and sunny, with a clear cyan sky, devoid of clouds. Making his way from Westerville, Ben drove on Route 161 towards Newark, his blue eyes peering through tinted sunglasses. Between some country music on the radio, Ben listened to the tires drone on the pavement as he traveled east, to Cy's home out in Hanover. "Going home", Ben thought to himself. Behind the wheel of his truck, Ben sat in a gray Carhartt hoodie and a pair of jeans, his cowboy boots resting off the pedals as the cruise control held the speed. A backwards turned black baseball cap rested atop his head, his ponytail jutting out from the back.

Saturday morning traffic was very light, with Ben having almost the entire highway to himself. The grass that grew between the divided highway was turning a lush emerald green, and wildflowers began to bloom on the small hill that lined the opposite side of 161 as he passed through Jersey township. Trees were budding, with the maples taking on a red hue from their buds. Everything was coming to life, and looking bright and cheerful, which made Ben feel more hopeful about the future. He watched as the countryside of Licking County was replaced by the quiet hills of Granville, and then the suburbia of Newark as 161 ended and merged into Route 16. He passed by the old downtown, and headed east, as Newark thinned out back to countryside, near the abandoned Longaberger basket.

Leaving Route 16 for Marne Road, followed by an immediate turn, Ben followed Licking Valley Road back into Hanover. It was the first time in almost two years that he had driven on the two lane road to head back to his hometown. Hanover was a tiny community, situated in the northeast of Licking County. It was one of those tiny towns where one blinked and you were through it. The actual city of Hanover was basically an intersection with the red light, with some side roads that radiated from it. There was a gas station, a pizza parlor, and a baseball field at the intersection that made up Hanover. The Rocky Fork Creek cut through the area as well. He followed High Street to leave Hanover, which turned back into Licking Valley Road. He followed the road for several miles, until he came up to County Road 5. Instead of turning north, where he used to live at, he turned to head south on the two lane rural road. Tires kicked up dust as he made the wide swinging turn.

Following his GPS, he went for another three miles down County Road 5, admiring the spring scenery. The road was hilly, and the truck went up and down the small hills and winding turns in places. There was more woodland in the area, and homes were nestled in the woods far off from the road. Finally, after an hour of driving, Ben saw the reflector and mailbox in the distance. He slowed up and put his turn signal on and turned onto the winding gravel driveway that belonged to Cyrus. He lived in an old farm house that was situated far off from the road, concealed by some woodland in the front. Ben passed through the tree line and pulled into the big gravel lot in front of his garage. Ben came to park beside Cy's white GMC Sierra, an older 2006 model dually. Cyrus himself lived in a two story farm home that was sheathed in cedar siding and had the original slate roof. Stepping out of his truck, his boots crunched against the gravel as he walked slowly to the front porch. Cy's property was very quiet, and it was completely surrounded by woodland, which added to the seclusion.

Stepping onto the porch, Ben walked up and rang the doorbell, and waited, with anticipation. His heart raced as well as his mind, anticipating seeing Cyrus. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about "Big Cy", who used to take him fishing when he was just a little kid. He now remembered, faintly, the boat rides with "Big Cy", and the cookouts that the Reynolds had with the Filtons.

His mental thoughts were suddenly interrupted to the sound of the door unlocking and opening. The door swung open to reveal Cyrus, who wore a black tanktop, a dog tag necklace and a pair of snug leather shorts that left nothing to the imagination. A big smile curled up on his face as his blue eyes met Ben's.

"Well, hello there, stud~" Cy greeted with a grin.

"Do you always wear leather shorts when greeting people at the door?" chuckled Ben with a smirk.

"Always for cutie pies, like you!" Cyrus laughed. "Come on in!"

Ben stepped inside as Cyrus closed the door behind him. Cyrus lived in a home that was adorned with Americana. It had a rustic interior, with the walls decorated with old barnwood. Photos of his family and friends adorned the walls. The interior smelled of cedar and potpourri. "Wow~" Ben muttered.

"I say that too sometimes." Laughed Cyrus. "This is what working your ass off looks like!"

"I see!" Ben laughed.

Cyrus walked over and put his arms around Ben. He caressed the husky, including giving his crotch a playful little tug. "Would you like a water or anything?"

"Sure~" Ben agreed. He followed Cyrus into his kitchen, which looked just as rustic, as he watched him fetch a bottle of water from his stainless steel fridge.

"Gotta stay hydrated- fucking gets hot and heavy." Cyrus chuckled teasingly.

"Yeah, good idea~" Ben smirked as he accepted the bottle. "We need to get caught up~"

"...In the bedroom."

Following Cyrus upstairs, Ben stepped into his just as rustic bedroom. The walls to his bedroom were adorned in yellow pine planks that had a brilliant sheen to it from a coat of veneer. A couple buck heads mounted on display, and a Remington shotgun adorned his walls. Ben closed the door, and quickly got himself undressed with Cyrus. He gave the wolf a playful wolf whistle as he crossed his tattooed arms and pulled his tanktop off. His chest tattoo was a winged skull and crossbones, blended together with his black and gray sleeves that were a number of abstract and tribal features all blended in. He slid his leather shorts off to stand in just a red and white jockstrap. Ben took his boxers off and tossed them aside with his clothes.

"You're a cutie~" smiled Cyrus.

"Heh, thanks." Ben smiled, trying not to blush. Cyrus chuckled and opened his arms up, inviting Ben over. The husky walked up to him and felt those strong tattooed arms wrap around him and caress his back and butt. Ben looked up and smiled at him. Cyrus smiled back and pressed his muzzle against Ben's and gave him a long kiss. They played with each other's tongue as they embraced together. Cyrus slowly broke away from the kiss and gave Ben's nose a playful kiss.

"So what do you want to do, stud?"

"Suck and fuck~" Ben suggested.

"Hey, I like that idea!" Cyrus chuckled.

Ben gave him another kiss and caressed his body. He felt Cyrus rub his upper back, a paw massaging the back of his neck. It gently pushed him down to his knees, where he met Cy's chubby cock right in his face. It reminded Ben of Anton's; a big fat, tan cock, with a thick tapered foreskin. The blunt cockhead sported a silver Prince Albert, a curved barbell that jutted from the slit. Cy slid a paw down to grip the base of his dick and slide his foreskin back some. He gently guided Ben's muzzle onto his cock, the young husky beginning to suck slowly and savor the feeling of the wolf getting rock hard for him. Cyrus closed his hips and slowly thrust his hips to how good Ben sucked.

"Fuck, how'd you learn how to suck so good?"

Ben momentarily pulled his muzzle off to speak. "Do you see who I live with?"

"Fair enough." Grinned Cyrus as he looked down at Ben work his cock over. Ben worked his muzzle vigorously, with slurping sounds as he tended to all that cock in his mouth. He pulled his mouth off and teasingly licked the head and teased the piercing, electing a playful grunt and groan from the wolf.

"I wanna breed you so badly..."

"Sure..." Ben smiled.

He got on the bed and crawled into position, presenting his ass to Cyrus as he laid his head down on the pillow. Cyrus licked his chops and went to grab his lube from his nightstand. He climbed onto the bed holding a bottle of oil based lube. His eyes were fixated on that beautiful bubble butt presented to him, with that delectable tight hole in plain sight. Without a flinch, he put his big paws against those cheeks, spread them a bit wider, and immediately planted his muzzle against that tight hole to rim it. The wolf rimmed away, making Ben moan with his tongue. He tongue fucked him and ran it up and down his asscrack. Before pulling away, he stopped and spat on Ben's hole to lube it up. "Fuck! That's nice!"

Cy squirted some oil on his cock and rubbed it over, his oily fingers taking grip at the base of the penis. He aimed for that tight little star and pressed his slickened head and piercing against it. He adjusted his pose and slowly fed it into Ben, who adjusted his posture and opened himself up for the wolf, swallowing his cock without hesitation. Cyrus hilted himself in and began to thrust in a steady, slow rhythm. He grunted and groaned to the sheer pleasure of barebacking that beautiful young husker. Ben didn't make a peep to his slow and steady thrusts as they pleasured each other.

"I... can't help but make a comment that you're not like a lot of nineteen year olds~" Cyrus suggested as he fucked.

"What makes you say that?" Ben asked, looking back momentarily.

"You know what you want outta a guy- you're not a flippant 'oh I don't know' youngin', not sure of what gets you off. You like to fuck and you know where and what to do!"

"Heh, yeah." Ben chuckled. "Again, you see who I live with?"

"Those hot husker pieces of ass!" Cyrus laughed.

"They are pretty hot aren't they?" Ben smiled. "I like to be in the middle."

"Dude! Fucking A!" Cyrus grinned. "Who's your favorite?"

"Well, I like em both..."

"...in your butt?"

"Heh, yes~" Ben smirked with a crooked, cheeky grin. "I love to bareback... I love to get fucked... and bred... and I like to fuck as well... barebacking is my vice."

"Dude... barebacking feels so fucking good..." Cyrus cooed as his thrusts picked up a bit more pace. "That's what I do! 'Cause hot asses are meant to be bred!"

"I can tell!"

"In real time!" Cyrus grinned big. "But as always, you gotta be careful... Don't be an uber slut to people you don't know..."

"Heh, you only bareback with friends too, eh?"

"Basically." Cyrus shrugged. The wolf proceeded to rub and tug on his nipple rings while he fucked. He closed his eyes and let out a low, deep groan. "Fuck... your hole is so great..."

"Heh, thanks." Ben said as he adjusted his head on the pillow. "I get that a lot~"

"Heh, heh... fuck it! I gotta cum!" Cyrus grinned. He gripped Ben's hips and started to thrust a bit deeper, and faster. He panted and grunted with Ben as he felt his balls tighten, the urge to cum growing. He tried to hold on for as long as he could, but it was just becoming too much.

"OOOOOOH YEAHHHHHHH!" Cyrus cried out as he came. His cock throbbed and shot his thick load into Ben, who moaned and adjusted his ass clenched around Cy's cock. Cyrus laid out on Ben's backside and nuzzled the top of his head as he emptied the last of his balls into the husky, who slipped a paw back to jerk himself off.

"My ass feels sloppy..." Ben teased.

"Probably not as sloppy as last week..." Cyrus chuckled.

"True..."

After resting for a bit, Cyrus got up and pulled his soft cock out, which dripped cum. He grabbed a towel and cleaned himself up, followed by giving Ben's butt a good wiping. He laid out in his bed and motioned for Ben to curl up with him, which he did. Cyrus wrapped his tattooed arms around the husky and held him close as they laid there together.

"So what do you want do now that we got the fucking out of the way?" Cyrus asked.

"What do you want to do?" Ben asked back.

"Wanna go for a hike in the woods and forage some spring greens to make a lunch?"

"I like that idea!" Ben agreed.

"Great! But first...let's take a nap..."

"Sure~"

Ben nuzzled Cy's chiseled chest and felt a paw gently pet the top of his head and rub his ears. Tired eyes got the best of him, and Ben slowly drifted off to a nap with the burly wolf who held him close.

---

Stepping out the sliding door onto the deck, Ben took a step forward and looked in awe at Cy's pristine backyard. He had a fancy deck made of darkly stained wood. It led down to the yard, where he had a stone path that went to a dock in his big round pond, all of it surrounded by woodland. Very far in the distance, he could see a creek that flowed through his property, the woodland having some big rocky hills jutting up with weathered, dark stone. Cy stepped out clutching a cooler and a camera backpack. He closed the door shut and grasped his cooler again to begin walking down the steps. Ben followed him as they began a short trek through his woodland trail.

"How'd you get all this land?" Ben asked curiously as he walked.

"Patience and some dumb luck~" chuckled Cyrus. "When my grandpa passed away a few years ago, he left a lot of money for me. This all happened when I was estranged from my family, living down in Dayton."

"Oh you had family problems too? Coming out?" Ben asked.

"Yeah. I came out in 2009, and it wasn't what you call a great reaction..." Cyrus admitted. "So I took my engineering degree and got a job at ODOT at the Dayton branch and worked there for about eight years. I reconciled with my family a few years ago, and when I moved back to Hanover, I bought this old farm house and the property. I got it for a steal- holy shit, even I was surprised! I mean, I had to completely renovate the house, and do some other property rectification... ya' know... stuff that gets strategically omitted..."

"Eww~ That reminds me of the house my parents got north of here... it was falling apart when we moved in, and it burned to the ground in 2019."

"Yeah, I remember hearing about that." Cyrus nodded. "That charred, burned out piece of shit is still standing."

"Really?" Ben muttered.

"Yeah- something about the county needs paperwork and ordinance stuff needing signed, and nobody's cooperating. That's what I heard from a buddy of mine who works for the fire district."

"Wow." Ben shook his head. "My mom really did just cut ties and flew the coop after Dad died."

"I take it you had a bad coming out experience?"

"Oh it was pretty bad." Ben laughed in a jaded tone. "I got gay bashed... it's how I got my damn Rob Barion facial scar."

"Oh! You know Rob Barion too?"

"I do!" Ben exclaimed. "He's, uhh, my mentor. He rescued me from my gay bashing."

"Dude... you got yourself a sugar daddy! Oh ha-ha!" grinned Cyrus. "Man... Rob Barion... if that isn't the reincarnation of Stalin..."

"I like to say Nixon and Heydrich." Ben grinned with a snort.

"Oh lordy..." Cyrus laughed.

"But yeah... I got gay bashed... and I came out to my parents in the hospital when they started asking questions... and well that was it... they looked so disgusted and just walked out. And that was it."

"Wow." Cyrus shook his head.

Ben simply shrugged. "I mean, it's been almost three years. It is what it is."

The trail took them to a small clearing near the flowing creek. Cyrus had a small barn shed propped up with some decorative string lights strung on a couple poles. There was a wrought iron table and some chairs sat up, and a big brick lined fire pit. The creek was a good sized stream, sunk into its channel by a gravel washout area. The subtle sound of water flowing over rocks was relaxing to Ben. Setting their stuff down, Cyrus grabbed a wicker basket from the shed, so they could go forage some food in the woods.

For the next hour and a half, they explored the woodland that Cyrus owned. The forest floor was strewn with sun bleached leaves, where some greenery was starting to grow. They got reacquainted with each other some more while they picked dandelion greens, wild garlic, stinging nettles that were fresh out of the ground, and some garlic mustard. Cyrus even showed Ben his stash of wild ramps that dominated a sun lit side of a small hill. The smooth, broad leaves turned the whole hill a brilliant green. Cyrus harvested only a few of the plants, to preserve his patch. The basket was filled with various greens as they made their way back to the fire pit.

"I love these woods. I love being surrounded by nature." Cyrus explained. "It's so pristine, so beautiful, so quiet. I love rural life. I tried the big city shit, but it just wasn't the same."

"Yeah, I love being just outside of Westerville. The fact that I can just piss off my porch and nobody gives a shit? Excellent~" chuckled Ben. "It's also quiet. I like it."

"Yeah, it's really quiet here. Sometimes I like to just lay out in my hammock and take a nap."

"Heh, I bet you fuck in these woods too, don't you?"

"Pfft, do bears shit in the woods?" grinned the wolf with a hearty laugh.

Returning to the fire pit, Ben watched as Cyrus lit a fire with a fire starter. He got the fire going and added some big logs to burn down into embers.

"Here, have a beer!" the wolf offered the husky.

"But I'm nineteen and-"

Ben stopped when he saw Cyrus lean in with a sarcastic, stern gaze.

"Fuck it!" the husky laughed as Cy tossed him a cold Bud Lite. Ben popped open a cold one and took a swig as he watched Cyrus put a pot on the fire and poured some water into it to bring to a boil.

"So tell me, tell me, Ben, what all happened to ya?" Cyrus asked. "If you don't want to talk about it... I understand."

"Nah, it's fine, Cy~" Ben shrugged off the concern. "I mean, in a nutshell, I came out, got disowned by my parents, and been on my own. It's had its ups and downs, obviously, and I've come to understand a lot about myself, and what I want, but it's also been a bit depressing at times. You finally spread your wings and fly, and a pandemic came to just slam you into the fucking ground."

"Oh, I understand."

"It shocked me at how my parents were so quick to just pretend I wasn't their son, just because I'm gay. It was like I had just died at that moment, and was just some stranger lying in the hospital bed." Ben explained. "I knew my parents were homophobic- my Dad making stupid gay jokes, and Mom being this weird, religious woman, whatever, but I thought they'd maybe come around? Especially with me being in that condition."

"People are strange." Cyrus rolled his eyes. "When I came out, my parents were quiet. It was a very awkward silence for a very awkward long period of time. My Mom at the time just shook her head and asked what they had done wrong to make me gay, and I'm like 'nothing?' because this is just who I am. I knew I was gay since I was like... seven?"

"Really? I had a hunch that I wasn't like all my classmates oogling over the girls when I was nine."

"Oh, you probably thought girls had cooties didn't ya!" Cy teased with a grin.

Ben laughed and took a sip of his beer. "Get the fuck outta here!"

"Just sayin'!" Cyrus grinned.

"Naw~" Ben shook his head with a smirk. "I knew I was gay for a long time, and I got comfortable, and made the mistake of coming out to a friend. And it went out of control from there, and that's how I got gay bashed. But jokes on them... Rob blew those motherfuckers away with his gun. Only one survived, and he's just got his ass moved to Lucasville."

"Rob's judge, jury, executioner." Cyrus grimaced.

"Eh, he's rough around the edges, but he's been good to me. I empathize with Rob- I understand how his gay bashing hurt him, and the feeling of abandonment tormenting. I... should have took the opportunity to reconcile with my Dad when I had the chance a few months later... but I was being smug and a stupid shit, and I wanted to get back at him for what he had done... if only I knew that he was going to die... maybe I could have-"

"Ben, hindsight is twenty-twenty. You had every right to snub your Dad, and I understand your feelings and retrospect." Cyrus checked on his pot and added some dry rice to it to cook. "I tried for a few years to deal with my parents and family after I had moved to Dayton. They...weren't too happy about me being gay, and it made family reunions very awkward. Especially when I would bring a boyfriend over."

"How did you reconcile with your parents?" Ben asked curiously.

"Oh, I basically didn't speak to them for two years." Cyrus shrugged. "It got to the point where I was just tired of being snubbed all the time. And I had broken up with my douchebag ex, and my parents weren't helping, and that, and my Grandpa died in 2015. I finally had enough and told them I was done. I drove home to Dayton and didn't speak to them. I wouldn't return their calls, letters, nothing. No visits, anything. I completely cut them off for two whole years. And one day in 2017, I got a message on my phone from my Dad... he was sobbing, asking me to call him. And I broke down and called him back a week later. And we met, we worked out the issue, and my parents accepted me, along with my younger bro. I mean, I don't have a great relationship with half my family, or my older brother, but eh, fuck Darryl. Fucking retarded piece of shit. So no loss there!"

"Well that's a happy ending at least."

"Yeah, I like happy endings. They're messy." Cyrus grinned teasingly.

"Oh boy." Ben laughed.

"Just saying!"

"I see!" Ben chuckled. He regained his composure over another swig of his beer. "Basically... my Dad had a massive heart attack a few months after everything had happened, and he looked so emaciated and pathetic. I ran into him at the gas station, and he was begging for forgiveness, and I just didn't want to deal with it. Not after the hurtful shit he had said, so I drove off. And now I regret it."

"Hindsight, Ben."

"I know, I know~ But just for closure? Then he died of a stroke after heart surgery. And I think Mom just couldn't take it anymore, and just left all her problems behind after the house burned."

"My buddy said that the house burned from an electrical fire."

"Oh that wouldn't surprise me one bit. That house was a piece of shit. Dad would always quip 'one of these days, this whole fucker's gonna burn!' heh, yeah, apparently so, Dad."

"I'm gonna be honest with ya Ben, I never cared for your parents." Cyrus shrugged.

"Eh, I don't care."

"You remember that old Pontiac GTO you Dad had?"

"Yeah that piece of shit he was trying to restore and completely botched it up."

