Circling the Issue
#12 of Hockey Hunk Season 6
Hehhey, pantaloons,
and welcome to the Hockey Hunk! Our saga continues, and while it's a rainy day in Finland, things are nothing but gloomy on the paper...well, at least whatever the virtual representation of one on my computer screen can be considered to be, of course! Oh, writing always cheers me up, and I do hope that this will put some spring into your day, too, whether that's of the "SPROING!" or of a vernal kind, I think! So I do hope you'll enjoy the read, and I look forward to reading your feedback, of course! Do remember that votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!
Have a great read!
Cheers!
*
"What if it was a small rainbow pin?" Mason said. "We all wore the pink ribbon pins for the breast cancer awareness week, how would that be in any way different?"
Oh God...was Mason...was he...standing up to his...our...kind? Was he giving such a gently worded, softly spoken plead for equality in the face of Marge and her boobs...doing exactly what I had never had had the balls to do, and he just...spoke it with a shrug, like he'd just said that he preferred mustard to ketchup.
"Of course that wouldn't be any different," Crystal stomped the ground for emphasis, "how about we do that, Marge, during the next LGBT awareness week? OR...AIDS day or something..."
I just stared, unable to quite believe what was going on.
Marge rumbled.
"Well I just happened to have enough breast cancer pins for everyone, because I'm a donor to the cancer research society," she said, "as for the rest, there's no shop policy against anything like that, so if we wanted to do something like that, then we could. As long as everyone agrees to it. Have to show a unified front."
"Yeah!" Crystal nickered. "Let's!"
"I think it'd be a good idea," I found myself saying, after a sobering swallow, "the...different solidarity things..."
"Hear, hear," Crystal nickered.
Marge's ears perked.
"Oh? So what do you want to support, Rory?" Marge gave me a pointed look.
Damn. Everyone was looking at me now, Marge, Crystal, Mason, too, one pointy ear flicking curiously while his mild expression remained over his muzzle.
"Well whatever anyone thinks we should," I said, "I'll gladly put myself on the line for that. Breast cancer, testicular cancer, environmental protection, gay rights, female emancipation..."
Marge clicked her tongue.
"What a slick lion you are, Rory," she mused, her tail attaining one of its dangerous pendulous motions, "swinging both ways..."
Crystal giggled, while Mason looked...awkward? He glanced at his toes and all...while my own tail seemed to tuck itself between my legs. I really didn't like being under such scrutiny from them all, especially with...the topic at paw. This was getting way too close into territory I was uncomfortable to cross into for the moment and...and...I just...
"Well for a good cause, anything," I puffed out my chest, trying to evoke some of my natural lion pride with such a gesture, which I hoped wasn't going to fall as flat as my nervous mood did, as I contemplated just how uncomfortable this was making me.
"Yay!" Crystal chuckled.
"I'm glad the daddy of our little Albrecht Brothers family approves," Marge rumbled, licking her lips while looking at me in a rather sultry manner, "well, in that case, if anyone want to support anything, just run it past me or Rory once he is the boss, and if it requires any adornments like pins or patches, be sure to provide enough for everyone!"
"Sounds fair to me!" Crystal cheered.
"And are you happy now, Mason?" Marge turned to face the wolf, who seemed non-pulsed by the attention.
"Sure," he said.
Then Marge's head swung towards me.
"And you, Rory? Will we be seeing Lion Pride patches soon? Maybe a flag?"
"Well I don't really buy any of that species pride stuff," I replied honestly, "I know some furs say it's just normal but I always thought it's a bit too close to saying that while we're awesome, that also means that some others aren't quite as good as we are."
"Yeah, talk about it!" Crystal nickered, sounding displeased.
"Hope you didn't think I was into that shit," I rumbled.
"Why would I ever think such a thing of our gentle giant?" Marge purred innocently.
Me, a giant now? Maybe the chest-puffing and mane-preening really was having an effect...heh.
"You've no reason to," I smiled, "love all things equal and all that."
"As it should be," Marge replied, sounding a bit more serious for the moment.
Crystal nodded eagerly at that, while Mason...was Mason.
Then Marge clapped her paws together, the sound loud in the concrete-walled room.
"But we're spending way too much time at this Kumbayah circle now, we should be getting the shop ready," she spoke in a more boss-like manner now, "how's the floor?"
"Shipshape," Crystal grinned toothily, "put the magazines and newspapers in and everything seems neat enough."
"Well it can't just seem to be neat, it has to be all set!" Marge decreed. "Someone should give it a final walkabout before the customers come in...and I nominated Rory, of course, since he's going to be the boss and he better know how things should be done around here!"
