Chance Encounters III: Drastic changes
#3 of Chance Encounters
Long in the making, but it's finally here! Contains M/M erotica, so reader discretion is adviced. All events are fictional, as are the characters, and any similarities with any person -dead or alive, real or imaginary- are purely coincidental.
Property of Rhazagal.
One against one thousand...Piss poor odds for them! The tiger in highly ornate, red armor with golden trimmings swung his tonfas around casually, beating a steady swathe of destruction through the tribal soldiers, smiting them all down with perfectly practised ease.
Robert put the game on pause and dropped the controller of the PS2 to the table. The bunny stretched himself lazily, curling his toes a little before falling sideways down on the couch. Outside, small birds were singing quietly, letting everyone know winter was gone and spring had arrived in all it's glory.
Lazy day, a day with no school, so Robert had opted to just stay home and play Dynasty Warriors 4. Somehow he had always liked the wanton carnage in the Wu-campaing when fighting against the Nanman. Robert sighed. Christmas had arrived and gone. Thomas hadn't been allowed to spend the Christmas with Rob and his mother, the fox's parents having insisted for him to come with them for another merry Christmas spent with relatives...
Robert's cellphone started to vibrate in his pocket all of a sudden, giving the bunny a slight startle. He hadn't found any good tones to use, so he just kept it muted and relied on the vibro-function the phone had. With some wriggling and trying he finally managed to pull the small phone out of the pocket of his jeans. Quickly he checked who was calling before flicking the lid of the phone open. "Hiya!"
The voice of Thomas drifted through the speaker and into Rob's ear. "Yo! How's it going?"
"Not bad, not bad...Lazy day, nothing to do, so I'm just killing some time. What about you?"
Robert heard Thomas chuckle "Lazy day, nothing to do, so I thought I'd give you a call."
Robert grinned, even though he knew Thomas couldn't see him do so. "How very kind of you. Think we could hang out or something? Even Dynasty Warriors is getting boring..."
"That's actually the reason I called, man. I was thinking you could maybe come crash over at my place again. Mum's promised to make mashed potatoes and meatballs. I bet that beats any takeaway your 'daddy' brings."
At the word "daddy" Robert tensed up slightly, but he managed to chuckle in response nonetheless. Besides, he had noticed the joking tone Thomas had had, so it was all cool. "Well..." Robert started, feigning indecisivness for a few moments. "Alright, you talked me over, I'll be there in...thirty minutes?"
Thomas agreed and they both hung up. Rob stuffed the cellphone back to his pocket, shuffling then up from the couch to retreive his school bag from his room. Tomorrow was school, so he'd need the bag. Just as Rob had laid the bag on the table in front of the couch to check he had everything, the sound of key turning in the lock to his left caught his attention.
"Hi 'daddy'." Rob greeted the newcomer, making the bull stop dead on his tracks for a moment.
Tim chuckled. "You know I hate it when you call me that..."
"Yeah, yeah I know. That's why I say it." Rob replied with a bit of a grin. Tim seemed even more tired than before. Ever since the bull had moved to this two bedroom apartment, he had been forced to juggle between school and even more work. Tim had told Robert he had picked up another job, which meant he'd be spending quite a few evenings of the week away, coming home only at very late hours to sleep for a moment before heading to school again.
The bull dropped his bag to the floor and collapsed on the couch, giving Robert barely enough time to make way. A deep sigh was the next thing to come out of Tim as he threw his arm over his face. "What do you wanna eat today? More pizza from Domino's?"
"You know...I'm actually going to head out just about now. I'll be back tomorrow after school." Robert said, zipping up his bag (he had everything he needed) and standing up.
Tim looked at the bunny walk over to the door and pick up his skateboard before asking. "Where are you planning on going and more importantly, you got enough battery in your cell?"
Without turning around Robert replied "Why would you want to know? Afraid I might go and do some drugs or something?"
With a grunt Tim propped himself up on his elbows "Well...As your official guardian I guess I have the responsibility to ask such things, lest I want some hounds of legal hell unleashed on me. I know I didn't ask to be your guardian, but considering the circumstances..."
"Well I didn't ask my mother to trip in the stairs and break her neck last Christmas!" Came Rob's angered retort.