"Your Dad sold it to my Dad, and claimed he did all this work and blah, blah, blah. Well Dad was driving it back home and the fucking axle broke and he went off the road and hit a tree. Oh Dad was so angry. And Bill tried to sweet-talk his way outta it- Bill was a bullshitter, and a shyster. He'd gyp ya in a heartbeat if he could. And Dad sucker punched the fuck outta Bill."

"Well good then." Ben laughed. "My Dad thought he was tough shit, and was so smart. And yet we barely made ends meet because he was just stupid. Trying to run his own repair shop and junk yard on our property!"

"I wouldn't have your Dad wipe my ass!" Cyrus laughed. "And your Mom... the most passive-depressive person I've met."

"Yeah, that was her problem..." Ben rolled his eyes. "I'm better off without them. And the rest of the Reynolds, like Uncle Vance and Aunt Mary..."

"Vance Reynolds?"

"Yeah. He owns a home building business up in Upper Arlington."

"He moved back to Hanover like in August of last year."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he lives maybe a few miles to the east of my Uncle Ronnie." Cyrus explained. "I think his business went belly up because of the pandemic, because Vance is working for a well drilling company now."

"Heh, wouldn't surprise me. Vance was more successful than Dad, but just as much of an asshole. Always asking me these terrible, inappropriate questions about why I'm gay..."

"Oh fuck that shit. That's what half my family did too. It's called none of your fucking business!"Cyrus laughed. "Meanwhile my idiot brother is knocking up girls left and right! Heh! At least when I have sex with my customers, they don't get pregnant!"

"...but you're gay?"

Cyrus just grinned and wagged a finger in agreement.

"Basically Cy, my family." Ben laughed as he sat his empty beer bottle aside.

"Oh we know the Reynolds." Cyrus chuckled. "If you're from Hanover, you know everyone."

"I know right?"

"Small town livin'!" Cyrus grinned. "At least people like me!"

"What's not to like?"

"I know right!" Cyrus playfully boasted. "Hot piece of motherfuckin' ass like me! Alrighty! Time to cook up the greens!"

---

Smoke wafted from the smoldering ashes of the fire. An empty pot and some beer bottles sat not far away. The gentle wind carried the smoke, as Cyrus and Ben lay together in his hammock that was strung up. Cyrus lay on his back with Ben resting against him, the hammock gently swaying as they listened to the creek flow not far away. Everything was calm as Ben had his head resting on Cy's chest, the wolf having a paw draped over Ben and gently caressing his side. The husky had his eyes closed, savoring the warm moment between them.

"Wow, that was great." Ben complimented.

"Ya know, sometimes I just impress myself." Teased Cyrus jokingly.

"I want to let you know that this is great..." Ben chuckled. He nuzzled Cy's chest and loved how Cyrus gently caressed his body with his strong paws.

"You're a lot of fun, Ben. We should start hanging out." Cyrus suggested.

"I'd love that."

"How about on Sundays? Usually I'm free that day. Heck, even Saturday evenings."

"Good fucking hours." Ben smirked.

"Oh yes~ With a nice hot fuckable ass like yours!"

"Heh, thanks."

Ben placed a paw on Cy's chest and gently rubbed and caressed him. He felt Cyrus gently grasp and hold his paw. "Nice~"

"Heh, this is so nice. You and me, in this hammock... the gentle scent of smoke of a dying fire... the calming sound of water in the creek... wow...everything is just so comforting to me..."

PFFFPFPFFFFFTTTTTFFFTTTTTT!

The calm was suddenly interrupted by an abrupt, wet, fart. Ben opened his eyes as he heard Cyrus begin to slowly chuckle, which grew to a hearty, loud, obnoxious laugh.

"Oh...my...god! Dude... that fart totally was not supposed to come out like that!" the wolf laughed hard.

Ben lifted his head up to look at Cyrus. "Dude, do you feel better?"

"Lot's!"

"I felt that all the way through your chest. Holy shit, dude."

"Impressive isn't it? Usually I save those for my brother."

Ben shook his head and smiled. "Wow, Cyrus."

"Yeah, I'm pretty impressive, all around." He grinned. Ben smiled and climbed up a bit to give him a kiss.

"...Wanna stay for dinner?"

"Sure~"

After a fun afternoon playing some video games, and a relaxing dinner with Cy's nephew, Freddy Filton, Ben found himself heading back home to Westerville. He stopped at the gas station, The Pit Stop, in the middle of Hanover to refuel. Pulling up to one of the pumps, Ben parked his truck and hopped out. He wrapped a bandanna around his muzzle as his face mask and stepped inside.

"Hey, welcome." Came an older Rottweiler.

"Hey Matty!" Ben exclaimed. His voice stopped the Rottweiler in his tracks. He turned around to scrutinize the face, and realized it was Ben.

"Little Benny! Holy shit." The Rottweiler laughed. "How's it been? It's been a while!"

"It's going." Ben chuckled.

"What brings you back home?"

"Oh, was hanging out with a friend of mine." Ben shrugged. "Can I get thirty-five on two?"

"Sure thing~" Matty said as he rung up the husky. "It's so nice to see you here again."

"Heh, it's interesting to be back home again, since I live up in Westerville now."

"Ah. Glad you're holding up after everything that happened."

"Eh. It is what it is." Ben shrugged as he shoved his bank card into the card reader. "You know, I'm working full time at an aircraft parts factory, I'm learning how to fly, I'm holding up on my two feet, living with my pals."

"Well that's good. Receipt?"

"Nah. I'm fine." Ben waved.

"Alrighty. Hey, Benny, please come back more often!"

"I'll be here next weekend~ Hanging out with my buddy, Big Cy."

"Ah, the Filtons. Heh, crazy motherfuckers aren't they?" Matty laughed. "Always fucking fighting in my parking lot!"

"Cy's cool~"

"He's pretty level headed, like his brother Ed. Not that stupid retard, Darryl. Lordy, what a dysfunctional family."

"Hanover!" was all Ben could say with a laugh as he turned to leave.

"Have a safe trip home, Benny!"

"Thanks Matty!"

Refueling his truck, Ben hopped back on the road out of Hanover, and to Route 16, where he began the long drive home. His turbodiesel burbled as Ben listened to the wind come whipping in through the open windows. A look of calm was on his face as he drove, a paw dangling out the window against the side of the door. He really enjoyed himself, and really enjoyed his intimate time with the big buff wolf. Cyrus was a beautiful guy, and Ben felt so besotted by his sexual prowess, his playful, confident grin, and that long mane of braided red hair. He got himself a chubby just to the thought of that big wolf caressing his body.

Returning home, Ben parked his truck in his usual spot beside his own pad, above the garage. He returned upstairs and put his keys and wallet away on the dresser. He threw himself on the bed and looked up at the ceiling with a calm smile on his scarred face. He looked forward to next Saturday.

---

Saturday morning provided Cyrus with a perfect backdrop at his desk. The buff blonde wolf sat sipping a mug of morning coffee, while churning out and replying to e-mails at his desk. He sat before a large set of picture windows that peered out over his deck to his pond and woodland. The morning sky was ablaze in color, its magenta and purple hues reflected off the pond's calm water. He hit send to his latest e-mail and leaned back to sip his coffee. His eyes glanced at the clock at the lower right of his monitor. He was awaiting Ben's arrival from Westerville.

Getting up to refill his coffee, Cyrus walked over to his kitchen to pour himself another mug, and add more creamer and sugar. As he walked back to his desk, he glanced out the front window to see Ben arrive in his red Silverado. A smile curled up on Cy's face. He sat his mug down and went to the door to open it up and step out onto the porch to greet the husky.

"Mornin'! Husker butt!" Cy called with a grin and a wave.

"Mornin'!" Ben shouted back. He grabbed a duffel bag from the bed of his truck and threw it over his shoulder. It contained his leathers for some steamy fun. The husky stepped inside and heard the door close behind him. "Whacha up to, Big Cy?"

"Oh work bullshit." Laughed Cyrus. "Number crunching and e-mail sending."

"Reply all." Ben teased, watching Cyrus jokingly shudder.

"No! No! None of that shit." Cyrus laughed. He went to fetch his mug from his desk and took a sip, while Ben sat his duffel bag down on the couch. Cy walked over, sat his mug down, and put his tattooed arms around Ben and smiled at him. The two leaned in for a tender kiss together, their tongues playfully rubbing against each other.

"Nice." Ben muttered as he broke away.

"What do you want to do in bed, stud?" Cyrus smiled. His phone suddenly went off at the desk. "Oh son of a bitch!" The wolf sprinted back to answer it as Ben watched. Apparently one of his crews had a vehicle breakdown up in Howard, and it needed towing back to their HQ in Hanover.

"Yeah, lemme grab my stuff, and I'll be up. Hey thanks, AJ. Bye!" Cy concluded as he put his phone down. "Well fuck."

"That don't sound good."

"My oldest truck in the fleet decided to take a shit on the side of the road!" Cy laughed sardonically. "I gotta go snag her up."

"Mind if I tag along?" Ben asked.

"Of course!"

Ben climbed aboard Cy's white Sierra, and they hit the road together. Cyrus drove down the road to pick a trailer up from his landscaping company's headquarters, which was a converted farm house. With the fifth wheel trailer rumbling behind them, Cyrus began the trek towards Mt. Vernon, to head to Howard. It was a long trek through multiple backcountry roads. Cy drove with the windows down, the slipstream howling into the cab and fluttering his ponytail around a bit. Dark aviators covered his blue eyes, and a backward turned baseball cap with an American flag covered the top of his head. Ben sat in a relaxed pose in the passenger seat, an arm draped out while he sipped at a water bottle. He too sat in sunglasses and a backwards turned cap.

"I should probably eventually retire this truck..." Cy admitted with a laugh at the end. "But my Grandpa bought this old K-10 in 1985, and I love it too much. Too much family history with the business."

"Why not just use it around the lot? Use it for little things?" Ben asked.

"Hey, I like that! You're pretty smart there, Ben." Grinned Cy.

"Well heh, what can I say?" Ben laughed. "Even a dead clock's right twice a day!"

"Pfft, no way. You're nowhere anywhere near a dead clock. That's Darryl territory." Cy snorted.

"You really don't like your older brother do you?" Ben asked.

"Well...it's complicated. I love Darryl because he's my brother- he's blood related, but I also hate him because he just takes pride in being stupid and acting all rough and tough. He's one of these redneck hillbillies who take pride in being stupid hicks. Plus he's a homophobic piece of shit, who tried to keep me out of the family business when I returned."

"Wow."

"You see Ben, I'm an enlightened redneck." Cyrus explained, a grin curling up at the end with a laugh. "I'm a hill-William!"

"Oh my fucking god..." Ben laughed. "That's great."

"I try." Cyrus teased. "At least I try and learn about new shit, and not be a trashy piece of shit who bathes only a couple times a week."

"Uhh, eww?"

"Yeah!" Cyrus exclaimed. "Greasy mop of fucking unkempt hair hidden beneath a Nascar hat."

"Well that explains everything. Nascar is like every hillbilly's aphrodisiac~" Ben shook his head. He couldn't help but laugh.

"Darryl also thinks he's a lady's man. Why not find your gals in better places than section eight! Knock em all up with his thunder thimble, and then run away from fatherhood because 'I'm not ready'. Pfft, here I fucking am, raising his oldest boy, Freddy..."

"No wonder why Freddy hates Darryl."

"Dude... holy shit." Cyrus laughed. "Freddy about choked Darryl, and I had to break it up. He's a little vicious fighter, and I'm trying to help defuse him before he becomes another Rob."

"Yeah...." Ben grimaced. "I was on that path too before I got to live with Anton and Borr..."

"Those horny, hung, hot ass huskers took good care of ya!"

"Yeah." Ben smiled with a slight blush. "In many ways! I've...come a long way in almost three years. Growing up fast sucks."

"I can imagine..." Cyrus acknowledged, with pursed lips.

"I won't let the pandemic slow my ambitions, even if it's a... fucking pain in the ass. Especially after getting sick..."

"Oh god, you too?"

"All of us... back in January."

"Dude, I got sick over Christmas with Covid-19. Whole family did. That was rough."

"Yeah..."

"How bad did you have it?"

"I felt like shit and laid in bed for days with a fever, lost my smell and taste for a few weeks... after about a week, then I felt good again."

"I had it coming out both ends. I was ass on the toilet, and head in a bucket! I had to throw away a good pair of leather pants too..."

"Do I want to know?"

"Nah." Grinned Cyrus.

"God, your smile is so infectious." Ben smiled, blushing a bit.

"Thank you!"

"So is your fire red hair~"

"Oooh yeah..." chuckled the wolf. "I get so many compliments. It's from my Nordic roots~"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, I'm Anglo-Irish and Norwegian~" Cyrus explained. "Blonde from my English and Irish roots, and red hair from my Viking blood!"

"Heh, I'm Swedish and Belarusian." Ben shrugged. "Dad's side I guess came from what's now Belarus, and Mom's family is Swedish."

"Now that sounds cute~!"

"Heh!" Ben laughed.

Finally after an hour of driving, Ben and Cyrus reached the broken down truck with its stranded crew, just south of the little city of Howard. Rounding the bend on the two lane road, Cyrus spotted the beginning of a fluid trail, which led to his old K-10 sitting off on the side with its hood up. The little single-cab, half-ton had been towing a trailer full of mulch. In front of the K-10 was one of his newer crew cab Silverado's, the 2500's hazards flashing amber. The six man crew of Filton's Finest Landscaping Company, sat off in the grass. Cyrus parked behind the two trucks and got out to investigate with Ben.

Using his phone's flashlight to see through the residual steam, they found that the water pump had catastrophically failed, and a loss of coolant ensured. Cyrus would just have to get another pump and replace it. The wolf sarcastically "scolded" his landscapers; Cyrus made a point about having the mulch towed by the three-quarter ton, newer truck, and having the tools in the bed of the old truck. Getting the old truck unhitched, it was pushed, manually onto the trailer and strapped down and secured for the drive back to Hanover.

---

Under the glow of a couple drop lights hung up on the hood, Ben and Cyrus labored to replace the water pump and serpentine belt together. Ben sat practically over the engine unbolting the old pump, which had broken into two pieces. The husky unbolted it with an impact driver and watched as the pump fell through the bay and landed with a thud on the concrete. Coolant dribbled from the disconnected hoses.

"There we go." Cyrus said as he kicked the pump away with a boot. "That's probably the third water pump put in this?"

"Long service." Chuckled Ben.

"Yeah baby! This truck's got like three hundred and fifty thousand miles on the frame."

"Quite a bit~"

Cy grabbed the new water pump from the box and helped hold it in place as Ben bolted it back into place. Cy looked impressed at the husky's speed, as Ben concentrated on quickly bolting the new unit in place. "How'd you learn all this? You're pretty fast~"

"Heh, my Dad taught me a thing or two about engines." Ben explained with a smirk at the end. "This is pretty straightforward."

"I'm impressed."

"Heh, thanks, Cy~" The husky chuckled and swished his curly tail as he felt Cy's paw gently run down his back and caress his rump. He reached in and reattached the coolant lines. Working quickly, his grease splattered paws installed the new serpentine belt. He used the tensioner tool to tighten the belt against all the engine accessory pulleys until it was completely taut. Cy gave the belt a tug and nodded in approval.

"Here we go!" Cy announced. He climbed into the cab and turned the key over. The 350 small block turned over with a loud roar. Everything worked. Cy quickly shut the engine off, and topped the coolant tank back up with neon green antifreeze. The wolf hopped into the old K-10 and backed it out of his garage, to send it back to the shop. Ben followed behind him with his Silverado, as they hopped back onto the road and made the few mile trip back to his landscaping headquarters. Cy hopped into Ben's truck, and he turned around to make their way back to his place. Dust kicked up as Ben pulled out onto the road.

"This is a nice ass truck, dude!" Cyrus exclaimed as he examined the ebony crew cab interior. "How much was this truck?"

"Well...I...well...Rob...got it for me for a steal." Ben explained. "There was an incident you see..."

"Ohhhhhh boy..."

"I wanted a half-ton originally... and we were test driving one, and this coal roller ran us off the fucking road and wind up in a muddy field. And somehow the four wheel drive was disabled, and we couldn't get out. The car dealer we had came out and just cussed us out. He called Rob every name in the book!"

Cyrus pursed his lips.

"Rob suckerpunched the fuck out of him and laid his ass out flat. We came back, and Rob was so angry at Rusty, he threatened to burn the dealership down with him inside it."

Cyrus nodded sarcastically. "Yep, that's Rob~"

"So Russ let me buy this seventy-two thousand dollar dually for like thirty-five grand."

"Nice!" Cyrus exclaimed.

"See, it's not what you know, it's who you know." Ben chuckled with a playful grin.

"I should take a test drive with Rob..."

"HA!" Ben snorted at the double entendre. Cyrus playfully grinned big and laughed himself. "I wasn't intending it to be like that! But that is a good one!"

"Oh man!" Ben laughed, turning his head side to side. "Jesus Christ, that's great."

"Whoa, I'm not that great." Cyrus laughed, making Ben laugh harder. "I don't walk on water!"

Cyrus added in a calm tone, "I do need to talk to Dad about retiring a couple of the oldest in the fleet and start replacing them, before they start to have mechanical issues."

"Sadly you can't do the maintenance yourself anymore on the new engines. This Duramax here? Holy shit." Ben chuckled. "You have to be a NASA scientist to diagnose it."

"All those computer systems for emissions and fuel economy." Cyrus shrugged. "I remember having to fix something on my Sierra, and it had to be computer diagnosed just to figure it out! Even at fifteen years old~"

"Sounds about right~ But this sure beats the piece of shit old S-10 my Dad let me drive to school before the bashing."

"Oh god. Anything beats an S-10..." Cyrus shook his head. "My dick's got more horsepower than a S-10!"

Ben pulled back into the gravel lot of Cy's house, and parked in front of the garage in the same spot as before. He hopped out and closed his door, to soon watch Cyrus approach and put an arm around him. Ben looked up and smiled at Cyrus, who smiled back at him as he rubbed the husky's back.

"Sorry- work crept into my Saturday, again~" the wolf apologized.

"Nah, it's fine." Ben smiled. "I had fun changing that pump out!"

"Well good! Whew." Cyrus laughed a bit. "Now...let's make this our time~"

"Sure." Ben smirked.

Cy was about to say something, but saw his nephew return. Freddy returned home from work in his gray Silverado, the crew cab, long bed 2500HD rumbling up to his spot beside Cy's Sierra. Out stepped sixteen year old Freddy, who looked almost like Cyrus, save for brown hair that was tied in an unbraided ponytail. His neon green work shirt was stained with mud and dirt.

"Hey Freddo!"

"Sup~" the wolf waved. The teen promptly turned his back to them, to pee beside his truck. Cyrus and Ben chuckled.

"Country living!" Ben remarked with a laugh.

"How 'bout dinner, before we fuck?"

"Fine with me~"

"Venison steaks cooked right on the coals, some potatoes, and a salad. How's that sound? Maybe have some port wine too. Gotta use up that half drunk bottle."

"But I'm nineteen and-"

Cy leaned in and sarcastically glared at Ben.

"Eh, fuck it!"

"That's the spirit!"

---

Leather creaked as Ben emerged from the bathroom. His black cowboy boots clicked on the hardwood floor. The husky was dressed in his black chaps, and bar vest; he fidgeted around with adjusting one of his thick leather armbands. He saw Cyrus standing and fiddling around with a lighter, as he lit some candles for aesthetics. He sat the big candle on his dresser, its flickering flame casting an amber glow. The big wolf was also dressed in boots, chaps, but instead of a vest, he wore his harness, and instead of wrist bracers, he had snug leather gloves on.

"Well hey there, sexy~" the wolf smirked. He proceeded to light another candle, to set it on the other dresser.

"Well let's not burn the place down here~" Ben chuckled.

"Hey, I can't help that I'm smoking hot."

"Wow." Ben laughed, a grin emerging on Cy's face.

"Just getting the mood all set."

"I like what I see already!"