I gulped.
"Yes, mom," I said.
"Don't you dare!" Marge screeched.
Bull's eye.
I fled for the stairs as quickly as possible, chuckling all the way.
*
"...and here's 16.10 ,- in change, and this Summer Sale brochure, I shall put this into your bag with your receipt!" I smiled as I handed over the coins and bills to the fox's outstretched paw.
"Thanks," the fox said while I busied myself by grabbing the slip of paper from the stand on the counter and then slipping the receipt into its fold before I put the entire sandwich of paper into the red carrier bag to join the paperback Tom Clancy novels in there.
"And do come again!" I smiled in my most friendly happyhappy customer service manner as I lifted the bag over to the fox. "We also serve at the Stepford Centre!"
"Have a nice day," the fox said before he turned and left for the door, tail brushing the air behind him.
"Thank you!"
The door chimed to signal his departure, and that cleared the immediate customer service area of furs, which meant that it was just me behind cash register number two, and to my right side, the presence of the scruffy wolf who stared into nowhere in front of him.
Mason's outburst earlier today sure had been interesting...not that he was quiet, really, at least in the sense of avoiding conversation with us, but...he was standing up to himself...not just himself, really, but...everyone. I kept thinking about it, whenever I had moment like this, how he'd seemed to stand a bit more upright, his eyes filled with brightness not usually there...
Maybe it really was that easy for him. Maybe he simply had some sort of an innate pride that could be expressed so easily without making a fuss out of it. Maybe he didn't care...or cared what others thought...
But he hadn't spoken anything about it, nor made any...hmm...signals? Secret symbols? Polari? Good God, shouldn't I know this kind of things? I was supposed to be the gay man extraordinaire. Maybe Mason was just so _ordinaire_that he simply didn't have to think about it. Maybe it was some sort of a...a...and damn this made me feel old...generational divide? That he'd grown up being told that it was alright to be whoever you are and seeing furs saying that on TV and the newspapers and...Brokeback Mountain and...
Ugh. I really shouldn't be thinking all this stuff. Made me into such a hypocrite, too. Maybe this re-closet thing was as much bullshit as that reborn virgin thing some especially Christian furs did to convince themselves that it was possible to cleanse your soul to wait for that very special fur after all sorts of debauchery. Wasn't it the same? A state of mind recovered, while the crime had already been done.
I don't know. I wasn't really pretending anything but I wasn't being entirely honest either. It'd been so easy in the university...and at work...well...at General Interest, nobody really was that interested, I thought...but the nagging feeling that I might've been fired because of my not so secret homosexuality could not be dismissed. I knew I had no proof, I knew I had been something of a junior worker there and they'd let go a lot of furs when the credit crunch and dropping revenues and whatnot were forcing them to let furs go...maybe that was just it. Maybe I just had to go because I was new...but still...several years...and knowing that my boss had been rather keen on God...
It could not be entirely discounted, not after all, though sometimes thinking about it made me feel paranoid. Was the world really out there to get all of us? I suppose we still lived in days when some furs thought that gay furs weren't suitable for working with children, that we'd molest them or at least try to convert them to our wicked ways?
Or even worse...just to show them that gay or lesbian or anything that wasn't straight furs were actually alright, and that if you ended up turning out like one of us, you were actually going to be a good fur, too?
Was I a good fur?
My existential emo-ponderings were interrupted by the clearing of Mason's throat, forcing me to bounce back into this plane and face him, giving him a smile.
"Dude?"
How eloquent of him.
"What is it, Mason?" I asked softly.
The wolf shrugged.
"Wassup?" he rumbled, quietly so that the customers wouldn't know that we were about to engage in ruthless chit-chatting instead of work.
Well...gossip wolf mood...guess that wasn't so bad, considering Marge and Crystal were busy in the back room doing an inventory of the new books that had arrived today. The customers seemed to be content to browse in peace as well.
"What to answer to such a profound question?" I mused.
His ears flicked, and I could hear the shuffle of his tail...that thing could be surprisingly noisy, I realized, moving about behind him to indicate his moods. Right now I guessed I'd caught him a bit off guard with my somewhat cheeky response.
"Lol," he said.
I chuckled a little and smiled, rumbling as I did so. Just good-natured lion talk. Just us boys chatting about guy stuff.
"Not much is up, Mason," I smiled, "just life and stuff, I guess. Enjoying the summer while it lasts..."
Like that time when Victor and I went out to that café and we held paws under the table when nobody was looking...
"Yeah, it's cool," he said, "a bit hot but..."
""Just have to remember to wear a hat," I winked.
