So Kiss Me And Smile For Me - Part 2
#46 of Hockey Hunk Season 2
Is parting such a sweet sorrow after all?
Hello, y'all!
It has come to end this season of my ongoing furry soap opera "The Hockey Hunk", after an insane run of 45 chapters. And that was supposed to be 28 chapters, like the first season. *chuckle* I've been a very naughty boy indeed. Now, I don't have an exact figure, but even going by the math of 45 x 3,000 (the minimum length of a chapter as imposed by me), you get = 135,000. That's a lot of words, and does not reflect the real length of this season, which probably is somewhere around 150,000 words, if you take into account the fact that I've been writing longer and longer chapters recently - this 11,000-word season finale shall be a proof of that. *chuckle*
It's pretty daunting to look at that figure. For comparison, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is 76,944 words long. Would that mean that Season 2 actually accounts to two full-length novels, and then some? That is an interesting thing to consider, I must say. It doesn't feel that much. It really doesn't.
It is often that people talk about a journey. "It's been a long, wonderful emotional journey." People do those in talent shows nowadays. They make a story out of people, very small people, "growing" through the hardships of a voyeuristic reality television experience. Then you get the final closing shots of tear-streaked faces, and voices full of emotion telling how long their journey has been.
I would like to talk about an experience, rather. This story started from a very...singular...little story. A random lion goes to a bar and has sex with a random Dobie. We didn't even know their names. Now we know their names, their loves, their sorrows, and the things that make them smile. We know Rory, Victor, Mason, Haakon, Colin, Marge, Peter...Crystal...COBB!!!!...we know so many interesting people who just happen to exist on the whim of my fingers on my keyboard, and on that same whim, they are also shared with you guys, on this website.
I am most glad that this story has had its time and space to grow so much organically, and become something that has become an experience for people. For that, I would like to thank all of my readers, my watchers, and those many nice people who comment and offer their thoughts on the chapter. I want to thank those quiet people who always fave the chapters and help them to get to the front page. I want to thank those hundreds of people who read every week, quietly, shyly, perhaps, but they read. Nothing is more important than to read. Of course, I should also thank Toumal for providing this medium for the publication of this story, and I would also like to express my pride for the fact that Toumal decided to feature the chapter St. Gliesewhere as a featured content on SoFurry. I am most glad that he chose that part of the story, for it is the most emotionally raw and powerful section so far. Thank you.
I think I have rambled on long enough now. I hope you will enjoy this chapter, and that you will find it in you to leave your comments about this chapter and the season as a whole, once you're done reading. I look forward to your feedback.
You know the drill.
Cheers!
Gruffy
*
I do wish I could say that I was woken up by a gentle kiss from Victor's smiling good morning lips, but that was not the case when my eyes softly opened and I realized that I seriously needed to take a leak.
I was laying on my side, with my head nestled to the crook of Victor's arm, the Dobie himself sleeping on his back and softly rumble-snoring, oblivious to the world and my presence as well. We were sharing the covers, which meant that I was entitled to a fraction of Victor's own body heat, mingling to mine under the tent of the duvet and creating a space of warmth and musk I was loathe to depart, even to satisfy my natural urge. I smiled a little to myself, watching the sleeping Dobie's profile for a few moments in the darkness of his bedroom, the sight which was more than enough to fill my mind with memories from last night that were bound to make the relieving of my bladder difficult should I keep going on that road.
Sadly, it quickly became a sort of a tug of war between the comfort and warmth of the bed and the growing awareness of the pressure in my groin, wanting to be escape as soon as possible. My sleepy tail, coiled around my legs, batted the bed with displeasure, subtly saying everything I wanted to say. My ears flicked at the thrumming that coursed throughout the bounced springs of the bed.
Well...the quick run to the bathroom and back could be accomplished in a couple of minutes, I decided, and carefully moved myself a couple of inches to the side, so that it would be easier to play a contortionist and get out from under the covers without alerting Victor to a sudden rush of coldness around his surely very much relaxed body. I allowed my tail to lead the way and slip off under the side of the duvet, followed by my legs and the rest of me, not really expressing any sort of special feline grace sometimes attributed to my kind, but simply trying to do it quickly and quietly.
I managed to find purchase of the floor and stood up, feeling my furs bristle a little from the room air that was relatively cool compared to the conditions that existed under the Dobie blanket. I started to tiptoe towards the bathroom, my tail flapping behind me, incidentally, reminding me with each of its movements about what took place last night. I could definitely tell that something had been going on, I wasn't raw or bow-legged by any means, but Victor had certainly been enthusiastic enough to give me a bit of a reminder. It prompted me to rub my pretty, recently Dobie-humped rear, as if that kind of a massage could actually do things to the other kind of muscles that had been exercised by Victor's expertise.
I was extra careful with the door handle and only turned on the lights once I felt warm tiles under my footpaws instead of the familiar carpet and closed the door quietly behind me. I squinted naturally from the relative brightness, but didn't much spend time contemplating my semi-blinded state before heading for the altar of my morning ritual. I yawned mightily and scratched my belly while my other paw tugged out Rory Junior and aimed him down for an extra careful evacuation procedure. It felt slightly funny to try to make a silent run out of it, but of course, the trick was to aim for the side and not the frothy pool on the middle.
"Aaahhhhhhhhhh!" my world-embracing greeting to the morning escaped from my muzzle along with the hint of a purr and a clearly growing relief to my morning condition.
It prompted more scratching and yawning from me, poised there with my legs spread wide and my tail hanging limp to prevent further twinges that might cause...misfiring, and I allowed myself to simply relax, rumble, and contemplate. A bathroom ought to be a peaceful place, after all, a private place for your private business, and not just for the obvious. I certainly had a lot to think, considering the recent events, and for that I was glad that this opportunity had presented itself for me before Victor would wake up and presumably demand some rather distracting cuddles. As much as I liked that, it didn't make for an environment in any way helpful with objective thinking.
The night was...well...hot. Despite our initial nervousness and the unforgettable dinner, it was obvious that once we were behind the locked door of the bedroom, there was no difficulty for us to simply get it going. And this time our roll in Victor's bed had been uninterrupted, which of course made for a better impression than the last time, when I had almost had a premature heart attack from Cobb's sudden onset arrival. This time there was no Cobb, but there was just me and Victor, doing our thing and definitely showing that there were a lot of ways a guy could please another guy, if you knew what to do. We were considerate, we listened to each other, and we did our business with the style we preferred, at a good pace, but not rushing through the sexual acts for the sake of just getting off in the end. No, the way there was just as much fun, as were the rumbles of approval, smiles, kisses, and little encouragements we traded while teasing each other's bodies and minds.
Rory Junior stirred in my delicate grip, and I made sure not to make it too much fun for him, despite the fact that my thoughts invariably wandered back to the memories of clutching paws, hot breaths, rumbled X-rated directions and a lot of ass activities...for it wasn't just my back there that got a surprise visitor during our sweaty session. I was really glad that Victor had indeed re-stocked his supply of Catnips, and I did go through two of them, back to back, and...well, true to the very nature of my partner in fornication, doggie style it was.