"Good!" Cyrus grinned. He playfully posed for a flex. Ben walked up to him and watched Cyrus open his arms up and wrap them around him. Ben caressed his chest and playfully rubbed and tugged a bit on his nipple rings, Cyrus playfully growling to the sensation. They both smiled at each other and kissed, playing with each other's tongue in their warm embrace. They kissed again, their lips locking together for a passionate, lusty, smooch.

"That's nice..." Cyrus complimented in a quiet tone.

"Oh yeah."

Smiling, Cyrus dropped to his knees, his chaps creaking a bit. He opened his muzzle and took Ben's chubby cock into his muzzle. The husky immediately began to harden as Cyrus slowly began to suck. Blue eyes looked up at Ben as he teased Ben's nine hard inches. The husky closed his eyes and began to slowly thrust his hips back and forth, his cock being swallowed all up by the wolf. It was a wet warmth as his head was not only teased by Cy's velvet tongue, but his warm breath blowing on it. Cyrus even pulled his muzzle off to tease the head and foreskin. He pushed the skin over the head and ran his tongue under it; Ben momentarily rolled his eyes into the back from the sensation. The tip of his tongue ran against the slit, then his whole shaft was swallowed again, as Cyrus vigorously sucked him off. He finally pulled his muzzle off and licked his lips with a grin.

"Let's do this~"

Ben climbed up onto the bed and got on all fours. Cyrus chuckled and climbed onto his bed, giving Ben's bubble butt a playful smack with a gloved paw, which elected a "oooh" from the husky. Cyrus stroked his back. "How about we have you lay on your back- let's do something a bit different~"

Ben rolled over and placed his head on Cy's pillow. He saw the wolf straddle himself between his legs and hold onto them. Fetching his bottle of oil lube, he smiled at Ben as he lubed his now hard cock up. His other paw stroked Ben's raging boner.

"Oooh, missionary~"

"Yes." Cy grinned.

The husky closed his eyes when he felt that pierced cockhead press against his hole, and hold there. Cy adjusted his pose, and slowly fed his cock into the husky. Ben grunted and adjusted himself a bit, opening his hole up for Cy and his hung wolfhood. He guided his cock in and released his fingers from the base of his penis. "There we go..." he cooed.

Holding onto Ben's leather clad legs, he began to slowly thrust, to warm Ben up. A smile was on his face, as Ben smiled back at him.

"I don't do missionary all that often..."

"You should! It's more...intimate~"

"I like doggy style."

"I do too...but sometimes...a change of pace is needed." Cyrus chuckled. "Oh... before I forget."

Ben watched Cyrus reach behind his head and untie his long, braided ponytail. He ran his paws through his long locks of red hair to straighten it out. Climbing over Ben, his long hair fell around Ben's head like a waterfall of red.

"Now that's hot..." Ben smiled.

"I know..." Cyrus teasingly grinned, as he leaned in to kiss Ben. Thrusting slowly, he made out with Ben as they fucked. The husky lost track of time as he was pleasured, enjoying every moment of his intimacy with Cyrus. He wrapped his legs around Cy's strong backside, and grunted and groaned between all the kisses to the sheer pleasure his hung maleness gave. Cyrus took his time; it was a good half-hour before he finally grunted and came. A pleasure filled exhale concluded as they shared one final kiss. Cyrus slowly pulled his cock out, and began to kiss his way down Ben's chest and belly. He took the husky's raging boner into his muzzle, and furiously began to suck, with the full intent of getting the husky off. Ben gasped and groaned to the sensation, his balls tightening as the wolf playfully fondled them. The husky tipped his head back and moaned, as he shot his load into Cy's muzzle. The wolf eagerly swallowed all of it, leaving his cock to slowly soften in the wet warmth of his muzzle.

"Holy fuck...wow...wow..." Ben gasped.

"Yeah, you like that?" Cyrus grinned. He reached for a towel and wiped Ben up and cleaned his own cock up. Crawling over, Cyrus smiled and put his arms around Ben, holding him close in the afterglow of sex.

"How'd you learn how to fuck like that?" Ben asked jokingly.

"Lot's of experience!" Cyrus laughed. "You're really amazing, you know that?"

"Oh shucks..." Ben laughed, blushing. "I just...know what I like and want."

"Like I said...you're not like a lot of nineteen year olds..."

"A lot's happened to grow me up."

"I understand completely. But I like that, Ben."

"Oh yeah?"

"I think you're funny, you fuck like a champ, and you're very level headed... I've loved hanging out with you, our little romps, and escapades. I was...wondering... if... maybe you wanted to take this a step further?"

"A step further, eh?"

Cyrus smiled. "Yeah."

"You mean like... boyfriend?" Ben asked shyly.

"Yeah." Cyrus warmly smiled. "There's no rush."

"Are you wanting this to be monogamous? Open relationship? Sorry...I just... after my last relationship I just don't know what would all-"

"Open relationship is fine by me- HELL! We fuck the same guys, dude!" Cyrus laughed. "Monogamy is... well... how do I put it? It's fine and great, and more power to the people who make it work, but to me? There's fucking... and then there's love. Sex is mechanical, love isn't. I could fuck thousands of guys and not love them, but I could only love one person. See where I'm getting at?"

"Yeah, kinda." Ben nodded.

"I'm comfortable with open relationships, as long as everything is careful, and honest. Plus, we could hump those hot husker butts together!"

"I like that idea!" Ben exclaimed. "Oh wow... my mind's spinning...going a thousand miles an hour!"

"Heh, I can do that." Cyrus playfully laughed with a cheeky grin. "So, what do you say?"

Ben nodded. "I say... I like the idea... ...boyfriend of mine."

"Yay!" Cyrus laughed as he snuggled Ben and gave him a kiss. They laid out in bed together to rest and enjoy each other's warmth.

---

Three Weeks Later

Rolling up to the runway threshold was a little Cessna 172, a vintage 1959 model. The wings and lower half of the fuselage were bare, polished metal, the upper fuselage adorned in custard beige, complete with orange cheatline and propeller spinner. Ben sat inside the cockpit of the Cessna, alone, for his first solo flight. The small cockpit felt so large and empty to Ben. This time, instead of Rob to help guide him along, it was going to just be his knowledge, and intuition. Applying the brakes, he came to a stop at the end of the service road, to wait for runway traffic to clear. In front of him turned the curvaceous "Coneflower", Barev's L-1049E. The Super Constellation commanded full power of her quartet of R-3350's, which filled his little Cessna's cockpit with a tremendous roar. Flames shot from the exhaust's turbine hoods as it began its takeoff roll down the runway. The husky sat back and watched the polished silver Connie lift into the air, on an executive flight to one of Barev's out of state locations. With the runway clear, Ben nudged the throttle to the little four cylinder and taxied onto the runway to make the turn and park, for a final instrument readout. Behind him taxied Rob and his gull gray T-6 Texan trainer, the "Troy Alec".

Gripping the throttle, Ben opened it up fully, and listened to the Lycoming rev up. The lightly loaded Cessna began to immediately roll. With flaps down, it didn't take long for the Cessna to grow buoyant and lift off the runway, after a run of only nine hundred feet. Ben nudged the yoke back and watched the ground slip away. He was too busy concentrating on maintaining the climb to realize that he was now in the air, completely on his own. It would take a few minutes for that to sink in his thoughts.

Climbing to two thousand feet, Ben followed his flight plans for an hour solo flight. Rob formed up in formation with his Marine Texan and escorted him. Alone in the clouds, Ben sat back and felt more relaxed as he plotted course in a set of large laps above Licking County. The Cessna had very light controls, and its light weight airframe was gently rocked by a crosswind. Ben flew north-east and watched as the scenery of Heath and Newark passed by below him. Then there was just miles and miles of countryside that filled the horizon all around. The husky tried to recognize landmarks from the air, using dead reckoning to navigate, but found the landscape too unfamiliar from his vantage point.

"Wow. That's all I can say, just wow." Ben radioed over to Rob.

"It's quite a rush when you realize you're flying alone." Rob admitted.

The husky took the Cessna towards Hanover, which he recognized as he passed over Route 16. There was the high school, middle school, and elementary school in close proximity, which lead to the only significant intersection of Hanover, where the gas station and baseball field was. Now he recognized where he was at and banked around to follow the rural roads to navigate. The ground below was turning very green; woodland that was once completely naked began to turn more and more green. Farmers in their fields plowed and prepared their land for planting.

"Hey, I think there's Cy's place, over there." Ben radioed. He nudged the yoke and entered a shallow turn to investigate. He passed by over a large clutch of woodland, where a creek flowed through. Momentarily looking down, he recognized the lone house in the woods as his boyfriend's. The little shed in the woods, his big pond, and slate covered farm home passed by in his view. Ben was impressed by the sight from a few thousand feet up. He couldn't wait to tell Cyrus about all this.

Ben made three large orbits over the area. He passed back over Heath and Newark, looped around, and flew north to head near Mt. Vernon. Flying south-east, he passed by Coshocton, and returned over Hanover. Finally, Ben returned to the landing pattern for Newark-Heath. Requesting permission to land, and in communication with the airport terminal, Ben began a descending turn for the runway. He kept the single runway in sight as he banked around to line up on it. Flaps were deployed, and the Cessna slowed up for its descent. Ben kept the runway centerline lined up with the nose as the wind bobbed him about. Crossing the threshold at ninety, Ben cut the throttle and flared for the touchdown. He felt the little wheels jolt on landing. The 172 gently bounced momentarily back in the air, its wings rocking a bit, before Ben settled it back onto the runway for an uneventful rollout. He slowed up to a crawl and turned off the runway for the service road. As he taxied back to the tarmac, he saw Rob come in for an uneventful landing in his Texan.

Turning to park at the museum's tarmac, Ben cut the mixture and heard the engine cut. The two-blade propeller quickly stopped. Opening the door, he climbed out with his flight plan, a look of accomplishment on his face. Ben walked around and did a post flight inspection of the old Cessna. It was hard to imagine that just a few years ago, the sixty-two year old Cessna was an abandoned airframe that was left on the airfield. It hadn't flown in twenty-five years, and was in bad shape after a storm flipped it over. Rob had intended to scrap it, but just didn't have the heart, despite his distaste for small civilian planes. He instead had it restored, and it was used by the airport as a "station hack" people could rent for practice flights.

Rob came taxiing in on his Texan, its little Wasp radial burbling under the cowl. Ben stood by the Cessna and watched Rob turn and park, his ground crew coming to chock the plane. The husky, clutching his flight plans, walked over to greet Rob as he climbed down from his Texan. Rob signed off on Ben's paperwork, and tucked his copy with his flight plans to file at the terminal building.

"Here, I want to show you something." Rob suggested as he motioned for the husky to follow him.

"Whacha got Rob?" Ben asked as he followed Rob towards one of the new hangar buildings that he had erected at his side of the airport. The Newark-Heath Airport was Rob's domain, the facilities he co-owned with his friend Geert. A number of new aluminum clad buildings stored his extensive aircraft collection. And the collection was continuing to grow as Rob used the pandemic as an opportunity to raid closed aviation museums for rare airframes.

Opening a side door, Rob flipped on the lights to reveal to Ben a hangar with a bunch of stored airframes, awaiting restoration. Ben was always impressed by what Rob had lying about. Inside there were four engineless Corsair airframes, their wings detached and stored nearby. They had been salvaged from the waters of Lake Michigan; their original paint was faded and chipped in places, but largely intact after several decades underwater. They awaited their turn for restoration. Rob had a beat up looking Skyraider and Dauntless airframe on the opposite end that awaited restoration too. In the middle of the hangar sat three new looking warbirds, their shape looking unfamiliar to Ben, who was new to aviation. The three planes looked similar, but two of them were two-seaters, with two different styles of canopies. The third was a single seater with a bubble canopy. All three were in Italian markings.

"Are those Mustangs?" Ben asked.

"Nah, Ben, these are Fiat G.59's, the Centaur." Rob pointed. "And I'm willing to give you one~"

"Wow, really?" Ben smiled.

The husky walked over to examine them more closely. Rob told him the story of Italy's wartime fighter, the G.55 Centauro. It was a promising design that was hampered by Italy's poor aviation industry and deteriorating war situation. Postwar demand for the plane depleted Italy's stock of DB-605 inline engines, and thus the last batches were built as the G.59, with a Rolls-Royce Merlin 500-2 V-12. The Merlin installation gave the Centauro a noticeable chin air intake for the updraft carburetor, and a four-blade, uncuffed Hamilton Standard propeller that was painted light gray with yellow tips. Of the two two-seaters, one had a bubble canopy arrangement, and the other had a razorback style flat canopy that opened to the side. Ben liked the flat style canopy, and took a moment to walk around that airframe, which was numbered "41-147" in black around the green, white, and red roundel. The propeller spinner was bright red.

"I like this one~" Ben pointed.

"Then, I'll earmark this for ya, once you complete your flight training." Rob said. "We'll take her up for a flight sometime."

"Cool~"

Ben left the airport to head back home to Westerville in his truck. As he drove westbound on Route 16, he thought about the past couple weeks. He was getting closer to getting signed off on his private pilot's license, and that boosted his mood, and the fact that Cyrus was his boyfriend made him even more excited. He couldn't wait to see him again. They saw each other on the weekends, and sometimes during the middle of the week if they weren't too busy. Ben felt that things were getting better for him, despite the looming reality that the country was in another Covid-19 surge. He could take solace in Cyrus.

---

Following a productive day at work, Ben cruised alone on the highway, enroute to Hanover, to spend the weekend with Cyrus. Early Friday evening was pleasantly mild, the brilliant sun growing low in the western sky behind him. Casually dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, the tan husky drove with arm draped out of the open window. The howl of the wind mixed with the radio blaring country music. Blue eyes hid behind tinted sunglasses. A stoic look graced Ben's scarred face as he drove; he wasn't sure of what to expect meeting Cy's family for the first time as his boyfriend. He never had to worry about it with his ex, Brad, as Brad's family had disowned him, much like Ben's own fate. Brad lived with Kansan, Kevin Hoover, the older brother to Jordan Hoover, who Rob had taken under his wing. Everyone had a tie to Rob somehow, Ben noticed. He wasn't sure how awkward it was going to be, especially as he knew the boisterous Filton family before.

As a kid, Ben remembered the Filtons; they were a well known, if dysfunctional, Hanover family. The late Gary Filton made a name for himself in his hometown of Hanover by starting a successful landscaping business that grew to incorporate his sons. Ben could just remember going fishing with his Dad and Dan Filton at their pond. He mostly knew Dan's side of the family. Dan, his wife Linda, with her fire red hair like Cy's, and their children; "Big Cy", his older brother, Darryl, who Ben thought was just a troublesome jerk, and Ed Filton, who was much more quiet. But after his Dad had a falling out with Dan, Ben never saw them again after he was twelve. Ready or not, here would be the reunion, but this time as Cy's lover.

Arriving into Hanover, and low on fuel, Ben put his blinker on and pulled into the parking lot of the Pitstop, Hanover's little Sunoco station. It was the little watering hole for the town, where Ben could remember congregating around with his former buddies. He pulled up to one of the pumps and hopped out to grab diesel. He stood watching his hard earned dollars get sucked way gallon by gallon topping up his large tank. The husky paid no attention to his surroundings as his eyes remained focused on the pump's panel.

"Ben!"

The husky heard a familiar sounding voice that brought an instant recoil to him. His shoulders shuddered as he turned to where the voice came from, his blue eyes making contact with his uncle, Vance Reynolds. He felt his heart drop into his stomach, an unsettling feeling falling on him as Vance walked towards him.

Vance was his Dad's older brother, a gray and black furred husky in his early fifties. He had tousled black hair that was graying like his goatee, mostly concealed beneath a yellow baseball cap. Like the rest of his family, Ben largely was estranged from him after he had come out.

"Ben! What are you doing here?" Vance asked.

"It's none of your business." Ben responded bluntly. His face looked sour at his uncle's presence.

"I haven't seen you in almost three years."

"I thought you didn't care?"

"You're my nephew~"

"Yeah, and you're my uncle who asked some really inappropriate questions- poking your damn nose where it didn't belong!"

"Hey I was just asking you some questions about your-"

"My sexuality is none of your business outside of knowing that I'm gay." Ben cut him off. "Your questions were disgusting. Insulting, degrading, and downright nosey."

The husky breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the pump go "click", signaling that his tank was full. Ben quickly reached over to get it stowed away and tighten the cap on his tank.

"I figured a Reynolds was going to have a bit tougher spine handling some innocent questions..." Vance chuckled. "Unless you're like the other fairies who need your safe space!"

"And there it is." Ben glared. "You'll never learn, Vance."

"Don't talk to me like that, Ben..."

"I don't owe you shit! Especially after how you didn't tell me anything about Dad dying. Nobody did. I had to find out when I found the whole house burned to the ground. So thanks~"

Ben climbed into his truck and slammed the door shut on Vance. Before he could further confront Ben, he watched his nephew peel out of the lot and disappear from view in a turn. Vance fumbled his brow in frustration.

Escaping away and continuing on his journey, the husky took slow deep breaths to calm himself down. "Oh lord..." he thought out loud. He was relieved when Hanover slipped from view, and he continued north-east.

Heading up County Road 2, Ben came around a turn to find in the distance a steep hill to climb. At the base of the hill was an intersection to another road, that had stop signs; Ben had the right away through the intersection. Approaching at the posted speed of 50MPH, Ben was right at the intersection when out of nowhere came a white Ford truck, barreling past the stop sign. Ben slammed his boot into the brake and spun the wheel to avoid impact. Tires locked up and screeched on the pavement as his Silverado slid through the intersection, narrowly avoiding the white Ford. Ben fishtailed and spun the wheel to maintain control. The back wheels of his truck skidded up onto the slight hill on the side of the road, the tires kicking up and tearing into some rocks. Ben cranked the wheel and straightened up; his Silverado bounced back onto the road with a jolt.

Slamming the shifter into park, Ben jumped out with a frustrated look on his face. Glancing back, he saw his long skid mark on the road. There appeared to be a few other sets of skid marks at that intersection. Shaking his head, the husky went to inspect his truck. There was thankfully no damage to the bed, other than some scuffing on his back tires from running over the chalky white rocks that were preventing erosion along the bank. Ben quickly climbed back into his cab and took off, continuing on to Cy's.

Getting back up to speed, Ben fumbled his brow at a bit of a vibration he felt in the steering wheel as he drove. He slowed down to 50 MPH and back up to 60 MPH, and noticed the vibration not slacken. He looked ahead to see the final bend for the home stretch towards Cy's driveway. Starting the gentle turn, Ben kept his speed up as he went around the bend. Just as he saw the red reflector off into the distance, signaling Cy's driveway, Ben felt the vibrations in the steering wheel worsen. There was a sudden roar in the cabin, and the whole truck began to crab to the left. Ben grabbed the wheel firmly and turned against the slide, the roar becoming a flopping and tearing sound. In his tow mirror, he saw a big puff of smoke, and the tread of his back outboard tire shredding away all over the road. The tread flung off and there was suddenly silence.

"Oh, what the fuck~" Ben shouted.

---

Stepping onto his porch, Cyrus carried his cleaned up cowboy boots to prop them up against the railing to dry after a good cleaning and polishing. He checked his phone for the time, figuring Ben would be coming at any time.

"Hey Freddy! Wanna get that slow cooker ready for transport!" Cy called through the screen door to his nephew.

"Sure." Freddy nodded. The young wolf, an almost spitting image of Cyrus, turned to head to the kitchen.

Cy knelt down to pick up one of his boots that fell over, when he heard tires on the gravel of his driveway. Looking up through the railing, he saw Ben arrive in his truck. Immediately he noticed that the left outboard tire of the 3500 was completely devoid of its tread. Making his way off his porch, Cyrus ran over to see Ben get out and immediately inspect the tire. He gave it a kick and let out a disgusted sigh.

"What happened!" Cyrus asked him.

"Some stupid fuck in a white Ford barreled through the god damn intersection down the road, and I had to swerve and hit some rocks on the bank."

"DARRYL." Cyrus growled.

"Apparently I fucked the tire up pretty good, 'cause the tread blew off!" Ben shouted. "Good thing it ain't an Explorer!"