Tim sighed. "I know...But it's not your fault it happened. Besides, I believe this is better for you than being crammed to a totally strange foster family, or worse, some orphanage."
Robert couldn't deny it, Tim had a point. The darned bull always had a valid point which left Rob with very little space for argument. "I'm going over at Thomas' place. He asked me to crash over for the night and we'll go to school together tomorrow."
"Alright, have fun, remember to behave and all that other stuff a good parent should say." The bull replied with a grin, lying then back down on the couch after Robert had left. If the bunny was going to be out, it meant Tim didn't have to go walk the streets for customers... He could work home tonight again.
Ever since Robert's mother had had that unfortunate accident, Tim had been feeling pretty overworked. There had been no way he could fit Robert under the same roof with him in his old flat, so Tim had had to move to another place. Luckily William had had some larger apartments made to the topmost floor some years ago.
"I'm sorry lad, but if yer gonna stay in one of those larger flats, ye'll actually have to pay me some cash." The great Dane had said to Tim, to which Tim had agreed. Problem was, Tim wasn't able to work as much as previously due to having Robert around. It had already been enough of a hell to sort out the paperwork and go through all sorts of inspections to get the guardianship of the bunny-boy.
Tim had his reasons to have Robert around. The first and foremost of which was his will to give the boy the chance to avoid the life which Tim was living, whoring himself for money.
Fishing out his cell from his backpack, Tim typed a short message to William, the landlord of the building and also the owner of the Tinpint-pub. I'll be "on duty" again tonight. The kid's having a sleepover at his friend's place so it's safe.
Five minutes later Tim's cell beeped and upon inspection there was a short mesage from the Great Dane Alright. I'll put the mark up. Tim sighed and went into his room. It looked as perfectly harmless as always, the sweet scent of incense drifting faintly in the air. The bull lighted up another of the scented sticks, opened up the bed neatly and then headed off to the kitchen to grab a quick bite to eat before any customers would arrive.
Downstairs, in the Tinpint, William sighed. He still didn't approve of Tim's way of life, but atleast the bull was studying hard, not to mention having taken the extra burden of raising a kid! That scored a lot of points in the books of the elderly dog, so he put the "mark" up. It wasn't anything more than a sign on the bar-counter stating in red letters HAPPY HOUR but those who were Tim's customers knew it meant Tim was providing his services.
Rob dropped his skateboard to the pavement and kicked himself off, rolling steadily down the street. He knew he wasn't poor at all, as his mother's insurances had been in order and the things in their old house which Robert had no need for had fetched a pretty nice sum of money. Even so, the skateboard was the only thing he had really bought with the money, as he agreed with Tim on one thing: education was expensive. The bunny didn't want to end up living in the gutter later on in his life anyways... No, studying was important.
The teachers in school had taken it easy on him at first, but his "grace period" hadn't lasted very long. Robert did blame himself for his mother's accident. It had happened on Christmas eve when -after finding the report card which Rob had said he had forgotten to his locker in school- his mother had gone into a fit of rage. As a result Robert stormed once more out of the house and into the streets, leaving his mother screaming at the door, demanding Robert to return.
It was, once more, Tim that found Robert wandering aimlessly at the streets. Tim had persuaded, with great effort, Rob to return home, offering to give the lapine a ride. The sight which greeted the pair was one Robert would not easily forget... his mother lying at the end of the stairs, her head pointing in unnatural direction, the female lapine lying in a messy heap.
Robert closed his eyes for a moment, shaking the painful memory away. "She was a real bitch anyways...Who needs her?" He thought to himself, kicking more speed from the ground angrily.
Some thirty five minutes later Robert stopped in front of Thomas' house, kicking the skateboard upright before heaving it to his shoulder. He knew he wasn't the best skateboarder around, but he was learning slowly. And the emphasis was on the word 'slowly'...
He rung the doorbell twice in quick succession, having only to wait for a few short moments before Thomas opened the door, the fox grinning broadly at his lapine friend. "Hiya! Come on in. Your timing couldn't have been better, dinner's almost done." The fox greeted Robert, stepping aside to let his friend in.
Robert settled in to responding just by punching his friend playfully to the shoulder.
Immediately Thomas grabbed the point Robert had "punched" and groaned in feigned agony, patting the table next to him three times.