There was something extraordinarily erotic about someone as big and masculine as Victor, getting onto paws and knees and wriggling his beefy rump in invitation for you to get busy with it. I'm not really a dominant guy, not any more than generally being a dude can be attributed to, but the sight of that clearly submissive gesture...or was it just lustful in the most masculine way imaginable, the one that said 'I'm so big and hot that you can't resist tapping this and I don't hesitate putting it out on the offer', and simply made it all too attractive a proposal. I can't say that I hesitated in jumping at what the Dobie offered to me, and that the end result was...just great.
I was definitely starting to feel something get firmer between my fingerpads, but thankfully I was about done by now and could depart from its slightly sticky length after the final customary shake. I tugged my sheath back to where it belonged and then flushed, hoping that the sound wouldn't alarm Victor yet. A quick paw wash later, I was ready to sneak back to the bedroom. This required me to adopt the commando Rory pose again, turn of the lights and wait for a few seconds for my eyes to readjust before I dared to open the door and start my stealthy approach back into the inviting comfort of the bed.
I stepped onto something soft and almost tripped, surprised in my extra-self-aware state, but a little shift of my ankle told me that I had simply encountered some pants on the floor, couldn't tell whose, but it definitely was simply one of our garments and nothing more. Satisfied with my CSI work, I continued towards the bed, a few convenient steps away from the bathroom door as it was, and I could already see the general shape of the Dobie in his slumber, provided by the shallow light that came in through the fabric of the curtain from the street beyond.
I smiled and let my next breath come out as a soft purr while I rounded the bed and carefully got down to my side of it, making sure that I wasn't tugging too much on the covers while I repeated my circus trick of getting back into the warm, inviting nest beneath. I met Victor's musk, too, and breathed its comfortable presence into my nose as well while getting back into my comfy place. Victor made a sound from his throat, loud enough to make my ears flick down, but he did not stir, and that encouraged me to think that he was still fine and deep asleep.
My tail coiled itself into a comfortable position about my legs and I placed a palm under my chin as a sort of an extra pillow, while I allowed my breaths to gentle down again and start to fall into a calm, almost meditative rhythm that could help me to get back to sleep again. I am a lion, after all, and lions like to sleep...if you believe the common rumors, or 1960's pop standards. If it hadn't been for the couple of hunky lion football players in my high school class, that song might have not become a proud football chant but an easy way to get into the nerves of every lion in the vicinity. Hearing about lions sleeping tonight still made me think of very tight shorts, the name Derek, tight short ass slapping and lots of homoerotic behavior that was fun for as long as you actually weren't a homo.
Here it was definitely quite fun to be a bit of a homo, I concluded while resting next to a pleasant sample of that demographic group. I idly wondered whether Victor had ever tried football, or whether he always liked the hot and heavy action of ice hockey the best. I had to admit that seeing him on ice had been just a tad erotic, besides being a lot of fun as well. He really enjoyed himself there, being just one of the guys, flying along the ice at surprising speeds and being hunky indeed. He might not be wearing tight shorts for that sport but...at least there were pads, and pads meant size, and danger, and...
The Dobie adjusted himself in his sleep and I tilted my knee so that the covers would not stroke against my rather boned-up cock and provide more distraction besides my all too distracting thoughts. I snuffled softly to myself, chastising myself a little for my horny state despite the thorough sexual drainage that happened only a few hours before. I had emptied my reserves well and properly, and had nothing to complain about that by any means, but there was always the chance that Victor might not be in the mood for especially beastly activities when he'd wake up. Besides, once we had Cobb safely on the train back home, I would have the chance to get more than enough quality time with my Dobie, naked or not naked, I was sure of that much, and perhaps that thought was on the back of my mind as well, when I reminded myself to behave.
Thus, I simply rested, my back towards Victor's, a comfortable posture since that way I could pull my legs up to a sort of a semi-fetal posture, something that happened pretty much naturally to me when I was relaxing. It also allowed me to catch some nice warm huffs of breath on my neck from Victor, which was an added pleasure associated with this position. It was a soft touch, of course, but still enough to ruffle my mane just a little, enough for it to be meaningful. I felt pleasantly sleepy and my limbs started to get heavy as the slumber began to return, ever so slowly. It felt nice to drift back to sleep, resting by Victor who was for a great part responsible for wearing me out, of course, and thus, this place was the best for me now. There was peace for rest, for gentleness and honesty, and comfort, and...
BANGBANGBANG!BANG!
The noise seemed to be loud enough to rattle the whole building, it felt for my ears that were more accustomed to silence than anything else for the moment.
BANG!BANG!BANG!
"VICTOR! RORY!"
I jumped and rolled over to a seated position at a record speed, my tail coiling up nervously, my ears flicking down and my sudden movement sending the covers into a disarray over my body. I was bared from the waist up by the time I was sitting there, wide-eyed and with tension growing in my chest, and I breathed out loudly. My paws clenched into fists.
BANG! BANG!
Not again...
Now it was Victor stirring next to me, making a deep rumble and definitely starting to get back to join the ranks of the awakened, although whether he was quite here yet, I wasn't sure.
The voice on the other side of the door, all too familiar, returned.
"HELLO! HELLO! BREAKFAST WARNING, BREAKFAST WARNING! TIME TO STOP ANY HANKY-PANKY AND PREPARE FOR BREAKFAST, GUYS! THE E-T-A IS 10 MINUTES SHARP, AND THAT'S NOT NEGOTIABLE, VICTOR, OTHERWISE YOU'LL GET YOUR EGGS REALLY BURNT! AND GOOD MORNING RORY, HOPE YOU DIDN'T WAKE UP TO VICTOR'S SNORING OR FARTING! REMEMBER, TEN MINUTES!"
Cobb decided to end his announcement with a couple more bangs on the door before he presumably had said everything he had to say, and then there was silence again, but for my own hurried breathing and Victor's deep rumble.
"Oh ffffuuuuck!" Victor breathed out, voice full of ire.
I shook my head softly and patted the nearest reachable part of him, one that I found to be his chest at this current posture, and spoke in a soft voice that I hoped would help to calm him down.
"Don't worry," I said, as calmly as I knew how in the face of Cobb, my paw still remaining on the expanse of curved flesh and fur that was Victor's hunky pectoral muscle. "It's probably the time to get up anyway."
Victor wouldn't have it. He rolled over to his side and fumbled for something from the floor by the bed, which was revealed to be his phone once it cast a mysterious blue glow over his frowning features once he lifted it up to eye level to check the time. I could see some of his teeth, amidst scowling lips.
"Eight fifteen...Jesus, the train's leaving at eleven...the traffic's not that bad!" the Dobie shook his head, his ears flicking as if they were flapping along to the motion.
Victor patted the phone down over his chest along with his paw and seemed to slump down onto his back, head landing on the pillow while he let out a deep rumble. I settled myself onto my side and propped my head on my paw again so that it was in just the perfect angle to aim and plant a kiss onto Victor's forehead. I remembered to do with an added little lap, too, of course.
"Good morning, Victor," I spoke, smiling to myself as I returned to my tilted posture and kept on watching the Dobie.