"Heh..." chuckled Cyrus with a shake of his head. "Yeah, that Continental is fucked."

"I needed new tires soon anyways..." Ben shook his head.

"I'll see what I can do to help ya out, stud." Cyrus smiled as he put his arms around Ben. He leaned over to give him a kiss. "Glad you're safe~"

"Heh, played that power slide smooth." Ben grinned.

"Heh, power slide. That's what I do when I glide my dick under your tail." Grinned the wolf.

"Oh please, you're making me horny already."

"Later." Cyrus grinned. "But first...dinner with my parents."

Ben took his mind off the truck tire with a ride with Cyrus and his nephew Freddy. They made the hop over to his parent's home, which was a few miles away down the road. Cyrus and Freddy had made a pot roast in their slow cooker that they were bringing for dinner. Ben sat in the front seat with his head resting against the window, his eyes aimlessly watching the scenery as he thought more about what he was expecting.

Cyrus turned into the gravel driveway of his childhood home. Ben saw an old two story farmhouse that was covered in brown siding, with black shutters on the windows. A big tree sat in the front yard, which looked as though something had recently hit it, as the bark was all torn up at the base. Cyrus parked behind his Dad's new Tahoe, and everyone jumped out.

Emerging from the front porch was Dan and his wife Linda. Dan was a lanky blonde wolf like Cyrus, pushing sixty, who had a bowl cut of graying brown hair. His wife Linda was a gray wolf who had long locks of graying red hair that had waves in it.

"Hey Cy and Freddy!" greeted Dan and Linda.

"'Sup." Freddy waved.

"And I want ya'll to meet Ben!" Cy greeted. He his arms around Ben and gave him a playful squeeze and a smile. Ben smiled back, looking slightly embarrassed as Dan and Linda walked up to greet him.

"Oh my god! Little Benny!" exclaimed Dan. "Hello! Welcome!"

"It's been so long!" Linda greeted excitedly. "I remember when you were just a little kid Ben!"

"Yeah, it's been a long time." The husky smiled with a blush.

"Come on in! Come on in!" Dan exclaimed. "Dinner is just about ready."

As they walked up to the porch, Cy turned around to see his brother Ed arrive with his wife Vanessa. They got out of the truck and walked up to meet and say hi to Ben for the first time. They all stood on the porch getting caught up on things, as Ben talked a bit about his life since the last time he had seen the Filton family. The mood the joyous until the sound of tires skidding on gravel got their attention. Everyone turned to see a beat up Chevy Astro van come sputtering into the driveway.

"OH NO." Dan shouted.

Cy's face grew ashen. "Oh fuck! It's Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Necky..."

"Linda! When did you have the stupid family dinner thing scheduled!" Dan shouted.

"Shit! I completely forgot about that!" Linda exclaimed.

"Oh my god..." Ed grumbled.

"Here we fucking go..." Vanessa rolled her eyes.

"Oh god, here's fucking Darryl too." Freddy sighed as he saw Darryl arrive in his white Ford truck.

"Mom! Didn't I tell you about having dinner with Ben a week ago!" Cyrus exclaimed.

"Oh shit! I got the dates all mixed up!" Linda exclaimed. "God damnit!"

"Oh great...now the fuckery starts!" Dan shouted.

Everyone went off the porch to walk over to greet the other half of the Filton family. The joyous mood suddenly turned very tense to Ben as he followed them. Ben watched as the van's door swung open to see a chubby, older wolf come falling out onto his face. He looked unkempt, in soiled work pants, and a loose t-shirt with the collar all stretched out. His graying hair was unkempt and sticking up all over the place. He revealed a face that was severely aged by years of drug and alcohol abuse, his smile missing a few teeth. His wife was an overweight gray wolfess with a bouffant hairdo of graying black hair, wearing a floral pattern dress. Her face looked even more pudgy with a flabby double chin. She yelled at her husband in a screechy, loud voice.

"Why are you yelling at me, Beck!?" the wolf shouted.

"Ronnie! Why do you have to be such a klutz!"

"I'm drunk! That's why!" he shouted.

"Ronnie, what the fuck is this." Dan shook his head.

"You like her! She's my new whip!"

"It's a pedo van!" Ed yelled.

"Yes'sir! I got her for a steal! Eight hundred dollars!" Ronnie cackled as he smacked the rusted and dented hood.

"Eight hundred dollars eh? I could tell!" Dan snorted.

"Well we all can't be perfect like you Dan..." Ronnie huffed.

"Oh shut the fuck up you drunk ass old motherfucker you." Dan growled. "Don't drink so much and piss your life away with drugs and maybe you'd have more to your name and- DARRYL!"

Dan walked over to immediately confront his oldest son, Darryl Filton. Darryl looked as rugged at Cyrus, but had a scraggly ginger beard and chinstrap. His greasy locks of brown hair were concealed beneath a just as greasy, oil splattered Nascar hat. Dan smacked his son across the back of his head, knocking his hat off.

"You ever use that fucking head of yours! Or is it only the other head you use!" Dan shouted. "Why the fuck do you come barreling through that intersection!?"

"What intersection?" Darryl protested.

"Don't play dumb with me missile tits!" Dan shouted. "The fucking intersection you about took your own brother out and now his boyfriend!"

"I keep forgetting the stop sign, Dad!"

"You'd forget your own fucking head too if it wasn't attached to your god damn shoulders!" Dan yelled in his face.

Ben pursed his lips and looked at Cy, who seemed embarrassed.

"Come on! Don't yell! I got the kid with me!" Hanna protested, holding their young daughter, Jennifer. She was the average looking, neglected girlfriend of Darryl.

"Oh my god... come on people! Stop arguing! Let's have a nice family dinner and work out our issues!" Linda pleaded.

"Heh, good luck with that..." chuckled Ed.

"Oh! Is that Cy's boytoy?" Darryl teased.

"Hey! The boytoy!" cackled Ronnie with a laugh. Ben slid himself behind Cyrus to hide his awkwardness.

"Hey!" protested Cyrus. "Don't talk to my boyfriend like that, motherfuckers!"

"I'll talk to him however I see fit!" Darryl exclaimed with a smug smirk. "Is he another one of your little flings!"

"Who wears the pants in the relationship?" Ronnie laughed.

"You got a lot of room to talk there..." Cyrus shook his head. "All your little 'flings'~"

"Hey, I can't help I'm a ladies' man~" smirked Darryl.

"PFFT- ladies' man my ass- the only thing you're good at is finding gals in the section eight ho's R' us!" Cyrus exclaimed, watching his brother get all upset.

"I'm gonna beat your ass one of these days, Cy!" Darryl pointed.

"Yeah? How the fuck are you gonna do that when you got taken down by a teenager?" Cyrus grinned. He suddenly watched Freddy come running past him, to suddenly kick his father in the crotch.

"THAT'S FOR FUCKING MY LIFE OVER!" Freddy yelled, who was immediately restrained by Cyrus. Darryl grabbed his crotch and fell to the ground.

"OWW!" Darryl yelled. "GOD DAMNIT, FREDWARD!"

"Enough! Enough!" Linda shouted. "Let's all go inside... and let's have a nice dinner."

---

Taking a seat next to Cyrus, Ben found the dinner table crowded by the Filton family. On the table sat a home cooked meal, which took up the whole table. Ben took a glance around at the awkward arrangement; he could sense the tremendous tension in the room. The table acted as the literal barrier between the two warring sides of the family; Dan on one side, Ronnie on the other. Everyone looked uncomfortable in each other's presence, as Linda and Cyrus doled out food. Ben got a plate loaded up with a steak, potatoes with gravy poured on top, and a salad. He slowly began to cut his steak and eat it. He watched as Dan and Ronnie tried to have a conversation.

"So...Ronnie... how is business?"

"Well...I mean...it's going." Ronnie shrugged. "We got a lot of mulching that needs to get done."

"Well put your scumbag kids to work!" Dan quipped bluntly. "We got mulch orders up through the roof to fulfill."

"It's that time of year~" Ed nodded. Ed was Cy's younger brother; he looked similar to Cyrus, with the same braided up ponytail of long hair. But his hair was a much darker red-brown, and he didn't have the chinstrap, only a goatee.

"So... I'd like to ask to borrow your tractor again..." Darryl asked.

"Uhh, no." Ed chuckled. "Not after you guys broke it again. For the third time."

"Oh come on! We gotta dig out a space!" Darryl protested.

"What happened to your tractor?" Dan asked. "Remember? Your dumbass was bragging about how you'd get it all fixed and repaired and good to go, and wouldn't have to borrow our shit. In your own words..."

"Well...the tractor needs more work than what I could do."

"Yeah, I figured that." His father rolled his eyes. "You couldn't fix a vacuum cleaner to save your own life!"

"Hey!" protested Darryl.

"Hey, easy~" Freddy spoke up. "They don't teach that stuff in special-ed." Freddy looked at his father with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"One of these days Fred, I'm gonna reach over there, grab you by that gay ass ponytail, and smash your head in." Darryl glared.

"Bring it on motherfucker! Maybe I'll choke hold you again!" Freddy snapped back.

"Yeah, he's right." Cyrus grinned. "You talk a big game, but that's not what happened last time!"

"I got caught off guard!" Darryl griped. "Fucking bullshit!"

"Fight to win!" Freddy exclaimed. "But not all of us can be fucking retarded like you, Darryl."

Darryl ground his teeth. "I used to wrestle motherfucker, don't you dare-"

"HA, oh god." Ed laughed with Cyrus.

"Yeah keep laughing! One of these days I'll show you-"

Dan cut his son off. "The only thing you're gonna show is how fucking stupid and worthless you are!"

"Dan you are being really harsh on your son!" Hanna exclaimed, in defense of her boyfriend. "I mean, Darryl ain't perfect, but you're just."

"And here you are, putting up with his bullshit!" Dan snapped back. "Darryl cheats on you all the time, and you just put up with it!"

"Well, I have a kid with him, and I've told Darryl how I've felt, but you know it's so hard to bobble between work and the kid and-"

"The only thing you bobble is that empty head of yours on his thunder thimble!" Dan laughed.

Hanna shut up and looked away. Ben pursed his lips and glanced at Cyrus, who glanced back with a grimace.

"So Ben!" Linda exclaimed, changing the subject. "What do you do for a living?"

The husky cleared his throat with a sip of water. "Well...I work as an apprentice at Centoh Aircraft. I'm learning how to build radial engines."

"Oh yeah? How much dick did you suck to get that job?" Ronnie cackled, to angry glares from Linda and Dan.

"Probably less than what you had to suck to keep yours~" Ben shrugged. Cyrus could barely stifle a laugh.

"You know what? I ain't no faggot!" Ronnie exclaimed.

"Nah, just retarded." Freddy grinned.

"We're a moral family..." Becky glared at Ben. "We don't tolerate these deviant lifestyles."

"Nah, you just defend a wife beater and a pedophile." Dan cut in.

"Now Dan! There's reasons why Darren and Paul are-"

"'Cause they're fucking useless dregs of society!" Dan yelled back. "Just like Ronnie and that half of the family. Fucking useless! I'd beat all of you up and-"

"Chop 'em up!?" Freddy chimed in. "Stuff 'em in a hollow tree?"

"No Freddy, let's not go that far." Cyrus chuckled with a wag of a finger.

"I'd chop Darryl up. Stuff him in some plastic bags and hide him in a tree." Freddy shrugged. "Just saying- nobody would ever look for a hollowed out tree..."

"You're gonna grow up to be a serial killer..." Darryl shook his head.

"Heh, at least I'd have some notoriety, verses just being some deadbeat hick loser." Freddy shrugged at his father. "And you're a serial impregnator!"

"One of these days boy... I'm gonna wail on you."

"Bring it on motherfucker!"

Ben leaned in towards Cyrus. "Does this happen all the time?" he whispered.

"Yeah..." Cy whispered back.

"God these dinners are so depressing..." Vanessa griped. She threw her tattooed arms up in annoyance. "Every time we get together, it's just everyone talking shit, and it ends in a brawl."

"You gotta try and reconcile..." Linda said. "But it's hard..."

"Yeah, it's hard, because you're trying to reconcile with dumb, and dumber." Dan pointed at Ronnie, then Darryl.

"You know Dad, I'm your eldest son and you treat me like a piece of shit!" Darryl protested.

"Yeah, kinda like all the other girls you knocked up huh?" Dan glared. "Treat em like shit, ruin their lives, ruin your life in a way! What kind of a man walks away from fatherhood- 'oooh I'm not ready', get the fuck outta here! I spent all that money for you to go to trade school and you get thrown out after one semester for underage drinking and skipping class!"

"I was eighteen? What did I know better!" Darryl yelled back.

"You're gonna be thirty-five and you still don't know!" Dan exclaimed. "You're about as useless as tits on a boar!"

"Well I guess I can't be perfect like Cy, since everybody loves Cy!" Darryl shouted. "Everyone loves the Viking braided muscle fag!"

"Yeah that's right!" Ronnie agreed.

"That is not true!" Ed shouted as he chimed in. "Mom and Dad like me too!"

"Exactly!" Cy grinned.

"Alrighty!" Linda shouted, trying to desperately get the attention switched. "So Cyrus! Ben! How did you two meet!"

Ben about choked on his steak. He had to quickly swallow a gulp of water to get it down. "Oh, uhh..."

Cyrus momentarily pursed his lips and glanced at Ben. "Well...we met at his place~! A friendly little get together at Anton and Borr's."

"Yeah!" Ben awkwardly grinned. "Just a nice little get together, and that's how I was introduced to Cyrus."

"Aww, that's adorable." Linda smiled.

"Just like Ben here!" Cyrus grinned as he playfully nosed him.

"Hey you ever get poop on your dick yet, Cyrus!" Ronnie cackled, with Darryl laughing.

"That is not nice!" Linda exclaimed.

"I'm just asking!" Ronnie shouted.

"Shut the fuck up, rocket tits!" Dan shouted. "And Darryl, you'd know a thing or two about shit- that's all that comes outta your mouth!"

Darryl shut up and looked away.

"Ben...I'm sorry that you have to put up with the retarded half of this family..." Dan glared.

"Oh so you think you're just so much better than the rest of us!"

"I don't have to think! I know!" Dan snapped back at his brother. "Look at my house! I didn't burn my house down with MY TORPEDO TUBE HEATER!"

"How the fuck was I supposed to know they got that hot?"

"HOW 'BOUT USING THAT FUCKING BRAIN INSIDE YOUR HEAD, RONNIE!"

"Heh, what brains?" Freddy asked with a grin.

"You know what you little shit! I'm a genius!"

"Oh god..." Ed laughed. He grinned at his brother.

"Okay, Ronnie, if you're such a genius, I challenge you to a spelling bee!"

"Bring it on motherfucker!"

"Okay, Ronnie, spell knife!"

"PFFT! That's easy! N-I-F-E!"

Ben smacked a paw against his face. "Wow." Was all he muttered.

"No! Ronnie!" Becky shouted. "You spelled it all wrong! It's N-Y-F-E!"

"Woman! I know what the fuck I'm doing!" Ronnie exclaimed. "Jesus Christ, everyone thinks I'm stupid!"

Darryl snorted. "I can spell fucking retard, Cy!"

"I sure hope you could spell what you are, motherfucker!"

Darryl had a look of thought flash on his face for a second. "HEY!" came his delayed response.

"This half of the family are a bunch of worthless mouth breathers." Freddy griped. "Jesus fucking Christ."

"HEY! Watch your language!" Becky shouted. "You're being a degenerate little-"

"Oh you wanna call me degenerate? Look at your fucking ugly ass kids, you fat ass bitch!"

"Freddy ain't a goat fucking, kid diddling, wife beating, pieces of drugged out shit like your kids!" Dan shouted. "So go fuck yourself!"

Ronnie turned to look at Dan, then suddenly threw his plate of food at his younger brother. Dan immediately responded by getting up and slugging Ronnie across the face. It was the punch heard around the entire room. With a sudden flash of rage, everyone suddenly jumped up and started screaming and swinging. Ben threw himself out of his seat to remove himself from the sudden melee in the dining room. Plates and food were thrown, everyone screamed at each other, and fists flew. When Ben saw Cyrus get hit by Darryl, the husky jumped into the fray.

Ben ran past Cyrus and threw himself against Darryl. He tackled the wolf into the wall, the curtains crashing down on them. "Get off my fucking boyfriend!"

"Fuck off you faggot!" Darryl hissed as he shoved Ben into the table. Freddy knocked Ben aside and slugged his Dad in the face.

"This is all your fucking fault!" Becky screamed.

"You bring your dumbass husband over and he just runs his stupid mouth!" Linda screamed in Becky's face.

"Look at your dumbass husband you plastic looking, bobble headed bitch!" Becky hissed.

"Look who's talking, Jabba the fucking Hutt impersonator!" Linda yelled before slapping Becky across the face. They tussled and threw themselves into the wall.

"GET OFF ME!" Ronnie yelled as he swung fists at Dan. Dan blocked his punch, knocked his arms away and grabbed and twisted his nipples.

"OWW! MY TITTIES!" Ronnie screamed. "God damnit! You gave me a nurple!"

Ronnie kicked Dan in the knee and he fell backwards. As Ronnie grabbed his chest, Freddy hit him in the side of the neck with a curtain rod. The blow knocked him to the table and to his knees, where Freddy clubbed him again.

"COME HERE YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Darryl snarled, only to get the curtain rod whipped across his face. He smashed his head into the china cabinet and was knocked out cold to the ground. Freddy threw the rod and jumped on Darryl and began to just punch his dad repeatedly in the face and chest, his youthful face twisted by hatred. Cyrus grabbed Freddy and picked him up, the young wolf kicking and screaming against Cy's strong grip.

"NO! NO! NO!" Freddy yelled. "Lemme teach him a lesson!"

"No! No! Freddy!" Cyrus yelled back. "What did your counselor say!"

"He can kiss my fucking asshole!" Freddy shouted.

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?"

The fighting suddenly stopped to reveal a little old gray wolfess. Clutching a pink purse, Grandma Filton looked at the completely destroyed dining room with a look of shock and disgust. The almost eighty-three year old Norma Filton was an Irish woman, who spoke with a very heavy Irish drawl to her voice.

"My god, what did you do!?" She yelled at Dan and Ronnie.

"Good thing your mother's here!" Ronnie shouted.

"Yeah...right..." Dan glared back.

"I can't believe all of you would be brawling, again!" Norma yelled. "What would your father think of this!?"

"Well he'd think half this family are a bunch of stupid fucks..." Dan pointed at the others.

"Raymond Daniel Filton..." Norma scolded. "You should have known better!"

"Mom, I'm almost sixty-one years old, and I don't need to be scolded! I'm sick of this!" Dan shouted as he tried to get up. He clutched his back and braced himself against a chair.

"You never got over Donald's death, and stop beating yourself up and your brother over it!" Norma yelled. "All of you! Ronald!"

"Ronnie started it!" Dan exclaimed.

"God damnit! My back!" Ronnie yelled.

"Between Donald's accidental death, and Cy being gay... this family is tearing itself apart!"

"Grandma Filton...with all due respect... this family has been torn apart for a long time..." Freddy spoke up.

Ben shook his head and looked around at the dining room. Everything was completely destroyed, and food, paw prints, everything, was smeared against the walls. His clothes were covered in food stains, and someone had ripped his t-shirt collar. Cyrus had a big rip in his shirt, and he had a cut on his forehead. As Grandma Filton scolded everyone, Ben just turned and walked for the door. Cyrus quickly chased after Ben as they quickly left.

"No! Ben! Wait!" Linda pleaded. "Wait you guys! Come back!"

Linda ran to the door to watch Cyrus and Ben silently get back into their truck, and depart for home. Dan came limping up to stand beside his wife and watch as their son backed out and slipped from view down the road.

---

A thick cut of steak sizzled in a cast iron pan on the stove. Slickened with a pat of butter, Cyrus cracked a brown egg against the side of the pan and watched as the egg immediately exploded white and sizzled. He cracked another egg in and tossed the shells into the trash can. Breakfast was steak and eggs, with some potatoes and gravy, which Ben help make.