"You tapped out! You tapped out!" Robert chanted with a broad grin as he dropped his skateboard to the floor and kicked his shoes off onto the shoerack, pointing a finger at Thomas. They both laughed at their little wrestling-joke.
"Go drop your bag into my room and come then to the kitchen, okay?" Thomas said, to which Robert agreed with a simple nod and "Sure."
Robert took his time in dropping off his stuff, watching around the room of his vulpine friend. With an amused snort he noticed the matress and blankets already spread on the floor next to Thomas' bed, the place where he'd sleep his night.
The delicious scent of food drifted into Rob's nose as he wandered to the kitchen, Thomas' family already seated by the table, helping themselves some of the food.
Rob seated himself on his usual spot next to Thomas on the table, pondering for a moment where to start with before reaching out for the steaming bowl of mashed potatoes first.
Gracie Collins, the mother of Thomas Collins, cleared her throat politely. "How have you been doing of late? Have you enjoyed your stay in your new home?" She asked.
"Yeah, Tim is pretty cool and takes care of me quite well." Robert replied as he poured some thick brown gravy over his food.
"Do you get enough to eat? Seems like you have quite an appetite." Mrs.Collins commented, waving towards the pile of food on Robert's plate with her knife.
"Oh, sorry...No it's nothing like that. I just haven't had any home-made food since...well, since the last time I was here." Robert replied.
Mrs.Collins nodded with a pleasant smile. "Well it's only good for a young, growing man to have a healthy appetite, so eat up, eat up."
Ronald, Thomas' father, also took part into the conversation. "So what it is that Tim does for his work again? Aside from being a student, of course."
"He helps in the kitchen of the Tinpint, the local pub. I think I've told you he knows the owner of the pub, who also happens to be the landlord of the entire building." Robert answered after munching down a meatball covered in mashed potato and gravy.
Thomas laughed. "Oh come on you two...Cut some slack to Rob, this isn't the Spanish Inquisition that's gathered here, eh?" the young fox said with a grin, running a paw through his hair which he had had cut pretty short in preparation for the coming summer.
Mr.Collins just grinned behind Mrs.Collins' back, as the vixen fixed a stern look at her son.
The rest of the dinner went mostly in silence, the boys thanking Mrs.Collins for the food before pushing their chairs back and taking their leave, Mrs.Collins telling the boys to just leave the dishes on the table for her to worry about.
With a satisfied sigh Thomas sat onto his computer chair and turned the machine on, swivelling then around to look at his lapine friend sitting on Thomas' sofa. The fox felt a strange tingling in the pit of his stomach as Robert fumbled his belt open and undid the button on his jeans. Thomas looked up at Rob's face to see the bunny grinning at him, making the fox feel slightly more uncomfortable.
"Man I'm stuffed..." Robert commented merrily, emphasising his words with a belch which he, poorly, attempted to muffle by placing his paw in front of his muzzle.
Thomas, too, grinned "Yeah...Mom really makes some kickass food." Inwardly the fox damned his feelings to the lowest pits of Hell, hiding his frown by swinging his chair around to look at the computer. What the heck there is in Rob that makes me feel like this...? Thomas thought to himself as he casually went through his usual routines with the computer, opening up the Instant Messenger, opening the Winamp and finally the web browser.
Glancing over his shoulder, Thomas saw Rob was doing some channel surfing, stopping every now and then for a moment when something looked interesting, only to shake his head and flick on another channel. Slapping himself again mentally, Thomas checked through a couple of forums, growling quietly as he saw there were no new posts in any threads that held his interest.
A sudden jingly noise caught the attention of both Thomas and Robert as the fox got an instant message from someone.
"Eh? Who's remembered you this time?" asked Rob.
Thomas checked the message, stretched a little over the back of his chair and looked at Robert upside-down "Our bouncy game-addict friend."
"Oh, Gary. Well what's on his heart this time?"
Thomas read the message again, replied to it and got an answer almost instantly "Says he's found some new MMORPG and wants me to join up too...Something about martial arts or something."
"Sounds like fun times." Robert snorted
Thomas turned around with his chair, a toothy mock-grin on his face "Indeed...I've never been one to like those RPGs anyways."