Victor chuffed and snorted and his ears made patting sounds when they collided with the pillow below.
"Shit," the Dobie grunted.
"Maybe we shouldn't have stayed up so late," I noted dryly, hoping to cheer up the mood and avert any wakeup awry behavior from Victor, since none of the three of us had much use for that kind of a thing, not now when it was Saturday, and the day was packed with opportunity.
Victor yawned and snorted.
"We could have slept for another hour," the Dobie grunted.
I discovered his thick arm with my spare paw and gave it a considerate squeeze, simply enjoying the fact that I could.
"Cobb did mention breakfast," I spoke, well aware that I could easily be tempted to have some breakfast by this time.
"Ha!" his ears flapped.
"Well I'm hungry," I decided on a positive tone and spoke as much, letting my voice rumble up to a happy register while I rubbed his arm.
Victor harrumphed.
"He never stops."
I chuckled softly.
"Well that's one thing I have learned about you Holden brothers...you are persistent," I smiled to myself, enjoying the time I had together with Victor, no matter the slightly edgy circumstances involved.
Victor reached over his own body and caught my paw, sandwiching it between his own and his arm, and gave my fingers a soft squeeze. I knew he was looking at me, likely tracing my features to the backdrop of the slightly lit curtain. I smiled still.
"Oh yeah?" the Dobie husked.
"Oh yes," I grinned and flicked an amused ear at him.
Victor rumbled in a way that only guys of his size could. Soon I felt his breath tickle my whiskers and that easily prompted me to lean forward and meet him halfway through in a kiss that seemed to last on for quite some time. We even managed to generate enough suction between our muzzles that when we finally broke apart, there was a soft little 'pop' I could clearly hear. I smiled for the fact and licked my moist lips.
"Well I wouldn't mind an extra moment in bed but he did give us a time limit..." I continued.
"You're right," Victor nodded. "Better not let him burn the eggs, he already did that once and tripped the smoke alarm...what a mess..."
I elbowed the hunky male playfully and then proceeded to pat his chest with my paw, equally lightly and with good intents.
"Then we better get to it," I grinned.
"Huh?" Victor's tone carried all of his puzzlement with it.
"For shower," I said. "The quick wash last night is definitely not enough to get all the naughty scents off us."
Victor's ears flicked curiously.
"You mean...?"
"Sure," I smirked, batting a tune over his sizeable muscle mounds as if they were a pair of taut bongos, "saves time, too...we don't want those eggs burned!"
Victor chuckled.
"I'll promise to behave," the Dobie spoke, teasingly nudging my paw away from his paweable torso.
"Come on!" I grinned.
*
Surprise, surprise, we managed to get washed without anything but the most cursory naughtiness, washed each other's backs and sheaths and made out a bit while we allowed our furs to dry under the blow function of the high-end shower cabinet, remembering to change positions a lot so that there would not be any remaining patches of wet fur that might retain naughty scents.
By the time Victor pulled the bedroom door open, we were clad in a suitable amount of underpants we had untangled from the floor, as well as bathrobes. Mine was a grey one this time. It touched the floor even when I stood up to my full height, and I had to roll the sleeves to make sure I would not have them swimming in any food I might try to consume. Still, it was fluffy, thick and warm, all qualities I definitely approved so shortly after getting out of the womb-like state of the bed. Victor filled out his own blue robe much better than I did mine, but that was just Victor being Victor, and that belt around the waist definitely helped to highlight the outline of his rump.
Okay, so my eyes did some ranging, but just quickly, while I trailed Victor into the well lit living area of his apartment. Gentle light was coming in through the window, adding to the glow of the lamps on the ceiling, and it drew my attention to the table that was set with an assortment of mugs, plates, cups and glasses that looked almost as elaborate as last night, and this was only breakfast time! The smell of cooking eggs and what had to be freshly baked bread came next, filling my nose and my muzzle in such a way as to make me need to swallow even before my eyes actually located Cobb, busy at work over the gas range.
"Hello, lazy asses!" Cobb greeted us with a wave of his spatula-armed paw and gave the two of us standing there a long, curious look from his slightly tilted head.
I was starting to feel oddly guilty even though I didn't really have any reason to, I decided, though nonetheless, the gaze made me stop and stand where I was, by Victor in front of the bedroom door. Cobb just grinned broadly.
"Slept well, guys?" Cobb continued.
"Good morning to you too," Victor replied.
"Morning!" I added, smiling quickly.
Cobb flashed a smile back to us and turned his eyes back to his frenetic cooking on the big frying pan.
"Coffee's ready for you guys, Victor, you mind pouring?" he flapped an ear sharply in the direction of the loaded machine offering a round pot of black deliciousness that was emitting a very nice smell into the morning air.
Victor gave me a quick look.
"You go and sit down, I'll bring you some," Victor spoke quickly and I nodded to him, and smiled, before I made my wandering way to the spot where I had sat during out dinner as well. The table was already packed with foodstuffs, and I was only now realizing how hungry I was, having to come to face the cheese, ham, washed salad, a bowl of fruit and the basket covered with a white cloth that had to be the bread.
My eyes lingered on Victor, though, going on his merry way and getting poked on the side by Cobb's spatula as soon as he happened to be within range. The two oversized Dobie brothers exchanged some brotherly rumbling and poking, brawling there behind the kitchen counter, but none of it looked serious enough to warrant worry from me, beyond the odd ear flick and a tail bat on the floor while the pair disentangled and went their merry ways.
"Rory, do you want three or four eggs?" Cobb decided to pick me as his next target, looking over to me as curious as ever.
I chuckled.
"Two will be fine, thanks," I replied quickly.
Cobb shrugged his white T-shirt-clad shoulders and returned to his cooking.
"Two coming up right away...oh yes...hope you like some thyme and a pinch of onion with yours!" Cobb enthused.
"Some thyme for me please!" Victor added, busy operating the coffee maker for the moment.
"Aye, aye!" Cobb grinned mostly to himself, and I smiled too. His cheerfulness, while loud, could be caught easily, and I did smile, both for him, and Victor, who soon approached with the full, sweet-smelling pot.
"Here we go," Victor smiled.
"Heh," I smiled back, watching how he filled two mugs nearly to the brim before he made a leisurely walk back to the kitchen, giving me ample time to admire his rump from afar while Cobb was distracted by his cooking and less likely to start a gay sex accusation riot for it.
"I'll bring some milk!" Victor called to me from by the fridge.
Cobb, keen-eared as ever, swiveled around so that he was facing his brother and observing Victor's every move.
"There's lactose-free stuff on the top shelf, I got it for Rory," he said, just about while he turned to flash a grin at me, too.
My cheeks felt warm again and I nodded courteously, hoping that it would satisfy Cobb's desire for attention.
"Thanks," I said quietly.
"No problem," Cobb was grinning from ear to ear by now.
Victor returned with a plastic gallon of milk, which I picked up from the table and poured a little bit into my mug before I took on stirring it. Victor simply squeezed himself into his place on the table and sat down, happy enough to drink his coffee black. It smelled great.