The husky stood next to Cyrus, stirring and preparing instant mashed potatoes in a pot of boiling water. A smaller sauce pan of Cy's "famous brown gravy" simmered alongside. Looking a bit groggy and burned out from yesterday's brawl, Ben stood stirring away, staring blankly off into space outside the big picture windows of Cy's living room. The morning sun looked beautiful, and the sky looked pristine and pretty.

Sitting at Cy's dinner table in the kitchen, Ben ate his breakfast; a thick steak that was nicely browned, three eggs over easy, with a splash of Tabasco sauce, and a big pile of potatoes with gravy poured over. He shared the table with Cyrus and Freddy.

"You doing okay there, Little Benny?" Cy asked.

"Yeah. Just...thinking." Ben nodded.

"About last night?" Freddy asked him.

"Kind of, yeah."

"Eh." Freddy shrugged. "That's just how our family is."

"Like big, massive, brawls?"

"Basically." Cyrus rolled his eyes. "That was the seventh brawl in four years."

"Seven!?" Ben exclaimed.

"Yeah. Typical Ronnie and Darryl bullshit that pisses my Dad off, and then BOOM! Fisticuffs."

"Jesus Christ..." Ben shook his head. "And this is over you being gay?"

"Well...not entirely me, but a long list of business issues, and my uncle's death." Cyrus explained. "It's a complete clusterfuck, and it's been like this for as long as I've been alive. And I don't see a resolution. It would take an act of god to unfuck this!"

"Fuck Darryl~" Freddy grunted.

"Exactly!" Cyrus pointed at Freddy with a grin.

"I want to find calm with my family...not completely just want to constantly fight about something..." Ben started to say when the doorbell rang. Cyrus looked puzzle at the sound of the doorbell, and got up to go investigate. The buff wolf in his gym shorts and black tanktop walked over to open the front door, revealing his parents, and younger brother.

"Morning, Cy!" Linda greeted, holding a box of donuts. "May we come in?"

"Sure!" Cyrus greeted. He opened the door up wide and welcomed them inside his house. Ben turned around to see that it was Dan, Linda, and Ed.

"Morning guys!" Dan announced as he entered the kitchen.

"Morning." Freddy muttered with a muzzle full of food.

"I...uhh...want to apologize to you and Ben for what happened yesterday..." Dan said in a bit of a regretful tone. "I didn't want to introduce the family like that...and what they said to you."

"Oh, it's no big deal." Ben forced a smile. "No worries, Dan!"

"No, I feel really bad." Dan frowned. "Because...what kind of impression is that going to bring?"

"That we're a bunch of fucking hillbillies who brawl over stupid shit?" Freddy sarcastically fired off.

"Well... yeah..." Dan shook his head. "Oh Freddy..."

"Hey, just callin' it like I see it~" the young wolf shrugged.

Getting situated around the table, Ben got to be formally reintroduced to Cy's parents, in a much calmer, more controlled setting. They spent the next couple hours having a lot of laughter and conversation; reminiscing about old memories and Hanover events. Ben liked all of them, and felt welcomed into the Filton family as Cy's boyfriend, despite being fourteen years younger than him.

"I really appreciate everyone's niceness- I feel... appreciated by a family at least." Ben complimented.

"I heard Bill passed away two years ago, and Valery left... do you stay in touch with your Mom?"

"...No." Ben shook his head. A look of sadness fell upon his face. "I wasn't even told Dad died, or that the house burned, or that Mom left to head to Tennessee."

Linda and Dan looked at each other in shock. "Your Mom said nothing to you?"

"No. I basically got disowned by the Reynolds when I came out." Ben admitted.

"Wow." Dan shook his head.

"Yeah, in the hospital too." Ben laughed sardonically. "It is what it is though."

"Damn shame." Dan shook his head. "But sadly, I could see Bill and Val doing that."

"Heh, I see my parents have a reputation around here." Ben chuckled cynically. "And I had a recent awkward run in with my Uncle Vance at the Pit Stop. It's... I want to have a relationship with my family... since I had an opportunity to reconcile with my Dad, and I blew it before he died... and I really don't want to harbor this feeling of rejection for the rest of my life, you know? I want to at least try and have something of a relationship with my family, because that's all you got. You could have all the money, prestige, material shit, in this world, but if you don't have a family... you're just...alone."

"Well...I know Vance... do you want me to say something?" Cyrus asked. "Since we're doing some landscaping for him on Monday..."

"No...well...I don't know... I don't want to make a scene." Ben shrugged. "Vance is just... he wants to know all this uncomfortable shit- 'why are you gay?' 'who made you gay?' blah, blah, fucking blah. Is it worth overcoming that ignorance? The disrespect of not respecting someone's privacy? I mean, he wouldn't like it if people were asking about his bedroom escapades."

"Let us handle it, Ben." Dan offered. "Since we've known your family a long time."

"Alright~"

---

After spending the weekend with Ben, Cyrus began Monday with his Dad, rumbling along Licking County's backcountry roads. Cy's Sierra rumbled along the gravel road, towing a trailer behind him, which had bags and bags of mulch, along with a wheelbarrow and a couple flowering trees, destined for Vance Reynolds' home. Cyrus and Dan looked nonchalant as they drove along the narrow, two-lane road lined with trees.

"So heh, have you made any progress on the living room?" Chuckled Cy as he drove with a paw draped out the window.

"Gonna need some new curtains, a new lick of paint- should be alright." Dan shrugged. "...no more family dinners inside, Cy."

"No more family dinners, period~" Cyrus suggested, to his father's approval.

County Road 10 took Cy and Dan to Vance Reynolds' "new" home. Replacing his snazzy custom built home he had once owned in Upper Arlington, was a rough looking, old farm house, from the 1910's. It was the stark reminder to the financial ruin that Vance had faced when his homebuilding business went belly up in the midst of the pandemic. The businessman who once lauded himself as the epitome of success, was now reduced to working for a well drilling company, taking a massive loss of income as a consequence.

Backing into the gravel driveway, Cy and Dan hopped out to meet Vance. The stocky black and gray husky came out in a pair of shorts and a tanktop, revealing a half sleeve tattoo on his left arm. Tousled graying hair rested atop his head.

"You're here early!" Vance exclaimed as Cyrus dropped the gate to his trailer.

"Early bird gets the worm! Don't you know!" Cy laughed.

Getting to work, Cy and Dan planted a couple trees by the driveway, and went to put some mulch down in the garden by the porch. Cyrus waited for the perfect opportunity to talk about Vance, while he and Dan had a long conversation about local Hanover stuff together.

"It's funny how you move away from this dump for a long time, and then come back to find that the more things change? The more they stay the same." Vance chuckled.

"Eh, it happens." Dan shrugged. "Bullshit's everywhere these days."

"I'm...surprised to see Ben back in Hanover..." Vance said, perking Cy's attention.

"Oh, your nephew?" Dan asked.

"Yeah. Little Benny. I haven't seen him in a long time... not after I guess he came out after getting attacked at school. I wonder what the hell he's doing in Hanover? I guess- I think? He lives in Westerville now, not sure. I've tried to talk to him... but he's been kind of hostile. Maybe he's just bitter against the family because we didn't want him to be gay or something?"

"Heh...well...Ben's been through a lot." Cyrus spoke up. "Cut him some slack~"

"I just want to know why he's gay? I mean, nobody else in the family is. We're not a big family these days..."

"Well Vance, I mean, some people are gay~" Cyrus shrugged. "You don't choose to be gay or straight...it just...kinda happens? The dominoes fall into place. That's how it was with me. I knew I was gay since I was a little kid. There's a lot of... internalization and self-acceptance that one has to endure before they're ready to attempt coming out to others. Sadly, the world is still somewhat intolerant to us gay guys. We're still murdered for who we love. So please understand that with Ben. He's been through a trauma and a lot of shit, and he's bitter about it deep down. Plus, I think he wants to patch things up with his family, but he's unsure of how to?"

"How do you know all this?" Vance scrutinized with a raise of a brow.

Cyrus chuckled a grinned a bit with a twist of his head. "Heh, well, I'd know a thing or two because I'm Ben's boyfriend."

Vance blinked a few times and looked surprised. "You are little Benny's boyfriend?"

"That's right, Vance~ That's why you saw him at the Pit Stop, because he was coming into town to come spend the weekend with me."

"Wow." Vance said, in a surprised tone. "I would have never have known!"

"You gotta understand- it's a sensitive issue, and Ben's just puttin' walls up around himself. Don't be so intrusive in his personal life- don't be asking about his dirty laundry. That's my suggestion. It sounds like you want to hear from him, but you yourself am uncomfortable about it."

"It's just something I'm uncomfortable with."

"Don't let it be~" Dan suggested. "I was like that when my boy came out, and it really strained our relationship for a very long time, until I got my ass together."

"What did you do, Dan?"

"Well I realized three things one day. Cy's my boy, it doesn't matter if he likes guys, because he's still an upstanding, moral boy, and third... ...he's not Darryl."

Vance had a look of thought on his face. "I don't know how to patch things up with him."

"Talk to Ben, and be respectful, and that's the first step." Dan nodded.

"Good point." Vance accepted.

---

A rain like stream of water fell from CJ's shower, splashing against the soapy, tiled floor. Arms wrapped around each other, Ben spent the evening after work, making out with CJ, his other boss at work. The husky had his lips firmly planted against CJ's, the chocolate brown wolf with his strong tattooed arms caressing his backside and butt while they made out in the hot shower. Ben kissed and wanted more tongue to play with as one paw stroked his hard eight and a half inches of hard, ebony cock. He momentarily broke away to catch his breath, feeling CJ move in to kiss his neck.

"Oh fuck, CJ, that's fucking great..." Ben complimented.

"I bet it is~" the wolf chuckled with a grin. "I'm just warming up too~"

"Heh, same here." Ben chuckled with a smirk. "You're gonna put it in my butt right?"

CJ grinned. "Fuck yeah I'm gonna put it up your butt! Silly husker butt you!"

"Heh, heh~" Ben chuckled as he playfully leaned against the frosted shower door. CJ caressed his back and playfully rubbed his tail, lifting it in the process. Kneeling down, the chocolate wolf grinned as he pressed his muzzle under Ben's tail to rim him. The husky closed his eyes and groaned as CJ tongue fucked him.

"Fuck..." Ben gasped.

CJ worked his muzzle deeper between those rounded cheeks and ate him good. He broke away, spat on his hole, and stood up, his rock hard cock aimed for it. Smearing some spit on his cockhead and shaft, CJ took aim, and began to feed himself into the snug husky. "Tight..." chuckled the wolf as he slowly worked his cock in. "Just relax a bit more... let the beast get in there- ohhhh yeah..."

Ben felt CJ hilt himself in, his paws gently grasping his hips. The husky lifted a leg and braced it against the ledge beside the shower door. CJ began to thrust at a steady pace, his cock sending waves of pleasure through Ben. The husky closed his eyes and felt CJ wrap an arm around him while he fucked him good. But there was something different that he realized. His thick, long dick felt good pounding his hole, he loved being caressed, he loved hearing the wolf grunt and moan under his breath with each thrust, but to Ben, it felt empty. It seemed different to his sex with Cyrus, and the intimacy he enjoyed with him. With CJ, it felt so mechanical.

"Fuck, I'm getting close..."

"Give it to me..."

"Oh I will baby..."

CJ grunted and slammed his cock repeatedly into him. Ben closed his eyes as he felt CJ begin to jerk his boner furiously. His strong paw tightly gripped and caressed Ben's smooth shaft. The wolf groaned in his ear as he began to cum. Ben couldn't last, and shot his load all over the frosted glass. The husky moaned loudly as his cock throbbed, and another rope of cum blasted over the glass. "Nice..." was whispered into his ear, followed by a kiss.

Their escapade concluded with both of them getting cleaned up. After hanging out for a bit, Ben departed for home. He climbed into his truck, to make the forty-five minute trek back to Westerville in the late evening. He felt tired from work and from his escapades with his boss. In the last light of the day, Ben hopped on Route 16, his headlights peering through dusk. The dash's gauges dimly glowed in the dark cab, while Ben cruised almost alone on the highway, listening to the radio mix with the sound of the tires droning along on the pavement. The new Coopers that the Filtons had installed for him were quieter sounding than the original Continentals that came with the truck.

The sound of his phone ringing suddenly brought Ben out of his thoughts. The husky grabbed his phone from his pocket, thinking it was Anton or Borr calling him. He flipped the phone around to find a number that wasn't in his contacts, and a number he did not recognize. Fumbling his brow, Ben slid the answer tab to accept the call.

"Yeah, hello, this is Ben~"

"Ben? Hey, this is Vance." Came his uncle's voice. Ben momentarily paused, his eyes going wide for a second.

"Yeah."

"Hey...I know we've...had our disagreements and our arguments... and estrangement... and... I wanted to see you, because I want to patch things up."

Ben hesitated for a couple seconds. "Uhh, okay, sure."

"I was surprised earlier in the week that Cyrus is your boyfriend, after he and his Dad did some landscaping work... and I really like Cy and Dan, and... I want to have a relationship with you, being my nephew, and wanting to keep this family together after your dad passed."

"Okay, Vance~"

Ben breathed a sigh of relief after speaking to his uncle for a moment. The call ended on a optimistic tone. Ben put the phone down on the seat and looked ahead with a thought on his face as he continued on home.

---

Droning over a storm front, Ben felt the slight turbulence rock the lightly loaded Electra. From his spot in the navigator's seat, Ben peered out from his window to see the storms below. Somewhere over the Midwest, eastbound to Columbus, the husky watched the storm clouds below and in the distance. Towering cumulonimbus clouds reached high into the cyan sky. The storms swirled, like angry, boiling clouds. Ben could even see an occasional flash of lightning. Outside his window, the quartet of Allison turboprops hummed along, with the droning, monotonous roar of the Aeroproducts propellers. Turbulence made the Electra yaw a bit, Ben sensing a skidding sensation as the flight crew compensated with some opposing rudder. Things rattled and shook inside the old L-188C.

Adjusting his headset, the husky glanced down at the paperwork he was tending to. Centoh Aircraft had just delivered a fourteen thousand pound load of new parts for Textron, in Wichita, for their Cessna production lines. His signature, along with the flight crew graced the stack of paperwork that was neatly clipped and bound together.

Smacking a paw against the table, Ben sat back in his seat and tapped his fingers on the stack of paperwork. His mind thought about his plans to go see his Uncle Vance, the first "official" family gathering in a long time. It brought an uncomfortable, unsettling feeling to the husky; the idea of actually trying to reconcile, after the last few encounters were overly acrimonious. His confidence felt low for the planned dinner, and he wasn't putting much hope into it. The only consolation he could think of was that he would then go and be with Cyrus for the weekend. The husky fumbled his brow and pursed his lips.

Hours later, after landing back at Port Columbus, Ben departed for home in Westerville, so he could change and get ready for his hour drive to Hanover. Changing out of his work clothes and donning something more casual, Ben said goodbye to Anton and Borr, plus his friends Vasily and Anatoly, and took back off for the highway. Friday evening was quite warm, as April came to a close. With the sun behind him and slowly setting, Ben drove in a John Deere t-shirt and a pair of jeans, his usual attire. There was no radio playing, and Ben looked tense as he drove. His face was stone cold, devoid of emotion. He felt more and more tense the closer he got to Hanover.

As dusk finally came over Hanover, Ben pulled into the gravel driveway of Uncle Vance's home. Ben looked surprised at the dilapidated appearance of the old farm house, in stark contrast to the big custom made home that he had once lived in. Ben could remember the in ground swimming pool, the stone façade, and the giant living space that he and his wife had with their now grown kids in Upper Arlington. The pomp and prestige of being his own self-made businessman was now gone, taken by the pandemic's wrath. Now Vance was back to being an overworked, underpaid well driller, like he did in his youth.

Hopping out, Ben walked slowly to the front door, noticing Cy and his dad's handiwork in doing some landscaping recently. Knocking on the old oak door, he was greeted by his Aunt Mary, who seemed a bit reserved as she greeted him. She held the door open for Ben to enter inside. The interior of the home came across as cozy, but rather spartan. Vance had a leather couch and recliner, and a large screen TV bolted onto the wall.

"I'd say it's been a bit of a downgrade..." Mary admitted with a cynical chuckle at the end. She was a reddish brown husky with creamy white fur, and a neatly permed head of slightly graying brown hair.

In the kitchen, Ben found Vance cooking on his griddle. He had his oldest boy with him, Josh Reynolds. Josh glanced over at Ben with a cold, unfeeling expression on his face.

"Uncle Vance~" Ben greeted.

"Oh, hey, Ben~ Be with ya in a second."

"How are things?"

"It's going~" Vance responded. "Like my house?"

"It's a bit different than the last home I remember!"

"Yeah, don't remind me."

Sitting down to dinner, Ben sat at the round dinner table that took up most of the little dining room. He could sense an awkward discomfort between everyone as they sat in silence eating.

"Ben...it's been a long time." Vance spoke up.

"It has." Ben nodded.

"What all happened to ya?" Vance asked in a reserved tone. "Could you please tell us what happened?"

"Fine." Ben nodded. "You really want to know the truth?"

"Yes, Ben~ The family has been in shock." Mary added. "It's been a rough couple years for the Reynolds."

"Alright. In a nutshell...I got attacked and gay bashed at school, about died, and got disowned by my parents while in the hospital. The school administrator who saved my life took me under his wing, and I got a nice place to stay with some friends of his, who've really taken good care of me. I live in Westerville with a gay couple- Borr Eklund and Anton Savchenko are their names. My best friends are Anton's little brother and cousin, Vasily and Anatoly, all of them come from Ukraine. I am an apprentice at Centoh Aircraft, and I'm learning how to build radial engines for old aircraft. I'm also learning how to fly a plane."

"Boy, you're in better shape than me!" snorted Vance. "Holy shit, Ben."

"So what happened to you?"

Vance stopped mid-chew momentarily. He quickly swallowed his bite of hamburger. "Oh, the pandemic completely fucked me over." His words came out in a disgruntled tone. "I start last year off doing really well, and it was going to be our year! We had a dozen houses lined up to build, and as the year progressed, and Covid started to take over, I watched house after house get cancelled when people lost their jobs, then half my workforce got sick, I got sick, and that was the end of things. I still sometimes fog out, feel exhausted- I feel like shit somedays, post Covid! And I lost that big beautiful home I designed. ...I had to declare bankruptcy. Then I got this piece of shit home, and got my old job as a well driller back..."

"The more things change, the more they stay the same." Ben shrugged. "That sucks to hear that the business failed."

"No use cryin' over spilled now, Ben." Vance concluded. "So tell me, tell me Ben. It's been a couple years, and you've really changed. You've grown your hair out, you've lost so much weight, you've-"

"Everyone changes." Ben cut in. "I'm on my own now. I'm me. I don't have to live a lie like before. I wanted to grow my hair out, and I did. I braided it up too so I could look like a Viking, heh~"

"Live a lie?"

"Yeah. In the closet." Ben said more curtly. "When you see all your cousins get their girlfriends and pair off, friends pair off, but you want the same thing, but because the gender is different, you have to be completely silent about it. Being in the closet is basically suffering in silence to placate others. And that's what I had to do because Dad was a jackass."

"Bill wasn't the brightest bulb in the world."

"No shit, Vance." Ben rolled his eyes. "I loved Dad, and I wish he was still here, so I could try and maybe patch things up." The husky pursed his lips and gave them a smack. "So, why was I kept out of the loop?"

"What?" Vance asked.

"Why was I not told that Dad died?" Ben asked bluntly. "It was quite a shock to come back to Hanover in 2019 to find my old house burned to the ground, with a note tucked into the door- a 'Dear John' letter from Mom telling me that she flew the coop and that Dad died. So why? Was I just not a concern for anyone? Oh let's not tell the fag!"

"That is not the reason!" Vance protested.

"Then what is the reason?"