Tim sighed deep, closing the front door and locking it up again. He barely registered the quiet rustle and jitter of the chain as he, automatically, set it in place. Naked, displaying his toned yet somewhat lithe body he collapsed onto the couch, swinging an arm over his face to cover his eyes.
Six customers in one night and Tim was exhausted. As his need for money had increased, he had been forced to both lower his prices to attract more customers as well as to see more of them in one night to make ends meet. Heck, five customers a night was his previous record before Rob had moved in with him, but now six or seven a night was the average.
Still, exhausted as he was, Tim managed to smile feebly. The doberman that had just left had tipped Tim rather generously, paying the old sum of hundred and twenty bucks instead of the new seventy five. Then again the dobie, Lawrence as he had introduced himself, was an old and rather regular customer of Tim's.
Grunting with the exertion Tim heaved himself up from the couch to type a quick text message to William, stating he wouldn't be taking any more customers for the night. Not that there would be many anyways, considering it was almost three in the morning.
Yawning widely the bull somehow managed to drag himself into the bedroom, which still smelled of sweat and sex. Tim stopped for a moment and closed his eyes, just inhaling steadily at the scent of the roo, revelling in the memory of the roo mounting him. Tim couldn't help but wonder how a funny, sorta sweet and romantic fur like Lawrence could still be single like the roo claimed to be. Tim shook the thought out of his head. It wasn't his job, nor did he really care, to ponder the personal lives of his customers.
Jumping onto the bed Tim frowned, having landed onto a puddle of his own cum. Ah well, he was too tired to change the sheets right now. He decided to do it in the morning after a shower, when he'd also light an incense to cover up the persistent smell of sweat, musk, cum and several males that hung in the room.
With a gasp Thomas woke up and sprung into a sitting position. He felt hot and sweaty, his breathing ragged and shallow panting. For a moment the fox merely stared into the darkness of the room, waiting for his eyes to adjust before burying his face into his paws, rubbing hard to shake the sleep from his eyes.
Thomas lifted his blanket up and rubbed the tips of his fingers gingerly over the tenting front of his boxers, sighing as he found the annoyingly familiar wet, sticky spot there. That same damn dream again... Thomas turned his head swiftly around to look at the bunny sleeping on the floor.
Thomas sighed quietly in relief. Robert's sleep had remained undisturbed even though Thomas had sprang up so fast. Gingerly the fox stepped out of the bed, examining his blanket and sheets carefully. No wet spots there, good. Like a thief in the night the fox sneaked to the door of his room, the handle turning silently and the door opening without a sound.
Moving as quietly as he could, Thomas sneaked down the hallway and into the bathroom, closing the lock as slowly and silently as he could before he dared to turn on the lights. First things first, Thomas stripped the wet boxers away and tossed them into the laundry bin.
The tap gave a small creack as Thomas turned the water on, splashing some on his face before staring intently at the image of a fox with bloodshot eyes and wet fur in the mirror.
He felt sick as he went through his dream in his head. Always the same, yet always also a little different. To him they were nightmares that made him feel a nasty twist in his gut every time he thought about them. Thomas closed his eyes and hung his head, ears flat against his skull, feeling ashamed of himself. Feeling frightened to admit the facts to himself despite them being so glaringly obvious...
Holding his eyes closed the fox leaned his forehead against the cool surface of the mirror and focused on remembering the dream, focused on every detail and felt dirty and disgusted to get aroused by it.
Thomas lied on Robert's bed with Rob exactly the way they had done during the wintery sleepover when the power had been cut. Instead of sleeping they both were wide awake, Thomas staring into Rob's eyes and the lapine returning the gaze, a faint wisp of a smile playing on the rabbit's face.
Rob shifted underneath the blankets, wriggling his lithe body closer to Thomas'. He didn't say anything, just smiling that small smile of his as he wrapped a paw around one of Thomas' paws, placing it voluntarily between his legs to let the fox get a feel at the shape of the bunny's sheath through the thin fabric of his boxers.
Slowly Thomas massaged Robert's sheath, smiling himself a little as he gently slid the tips of his fingers over the hardening outline on Rob's underwear. In the spur of the moment Thomas slid his paw up onto Robert's stomach, feeling the warmth of the lapine's fur against his paw and the flat, skinny form of his friend before easing his paw back down, tugging softly at Rob's boxers. The bunny lifted his hips a little and Thomas was able to pull the undergarment down a little, his paw trailing slowly over Rob's inner thigh and back onto his rigid sheath, slowly rubbing at it with the tips of his fingers.