I sipped my coffee to get my first taste of my favorite chemical. The taste was nice enough to get a purr out of me. Victor wasn't so much craving for a fix, since he started by removing the cloth from the bread basket to reveal the golden-hued treats previously hidden. The scent intensified as well, adding to the simple culinary pleasure of experiencing the food...even before a single bite. Victor grabbed one of the thick slices and put it down onto a small plate by his mug.
"Pass me the knife, please?"
"Sure," I handed him the butter knife, already feeling envious for what had to be a delicious sandwich in the making.
"Hehhey, here we go! Two eggs Jacob coming up!" Cobb made himself known once more, now on the move with his precious frying pan.
I got a bit of a surprise when he rounded the kitchen counter and it was revealed that besides his T-shirt, Cobb was only wearing some white boxers that were probably a bit too small for someone of his size. That made sure that there was no mistaking for me in finding out that all of the Holdens I knew were made to the correct proportions. I quickly made sure to stare at my fork instead of Cobb, feeling the heat intensity over my freshly showered cheeks, and I was unable to meet his eyes when he leaned over the table, smelling of cologne, as he slipped the fried eggs over to my plate with the shiny steel spatula.
"There you are, Rory!" the Dobie boomed.
I snapped my head up and gave him a smile, a bright one.
"Oh, thank you, Cobb!"
Cobb grinned, even while he was busy applying some eggs to Victor's plate as well.
"I'll get you two more from the next batch," the Dobie spoke to his brother before he went on his strutting way, returning to play the role of the chef he seemed to be enjoying to no end.
"Thanks."
"Hmmm...," Cobb snuffled loudly as he went along, "I better have a good breakfast, will be a while since I'll get back home."
"Isn't there some sort of a service on the train?" I asked, my paw already poised over my fork so that I could dig in to the eggs on my plate.
Cobb busied himself with adding some extra butter onto the frying pan and then stirring the sizzling insta-cooked fat over it with his spatula.
"It's just a sandwich wrapped in plastic and probably made in...Boston or something like that before the train left," he replied. "I'll prefer to have a good meal here with you guys, and then I can just relax all the way home."
"Okay," Victor nodded.
"Ahh, it'll be good to be home!" Cobb chuckled, madly stirring once more and generally talking a lot and doing a lot, simultaneously, or at least giving the appearance thereof. "I hope work hasn't piled up!"
"Didn't you get someone to cover for you?" Victor mused.
"Sure, Lisa and Curtis are always there, and Evelyn's looking over them every day, so there's no problem," the Dobie replied. "I've been calling Lisa every day asking how they're doing and they'll alright...hardly missing me at all!"
"Heh," Victor rumbled, scratching his arm.
"There's work, though," Cobb continued. "Might be getting some new customers in the near future, and that always means a lot of work for me. Have to set up the supply chains and new shelves and add all that new stuff into the bar code system..."
"Sounds like as much fun as staplers and copying paper," Victor's muzzle was half full of bread and cheese when he spoke.
Cobb's laughter was deep and resonant, easy to relate to.
"It's T-shirts and keychains for us for most part...but when you've got a hundred different ones all in one warehouse...I'm like one-man FedEx!"
I chuckled, happy at hearing the two banter without too many grumbles, and also, the food Cobb had prepared was nice...no denying that. It was quite easy to just sit there and listen to the chatter, and watch how Cobb sauntered back to put greasy eggs to his plate, and a couple more to Victor, who didn't seem to think it at all strange to have four fried eggs for breakfast. I helped myself to the bread and more coffee, and got a nice party going in my belly by the time Cobb joined us on the table. He seemed big enough to fill one side of the table on his own, really. I was glad to notice that he provided himself with a glass of orange juice and not the coffee that had caused his last episode of hyperactivity and...nuisance.
I did get the feeling of being watched after a moment, and so did Victor, probably, because I did notice him noticing Cobb's intent gaze, jumping from me to Victor and back, at quite the rapid pace. True to his character, Cobb didn't wait until either of us spoke about it, before he spilled the beans.
"Sooo...heheh," his ears flicked as he grinned, showing a row of teeth, "you guys look pretty good together. Matching robes and all, heh!"
There we go.
"I'm just borrowing mine," I said the first thing that came to my mind, and regretted it.
Cobb chuckled.
"That's great, sharing stuff!" he enthused. "Shouldn't that be the basis of any relationship?"
"Hmph," Victor replied from behind the rim of his coffee mug, eyes fixed on his brother to look out for any initial signs of mad behavior, I suspected, mostly based on the fact that mine were doing just that.
"Of course," I said, nodding in agreement, perhaps against my better judgment.
Cobb winked.
"Do you have your own toothbrush here yet?" the Dobie grinned, his breath smelling like the sun.
Slightly to my surprise, Victor chuckled, which only helped to add extra heat to my cheeks, and almost made me cough on my coffee. Cobb seemed to notice, too, for his smile became even more leering while he looked at the two of us seated there.
"Maybe he will, one day," Victor gave me a smiling look.
My lips tugged into a smile automatically, happily surprised, and with a definite spring to the flicks of my tail under the table. That sounded nice...the potential, in those words. My very own toothbrush in Victor's bathroom cabinet...next to his deodorant and maybe a spare tube of Vaseline for those special aquatic anal moments. I liked the idea a lot...even if it was a bit daunting, too. Commitment and...sharing more and more of ourselves, slowly...going down that path...perhaps.
"Maybe," I was looking into Victor's eyes and smiling when I spoke.
Cobb slurped on his juice and put the glass down onto the table with an audibly loud noise that made my ears jump.
"As long as you remember not to squeeze the toothpaste from the middle," Cobb's ears flicked with his amusement, although I had the definite feeling that some sublime message was hidden behind his flippant tone.
"Of course," I said, carefully.
Cobb turned the gaze of his big, curious eyes to Victor, now.
"You've got a good buddy in Rory, Victor, you keep him well, don't you?"
It felt so odd to be talked about like that, as if I wasn't there even though I was sitting next to Victor, who was now being interrogated about me by his brother. I desperately hoped that Victor would not get angry with Cobb, considering that having the morning spent in a long-running argument might put his mood down for the rest of the day as well. I was determined to get first dibs on the Dobie once Cobb was safely packed on that train, and I definitely didn't want our first moments in peace start with Victor still seething at Cobb's unruly antics.
"That's what I intend to do," Victor replied after a pause that was almost uncomfortably long, the Dobie's eyes upon his brother.
"I wouldn't expect anything less from my Victor," Cobb declared, looking at me now and smiling that broad, semi-lunatic smile at me again. "Or from you, Rory."
Way to go, Cobb, putting me on the spotlight again. I wondered whether my cheeks were already hot enough to cook eggs on, with a gentle sprinkling of thyme, of course. Both of the Dobies were looking at me, Cobb with that same serious look again, Victor, clearly planning to growl at his brother very soon.
"Well..." I started, my muzzle partially open once I spoke, "That's what I'd like to think I'm doing."
I smiled to Victor, quickly, and was relieved to see that he was smiling back. I didn't dare to look at Cobb, though.
"Awwww!" the Cobb declared. "I should get a picture of you guys and put it as my computer wallpaper!"
