Cross (AiT extra #2)
#3 of All in Time
From Cross's viewpoint this time! He's a bit more... forward than Nate is. And he talks way more, too. X-D
Nate's "big kiss" may have been that one day in eighth grade during lunch, when I flipped something on inside him, but mine was several months before that. I actually consider it our first kiss, even though I guess technically it wasn't. It was our first "real" kiss, though. Everything before that was a quick peck, occasionally on the lips but usually not, with there always being a little bit of distance (physically) between us. Or at least it felt that way.
Anyway, it happened the week after spring break (seventh grade) while at laser tag with my neighborhood friends - Danny, Spence, Christie, Hans, everyone. It's always something like laser tag with us - laser tag or paintball, never bowling or a movie; Halo or Medal of Honor instead of Mario Party or Super Smash Bros.; even snowball fights over sledding. It's what you get with a bunch of military brats, ha.
That particular game, the twelve of us were split up in teams of two. Most of the other pairs split up to cover more ground and make it harder to kill both of them at once, but since it was Nate's first time playing laser tag, I decided we would stick together. It actually didn't work out to our disadvantage much at all; I was a good shot and he was surprisingly good at self-preservation. He wasn't getting kills, but he wasn't getting hit either, while I was slowly taking damage, the lights on my gear peppered with red while his remained completely yellow. We had been up for a good forty minutes, running around the maze-like "forest" environment of the laser tag arena, when I thought I saw flashes of blue in two separate directions. I shot at one and heard my gun give the familiar beep of a kill shot, then turned to look for the other blue. I didn't see it, and for some reason I felt really uneasy; warily, I ventured out a bit from behind the "tree" Nate and I were using as cover.
Almost instantly, the last of my yellow vanished in place of red, the core of by chest gear rumbling to show I had taken too much damage and had been killed, so I sat down on the spot. Nate gave a faux howl of despair at the "death of his lion" - and then promptly got hit with a one-hit kill shot.
Now, I had conveniently not told him about how the light suits vibrate (in addition to changing color) when the wearer is killed, so he jumped about three feet in the air when it happened - and then fell right on top of me. Man, you should've seen the look on his face, ha! I bet he thought he was actually shot with something for a moment there. Then he looked confused, probably wondering why I had a huge grin on my face - until I couldn't hold it in any longer and cracked up. He pounded on my shoulder once, saying "You prick, not funny!" but starting to laugh at the same time anyway. We lay there splitting our sides for a good while before catching our breath and quieting back down. We just smiled at each other then, me lying on the ground and still feeling light from the laughing with him on all fours above me.
We both moved simultaneously; he started lowering himself at the same time I raised my head up a bit and reached around him to pull him down. First our lips met directly, then as his chest met mine and my head came back down to the ground our heads twisted slightly, deepening the kiss. I was completely lost in vertigo at that point, my entire body limp save for my arms which were fiercely holding his back and head. He gave this cute little moan and I - well...
Alright, I admit it: I started purring like a little kitten at some point. Shut up!
I don't know how long we lay there like that; we weren't having a crazy makeout session or anything, we just were relishing the intimacy. When we finally broke the kiss, I grinned up at him and he blushed before letting his head droop down over my right shoulder. I squeezed a bit with my arms, which were still wrapped around him and holding him on top of me, and simply felt amazing. My Labbie... It was the first time I had felt possessive about Nate - in a good way, of course. I started rubbing behind his ears, getting a happy sigh and a slowly wagging tail in response. Just feeling his weight on my chest, feeling his torso expand slightly with each breath, and feeling each breath at my cheek - all of it was amazing.
A little bit later, we heard the speakers crackle and announce "Player seven is the last survivor; green team wins!"
"Damn," I said, ceasing my ministration, "whoever's player seven almost always wins."
"Doesn't this place assign the numbers randomly?" Nate asked, pushing himself up to all fours and then standing up.
"Yeah; doesn't seem to matter, though." I lay on the ground a bit looking up at him as he gathered himself before getting to my feet as well.
"Man, would've been nice if we had gotten green and I got player seven," he said as we walked back to the gathering area.
I wrapped an arm around his should and pulled him in all "chummy"-like, teasing "Ah, but then you would've broken the streak."
"Hey!" he yelled in faux offense, shoving me off of him and jogging a little bit forward. I caught up to him and simply walked one pace back for a while before suddenly ramming into his shoulder with mine, sending him down, and running away laughing. I glanced over my shoulder to see him get back on his feet and give chase; that push-fight-race lasted until we got back to the others. (Of course it had been Spence that had been player seven; the rest of us had to endure him bragging and taunting for a whole month.)
I really enjoy all of the physical contact, silly or personal, I get with Nate. Before that day of laser tag, it was rather simple: hugs, holding hands, shoulder rubs, and leaning against each other while seated next to each other. I know a bit before that day, it had crossed my mind to touch a bit more, but I didn't because I wasn't sure if he wanted more. After that day, though, we (well, I first, then he) started "feeling" that little bit more; the next day even, while we were watching TV at my house, I started rubbing his thigh. He seemed to like it, and that started a period that included rubbing more places than just shoulders and back, having hands in back pockets, and the like.