Robert let out a quivering, nigh inaudible gasp and closed his eyes, leaning forward at the same time to softly press his lips against Thomas', giving the fox a long, soft, lingering kiss which made the young fox's head spin like a merry-go-round gone wild. Thomas inhaled deeply through his nose, absorbing in the scent of his friend/lover and couldn't help but sigh slowly in content. The taste of Robert was mild and oddly intriguing, tickling parts of Thomas' consciousness he didn't even know existed.
It was Rob that broke away from the kiss first, the rabbit's eyes opening slowly and that same faint smile returning onto his muzzle as he looked deep into Thomas' eyes, making the fox's legs and stomach feel like jelly.
"I want to feel you inside of me, Thomas..." Robert whispered softly, shifting one of his legs over Thomas to straddle the fox's hips, the weight of the rabbit feeling absolutely terrific to Thomas, who could only lie on his back and let his eyes roam over the scantly clad, skinny body of his friend, the rigid maleness of the fox pressing firmly into the cleft of Rob's rump... Thomas wanted nothing more than to let his cock slide into Robert's rump, to fuck the bunny nice and hard and to hear Rob begging for more.
Thomas opened his eyes and sighed, returning back to the present. The dream varied a little just about every time he saw it; sometimes Robert massaged him instead of the other way around, other times the bunny gave Thomas a muzzlejob. Still, no matter how the dream went, Thomas always woke up before the true climax with an aching hardon and a wet spot on his underwear.
How can I even know how Rob tastes like, or how it feels to kiss another guy? Or, heck, how it feels to press my dick against Robert's asshole...? The fox thought to himself as he once more stared at his reflection from the mirror. He had never touched anyone the way he did Robert in his dreams, yet the dreams felt so vivid, so real, that he was positive the real deal would be very much like that. Still, he had no idea how he knew it all.
Thomas tightened his grip from the edges of the sink he was leaning to and gritted his teeth, staring intently into the eyes of his reflection.
"I'm not a goddamn butt-fucking faggot fairy..." he snarled slowly and quietly at his image. For almost a minute he stared into his own eyes, daring himself to try and prove the statement wrong. His boiling temper slowly subsiding, the fox took another, used, pair of boxers from the laundry bin and slid them on. He didn't dare to take the risk of waking Robert up by starting to search through his drawers for a fresh pair.
Shaking his head once more Thomas sighed and turned the lights off, sneaking back into his bed without disturbing Rob. For a long while the fox just looked at Rob, the way the rabbit slept peacefully on his side with one arm tugged underneath his head and the other one comfortably across his chest. Just before sleep threw its veil over Thomas, the vulpine pondered how it would feel to lie there, snuggled up behind or in the arms of the bunny.
The following day, around noon, Robert, Gary and Thomas were all sitting at one of the blue benchs that had been scattered around the lobby of the school. Gary had his usual bottle of energy drink in paw whilst Robert and Thomas were discussing their favourite wrestlers in the FWE (Furry Wrestling Entertainment). Both of them knew it was all just fake, but none the less they had their favourites just like someone might have a favourite actor.
A commotion at the other end of the hall caught the attention of all three of them and they dropped their conversation to see what the heck was going on.
Robert felt a shiver run through his spine as memories flashed through his head. A black jackal an otter and a deer were all apparently picking on a small, timid snow leopard, the pile of books, pencils and notebooks scattered onto the floor a telltale sign of what was going on.
The feline was definitely short, maybe five foot five or six tall and skinny. He wore pretty neat clothes, a light purple dress shirt, black pants that had been neatly pressed, fitting shoes and a pair of slim-rimmed glasses which, at that moment, were in the paw of the deer who held them with ease away from the flailing cat.
"What's the matter, four-eyes, can't get your glasses?" The deer taunted, making his two friends howl with laughter, the otter giving the snow leopard a hard shove to the chest which made the feline fall onto his ass in the middle of the hallway, causing many of the onlookers laugh with the trio.