My tail practically tied itself into a knot while my eyes madly sought the immediate vicinity of Cobb for the possible presence of any kind of an electric device that might have a camera incorporated into it. The growl I had been waiting for did escape from Victor's muzzle, resonating and rumbling and making my ears flicker while I braced for the inevitable retort.
"No, Cobb," Victor waved his egg-impaling fork at his brother. "Just no."
Cobb pouted.
"Owww...well, at least you have to promise to make a Christmas card out of one!"
Victor shook his head.
"Nope."
Cobb rumbled.
"Why're you a spoilsport? I thought you guys liked slamming the gay all over other fur's faces?" Cobb shrugged dramatically. "What happened to we're here, get used to it, look at us, we're normal, we do stupid things like you do, hey, hey?"
He spoke the final part of that tirade in a strange, lisping voice that was probably his idea of a gay voice, although I could not say I had ever met anyone of homosexual persuasion who spoke quite like that. That said, I had not even seen a TV program where a gay character would speak like that, which meant that I had all the bases covered...but then again, this was The Cobb.
Victor rumbled so deeply into his coffee mug that I wondered whether he was actually making the hot drink bubble with all the air escaping through his pursed lips. I looked at him worriedly, and did spare a glance at Cobb who kept on smiling in his usual overtly curious manner. Victor put his coffee down and wiped his muzzle on the back of paw before he trained his eyes firmly onto his brother.
"Cobb," he said, his voice going so low that it was bordering on the Victor Sexy Tone, "if you keep that up, I'm gonna slam the five-fingered gay all over your muzzle...then talk about IN YOUR FACE!"
Cobb raised his paws over his head, as if surrendering, and his ears flopped down against his sleek skull.
"You're scaring Rory..." Cobb murmured.
"No he isn't," I spoke, bemused by the whole situation.
Cobb's ears returned to full erection.
"Ohhh, so you like it a bit rough, eh?" the Dobie winked. "Weeeell..."
"I was sayING?" Victor intervened.
"You were saying that you'd like some more coffee!" Cobb yelped.
Victor sighed.
"I'll have some!" I lifted my mug.
Cobb was already on the move.
"Coming right up! Do you want something else, too? We've got yoghurt too, and cereal and some sausages if you'd like me to cook those for you!"
I grabbed a banana from the bowl of fruit and mimicked my earlier gesture of waving it to catch Cobb's attention.
"I think I'll just have this nice banana!" I added with another little flick of my paw.
Cobb smirked at the sight of my fruit of choice.
"Heheh, Victor likes bananas too...don't you, Victor?"
Victor rumbled and shot daggers with his eyes at the Dobie in question who was approaching the table, brandishing the coffee pot and walking in all of his hot pants-covered glory and seemingly not caring that his brother's butt buddy had a clear view. I reminded myself not to look at Cobb's butt, considering that I was supposed to be looking only at Victor's butt, and that's I wanted to do, and I gave the Dobie with the coffee pot many profound thanks for his service, which he acknowledged with another all too knowing grin.
"When do we need to be at the station?" Victor decided to be all business despite his brother's mad antics, and I was glad for that.
"The train to Chicago is stopping at 11, so it's not that much of a hassle," he said. "I've got the return ticket, so it's just a matter of hopping onboard, really."
"How long does the trip last?" I asked, curious about Cobb's mode of transportation.
Cobb hauled himself down onto his seat and made himself comfortable.
"About twelve hours," the Dobie mused. "If it's on time."
"Wow," I replied, surprised at the ass-numbing duration of the trip he had ahead of him.
"I don't mind," Cobb smiled. "You get to see all the sights and I can take a nap and a little walk along the corridor, and I've got a whole season of CSI on my iPad if I really need something to pass the time!"
"Heh," I replied.
"And besides, the train ticket is only about 80 bucks and even the cheapest plane tickets from here to Chicago are about 500 bucks, and that's flying to Cleveland first and swapping planes there. It's all a big hassle, too. Believe me, I checked it all out before coming, when I was trying to decide whether to take a train or fly. The train won easily."
"Sounds like it," I nodded.
"Besides, that meant four hundred bucks more to spend on gifts for my great brother!" the Dobie beamed.
Victor chuckled.
"I've got an expensive taste," he grinned.
I smiled.
Cobb winked and flicked his ears audibly.
"You can pay it all back when you and Rory come to see me in Chicago!" the Dobie declared.
My eyes widened in surprise. Victor signaled his own reaction with a snort.
"We both have fulltime jobs, you know," Victor rumbled.
Cobb wouldn't have that excuse.
"So make it into a romantic weekend getaway!" Cobb beamed. "And you can stay with me and spare the cost of hotels and restaurants! I've got a very nice attic room I could set up for you guys!"
I froze a little at the idea of staying at Hotel Cobb for a whole weekend, and it did seem that Victor wasn't so keen either, at least if I went by the amount of headshaking he did.
"Well it's an idea," Cobb snuffled at his brother. "Have you been to Chicago often, Rory? Or Cleveland? Did Victor tell you that we're from Cleveland?"
I felt barraged by his questions, but held my trench.
"Uhh...no, I haven't," I replied, "and that's something I didn't know."
"Hehhey!" Cobb grinned. "Naughty Victor keeping secrets from you."
Victor chuckled.
"I don't think I've asked Rory where he's from, either, Cobb," my Dobie mused.
I smiled and flicked an ear at him to show him that he was right, before I addressed the brotherly duo.
"I probably haven't," I nodded. "My parents live in Rome."
Cobb let out a surprised chuff.
"As in Italy?"
I snuffled and smirked.
"As in Rome, New York," I replied.
"Ohhhhhhh!" Cobb exclaimed.
"Yup!" I shrugged mildly.
"Did you go to New York often, then?" the Dobie leaned over the table, me at the center of his attention once more.
"A few times," I replied. "It's really so big that you don't really want to just go there...you have to have some purpose...but yeah, I've been there a couple of times, seen the sights...nothing big."
Cobb grinned.
"Bet you went all Carrie," the Dobie nudged the tabletop with his knuckles.
My face frowned in puzzlement.
"Huh?"
Cobb sat back, surprise pinching his own features.
"Huh?" he mimicked me. "You know, Carrie...Sex and the City? Cosmopolitans and Manolo Blanks and lots of sex...in the city! Hahaha! "
My ears flopped.
"Uh...I never really got into that show," I replied meekly.
Cobb scratched his beefy chest and chuckled to himself.
"I thought all you guys loved that show," he said.
Victor cleared his throat.
"You also used to claim that only fags watch Melrose Place and managed to turn out quite heterosexual yourself despite watching almost every episode," Victor noted.
I bit on my tongue to keep any retorts and chuckles at bay while I admired the look on Cobb's face that had been caused by Victor's comment. His ears were rather flat as well.
"But I only started from season 2 because mom wouldn't let us watch it because we were just 12..."
"She was right to do that," Victor replied. "Who knows how you might have turned out otherwise, traumatized way too early by crappy TV."
"It was the Lost of its time, it was good!" Cobb replied.
"No it wasn't," Victor snorted.
"Yes it was!"