"I just...uhh...I just panicked?" Vance stuttered. "Everything just happened so fast! I was just getting over maw-maw and paw-paw passing away within months of each other! Then your Dad, my brother! Heart attack and then a second, heart surgery, and dying of a stroke! I just didn't think it through!"

"Oh you didn't think it through!" Ben snapped. "Probably because you were too busy thinking about what I was doing in bed!"

"No!" Vance snapped back.

"You're sick." Josh snapped.

"Oh shut up, Josh." Ben scoffed. "You call me at my first job, and just bombard me with a bunch of uncomfortable questions, and then you see me at the Pit Stop and say the same shit again. If I knew why I was gay, I'd love to tell you! I knew for a long time...it was just a feeling that always was there. Since I was a little kid, I never found girls attractive, or cute, anything! There was just no feeling no matter how hard I tried with a girlfriend! It was like dating a brick wall! I kept all these feelings to myself for years, and now I feel so much better being me! Is that the answer you want, Vance!?"

"Yes! Thank you!" Vance yelled back. "Why couldn't you have just said that?"

"Jesus Christ..." Ben grunted. "Yeah, lemme spill my guts out to someone I haven't talked to in ages."

"We're family."

"Family...HA! Yeah right." Ben laughed sardonically. "Family that threw me out, told me I was no longer their son, that I was a faggot, disgusting, Jesus fucking Christ."

"Hey!" Mary shouted. "Don't use the lord's name in vain!"

"Oh come on Mary." Vance scoffed.

"Apparently disowning your son is the Christian thing to do." Ben rolled his eyes. "I wanted to reconcile with Dad when he had his second heart attack, and everyone just jumped on me and wanted to rip in because the faggot wanted to have his family back! And I'd love to! But Mom's gone to who knows where, and Dad's gone now. I don't even know where he's buried at! Because nobody told me a thing two years ago!"

Ben's glare did not lighten. "Do you know what it's like to be jumped, stabbed and slashed multiple times, and then wake up in a haze of pain in the ICU? Then you're interrogated over what happened, and you tell the truth, and your parents, who are supposed to love you unconditionally, blah-blah-fucking blah, recoil in disgust at the truth? Tell you how disgusted they are and just leave me in the hospital? And all of you act surprised by this? I knew the Reynolds family wasn't the smartest bulbs, but god damn, all of you are just oblivious aren't you?"

"Ben." Snapped Mary. "How could you say that?"

"How could I say this? Because this is what I'm seeing right now!" the husky shouted.

"Heh, the only thing I'm seeing is a butt hurt butt pirate being a little bitch!" Josh cackled with a shit-eating grin.

"Enough, Josh." Vance snapped.

"And that too!" Ben pointed. "What the fuck have you done with your life? Other than be a useless lumber associate at Carter."

"Hey you take that back!" Josh snarled.

"Make me!" Ben shouted.

"Stop!" Vance shouted. "Josh, shut your fucking mouth."

"Fine."

"Ben, you're an angry young man."

"No shit, Vance." Ben glared. "You'd be pissed too if you got treated this way too."

"You're just like your Dad, Ben. Chip on your shoulder." Vance fired back.

"Guess I'm a chip off the ole' block..." Ben crossed his arms.

"Your Dad thought he was always smarter than everyone, that everyone wanted to put him down."

"Well it's because he was a jackass. A shyster, know-it-all." Ben muttered. "I'm angry because I want to have my family back, and nobody seems like they want to cooperate! Everyone wants to make 'Ben is gay' this huge obstacle to overcome. The elephant in the damn room!"

"Well it's an obstacle because you're making it one!"

"How?" Ben fumbled his brow. "How the fuck am I making this an obstacle?"

"You're being very bitter about it..." Mary added in.

"Oh my god!" Ben muttered. He looked at Mary with a gaze of disbelief and laughed. "You're gonna blame me!?"

"Everything's about you being gay." Josh snorted. "Oh poor little me...I got my queer ass smashed against the ground 'cause I'm a little bitch!"

"Fuck you Josh!" Ben yelled. "Like you could fight any better."

"Wanna take it to the front!"

"Yeah, so I can teach you some manners myself, motherfucker~" Ben glared.

"You know what Ben? Maybe if you didn't come out and kept it to yourself, your Dad would still be here!"

The entire table grew quiet. Ben's eyes locked right at Vance's. "What...what are you saying there, Vance?"

"Oh I think you know what I'm saying..."

Ben pointed slowly. "Now you wait a fucking second there... I came out because the cops were asking questions about what had happened..."

"You don't think that shock could have already put your dad's heart over the edge?"

"Don't you dare link my coming out to Dad's heart problems!"

"You don't even know do ya!?"

"The cops asked me why I got attacked AND I FUCKING TOLD THEM WHY I GOT ATTACKED!" Ben screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Come on Ben...stop kicking yourself in the ass..." Mary pleaded.

"THIS IS NOT MY FAULT!!!" Ben snarled.

The husky got up from the table and just stormed off. Vance sat with his family with an upset look on his face as he heard the door slam, and Ben spin the tires to his truck in the gravel driveway.

"Way to go." Mary shook her head. Vance just threw his arms up in disgust and got up to grab himself a beer.

Night fell over Licking County, and thunderstorms came popping up from the northwest. The dark skies were illuminated by flashes of cloud lightning, revealing the intricate, churning clouds. Thunder rumbled in a low and ominous tone. The headlights to Ben's truck peered out as he drove alone, along Hanover's rural roads. A serious, dour look graced the husky's scarred face as he drove in complete silence, his ears hearing the rumble of thunder. He looked mentally tired and worn out from his argument with Vance. A feeling of defeat hung in his heart. There was nothing to find common ground on. There was too much hurt, too much anger, too much misunderstanding between Ben and the remaining members of his small family. Ben considered that it was time to just truly "cut the cord" and move on.

---

Standing at the window clutching a beer, Cyrus watched the rain and lighting. He was dressed casually in shorts a t-shirt. His nephew sat on the couch watching TV aimlessly, Freddy's long brown hair untied and spilled around the sides of his head.

"This storm is fucking up the satellite signal..." Freddy grunted as he watched the signal cut in and out.

"April showers bring May flowers, Freddy!" Cy joked.

Freddy let out a loud belch. "Yeah, I'm sure of that~"

Cy checked the time on the clock bolted to the wall. "I wonder when Ben's coming?"

"He was having dinner with Vance right?" Freddy asked.

"Yeah, and I figured it would have been over by now... maybe he's making some progress?"

"Oh, there he is." Freddy pointed, upon seeing the glare of headlights from the front window.

Cyrus walked over to greet Ben at the door. He opened the front door to feel a blast of wind through the screen door. Ben marched through the downpour, looking unhappy in his pose as he ran up the steps for the porch. He walked by Cy without saying a word.

"Everything okay, Ben?" Cyrus asked.

"No."

"Uh oh..." Cyrus thought. He closed and locked the door and went to tend to a soaking wet husky who looked so unhappy.

Ben turned around and smacked his paws against his wet hips in frustration. "That's it. I'm done trying. I'm done trying to win over people who just don't fucking care!"

Cyrus frowned. "Didn't go over, huh?"

"No."

Cyrus opened his beefy arms up and wrapped them around Ben, who gave him a hug in return. Cyrus went to fetch some dry clothes for Ben to wear, and took his wet clothes to throw them in the dryer. They went upstairs to be alone, leaving Freddy to sit and continue to try and watch TV.

Ben stepped into Cy's bedroom and Cy closed the door behind him. The table lamp provided the room with a soft amber glow, which accented the yellow pine siding that Cyrus sheathed the walls with. The husky sat down at the edge of the bed; his face looked both upset, and disappointed. Cyrus climbed into bed, so he could put his arms around his boyfriend.

"I'm done trying. Why should I put energy and time into trying and reconcile with people who just don't get it? Who are so headstrong in their ignorance?" Ben griped.

"It's a shame, and I don't get it, because Vance likes me? And he knows I'm gay." Cyrus said with a puzzled tone.

"I don't get it either. Are they upset at me because they think I was lying to them and hiding my sexuality? Or that Vance really thinks that I somehow contributed to my father's death by coming out?"

"Oh no, he didn't try that shit did he?"

"Yes he did." Ben grumbled. "My Dad didn't take care of himself. He smoked too much, and drank too much. But I killed him. Fucking bullshit, Cy."

"I don't know what to say to that, other than wow." Cyrus shook his head. "It's okay to be angry, Ben."

"I'm angry because this all had to happen. But you know what? Maybe it's better to not have a family... fuck em."

"People are strange, Ben." Cyrus nodded.

"I guess so."

Ben kept quiet for a moment as he sat feeling Cyrus gently caress and comfort him. The big wolf nuzzled the top of his head with his chin. The husky let out a slow sigh, and turned his head to give Cyrus a kiss. He closed his eyes and took a moment to make out with his lover, which helped take his mind off things.

"Now I'm mad horny." Ben cynically chuckled between kisses.

"Now that's what I like to hear!" Cyrus laughed. The two took their clothes off and kicked them to the floor, to continue to make out together on the bed. They caressed each other while they played with their tongues.

"I think...let's do something different." Chuckled Cyrus as he caressed Ben's chest.

"Yeah? Like fuck me in a new position?"

"No, no." grinned the wolf as he got on all fours and lifted his tail up. "I want you to be a dear, and cum in my rear~"

"Ohh my..." Ben blushed. He felt his cock get instantly hard. "You want me to fuck you?"

"Well yeah!" Cyrus smirked. "I've only let five guys ever fuck me... so I don't get fucked in the ass often~"

"What about the other half of your family? Your brother?" Ben grinned.

Cyrus laughed. "No! Not fucked in the ass like that!"

Ben licked his lips and went to fetch the bottle of lube from his nightstand. Ben returned and smeared some lube on his cock, his left paw tightly gripping his thick nine inches and stroking and smearing the lube around his shaft, foreskin, and head. Before applying some lube to his lover, he took a moment to bury his face under his tail and eat his ass, which elected a pleasure filled grunt from Cyrus. Ben pulled his muzzle away, smeared some lube on Cy's hole, and playfully slid a finger in to tease him. Cyrus felt snug. Ben got up and mounted his lover, his right paw gripping the base of his cock and guiding it in. He slid his foreskin back, and his thick mushroom head pressed against Cy's hole, and slowly entered in. Ben exhaled slowly at how snug Cyrus felt around his cock. The wolf grunted and adjusted his pose a bit as he took Ben's nine inches.

"Damn son, I forgot how big you are!"

"Heh, heh, I got a big dick." Ben said with a confident grin.

"Big dicks are the best dicks, bro!" Cyrus laughed.

Ben hilted himself in. He savored how snug the wolf was as he gripped his hips and began to thrust at a steady pace. He closed his eyes and grunted a bit. Laying against Cy's strong back, the husky and wolf moaned together as they fucked. Cy reached back and jerked himself while Ben thrust away.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck..." Ben grunted.

"Ooooh, ohh yeah..." Cyrus moaned under his breath. "Fuck! Fuck! Right there!"

"Getting close..."

"Oh fuck yeah, fill me up Ben!"

"Will do!" Ben chuckled as he thrust faster. He slammed his nine inches in and out of the wolf's rear, each thrust bringing him closer and closer to nutting. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and came, his cock throbbing as he shot his load into Cyrus. The wolf grunted and came in his paw. Ben laid out on Cy's back, panting a bit. "Whew~" he breathed a sigh of relief.

Cyrus playfully rolled Ben off and laughed as he nuzzled his chest. "Fuck, that was nice."

"Your hole is fantastic."

"Thank you!" Cyrus grinned as he wiped his paw off with a tissue. "You're the sixth guy who has had the honor of breeding my ass~"

"Oh yeah?"

"Three were boyfriends, and Anton and Borr."

"Really now." Ben chuckled.

"Yeah~ I had to repay the offer because I hump those husker butts so much!" Cyrus exclaimed.

"We gotta fuck them together sometime." Ben suggested with a chuckle.

"I like that idea!" Cyrus laughed as he laid back down on his bed. He grabbed Ben and pulled him into his arms. Ben rested his head against Cy's tattooed chest, and savored those strong sleeved up arms wrapped around him.

"Everything will be okay, Ben." Cyrus assured. "Even if your family doesn't want to come around. I mean, it could be for the better."

"Yeah." Ben agreed.

"It's their loss, honestly. Not yours. At least you tried~"

"Yep..." Ben sighed a bit. "Fuck em~"

---

Activity bustled at the mass vaccination clinic. Ohio State's basketball court was turned into a mass vaccination center for Covid-19 shots. Ben sat with a bandage on his upper arm, after receiving his second shot. He watched the nurse take his vaccination card and fill it out. She slapped a sticker on it and signed it, and handed it back to him.

"There ya go~" the nurse said.

"Thank you." Ben nodded.

Getting up, Ben flexed his arm, and adjusted his sleeve to his t-shirt. He walked back across the court to meet back up with Anton and Borr, who stood with Vasily and Anatoly.

"Now I got five-G." joked Ben.

"The gooberment is tracking ya now!" Borr laughed.

Leaving as a group, Ben saw all the people in line to get vaccinated. It gave Ben a hopeful feeling that this nightmare would eventually be over. Stepping outside into the sunshine, early May was bright and warm, the trees turning green again. As he walked, Ben took glance at his new tattoo; on his right wrist was his first tattoo, a black band which had pine trees going midway up his forearm. It was the start of what was going to be an eventual sleeve. It took him forever to finally get it started.

"Ben! Hey Ben!" came a voice that caught his attention. The husky looked up and around to spot a gray wolf with a bandanna wrapped around his face. He recognized that wolf as Talon Brock, the classmate who had sexually assaulted him in 2019. The whole fiasco ended with Talon getting expelled from Westerville High School, and going to prison, and registering as a sex offender. His family disowned him once he had come out of the closet. Ben eventually forgave Talon for what he had done, and once in a while heard from him. He was now living with a supportive aunt in Columbus, and had completely transformed once he had come out. Gone was the asshole jock, but a much more calmer, pleasant nineteen year old who seemed genuinely happy being himself.

"Hey~" Ben smiled beneath his mask.

"Getting microchipped too, eh?" teased Talon.

"Yeah! Getting five-G!"

"Heh, heh." Chuckled the gray wolf. "Hey! I want you to meet my boyfriend."

Ben was introduced to Jay, a salt and pepper furred wolf with mottled, black, gray, and white fur. Jay had dark brown hair that was tied up in a short-crop ponytail, and a neatly trimmed goatee that poked out from under his surgical mask. He was twenty-seven, and a lacrosse player, like Talon, who was now part of a gay lacrosse team. Ben and Talon spoke for a moment, getting caught up on their lives. Talon mentioned about the sex offender status "making things hard at times", but felt optimistic about the future. They parted ways on a positive note.

Ben rejoined the others, and they walked back to his truck. Anton and Borr shared the backseat with Anatoly, while Vasily rode in the front seat. The husky took off for home.

"Well, we did our part to help end this nightmare~" Anton spoke up from the backseat.

"Yay flu symptoms!" Borr exclaimed.

"God these side effects are going to suck." Ben chuckled.

"The chills mean it's working~" Anton joked.

Ben hopped on I-71, to head to the outerbelt to loop back to Westerville. He merged in and flowed with the traffic.

Vasily glanced over at Ben. "Hey Ben, are you still wanting to help me and Anatoly do our video project over severe storms for class?"

"Sure!" Ben responded happily. "Remember, Cyrus said he was willing to drive us around since there's bad weather expected on Saturday."

"Just what we need for a severe weather video!" Vasily exclaimed.

"Can't do a severe weather video without some thunder~" Ben shrugged with a chuckle.

"They say there's a potential for tornadoes in this storm!" Anatoly chimed in from the back.

"Well it is twister season..." Ben acknowledged.

Borr shuddered. "I survived Newark's monster tornado eight years ago!"

"Really!" Ben exclaimed.

"It was a...what do they call it...E-F..." Borr tried to recall. "It was a monster mile wide wedge tornado that slammed through our part of Newark. I had to ride it out with Vlad, Nico, and Dmitry in a damn laundry room in our apartment complex! Fucking roof blew off and the wind came screaming in. Holy fuck."

"Wow." Vasily muttered.

"Never again." The Nordic husky shuddered. "We all almost died."

"I can imagine so!" Ben exclaimed.

"Was Rob impacted by this..." Anton asked with a smirk at the end.

"Do bears shit in the woods?" Borr responded with a grin.

---

Feeling lethargic, his mind dulled by a numbing headache, Ben arrived into Hanover. Reeling from the reaction to his vaccine, the husky pulled into the lot of the Pit Stop, to refuel his truck. Saturday morning was warm, and the humidity was way up, which felt out of place for an early May day. The morning sky was a brilliant blaze of crimson and pink, a "sailor's warning" to Ben. Bad weather was expected later in the day, and Ben could sense it in the humidity. The air felt "sticky" as he hopped out.

Bracing himself against the truck, Ben slowly exhaled and rubbed his forehead. He regretted not getting some Tylenol before leaving the house. His arm, where he got the shot at, was really sore too. Grabbing the diesel hose, the husky quickly shoved it into the fuel port and squeezed the trigger. He rested his head against the pump and listened to the counter click away. The coolness felt good on his head.

As he waited for his fuel tank to fill up, Ben heard the sound of a couple trucks come pulling into the lot. His blue eyes wandered over to where the sound was coming from, to see a couple trucks from the local well drilling company, his Uncle Vance stepping out of the second truck. Ben straightened his pose and stared, as he and Vance made eye contact. They stood for a moment, looking at each other. Both their faces had a look of uncertainty; it was a mixture of introspection, and disappointment at each other. Vance looked down at the ground, and turned to walk away, his paws fidgeting around with his neck gaiter as he stepped inside the Pit Stop. Ben pursed his lips and heard the pump go "click".

Making his way to Cy's home, Ben ended up falling asleep. From the late morning all the way to the late afternoon, the husky was in a deep sleep in Cy's bed. It helped alleviate the reaction his body had to the shot. The clock struck four-thirty when he finally stirred away from his refreshing slumber.

Sitting up in bed, Ben blinked his eyes a few times and yawned. He immediately took note of how much better he felt. He ran a paw through his messy locks of brown hair and yawned again. Throwing the blanket off, he got up and shoved his feet back into his shoes to head downstairs. Going down the steps, he heard Cyrus talking with Freddy. Stepping around the corner, he found the two wolves in the kitchen, working on dinner. Ben stepped in and greeted them.

"Well evenin' there, sunshine!" Cyrus greeted with a playful grin.

"Heh, thanks~" Ben mustered a smile. "I feel a lot better."

"I think you slept a good seven hours there." Freddy nodded.

"Yeah, that's probably 'cause I felt like shit." Laughed the husky.

"That's what I said too when I had Covid-19." Cyrus chuckled. "I didn't get out of bed for a whole day midway through."

"Yeah, it sucked." Ben nodded. "And that was a mild case."

"God help the bad cases..." Freddy quipped.

"Huh, that must be why three-quarter of a million people are dead. Weird." Cyrus sarcastically quipped.

"As though seven-hundred thousand people just chose to die for a political stunt." Ben rolled his eyes jokingly.

"Heh, yeah." Cyrus laughed. "The vaccines are gonna microchip ya!"

"Ha~" Ben laughed.

"Hey, check this out." Cyrus pointed as he took Ben over to the window.

Outside, a breeze blew the trees of Cy's woodland around. New greenery fluttered in the wind as branches twirled around.

"Yeah, that's a sign a bad storm's coming into town." Ben nodded.

"They issues a particularly dangerous situation for Hanover, and parts of Knox and Coshocton counties."

"Vasily and Anatoly's big break~" Ben chuckled.

"Dad is kind of concerned..." Cyrus admitted. "He takes this weather shit seriously, since he was stationed in Kansas for a long time."

"Oh really."

"Yeah, me and my brothers, we were all born in Junction City, since Dad was stationed at Fort Riley."