Thomas, Rob and Gary could just stare at the three jocks picking on the considerably smaller guy. All three wore jackets which told they all were in the school's boxing team; navy-blue jackets with yellow collar and sleeves and a pair of red boxing gloves embroidered onto the back of the jacket.
The feline seemed to be on the verge of tears, furiously wiping his eyes at the back of his hand, the red on his face clearly visible through his white fur.
"What's the matter? Crybaby gonna cry, huh? Is the little wuss going to cry his mommy to help him, huh?" The jackal mocked with clear schadenfreude in his voice, leaning down with his paws on his thighs.
"L-Leave me alone, I haven't done anything to you guys..." The leopard said quietly, still wiping his bloodshot eyes furiously.
"Why? We just got here you little backseat mishap." The otter piped in, slapping the snow leopard to the back of his head and it sure wasn't any lovetap either, the feline whimpering in pain and holding the aching back of his head.
The deer was about to add more insult to the injury when a firm paw wrapped around his wrist, another paw picking the glasses away from him with ease. The deer spun around, his eyes blazing with anger at the disruption and many in the crowd took a step back; the deer, the otter and the jackal were all known bullies, but the teachers usually turned a blind eye to them due to the fact the otter happened to be a two-time champion in interschool light-heavyweight boxing and the deer was a fresh champ in the heavyweight serie.
"That's quite enough, you know..." The newcomer said quietly.
Even the quite large deer hesitated for a moment as he saw the guy, a doberman half a head taller and definitely broader, standing behind him, still clutching the deer's wrist in his paw. The deer tried to yank his wrist free from the dog's grip and an expression of genuine surprise swept briefly over his face as he couldn't do a thing.
The deer tensed up his shoulders and yanked as hard as he could. At that moment the doberman let off of the deer's wrist, the surprised horn-head staggering backwards a couple of steps before colliding with the other two bullies, who managed to hold their ground and help their friend back to his feet.
"Looky, looky, looky...The geek's boyfriend came to the rescue." The deer said with a sneer, stressing heavily the word 'boyfriend' which made the doberman frown a little. With a nudge of his head the deer instructed his friends to follow since their fun had been ruined.
The snow leopard started to gather his scattered belongings in a hurry, all too aware of the multitude of eyes that laid on him. As he managed to pick up the last of his books he stood up and for the first time took a good look at his saviour. The doberman huffed audibly and handed the kitty his glasses.
"Here..." The dobie said quietly.
"Th-Thanks." Came the snow leaopard's reply as he took his glasses back and put them on again, the slightly blurred world around him sharpening up considerably thanks to the lenses that rested once more on the bridge of his snout. "Who uhh...Why did you help me?" He asked meekly, clutching his books against his chest as he did so like the books were a shield between him and the rest of the world.
"I'm Marty, Marty Schmidt. I think I sit next to you on chemistry and behind you in physics and english." The dobie replied slowly. "..And I helped you because one against three is just low."
"W-Well thanks anyways. I uhh...I have to go." The snow leopard said hurriedly, darting then past Marty and into the bustling crowd of other students, already seeing some of his friends waving at him from the distance and calling for him.
"C'mon, Leon!" they shouted, and Marty made sure to remember the name. He had a funny feeling the boxing-jocks wouldn't let things be this easily...
With a groan Tim walked through the back door of the Tinpint. The previous night had been fairly profitable, but in compensation the day at school had been nothing short of hell. One tiring lecture after another with no practical training whatsoever got even to the hardy bull.
Tim saw the familiar back of William by the counter, and the bull opened his mouth to greet his good friend when he heard the Great Dane was talking to his cellphone.
"He did what...? They really did? Oh...Right, right... Yes, of course he can come n' stay here fer a while. Tomorrow morning? Sure, I'll get him a ride over here. 'kay sis, love you too."
With a chuckle the elder Great Dane snapped his phone shut and turned around, smiling faintly at Tim as if the dog had known Tim had been standing there for a while.
"Hey lad, looks like you had a rough day, huh?"
"Yeah...Not to mention an eventful night." Tim replied groggily
William was silent for a moment, the dog's arms crossed casually over his chest as he examined the bull from head to toe "You sure you can handle school, Robert n' your little 'job' all at once without burning yourself out, lad?"
"I'll manage..." Tim mumbled and waved his hand dismissively.