I sure hoped this was not going to carry on in the car as well.
*
After a remarkable amount of bickering and arguing about who was the best character in Melrose Place, we did manage to get the breakfast done, by the time which it was prudent to get dressed and start helping Cobb find any remaining personal effects from around Victor's place. His huge bags seemed a bit less bulgy this time after all present to Victor had been well offloaded, but nonetheless, I was still recruited to haul one of them down to the elevator and then help to load it into Victor's Nissan at the underground car parking. Then it came the time to load two Dobies and a lion into the car, and that gave me a pause, for I wasn't so sure where I was supposed to fit.
"So...back or front, Cobb?" I decided to break the silence.
Cobb looked at me over the edge of the lid of the trunk and grinned.
"Mind if I sit on the front? I probably have to tell Victor how to find the train station."
Victor, already seated on the driver's seat, let our a rumble that almost sounded like the car starting.
"Ha ha!"
Cobb slammed the trunk shut and then rounded the car, passing me with his confident strut as he went to open the front door.
"He's so deep in denial," the Dobie smirked while he hauled himself into the car, providing so much extra weight that the car's suspension visibly sunk lower.
I shook my head quickly and sat carefully into the back seat, only to find relatively little space for my legs due to Cobb having moved the passenger's seat back to make extra room for himself on the front. I resigned to my fate and shuffled onto the center seat and put on the seatbelt.
I saw Victor's bespectacled eyes give me a quick glimpse over the rear view mirror, and I gave him a reassuring smile in return. Victor moved on to start the car.
The light was already bright when we broke out of the underground cave and joined the quiet morning traffic. Saturday morning meant that nobody was especially busy, and we could make good speed along the street. It was quiet as we rode, the radio was not on, and even Cobb was silent for once, which must've been a first. I was quite content with that, since I could just relax and sit down and smell Victor with every breath, and watch the city go by my eyes while we kept on driving. A pleasant thrum was slowly growing in my belly, too, for the knowledge that once Cobb was in that train, I was free to go do anything I wanted with Victor. We didn't have that many plans, not yet, but I was sure that we could come up with some pretty damn good ones once the distraction of Cobb was over and we could afford as much freedom as we had under these new circumstances. Not that I could muster any kind of major displeasure with Cobb, I was sure there were reasons to his outrageous behavior, and once you let most of the crap go past the radar, you could actually...spend time with him without wanting to strangle him, or something of the sort. I was still glad that Victor would get a holiday from the holidaying Dobie, now that Cobb was going back home. I could actually talk with Victor, for starters...that'd definitely make a difference. We had a lot to talk, after all...such as figuring out just where we stood at the time.
"Remember to turn right here on the traffic lights," Cobb noted, breaking the unusual silence.
Victor snuffled.
"The train station is still exactly where it was the last time, don't you worry."
"Just noting, wanting to stay on the map."
Victor signaled and changed the lanes with the ease of an experienced city driver.
"Yeah, sure."
"Do you drive, Rory?" Cobb asked, glimpsing my via a craned head.
"Uhh, yeah, I've got a license," I replied. "No car though, never owned a car though."
"That's cool," the Dobie mused.
"Thanks."
Victor kept on driving steadily, changing lanes and turning at corners and not caring much about Cobb's advice on short cuts or the like. It didn't take us more than fifteen minutes, perhaps, to reach the other side of the town, where the train station was located. We had to drive around the place to find a parking spot, and that shaved off a few extra minutes from our arrival there. By the time Victor took the car to a halt, the clock on the dashboard told us that it was 10:40.
"Here we are!" Cobb declared, paw already resting on the door handle.
"Indeed we are," Victor rumbled.
I was put in charge of one of Cobb's bags again once we unloaded them from the car and made our way to the old red brick train station that almost looked like something out of a Victorian novel, if for the graffiti on the walls and the posters everywhere advertising Amtrak, Revlon and BlackBerry. A few furs mingled around, many of them with Starbucks takeaway cups in their paws, as they passed. The smell of coffee almost made me want to make a run for the familiar sign looming at the distance, but I reminded myself that the three big Cobb-made mugs in my system were bound to be enough for now. Maybe we'd catch a nice cup of coffee with Victor afterwards...with nice croissants...maybe even holding paws...hmm...maybe.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the westbound Lake Shore Limited will arrive at 10:55 AM on platform 2. Please have your tickets ready for boarding", the public announcement voice announced, echoing off the numerous loudspeakers high up on the vaulted ceiling.
Cobb scanned the cavernous room for the departure/arrivals board, and located it from amidst large Amtrak banners by the curved cathedral-like windows.
I had been here enough times to not to feel anything special about it, not really, but I suppose that places like this were supposed to have a certain charge to them. Furs would be saying goodbye to one another, others would step out of trains and run into each other's arms, some would wipe away tears while others would let them flow freely...
I snuffled and reminded myself not to be too romantic about train stations, and also nudged myself mentally for allowing the Dobie duo to walk at least 30 yards away from me before I noticed that they were almost gone, prompting me to race them so that my tail flapped behind me from side to side. I breathed out deeply, open-mawed, drawing the eyes of Victor, Cobb, and a bunny with a big backpack hanging above his fluffy tail. The bunny hurried his pace, becoming even bouncier as a result.
"Not too long to go," Cobb mused, giving another look at the board with its digital clock reading "10:47".
"Nope," Victor mused from his brother's side, nonchalantly.
Cobb turned to face me.
"Did you have...oh, there it is!" he waved his paw at the big bag I was hauling along with me.
"Here you go!" I smiled.
Cobb grabbed the handle and pulled the wheeled bag next to himself. Victor stepped to the side a little to make room for the new bag. It was quite fun to watch him at this time, considering that he seemed oddly...nervous, almost. He was tapping his paws on his thighs and shifting weight from one side to another, both of which were amusing to look at. He also looked damn good wearing those glasses of his, which only helped to highlight his features and make him look even better. I wondered whether I was looking at him a bit too intently considering the public place. There weren't so many furs around, anyway, it didn't seem to be a busy boarding this time, which probably wasn't so surprising; everyone going home for the weekend had already left last night, meaning that this was the time for stragglers such as Cobb.
"I hope it's on time..." Cobb mused, scratching the back of his neck.
"It usually runs pretty well, doesn't it?" Victor commented.
"It was okay when I came over," Cobb replied.
I decided to stand a step or two away and give the two brothers the personal space they needed to perform any masculine, brotherly goodbye rituals they had to without interference from me in too great a proximity to them. I didn't know whether they had any, but I suspected that whatever was there was quite private, and I didn't want to stumble upon that and made either of them feel self-conscious. I wasn't even sure whether it involved talking.
While I steered clear of the Dobies, I could indulge in some fur-watching in my spare time. There wasn't really a bustle present, but there were still enough targets for my curious cat eyes. There was a station worker fox, wearing a shirt an tie and holding a walkie-talkie, which instantly made him seem very busy and very important, because those black boxes were meant for barking intensive commands into. A bear sat on a bench with a newspaper folded over his knees and he had a coffee cup on his paw. A mother otter and her cubs, two girls, walked in a tight bunch and held each other's paws. The bunny with the backpack stood near a trashcan, tapping on a phone...