"Cool~"

Sitting down at the table for an early supper, Ben, Cyrus, and Freddy were eventually joined by Vasily and Anatoly, who had borrowed Anton's white Silverado, to make the trip to Hanover. They sat down for a meal with everyone and got caught up on the weather situation. With bellies full, and appetites satisfied, Vasily and Anatoly piled their video gear into Cy's truck, and they all took off to do some storm watching.

---

Flanked by the tree line on both sides, Cyrus drove with the windows down. In the front seat sat, Cyrus, Freddy, and Ben, while the backseat was occupied by Anatoly and Vasily. Both tan and beige huskies manned identical cameras, the anachronistic Ikegami 791's, with Betacam SP recorders bolted on the back. Between them was a bag filled with spare tapes and batteries, plus a battery powered "Barevlite" floodlight. Both huskies recorded scenery outside the windows.

"There's a really great spot that gives a nice vantage point up here." Cyrus pointed out as he drove.

"Is this near the mulching place?" Ben asked curiously.

"Yeah!"

"Yeah, I know where this is at." Chuckled the husky.

As they drove, Ben took note of the darkening skies. The blue sky above them was turning a dark, ominous slate, a tremendous wall cloud approaching from the north-west. Behind the towering clouds, the sky took on a greenish appearance. The gravel road Cyrus took led them up and around a bend, where he turned off into a large grassy field. Pulling into the tall, lush grass, Cyrus parked his truck, and everyone quickly disembarked to get set up. Cyrus emerged with his fancy Sony Alpha, to take some pictures himself.

The grassy field was part of a large hill, which overlooked the greater Hanover area. It provided a perfect vantage point, as they watched the storm roll in.

"Watch for lightning!" Cyrus called, as he took aim to photograph the wall cloud that loomed off in the distance. Backlit somewhat by the sun, it took on a very dark appearance, as the clouds had a swirling motion. The wind was eerily calm. Vasily stood with his old three tube camera on his shoulder. Anatoly had his HL-791 bolted down on his tripod. They captured the sights and sounds with their old gray Ikegami's. Ben stood watching nature and taking some photos on his phone.

"Look at that rotation..." Ben pointed. "Wow...I don't like that."

"Yeah... check out those scud clouds there..." Cyrus added. He raised his Alpha up and fired off a burst of photos with his telephoto.

"Uhh...I think you better call that in." Freddy pointed. "Look at how that's gaining strength. You can see the rotation tightening up~"

"Wow..." Ben muttered to himself.

Cyrus lowered his Alpha and quickly snapped a photo to send to his Dad. "Yeah...that's a tornado in the making, boys."

"Cool~" Freddy responded as he held his phone up to record some video.

"Dad says he's calling that in...that's a tornado folks!" Cyrus cheered.

Everyone stood and watched as the wall cloud began to lower. It's rotation increased to the point where it began to grow conical, darker. The base began to kick up dust as the funnel made contact with the ground, which Vasily yelled out as a "touchdown!" Ben and everyone took lots of photos and video as the newly formed tornado began to strengthen. Trees in the distance swayed and were torn up by the nascent twister, as it began to move to the southeast. Their initial jubilation grew more and more muted, as Freddy made note of its growing size.

"Uhh, that's getting wider..." Freddy gulped. "It's not...moving to the side like it was a second or two ago..."

Cyrus zoomed in with his telephoto, to watch a row of trees begin to be eaten up by a wall of boiling clouds. He dropped his camera, which bounced against his chest by the strap. "HOLY SHIT! EVERYONE IN THE TRUCK!"

Ben's heart about sank when he realized that this monster tornado, now in the shape of a fierce, massive stovepipe, was turning and heading right for them. Vasily and Anatoly panicked; Anatoly practically ripped his still rolling camera off the tripod and ran with it. Vasily quickly grabbed the tripod and ran as fast as he could. The tripod was thrown into Cy's truck bed, and everyone jumped in.

"GO! GO! GO!" Ben yelled.

"GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!" Freddy screamed.

Cyrus turned the engine off, slammed the shifter into reverse, and put his boot into the accelerator. He spun the tires to his Sierra and rapidly backed out to spin onto the road. Gravel plinked against the undercarriage as the wolf floored it down the narrow gravel road.

"Oh shit, where do we go!?" Ben shouted over the pandemonium.

"The twister's headed southeast, uhh, we gotta go northeast, or southwest to escape!" Freddy yelled.

"Fuck, these roads don't take me that way for another two miles!" Cyrus yelled.

"Oh fuck..." Freddy muttered as he glanced back. Through the tree line that lined the road, he saw just the dark sky, the tornado hidden somewhere, stalking them.

"Here comes the rain and hail..." Ben pointed.

The Sierra began to be pelted by the rain and hail core, the "bear's cage". Pea sized hail fell, plinking against the truck, growing to be penny sized, the rain pouring and almost blinding. The wind buffeted the truck. Ben's heart raced from the unknown, as they tried to outrun a tornado that was hidden; nobody was sure if they were being overrun by it, how fast it was going, or if they'd be able to evade the tornado.

The gravel and dirt road took them past farm fields and a few scattered houses, which zipped by at over sixty miles per hour. Lightning flashed brilliantly through the opaque rain fog. The hail tapered off, but the rain continued.

"Okay! Okay! Okay! I see it! I see it!" Vasily yelled. "There's the tornado!"

Emerging into view on their right was the tornado, which now stood as a thick stovepipe, with debris flying in the air around it. Cyrus only got a glimpse of it for a split second. Ben scrutinized the road and saw an intersection approach in the distance. He recognized where he was at, and realized that if Cyrus turned left, it would allow them to escape the path of the tornado.

"Cy! Turn left here!"

"You sure?"

"That's gonna loop you around to two-eighty, and then that'll take ya to county road nineteen, which will take you to the north-east!"

"Alrighty!"

Cyrus spun the wheel and slid the Sierra around in a power turn. He straightened out and opened the Duramax up, which roared under the hood.

"Oh lord, you show off~" Freddy snorted.

"Hey~ Even when facing death, you gotta do it in style." Grinned Cyrus.

True to Ben's word, the left turn gradually took them away from the tornado, which was beginning to shift in direction in their viewing angle. The tornado was now heading southeast, while they were traveling north-east.

"Maybe this wasn't a good idea, Vasily!" Anatoly suggested.

"You wanted to do severe storms!" Vasily exclaimed. "I wanted to do river ecosystems for class!"

"I thought this would be more interesting!"

"Well that's an understatement!" Freddy yelled.

Cyrus found an opening and pulled off to the side of the road. Everyone jumped out to watch the tornado continue on away from them.

"Wow, look at that go." Ben shouted.

"That's a hell of a lot of debris go up in the air- oooh, there goes a barn..." Freddy pointed.

Cyrus fired off a couple photos with his Alpha, while Vasily and Anatoly continued to record video.

"Where is that headed? Where the hell is that headed? That gonna hit our place?" Freddy asked Cyrus,.

"Naw. Not our place. We're over there...close to Mom and Dad's and Ed's... down there is... FUCK!" Cyrus yelled. "That's gonna slam right into Darryl and Ronnie."

"Good!" Freddy exclaimed.

"NO! What did your counselor say, Freddo?"

"That dude can suck on deez nuts!" Freddy exclaimed.

"They might be worthless deadbeats, but they're family."

"Hey! I always said make it look like an accident." Freddy shrugged.

"Oh no..." Ben thought.

Cyrus tried to call his brother, but found that there was just not enough signal strength in their neck of the woods to complete the call. He tried again, only to get no ability to connect.

"Oh shit...come on...we gotta go..." Cyrus called.

"We've just become a rescue party..." Ben pursed his lips as he quickly climbed back into Cy's mud splattered pickup.

---

Making their way down the muddy, gravel road, Cy's Sierra moved along slowly, to dodge the fallen debris on the road. Broken tree branches were scattered along the road, and power lines were snapped and thrown all over the place. A high voltage line blew sparks and smoke as it leaned against a broken tree branch. The cab was silent as everyone took in the first signs of damage, as they entered the tornado's path of destruction.

"Wow..." Ben muttered. He saw the remains of a barn that had completely been shredded apart, and bits and pieces of it where lying scattered all over the road. The truck rumbled over a sheet of corrugated tin, which had come from the roof. Massive trees were debarked and toppled over, and Cyrus had to go into the grass to navigate around a smoldering oak tree, which had been brought down, and struck by lightning.

"Misses Jenson's barn is gone..." Cyrus pointed. Another barn the distance was lying in tatters, and the home to a resident Cyrus knew had its roof ripped off. The entire landscape around them seemed completely changed.

Cy's phone started to ring, and he quickly answered it upon seeing that it was his Dad. He put it on speakerphone. "Dad!"

"Cy! Are you guys alright!" Dan shouted in the phone.

"Yeah! We're okay, just heading down thirty, seeing all the damage... What about you?"

"We're fine here. I got Ed and his family over here. They're all okay. Your house is fine too. I just checked on it...some branches down here and there from the high winds... Have you heard from Ronnie and Darryl?"

"No."

"We're gonna have to check on them, that tornado was heading right for them." Dan said. "I'm gonna start my way."

"I'll meet you there, Dad."

"Alrighty, son."

Cyrus soon ended the call and stowed his phone away in his pocket. "Fuck, guys, this isn't good."

Vasily leaned back in his seat to eject another used up tape, which he labeled with a marker. "This isn't good at all."

"No." Ben shook his head. "Wow, that's the Crabtree's over there... there whole house is fucked."

"Jesus Christ..." Cyrus pursed his lips.

Making their way down the road, slowed by debris and downed power lines, Cyrus and the group eventually got to Ronnie and Darryl's place. Ronnie and his wife Becky lived in a trailer, while Darryl had his own trailer on their property. Ronnie had once lived in an old farm house on the property that he accidentally burned down with a torpedo tube heater. Cyrus was bracing for the worst as he raced down the clear part of the road, to reenter the damage path as it looped around. He slowed up and saw to his relief, his father's SUV, and Ed's truck. Cyrus pulled in behind them and everyone hopped out.

Standing with Dan and his family was a bloodied Ronnie, Becky, and Darryl. Their trailer homes were completely destroyed. Strewn across the entire field were the contents of their two homes, all their landscaping equipment, and the charred remains of the farm home that had burned. It looked like a warzone. Darryl's white Ford truck sat against a power line, completely smashed and wrapped around it.

Ben followed Cyrus up to see how everyone was doing. Becky sat on the ground crying, her summer dress in tatters, and her face cut up by flying debris. Darryl looked dazed and stunned, his forehead bleeding. Ronnie seemed shook up, and his arms trembled from the adrenaline surging through his veins. Listening in, Ben realized that they had only survived because they had managed to stuff themselves into a storm drainage basin that the county had installed on their property. At the very last second, with the tornado right on top of them, Darryl managed to pull the grate off and stuff everyone inside the little concrete box situated in the ground to ride out the storm.

The husky took a step back to see how the Filtons were. In the midst of a natural disaster, their tumultuous, chaotic relationship was gone, replaced by a genuine concern for each other. Ben took a sigh of relief and glanced around at the damage path, which continued on through the southeast. The husky took a few steps to scrutinize the damage path in the fading light. He looked at the landscape and realized that the path was heading towards where his Uncle Vance lived at. Ben thought Vance and his heart began to sank. He had to go check on him.

"Cy! We gotta see if Uncle Vance is okay." Ben called. "He's gotta be in the path."

Everyone looked at each other and nodded. Without words, everyone made their way to their vehicles. Ben jumped into Cy's truck to drive it, and he was joined with the entourage. With Cyrus in the passenger seat, Ben slammed the shifter into drive and spun around to take off for his uncle's. The Sierra bounced over broken branches as Ben drove aggressively to get to his uncle.

"Whoa! Easy Ben!" Cyrus exclaimed. "Holy shit!"

"I know! I know!" Ben shouted back. "I think something terrible has happened..."

Rushing up County Road 5 and making a left on County Road 7, Ben floored it and kicked gravel up as they slid around the turn, slipping from view from the others as Ben climbed over a small hill.

---

Going around a final bend, and reentering the damage path, Ben slowed up upon seeing a massive beech tree lying in the middle of the road in the distance. Trees were downed everywhere as Ben resorted to driving into the grass, to find his uncle's home lying in shattered ruin. Ben pulled into the lawn and stopped, hopping out first to run towards the house.

The old farm home that Vance and Mary lived in looked as though someone had picked it up, turned it a bit, and then slammed it down as hard as possible. The front of the house sat up at an angle, and the back of the home sat crumpled. Part of the roof was torn away, and all the windows were shattered, with a big gaping hole, where the upstairs imploded. The porch roof collapsed down.

"UNCLE VANCE!" Ben screamed. "VANCE! MARY!" he called.

"Ben!" yelled Vasily. He came running up with his floodlight. "Here!"

Ben accepted the Barevlite and turned it on, which gave a brilliant, snow white, beam of white. Cyrus ran up to help Ben as he quickly climbed the ruined porch roof to get inside.

"Careful! Careful! Ben! This whole house could go at any second!" Cyrus yelled as he climbed with his boyfriend.

"VANCE!" Ben yelled through the broken window. He climbed inside and shone the light around, to find everything inside a broken up, jumbled mess. A tree limb had been violently impaled through the wall, and furniture lay broken everywhere. Ben stepped onto the old floor, and heard it creak and groan beneath his feet, with an uncomfortable shifting sensation. Cyrus stepped inside, and the moment his cowboy boots touched the floor, the dresser came crashing through and falling into the living room below.

"Oh fuck!" the big wolf yelled. "Dude, this whole thing's gonna give anytime!"

"I know! Jesus Christ!" Ben muttered. "Vance! Mary! It's Ben! We're coming for ya!"

Stepping precariously over gaps and broken furniture, Ben felt the floor wobble some more as he stepped over another big gap. Bits of wood broke away under his weight as he and Cyrus peered over into the broken downstairs below them. The floor had given away, revealing the basement, which was filled with debris.

"VANCE! MARY!" Cyrus yelled.

"Wait! Wait!" Ben shouted. He thought he heard something. He scrutinized the ambience to hear a faint gasping, and sobbing, coming from the basement. "I hear something."

"I do too."

"Uncle Vance!? Mary!" Ben shouted. "It's me! Ben! We're gonna get you!"

Shimmying his way down a broken section of wall, Ben carefully maneuvered himself around the living room to peer down into the basement. He shone his floodlight down and found Mary struggling to pry herself free from a bookshelf which had fallen on her. He found a bloody Vance lying crushed under a massive beam, which ran across his chest. "Oh god!" the husky blurted out.

Using the collapsed sections of the walls to get into the basement, Ben made his way down to try and free Mary and Vance.

"Ben!" Mary shouted. "Help Vance, he's badly hurt!"

Ben ran over and found Vance struggling to breathe. A heavy beam of solid oak had slammed him into the concrete floor of the basement. There was blood trickling from his muzzle as he labored to get air. His breathing took on a wheezing tone.

"Vance! It's just me...I'm gonna help you." Ben said, trying to comfort him. Cyrus ran over to try and help Ben lift the beam off.

"Fuck! It's stuck!" Cyrus called. He tried to see where it was stuck at, but the dim light made the job impossible. Ben shone the floodlight around to see other debris pinning it down.

"We gotta get this debris off him." Ben said as he tried to push other debris off Vance's body. He could tell that Vance had broken a leg, and was afraid of what other injuries he might have had internally. He was in very bad shape. There was a sudden crash, and Ben watched as another part of the basement ceiling came collapsing in. There was an explosion of dust, and a deafening crash of splintering wood and debris. Water soon came erupting up as a pipe was ruptured.

"Oh fuck..." Ben said, watching as water began to flow on the floor.

"HEY! ED! DAD!" Cyrus yelled.

"CY!" came Ed's voice. They heard the cautious footsteps of his brother, as Ed slowly made his way down.

"Holy shit, Vance!" Ed yelled.

"We gotta get this beam off...this basement is flooding!" Ben yelled.

Cyrus knocked some debris off the beam, and the three struggled to try and get it lifted off Vance. Their struggles were heard by Darryl, who made his way down into the basement as well, only to fall coming down the final wall. The burly wolf grasped onto the beam with his brothers, and Ben, and they all heaved to pull it off of him. They threw the broken beam aside and found Vance with a severe chest injury. Ed put his ear to Vance's chest to hear him breathe, which sounded terrible.

"I think he's got a collapsed lung. He's gotta have broken ribs." Ed concluded.

Ben worked to quickly shove the bookshelf off Mary, who was lacerated by flying debris, but otherwise okay.

"DAD!" Darryl yelled. "Get some chains! Rope! We gotta pull Vance out!"

"Mary, can you walk?" Ben asked her.

"I'm fine, Ben, yeah." She nodded. She looked dazed and shell-shocked by the whole ordeal. "Oh god, Vance..."

"We're gonna get him out first..." Ben said.

Outside, Dan, Linda, Freddy, Vanessa, Becky, and Ronnie worked to prepare some ropes and chains to pull everyone out. Freddy tied up a set of ropes to a chain, which Dan anchored to the back of his Tahoe on the hitch.

"Okay! Freddy! I'm gonna go in and get the line prepared, we're gonna have to pull this rope to get them out when everyone's ready!"

"Alrighty Grandpa!" Freddy exclaimed.

"Okay! Here I go!" Dan yelled, with a bunch of rope wrapped around him and some Velcro straps. He climbed up the porch roof, giving himself slack on the rope while slowly venturing inside. After a few minutes, Dan managed to climb his way out, and stumbled out of the window onto the porch roof, where he caught himself.

"Alright! Come on!" Dan yelled. Everyone ran over to grab the rope, and listen for the signal. With Cyrus yelling to go, Ronnie, Becky, Vanessa, Freddy, Linda, and Dan all grabbed hold and pulled with all their might. Heaving to pull, they very slowly began to pull Vance out with the help of Ben, Cyrus, Ed, and Darryl.

"Come on!" Linda yelled. "PULL!" A couple minutes of pulling yielded results, as they soon watched Darryl emerge first. He turned around to help pull Vance out through the upstairs window. The badly injured Vance was strapped down on a door, acting as a makeshift gurney. He was tended to by the Filton brothers, as they gingerly brought him down the porch roof. Ben emerged through the window helping a dazed Mary, who limped slowly down the slope. Ronnie and Becky caught Mary as she stumbled. Becky laid Mary out on the grass as she fainted from exhaustion. Vance was practically unconscious as Dan checked him over.

Ben stood for a moment to wipe the soot off his face. He looked exhausted as he took a few steps away from the home, only to hear a sudden crash. Turning around, the entire house finally gave in on itself, and collapsed into basement fully. There was the splintering of wood, the crinkling of glass, to the sudden sound of a rushing flame, as the gas line was ruptured. Flames erupted from the back of the house. Everyone retreated away as the destroyed home began to burn.

---

Sunday morning was calm and sunny. A cold front brought the temperature down a bit, but the sky was devoid of clouds for a morning flight from Newark-Heath.

Glistening in the brilliant sun was Ben's G.59B. Polished up natural metal took on the orange glow of the morning sun rising from the east. "41-147" was fuelled up and being readied for flight. Standing on the tarmac, Ben adjusted his flight helmet for a test flight with Rob. He wore a khaki colored flight suit, complete with a parachute and "bone dome". Rob wore his usual Navy flight attire as he signed off some paperwork.

Ben took a glance of his future Centauro, which had a graceful shape to it on the tarmac. It was all natural metal, but the propeller spinner was now painted red-orange, Ben's favorite color. It had two small drop tanks shackled to the wings, filled with a load of 100LL avgas. Going through the checklist with Rob, they both soon climbed aboard the sleek Italian plane for a morning flight. Ben climbed into the front cockpit, Rob in the rear, as Ben took a moment to glance over at the instrument panel.

Following the checklist, Ben turned the power systems on and adjusted some settings to the altimeter. He adjusted the mixture control on the throttle, and engaged the starter. The gray and yellow tipped propeller began to turn, Ben counting the blades before engaging the magnetos. With a cough of glycol smoke, the Merlin ignited and roared to life. It's RPM's died down to idle as Ben watched the engine temperature come up. The rough idle smoothed out to a soft purr. With approval from Rob, Ben released the brakes, and began a very slow taxi for the runway. He had to zigzag around, like flying the Texan, to compensate for his poor over the nose visibility. Making his way to the runway, he held for a moment to let a corporate jet take off. Turning onto the runway, Ben made a final sweep of instrumentation, made sure his tail wheel was locked, and opened the throttle.