"Right. Anyways, I'd like to ask fer a favor from you."
"You want me to go pick your...uhh...nephew from somewhere, right?" Tim said, idly scritching his neck.
"Aye. They kicked Glenn out of some boarding school fer Lord knows what reason, sis wouldn't tell me, n' I need you to pick him up from the train station around eight tomorrow morning." William spoke in his usual, calm tone.
"Well...I don't have any early morning classes, so I guess I can do it."
"Thanks, lad, I really owe you one."
Tim smiled "Hey, not a problem, Will. I owe my life to you, so no need to thank me. Well...At any rate I need a nap. See you later, Will."
"Alright, lad." William replied and turned around to wipe the polished wood of the bar counter with a rag.
Tim woke up from his nap around seven in the evening into the sound of a key jingling in the lock, followed soon by the sound of the door creaking open and banging then softly shut.
"Hiya, kid. Had fun over at Thomas' place?" Tim called out.
Rob frowned into the general direction of Tim's bedroom "Yeah, 'daddy', I had fun."
"So what have you been upto anyways? Aside from school that is." Rob carried on as he tossed his bag onto the couch and turned on the TV, surfing through the channels on random just to kill some boredom.
"You know me...I've just been studying and working my arse off to pay for everything...The usual stuff." Tim replied croggily. The bull sat up and rubbed his face with one of his hands, shuffling then in nothing but his jeans into the living room.
Seeing a pair of by now familiar cream-furred ears and head poking over the back of the living room's couch, Tim couldn't help but smile a little. In a way it felt good to be the "father figure" to someone despite the double life he lived.
Tim ruffled Rob's headfur playfully "Whaaat? No homework?"
Rob swatted Tim's hand away and stretched himself so that he looked at the bull upside down "Nothing I can't handle. We got some stuff from english, but that stuff is a piece of cake so no worries."
"If you say so." Tim replied and walked to the kitchen to fix himself a snack.
The bull stuck his head into the fridge, returning a moment later with a chicken sub in hand. He waved the sub in the general direction of Rob, munching away a mouthful of the delicious sandwich.
"Juft wemembr yuu can afk for my help if yuu need any." Tim said, his voice distorted and muffled by the sub he chewed on.
"Huh?"
Tim swallowed hard "Just remember you can ask for my help if you need any, okay?"
"Sure, sure." Rob replied and waved his paw, not paying attention to Tim in the least.
Tim just shook his head with a chuckle. He dressed in the bathroom hastily into a fresh pair of blue jeans, a black T-shirt and a blue denim vest that had once been a denim jacket; the sleeves had just been cut off. Into his pocket Tim put a black leather collar that had a replica of a military dogtag hanging from it. As a final touch the bull sprayed some cologne on himself. One last glance at the mirror...Perfect! He was ready for his nightly shift.
"...And where are you going?" Rob asked as Tim was about to leave the apartment.
Tim froze for a moment, deciding then to use his usual explanation "Student party for the college students. I'll be late, so make sure you get to bed in time, okay?"
Robert nodded. He had heard there were lots and lots of parties going on amongst the college and university students, so Tim hitting one every once in a while wasn't too surprising.
"Alright. Make sure you have a blast and down a few for me too." Rob said.
"You aren't legal to drink, so I can't drink for you, kid." Tim said with a smirk, sticking his tongue out playfully when Rob smiled and showed Tim the middle finger.
With a click the door went shut and Tim darted down the stairway. The night was young, the nap had refreshed him and he was filled with energy.
The air outside was comfortably cool and the lights of the city illuminated the streets, covering the stars, but the moon was still visible on the clear, cloudless sky.
Tim inhaled deep and exhaled slowly. By the time he got to walking down the street, a steel-grey Mercedes Benz had pulled over by him, driven by one of Tim's more regular customers. A moment later Tim had hopped into the car, driving into the night.
Meanwhile, in the window of the apartment, Rob watched Tim first talk to the driver for a moment before the bull jogged to the other side of the car and went in. Thinking it was simply one of his pals from whom Tim just took a ride, Rob sat down on the couch again, resuming his idle surfing through the TV.
More to come! I've just introduced a few new characters and am currently planning a plotline for them. Also...The plot between Thomas and Rob will thicken in the next chapter, this much I promise to you all ^.^