My own phone beeped in my pants pocket, signaling the arrival of a text.
I looked quickly up to Victor and Cobb, standing there and trying to look at everything except each other. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and flipped it over on my paw while a padded finger quickly tapped open the message, by reflex.
My eyes first noticed the unlabeled number on the top, before my eyes moved down to the bubble of text below.
Hello Rory. Leaving for New York today at 12.
At the airport lounge waiting. Wanted to leave
this business behind here where it happened.
_ _
The phone beeped and another bubble appeared.
_ _
Sorry that things turned out as they did. You
are great. Damn great for reasons I can't explain.
I hope your reasons were good. Mine were.
_ _
And again.
_ _
Loneliness makes behave in odd ways. Maybe
I'll give you a call if I ever come back. I'd like
that. Good luck.
Colin.
My fingerpads pressed onto the edges of my phone so hard that I feared it might crack. My knuckles started to hurt. My tail sank between my footpaws. My breath caught in my throat and burned. My heart slammed against my ribs. I couldn't do anything but stare at the words, on the little screen in their little bubbles, staring back to me.
Oh, fuck.
The silence had been broken.
Something else had been broken, it seemed. The tiger did not sound happy, and even though the words were there, simple text on my phone, they...I could hear that soft, mannered voice speaking them, lowered into a harsh whisper, like the had sounded while we stood in the dimly lit space at the library, next to Barbra. I still got the shivers over my spine when I remembered that voice, the intensity, as much as the heat of the kiss he had planted on my lips, out of some...barely contained passion that had exploded out of him in a short, torrid moment shared in an entanglement with me.
To my horror, I almost started to feel aroused as the memory swept past my conscious mind.
"Rory?"
I almost dropped the phone. My ears jumped and tail batted the tiled floor.
Victor blinked.
"You alright?" the Dobie asked.
Cobb was looking at me too, curious, earnest and smiling.
My paw slapped down against my thigh, holding the phone there, out of sight. Pressure grew between my shoulder blades from my posture.
"Yeah!" I breathed between clenched teeth. "It's just...Marge, with a work schedule for next week. No surprises, heh!"
Victor smiled.
"That's lucky!"
"Hehheh!" Cobb winked.
"Heh," I breathed.
I could barely breathe. The reality of my encounter with Colin hit me and created a painful pressure in my chest. My paws felt like they were shaking, and I barely felt my tail at all, practically paralyzed for my tension. My fingers held tightly to the phone in my palm, and the small object began to feel warm, heated up by my agitated body temperature. My heart raced.
"I..."
"Ladies and gentlemen, Lake Shore Limited westbound service will arrive on platform 2 in five minutes. Please have your tickets ready for boarding, and stand clear when the train arrives. Thank you."
_ _
The announcement ended, and I had my audience of two, staring at me curiously. I was expected to finish the sentence I had started without knowing how to end it, and there I was...caught.
"I'll...text her back and say it's cool," my lips moved mechanically.
"Sure!" Cobb grinned.
My paw felt shaky even as I lifted it up and touched the screen, illuminating the discriminating evidence again. The painful twinge in my belly increased at the sight of the words engraved there, reminding me of my crime. I quickly glanced at Victor and Cobb, who still stood there, though no longer looking at me. That was a small relief.
Shit...shit...shit...
What the hell could I say?
'Thanks but no thanks. Sorry.'
_ _
'Sorry about being a bastard.'
_ _
'Sorry, I've with someone else.'
_ _
'Sorry, Colin.'
_ _
'Sorry'
_ _
Time seemed to slow down while I stared at the words and wondered how to sum up everything I felt about it in the short space allowed by the message. How...how...
And how could I go on smiling and kissing and cuddling Victor, while inside I felt like this? What would that make me, that two-faced existence that I was being forced to at this very moment? Did I want to become that man, that despicable creature I had always feared, and whom I never wanted to meet? Could I survive that? Could Victor survive that?
Could we survive that?
I let out a chuff of a nervous breath and blinked firmly, trying to focus on the screen. I hit the button and began to type as quickly as I could.
I just can't stop thinking
about how sorry I am.
_ _
I hit "SEND" and pushed my phone into my pocket without giving it another glance. I couldn't afford any more disturbances, not now.
Please not now.
The PA tone chimed.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please prepare for Lake Shore Limited arrival on platform 2. Please have your tickets ready for boarding. Please stay clear of the train until it has come to a full stop, and the passengers have disembarked. Thank you."
_ _
I was sure I could hear the thrum, coming from the distance.
"Well I think this is it!" Cobb declared, slapping a paw onto Victor's shoulders before another landed on mine with each loudness and weight.
My neck furs bristled, alarmed by the sudden touch in my hyper-aware state.
"You take care of each other, guys, promise me?" the Dobie looked at the two of us each in turn while he held both of us in his iron grip.
Victor rumbled, though he was smiling.
"You take care of yourself too," Victor replied.
"Yeah," I breathed out tightly.
Cobb added to the squeeze.
"You seem to have really great time together, guys, I hope to hear from you soon!" he continued.
"Sure," Victor said.
The thrumming grew at the distance.
"Yeah!"
Oh, God.
"Lake Shore Limited westbound, number 49, arriving on platform 2. Please stand clear of the platform until the train has come to a full stop. Please have your tickets ready for boarding. Please do not approach the train before the passengers have disembarked. Thank you."
_ _
Cobb released and instead put his paw on Victor, to pull his brother into a brief manly hug that involved a lot of back patting. Victor returned it one-armedly, equally briefly, before they disentangled.
Then he was looking at me.
I had no time to react before Cobb was upon me in turn, putting his arms around me and hugging me. I could feel his warmth, even his breath, touching my whiskers in the brief time we shared personal space.
The silver train glided into its place by us, making a great deal of screeching and hissing noises before the beastly vehicle came to the much-announced halt on the platforms. Furs everywhere stood on their places, watching with a certain amount of respect how the train arrived and became the center of our attention. Staff rushed into their places.
"Now boarding for Lake Shore Limited westbound service to Chicago. Please stand clear of the train until passengers have disembarked. Please have your tickets ready for boarding. The staff will assist you if needed. Thank you."
_ _
Doors opened on the side of the mighty beached whale of a train, allowing bag-carrying furs to burst out onto the white tiles of the platform.
Cobb grabbed the handles of his bags and lifted them clean off the floor without an effort.
"Well, guys, this is it...hope you'll have a great time together! I'll call you when I'm home, Victor, should be before you go to sleep, heheh, so no waking you up!"
Victor patted his brother's side and smiled.
"Take care, Cobb."
Cobb grinned and flicked his all too Victor-like ears.
"You too, and you too, Rory!" the Dobie grinned confidently.
"Thank you, Cobb," I spoke, barely able to hear my voice amidst the din of the bustling platform.
"BOARDING!" someone yelled from by the train.
"That's me!" Cobb grinned. "See you, guys!"
We waved, smiled, and said "bye!" all the way until Cobb, after showing his ticket for the raccoon on the door, disappeared into the steel tube of a train, and was no more in our sights. I almost expected his head to poke out of one window or another, but for the moment, I could not spot overtly curious Dobie eyes on any of them.