"Heh, yeah," he scratched his neck briefly, ruffling his head furs a little as he did so, "I do."
Well that wasn't particularly exciting topic yet.
"Good!" I smiled.
"Got any plans for the week?" he asked. "Besides work and stuff?"
Well wasn't he talkative today...and almost like he was on a mission to pry on me a little...even if it was all in good fun...
"Oh, I don't know," I shrugged, "I might see a friend or two, maybe we'll go out...it's nice to enjoy a cup of coffee or a beer on a terrace or the like..."
Though it was very possible that me and a very particular friend might end up spending some time indoors and...drinking hot coffee in our very own way...
"Heh, sure," the wolf replied, "always nice to let it all hang out."
My ears bounced a little at the sound of that. The wolf's expression had not changed while he said so...it sure had the desired effect on me.
"Sure," I replied once I recovered my wits, "isn't that what it is all about?"
"Yeah," he smiled, showing a bit of teeth...really sounding like a frat boy alright.
"So do you have any plans?" I wondered.
His tail swished in its particular manner.
"Well me and Haakon bought this game together and we were gonna play some today after I get from work," he replied.
Oh my...the two dudes sitting there side by side...trading the controller...maybe it'd get so stuffy and warm there in their frat dude pad that they'd have to shuck off shirts and pants...playing just in their boxers...the winner maybe getting a special prize...
God, I should stop thinking like that! That wasn't entirely fair on Mason...or Haakon...even if that handsome herring hoarder was awfully good at evoking these sort of filthy ideas, especially when I had a Victor Holden to think about, who looked awfully nice in all sorts of underwear and without them, especially...
"Cool!" I said, wanting to get my attention away from my pants, which might be in the danger of tightening up if I kept thinking about Victor-butts. "What's the game?"
"Deus Ex: Furry Revolution", Mason replied, "it's really new, and it's really cool. We're gonna take turns playing."
...with each other's joysticks maybe?
Rory, really now?
"Oh, cool! What do you do in it?" I asked, desperately needing a new topic.
"Shoot cyborgs," the wolf stated.
"Nice," I smiled, not knowing how else to react to the wolf's secret tendency for virtual homicide.
"It's pretty cool, I've liked the previous games in the series," he said, "Haakon really likes it too."
Oh I bet...
"I'm sure you'll have fantastic time!" I smiled.
Now the wolf's ears perked.
"Not as much as fun as we'll be having on Friday!" he said.
"Oh?" my own ears reacted in kind. "A big party coming up or something?"
Or a hot date...
"Well, not really..." he started, sounding a bit more like the usual shy Mason all sudden, "but...you remember the latest Caledon Rocks book, right?"
My stomach made a somersault. How could I ever forget the circumstances surrounding the release of that book, and especially when it came to its in famous striped author...Colin...
"Sure, of course, I have a signed copy myself, hehe!" I smiled, though very much guiltily aware that I hadn't read it.
"So, Lord Mistwillow - "
*cringe*
" - is releasing an online exclusive bonus story called 'The Harrowing of Cloisterfield Castle' which features the Alchemists exploring the location of the Great Wizard Angus' supposed experiment in crossing dimensions which has led the ruined castle haunted with ghosts and all sorts of other cool creatures!"
I chuckled.
"Well that sounds amusing!"
"I only heard about it a week ago, he's been working on it in secret, so it's a real surprise for all the fans!" the wolf's tail was wagging by now. "I dunno if it's going to be very long but still, it's still much better than having to wait for a new book yet."
"There's a new book coming up?"
"It's been heavily hinted at," the wolf spoke seriously, "the ending of the fourth book was open enough that it could definitely go on, I mean, the Cataclysm...uh...not sure if you read it yet..."
"No spoilers please!" I put a finger on my lips playfully.
"Uh, sure," his ears dropped a little, probably now since he'd been stopped from geeking out even further about the book.
"It's cool," I said, "I'm sure I'll get to it eventually!"
"Sure," he said, "but yeah, so excited."
"I bet Haakon is excited too," I mused.
"Yeah, we're gonna read it together," the wolf smiled, "I heard it's posted at noon so we're gonna make a night out of it."
And maybe make out?
Oh Rory! Shush! Bad kitten!
"Guess that's better than going on a kegger," I mused in my 'oh to be young again' voice.
"Lol," Mason snuffled.
At least the doors chimed open and a bunch of schoolgirls entered, leading to the end of our own schoolgirl talk.
*
Thank you for reading my story! I hope you had a good time, and I look forward to reading your feedback! Do remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!
See you on Monday!
Cheerio!