Kicking in opposite rudder, he took off down the runway, feeling the immense torque of the propeller want to kick him sideways. The husky held on and felt the tail grow buoyant, and lift a bit off the ground. He nudged the stick back and watched as the runway departed after a run of about twelve hundred feet. The Centauro lifted off for a cautious climb by Ben. He retracted the landing gear and stowed the flaps, and built up some speed.

For the first twenty-five minutes, Ben climbed to nine thousand feet. He didn't care do anything aggressive as he slowly corkscrewed up to altitude. The Fiat had harmonized controls that didn't feel heavy. The plane had a good roll rate and turning radius, and he didn't want to push his luck. He flew amongst the clouds with Rob, who encouraged him to practice some stunts. With Rob's direction, Ben practiced a few rolls, and loops with the G.59. Even with drop tanks, it handled the task with ease. Gradually, Ben felt a bit more comfortable doing loops with such a powerful plane; as long as he had speed built up, the Centauro did what he commanded.

Descending in for a low altitude flight, Ben slowed up as he flew towards Hanover, to survey the tornado damage from yesterday's massive storm. Flying north-east, he banked around when he saw the damage path become visible. For miles, the ground bore a scar from the tornado, which ripped through the countryside. Ben glanced out his cockpit at the sight. The scar was most visible in woodland, where trees were ripped up and thrown. There was property damage, and Ben saw some homes damaged along the path. It thankfully missed any major town, and eventually dissipated in Muskingum county. The National Weather Service ranked it as a "low-end EF-3".

He passed over Ronnie Filton's destroyed property, which stood out from the sheer amount of debris scattered. He could recall Ronnie bragging about his burned out house finally being torn down. Making a slight left turn, he passed over Vance and Mary's ruined home, which was burned out by the fire that was sparked by the final collapse of the home. His Aunt and Uncle were both hospitalized, Vance having to have emergency surgery for his crush injuries. He was evacuated to Zanesville's Genesis hospital, via helicopter.

Ben and Rob continued to fly over the entire length of the tornado's damage scar, until it finally ended near the village of Shannon. Ben turned around, to begin flying back to the airport.

"So Ben, what do you think?" Rob asked.

"I think this is a great, hot, ship!" Ben exclaimed. "Love her~"

"You're almost there, buddy." Rob said over the radio. "You're almost there for your private pilot's license, and then we'll start warbird training."

"Sounds great."

"Yep!" Rob concluded.

---

Genesis was Zanesville's massive hospital complex. One of two large trauma centers to service all of southeast Ohio, Genesis was where Vance and his wife were airlifted to. In his private room on the eighth floor, Vance rested. After spending three days in the ICU following an emergency thoracotomy, he now had his own private room. An old Nascar race played on the television bolted to the while, and a slow drip of morphine helped numb Vance's pain. Not only did his chest get emergency surgery, his left leg was placed in a plaster cast. He was very lucky to be alive after the tornado took him by surprise. He didn't hear the sirens or anything, and the time a tornado warning was issued, the storm was right atop of him.

His blue eyes winced a bit at the amber sun coming in from the windows that faced the west. It was evening time, and dinner would be served soon. As he reached to change the channel, he heard a knock at the door. Glancing over, he saw that it was Ben, still dressed in work attire, his face hidden under a surgical mask.

"Uncle Vance~" Ben said in his usually soft tone.

"Hey Ben." Vance greeted in a tired voice.

"May I step in?"

"Sure."

Ben slowly closed the door behind him and walked up to grab a chair.

"Oh come on, you can take that mask off. They have tested me for Covid, and god alone knows what else." Vance joked in a cynical tone.

Ben slowly took the surgical mask off, and neatly folded it up and sat it on his lap. He sat back in his chair and there was silence for a moment. Between them, warring uncle and nephew, had a moment of reflection between each other. The mood wasn't tense or anything; nobody really knew what to say.

"You saved our lives, Ben." Vance started. "You, and your boyfriend's family." Ben simply nodded in acknowledgement.

"Why'd you do that? Why'd you come back after what I had said to you?" Vance asked him.

Ben slightly shrugged a bit. "I knew you and Aunt Mary were in mortal danger- I had to go back. That's what family does. There was no choice."

Vance nodded a bit and turned his head to rest it back on his propped up pillow. "I guess that says volumes about you, and not me."

"I believe it's always safe to do right~"

Vance slowly licked his dry lips. "The storm happened so fast, I didn't even know what the fuck hit me. One minute you hear some thunder, then the wind really starts to pick up, and it sounded like a damn freight train coming at you... We got a tornado warning on our phones maybe...twenty seconds before the twister. I didn't hear sirens, nothing. We rushed downstairs from our bedroom right as the twister hit the house, and everything was a jumble, and the next thing I know, I'm pinned under the house's damn support beam. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't move, couldn't speak, nothing. I was so scared at first- then I realized that, perhaps that was God's way of saying it was my time. I asked God to send me a miracle... I prayed that he would send me a sign... and you showed up."

"I wasn't going to leave you for dead." Ben assured. There was a knock on the door, which interrupted Ben; the door opened to reveal a nurse coming in with Vance's dinner. She sat a tray down on his little sliding table, which had meatloaf, corn, mashed potatoes, and a salad. She also gave him a bottle of water and a Sprite.

"Well Uncle Vance, I best let you be for dinner." Ben said as the husky got up and slipped his mask back on. He turned to head for the door. "I wish you and the family well... and I'll leave everyone be, to keep the peace."

Vance watched with sad eyes as his nephew walked towards the door. "Ben." Vance called, right as he was about to leave. The young husky stopped midway through the door, and turned to look back at his uncle.

Vance looked momentarily unsure of what to say, but Ben could see immense sadness in his eyes. "I don't want you to walk out that door and I never see you again. This family has already suffered enough the past couple years. There's not that many of us left. And I hate to lose another. Please...I want to talk. I want my nephew back in my life. You're all I got left of my brother."

Ben nodded slowly and turned around to return to his chair. He gently closed the door behind him.

---

Two Weeks Later

Descending in, Ben exited his turn to be lined up for the runway. Dropping the flaps to the little Cessna, he slowed up and began a slight nose-down descent. It was his final solo test flight. Ben kept the runway centerline lined up as he rocked a bit to a breeze. Working the rudders and ailerons, he held steady and flared for touchdown. Cutting the throttle, he felt the jolt of landing as the little 172 returned to the runway. He stuck the landing perfectly. The husky rolled to a crawl and turned to head to the main tarmac for the airport. Rolling in, he was surprised to see Rob standing there with not just Stanley the EAA agent, and Geert, the airport co-owner, but the entire Filton family, and his Uncle Vance and Aunt Mary. It brought a smile to his face when he saw them all give him a round of applause as he turned and parked. Cutting the engine, he stepped out and heard them cheer. Ben raised a hand up and waved in return, a smile aimed right at his boyfriend who clapped for him.

Ben stood with Rob, Stanley, and Geert, as he was presented his private pilot's license. Behind him was his future Centauro, which was parked opposite of the Cessna. Cyrus took photos as Ben accepted his pilot's license. He shook their paws and grinned a bit in excitement as he accomplished a huge milestone in his life. He lifted up his paperwork and pilot's license and grinned for the camera as Cyrus fired off a shot. His facial paralysis warped his smile a bit.

To celebrate, the airport held a little cookout for everyone. At the brick terminal building of Newark-Heath, everyone sat at the two picnic tables that were located at a viewing spot, and Dan grilled hamburgers and hotdogs on the little government grill. Ben stood with Cyrus as they joked and laughed with Ed and Vanessa; for the first time in years, the Filtons had a peaceful meal together. Even Freddy, who had long hated his Dad, had a civil conversation with Darryl, over a couple bottles of Coke. Ronnie and Dan talked and joked, the first time in years. In the weeks since the twister, the Filtons and the Reynolds had a newfound sense of peace between each other.

The tornado was a catalyst; the constantly warring Dan and Ronnie Filton had finally ended their thirty-eight year war over the death of their youngest brother Don. They agreed to keep the family landscaping business separate, but there would be much more cooperation between the two sides. Because Ronnie and Darryl had lost everything, Ben convinced Rob to help them in a grant of two million dollars to buy new vehicles and equipment. It was under the condition that Ronnie would seek rehab for his destructive alcoholism. Ronnie agreed to it, deciding that he could no longer just spend his life under a haze of liquor. He also planned on putting his out of control, reckless children in check. Becky learned to tolerate Cy's sexuality, and to just "stop being a bitch" to everyone. Darryl, his eyes opened to his own mortality, wanted to make an effort to improve his life, especially as he just turned thirty-five. He wanted to stop being a "piece of shit", and try and improve his relationship with his eldest son. In the meantime, as his trailer was destroyed, he would be staying with Cyrus and Freddy.

After three years of estrangement, the Reynolds put aside their differences. For saving Vance's life, Ben got the respect of his three cousins, who moved on from their feelings of his homosexuality. Vance, still on the mend from his injuries, and momentarily wheelchair bound, sat and talked with Ben and Cyrus; he promised Ben that he would try and find and get in touch again with Ben's mother Valery, who nobody had heard from in two years. He couldn't make any guarantees, but he would try his damndest. Ben accepted it with a smile, as they all ate their meals together, happy in each other's presence. This was the best Ben felt in three years. He was happy and at peace with himself, everyone.

---

Epilogue:

"The more things change, the more they stay the same~"

Kicking up dust behind them, Ben and Cyrus drove along the narrow dirt road that led back to Ben's childhood home. Sunlight filtered through the thick green canopy of leaves, as Ben navigated by memory.

"Lord, I know this road like the back of my paw..." Ben chuckled as he made the right turn at the fork in the road, where a big beach tree still stood.

"Well better take a picture before you get that tattooed and you forget!" Cyrus grinned with a snort.

"Ha, yeah." Ben smiled. "Maybe this is the year I get my sleeve started and finished."

"Dude, it took me a while to get all this ink done." Cyrus nodded. "My chest especially."

"That's a lot of chest." Ben quipped, which Cyrus grinned and wagged a finger in agreement.

"Just remember, pick good art and something that has meaning to you, 'cause it ain't coming off!" Cyrus joked.

"So getting your dick tattooed on would be a bad idea?" grinned Ben.

"Hey..." Cyrus shrugged. "Whatever floats your goat."

"Different strokes for different folks..."

"That's right!" Cyrus exclaimed. "Or don't be like my brother Darryl, and get drunk and wake up with a hotdog on your shoulder blade."

"Oh god." Ben laughed.

Ben came upon a road block, forcing him to stop. A bridge was out, as the storm washed out the support structure, taking the road with it. Parking, Ben and Cyrus got out to walk the rest of the way. It wasn't too far to go, maybe a mile up the road. They walked up to where the destroyed bridge was, which rested broken in the bottom of a small creek bed. Ben and Cyrus just climbed down the embankment, and crossed the shallow little crick, to climb back up the other side and continue on down the dry dirt road. Ben wanted to return home one final time, to reflect on things. Earlier, he and Cyrus paid a visit to his late father's grave, so Ben could take a moment and mourn.

"Yeah, I remember my Dad buying this house- whoa, that was a long time ago." Ben recalled as he walked with Cy. "It wasn't Dad's first pick..."

"Homes out here are pretty crappy. Kinda like the rest of Licking County!" Cyrus laughed as he unbuttoned his red and blue flannel shirt, to let it flap in the wind over his black tanktop.

"Yeah, it was a dump." Ben laughed. "I remember Dad was working on something and about fell through the damn roof. His leg went through my ceiling."

"Ouch."

"'Oh Ben, one of these days, this whole damn place is gonna burn to the ground'" Ben recalled, impersonating his father's voice. "You'd plug your toaster in and the lights would dim and the outlets hum."

"Yeah, that's pretty bad..." Cyrus shook his head. "That was like my farm house when I bought it. Everything was outdated. Fuse box... knob and tube wiring. Someone lived in that home like that for decades."

"Party like its nineteen-thirty-nine!" Ben exclaimed.

"Fuck yeah, dude!" the wolf grinned.

"I'm amazed that you and your Dad did all that work."

"I mean, I had buddies who knew their trade come and help too...but when you look this good..." Cyrus snorted as he posed for a flex. "Anything's possible!"

"Oh my fucking god..." Ben laughed. He grabbed his knees and laughed.

"Whoa, easy, I'd hump ya in that pose!"

"I bet you would too!"

"Maybe later!" Cyrus grinned as he adjusted his bandanna atop his head.

What was left of Ben's childhood home lay in even more shattered ruins. Having burned in an electrical fire in 2019, and left to its fate as a broken in half home, the remains of the home crumbled in from the storm. The tornado missed the house by a quarter mile to the southwest, but the straight line winds just broke the weakened structure apart and it collapsed in on itself. Debris was scattered over the former property, and a few mementos still were noticeable to Ben as he approached with his boyfriend.

"Yeah that morning I got gay bashed... I didn't anything of it as I drove to school. The things you take for granted." Ben recalled as he gazed at the broken remains. "You always assume you have a home to go back to, you always assume, and sometimes, it's wrong."

"Yep..." Cyrus nodded.

Ben poked around at some of the charred pieces of timber. There wasn't much left as Ben examined things. He assumed that people had stolen stuff over the years, anything that was salvageable. Stepping onto what was once the living room, Ben looked around and found nothing left.

"I remember Dad would sit here, and I'd be on the couch, and we'd watch Nascar together. Sometimes Vance and my cousins would be over, and Mary and Valery would cook up a meal, and we'd all watch."

"Memories, Ben."

"Yep... now it's all gone. Gone, gone, gone."

The husky pursed his lips, and fumbled his brow at something that sparkled a bit in the evening sun. He walked over and pushed over a charred piece of wood to find a family photo, sitting in a slightly burnt frame. He picked it up and watched the very brittle glass frame disintegrate as he picked it up. It was a slightly faded, water damaged photo of a young version of himself, his father and mother in the garage. Bill had a silly smirk on his face as he held up a beer, and Valery smiled directly at the camera as she rested her paws on Ben's shoulders. He remembered his late grandpa taking the photo. Ben rubbed the tip of his boot into the ground as he examined, and reflected on the photo.

Cyrus slowly approached Ben from behind. He saw the husky's shoulders flinch a little bit, and suddenly Ben bowed his head and broke down into tears. He had to sit down as he started to cry, heavily, his face scrunched up and tears running down his face.

"Aww, Ben!" Cyrus called out as he ran over and knelt down to comfort him.

Three years of keeping his feelings in check finally came bursting out. From his gay bashing, to being disowned, from being raped, to fighting with his family, his father's death, his school woes, and stoic recovery from it all, everything erupted at once. Ben dropped the photo and buried his face into Cy's chest as the wolf held his boyfriend, and comforted him.

"Get it all outta ya. Get it all out, Ben." Cy whispered to him. "Let all that pain out."

"I'm sorry, Cy."

"Don't be sorry. Let it all go. Let it be." Cyrus soothed. He rubbed the husky's back and gently stroked the top of his head. "Don't bottle it all up forever."

After a few minutes, Ben calmed down. His eyes were bloodshot from crying, and he sniffled a bit as he wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Holy crap..."

"Ben...that was all your emotions that you kept bottled up, coming out." Cyrus explained.

"I feel relieved."

Cyrus smiled. "There ya go."

Ben blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes. "I never imagined in three years, I'd be where I am now."

"And you did that on your own."

"With help."

"But you had to have the ambition to get here. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make 'em drink." Cyrus explained. "You had the drive to make your life better. But most importantly, you have a big heart, and it's shown."

Ben pursed his lips and tapped a boot on the concrete. "After I met Rob, and understood his story of pain...I knew I couldn't go through life like that, harboring that kind of pain and hatred."

"Yep."

"I know exactly how Rob felt. You're disowned by your parents. You're gay bashed. You're scared, because, you're on your own and you don't know what to do, because you've never had to stand on your own two feet before. But I diverged from his path, because I chose not to give into my hate. Not after I got bashed a second time and about killed that kid. And I got expelled. Just like my father..."

"Yep..."

"I just...couldn't hate my family. I had to try, all those years, to reconcile, to get them back, something. I couldn't live with myself, even if I was disappointed in them."

"You were the better person, Ben. That's why." Cyrus nodded. "Having that kind of emotional strength- to forgive your family for what they said? To forgive someone for raping you? That takes a lot of emotional strength, that a lot of people don't have. That speaks volumes about you."

"I'm not gonna let hate turn me into something I'm not." The husky shook his head.

"That's why you got your family back." The wolf smiled.

"Heh..." Ben smiled. "Almost."

"For your Mom... let your uncle try. If she wants to come back into your life...let her... but if she chooses not to? Then that speaks volumes about her, not you."

"Yep." Ben nodded. "And you got your family back too, Cy."

"Well it only took a violent tornado to remind them of their own mortality."

"A tornado of a family needing a tornado to set things straight." Ben chuckled.

"Hey I like that~" Cyrus grinned.

"Not bad for a dumb redneck like me." Grinned Ben.

"Whoaaaaaaa! Enlightened redneck! Come on now~" laughed Cyrus. He put his beefy arms around Ben and gave him a squeeze and a playful kiss.

"Good point." Laughed Ben, who gave Cyrus another kiss. "God...I can't believe you're my boyfriend."

"I can!" Cyrus grinned. "You're smart, beautiful, and quick on your wits!"

Ben blushed a bit and smiled.

"Plus you're not a little bitch like some gay men are." Cyrus laughed.

"Soy boi."

"Ha!" the wolf snorted. "I love ya just the way you are."

"Heh, Cyrus, I can't believe we met at a cum dump party..." chuckled Ben as he picked up his family photo.

"I can...you're a hot piece of ass!"

"Oh thanks." Ben laughed. "Let's just...not tell too many people about this..."

"Pfft. I understand. My last boyfriend, I met him at a grocery store..."

Ben scrutinized with a sarcastic glare and a lean-in.

"...bathroom." Grinned Cyrus. "Hey! I needed groceries, and he needed dick, and bada-bing! Bada-boom!"

"Whatever floats your goat." Smiled Ben.

"Well, my name's not Paul." Laughed Cyrus.

"Oh my god..." the husky laughed. "I love you Cyrus- oh...my...uhh...do you mind if I say that? I mean...sometimes guys get scared if you tell them you love them so-"

Cyrus gently placed a finger to Ben's lips, leaned in, and gave him a long kiss. He slowly broke away and playfully licked his nose.

"You silly husker butt!" the wolf grinned. "I wouldn't be your boyfriend if I didn't love you!"

"Oh, okay." Laughed Ben embarrassingly. "Well, I love you!"

"I love you too~"

Cyrus grasped Ben's paw and held it as they began to walk back to his truck down the dirt road. "We'll take it as we go along in this relationship."

"So...you're fine if we're still an open relationship?" Ben asked. "I mean, if you want I can-"

"You're gonna keep on humping those hot husker butts you live with!" Cyrus exclaimed. "I don't care!"

"Heh! We should fuck Anton and Borr together sometime."

"What 'should'? We ARE!" Cyrus grinned big.

"Oh baby." Grinned Ben.

Cyrus and Ben had a hearty laugh as they walked together. Ben felt euphoric about the future as he reflected on everything that had happened over the past three years. Life had come full circle for Ben, and more; he had his family back, he had their respect and love again. He had a boyfriend, got his pilot's license, a career started. He built his confidence up, he overcame so many obstacles, so many painful events. He was now vaccinated against a disease that had killed three-quarters of a million Americans in over a year's time. And now that the pandemic was now beginning to recede away, he felt hopeful that he could enjoy activities again with his friends, and now his boyfriend.

The evening sun shone through the canopy of trees as their boots kicked up chalky tan dust. Their flannel shirts flapped in the warm evening breeze as they walked together down the road, laughing and joking while holding each other's paw.