It also included a little more appreciation of each other as eye candy, heh. Within the first week of the local pool being open that summer, we decided to go swimming and got more than a peek at each other in the locker room - Nate gawking more than I did, though to be honest he had more opportunity. What can I say? I like my body; I'm in shape - my dad's raised a fit kid - and I'm comfortable with occasionally showing it off a bit. I got my shoes off and swim briefs ready on the bench in front of mefirst, dropping my pants then. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that nate was glancing at me (though trying not to) as he sat on the bench, taking off his own shoes and socks. I pretended to turn away from him, but I let my tail flick upward as I pulled off my shirt, giving him a bit more of a view. Once my shirt was off and I was butt-naked, I just stood there for a moment. I heard a sock come off, but then nothing else.
I turned my head to look over my shoulder, and although he wasn't directly facing me, his eyes were definitely wandering as he started fumbling with the hem of his T-shirt. The he looked up, his eyes going wide as they met mine, him realizing he was caught. I smirked, teasing "You like?" as I turned around, getting a garbled response as his eyes roamed down my chest and stomach to my crotch before he phsyically looked away, blushing.
"Your turn."
"gh - What?"
"I want to see you."
I meant it as a compliment, and from the wagging tail I think it registered as such, even if he gave a soft whine as he timidly stood up and resumed removing his shirt. To be completely objective, his body is entirely unremarkable: everything is flat and straight-lined, not fat or muscles. To me, it registered as excellent, absoulutely nothing wrong with it; there's an elegance in simplicity, you know? Then he unbuttoned the front and back of his shorts, pulling them and his underwear down. I must admit, his package was most definitely bigger than mine - but I guess that's expected, as I'm a feline and he's a canine. I'm not ashamed of my size at all.
He surprised me next, though, by doing a slow turn-around, I guess so I could see all of him. Which I did. I think he was watching my face as much as he could while he rotated to see my reaction. I, of course, was grinning the entire time, which is probably why his tail's wag kept getting bigger. As he finished, he quiety asked back "...You like?"
"I do," I growled.
He gave a nervous chuckle, and I noticed he stood slightly hunched in on himself with his arms up in front of him. As much as I think he enjoyed showing off to me, and enjoyed my approval, he was still uncomfortable with the whole "nude around someone else" thing. "...Can I put my trunks on now?"
That definitely made me feel a bit guilty, the fact that he felt he had to ask permission. "Of course you can, bud" I answered reaching for my swim briefs. Even with my short head start, he was covered well before I was.
"...You look really good in a speedo," he said as we made our way past the showers, grinning.
"Heh, thanks! You probably would too, you know."
"No I wouldn't... I don't have the body for it."
That started a short argument which we dropped as we entered the pool area. It wasn't mentioned again until our last pool day of the summer, when the side of his trunks got caught on something and started ripping. It wasn't a huge hole, but he couldn't use those trunks again next summer, so as we showered off (over the summer he had gotten comfortable enough for casual conversation from the next faucet over) I tried talking him into getting a speedo next instead of trunks. He kept saying he wouldn't look good no matter how much I insisted otherwise, until I finally grabbed my swim briefs had shoved them into his chest, saying "Alright, put these on and let's go look in a mirror. Just so you can judge by what you see and not what you think."
He seemed taken aback at he prospect of wearing something that had been very recently on me (or rather, on my crotch - he'd taken my jacket once or twice before, no problem) but after a moment he slowly slid them on and, trunks over his shoulder, starting walking to where the sinks and mirrors were. I followed, already liking how he looked and hoping he did too. He was frowning as we walked over, apparently ready to not like how he looked - and then he saw himself in the mirror. I'm not sure what he was examining about himself at first, but after a while he glanced at me, as if a little embarrassed about what he was about to do, then started turning around. He was checking on his own ass! That made me grin. And while his backside was facing the mirror, I got to see that his front had filled out a little bit.
As he finished appraising himself, I walked up and wrapped my arms around his chest. "Toldja."
"Thanks..." he answered; then he noticed what I had a moment ago and shrank back in on himself a little, hands going to cover his crotch. "-Oh, um... problemmm..."
"Not a problem," I said simply before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. Then, in a completely spontaneous decision, I swear, I slipped a hand beneath his and gave a squeeze. Boy, he yelped, ha! I just grinned evilly and started walking back toward the lockers as he stared at me, aghast. "Not a problem at all, pup; if you don't want to show something off, just give the swimwear back to me next week." (Which is what he did.)
Yes, that whole story was meant as a continuation of the whole "physical contact" thing. I'm not entirely ADD.
But yeah, after the first day at the pool, we slowly go more comfortable around each other shirtless at least, even just playing outside. We got to feel each other (with back, shoulder, and chest rubs) with just open fur more and more, and near the end of summer I even tried getting to his fur while he was still clothed, slipping a paw up under his shirt; he shivered a bit at the first touch, but kept right on playing his video game. Oh, and he surpised me, he got me back for the swim briefs grope during a video game session after the lunch kiss! We were racing and I was winning for once, when I was suddenly and very effectively distracted by a confident squeeze through the crotch of my jeans. The sly dog.
But yeah, though neither of us went for the crotch again until this summer, Nate started taking a little bit more initiative after I made out with him for our friends that day. And I am not complaining! While I enjoy being forward, it's really great to get his attentions without me getting his first. And honestly, I enjoy him touching me more than the other way around... By the end of this summer, I think we might...