Soon the excitement of the boarding was gone, and my earlier nerves returned full strength, as I stood there on the platform with Victor. The very sight of him, smiling and with his paws in his pockets, reminded me that somewhere on the other side of the city, on a space much like this one, another fur sat in contemplation with a phone in his paws, likely reading the pathetic message I had sent in reply to his message.
Colin...
Victor cleared his throat.
I almost jumped.
"Well...here we are," his eyes twinkled behind his glasses, steadily set upon me while he smiled and looked up and down my form.
I wondered how he saw me at time...compared to how Colin would have seen me now. One likely saw an emotionless monster who had led him down the wrong path while the other...Victor...he just saw...I didn't know what he saw anymore. What he could see...
My heart wouldn't stop slamming against my ribs, creating a painful sensation in my throat.
"Yeah," I gasped.
Victor smiled, showing a canine from the corner of his muzzle.
"I think we're done here, so...maybe we should get back to the car? I put it on the short term parking zone."
I nodded, again, almost mechanical in my movement.
"Heh!" Victor was beaming, almost like his brother was moments before.
The sunlight out on the train yard almost hurt my eyes. It was warm, too, a very warm spring morning it was, and turning out to be a lovely day. It'd be great to walk at the park, maybe, and stop by for an ice cream...they might already be selling them, I wasn't sure, but you could hope, if you were in that sort of a mood.
I fucking wish I would've been in the mood.
This was ridiculous. I was supposed to be over the moon, now that Cobb was going on his way and I was free to indulge myself with Victor in any way I could. Instead I was slowly being reduced to a nervous breakdown. Colin was in pieces because of me, sitting on a plastic chair and about to jet off to New York, probably to get away from this hellhole I had created for him. How could I explain it to Mason that his favorite author would never come to the Albrecht Brothers again to do a book signing because he didn't want to see the golden-assed faggot behind the counter who broke his heart? How would I tell myself that I had done the right thing, turning him down, despite the fact that being kissed by the tiger had turned me on incredibly?
How the FUCK would I tell Victor that while we were supposed to have the best time ever together, on the same week, I had locked muzzles with a rich, handsome guy who was hot for Rory?
I followed him through the sparsely filled car park, until we reached Victor's car. He took out his key and "beep-beep!"-ed the alarm off. Victor grinned boyishly at me over the top of the car.
"Any ideas yet?" he smiled.
I smiled back.
"Well...anything in your mind?" I retorted, buying time.
"Some fresh air might be nice," Victor grinned. "Say we hit the town? Take a walk, see the shops? Coffee?"
"Yeah, that sounds great!" I replied, smiling still, so much that it hurt.
The thrum of the train rose in the distance.
"That's a plan!" Victor winked and opened the car door on the driver's side.
I slumped down onto the passenger's seat and instinctually tugged on the seatbelt before I folded my clammy paws onto my lap. The car rumbled.
"I can't believe he's gone..."
"Heh."
Victor signaled and reversed us out of the spot and then onto a crawl towards the connection to Northwest circular, the main traffic hub from the train station to the center of the city. I was all too aware of the vibration of the car, gliding smoothly, if slowly along the road between a Cadillac and a Toyota. The air from the car ventilation stroked my mane and made me shiver, even if it wasn't cold, it was coming through the engine, after all. My claws dug to my thighs.
"Two weeks...two weeks..." Victor shook his head so that his ears brushed the ceiling of the car.
We were making good speed now. My heart was racing along to my heart, making my body tremble. I felt like Judas, happily breaking bread and planning an interesting midnight kiss.
Treacherous kisses seemed to be my specialty for the time.
"Have you ever been to this place called Casey's, it's a pretty good little place that is a café by day and a jazz bar by night?"
He sounded so happy, so excited...like he had been planning to ask me that for the whole of the two weeks we had been kept apart by the presence of the Cobb. I looked over to him and saw that he was smiling, broadly, to himself, and his eyes were alive, and warm. He met my gaze, and his smile broadened. I could count his teeth.
"I don't think I have," I croaked.
"Great! You'll love it. They make really nice cinnamon buns...or maybe a croissant if you want something salty..."
Salty like Colin's tears over his pretty striped cheeks.
We stopped at the traffic lights on the intersection by the Wal-Mart, already crowded. Everyone seemed to be going there as I stared at the red light.
"And then maybe...well, whatever we can think of...don't want to overthink this business, heh...neurotic dates never end well..."
My breath burned in my throat.
"Maybe some light lunch...I can't really eat much after last night...Jesus...heheh..."
Oh, Jesus.
"I kissed someone else!"
Fuck that hurt.
Victor's eyes snapped on me, at the same time as his ears flicked rapidly, not yet flat.
"Huh?"
I stared at him.
"I kissed someone else last Tuesday and liked it!" I groaned.
Now the ears went down.
"What?"
"I kissed the guy who was in our shop, that writer guy, he hit on me!" I spilled. "He hit on me and I kissed him and..."
His breath was so loud in my ears.
*
_ _
_ _
_" Kirk City Emergency Services, how may I help you?" _
_ _
"Hello? Hey? Hello? This 911?
_ _
"Yes, this Kirk City Emergency Services, do you wish to report an emergency?"
_ _
"Please, we...HO SHIT! We...we need an ambulance here!"
_ _
"Help is on the way as soon as possible. What is the nature of the emergency?"
_ _
"SHIT! Is that flames? JESUS!"
_ _
"Help will be on its way as soon possible. Where are you calling from?"
_ _
"Shit! Northwest...Circular...oh God, about a mile from the train station! Fuck!"
_ _
"What is the nature of the emergency?"
_ _
"You gotta help...there's...the car came out of nowhere, it just flew - OH GOD I THINK THERE'S A BODY ON THE GROUND!"
_ _
"So there is a car crash, yes?"
_ _
"Yeah, you gotta help, it's massive!"
_ _
"How many cars are involved in the incident? Can you see?"
_ _
"Uhh...uhh....uhh...three, I think! Shit, it's upside down, I think there's someone still in there!"
_ _
"Can you be any more specific about the place? Do you see any landmarks or road signs?"
_ _
"Uhh....there's a big Wal-Mart!"
_ _
"I see. We have you on our map and the ambulances are on their way."
_ _
"You...you gotta come quick!"
_ _
"Can you see how many victims there are? Can you see any movement?"
_ _
"I...I don't know...there are furs running everywhere! It's all mad! Hurry!"
_ _
"Please do not approach any closer if there is any danger to yourself. Help is on the way. Do not hang up."
_ _
"JUST FUCKING HURRY!"
_ _
*
THE HOCKEY HUNK WILL CONTINUE AS SEASON 3
http://www.sofurry.com/view/361184 < --- HERE!!!
*
Thank you for reading my story.
If you have any comments, don't hesitate to drop me a line or two. All feedback is most appreciated, and it is the best measure of the quality of my writing.
Don't forget that all those votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well.
Thank you for season 2. Let's make season 3 a memorable one as well!
See you soon,
Gruffy